today in the afternoon in this temple we will have a ceremony to give seven people a formal initiation into the practice of the sattva precepts. But before I talk about this ceremony and the Bodhisattva precepts, I don't want to skip over the context for these precepts, which is a world which is full of life and death. a world that is full of crises, personal crises, family crises.

[01:11]

intergovernmental crises. And now we have, of course, the great environmental crises. A life full of dangers and opportunities. So I don't want to, I feel I need to mention many of us are feeling these crises and deeply concerned about them. And this temple could be said to be devoted to training human beings, for example, to train human beings so that they may respond to these different crises in a way peace and freedom in the midst of them, in a way to promote appropriate responding

[02:52]

appropriate responsibility for all these crises to promote great compassion and wisdom. And the path to realizing great compassion and great wisdom in the midst is sometimes called the bodhisattva path, the path of those who are learning great compassion and great wisdom. So part of the learning process for many of these bodhisattvas, these beings who are dedicated to learning great responsibility, great compassion, and great wisdom, is to receive instruction

[04:18]

to receive precepts. The word precept etymologically is made of two parts. One part is before and the other part to take, to take before. and you put the two together and often they mean in Latin a warning or to warn or instruct. So these teachings are to warn about how to proceed but also to instruct. We had a rehearsal on Friday and we were discussing different ways of really expressing these precepts.

[05:23]

And in this particular tradition we have 16 bodhisattva precepts. The first three are going for refuge in the Buddha, genuine in the Dharma, the true teachings. and in the Sangha, the community of those who support each other in realizing Great Awakening. The first three precepts for refuge in these three jewels. The next three are called the three pure bodhisattva precepts. The first one is to embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies, conduct. The second one is to embrace and sustain all wholesome activities.

[06:29]

The third is to embrace and sustain all beings. Those are the three pure precepts. The three aspects of the precepts. And then we have ten major Bodhisattva precepts, which are the precept of not killing, precept of not stealing, precept of not misusing sexuality, precept of not lying, And precept of not intoxicating mind and body. And then the precept of not praising yourself while putting others down. And then the precept of not being possessive

[07:35]

And then the precept of not harboring. And then the precept of not disparaging, not speaking in a disrespectful way about Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Those are the precepts that will be given at noon. and we were discussing the language of the ten major precepts and one way we speak about them and again this is speaking or this is using words about something that is beyond words. These are ways of talking about an authentic awakening the Buddha mind and heart beyond words.

[08:41]

And even though it's beyond words, it can be actualized in words. So these are words beyond words. which then people can ask to receive and be given by somebody else who has received them from somebody else and so on. We give the precepts, the person received the precepts, and these are words about the thing that's beyond words. that brings peace and freedom to living beings in crisis. These are words about becoming free and at peace in crisis.

[09:53]

We've got the crisis. What we need is the peace and freedom. These words are given to help us realize peace and freedom. And one way of putting the ten that we have used here is, a disciple of Buddha does not kill. A disciple of Buddha does not steal. a disciple of Buddha does not misuse sexuality, which we have used. And another way, which is the way it traditionally is said in the ceremony in Asia, is precept of not killing, precept of not stealing, precept of not misusing sexuality and so on.

[11:04]

One of the people who is intending to receive the precept this afternoon said, I like the descriptive rather than or more than the prescriptive So a prescription is a recommendation. Like the doctor gives you a prescription for aspirin. So I think he meant that a disciple of Buddha does not kill is a descriptive. Describes disciples of Buddha. Disciples of Buddha don't kill. if we kill at that moment, we're not really a disciple of Buddha. Disciples of Buddha do not kill, do not lie.

[12:17]

So he said he liked the prescriptive more than the prescriptive. But I would say these major precepts, in a way they are descriptive. And they are descriptive, I mean prescriptive. In one sense, they're recommendations. But in another sense, they describe something. In a way, is for human consciousness. And the descriptive is describing our Buddha mind. So you can see these, for example, these ten precepts of not killing and so on, as in one sense recommendations for human consciousness.

[13:33]

At the same time, they could be seen as descriptions of the mind and heart of the Buddha. They're descriptions of something which is beyond these words. The Buddha mind can be described as not stealing. That's the description of it. But that mind which could be described by what it is not. Buddha mind is not killing, is not stealing, is not misusing sexuality. That mind is not. So it's describing by saying what it isn't. You can also say what it is, but that description does not reach it. you can say, it's great wisdom. That's fine. It's true. It's a wisdom beyond the word wisdom.

[14:44]

But it's a wisdom which can talk, which can actualize wisdom in language. It's beyond language and it can actually be a thing beyond language in language. so that people can see it demonstrated and awaken to it. Once again, these precepts can be seen as instructions to consciousness, to what we call a karmic consciousness of living human beings. And in consciousness we have language and we also have the sense in consciousness of me, or I, and actions, and that I do actions. That sense of I do the actions is delusion.

[15:51]

It's a delusion. In consciousness that is thoroughly studied, we see that there's an I and there's action, but actually they're just neighbors. The I doesn't do the action and the action doesn't do the I. It's just that I's come up with actions and actions come up with I's. Human consciousness is its language, its words and phrases, and it's confusion. And the confusion is centered on the self. But it's not the confusion is the self, it's just a neighbor of the self. The self has these neighbors which are confusion, ignorance about the self, confusion about the self's relationship to everything else that's going on.

[16:54]

That's the normal situation. And as you can get a feel, it's really practice compassion. That situation is disorienting, confusing, giddy, agitating, and of course full of fear. So you could see these precepts as recommendations of consciousness. So in this consciousness, if you think you do things, okay. Well, if you think you do things, well then, don't kill. Don't steal. Listen to that teaching and study what it's like to have self and activities. In this situation, you know, the precepts could be seen as and felt as a burden. So I have to carry these precepts in the middle of this, I'm doing a lot of stuff.

[18:02]

That's what it's like there. The precepts are a burden. Okay, but it's a good burden. It's rather than the burden of, well, I have to kill that would also be a burden. But there's another way of seeing the precepts which is not so much that I have to carry them around and I have to, like, do them. Rather, they come and then I am uplifted. I am buoyed up and carried forth by these precepts. These precepts give me life. I am born of the precepts. So that way it's not me doing them, it's kind of like them doing them. Again, now I'm looking at the precepts as descriptive of the Buddha mind, and I meditate on these precepts, or I remember these precepts, and I remember these precepts.

[19:14]

I don't exactly do them. I'm remembering them. And there's remembering them. There's remembering, not killing, not stealing. And remembering and remembering until there's intimacy with them. And in the intimacy, I don't do them. I don't do me. In the intimacy, they are my actual nature. My actual nature is not killing. Again, if you're doing stuff, you might as well add the precepts to the list of things you're doing. However, when I think I do not killing, I just separated myself a little bit from it. Really what I am is not killing.

[20:16]

Really what Buddha is and what you are is not killing. That's the reality of the Buddha mind which brings peace and freedom in the middle of crises. So again, rather than do these precepts or don't do the not precepts, become intimate with them become them by receiving them and remembering them and practicing them in intimacy with no duality between you and the precepts. Again, the prescriptive way is nice because you can actually grasp the precepts.

[21:19]

The prescriptive way you can grasp, the prescriptive way of the precepts you can grasp, and you can even go to a pharmacy and get the prescription filled. And then you can do it, which is fine. It's good. And you can discover by the path that that's a path which, although it's wholesome generally, or it's heading in a wholesome direction, it's a burden. The other way is not a burden. It's an uplifting, joyous life. which you can give to others because it's given to you. It's not operated by you or me. It's what we're doing together all the time already. That's the Buddha mind. It's uplifting. So one of the stories that

[22:34]

is relevant here occurred in the eighth century in China. There was a monk and his name is Yaoshan Wanyi. And Yaoshan means and Shanmi's mountain. So we call him Medicine Mountain. His monk name was Wani. And he studied the Buddha's teaching widely. And he practiced the Buddha's preaching thoroughly. That's what they say about him. And I imagine him practicing the bodhisattva precepts scrupulously, thoroughly. That's what it says in the record, that what was going on there is he was practicing these precepts in his karmic consciousness, and he was trying to do them, and he was trying to do them thoroughly, and he thoroughly tried to do them thoroughly.

[23:56]

I would say he was really thoroughly trying to do the precepts. And he got really worn out. But he really did try. And then he heard about some of the Zen people. He wasn't in a Zen. He didn't have a Zen teacher. He had a precept teacher and a scripture teacher. And he studied thoroughly. And he heard, but he was becoming worn out and kind of discouraged. Kind of like, oh, what's the point of this? Anyway, he heard about the Zen people who he heard they directly point to the human mind or the human heart. And they see nature.

[25:02]

They see this nature, which is beyond words, the nature of Buddha. And they become Buddha. And he was attracted to this, so he writes... went and he, it's just amazing that this guy found one of the greatest teachers in the whole world at that time. The teacher's name was Sher To, which means stone head or stone top, because he sat on top of a stone, probably a flat stone. So they called him on top of the stone. Sher To, he went to see, he got to meet Sher To. What a fortunate guy. All worn out from trying to practice the Bodhisattva precepts. Almost ready to give up.

[26:08]

But then he heard of another possibility, another way to become Buddha other than by personal power and personal doing. Beyond. Beyond. a Zen way, which is a way of having a conversation with somebody about your precept practice. So you're trying to do the precept practice, you're trying to do the precept practice, just about ready to give up, and then you think, well, maybe I'll go have a conversation with one of these people who can directly point me to my own mind. rather than using my mind to practice the precepts, how about looking at them and discover them?" So he went to Shinto and he told him about his situation. And he said, I have been studying, I understand a little bit, but please, out of compassion, would you please show me proper orientation?

[27:22]

And Shih Tzu said something like, in Chinese, of course, translated into English as, Being that way won't do. Being that way won't do. Being both this way and that way won't do at all. How about you? And the wonderful monk had nothing had nothing to say. He couldn't tell the teacher about his own mind. He was actually I guess the teacher just saw him and saw, oh, this guy's into this and that.

[28:30]

That's what he's doing. He's doing this and that, this and that all day long, and he's really getting discouraged. This, precepts, that, not the precepts. Practicing the precepts, this, not practicing the precepts, that, this and that, this and that. Even put aside that, even this won't do. Not to mention also that. This is not the way. You're trying to practice the precepts. Good boy. But how about you? How about you? Apparently, all this time he had never checked out himself. He never... ...precepts and studied Buddhism, he never, like, nobody ever said, well, how about you? You're studying the scriptures, how about you? You're studying the precepts, you're practicing the precepts, how about you? I guess nobody asked him before.

[29:31]

Finally somebody asked him. After he asked for somebody to ask him. And somebody did. He wasn't used to looking and came up with what we might sometimes call nothing. I'm not sure of the next line of the story, but it might be something like, you know, you who care nothing about yourself, you who have nothing to say when I ask you how about your life, go see a friend of mine named Master Ma. And he did. He went to see Master Ma. And yeah. And another amazing thing happened. He went to see Master Ma and he basically said the same thing. Maybe he told him about his conversation with on top of the stone and Master Ma.

[30:40]

Sometimes Now here you can say he, she, or they. Or I. Today I'm going to say, sometimes they raise their eyebrows and blink. This refers, you could say, back to a Buddha and one of his students where the Buddha raised a flower and twirled it and the student smiled. Oh, excuse me. The Buddha raised the flower, raised his eyebrows and blinked. Sometimes eyebrows and blink.

[31:42]

And by the way, sometimes they raise their eyebrows and wink. A wink is a one-eyed blink. Right? Sometimes Buddhas are one-eyed blinkers and sometimes two-eyed blinkers or two-eyed winkers. Sometimes. Sometimes they raise their eyebrows. The Buddhas, they raise their eyebrows and wink. Blink. Sometimes they do not raise their eyebrows and Sometimes raising the eyebrows and blinking is right. Sometimes raising the eyebrows and winking is not right. How about you? So now Yao Shang was ready to look and he looked and he saw his nature and he became Buddha.

[32:53]

He got about where not to go and he went right to his heart and he discovered the Buddha and the Buddha precepts. and he was a Buddha. And I don't know what he did, maybe he started bowing, I forgot what he did, but there was some expression coming out of this beyond words. And then the teacher says, what did you see such that you're behaving? And he said, Now I see that when I was with Cherto, I was like a mosquito mounting an iron bull. Or sometimes they say, like a mosquito trying to bite an iron bull. So anyway, that story could also be phrased, sometimes I teach them the precepts, I teach them not the precepts.

[34:22]

Sometimes teaching the precepts is right, sometimes it's not. How about you? How about you is a question which can arise in your consciousness when nobody's talking to you. Yep. Nobody was talking to me and I just looked in my mind and I heard, how about you? Try it. Did you hear it? However, it's also important to have a conversation with somebody where somebody says to you, how about you? See what that's like.

[35:25]

So internally, intrapsychically, and interpersonally, we need to be asking, how about you? How about me? How is it going in my life? Where is the Buddha mind? Where are the Bodhisattva precepts? And so we have a chance to receive them, to remember them, practice them, and transmit them. Now we have them, and the question is, how do we take care of them? This afternoon, they will be given, and the people who they're given to will be asked, basically, do you want to continue taking care of them?

[36:31]

And they will say, probably, if they don't, then we'll stop the ceremony. But I will say, from now on, and even after realizing Buddhahood, will you continue to observe these precepts? Will you remember these precepts? Will you practice these precepts? And they will say, yes I will. Abiding according, living according to these precepts, remembering these precepts, remembering the precept of not killing. From now on, will you continue to observe that precept of not killing? And they will say, yes, I will. From now on, will you remember that precept? Yes, I will. And I was saying, will you never forget that precept? We're not asking that. We're asking, will you remember?

[37:32]

And the answer is, yes. The answer is not, will you never forget? Because sometimes we But when we forget, we vow to remember. And then when we remember that we forgot, we say, sorry, I forgot. Forgot to look at our true nature, our true nature. Also, there's a practice of confessing when you forget to remember and saying you're sorry, the practice of confession and repentance. And we also ask them, will you continue that practice? And they say, yes, I will. It's not that we're never going to forget. The understanding is I want to remember and I commit to remember I do commit to remember, but I don't say I'm going to be able to.

[38:32]

I just commit to it. I commit to great compassion, great wisdom. I commit to, how about me? How about you? I'm committed to how about you? In that way, I'm like the ancient teacher. They were committed to how about you? in the midst of crisis. How about me? How about you? Please take care of it.

[39:14]

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