May we attain maturity in wisdom beyond wisdom. In this 8,000 line, Wisdom Beyond Wisdom scripture, it says, the lack of a basis for apprehension of all phenomena that is called the perfection of wisdom. The lack of a basis for grasping anything, that is called the perfection of wisdom. the lack of basis for grasping any phenomenon. That is called the perfection of wisdom.

[01:03]

This is a teaching for bodhisattvas This is a teaching for those who are focused on realizing Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings. And last time we were here we looked at a ceremony, an Indian translation of an Indian Buddhist text, which is The Sanskrit is muni mata alamkara. Muni means silent one, but it also means sage. And mata means mind. And alamkara means ornament or adornment. ornament of the sage's mind. And in this text, there's a description of a bodhisattva vow ceremony, which we looked at last month.

[02:27]

And at the beginning it says, properly create clarity towards the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and bow down. It says, make a mandala and five offerings in front of the teacher. And I did some research and I think the five offerings are kind of our usual five offerings, like light, incense, flowers, sweet water and tea. That would be an example of making offerings. And then the ceremony goes on where the people who wish to do the ceremony join their palms and request three times, person of good lineage speaking to the preceptor,

[03:30]

person of good lineage before me, I wish to receive the bodhisattva vow. Therefore, if I am worthy to receive it, because of your mercy and kindness, please bestow the vow of bodhisattva ethics." And then the preceptor says three times, Do you aspire to enlightenment? And people say, Yes. Do you aspire to enlightenment? Yes. Do you aspire to enlightenment? And then, in my presence, will you receive the foundation of training of ethics with bodhisattva? Do that three times. And saying, I will, I will, I will. Yes, yes, yes. So that goes on for a little bit. So we're thinking of performing the ceremony here, and 26 people have responded saying they'd like to participate.

[04:35]

So I think I would be ready to just put out, suggest some dates to these 26 people. and see if we can find a date that works for most of them. If we can't find a date in the near future, like in the next three or four months, that works for the people who want to do it, I think I'll just do it with those who can come and offer it again later. It's not a very long ceremony, so it wouldn't be difficult to do it more than once a year. For this ceremony, people do not have to make a robe. So all of you who have already received the robe, but even if you don't have a robe, if you haven't received the other Bodhisattva precepts, you can still participate in this ceremony. That's my feeling, if you want to. If you are thinking of doing it, and those of you who are listening to this who aren't here, just remember the beginning of the ceremony says, properly create clarity, great clarity, towards the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

[05:47]

Like, do you actually pay homage to them? Do you wish to be in line with the Buddhas and bodhisattvas? Are they your... Do you want to be in their family? of the great compassionate ones. And if you do, then if you're clear about that, it might be good to be clear because this is kind of like lining, this is lining up with their vows. So I thought I'm pretty much ready to do the ceremony. And part of scheduling it would be also maybe you know, talking about how long it would be, the ceremony itself is probably just half an hour. But we could have a one-day sitting or a half-day sitting or something. We sit and then have the culmination of the sitting be the ceremony or something like that. So, it might be also possible just to have a one-day sitting and then the people who are going to do the ceremony wouldn't necessarily have to be there all day, if that made it easier for people.

[06:57]

And I was thinking of doing it maybe between regularly scheduled one-day sittings so that if people don't want to participate, they wouldn't miss the sitting for that month. It would be an extra sitting for those who want to participate. That's my idea. So in the next few months, maybe in the middle of April or the middle of May or the middle of June, we could do it. Yes? I wonder if you could say, a question that's been coming to my mind is, I wonder what makes you feel like offering this at this time, this other ceremony? What makes me feel like offering it is something I do not, you know, it's inconceivable what makes me offer this. However, I have some stories I could tell about it, but that's just stories. You want to hear some stories? Yeah.

[08:00]

They're just stories. We don't know. We don't know why we come to practice. We just have stories about it. The causes and conditions that make us human beings and have a chance to practice, we don't really know. We have stories. And if we respect those stories, we can become free of them. But one story is, for a long time I noticed that in the bodhisattva precept ceremony, we don't say the bodhisattva vows, except in terms of those precepts, like the refuges and so on. But we do say the bodhisattva vows at the end of lectures, right? We did it this morning, we said them, but we don't say those vows in the precept ceremony. I also thought that was kind of funny and kind of strange that we don't actually say, I vow to become it.

[09:03]

So I thought it was kind of funny. Of course it's understood, it's in the background, but the fact that it was implicit kind of struck me. And I don't think it's nonsensical or contradictory. I just think it's kind of a little, anyway, almost startling to me. And so then I was reading some Buddhist scriptures and I found this scripture and I thought, oh, here's a nice ceremony. where they actually do say, I vowed to do this stuff and to dedicate my life in this way. And there's no mention of, like, the practice, the precept of not killing, not stealing, and so on. But this is called bodhisattva ethics. But there's no explicit mention of you know, the practice of restraint. It's more like the ethics in terms of this is the vow and then everything, the ethics of becoming enlightened is what we're committing to.

[10:14]

Whereas we don't actually say, I vow to become enlightened in the Bodhisattva precept ceremony. That we usually do. But it's in the background. And I think many people, if in fact, if they were going to say that in that ceremony, maybe they would even have more reservations about the precept ceremony if they were actually saying that. Because maybe some people feel, some people have problems saying. I vow to embrace and sustain the forms of ceremony. I vow to embrace and sustain all the bodhisattva practices, which is what we mean when we say, I vow to embrace and sustain all good. Good refers to the six training methods of bodhisattvas. That's pretty hard for people sometimes just to say that But at least you don't just say I vow to become perfectly enlightened unsurpassable and completely enlightened So some people have problems with either one of those and some people run problem with both and some people have problems with neither Anyway, here's a little different ceremony with a little different emphasis.

[11:24]

I thought let's try it So that's the story of how it happened. And then I put it out here, and I got a response. If nobody responded, then the story would be, I would drop it. I wouldn't come over here and do it by myself. I already read it. It sounded good to me. But I wouldn't do the ceremony by... Well, maybe I'd do it by myself, but... I haven't yet done this ceremony myself, but it's hard to do it by myself because it's kind of funny to say, well, it's kind of funny, but it's not prohibitive that I would say, do you wish to receive the bodhisattva vow? Yes, I do. Do you receive? You know, I could do the dialogue with myself. That would be okay. But I haven't yet. Maybe I should. But I was thinking that I would play the role of the preceptor and that other people would be the people who are asking for this vow. And I would support them to receive this vow and commit to it.

[12:29]

So that's a story. Maybe later I could tell another one. I noticed that it had, for whatever reason, what jumped out at me was the question, do you aspire to enlightenment? Yeah. Yeah, do you? So maybe you might say, I don't. So then probably the ceremony wouldn't be right for you. Maybe some other, another one, which doesn't say aspire. The question that I have, I got it and I got confused by it. If you've already received the precepts, this is something different? Yes, it's different. It's a different language. It's a different vow. I think it includes the other one, and the other one implies this, but the language here is different.

[13:32]

yes and yes i would like to express myself and what what is it that i'm here to receive at your job is to express yourself the vow itself is intensive Yeah, sure. So are the other ones. So are the precepts. Okay. Therefore, I have, this is how I work in my mind, I have to see myself as that inconceivable to give vow to the inconceivable. And then when I go, sometimes... Did you say you have to see yourself as conceivable in order to vow the inconceivable? Yes. I think that's true for most people. then when I don't see myself as inconceivable, or there are times I go in and out, it's more like in and out, times that I see, not that I see myself, because I see this inconceivable, inconceivableness, and then I say, okay, I'm in, because I see it, but then when I don't see it,

[14:48]

then I'm back into my own reality of contracting and doubting and fearing and all that. So therefore, therefore, when I'm here, it's very clear for me to say yes. But then when I'm in my own mind, in my own reality, I say no. So I don't know where to go. I hear you. You don't know where to go. So some other people might also not know where to go and yet still they might go someplace. They might come to an old abode, for example, even though they don't know where to go. So if you don't know where to go, you're welcome to come here because this is no place. Yes? I thought maybe I would share my thoughts on this.

[15:53]

You actually have asked over the years these questions, and I always said, no way, forget it. But recently I found that changing, and now I find myself interested. Interesting. Well, it draws energy up. I want to actually do it. I'm a little embarrassed to make those kind of statements, but that seems appropriate. And somehow, and it only took, I don't know, thirty years. Right. Thirty-three. Thirty-three. People that have participated in a Jukai ceremony at some point in time might they be able to participate in the ceremony? Would you perhaps offer this ceremony to people who have been through Chukai?

[16:57]

That's what I'm saying. I'm saying if you've already received the robe, which means you've received the precepts, you're welcome to do this ceremony too. If you haven't received the robe and the name and the precepts, you're welcome to do so. This is open to a wider group. Receiving the precepts, there are certain preparations which aren't necessary for this ceremony. And I don't have to get names for everybody. And that would be something also, in the ceremony, we probably should decide what name you're going to say. If you already have a Buddhist name, you probably would say your Buddhist name. If you don't yet have a Buddhist name, you would say your, what they call, given name, your Muslim name. I don't know who is next. Ni-mi-ni-mi-ni-mo.

[18:01]

Catch a tiger by the toe. My mother told me to choose Y-O-U. I have a request that you consider giving us self-repairation. And I understand you say none is required. But for me, Jukai, the whole ceremony itself and the preparation was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. And I just feel like there's... I don't know if you'd have to give us names. Let me say this in response to that. One preparation will be to find a date. That negotiation will be part of the preparation. Another preparation will be to offer how long, to say, maybe up to one day sitting. And then your preparation will be how much you can participate there. But one thing about this is that if I can't think of some preparation in addition to that, this morning I would intend to do it again and again.

[19:13]

And maybe I'll think of other preparations. And if anybody has any ideas of preparations you would like to do yourself, you could tell me, and I probably would support you. And I might even mention it to other people. For example, you might say, I would like to circumambulate Mount Amapayas as part of the preparation. Okay? I would support that. But I wouldn't require it. Otherwise there might only be two people here. But if anybody has any preparations they want to do, And I may not even suggest that to people because not too many people can do it. But if somebody said, well, in preparation for this, I would like to read the ceremony every day. But at this point, I would say, if I can think of something I think I would like to, because I don't want to make a preparation that's going to turn people away from it.

[20:14]

It could be an optional preparation. Yeah, well, the optional preparation, If I can think of an operable preparation that really wouldn't make some people feel like, well, I said it's optional, but I probably shouldn't come if I don't do the optional. I would like to make this quite open, because I think it's a big deal, actually. But if any individuals have ideas, probably I would support any idea you have. And if I felt like some individual, it would really be good to suggest such and such, I might do it for that person. But I actually would like to have this. My general thing I've observed over the years is the more I offer, the fewer people can come. Kind of surprising. If I offer a little bit, almost everybody feels like, okay. So this is quite a bit. And if I also offer various preparations, the number of people, it's another gift, right?

[21:17]

Why don't you also do these practices? Wouldn't that be wonderful? And then people say, thank you a lot. I'll see you later. So I would like this first one to be well attended and have a big door. And then maybe later we'll offer more. And then this group will get smaller. I realized, I think one of the things that sparked when I overheard somebody in a coffee shop saying, oh, yeah, I gave up coffee and chocolate for Lent. And you could tell she was so happy and excited. And I thought, hmm, I don't get to give up coffee and chocolate. So it's just like an excuse to do something you wouldn't mind doing anyway. But I thought I understand what you're saying. I should go in. But if anyone does send you any good ones, I would love to hear. The latest flavor of renunciation, just to let you know, for this month is... Somebody sent me a lot of chocolate and I was thinking of bringing it over here and giving it to you people, but I wasn't sure if it was kind of me to bring all that chocolate.

[22:33]

It is kind? Okay, I'll bring some for you anyway, and you can tell people that this is a kindness. This is kindness candy. I think the next... Karen, you had your hand raised before? And I'm wondering, because you said you're not necessarily yourself, if you have had the gift of being able to make that statement. What statement? To seek enlightenment for the sake of all beings. I now follow you. Say again. Well, what you're offering us is the opportunity to make that statement and have it witnessed. And I'm wondering if you've ever received that. If I've ever made the statement and have it witnessed? Yes. I think I have, but not by one person. I've had it witnessed by many people.

[23:35]

I've said it in front of many people, and many people witnessed. But the many people didn't say back to me three times if I did it. I didn't do that. So I haven't. But I feel like I have received this. In the dogma transmission ceremony, it's kind of like that, though. It's kind of like you request to receive this responsibility, and the person says yes. And you request to receive the Bodhisattva precepts, and the person asks you, three times if you'll take care of them. It's a little bit different. It's not just when you follow them, but when you make sure they don't get cut off in the future. In other words, that you'll make sure the next generation happens. So I've done that. And then the dharma transmission, you're receiving the dharma and you say you won't let this dharma be, and you go back and forth like that. So that's something like that.

[24:36]

So I don't know who wrote this stuff out about the... about this... I don't know who wrote this stuff. And the handwriting is not that easy to read. Aum. May I conquer, may I conquer. You who are in the likeness of the lotus, intimate, intimate, Oh, you, the path for going along, possessor of wisdom, possessor of wisdom, goddess, protectress. Sounds like this is a song to Prajnaparamita, right? Goddess, protectress, you who rescue us from strife, who ward off hostility, hostilities, who ward off the something, I don't know, who ward off the something actions of others, the hostile actions of others.

[26:16]

Fulfill, fulfill, lovely lady. the hopes of all beings. Clear away all the karmic coverings and those of all beings. Clear away all my karmic coverings and those of all beings. You who are sustained by all Buddhas, welcome. Svaha. Svaha means welcome or hail. Welcome you who are sustained by all Buddhas. This is a praise. This is a homage. This is an invocation which somebody wrote and gave to me. This is an old, this is like a typescript of Edward Kansa's translation of the questions of su-vikranta-vikraman.

[27:32]

I also have, in this large sutra, I have his his, like, mimeographed carbon copy of his table of contents of this big book before it was published. Remember this still? You know, Edward Konza was a very powerful guy, but if you look at this paper, you can see he was also really devoted to type this stuff out. The typing's not too good, you can see. He typed all this up, and see this? You can feel it if you want. This is the early version of this. See, it's a concordance.

[28:41]

Yeah. He had a machine that could do the Sanskrit diacritics. So here, see, this is the concordance. This is the chapter headings of the sutra in relationship to other texts. And that's the... He gave me that before this was published. Originally he published this in a smaller volume. And then this came out. Timo, would you go into the doksan room and in the middle of the bookcase behind my seat there's a large collection of, looks almost like paper volumes. They're not bound, I mean they don't have any covers. Could you bring that here? So this is a special transmission outside the scriptures.

[29:52]

This is a piece of paper which has the translator's work. And I'm showing you this, but this is not a scripture. This is a special transmission. This is not in the scripture. This shows you his devotion to this great teaching. When he did that stuff, his arrogance was quieted as he served great wisdom, perfect wisdom. He wanted to be a good servant of perfect wisdom. So Abby asked about commentaries. Commentaries on the perfection of wisdom. So this is a commentary. on this. You are now witnessing a special transmission outside your pictures.

[31:01]

Me showing you this is not a scripture. Do you understand? This is showing you. And this is Chinese. So this is Chinese. And one of these pages is five or so English pages. So this is thousands of pages in English. And this has been partially translated into English and entirely translated into French by Etienne Lamotte, a Jesuit priest who translated this whole thing from Tibetan and Chinese into French. And this... This is a commentary on this. So it's supposedly written by Nagarjuna. So Nagarjuna supposedly wrote this thing, which in Sanskrit would be called

[32:03]

the Maha Prajnaparamita Shastra, Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom. And in particular, it's about this 25,000 line version. So this is the translation. This is the Chinese. You could say translation, but we don't have the Sanskrit, and we have the whole Chinese. So what happened to the Sanskrit is hard to say. I kind of think that there wasn't a Sanskrit. And that the great translator, Kumar Jiva, who wrote this thing, did not have a Sanskrit original, but somehow he thought he should put Nagarjuna's name on it. And this text is one of the most important texts in East Asian Buddhism. This commentary on this sutra is one of the most important commentaries. And it's not just on the Persian parmita. because he goes into great detail about all the bodhisattva training methods.

[33:08]

So, I'm not telling you what's inside. I'm just showing you the book. Here it is. And this book was given to me by Professor Odalis Lancaster. who was the professor at Berkeley who invited Kansa to come. And he was very kind to me and other people at Zen Center to let us come and attend Kansa's seminars, even though we were not matriculated Berkeley students. And a number of other Buddhist scholars let me come to classes there, even though I wasn't a regular student. Very kind of them. And one of them even yelled at me and told me I shouldn't be in the class because I'm a monk. He said, you know, you should just be practicing. You shouldn't be in this class. But he let me stay and was very kind to me. His name was Padmanabh Jaini.

[34:16]

And I went to visit him in his class, in his office. He let me come to his office and ask him questions about these Sanskrit texts. And one time I came to visit him and he said he'd been reading this 8,000 line Prajnaparamita in Sanskrit. And he said, this stuff is really dangerous. One could fall into nirvana if one wasn't careful. Nirvana. I have not read this yet. Would you put this back please, Timo? Oh, be careful. Don't kill yourself. So the special transmission outside the scriptures is

[35:18]

that while we're talking about these scriptures, we're studying ourselves. That while I'm talking to you about these stories, about these stories, about these scriptures, the special transmission is that I don't get distracted by what I'm saying. And it's hard to be very enthusiastic and remember to watch yourself be enthusiastic. to not miss yourself in the process. So now you know that I'm intending now to offer some gift of my life energy to the discussion of the teachings of wisdom. And again, to you I say, and to other people I say, I depend on you to take good care of yourself so that you will be able to receive these teachings.

[36:33]

And I will mention ways of checking to see that you're taking care of yourself along the way as we explore the amazing realm of no abode. the bodhisattva's mind that does not apprehend anything. And by not apprehending anything, the bodhisattva's mind stands steadfastly in perfect wisdom. Anything else today? Did you enjoy feeling this? Doesn't it have a wonderful texture? I have many things like this. I don't know what to do with them. Who wants to take care of this? If somebody wants to take care of this, I will give it to you.

[37:39]

Oh, by the way, the difference between this and what's in here... Let me check here for a second. I think this is Sanskrit and I think maybe in the published version it's in English. Let me check. Maybe before I give it away, I should write the Sanskrit next to the English. I think I'll do that. So this is the divisions of a commentary.

[38:43]

So this text has the divisions of another commentary on this text, which he structures the text around this other commentary, which starts out with knowledge of all modes. And so he has a Sanskrit up here, sarva-akara-jnana. So maybe I should keep this and write the Sanskrit in before I give it away. That changes for a minute. What's the difference between comprehend and apprehend? I think apprehend means more like grasp. You can apprehend things. Like you can apprehend a criminal without comprehending the criminal. But doesn't it mean to be afraid of? Doesn't that mean to be afraid of? Apprehension? Apprehension means to be afraid. Isn't it the same derivation? Every time you say, whatever you say, I keep thinking, be afraid of. When you say apprehend, I immediately think you're telling us to be afraid, and then I don't know, it probably means... Well, I'm not telling you to apprehend anything.

[39:51]

I'm saying, actually, bodhisattvas do not apprehend anything. But I need to know what not to do. What? I'm telling you not to be afraid. You got it. Actually, that's good. By saying that there's no basis for the apprehension of any dharma means there's no basis for grasping anything, but also, that's nice, thank you, there's no basis for being afraid of anything. That's an interesting point. The perfection of wisdom is the lack of a basis to be afraid of anything. And it's simultaneously the lack of a basis to grasp. If you don't grasp something, you can't be afraid of it. But if you do grasp it, you will be afraid. Even if you grasp bliss, you will be afraid. Of course, if you grasp pain, you'll be afraid. If you grasp success, you'll be afraid. If you don't apprehend anything, you will not be afraid of anything.

[40:54]

So thanks for that point. You're welcome. Go right ahead and hear both at the same time. The lack of a basis for apprehension of any phenomena, that is called the perfection of wisdom. Thank you, that was really cool. I didn't think of that. But now I will. And I try to footnote you when I do. Would you say more about the lack of a basis? Would I say more about it? What could I say? Someone help me with this. Come and sit by my side if you'd love to. Do not hasten to bid me adieu But remember the Green Gulch Valley And the cowgirls who loved you so true Now they say you are leaving this valley We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile For they say you are taking the sunshine That has brightened our path for a while

[42:13]

That's something about the lack of a basis. Do you understand? It tickles me, I don't know. If when you're tickled, if you get goose bumps, that's a sign that you've understood. Or tears. Tears also are maybe shows that you understood. and feeling great inspiration to continue to study the teachings of perfect wisdom of the Buddhas. Also, I just wanted to tell you that in the beginning of this text of the 8,000 lines of Prajnaparamita, Kamsa put another text in the front, which is verses on Prajnaparamita. It starts out with this lovely verse. Call forth as much as you can of love, of respect, and of faith.

[43:24]

Give up all obstructing defilements and clear away all your tates. Listen to the perfect wisdom of the gentle Buddhas, taught for the wheel of the world, for heroic spirits intended. So this is a lovely text before the main text. Where does that come from? What is it from? I think it's called... What's it called? It's called... You mean in Sanskrit? I think it's an independent text. I think it's an independent text, and I think I have it independently standing someplace. in a big folio version, and then he put it in here before the 8,000 lines. Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it? And I told you about Subhuti, right?

[44:30]

So in the Diamond Sutra, the venerable Subhuti seems to be learning the teaching from the Buddha, but in this sutra, he's already quite well educated, and Buddha is assigning him to teach the other bodhisattvas. And in this verse version, there's a section here which is called The Source of Subhuti's Authority. And it says, the rivers all in this rose apple land, rose apple land is in Sanskrit, jambudvipa, which refers to the Indian subcontinent. The Indian subcontinent is called Rose Apple Island. The rivers in all this rose apple island, which cause the flowers to grow, the fruits, the herbs and trees, they all derive from the might of the king of the Nagas, from the dragon residing in late Anupatapta.

[45:40]

His magical power Just so, whatever dharmas the jinas, disciples, jina means victor, whatever the jinas disciples establish, whatever they teach, whatever are jointly explained, concerning the work of the holy, which leads to the fullness of bliss, and also the fruit of this work, it is the tathagata's doing. For whatever the Jina has taught, a guide to Dharma, his pupils, if genuine, have been well trained in it. From direct experience derived from their training, they teach it. Their teaching stems but from the might of the Buddhas, not from their own power. Basic teachings.

[46:43]

no wisdom can be got hold of, no highest perfection, no bodhisattva, no thought of enlightenment either. When told of this, if not bewildered and in no way anxious, the bodhisattva courses in perfect wisdom. Thank you very much for another wonderful day. Thank you, Eileen, for organizing it. Thank you, Karen, for preparing the space. Thank you, David, for watering the plants. Thank you for taking care of the parking. Thank you for ringing the bells. Thank you for arranging the appointments.

[47:46]

Thank you for sitting still and practicing enlightenment, all of you. May your practice continue to benefit all beings. Thank you. May our intention equally extend to every being and place, where in the true, therein

[48:15]

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