Good morning Zen comrades. This weekend at here we have a group of about 30 people have been having a little retreat and the retreat was advertised under the title Zen action. And the retreat was proposed to consider the relationship between Zen meditation and what we call the Bodhisattva precepts right action in our everyday life.

[01:11]

How many people do not know what the Bodhisattva precepts are? Bodhisattva precepts in this school are 16. The first three are, you could say, going for refuge or taking refuge in the Buddha, taking refuge in the Dharma, and taking refuge in the Sangha. Those are the first three Bodhisattva precepts. And the word refuge is one translation of what's intended there. Another word that sometimes is used is conversion. Say the first three precepts are to convert to Buddha, to convert to Dharma, and to convert to Sangha.

[02:31]

It doesn't mean to convert to Buddhism. It means to convert to enlightenment, to convert to the truth of Buddha. which when seen awakens us and to convert to the assembly of beings whose lives are dedicated to a life of awakening. This is not a this is not joining a club in some limited sense. It's joining an unlimited assemblage of compassionate and wise beings. As the founder of this temple said one time, Buddhism is not one of those religions like

[03:40]

Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, or Buddhism. Buddhism is when those religions go beyond themselves When Christianity goes beyond itself, when Islam transcends itself, and when Buddhism goes beyond itself, that's Buddhism. And to the extent that we're religious beings, or non-religious beings, when we go beyond ourselves, that's Buddhism.

[04:49]

We go beyond our identity spiritually, psychologically, physically, nationally, sexually, whatever. When we transcend our our idea of ourself, then that's when Buddhism is realized. And that's called taking refuge in Buddha, taking refuge in Dharma, taking refuge in Sangha. The next three precepts are to refrain from all evil, to practice all good, and to benefit all beings. The next ten are not killing life, not stealing, or maybe I'll say no killing life, no stealing, no sexual greed, no lying, no intoxication, no intoxicants.

[06:10]

no speaking of others' faults, no praising the self while putting others down, no possessiveness, no anger, and no abuse of Buddha, Dharma, or Sangha. Those are the sixteen Bodhisattva precepts. Three plus three plus ten. So we've been considering the relationship between Zen meditation and these precepts. And as I've said many times, my historical experience was I was attracted to Zen meditation because I was attracted to the conduct, the daily life behavior of Zen monks. I saw and heard about their behavior and I was attracted to that way of living.

[07:20]

Then I found out that these people practice this kind of meditation. I didn't hear about these precepts at first. Many years later I heard that the way to enter the meditation which is practiced by these beings that attracted me so much, the way to enter that meditation practice is through these precepts. Then later I learned that the way to enter these precepts is through the meditation. The way to enter the precepts, to enter the heart or the core of these precepts, to enter the place where these precepts go beyond these precepts and become what they really are, is through the meditation. So again, what we've been doing this weekend is contemplating this interdependence between the precepts and the meditation and the kind of behavior that many of us find irresistibly attractive.

[08:37]

Anyway, back to the name of the Retreat, Zen action. I forgot the actual way it was put, Zen action. And I thought it was Zen in action. And when I thought of it, the first way I thought of it was like Zen going into action. Or what kind of action is Zen? Zen. That's when I first thought it said. But then when I listened to it again at the beginning of the retreat, I heard Zen in action as Zen non-action. And although I knew that that wasn't what I meant when I titled the retreat, I thought I should start with that. Zen non-action. Zen non-action. Because in a sense, the initiation into Zen practice is through our non-action.

[09:45]

That's why everybody's so interested in Zen in action, or Zen action. Because they know, oh yeah, Zen's about not doing anything. Zen's about not thinking. Zen's about not moving. Well, what happens when these not moving, not thinking beings, what do they do from there? How does that connect? As I said, I was attracted by the actions of these Zen practitioners. And then I found out that their actions come from, their beautiful actions come from their inactivity. So in some sense, the initiation into the meditation is initiation through settling into our inactivity. And our inactivity is us just being ourselves before we move.

[10:56]

the inactivity of each of us is precisely what we are right now. Not adding or subtracting the slightest thing. Not begrudging the way we are. Not hoping that we will be different in this moment. the inactivity of each of us is precisely what we mean by Buddha. Each of us, just as we are, before we move, before we bat an eyelash, is precisely what is meant by Buddha. And to return to that unmoving,

[11:59]

is to take refuge in Buddha and to convert to your unmoving being is to convert to the truth which awakens you. and to return to or convert to this to the inactivity of your being brings all beings to you. They will all come and meet you if you just don't run away or run

[13:07]

you know, run ahead of them or behind them. Don't resist this moment or try to get ahead of it. All beings will come to visit according to their schedule, not yours. not moving is not something that you can do. It's also not something you can not do. However, it is something that you can surrender to.

[14:17]

It's already going on. You can convert to it You can return to it, but you can't make it happen, and no one can make it go away. Your inactivity, which is who you really are, goes with you everywhere, has never been anywhere else but with you, and never will be anyplace else. To convert to this Buddha nature, you have to give up everything else. Because holding onto the slightest thing distracts and obscures your inactivity. The slightest holding is an activity. You have to give up all activity to have this inactive Buddha revealed.

[15:25]

Buddha does not do anything to illuminate all beings. Buddha is simply herself, no more, no less. And by being herself, she transcends herself and becomes light. And this light of transcendence through being a limited being is what illuminates all beings. So I have a long lecture to give today, which I haven't started yet. And so I won't be able to give it, but I'll just give a little bit of it. I'd like to talk about one of the Bodhisattva precepts. And...

[16:35]

Again, I suggest at the beginning that the entrance into this bodhisattva precept is by simply, completely becoming intimate with yourself. So intimate that there is not you and yourself anymore. so intimate with yourself that you're also intimate with others. You're intimate with the line, the line which separates you from others. You completely being yourself, you feel your limits and you accept your limits all the way to the end of your limits. And there you meet the line where others begin.

[17:43]

And you don't move. And you face up to that line and the anxiety and pain you feel at the line that separates you from all other beings. And there is where these precepts are realized. So the precept I'd like to talk about today is the third of the group of ten, the third grade precept, which traditionally in the Zen schools is called no sexual greed. Now this precept of no sexual greed has been transmitted now for thousands of years by bodhisattvas to bodhisattvas.

[18:53]

It has been transmitted by those whose lives are dedicated to realizing the greatest welfare for all beings before themselves. These beings have been transmitting these precepts, including this one of no sexual greed. It is transmitted to aid those who wish to help all beings become free of suffering before themselves. It is a teaching to bodhisattvas and it is a teaching aid for bodhisattvas to use. If we want to help all beings to the highest possible degree, we need to understand this precept for our own action and help others understand it too.

[19:59]

There are three aspects that I would point to to look at this precept, or three perspectives. The first perspective is to look at the precept from the conventional, worldly perspective. Next is to look at the precept through the perspective of compassion. and finally to look at the precept from the perspective of its ultimate meaning. These three aspects are actually presented one, two, three, but actually they must be integrated into one vision which sees the ultimate and the conventional and compassionate meaning of the precept simultaneously. Even though these meanings don't actually coexist and are in some sense contradictory to each other.

[21:10]

The mind of understanding can embrace them all. And the way to enter into this mind which understands these different aspects of this precept is just to find the you that doesn't move. that's always right under your nose. The conventional perspective on this precept means to look at this precept in the world where we see self and other, subject and object, as separate. and where names and language develop, where we have names for the self and the other, and we apply them with a sense of reality.

[22:22]

This is the conventional view, the conventional world, and we must deal with this precept here to some extent. So within this perspective, I will deal with language, with the word greed. And I'll just simply tell you one dictionary's definition. Greed is a rapacious desire for more than one needs or deserves. a rapacious sexual desire for more than one needs or deserves. Rapacious is related to the word raptor and the Latin root rapere, which means to seize.

[23:34]

It means taking by force, plundering, greedy, greedy. It means subsisting on live prey. Sexual greed is thus feeding some kind of demon with live prey. It is a kind of vampirism. To put it mildly, it is seriously harmful to our precious life and to the lives of others. So of course bodhisattvas sincerely vow to endeavor to protect all beings from the power of such greed. How does this greed

[24:39]

arise? How does sexual greed arise? There are many stories we can tell. I'll just tell one today. Within this conventional perspective, where self and other are seen as two and separate, there is a projection of reality upon this separation. And from this belief in the reality of this perception of our separation, the peaceful mind of oneness of self and other is obscured. When we then experience dualistic consciousness, which is basically wounded which is basically a wounded consciousness. The wound then is the source of anxiety and pain for self, for the self, about the other.

[25:56]

And there is then the impulse to act in some way to reunite our split mind. and hopefully eliminate the pain which arises from this split. It appears possible that by rejoining mind and object, self and other, this wound in our heart will be healed. However, that doesn't work. But to think that it will, if we thought it, if we think it will, if we think that by reaching over across the line which separates us and taking hold of the object or the other that that would put an end to this

[27:09]

rift which causes us so much pain, if we thought so, we would be highly motivated to do so, especially when we feel great anxiety, restlessness, nervousness, agitation, and so on about the separation. Such greed is powerful because at its root is the deep pain of separation. which we so terribly want to end and misguidedly think that by grabbing something or someone we will close this gap. We will do almost anything if we feel it will close this gap and heal this wound. Grabbing things doesn't heal the wound. The gap is still there.

[28:13]

And it's there because we have not yet seen through this gap. We have not seen how it's created and that it has no substantial existence. We have not yet closed the wound. We must recognize that in our wounded state we are dangerous to ourselves and to others as well. Most of us, I don't know most of us, some of us may not like to think of ourselves as dangerous critters, the walking wounded. But maybe we are, maybe like all of us, are the walking wounded, sexually wounded by our belief in our separation from the other.

[29:34]

So we can see from this definition of greed that sexual greed is actually the root of sexual stealing. like it or not, if we are not intimate with ourselves, including our sexual self, we are sexually wounded. In this wounded state we are liable to sexual greed and sexual stealing and sexual lying and so on. This precept is concerned with reversing the process of sexual greed. It is pointing to a turning from sexual stealing to sexual healing.

[30:45]

There is a pivot where we can turn and the pivot is found in intimacy with our self and in particular with intimacy or in intimacy with our sexual being. Some people, one person came to talk to me after I suggested this place of turning can be found in intimacy with sexuality. He said that after he heard me say that, he understood less about what this precept meant than before. And I said, what did you think the precept meant before you heard me say that? And he said, I thought the precept meant don't harm.

[31:48]

And I said, that's right, it does mean that. But it means more than that. On the conventional level, it means Certainly not harm. It means don't reach over that line and grab something to make your pain go away. Don't use the other. Don't use the other, whatever it is, as a means to remove your anxiety. That is harmful. But the precept means more than that, because until you're intimate with your sexuality, you're always tempted to reach over there and grab it. And, you know, it's just a matter of

[32:56]

There is a condition under which, if you're wounded, you will not be able to resist. All of us will fall for it, under some circumstances, until we heal this wound. This person that talked to me about this was one of the fortunate ones who is like spending a lot of his time on the edge of being harmful because he feels this sexual impulse very strongly. The impulse to close the gap by grabbing the living prey. and he's lucky. Those who feel this are the lucky ones. Some people are so far away from their sexual nature, are so wounded they don't even know they have a sexual nature.

[33:58]

These are really dangerous people. You're lucky if you're aware of it somewhere in the neighborhood. The farther away it is, the more you're possessed by it. Nobody doesn't have a sexual nature. The first step to moving to this place of intimacy where we turn from this wound to healing it is to become intimate with the woundedness and the greed that arises with that woundedness, to whatever extent it's there.

[35:03]

I guess for some of us it would mean to become intimate with no awareness of the woundedness at all. To face the fact that you don't see any woundedness and that you don't feel any greed under any circumstances. In other words, become intimate with your denial. Get yourself a little badge, you know, and wear it for other people to see so they are warned that you're That you're somebody who has no sexual problems, no sexual greed, you know. I have none, so they should know that about you. Like sort of in the other direction, Picasso said that he always felt like he should be wearing a little button that said, I'm Spanish. So people would understand him.

[36:10]

To whatever extent you're aware of it, first step is to turn towards and face this, to face this, this longing. This is, I guess, for most of us, bitter work. And we have a taste bud in our mouth for bitterness. It should be stimulated on a regular basis. If it's not, you're sick. There are bitter things in this world. And when they come, we should taste them. It's bitter to face this issue. It's bitter to face this wound. But unless we are intimate with this greed, we are liable and susceptible to it. from inside and outside. The closer we get, the more we face up to this condition, the condition of this greed, the closer we get to seeing its creation, to see its dependent co-arising.

[37:35]

And the more we see how it arises, the more beings are protected from it. Again, the key to finding this place where we turn from woundedness and the desire to heal this, the place we turn from the anxiety we feel in relationship to the sexual other, the place to find this is this line, the line the red line that separates us, that separates us in all ways, and that separates us in sexuality too. We are born from this line. It lives with us our whole life.

[38:38]

And unless we settle with this line, we can never wake up. If we're a little bit out of touch with this, we are a little bit enslaved by it. There's a famous Zen story about an old woman who for many years supported a yogi monk. She gave him a little hut and she fed him. for 20 years. And she decided she wanted to test him at a certain point to see how his meditation has been going. Had he become intimate with himself? And how does he handle this line?

[39:39]

How does he handle this line between himself and others? Between his sexuality and another's sexuality? For example... So she enlisted the help of a young woman who was described as rich in desire. And she told the girl to go visit this monk and caress him. And after she started caressing him, to say to him, what is it? So the girl went to the monk and did immediately commence to touch him in a caressing way.

[40:41]

And she did say, what is it? What is it? What is it? What is it at that moment? What is it? Are you there? What are you going to do? And the old monk said something like, this old withered tree is of no use to you. That was the way he handled the line. The girl then reported this to the old woman, and the old woman got very angry and said, at least he could have offered you some warmth in your state of need. There was no loving kindness in his response. So she went and burned down his hut. Although this monk did not seem to be responding to the girl out of sexual greed,

[41:58]

He also did not demonstrate compassionate skill of one who is intimate with his sexuality. At least the old lady didn't think so. And the girl didn't seem to think so either. She didn't come back and say, well, he said that, but actually it was really cool the way he did it. You know? It really did, kind of like it showed me something about myself, and I feel, you know, I feel less greedy somehow, even though nothing much happened. I feel healed, as a matter of fact, by the way that he said that. Now, when the old woman got angry, the girl just let her be angry. Neither one of them liked his response too much. It wasn't that encouraging, and he lost his house. And although his response, in a sense, protected the girl and himself against acting on the greed in the sense of stealing from her, his coldness may have hurt the girl and himself.

[43:08]

In any case, the old patron didn't like it. Even though we may try to restrain our sexual greed in order to protect beings, We may still harm them if we are not upright in our restraint and instead lean to the side of coldly disdaining beings for their humanness, which is really cold disdain for our own humanness. Being intimate with this greed means not to lean towards it or away from it. but to just see what it is. He drew a line, but he didn't do it from his unmoving self. It wasn't Buddha that drew the line.

[44:15]

It was some guy trying to be a some way, Sometimes it is helpful to draw a line and necessary to draw a line. So the monk in this story did draw a line, but it's not clear that his action came from a warm heart or that it was helpful. Although it can be very difficult, lines can be drawn in the midst of sexual passion. Clearly, kindly, and even with a sense of humor. But you have to be present to do that. But the one who's not moving can draw such a line, even if he's Spanish. Such lines can be drawn by passionate beings if you're present in the middle and intimate with that passion.

[45:33]

And beings are not harmed in that case. As a matter of fact, they're encouraged to do the same, to join in such a line drawing and to move forward. Another story which is quite similar is about another Zen monk who was walking through the capital of Kyoto, I mean, of Japan, during the Tokugawa era, which is Edo, the town of Edo, which is now Tokyo. He's walking through a busy street, and from a second-story window, a prostitute called out to him. And she called him by his family name. And he called back and said, how do you know my name? She said, I used to be your neighbor when we were kids. But then there was a famine.

[46:41]

And there was a practice in those days of when there was a famine, sometimes girls allowed themselves to be sold into prostitution to save the family. So she was a prostitute, and that's how she came to be one. He went up. She invited him to come up. He came up, and they talked. And she laid down in the bed, and he sat still in meditation. And she reached over and tugged at his sleeves, tug-tug, and said, You've been so kind. I want to show you my appreciation. No one will know. And he said, Your job is reclining.

[47:46]

My job is sitting upright. Now you do your job and I'll do mine. And so she did, and so did he. He drew a line, too, with clarity, kindness, and good humor. It is possible to do so. Protecting beings from harm in situations like this often requires great skill. He had it. This is especially true when there is a deep bond of love between individuals involved.

[48:48]

There is a deep and complicated connection between fathers and daughters. One of the most powerful threads in this bond is sexual. There is also a deep sense of separation which may or may not be conscious. If it's conscious, it's painful. If it's unconscious, it's painful unconsciously. Arising together with the sense of separation, there is a great deal of anxiety on both sides, again, conscious or unconscious. Under these circumstances, it is likely that either or both parties will seek to do something to escape this anxiety.

[49:52]

Some fathers who are unable to face this anxiety and be upright with it may seek relief by confusing or obscuring the line which separates father from daughter and daughter from wife. They may do something to suggest that the girl could have a kind of relationship with him that her mother has. namely, that they could be lovers. Unable to face the anxiety, conscious or unconscious, some fathers let this confusion arise. This and other similar attempts to distract himself from his anxieties in relationship to his daughter can be very harmful to her. On the other hand, some fathers who are unable to face the anxiety are too strict or too cold, and they harm their daughters in a different and perhaps equally serious way.

[51:11]

By making clear that the daughter can never be a lover, They do so in such a way that the daughter feels rejected. Again, because they can't be still in the intensity of their relationship and face it. Their hand shakes and they swing over to the side of coldness and the girl feels rejected by someone she feels deeply connected with. It is every father's responsibility to draw a line with his daughter with clarity, kindness, and good humor. But not joking about it, and thus again leaving some room for confusion. The question may be how to come close to that feeling of anxiety and settle with it so that the girl is protected.

[52:29]

Sometimes it is very difficult to find, to settle into and be upright and gentle in that place of pain and anxiety so that the father's job But that is the father's job, and it is necessary to accomplish it for the sake of his daughter. In this way, you know, no man should become a father unless he's willing to be a great yogi. Because that's what it takes at those moments. From the time my daughter was born, I gave her baths. In that way, I was very close to her from the time she was a newborn. I gave her her first bath, but not her last.

[53:34]

So I did this with her. We together in the bathtub, until she was about eight years old, At which time a little bird suggested to me that it was time for this practice to stop. I didn't think of it myself. My wife and mother-in-law helped me notice that things were progressing in a certain way. The girl was growing up and becoming a woman. To make a long story short, one night in the bathtub I said, you know, I think maybe it's time for us to stop taking baths together. And she said, why? This was before I didn't answer why questions. Anyway,

[54:44]

I said, well, let's see. Well, don't you think it would be funny for your mom to take a bath with her dad, your grandfather? And she said, yeah, that would be weird or something. And I said, well, have you noticed that you're growing up and getting to be more like your mom? She said, yeah. I said, well can you see how it's getting to be more like your mom taking a bath with her dad, for you to take a bath with your dad now? She said, yeah. Okay, she said. We won't take baths together anymore. You know, this was, in a sense, a big loss to me, because this is one of the main things I did with her.

[55:49]

I mean, I didn't take her shopping, you know, I didn't take her to get her haircuts, I didn't give her haircuts, I didn't take her to get her ears pierced, you know. A lot of the stuff that she did with her parents, she did with her mom, they're more kind of like, more in common in a way. But this is one thing that we did together. And we had some great baths. But then I had to stop that. I had to draw a line because she was becoming a woman. And she needed to go on to become a woman. So there it was. And then a little while later, after the bath was over, I was in the bedroom with her mother and she came in to the, stuck her head into the door of the bedroom and looked kind of sad and, sad and, I don't know what the other word is.

[56:52]

Sad and musing, maybe. Sad and poetic. Poetically sad. I might even say a tinge of mythically sad. And I think her mom said, are you sad? And she said, yeah. I said, you know your dad still loves you, don't you? And she said, yeah. And then I saw this thing on her face. It was as though I saw her look across the room and out the window and to a great horizon far out beyond what she knew. And she knew that something had ended, but there was something coming that she wanted that was her destiny.

[57:58]

And now she could move forward towards that. I don't know if I did my job right or wrong. It's very delicate not to reject with coldness and a lack of loving kindness on one side and on the other not to dally or tease and confuse. But with the aid of her mother and grandmother and a psychotherapist I tried to find a balance place and guide her.

[59:03]

She did her job, which was to grow up and leave her father. I did my job of allowing her to grow up and helping her leave me. This precept of no sexual greed is not cold at all. The spirit of this precept is anything but cold to the suffering of all beings. It is given in order to reveal the sublime and subtle warmth of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. It is rooted in inconceivable, boundless, all-pervading warmth.

[60:08]

The awakened ones find the appropriate response to sexuality. This precept is an expression of the burning desire to benefit all beings. In order to realize this precept, we must realize Zen in action. At that place, we can draw the line that we need to draw, and we can be at peace with it. This is page six of fourteen pages, so I can't finish before one or two o'clock.

[61:36]

But I'll let you go pretty soon. If you want, I'll tell you a little bit more, a few more stories in question and answer. but I just want to say, jumping toward the end of my talk, at the end of my talk, like to the end of my talk, to the last thing I'm going to say in this lifetime, and that is that the mind of Buddha The mind of Buddha is intimate with sexuality. If you're not intimate with your own sexuality, that will block your Buddhahood. The precept of no sexual greed is realized by being intimate with this red line that is in all of us

[62:50]

to be settled with that and at peace with that and understand that so that there's no greed. And then at that place of settling, the anxiety drops away and there's no motivation for greed and there's no misuse of sexuality. This is the mind. This is the meditation of all Buddhas. This precept is one aspect of that mind, one aspect of intimacy with yourself. Intimacy with sexuality is no sexual greed. They are intentional.

[64:15]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_93.49