There are many Dharma topics which are sort of up for me to discuss with you. I can hardly imagine having enough space to bring them all up, but I'm going to bring some of them up. Carolyn, would you like to sit in your seat up here? Pardon? Oh, okay. So one of the topics I'd like to talk to you about is the first of the so-called major bodhisattva precepts. And that's one topic. That precept, the first of the major or sometimes also called the heavy bodhisattva precepts.

[01:03]

The first one is the precept of not killing. I'd like to talk to you about that. Another thing I'd like to talk to you about relates to the name of this practice place, No Abode. I'd like to talk about the mind of No Abode. The bodhisattva's mind of No Abode. And I'd also like to talk to you about the Buddha. And I'd also like to talk to you about our basic practice in so-called Soto Zen, our basic practice of concentrated awareness on Buddha. I'd also like to talk to you about the teaching of Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra. Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra is a very important chapter, especially in Soto Zen, as transmitted through the Japanese ancestor, Eihei Dogen, whose verses we just recited.

[02:16]

And I'd like to talk to you about how Chapter 16 and our basic practice are related, and how our basic meditation practice of concentrated awareness on Buddha is also spoken of in the Lotus Sutra, Chapter 16. I'm kind of like, I'm sort of opening to inspiration about how to bring all this up. I already did. Or I should say it was already brought up accidentally. Earlier, when we were sitting, I said that we are sitting together.

[03:29]

We still are, upright. And I asked, is this sitting together filling the whole universe? And is the whole universe this filling, this sitting together? So I asked you that question and now I propose to you that sitting together or walking together or standing together upright in the way that fills the whole universe and in the way that the whole universe fills are sitting together. I propose to you now that that is Buddha. That is what is meant by me by the word Buddha.

[04:33]

Buddha is how our practice together fills the whole universe and how the whole universe fills our practice together. That's Buddha. I propose that to you. So Buddha is a practice. And it's the practice of all beings together. And the practice of all beings together fills the whole universe. And of course the whole universe, when it fills the practice of all beings together, that's what I mean by Buddha. It's a practice. And in this school, to be concentrated on that Buddha. It's not so much to be concentrated on the historical person who lived in India, but it includes that, because the historical person in India told people in this world about the actual Buddha, opened people's

[05:48]

minds to the actual Buddha, which is a practice. So in this school we are encouraged to receive the teaching and use the teaching that the practice of Buddha is the practice of all beings together. And of course a Buddha is not just one person, Buddha is the practice of all beings together. But one person can enter the practice of all beings. You can enter the practice of all beings. Because the practice of all beings is always available to you. So you can enter it. You can eat it. and you can let it enter you and consume you.

[06:53]

It's not you all by yourself, but you all by yourself can enter the realm of new you, not all by yourself at all. You can enter the realm of Buddha. And again, to be aware of that, to be mindful of this actual Buddha, which is the practice of Buddha, to be mindful of the practice of Buddha, is the central mindfulness of this school. And we do rituals like sitting together here to enact, to physically and mentally enact the mindfulness of the total practice of Buddha, the total practice of all beings. This sitting is a ritual enactment honoring and celebrating the practice of all beings.

[07:56]

We're doing a personal exercise to give ourselves to the practice of all beings. We're doing a personal exercise to open ourselves to the practice of all beings, which is always, of course, which is always, of course, near, but you can't see it. So, in one of the teachings of Dogen he says, he describes the realm, he describes the way all beings are working together to perform Buddha's practice. And I think maybe today we will recite this teaching. this description of how, this story actually, a story about how all beings are interacting, how the humans and the non-humans and the celestials and the walls and the tiles and the grasses and the trees and the water and the wind, how they're all interacting to perform Buddha's practice, to perform Buddha.

[09:06]

We'll recite that maybe today. And in that text it says, after telling a story about this one practice of all beings working together, it says, all this, however, does not appear within perception. All this, however, you can't see. Now, of course, as you know, you can look at the ocean and dive in and think that you see the ocean, but you can't see the ocean. You can just see a little bit of it. like the part that splashes in your face, you can see. You can taste it. But you don't taste the whole ocean. You can see it, you can touch it, you can taste it, but you can enter it and live it. And you can have your own little perceptions of it. But the way it's all working is not one of your perceptions, even though you're a perceptual being in the ocean. Same way you can enter Buddha, have your perceptions, or you can have your perceptions and not enter Buddha.

[10:12]

But that's not so good. In this school it's not good not to enter Buddha. It's good to enter Buddha and let Buddha enter you. But just don't expect that the Buddha is something you're going to be able to perceive It's not mixed with your perceptions, and your perceptions aren't excluded, they're included, but they don't get it. So that teaching by the ancestor Ehe Dogen connects with the Lotus Sutra, which maybe we'll also recite today, chapter 16. where the Buddha says, I'm always thinking about how I can help beings. And the Buddha says, I'm always close to all beings. I'm always close. The Buddha is saying, I'm always close to each of you, to you and everybody else. However, I can't be seen.

[11:16]

by perception, but I'm always close. Although I can't be seen, if people practice in a certain way and open to me, they will see me in a different way than they usually see things. They'll see me by practicing. And as I mentioned in the one day sitting earlier this week, was it earlier this week? Monday. Was it like Monday? This is still the same week, right? Saturday is the end and Sunday is the beginning. Towards the beginning of this week I mentioned that during the one day sitting that, and I mentioned it here too, that one way to talk about Zen is, first one part is cleaning the temple and the other part is is practicing Buddha.

[12:23]

Or one part is tidy up the body and mind, and the other part is enter the Buddha mind. Those two parts. Sometimes if we're really... If our house is a mess, if our body and mind is a mess, we feel like, you know, give me a break. I can't enter Buddha. I got to like get my wife's permission to go to meditate. I got to clean the house. I've got to get a babysitter for my dog. I have to, okay, tidy up. Is it all tidied up now? Did you take care of everything? Is the house clean? Do you have your clothes on? Do you brush your teeth? Okay, you ready? Okay, you ready? Did you clean up enough? Are you tidy enough? Well, if not, tidy up more. Are you tidied up enough to walk into the ocean of Buddha's mind and go swimming?

[13:28]

If you don't feel ready, I don't know. Do some exercises. Brush your teeth. Put some Vaseline on your body so it won't be so cold. Whatever you need. Wear a wetsuit. And when you're ready, enter the ocean. And so we have to settle down in our body and mind first. We have to feel that it's okay with the world if we just stop thinking about later today. Can I really not think about later today? Well, yeah. I don't think so. What do you need to be able to give it up? I need somebody to tell me it's all right for me to do this. Okay. Who do you need? I need that person. Okay, ask him. Okay, you can sit. You can be here. So, Tayo, is it okay with Susan that you're here? Is it okay with Susan if you don't think about this evening?

[14:33]

Okay. Okay. So everybody has to tidy up, probably, to get ready to enter the actual practice. So you have to tidy up. You have to clean the temple. Although we didn't do that today. Well, actually, Aaron cleaned the temple for us. Aaron cleaned up. So you can come right in here. You don't have to clean up. You can just come right in here and sit down. And then you just have to clean up your body and mind. And then when you're ready and when you've cleaned up your body and mind, when you're ready, you can enter the name of this temple. You can enter the mind of no abode. You can enter Buddha. So I, yeah. So I was going to tell you about some Zen stories about the mind of no abode.

[15:43]

If you're ready. Are you ready? Okay, so here's one story. Once upon a time there was a Zen master and his name was I think his name was Xiang Yang, Xiang Yang, Xiang Yang. And so he was in a situation of giving a talk, a meeting with his monks that he practiced with, and he said, Carolyn, there's some paper in that room where I was meeting people, and it's kind of on gray-green paper.

[17:15]

It's like a newsletter. Would you please go get it? So he says to the monks, he says, it's like a person up a tree. Up a tree. I think the tree's like on the side of a cliff, about a thousand feet above the ground. So a person's up in a tree on a cliff, and he's biting one of the branches with his mouth. And he's not holding on to the tree with his hands or feet. And someone comes up to him and says, what it was the intention of the ancestor coming from the West. So this refers to another story. The spiritual, not historical really,

[18:21]

The spiritual founder of the Zen school in China is called Bodhidharma. And he's supposed to have come from the West, India. He went West. He came from the West and he went East to China. And in China he gave people the practice of the Buddha that I've been talking to you about. So then people after that started in the tradition that looks back to him, they often ask, what was his intention in coming here? And then over the centuries, many teachers asked many students and many students asked many teachers, what is the intention of the ancestor coming from the West? So, yeah. So this Zen teacher, Xiang Yan, sets up this situation for the monks, okay?

[19:37]

And then he says, so if you're like, if someone's in that situation or if you're in that situation where you're hanging by your teeth a thousand feet in the air, and someone comes to you and asks you, excuse me, what is the intention of the ancestor coming from the West? And then the Zen teacher says, now, if you open your mouth to answer, you will forfeit your body and lose your life. If you don't answer him, well, you flunk Buddhism 101. you don't answer that question. So that's not so good. So he says, so how should we practice when we're in that place? So I'm proposing that that place, that's the mind of no-abode, where you're hanging by your teeth from a tree a thousand feet up, and people are asking you, what's the point of Buddhism?

[20:52]

That's also what it's like being close but not seeing. That's also what it's like to be a Buddha all around you and now you're ready to respond. And I'm not saying that you should open your mouth and fall to your death. And I'm not saying you should hold on and fail the test. I'm saying that this place is the place where the ancestors lived. This is the mind of no abode. But maybe you want to tidy up a little bit before you go to that place. I'm going to go sit today. Is it okay if I never come back? Because I probably shouldn't open my mouth because then I might not be able to come back. What do we do there? So that's what he asked.

[22:06]

That's the question, that's the situation. He's trying to have people imagine the mind of no abode. And then how would you respond to the question in that space? So at that time, a senior monk came forth from the group and said, I'm not asking about when he's up the tree please tell us reverend teacher how about when he's not yet up in the tree and the teacher laughed heartily and then again this Zen ancestor Dogen says Remember, remember, we should realize that all Buddha ancestors who answer the question, all Buddha ancestors who answer the question, what is the intention of coming from the West, have answered as they encountered the moment of up in the tree,

[23:33]

biting the branch. That's where the Buddha ancestors are. They're encountering that place, that situation, when they answer the question. And all Buddha ancestors who ask about the intention of the ancestor coming from the West have asked it as they encounter the moment of up the tree, biting the branch. Okay, so there's one more big topic, but I think I'll talk about that later in the afternoon, the topic of the wonderful practice of the practice, the teaching practice, the practice of the teaching, the teaching not killing.

[24:41]

I'll talk about that later. It's kind of related to this, but I think I already have brought up a little bit. So, are we tidied up enough to encounter the moment of the mind of no abode, to encounter the moment of biting a branch a thousand feet up? And now from that place, you're welcome to answer the question of What is the intention of the ancestors? Oh, I want to tell you one more story, which I think a lot of you heard.

[25:46]

It kind of comes up in relationship to the one I just told. Now this story is not so historical. The one I just told you is supposedly a record of something that a Zen teacher actually said and something one of the students who has a name came forward and talked about. But this story is not so historical. This story is just about a girl, sometimes they say it's a boy, who is walking around along this planet on the ground in a place where there's tigers, and the tiger starts moving towards the person, but the person doesn't want to be close to the tiger. So the person starts moving away from the tiger, kind of running away from the tiger, and the person comes to a cliff. Now this person just, I guess, happens to have a little

[26:51]

a rope with her. So she ties the rope onto something and lowers herself over the cliff. And it's one of those tall cliffs, about the same size as this cliff where the tree is. It's about 1,000 feet tall. And she's hanging from El Capitan by this rope. And the tiger's looking down at her, drooling. And drops of drool are coming down, hitting her on the forehead. She's strong. She can hold on to that rope. She knows how to make little, how to turn it around and hold on. So she can hold on for a while here. Maybe the tiger will get bored and go away. And if he doesn't, she can live on his saliva.

[27:55]

Tiger saliva is very nutritious. But she notices out of the wall of the cliff a little rodent emerges and looks at her and looks at the rope and thinks, ah, that rope, I could use that to enhance my nest. So the rodent starts to gnaw on the rope. The rodent's gnawing on the rope. And the rope starts to get frayed So she becomes afraid that the rope's going to break and that she will fall. But she doesn't want to climb back up real quick because the tiger's still there. And then she notices that there's some wild strawberries growing on the cliffside.

[29:00]

And she reaches out and harvests some strawberry. And she eats it. And it's very delicious. Yes, Laurie. Well, so I've heard that story told almost from like two opposite, with two opposite morals, you could say. Yeah. And I was waiting to see which, when you were going to tell it, but of course you didn't have any moral fears.

[30:14]

Did you say it has two morals you've heard and you're waiting to see what moral I would bring up? But of course I didn't say any morals. Not killing. Yes? So one is that... But you will say the morals. Well, I don't need to. She doesn't need to, but she could. I was talking during that one day sitting, I was... doing something, I don't know what I was doing but maybe Gordon can remember. I was doing something and somebody asked for an explanation and I somehow wasn't able to give it so somebody else gave it. This is one of the nice things about the Zen tradition is that there's a history of teachers not giving explanations and referring them to other people. like Master Ma. The monk comes up and says, what's the moral of this story?

[31:17]

And Master Ma says, I have a headache today. Go ask Laurie. And then Laurie, in this case, we'll see what Laurie does. Well, what's the moral here of this story? Of the girl hanging from the rope above? And also, I mean, what kind of story is it that can have two opposite morals? Yeah. Two opposite and also something in between the two opposite. What kind of a story is it that could have infinite morals? Huh? What kind of a story is that? Sounds like a Zen story. Zen's very fortunate it gets to be the story that has infinite meanings. And by the way, The Lotus Sutra emerges from a samadhi called the samadhi of infinite meanings. Laurie... Should I tell them or should we sort of, like, canvas everybody and see what we think the moral is?

[32:25]

Yeah, we could... You could tell us the two opposite. You could canvas people. Or we could just move on and forget about the meaning of the ancestor coming from the West. but you know anyway at the lunch break if you want to find out go ask Sister Lori she might tell you but she also might say I'm tired go ask Brother John go ask him he might tell you but he also might say when it comes to this I don't know anything at all And then you might come back to me. And if you do, you will be reenacting our tradition. By the way, is anybody trying to get anything? The mind of no abode includes everybody who's trying to get something, but it's not trying to get anything.

[33:28]

But if any of you want to get something, you're welcome in this mind, which isn't trying to get anything. Did you want to say something, young lady? Well, I don't know anything either. If I did, I wouldn't answer. That's what you think. She thinks she knows that, but she wouldn't answer. The strawberry, I associate the strawberry with the mind of no abode and stepping off of a hundred-foot pole. Yeah, stepping off a hundred-foot pole. You associate the strawberry with that? Why not? It's the taste of the strawberry. Or the taste, you can taste the strawberry. Or you could say the mind of no abode is the mind which really enjoys the strawberry.

[34:34]

just enjoys it, isn't concerned about the next one because there might not be a next one. There might not even be any more tiger saliva. We're just eating strawberries right now. Here's another story about that which I sometimes tell you again and again. I was over in Berkeley about 30 years ago. Maybe 29. And I was with the daughter of my wife. And the son of my wife's oldest friend. Or one of her oldest friends. And we were at a beach by this lake in Berkeley called Lake Anza. And I was learning how to swim, really how to swim.

[35:43]

I'll get into that later if you want to hear about it. But anyway, on the beach while I was learning how to swim, the little people, the two-year-olds, were sitting naked in the sand eating strawberries, of all things. And the little girl, my wife's daughter, says to the boy's mother, while pointing at his genital, she said, what's that? And the boy's mother said, it's a penis. And then the woman pointed at my daughter and said, what's that? And my daughter said, a strawberry. Laughter So when I emerged from the water and heard the story, I thought, oh, that's the mind of Noel Bode.

[36:47]

And there's, as Laurie may be able to explain to you, there's two morals of that story that are opposite. Yes? I didn't catch the two, sorry. Oh, you didn't? Yes, Miss? It just reminds me of something we often say in the black community. You hear it in songs, and that's everything is everything. This is something they say in the black community, everything's everything? Everything's everything. You ask, how's it going? Everything's everything. It's all good. It's all good. And it does have that kind of deep meaning. Yeah, right. Yeah, it has the same meaning. Everything is everything. It's when, as a child, or as that... Are you a child now?

[38:06]

Sometimes I am. Now! Are you a child now? I'm more of an inquisitive child. The child is. The child is not inquisitive necessarily. The child is... No, if you're a child, you can be inquisitive. So if you're a child now, I'll let you be inquisitive. Go ahead. Be inquisitive, but I'd like you to be a child. Are you a child? Yes, yes, I'm a child. And I'm wondering... Are you kind of like focusing on this thing you're interested in? Yes. Okay, are you biting down hard on this? Not really. Why don't you go ahead and bite on it? Explore it. I kind of like, hmm, I'm just kind of... Can you explore it with your teeth? It doesn't feel as good as with my hand. Oh, it's fine. You can use your hands too. You can use your hands to assist your teeth. I want you to use your teeth, not just your hands.

[39:13]

My teeth are hard. Yeah, your teeth are hard. Your teeth are hard. You can use teeth to explore things. You can use hands too. Don't just use part of your body. You're a child. You don't have to limit yourself. Use your whole body. What do you want to explore, young lady? It's... The point, it's a point. A point... that it's not lost now, but there are times I lose that point, losing the point. Mm-hmm. Lose the point. And when I lose the point, I'm not it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I don't like it.

[40:17]

Yeah, or you don't like it when you lose the point. When we lose the mind of no abode, when we stop engaging with hanging from the tree branch by our teeth, when we lose that point, we're out of touch with the place that we want to be. And being a child helps. Being childlike helps us find that point. That's why we have these stories for you to help you be like a child who would do a silly thing like climb up in a tall tree and bite it and then be available for answerings and questions.

[41:22]

So the Zen teacher says, I have some Zen questions for you, but I'm not going to ask you. First of all, I'm going to tell you where to go, and when you get there, I'm going to ask you a question. So I'm going to make a setup for you, tell you how to be a certain way, so you get ready, and then I'm going to ask you a question that you can answer from that place. But the instruction is to get you to the place and then from that place you will be asked a question and then or be given something to deal with like a mouse gnawing at your rope. So in that place you will be given a question. Someone will bring something to you. You'll be given a gift. And then various responses can come from that place and they can be diametrically opposed, the responses.

[42:30]

We're concentrating on getting to the place. So in the story, the last story, Laurie heard two opposed morals, two opposed responses. But in response to this question, what is the meaning of the ancestors coming, there's more than two opposed responses. There's infinite opposed responses that have happened over the centuries where people came to the place, they went to the, they, no, they were in the place and they asked from that place or they were in their place and they were questioned from that place. where they're in that place and they answer from that place. So there's a sample of responses and the responses are one way to check to see if we were in the right place in the bodhisattva's place of no abode.

[43:34]

And if we lose that place, well, we should go back and try again to find the place again and again and again Because it's a momentary thing. It's to encounter the moment of being that way. And again, the moment of being that way. And in that place, people may come and ask us for various morals, various meanings. So let's see. How do we do this? I don't know. I don't have enough of these for everybody, so could you share these? These are pieces of cardstock paper.

[44:39]

Could you take those upstairs, please? Maybe they don't need that many. How many are there? Maybe get enough. There's two. All you need is three up there, right? Because you have six people. Just take three up there. And then this is cardstock paper on which is written the verse section of chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra. This is the chapter where the trans-historical Buddha tells us who he really is, who she really is. Yeah, let's record it. Okay, can you see one?

[45:52]

There's extras, okay. Send the extras back, please. Okay. Verse of the Lifespan of the Tathagata, Chapter of the Lotus Sutra. At that time the world-honored one, wishing to restate the meaning, spoke with his eye. I might be good, but the onset passed out in the sun. I hope these of us who came into this environment know the secret of how entities can transform, how the smolderings of living beings start to connect through the whole way and throughout these little scales in order to shape living beings that extremely manifest their own body truth that cannot pass into place inside of me.

[47:03]

You're all just sticking the dog on the hide. It was said right here. And using the power of spiritual interrogations that cause impregnability, solidarity, obstinacy, the multitude seeming assassinated to Christ since they sensibly made offerings to Asherah. All church are composed. for me, and their hearts look up to me, and thirst, living, and dead, and sad, faithful, and astute, and straightforward, with compliant minds, seeming to widely wish to see the blood, bearing not for their very lives, at last time, I in peace, I rest, and be all. Together, I imagine Walter Hamilton, where I say to living beings that I am always dear and never cease to be, but using the power of exchange and devices, I am both ceasing and not ceasing to be, for living beings in other lands are ever grateful and inspiring.

[48:08]

I speak the answer as I am. But you who did not hear this, think that I have passed into the absence, I see living games, I'm in the street, and yet I refrain from it. I said, I came for them in order to cause them to look back in their dreams, and when I'm not, they're killed with longing. I am efficiency, but I always have powerful spiritual penetrations throughout us and give me so much that I remain always on magic, culture, mountain, and also dwell in other places when I need to see the ending and progress by the great fire of my life. It's peaceful and secure. I always feel good. gods and demons, darkness and problems, laws and liabilities, and various precious partners. They are human beings with many powers, and bring extraordinary gains from their life. God has blessed us with superpowers, powers making various kinds of music and monitor all the powers attached to them, and their actions, and they unite their lands, not just for the good, but to see the good,

[49:21]

termed entirely worried, terrified, and miserable. Such a concern that we bear all these themes with offences because of their people, cognate causes, and conditions as it was. KDA's study has said that very many of the people to whom all of their cultivated narrative achieved were compliant, agreeable, and honest. But you're all speaking here, speaking that our mouths sometimes work separately. I speak at the Buddha's lifestyle and it's limitless to those who speak the Buddha. Only after all the intervals I speak at the Buddha, it's difficult to meet the power of my wisdom. The unlimited liberation of my life is done in such an eyeless and slow way. Help us be honest and think through our cultivation and work. Those of you with wisdom should not have doubts about this. I have walked in time and forever for the precious works of real, not false.

[50:26]

They are like the every experience of the contagion who took care of his children. He's actually alive, yet since he's dead and I'm sick of him being seen closely, I've been to men like a father to the world, so they hang on some stuff for you to borrow. But to the big beans, and for goodness sake, I speak this dissertation all the way to the big beans. Otherwise, because they often see me, they would grow arrogant and laugh so humbly and attached to the five desires they would humbly to people cast. I am rather aware of the occasions those should rise this way and those should not. I see your ex-husbands for the streets, to save them in an appropriate manner. I ask CD, how can I possibly be able to help your needs to ask for aid and to quickly collect the body of the victim? So we came here today and we heard the teaching, this teaching, for example.

[52:37]

And maybe we're ready to hear the Buddha's teaching, I'm always close, but they fail to see me. In some sense, cleaning the temple means taking care of whatever you need to take care of in order to be at this place of no abode where you can open to the Buddha and the practice of the Buddha and enter it. in a little while we may take a break from sitting here and go out and have lunch.

[54:06]

So I suggest before we go on our break to consider, to continue the practice of being in this mind of no abode as our food and our hunger and our friends come to talk to us. They may say, how are you feeling? But you understand they're really saying, what is the intention of the ancestor coming from the West? and you're in a place of no abode to respond. Would you like a carrot? What is the moral of lunch? and so on.

[55:22]

See if you can continue the practice of the bodhisattva practice of 9-1-1. The bodhisattva practice of the mind of no-abode. See if you can practice it in lunch. This is a strange restaurant here where you can actually practice Zen during lunch. and have a Zen luncheon where you actually go to the place of no abode and eat in that place. And then see if you can continue to practice the mind of no abode in the work period and so on. So now see if you can put these teachings into practice. See if you can eat lunch with the teaching that the Buddha is telling us that she's always close to us while we're eating lunch, while we're sitting together, while we're working together.

[56:36]

See if you can be mindful of that teaching that this practice is always present with us. This resource is there But we do sort of need to remember it, otherwise we forget it. And it's not easy to remember it when we get really hungry or people get really complimentary. So usually after we recite, often after we recite scripture, we dedicate the merit and we say, may our intention equally extend. Today maybe we can say may the ancestors' intention equally extend. May the Buddha's intention and our intention and the ancestors' intention. Okay?

[57:39]

May the Buddha's intention and the ancestors' intention and our intention

[57:49]

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