As I mentioned before, in the beginning of the Diamond Sutra, the great disciple Subuddhi asked the Buddha how bodhisattvas stand and walk and care for their mind on the path. And the Buddha says, those who wish to walk the path of the bodhisattva give rise, give birth to this thought. And then he says, avow. So those who wish to walk the bodhisattva path give birth to avow. And the vow is, however many beings there are in however many realms that could be imagined, from or in the realm of complete nirvana, I will liberate them.

[01:25]

That's the vow. that the Buddha recommends in the Diamond Sutra to bodhisattvas who want to walk the path. And then he says, and yet, or and, no beings at all, no, And yet, although I liberate countless beings, not a single being is liberated." So, the first part is the vow. The vow is, however many beings there are, in the realm of complete nirvana, I will liberate them all. And although I liberate them all, there's not a single being. Although I liberate countless beings, there's not a single being.

[02:30]

One simple way to see that is, although I liberate countless beings, none of the beings I liberate are separate from any of the other beings that I liberate. I liberate all beings and there's no single being in the ocean of beings which I liberate. The first part is the vow, the second part is the practice. I vow to liberate all beings and even though I do liberate all beings, still I practice meditating on all living beings And when I meditate on all living beings, I don't find any living beings. And yet, although I don't find any living beings, I liberate them all. And the place where I meditate on all living beings and don't find any living beings is the realm called complete nirvana.

[03:41]

So I liberate all living beings from the place where I see there's no living beings. And the place where I see no living beings is where I practice. And the place where I practice is where whenever I meet a living being or a Buddha, I always contemplate them the way they really are. When I contemplate them the way they really are, I can't find any of them. And not being able to find them when I meet them liberates them. So that's the beginning of Dhamma Sutra where it shows the vow. If you want to walk the path of bodhisattva, you should give birth to this vow. And you should practice with the vow You should give birth to the vow which is your commitment to the welfare of all beings and then you should practice with all beings in such a way that you don't find any beings.

[04:46]

You should practice with beings to liberate them and practice with them in such a way that you're always contemplating the way they really are and the way they really are is that you can't find any separate beings from anybody else And then in a later part of the Diamond Sutra, it says that bodhisattvas should give birth to a mind or a thought that is not attached to anything. Another translation is, bodhisattvas should give birth to a mind which has no abode. give birth to a mind which doesn't dwell anywhere. So again, give birth to what kind of mind?

[05:51]

A mind, a vow, that doesn't dwell anywhere, that isn't attached to anything. Now here in the second, in section 10c, where the Buddha says, give birth to a mind which dwells doesn't abide anywhere, or doesn't dwell anywhere, or isn't attached to anything. There he's just mentioning the bodhisattva's practice of meditation. But that section has the earlier section where the bodhisattva's made this vow. And again, in the vow is that I will liberate all beings from the place of nirvana. And the place of nirvana is where the bodhisattva is seeing all beings as they really are. And once, as I said yesterday in parentheses, but today without the parentheses, because the bodhisattvas are operating in nirvana and not holding onto it, when they meet beings,

[07:06]

they contemplate them as they are, and because they contemplate them as they are and finally realize the way they are, they don't get weary, they don't get tired out working with the beings. But if they exercise their vow to liberate beings, but not from nirvana, not from no abode, not from the mind of no abode, Then they get tired. Then every being they meet with is an opportunity for them to cling a little bit. And every time they cling, they get a little tired. And if they have many interactions, eventually they get exhausted and want to retire from bodhisattva-hood. They want to get away from the beings that they vowed to be devoted to. because they're not practicing with the beings that they're devoted to.

[08:13]

So we have to... bodhisattvas have to be devoted to beings and then practice with each one in this way. And also, if you think you could practice a mind of no abode, that's good. Go ahead and try to practice it. But then, if you want to find out if you're really practicing it, then give birth to the vow to save all beings. And then, in the process of being devoted to beings, you can see if you've really realized the mind of no abode. Because when you're really devoted to something and take really good care of it and give yourself completely to it, if you don't have the mind of no abode, you start to notice that you're attached to this thing, you're taken care of. You think it's yours. This is a girl, she's wife said to me one time, when we take care of something for a long time, we come to think we own it.

[09:19]

When you first come to the Zen center, and you take care of it, like clean it, or cooking it, or take care of the grounds, you don't think it's yours. But after you take care of it for 20 years, you think it belongs to you. And then the board of directors gives you a hard time. So, again, as we take care of, if we're really devoted to beings, we slip into thinking they're ours, unless we're practicing all along Yes, I'm taking care of these beings, but also, what are they anyway? Where are they? And is my mind dwelling on them? Or am I attached to them? Is my mind attached to them? Does my mind take abode in my bodhisattvic practice?

[10:21]

In the Lotus Sutra, it says, at that time, some bodhisattvas came to the Buddha and said, in the time to come, in the time of the decline of the truth, a time like our time, when things are really tough and people are really hardened and deluded, how can we teach the true Dharma? And then Buddha says, well, there's four methods. The first one is the Bodhisattva's spheres of action and intimacy. And what is the bodhisattva sphere of action?

[11:52]

The bodhisattva sphere of action is that whenever they, with regard to or with respect to any phenomena or any being, they don't do anything. They take no action. That's the bodhisattva sphere of action. If the bodhisattva wants to teach the true dharma, then the first method is called the method of the sphere of action of the bodhisattva. And that is that when they meet a being, they take no action. They just contemplate the way the being is. If you want to teach the true dharma to beings... If you want to teach the two dharma in order to help all beings be free, then when you meet them, you don't take any action.

[12:59]

You just contemplate the way they really are or the way this really is. Another translation which is quite different but interesting, I haven't looked yet at the Chinese to see what led them to this translation, but it's kind of another kind of surprising translation, says that when a bodhisattva meets someone or with regard to a being, they have no rules by which to act. And also they're not attached to having no rules.

[14:23]

by which to act. It's quite a different way of talking, but I think I see it as the same thing as you don't act, you look at how things are. And the way things are is that you don't have any rules for how to look at the way things are. And when it comes to the bodhisattva vows or the bodhisattva precepts, you have no rules for how to do the precepts. You vow to practice the precepts, but when it comes to them, you don't act. You just look at them and see what they are. And this, I'll just say this now because I don't know when else to say it, and that is, I do know some other time to say it, there will be some other time, but right now I want to say that this morning when we were chanting, we chanted, practice a way which directly indicates reality.

[15:51]

So again, as I said yesterday, this is a temple called Giving Birth or Birth of the Vow, Birth of the Buddha's Vow, Birth of the Bodhisattva Vow. And then we practice a way in this temple demonstrated by the Founder, which directly indicates reality. What is the way? We sit silent and still. It's a way, it's a form. It's a ceremony. In other words, when Dogen says, practice the way that directly indicates the reality, I would say he's saying, perform reality. Do a ceremony of reality. Do a ceremony of reality and do a ceremony of bodhisattva's teaching reality. What's a ceremony? Sit silent and still. Is reality silent and still?

[17:08]

Yes. Reality is not bouncing around and talking. And there's one other thing about reality, is that it's unconstructed. There's no way, there's no rule by which reality is reality. But human beings can construct reality and make constructions about reality. And we do. And we're not going to stop, probably. So we're practicing a way which enacts, demonstrates, indicates an unconstructed silence and stillness, which is the way reality is said to be. The silence and stillness which we're practicing does not reach the reality.

[18:20]

It is the performance of the reality, but it's not the reality, and it's not separate from the reality. But it realizes it. And the only way to realize it is to practice a way that indicates it. A practice, a way which pays homage to it, makes offerings to it and so on. So we sit still and silent and also unconstructed. If you have any constructions about reality, if you have any constructions about your life, When you're sitting, silent and still, just give them away. You're opening to unconstructedness in your in not moving and in not talking.

[19:28]

And this gives me an opportunity to relate to another promised topic, which is the issue of forgiveness. Someone said that they didn't hear me talk about forgiveness. And so I looked up the word forgiveness. And the first definition I found was to stop feeling angry, resentful, angry or resentful towards an offense, a flaw, or a mistake. Another way to say it is, stop feeling angry or resentful towards someone for an offense, a flaw, or a mistake. It can be towards someone, or it can be for offense, or it can be to the offense.

[20:41]

It can be someone for a flaw, or it can be to the flaw. But it's anger and resentment. So it's to stop anger and resentment. So I think there's a difference between what I've been emphasizing and forgiveness in that way. So I haven't so much been emphasizing to stop being angry at yourself for mistakes or shortcomings or transgressions. I haven't been bringing in anger and resentment towards yourself or towards others. I've been emphasizing being gracious to ourselves and others for shortcomings, offenses, mistakes. In other words, to invoke graciousness, which is, graciousness is not necessarily to stop being angry. The Buddhas are not angry at us in the first place.

[21:43]

They don't hate us in the first place. They're not resentful to us for our shortcomings. They understand why we have problems. So, graciousness is a little different. I think it's fine to stop being angry at yourself and resentful to yourself about your errors. That's fine to stop. But it's a little different than being gracious. Now if you're being gracious, you will stop. So that kind of forgiveness is kind of a subset of what you let go of in graciousness You're not always resentful to yourself for your shortcomings. Sometimes you just feel sorrow. And you're not always resentful or angry at others for their shortcomings. You just sometimes feel really sad and sorry that that's happening.

[22:46]

So I think, yeah, I feel like, I guess, being gracious when we notice a shortcoming, to confess it and feel sorrow about it. is different than to confess it and feel anger about it, or to feel angry about it. But if you do see a sword coming and you feel angry about it or resentment about it, then I would see that just another thing to confess. So if I do something unskillfully and I feel resentment towards myself or towards it, then I have two things to confess. And two things to feel sorrow about. And two things to be gracious for or towards. So I recognize a little twist there of when we start to notice our shortcomings that we feel resentment towards ourself or towards it. We feel anger about it. But I would suggest just make that another thing to confess rather than

[23:51]

try to disassociate the anger from the shortcoming. Just put that on the confession deck with the other things and be gracious towards the whole mass. So in the bodhisattva practice it doesn't really talk so much about forgiveness. It starts with forgiveness and patience. Now if you lose your patience Then maybe you should practice forgiveness. In other words, stop being angry. But the way to stop being angry is actually just to go back and practice patience. And that would allow you to practice forgiveness because by practicing patience now, you're not angry again. So I thought that was a little kind of interesting difference there. Because that's what the English word, that's the definition I found in the dictionary was, to stop being angry and resentful. But I don't think it's necessary to have the anger and resentment hovering around all the shortcomings that we're confessing.

[25:01]

It can be there, but it doesn't have to be. You can actually notice your shortcomings. I can notice my shortcomings without getting angry. And some people may say, well, you should get angry at your shortcomings. You shouldn't skip over that opportunity. You know, you can work some resentment and anger in there, and scorn, and sarcasm, and You know, but actually, I know, I know, I know. But I can actually just notice it and go right to being kind to myself. Right away, like, oh, there you are, stupid little boy again. You still have that habit, you're still jumping up and down about petty things, yeah. You're still getting upset when you go through security and then have to go through again. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have to get angry at yourself and resentful. And also you don't have to do that with other people. You can go directly to generosity from noticing the shortcoming.

[26:07]

If it's in others, you can go right away to generosity and graciousness. With yourself, you have to feel a little bit what it's like. You have to feel the sorrow of your shortcoming. That's the full scope of the confession and the repentance. And then bring the graciousness into the... well, then continue the graciousness. So again, I'm not... I don't mean to say anything against... forgiveness, it's just that I don't think it's an essential ingredient all the time. It seems to come into play when you're adding anger to the problem, when you get distracted to get angry, when you get nervous or frightened to get angry. You don't have to do that. But if you do, then I guess forgiveness would come into play.

[27:11]

And I have a lot of things I want to talk to you about, but I'm not going to. I'm going to talk to you about a little bit more. One is just to say that these great auspicious vows, you know what auspicious means? Auspicious means conducive to or supportive of success. So these great success-promoting bodhisattva vows and Buddha vows, I would propose to you that they are intrinsic to our mind, intrinsic to our heart. So again, as Terry pointed out, and I've heard this quite often, when we start talking about them, sometimes people feel like, some people say, aren't they kind of an overlay on us? That's what some people say. Some other people say, aren't they already in us?

[28:20]

And I would say they're not an overlay. Yes, they are already in. The nature of our mind includes the bodhisattva vows. By the way the mind is created, it includes the law of interdependence. It includes the way all things are working together. and therefore it includes compassion, and all the great vows are actually intrinsic to the way our mind really is, and the way not just our mind, but our bodies, and mountains, and trees. All things have this intrinsic vow, actually. So then, from one side people feel like it's an overlay to mention it, and from the other side people feel like it's already there so why you know why bring it up and the reason is to bring it out to get it out in the world to you know realize it because although it's it's already here if we don't practice the vow it doesn't

[29:39]

It doesn't get realized. And we've got to practice it with body, speech, and mind. So just to connect to what's coming, we practice these vows to promote the birth of these vows in the world so that they cover heaven and earth. But again, when we practice these vows, we do not practice them like, I vow, however many beings there are, I vow to save them all. I vow to liberate them all. I always think of how I can help all beings enter the Buddha way. We say those vows, we think of those vows, we posture those vows, but without seeking something outside.

[30:47]

Or seeking something inside. We just say them to express who we really are. Who we really are is, I wonder how I can help all beings. That's who we really are. When we are who we really are, we wonder how we can help all beings. And when we wonder how we can help all beings, we are who we really are. Buddhas are born of compassion. That's not surprising, right? Is it? That's not surprising, is it? Is that surprising? Buddhas are born of compassion. but there's no seeking in their practice. That's what's surprising to people. Not surprising to me, I just think it's wonderful because I've said it so many times, I'm used to it. Buddhas are born of compassion but there's no seeking in their practice.

[31:50]

They want the best for everybody because nobody is outside and they don't seek anything. They don't seek elsewhere. They want everyone to be happy, but they don't seek anything other than what they've got. And this is very difficult to learn, to want people to be happy, to want miserable people to be happy without seeking anything. But that's the way Buddha is. They're born of wanting people to be free and happy and be wise, but their practice is not to seek anything. What's their practice? Their practice is to contemplate the beings, to look at the way beings really are. That's their practice. That's called non-seeking. non-grasping, just observing. Buddhas do that.

[32:54]

The ones who live for the welfare of others also practice contemplating others the way they really are. Dash, they don't seek anything. And this is how they help. And they show the other beings how to care and not seek. It's hard to learn this, though. Because once again, when we care for things, we start slipping into seeking. If you don't care for somebody, you don't seek anything for them, maybe. Or you might not care for them and still seek something for them. I guess that's possible. But it's a little easier not to seek things for people that you don't care about. But when you start caring, you turn up to care. Then you start slipping into ownership and seeking. usually. We've got to practice wholeheartedly and that will, in our wholeheartedness, we will be devoted without seeking.

[33:58]

So we've practiced non-seeking, that's instructions to bodhisattvas. who are devoted to all beings. There's a story which I like very much. Would you like to hear it? Want to hear it? So it's a story about two Chinese Zen monks, Buddhist monks. One's named Shre Fung, the other one's named Yan To. Shre Fung means cloudy summit. And Yan To, I'll tell you later what that means. I forgot what the characters are. But anyway, these two close friends were on pilgrimage

[35:10]

And they came into these mountains, this mountain called Turtle Mountain. And they got trapped in a snowstorm. So they were staying in an inn on the mountain. And Yan To spent all day sleeping. And Shui Feng spent all day meditating. Shui Fung was known as a very intense meditator. They say he wore out nine sitting cushions. How many of you worn out? Also, he was a young man at that time. So anyway, he was very intense. And he's sitting there and his elder brother was sleeping there.

[36:16]

And so he yells at his elder brother, elder brother, elder brother, wake up. And Yanto says, what is it? When he wakes up, he's already a bodhisattva. Wakes up, what is it? Laughter And then the younger brother says to the older brother, don't be idle. Monks on pilgrimage have profound knowledge as their companion all the time. But all you're doing is sleeping. And Yanto said, just eat your fill and sleep. And Shre Phong says, he said, just eat your fill and sleep.

[37:19]

He says, sitting in meditation all the time, you're like a clay figure in a villager's hut. If you're like this, you'll scare the villagers. And Shre Phong touched his chest and said, I'm really uneasy. And Shre Pong says, I always say, someday you'll build a cottage on a summit and you will expound the great teaching for the whole world. I always say that about you. You're so sincere. And yet you still talk like this. And again Shre Pong says, I'm so anxious.

[38:26]

I'm so anxious. I'm really anxious. And Yanto says, Well, if it's really so, Why don't you show me your understanding? And where it's correct, I'll confirm it. And where it's not, I'll correct it. Oh, no. Where it's not, I'll root it out. And then Shui Fung says, Well, when I was studying with Yang Guan... he was teaching about form and emptiness, he was expounding about form and emptiness, and I had some entrance there. And Yanto says, for 30 years, do not talk about this again. Okay?

[39:32]

He was off. Can you see how he was off? And he says, go on. And Shui Fung says, and then one day I saw Dung Shan's poem, famous poem by Dung Shan, which I could talk about a long time, but I'll just say the poem if I can. Avoid seeking elsewhere, for that's far from the point. Now I travel alone and everywhere I meet it. Now it's exactly me. Now I'm not it." And Yanto says, if you go like this, you'll never be free.

[40:36]

Give me another example. Shrephong says, When I was with Darshan, another Zen master, I asked him, can a student understand the essence of the Dharma? And Darshan hit me and said, what did you say? At that time, it was like the bottom falling out of a bucket of water. And Yanto said, haven't you heard that what comes in, what comes in to the family gate is not, what comes in the gate is not the family jewels? And Chö Phong says, well, how should I practice? And Yanto says, Just let it out from your breast to cover the whole earth."

[41:54]

And Shre Pong realized enlightenment and said, today on snowy Turtle Mountain, thanks to you, dear brother, I finally entered the way. So we have these great vows, but we also have to be careful not to make them into something, not to think they're outside, not to think they're somebody else's vows, Dogen's vows, Samantabhadra's vows, Other ancestors' vows. But again, as we take care of them, we start to think that there's something to hold on to, something to get. The people we're helping, you know, got to be careful of that.

[43:00]

Just let it come out. And I also want to tell you that Ken Ford looked at the end of the Aptam Saka Sutra and at the end of Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra means universal goodness. At the end Samantabhadra says, he doesn't say it, it just says that he went on to make a vow.

[44:03]

And then it says his vow. Which goes on for two, four, six, seven pages. And Ken asked me, is this the ten vows? And actually the ten vows are in here. but there's about, in some sense, about 50 or 60 versions of them are in here. So it's not clearly, they're not clearly set up, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. But it does go like, it goes one, two, three, then it goes four and five. but then it jumps to ten and goes back to seven and eight. So it jumps around. It's not in the same order.

[45:04]

But they're in here in a very beautiful way, all the ten plus a bunch of other ones. So they actually are in here, but then there's also an appendix which has them more systematically put out. But here at the end of this huge sutra, Samantabhadra concludes with making this great vow, these wonderful vows, which I don't know, just are so sweet and so amazing. Thank you for your open-heartedness and your great efforts during these three days together. Thanks to all your teachers who encourage you to come here from the Twin Cities. Thanks to our resident abbot for hosting us so graciously and kindly.

[46:06]

And thanks to Kadagiri Roshi for founding this this Life of Vow temple. And thanks to the Hino and everybody else who organized this, made all the effort to clean this place for us. I saw people working days ahead of time to get the temple ready. It is quite clean, isn't it? Bodhisattva's vow to clean temples so people can come and practice. Is there any feedback you'd like to offer at this time or any offerings to the Sangha you'd like to make in the offering area? Yesterday I came

[47:13]

and said this bit. And right before I speak and I say, I have fear of speaking. And after I talk, I mean, I talk. And I have this little girl who empowers me with my thoughts that I want to say something more like nice and beautiful, what I understand, but I'm kind of paraphrasing what you said, and so it turns out that I kind of felt myself very embarrassed. Very good confession. Thank you. And may I say something? May I say something? Will it be all right if I say something? Can you remember what you're going to say? Can you remember?

[48:15]

If I start now to say something in the middle of your statement? Are you wanting to say more? Yes. Can you remember what you want to say if I say something? Is that okay? So, what you confessed is just what I was talking about. You came here and you spoke, but there was a little bit of seeking someplace else. You know? That's what I hear you confessing. Rather than just Brenda, it was a little bit like a little bit of Reb, maybe. Bring a little Reb in here and say it. Really, what Reb's saying is really in your heart. But because you were like pulling it into the front gate to say it, got a little embarrassed. So now, just now, it came right from you. It wasn't paraphrasing anything, right? It was really from you.

[49:17]

That's good. I, because of what you've been teaching us now, with this great vow, Bodhisattva vow, and then practice, that contemplate how the way things are, And I felt embarrassed yesterday at church. And then I don't want to get away from this embarrassment. Or I would put myself there, okay, this is all, we are non-beings, no beings, so who would feel embarrassed? And that way I can escape myself, but I don't want to do that. So I just keep contemplating. my feeling, just be there. And that was actually a breakthrough moment for me, because yesterday was the first time I came up, because what you said, the definition of feedback, and you asked us to coming forth, and I, okay, it's what you said, so I came forth.

[50:27]

However, I never talk in front of people like that. No. It's almost looking from here is like a death row. Because this fear, I can see this from I am fearless bodhisattva, but the fear comes from my ego self. that I think I am, this mold itself. So fear arises and then this embarrassment. So it was a little while that I felt uneasy feeling in myself, but because of this contemplating the way I'm feeling, Suddenly I see myself that there's no embarrassment at all.

[51:31]

Just like I feel so free of just myself and then see the sangha. And actually nobody would say, oh, her English so no good or something, right? But I myself keep my inner voices just chattering. And now you contemplate those inner voices too. contemplate those inner voices chattering, the way they really are, and then you realize there's not a single inner voice. And that's how they're saved. That's how they're liberated.

[52:08]

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