Now we have a one day sitting and we also have an opportunity to clarify some points that have been brought up recently. Some of you have heard these points before, but now we have the beginning of a practice period and I feel it's good to lay down some basic proposals at the beginning so that later if they're referred to they won't be unknown to you. And I think Maybe the basic point that I'd like to offer, which I think I offered maybe last, not yesterday, but a week ago, yesterday, and other times, and that is that the practice which I'm

[01:24]

focused on, you know, the practice which I'm primarily referring to when I use the word practice is the practice of what we call Buddhas, or, you know, the practice of Buddha, which is also the practice of bodhisattvas. And I do not tell you what practice is for you. I just want to let you know about the practice that I'm interested in to talk about. And that is the practice of the Buddha.

[02:30]

Now the practice of the Buddha is also what a Buddha is. A Buddha is not something separate from the practice of the Buddha. Buddha is simply the practice of the Buddha. The activity of the Buddha is the Buddha. and the practice of the Buddha, the life of the Buddha, is the practice and the life and the enlightenment of all beings. So when we are living in the life or live in the practice of the Buddhas, then each moment of such a practice is equally the same practice and the same enlightenment as the one who is practicing here and all beings.

[03:46]

So right now each of us is sitting here and each of us is involved in a unique type of activity. Each of us is involved with, for example, circulation of blood and each of us, each of our circulation of blood is unique to our body. And we are also involved in the practice of the Buddha. We are also living a practice which is the same for us and all beings. And that's the practice of the Buddhas which we are living right now. That is also the enlightenment of Buddhas which are living right now. Some people are paying attention to their breathing.

[05:03]

Some are paying attention to their exhale now. Some are paying attention to their inhale. Some people are listening to me talk. Some people are thinking of going shopping, etc. But at the same time, there is a practice here. which is the same practice for you and all beings, all unenlightened beings and all enlightened beings. Enlightened beings are those who fully understand this practice and are totally realized in it. Unenlightened beings are beings who are somewhat distracted or primarily looking at something other than the practice of all beings before the practice period started, before most of you arrived, in the early part of, I think it was the early part of October, a guest student came to see me and she asked me, she said, what is sincere practice?

[06:40]

And I told her what I thought sincere practice was, but I probably should have said the sincere practice of the Buddhas is such and such. But actually I just said that sincere practice, each moment of sincere practice for you is the same practice and the same enlightenment as all beings. But I probably should have said the sincere practice of the Buddhas is like this. Because I think we can be sincere in a way and be practicing a practice which is not the same practice as ourselves and others. Like we could be sincerely washing dishes. but still think that we're washing dishes and our activity is not the same activity as all beings.

[07:45]

But there definitely can be some sincerity there. But the sincere practice of the Buddhas is that when the Buddhas are washing dishes, they're also practicing the same practice as all beings who are not washing dishes. and all beings are washing dishes. And they have the same enlightenment as all beings have. So that's what I told her I thought the sincere practice was. And she said, well then, it's probably, according to this, it would be very important to practice with a group. And I said, yes, but even more important than practicing with a group, for me, is the practice of the group. So there is me practicing with a group and in the group are other people who are practicing with me in the group and practicing with the other people in the group.

[08:48]

That's practicing with a group. But the practice that I'm concerned about is the practice of the group and not just the group here but the whole group. the whole group of all humans and all non-humans. And by non-humans I mean all living non-humans and I also mean the mountains and the rivers and the great earth. That's the group practice. And that is... that's an understanding which keeps occurring to me. I don't want to say it's my understanding. It's more like that understanding owns me. It's the understanding that lives in the lineage from the generations before me and now lives in me.

[09:54]

It lives in the generations coming through this person who lived in Japan, whose memorial we will celebrate today, named Ehei Koso Dogen Zenji. It's the understanding, it's the practice of his disciple Suzuki Roshi. That understanding is being expressed here. And this woman I was talking to, she said, after I said stuff like that, she said kind of like, okay, what about following your breathing or examining thoughts, which is best? I've heard about doing both types of practices. She wasn't disrespectful, but she's kind of like, I don't know what you're talking about, but now I'd like to talk about something else.

[10:59]

And so she brought up another important issue which I'd like to lay out at the beginning of the practice period which is that there's two, and not just two, but there's two very important kind of gestures of mind. One gesture is a gesture towards tranquility and another gesture is a gesture towards insight And the gesture towards tranquility or the gesture which is the training towards tranquility is to give up discursive thought, to give up thinking, to let go of thinking, to let go of our stories of what's going on right now. So some of you think you're in a one-day sitting, Some of you think you're in a two-day sitting.

[12:03]

Some of you think you're in a practice period. Some of you think it's Monday. Some of you think you made a mistake coming here. Some of you think this is a really interesting talk. Some of you think it's not so interesting. You have various stories that may be going on here. These stories are your thinking, a thinking that's happening through your body and mind. Your body and mind is moment by moment coming up with a story about your life. And it looks like the story you have is allowing you to feel like it's safe to stay in this room. But if situation changes and the building starts shaking, you might have a story, oh, this is an earthquake, and you might think we should go out of here or go stand by the doorways. So we have this thinking going on, and if we gesture towards letting go of the thinking consistently, the mind becomes tranquil.

[13:10]

And the more consistent and profound this renunciation of thinking is, the deeper the mind's tranquility tends to be. And a lot of people in Zen temples and Zen meditation halls are practicing that type of meditation. They're practicing tranquility, although they're not told that they are. I would say that they're doing that type of meditation, which is part of our ability. Our meditative capacity is to develop tranquility by basically relaxing with our thinking. attending to and focusing on consistently relaxing and letting go of our thinking. And following the breathing or concentrating on posture or doing mantrams or things like that, counting the breath and so on.

[14:17]

There's many techniques by which you can actually let go of your thinking. and attain calm. The other gesture of mind is to examine your thoughts or to look at and care for your thinking. So one gesture is let go of the thinking, the other is care for your thinking. Let go of your stories, the other is care for your stories. Let go of your body, care for your body. And by caring, there's a way of caring for your thinking, which you've heard me talk about, a gracious way of caring for your thinking, a generous way of caring for your thinking, an upright way of caring for your thinking, upright and gracious way of caring for your thinking.

[15:19]

And this comes to fruit as insight you will be able to see. And what you'll be able to see is you'll be able to see the Buddha revealing her wisdom to you. And when this wisdom is revealed you can enter it. And what you enter is then the practice of the Buddha's You enter the realm, the state of the practice of all beings. You enter the state of the enlightenment of all beings. You don't enter the state of your own enlightenment. You enter the state of everybody's enlightenment. through caring for your thinking. So there's two basic ways.

[16:23]

One is let go of it, the other is take care of it. Now when you're calm, and calm includes being buoyant and flexible and alert and enthusiastic about gracious attention to your thinking. When you're calm and you hear about graciously attending to your thinking you go, That sounds good. Let's do it. Let's go. Let's practice that way. This is great. And this will be conducive to welfare for all beings. I'm up for it. In a calm, steady, soft, gentle, buoyant, flexible way. when you're calm and then you start practicing caring for your thinking, when you give up your thinking, become calm and care for your thinking in a gracious way, that gracious way of caring for your thinking is also to let go of your thinking.

[17:31]

So you're caring for it and letting go of it at the same time. except you're not just letting go, you're also caring, you're attending to it, you're looking at it, you're keeping your eye on it, but you're not overly keeping your eye on it, or underly keeping your eye on it, you're keeping your eye on it in the appropriate, wholehearted way. And you actually are getting ready, more and more ready for insight, but you also can calm down even more in this insight approach. and then again the Dharma appears in that realm and through that we enter what? The practice of the Buddha's and then we continue the practice of the Buddha's having entered I'll just briefly mention and talk about this more later probably

[18:33]

But this vision of practice is saying that the Buddha way is not primarily liberation. This is saying that Nirvana is not the highest goal of this path. But some disciples of Buddha say Nirvana is the goal of the path. But the presentation I'm giving is Nirvana is not the goal. The goal of the path is great compassion. It's the living the life of Buddha. Now Nirvana is and liberation helps us enter the life of Buddha, but it's not the goal. It's more a skillful means and a door into the life of Buddha. And also this This practice is not something that's mixed with perception.

[19:35]

So as we will chant at noon service, this practice is to unroll widely inside and outside of the entire universe the endless, unremitting, unthinkable, unnameable, inexhaustible, ungraspable, unbeatable Buddha Dharma. And all this, however, does not appear within perception. It does not appear mixed with perceptions. It is an unconstructed stillness. It is immediate state of realization. It's inconceivably wondrous. It's not, doesn't appear within perception, but all perceptions are completely included in it. Now if you are practicing caring for your thinking, caring for your stories throughout the day today, if you're practicing letting go of your stories, letting go of your thinking today, either way, or some of both, those practices both can be wholehearted

[21:10]

and they both can open into the realm of the practice of the Buddhas. And in order for us to participate in the practice of the Buddha, we may need, it seems that it's necessary, to conduct whatever practice we're doing in the midst of, or by means of, the great vows of the bodhisattvas. The great vows of the bodhisattvas are also the great vows of Buddhas. So to review, I told you the practice I'm I'm concerned about the practice I'm trying to care for, and I'm telling you about these two kinds of meditation, and now I'm saying that if you are doing either or both of these types of meditation, if you're letting go of your thinking or caring for your thinking, which means letting go of your actions or caring for your actions either way,

[22:41]

that if you practice whatever practice you're doing together with or by means of the great vows of a bodhisattva, the joining of the vows together with your practice helps your practice be wholehearted. So for example, it's possible to be cleaning the temple like many of you did this morning, cleaning the temple, or setting up to serve breakfast, or making breakfast, or following your breathing.

[24:02]

or walking and synchronizing your walking with your breathing. It's possible to do practices like that, to be involved in stories like that. And and to do them wholeheartedly, what would that be like? Well, that would be... I don't know what that would be like, but certain comments gesture towards wholeheartedness. So someone, while you're sweeping the floor, someone could maybe come over to you and gently whisper in your ear, are you sweeping the floor together with the vow to save all beings?

[25:38]

Are you sweeping the floor as part of the work of saving all beings? of helping all beings enter into the Buddha way. And you might already know or you might look and say, well actually I wasn't thinking about that. I was just sweeping the floor. I wasn't actually thinking about doing it as part of saving all beings. The person might say, have you vowed, have you promised to save all beings? And you might say, Well, not really. I didn't really actually promise to save all beings. I chant that sometimes at the end of talks at Zen Center. I say beings are numberless, I vow to save them, but I don't actually mean it when I say it. And then after we stop saying that chant, I carry on, I live my life, but I don't think of every moment after that as, oh yeah, I'm sitting in this car, but really what I'm concerned about is to save all beings, or I'm driving this car, but my main thing, my main promise is, I don't promise to drive cars, actually.

[27:02]

I do sometimes drive them, but if I never drive a car again, I haven't made a vow to drive cars. Some people have, some people haven't. But bodhisattvas vow to save all beings and they vow to save all beings and they vow to think about that and remember that every single moment. Now some bodhisattvas might actually have a different vow, like I vow to think of saving all sentient beings every other moment. You know, like Not just every other second, but every other moment. So like within one second, switch back and forth between thinking about saving beings and not several times. These are, I pity such bodhisattvas who try to do that. I think it's better, actually, easier just to try to do it every moment. Besides some fancy thing like every other moment. I forget it. Or every second.

[28:04]

Somebody said, I vow to think, I vow to think of and remember that I am living for the welfare of all other beings. I vow to think of that every second. Some people might not say, I vow to think of it like Thich Nhat Hanh, I think, recommends. Think about it once in the morning. Like in the first 12 hours, think of it once. And in the afternoon, think about doing something about it. That's a nice warm-up. But bodhisattvas actually vow to think of it, some of them do anyway, vow to think of it every single moment from now on. So whatever they're doing, like if they're raising their hand up and waving it, they, oh yeah, what is the point again? Oh yeah, right, saving all beings. I'm not saying I am, I'm just saying I vow to, I promise keep that foremost no matter what's happening.

[29:06]

In the midst of what's ever happening I always think of that vow and there's some other ones too. So here I am waving my hands or sweeping the floor or cutting the carrot or dumping the compost or saying hello or sitting cross-legged in the room or chanting or studying scriptures or adjusting robes, or shaving my head, or brushing my teeth, or whatever. And whatever I'm doing, I vow at that time to remember the bodhisattva vows, the ones that I'm committed to. or the ones I'm thinking about committing to. I haven't yet committed to but I heard about them and I'm thinking, I'm considering it. And when I practice that way, I...

[30:14]

I experience, and I've seen other people too who experience, you know, you might call rather a large change in the wholeheartedness level of the practice. So it's possible to be sweeping the floor like I'm just sweeping the floor and be wholehearted without thinking of saving all beings. At that moment, just sweep. But again, if somebody whispers in your ear, is this for the welfare of all beings? In that wholeheartedness, I think you say, totally, nothing but, of course. Thanks for asking. You're totally open to that in your wholeheartedness. There's not a kind of wholeheartedness which excludes any bodhisattva vows. That's what I propose to you. I think when some women are having a baby, they reach a point where it's kind of like, okay, whatever.

[31:32]

Now that you're having this baby, would you mind saving all beings? I would love it. That's not an additional thing to having this baby right now. I have no resistance to having the baby and having the pain of having this baby and having this baby have me and having this baby and me have all Buddhas and all Buddhas have us. Just, you know, bring it on. I'm finally open. Or rather, we are open here together. Before we're open, if we hear about certain projects, certain practices, we might feel like, oh, that sounds good, but not for me. It's too much for little me. Yes, yes, almost anything's too much for little me. But the Bodhisattva Vows are not about little me.

[32:37]

the Bodhisattva Bazaar, by taking me and tossing me into the ocean of all beings, and all beings together with me, then nothing is, then everything is possible. Including sweeping the floor wholeheartedly or sitting wholeheartedly. sitting with some grand project in mind, or just sitting like, I'd like to get through this period, or through this day, or through this seven days, me getting through it. As many of you know, it's a very sad way to practice. And usually it gets so sad that somewhere along during the seven days it drops away. It gets so sad of me practicing here, of me getting through this period, of me following the schedule, it gets so sad that I accept how sad it is, and it just drops away, and then there's the practice of all beings.

[33:42]

But if you think about you by yourself sitting a seven-day session, you might think, that would be really hard for me to do. And some of you think, no, that's not hard for me to do. I can do that. You say, well, what about an eight-day session? Yeah, I can do that too. What about 49? Yeah, I can do that too. What about no kinin? Oh, gee, that might be hard for me to do. Et cetera. There's some point at which you realize, oh, that would be hard for me to do. At some point you realize that something would be hard for you to do by yourself. And now you're starting to wake up. But actually everything is that way. There's nothing you can do by yourself. Except in the world of delusion. Then you can do a lot of stuff by yourself. Almost everything that you do you can do by yourself. And then some things you can't do by yourself.

[34:49]

But that's your wisdom showing you something. When you finally see what you can't do by yourself, you're starting to open your eyes a little bit, or your eyes are starting to be opened. And as they open more and more, you realize, oh, not only can't I do that, but I can't do anything by myself. Nothing. And this is great wisdom. And I must admit I spent quite a few hours in the last four decades sitting by myself in the Zendo, with other people around by the way, doing my practice. And I didn't have a very nice time a lot of the time doing my practice. A lot of that got burned away, that me doing the practice by myself had kind of got burned away, or washed away, or blown away, or what's the other possibility?

[36:00]

Anyway, it went bye-bye. Another way, another aspect of bodhisattva vows that opens the practice up so you're not sitting here all by yourself at your seat with some other people in the room with you who have a different practice from you. Like even the person next to you has a different practice. The person right here has a different practice from me and on the other side too. And their practice is like better than mine or not as good or just about the same. You may have heard about people who think this way. That they think the person next to them, right next to them, like their neighbor, is a different practice. Practice of neighbor, and then right over here is practice of me, and then over there is a practice of a neighbor. And like three different practices right in a row. People think like that. Have you heard about that? And then they grade the practices along the row.

[37:04]

People do that. People think that way, which is fine. It's job security for bodhisattvas. It's very nice. And it's also very sad that we're not enjoying the actual practice. But we have to do it for a long time. And it's okay. I mean, okay means it's adorable. Totally adorable. And we love all these beings who are sitting there thinking they're practicing by themselves and have a different practice of the other people. Not to mention the people in other Zen centers and other types of Zen and other types of Buddhism and other types of religion and et cetera, et cetera.

[38:09]

But now if we open up to the practice, doing the practice with everybody, then also another way to open up to the practice is to look at whether you're sitting here right now and also you're walking here and you're chanting here and you're bowing here and you're meal ritual here and you're serving here and your toilet breaks here and so on, look at whether your action is an expression of venerating the Buddhas. So, is what you're doing right now, is what I'm doing right now, intended as a veneration of the Buddhas? And I might say, yes or no. Okay, fine. Ask the question, got some answer. Or I don't know. Is there another possibility? Yes, no, I don't know. And I propose to you again that the practice of the Buddhas includes veneration of the Buddhas.

[39:23]

And veneration of the Buddhas is part of warming up and opening the heart to the practice of the Buddhas. And that as a veneration emanates from our heart towards enlightened beings, the blessing which they're constantly sending to us meets our veneration. And the place it meets is where the door to the practice opens. It's where we enter the actual practice of the Buddha, is where our veneration of the Buddhas and the Buddha way meet the blessings of the Buddhas. Veneration is related to the word Venus.

[40:25]

It means to love. to love the Buddhas, to worship the Buddhas, to respect the Buddhas, to love and respect and worship and honor and veneration. That's part of opening the heart. That's part of making your practice. So I go to Zen meditation halls regularly. I spend time sitting there. And you just sit there? And a lot of people say, yeah, I just sit there. I just sit there, but I don't just sit there. Actually, I sit there and moment by moment, I'm venerating, I'm loving the Buddha. I go and sit and love the Buddha. Moment after moment, I sit in there loving Buddha, and not just loving one Buddha. For example, not just loving one historical Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha. I sit there and I love all Buddhas, and I love all bodhisattvas, and also I love all beings.

[41:26]

We don't usually say venerate all beings because we don't exactly venerate, for example, I don't know what, murderers. We don't venerate them, but we love them, we adore them, we serve them. So we venerate and love the Buddhas, honor and worship the Buddhas in our sitting practice when it's wholehearted. When your practice is wholehearted, Yikes, yikes, yikes, yikes. When your practice is wholehearted, you will be venerating all Buddhas. You will. Which means you will be venerating the practice of all beings. And you also, when you're wholehearted and you're sitting, you will be wanting and promising to serve all beings in any way that would be helpful. These are bodhisattva vows. And when you're wholehearted, these vows are living in you.

[42:30]

And when you live these vows, your practice becomes wholehearted. Your sitting becomes wholehearted. Your bowing becomes wholehearted. Your walking becomes wholehearted. Your reclining, your waving your hands becomes wholehearted when you are practicing the bodhisattva vows. And when you're practicing bodhisattva vows, your practice becomes wholehearted. and you realize the Buddhist practice. If you keep supporting me to talk like this, I will keep talking like this. And when I talk like this, I will be thinking about whether I'm practicing what I'm talking about. which is a good thing for me to do, thank you. Do I walk around Green Gulch Farm venerating Buddha?

[43:35]

Do I? Do I venerate Buddha every moment? Do I constantly think of honoring the Buddhas and make offerings to Buddhas every moment? Do I? No, I forget. Have I promised to do so? Have I promised to honor and worship Buddhas every moment from now on? I have promised. When I promise and when I practice that way, do I feel more wholehearted? Yes, I do. Have you promised? I don't know. But some people have promised, and I've heard from them, that they have the same realization and the same practice. And it looks like it's so. So once again, one, two, three, whatever you're doing, whatever activity you're involved in,

[44:54]

if it's bodhisattva practice, is carried out together with great vows. So at the beginning of this practice period and even at the beginning of this one day sitting, I invite you to consider whether you want to save all beings, not all beings I should say, save all living beings. You don't have to save the Buddhas, They've already realized salvation. And you don't have to save the mountains and the rivers of the immediate present. They've already realized the Buddha way. But do you want to save all those who have not yet become free? Do you want to venerate Buddhas? Do you want to make offerings to Buddhas every moment? This is a bodhisattva vow that's available. Do you wish to and do you wish to promise to practice that way? Even though you, like me, may not be able to do it every moment, you may forget.

[46:02]

You may slip into half-heartedness. You may look at someone's face and forget for a moment that while you're looking at this person's face, you're at the same time honoring all Buddhas and wishing and promising to serve not just this person but to serve all beings simultaneously, that you want to do that. Again, the current understanding here is that that is the Bodhisattva way of living is to live with these vast, auspicious, unlimited, inconceivably huge, all-inclusive, beneficent intentions and promises. That this is wholehearted practice. And that this is what we call wholehearted practice in the lineage of Dogen.

[47:09]

whole-hearted sitting. This is dropping off body and mind. This is the practice of the Buddhas. As you know, I just went up to Vancouver the day before yesterday to honor a 90-year-old woman. It was a really worthwhile event. It was very deep, very deep. And while I was there I heard that there was a woman in Vancouver who wanted to tell me a story. So I called her on the phone and said, I heard you have a story for me. And she said, yeah, I do.

[48:12]

I said, well, I said, I'd like to hear. She said, do you have some time? I said, mm-hmm. So she told me a story. This is a Chinese woman who lived next door to my wife in Taiwan about 55 years ago. They were neighbors in Taiwan right after The People's Republic was established. They left China and moved to Taiwan, lived next door. Close friends. This woman is a practitioner of non-violent communication and co-author of some books on the topic and also interested in the teachings of the Buddhas. And she's been studying Vipassana tradition particularly for about 20 years or so or more. And so she just recently went to a retreat on the East Coast at a beautiful retreat center.

[49:13]

And the teacher that she was working with was teaching her about a Burmese meditation text. And she said that this text kind of laid out a map of the path to Nirvana. And so the teacher was explaining the text and showing this path to Nirvana. And she thought, well, this is like, give me a break. I can't do a practice of walking along a path to Nirvana. It's too much for me. I mean, I've been practicing for a while, but I'm just not that into it. I'm still kind of a beginner. This is too much. I came to the wrong retreat. I love you guys, but this is too much for me, she felt. And she saw some of the other people in the retreat and they seemed to be like, yes, let's do this.

[50:17]

You know, this is great. Oh, how wonderful. And she just felt, she said, I felt so sad because they really, really seemed like they really wanted to walk the path. I thought it was too much and I didn't even know if I wanted to walk this path to Nirvana. But they really seemed like they wanted to walk it, wanted to practice it. And I felt so sad that I didn't. I didn't have that yearning, that heart. And I told the teacher and he said, well, just keep at it. You will eventually have this desire. You will want to walk this path someday. But anyway, she was sad that she wasn't really up for this practice that they were discussing. And then she noticed at this place there was a library. She asked one of her meditation instructors if they would be helpful to read any books about this, rather than just hear the oral instruction.

[51:31]

The teacher said, well, there are some books, but I don't really recommend them. I think it's better just to talk to the teachers and do the practice. And she said there was a nice little library in this place and she was kind of, it was a tiny library, and she was kind of, for some reason, drawn to it. So she went in there and in this library was this, she said, this huge pile of audio cassettes of talks which you, Reb, gave in England. at a place called Gaia House. And this woman has known me for a long time because I'm married to one of her oldest friends. So, yeah, she's known me a pretty long time. So she thought, hmm, she said, I was curious. So I listened to, like, the first one. And you were just kind of welcoming the people to the retreat and you were talking to them about how they...

[52:35]

you know, that while we're practicing, while we're trying to learn to practice the Buddha Dharma, all the Buddhas are there practicing with us and supporting us. And we're supporting them." She said, and I read that and I just felt really good hearing that. And it just seemed so welcoming. I felt like, yeah, you were saying the Buddhas are welcoming us into this path. And I really felt welcomed. And then, yeah, and then she went back and continued to do the retreat. But she said then she kind of could see that it was possible to do this practice of following this path to nirvana where you kind of like do things but where you just There's no stickiness. You just do things.

[53:38]

But it's kind of like you don't stick to them. And she could see actually that this path could be for her. And she just wanted to tell me that. And I thought, that's really amazing that how how we're working together to help each other realize that we're working together. I'm considering how whatever practice, whatever activity is happening here, how it can be seen as and received as united with the bodhisattva vows, united with the vow to live for the welfare of others.

[55:35]

united with the vow of honoring all Buddhas, united with the vow of making offerings of this practice to the Buddhas, making offerings of this period of meditation to the Buddhas, and also united with the vow to confess, to confess that I forget to notice, I forget to attend to how what I'm doing is offering and venerating Buddhas, to confess that I forget that what I'm here for is to accommodate to all beings So I want to and I promise to accommodate to all beings. And I want to and I promise to confess when I forget to accommodate to all beings.

[56:44]

I want to always think of Buddha. And I promise to always think of Buddha. And I want to and I promise to confess when I don't think of Buddha. And when I think of Buddha and honor Buddha and make offerings to Buddha, I don't have to confess and I just at that time enjoy the practice of living the vow and enjoy letting the vow live as me and enjoy being wholehearted. And then I promise, I want and I promise to turn over the happiness of being lived by the vows, the merit of living this way. I vowed to turn over the merit of this to all sentient beings. I want to do that and I promise to do that.

[57:50]

And sometimes we do do that. If anyone wishes to express anything, if anyone wishes to come forward and express anything as usual, you are welcome. If you wish to express something, this is the expression area.

[58:52]

You can come up here and ask a question, if you like. You can ask me a question, you can ask Arlene a question, you can ask Max a question. Please come closer. Yeah, right. This is the place for you. Do you want a cushion? Yes. It's just to understand, when you are saying save all beings... Save all beings, yes. What do you mean by saving all beings? What do I mean by saving all beings? I mean to live in such a way so that beings will open to Buddha's wisdom and see Buddha's wisdom and enter Buddha's wisdom.

[59:56]

Then they will be saved. But how can we do this? How can we open people to Buddha's wisdom? Well, one way I'm offering is to bring up these bodhisattva vows. If people hear these vows and they desire to practice them, and if they commit to them, they will start to open to Buddha's wisdom. If they start caring for their experience in this open-hearted way, they will open to Buddha's wisdom. And then they can receive further instructions once they're open about how to awaken and enter it. Just like right now, you're coming up here and opening yourself to something by coming up here.

[61:01]

And now, if you would consider these vows that we spoke of, And also you actually chanted a Bodhisattva vow at the beginning of the talk. Did you hear it? That was a Bodhisattva vow. To consider whether you vow from this life on throughout countless lives to hear the true Dharma. Do you have that vow? Do you wish to promise to live to hear the truth? That's an example. And to come up here and ask what is meant by saving all beings is a kind of expression of opening to Buddha's wisdom. To ask questions about bodhisattva vows is part of practicing bodhisattva vows.

[62:05]

Some people hear about bodhisattva vows and they maybe think they know what they mean and let it go at that. Or they think they know what it means and they're not interested. Or they think they know what it means and they say, okay, it is what I think it means. But that's not really opening to the bodhisattva vow. That's just fixing on your idea of them. But you didn't do that for whatever reason. You opened. You thought, I hear about these vows, so what do they mean? You're opening to them. And I told you some things, but I don't want you to grasp what I said. I hope that you keep opening to what these vows are, because these vows are to open you, open you to Buddha's wisdom. And then you'll be able to see it demonstrated, understand it, and enter it. And then you will be saved. Is there a way to help other people to open themselves?

[63:13]

Well, it would be to show them the practice of the Bodhisattva vows. To share with them the practices which helped you open. To show them, if you experience wholeheartedness or realize wholeheartedness, to wholeheartedly invite them into wholeheartedness. to make wholeheartedness attractive to people who are wholehearted but who do not know it. To help generous people realize they're generous by showing them the generosity which is in them. Show good people the goodness in them. To put a mirror up so that they can see the goodness of themselves. To put a mirror up so that they can see the generosity of themselves. To put a mirror up so that they can see the wholeheartedness of themselves.

[64:16]

To put a mirror up so they can see their whole being. But it's not just putting a mirror up, it's also opening them so that they can dare to see who they are. Because if they're too constricted, they won't look at the mirror. They won't see their nature because they're closing. But one of the ways to help in this process is to be very kind to people who are closed, to be open to people who are not open, or to be open to people who are not feeling open, to show them something different from the way they're feeling. And they think, oh, maybe I could try that, and they just opened when they thought that. How are you feeling?

[65:49]

More open. Do you feel complete? Complete. Yeah, complete. I wouldn't say complete. What would you say? On the path. You feel on the path? How do you feel about that? Good. Me too. Okay? Thank you. You're welcome. Could you hear him?

[66:58]

Great. Great Nate. Could you speak up, Nate? So I feel kind of strange facing you with this question because this question is for everyone in this room. Well, you can turn around and face everyone. And maybe if you go over there, you won't have your back to me. Good. That's a good way. Will you please help me do everything for the sake of all living beings? Yes, I will. Just a second.

[68:03]

Ask him again. Will you please help me do everything for the sake of all living beings? Yes. I can do one with three as a usual number. Will you please help me do everything for the sake of all living beings? Yes. I feel constricted and unrealized around the question and the holding of who it is who vows.

[69:16]

Can you hear her okay? She said she feels constricted and unrealized around what? The holding, like there's a vow, but who is it who's vowing? You feel constricted around who is it that's bowing? Okay. There is great tenderness towards this constriction and gentleness with this constriction. And what about realization? And there is and there is realization of it, and in the tenderness towards it, and the uprightness with this constriction, and the peacefulness with this constriction, and the openness to this constriction, the realization will come forth.

[70:23]

and generosity and graciousness with the constriction, and patience with the constriction, intimacy with the constriction. All this is the way of opening to seeing the Buddha in the constriction. I wish to speak and act to help everybody, the beings in this room. And I don't know if that's so. And I vow to not hold to any knowing I hear your vow to not hold to any knowing.

[71:50]

And I also heard a vow in the background to confess if you hold to any knowing. And all that done with graciousness and gentleness, intimacy. Thank you for your support You're welcome Can I sit here?

[73:08]

You're welcome to sit here, yes. May I ask a question? Yeah. You can ask a question. I have asked you to Give me the sixteen bodhisattva precepts and you have agreed to do so. Can you hear him? Yes, they can hear you. And I realize I have taken some other vows in my life to uphold and by my presence and my gifts the Methodist Church, and that I'm a member of such a church.

[74:13]

And so when I hear saving all beings, my discursive mind begins to race around the question of God, as I understand God being in itself. And I have doubts arise around receiving the 16 bodhisattva precepts without regard to the other vows I have taken in my life. Can you Help me to practice with all beings around this question. I would be happy to help you practice with this question.

[75:17]

The question is, how can you practice the other vows together with the Bodhisattva vows? I don't see the problem. Can you tell me the problem? Bodhisattva's vow to support the Methodist Church. Bodhisattva's vow to live for the welfare of all Methodists. Bodhisattva's vow to live for the welfare of all beings. So I didn't see a problem in your devotion to the Methodist beings. Well, Christianity views the great problem slightly differently than Buddhism does. Yes. A great problem for Christianity is sin, and salvation is from sin. Uh-huh. I mean, I hear you say that.

[76:18]

And Zen teaches a great problem, perhaps we could say, is the three poisons. greed, hatred, and ignorance. Yeah. OK. Salvation, in the Buddhist sense, is from suffering under those poisons. It's salvation from suffering, but it's also salvation from ignorance and hatred and greed. But sin is basically ignorance. Separation from self. Yeah, separation from God. You know, separation from sin comes from the word sunder.

[77:21]

It has a root to sunder, to split. So salvation from sin, salvation from hatred, salvation from ignorance, salvation from suffering, sin, suffering, all that stuff, they all kind of look together there. And actually they're living very happily. And to help people see that is the point of the Methodist Church. And the point of the Bodhisattva is we want people to be free of a mind that gets involved in splitting and sin and greed and hate. So we have this mind, you know, this ignorant mind, this dualistic mind which has greed, hate, delusion, sin, suffering. We want to care for this mind in such a way that it's liberated and can enter the Buddha way. And every being that has a mind like that, we want to care for it. And even if that wasn't contradiction to some other tradition, we vow to care for that tradition so that tradition will become free of its suffering.

[78:29]

Not to eliminate the tradition, but help all the beings who are practicing it become free and peaceful and harmonize with each other and all beings. And if there's a tradition that didn't want to harmonize with all beings, we want to help them harmonize with all beings. So does that help you feel more at ease with the commitments to the Methodists and the Bodhisattvas? Yes. It was important for me to bring this issue up in this Buddha Hall before God and Buddha and you. I appreciate you bringing it up and I think in the next about two weeks, as we move towards the ceremony, it would be nice if more questions about the Bodhisattva vows came up.

[79:35]

That would be welcome. Because we will have a ceremony here on November 11th where people will be receiving the Bodhisattva precepts. So if you have questions on the Bodhisattva precepts between now and then, it would be a nice warm-up for this ceremony. So you're all welcome to bring them up. Bodhisattva vows are, you know, they're very, very vast, very, very vast, so they should include the vows of all beings. Even harmful vows are included in it, but in such a way that beings will become enlightened. to the harmfulness of harmful vows and we'll let go of them. We wish to not, we don't obliterate or hate harmful vows. We care for them in such a way that they turn into sweetness and light.

[80:40]

so that the Buddha can appear even in the mind of a person who has harmful vows living there. Is that enough for this morning? They are intentional.

[81:11]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_90.31