Indeed, may we attain maturity in Buddhist wisdom. As I like to say a little bit more about the bodhisattva, lay bodhisattva and priest bodhisattva. The bodhisattva practice is sometimes described as depending on the unshakable vow to realize maturity in Buddha's wisdom to realize unsurpassed correct awakening and to teach the Dharma.

[01:10]

That's the beginning of chapter eight of the Samadhi Nirmacana Sutra. Maitreya asked the Buddha, on what is the bodhisattva's practice of tranquility and insight based, and the Buddhist says, an unshakable vow to realize enlightenment and to teach the Dharma. And there's lay bodhisattvas and priest bodhisattvas, or monastics and lay, male and female, and maybe some other genders too. But bodhisattvas vow to teach. So if you're a lay person, being a bodhisattva means to consider whether you're vowing.

[02:20]

Last night I was at a dinner honoring a friend of mine. And I was sitting next to a very nice lady and she said, she was very nice to me and very wise and she said something like, I don't know if she said, either we can't be a master but we can be a student or we shouldn't be a master, we should be a student or something like that. And I said, you know, being students, I said, I agree. But we can be a master. But we continue to be a student. And so this great teacher, Tore, the master, Tore, the Zen master, Tore, says, I, a student of Dharma, So the bodhisattva is a student of the Dharma and a teacher of the Dharma. And someone said to me, a lay bodhisattva said to me,

[03:38]

Sometimes my teaching, my offering, seems to be not well received by some priests. I feel like some priests are trying to, I don't know what, not encouraging me to offer a teaching. But also some priests, when they offer teaching, some lay people actually just kind of encourage them to not offer teaching. Can you imagine such a situation? So sometimes priests don't encourage other priests, sometimes priests, sometimes lay people don't encourage. Such things occur and if you're a teacher then maybe you ask questions like, tell me no more about, are you receiving my offering happily? Are you receiving my happily? If not, please tell me about the situation."

[04:44]

So bodhisattvas aren't necessarily always asking questions, but asking questions is something that bodhisattvas, is one of their modes of practice. They question Buddhas, They question teachers. They question students. So in our Zen history, we see many examples of teachers questioning students, students questioning teachers, teachers questioning teachers. This is part of the story. It's one of the ways to teach is to question. Some time ago, when Bert was a young man, he had a job and his job was to and one during one retreat we were studying a text called the heroic stride of the bodhisattva the heroic stride samadhi of the bodhisattva

[05:56]

the scripture of the Samadhi. And the sutra starts out by this, I think this bodhisattva's name is Dhridhamati. And this bodhisattva was with the Buddha and the bodhisattva said, thought to himself, I would like to ask the Buddha a question, a really good one. One that would like to liberate all beings from suffering, One that would bring peace and happiness to all beings. One that would please the Buddha. One that would be fun for the Buddha to hear. One that would be a response to. One that would, you know, and he goes on and on about the kind of question he would like to ask that would bring all these benefits Bodhisattvas ask questions and they don't ask it to get something, they ask it of all beings, all sentient beings, all bodhisattvas, all heretics, all demons, all humans.

[07:09]

They ask it for the benefit of all beings. They want the question to be really helpful. Now the Buddha, being there with Dhridhamati, of course, had a feeling about what Dhritamati was thinking about. Buddha was, you know, has these powers, so she knows what you're thinking. So you don't be cross. Anyway, so the Buddha saw that Dhritamati was thinking about asking this really good question. And then the Buddha said, Dhritamati, oh, girl, good daughter of the Dharma, I can see that you have this question, that you want to ask a question, you know, to bring all this benefit.

[08:13]

you know, and then he kind of repeats all the benefits that Dhritamati has chosen to support. And then he says, and you could ask this question because you are, and then he launches on this outrageous praise of this Bodhisattva's questioning activity. And then, and then he tells Dhritamati, The question could be, and this wonder, this magnificent question comes up. It's a long, complicated, more or less endless question. That's the beginning of this. Well, it's not. It's only a few dozen pages. So that was that. Bert and I were studying it with some other people. And usually during Sashin, we don't like you know, talking on the telephone and checking emails and stuff unless necessary.

[09:17]

But he thought maybe because he was helping me, maybe he should check to see if anybody needed my help. So he checked his answering machine. No, no, he didn't. He went home. He wasn't checking anything. He went home, and the telephone was ringing. And maybe he usually... maybe during Sashim, but he thought, okay, I'll answer it. After I tell the story, we can ask Bert if he remembers the story. I think he does, because I've retold it in his presence. But, you know, maybe he forgot, so now he's going to remember a story about himself, probably. You guys can, you younger people can remind him. So I thought, well, maybe I should answer it. So he picks it up, and this woman is offering him the opportunity to get a new... So he's listening to her praise, you know, the virtues of the credit card.

[10:30]

And she's going on and on, and Bert's listening. Like a sweet Bodhisattva. He tells him about this great credit card. And after he listens for some time, he thinks to himself, maybe it would be good if I asked a question. Now, he didn't say a question that would liberate all beings and so on. Ask a question. But he probably wanted to help the lady. He definitely wanted to help me. So he said to her, do you have to have a certain income to have this credit card? And she said, well, yes. And she said, well, how much do you make? And he says, well, I make, you know, and he said some figure, which was how much he made at living at Zen Center, being a priest.

[11:34]

So he told her, and she said, where do you live? And he said, and then he described where he lived and the place where he got this tiny little amount of income, which would not be enough to have this credit card, by the way. So, but then he told this place and after he kind of like had been explaining it to her for a while, she said, remember what she said? Yeah, she said, I'd like to live there. Can I live there? And Bert said, yeah, you can. And then she said, can you smoke? And he said, well, not really. There's a smoking area, but you can't smoke in most places. But maybe after she quits smoking, she'll come.

[12:43]

Because at Green Gulch, you can't smoke in the Zendo. You can't smoke in your room. You can't smoke in the kitchen, and so on. But you can smoke in the outer parking lot. We tell guests that, too. And a couple of days ago, I was driving out of Green Gulch, and I saw one guest who was kind of surreptitiously, I'll use the word surreptitious, standing by the road, not at the outer parking lot, just a few feet away from the other people, kind of like served an electronic cigarette, which I've never seen people smoke before. Do you have any questions? Yes. I was dying to read Himani's question. You're dying? Well, yeah. Yes. Okay, well, go upstairs to the library and see if you can find the Heroic Stride Samadhi Sutra.

[13:52]

Is that the title of the book? Well, another title is Shurangama Samadhi Sutra. And so we'll see you later, Justin. If you by any chance find it, bring it down and we'll hear what what it was. All right. Any other questions? Thank you. Robin? Anderson? Ms. Anderson? I was wondering if you could talk about a story I heard. It's more related about... It's more about... Sorry. More on the topic of what we talked about this morning. But the story's always been pretty new, and I wanted to ask about it. It's about... It's about Suzuki Roshi.

[14:59]

Maybe you were there. I think you were there. When someone rang the wake-up bell early. I was there. Yeah. He... The person who rang the wake-up bell rang the wake-up bell by my room, too. Was it Mel? Yes. Well, it was a person who had that name was not around anymore. The Mel you know is a different Mel. But a Mel 43 years ago or 45 years ago rang the bell. About one hour early. And then what do you, tell me the rest of the story. Well, you know it. I know, so do you want it? But I'm going to be, I'm only going to be around for 20, 30, 33, 35, 37 years.

[16:03]

So you should, somebody else has to know these stories. So let's see if you can do it. Oh, God. Okay. So someone rang the wake-up bell to smell. And so some people woke up. Okay. They went down to the Zendo and then... No. No? I'm trying to remember. I know. I'm saying no. We can also do it like warmer, closer, warmer, colder. Anyway, that's not right. People didn't go to the Zendo. So what did they do? They got up. And then what's the next thing? Some people did that, but also then the person who rang the wake-up bell, realizing that it was early, went around and told people that it was early, and he told them, I think, to go back to bed. And they followed that instruction. But Suzuki Roshi went to the Zendo.

[17:04]

And he went down there and he sat. And he had an attendant who went with him. a helper who was questioning him. Anyway, they went to Zen and they sat. One person there and he sat for a while and sat for a while and the students didn't come. So then he went back to his room and the wake-up bell was rung again and then everybody went and then he came down. I don't know about getting upset. Maybe he became, what's the word? A great ball of fire. He became this very energetic, fiery Suzuki Roshi. He was upset. But he was definitely on fire. And he shouted,

[18:08]

something like, and he said various things, but the main thing I remember he said, what do you think we're doing here? And then he got up, and with his stick, he hit me first because I was sitting. seat near him so he hit me and when he hit me it was like you know trying to hit a home run you're like you know he really put him all of it into it you know and i was a young man and you know it's fine but he went And then he hit the person next to me, and he hit everybody.

[19:11]

By the time he finished, it was pretty soft. But he really put himself into it, and I think many of us kind of had tears of gratitude for how much he loved us, that he asked us, what are you doing? What are we doing here? What do you think we're doing here? Maybe somebody... I don't know. I never heard anybody say they weren't. But we really felt like he was really saying to us, what do you think we're doing here? The wake-up bell rings and somebody says, go back to bed. You go back to bed because the person tells you to go back to bed. You're awake. You're awake. Go sit. And some people saw him going. And I might have been one of the people who saw him. but I didn't go sit with my teacher. And so he gave me a big encouragement.

[20:16]

That's one version of the story. And please remember it and transmit it to the future generations. But I don't think he was upset. I think he was like, he just gives the expression, cook him. Zen master, Zen student cooking. So thinking back to what you were saying this morning, what if somebody had said, Rosie, I don't know? Then it would have been different. But nobody said anything. But if somebody had, we might have a different story, which might be just as good. Pardon? Do you think that would have been an acceptable question at that time? I think it would have been an acceptable question at that time.

[21:21]

Matter of fact, I think just about any question is acceptable at pretty much any time. However, I don't know what's going to happen after you ask the question. You know, the Buddha may praise you and say, thank you so much, you're such a great student. for the welfare and happiness of many beings. In that sutra, every time the bodhisattvas ask a question, in the different chapters, they all start with these different bodhisattvas' questions in the Samdhinirumacana Sutra. So in Chapter 8, Maitreya says, On what is the bodhisattva's practice of tranquility and insight based, and Buddha says, on the unshakable vow. to realize awakening and to teach the Dharma. Of course, to liberate beings, but to liberate them by teaching Dharma. That's Chapter 8. But he also, I think the other chapters start with the Bodhisattvas asking the Buddha questions and the Buddha saying, it's such a good question and you ask this question not to get anything for yourself, you ask this question for the welfare and happiness of many people.

[22:36]

That's why he says it over each chapter. So, that could have been a Bodhisattva could have asked that question at that time and we'd have a different story. No, you can bring it to me. You don't have to find it, too. It's sweet. It's sweet. It's so sweet. Well, this is not the Shurangama Samadhi Sutra.

[23:44]

This is the Shurangama Sutra, which is the heroic stride sutra. Shurangama means heroic stride in brackets of bodhisattvas. This is one scripture. But there's another one. Do you want to go back? There's another one. There's another one which is called Shurangama Samadhi Sutra. That's the one where the Dhritamati does the big question. The welfare. I think Justin's having a great time up there on his Dharma research. This may be one of the few times when Justin's been sent by the Sangha to find a sacred text. Yeah, this is, congratulations. This is, and also, by the way, there's a picture of a great monk over there on that wall there, a Chinese monk.

[24:51]

His name's Shrenzong. he traveled from China to India and back to get these teachings. One of them is this one, to bring these teachings back from India to China. Huh? So what is the difference between the two sutras? Well, one is... Well, one's written in India, and the other one I think is written in China, even though it's called a sutra. And one is about the samadhi of bodhisattvas, and the other one is about kind of a somewhat different treatment of the great vehicle teachings. So they're quite... One starts out with the story of Dhritamati asking the Buddha the question about this thing. And the question he winds up asking is about the samadhi.

[25:52]

And this is it. Yoo-hoo-hoo. It starts with a story about Ananda. And so they're quite different, but they share the expression heroic stride. Srirangama Samadhi Sutra.

[28:13]

Thus I have heard at one time the Buddha Naraja Griha in Gudrakutra with a great assembly of bhikshus 32,000 Bhikshus and Mahasattva Bodhisattvas number 72,000. These last, the Bodhisattvas, were universally known and then it tells you about who they are, and it tells you about their virtues. Yep, there they are.

[29:16]

And then after all that description of the great assembly of bodhisattvas, it says, then the bodhisattva, the Dhridhamati, present in the Great Assembly, had this thought. I would like to ask the Buddha a question. Which would be such as to protect the lineage of the Buddha, the lineage of the Dharma, and the lineage of the community? that would be able to obscure and eclipse the dwellings of Mara. Confound proud people. He wants to ask the question that would confound proud people.

[30:31]

Well, kind of like proud people think they know something. And this would be a question which would make them go... Confused. It would make them understand they're not so clear. But they're proud, right? He doesn't want to confound humble people. They don't need confounding. He's going to confound the proud. Thus, those who have not... So that thus those who have not yet planted good roots will plant them immediately. Those who have already planted good roots will add to them. Those that have not yet aroused the thought of the supreme and perfect enlightenment will arouse the thought of complete perfect enlightenment."

[31:37]

Did you get that? He wants to ask a question so anybody who has not given rise to this thought for supreme awakening, when they hear this question, they will. And it goes on. all the things he would wish. He's thinking. Having this thought, Dhridhamati rose from his seat and arranged his upper robe on one shoulder and placed his right knee on the ground and his left knee up and extending his joined palms You know? He's got this knee down, this knee up, in front of the Buddha, extends his joined palms, and said to him, and it has the Sanskrit here, but I'm not going to read it, Bhagavan, I would like to question the Tathagata on a small point.

[32:55]

If the Tathagata gives me leave to ask a question, and the Buddha said to Dhridhamati, question the Tathagata on whatever you wish, and I will. In answering these questions will delight your mind So then the Bodhisattva Dhritamati said to the Buddha, what is the samadhi through which the bodhisattvas quickly attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment? What is that samadhi? What is the samadhi in which the bodhisattva is never apart from intimately What is the samadhi that illumines with his own light all regions, acquires a wondrous wisdom so as to destroy all delusion, obtain mastery, obtain untaught

[34:25]

obtains the untaught, the unfraught, and does not depend on others. And he goes on and on. What samadhi does this? And then the Buddha, after he finishes, the Buddha says to Dhridhamati, what the samadhi is? Oh no, then the Buddha said, to the Bodhisattva Dhridhamati. Excellent. Excellent. Oh, Dhridhamati, question the Tathagata on this subject for the welfare, happiness of many beings through pity for the world, for the benefit, welfare, and happiness of the great body of beings, humans and gods, for the protection ...present and future bodhisattvas. Know this, you have planted good roots. You have honored and served innumerable Buddhas of thousands of kodas of Buddhas of the past.

[35:42]

You have trodden the paths. You have overcome all delusion and adversaries and so on. He goes on and on talking about all that he asks this question. And then he starts the answer, which is the rest of the sutra. In the way in which the question is asked, the word samadhi, I'm getting confused. They use it from the Sanskrit, which is like the final stage of attainment. It feels like the question is, what is the path, what is the quickest path to enlightenment? Is that how I would interpret that? Yeah, but the quickest path to enlightenment also could be understood as the final attainment. So you don't have to think that this is going to take any time.

[36:46]

So the path is kind of like, and the Chinese, they use the word path, which before Buddhism came, there was a path in Taoism, the Tao, which kind of meant the way. But they used the character which meant the way or the path for the goal or the fruit of the path. So the character for Dao is the path and enlightenment. But you can also, which I'll be talking about this fall, see enlightenment as the path. But you can't see the path, every moment of the path is enlightenment. So there's that play on that. The path is kind of a paradox. Because it seems like you're going somewhere, but where you're going is where you are. You're like going on a path to what you really are.

[37:52]

Is that like how you can't see yourself? Is it like that? Yeah, it's just like that. So one of the ways to teach is by asking questions. Yes? I'm asking the question not from the perspective of the sutras. I'm asking the question from my seat. And I see my seat as that pure seat because when I hear you reading the sutras, I could see the question and the answer is so ready, so right, so here that it's... it goes in and it's just right here in it.

[39:05]

Whereas my seat, when I have questions, I still am like trying to say, okay, what is it, how is it, where is it? We don't have a video on you, but she's going like this. So the purity, one way to understand purity or purifying is the process by which you come to be at your seat. So you say my seat, but actually it sounds like you have not yet arrived at your seat. Yes, exactly. So when you really arrive at your seat, the transformation process is complete. When you arrive at your seat, that's where this path unfolds. The way unfolds when we arrive at our seat. So our training process is to arrive where we are. And that's also, we're purified of being anything other than And also what we are is not something by itself. But we're purified of everything that's not us that makes us be ourself.

[40:14]

Everything that's not us makes us just the way we are. And when we're just the way we are we realize how everything makes us how we are. And that's where the way unfolds. So the purification process is like giving up all of our going away from where we are. which is, you know, it's our huge challenge to remember to be here. And I'd also like to express... And I think that can be called a purification process. I'd also like to express myself because this happened today for me. It happened today when I was sitting in the room waiting to see you. And what I could see exactly my inability of taking, sitting where I am. And if I could even just be that or accomplish that in this life, that's all I want.

[41:17]

That would be great. And so what you just said is, what did you say? You were seeing the inability to be where you are. In other words, you're seeing a transgression aggressing away from where you are. Now, there seems to be a going away from here. That's a transgression from where you are. And again, the principle that we chant in the morning is there's a practice of confessing that you're going away from yourself and saying, I'm sorry, I wasn't. At my place, I wasn't being authentic about being me, and I'm sorry about that. And by confessing and repenting our transgressions from being ourself, that process melts away the root of going away. And in this way, we can finally be completely.

[42:22]

But it takes a lot of training, and once we arrive, that's not the end. That's really the beginning. Now we can act from here. Now it's not us anymore. It's us being where we are. That unfolds the path. Is that related, and I can't remember the proper term for it, but the, not the Jukai, but the priest ordination is referred to as the returning home? Is that right? The priest ordination is called leaving home. Leaving home. And the lay ordination is staying home. But in both cases, the first precept is to return to Buddha, which means to be yourself so completely that you realize that you are not yourself by yourself. Realization is Buddha. Returning to yourself completely, you realize that you are not yourself by yourself.

[43:28]

That's also the same as returning to Buddha. So the first Bodhisattva precept is be yourself so completely that you realize you are not yourself by yourself, just like Buddha. That's the first precept. And one thing is saying, leave your household and go live in a monastery. The other is saying, stay at home and practice the bodhisattva way. In both cases, the intent is to be yourself. In both cases the intent is to be yourself completely and to purify all running away from here and now. And human beings need training at this. children don't know how to do this because the nervous system has a long history of running away from here and thinking that someplace else is better than here and being some other way than this.

[44:41]

This is our animal nature and in order to mature as human beings we have to spend a lot of time running around otherwise our muscles don't develop and our nervous system doesn't develop. Like I tell this story about my grandson. I was hanging out. Granddaddy, I got an idea for something that would really be fun. Let's take... Could you pass this to Justin? Let's take all my toys downstairs and put them in a tub and fill the tub with water. And he thought that would really be fun. So... You know, he got going. He didn't say, Granddaddy, let's just sit here and be ourselves. That'll really be fun. He thought, let's take all the toys downstairs, put them in the tub, fill it with water, and that will be fun. So he thought that, you know, that would be... So we went and we took all the toys down, put them in the tub, I'm filling the tub with water, and then he sees something else that would really be fun.

[45:46]

Before we finished filling it, he found something else that would really be fun. And children have to do that, otherwise they don't develop. So a kid, you know, or usually they don't, maybe some kid could like just and not move and, you know, develop, I don't know. But I think they need a little running around too. So we come by our tendency to run away from ourselves honestly, as they say. Some of us still need that when we're adults. We need it until we've done all the things we think would be fun. And after they're all done, I've had all the fun I need to have. Now, I guess I'm willing to just be me. I could have been earlier, but there's some things I wanted to do before. I'm just me. And so I say sometimes to people who... want to get ordained as priests, I say, is there anything else you'd like to accomplish in this life before getting ordained?

[46:46]

Or anyway, period. Like, do you want to get a PhD or build a house? Or, you know, build an empire? Have ten kids? Anything like that you want to do? Why don't you do that? Come back, and then we'll just be you. And so sometimes they do. They leave, and they go off and do those things, and then they come back. And then when they get back, they say, thanks for waiting for 30 years for me to come back. They do. They go, thank you for waiting. I'm still here. And I said, I am too. Welcome back. I'm glad you took care of all that stuff, which is good stuff. Let's say it's all wholesome, you know? And now, for the boring work, And Zen Center is here to help you. To help you be you so fully that you realize enlightenment.

[47:52]

And I would like to keep talking to you longer, but I have to go wash dishes at Green Gulch. I promised to end at 5.30 and now it's 5.35. So thank you for another wonderful day of practice together. Thank you. Thank you. May our intention equally stand to everything and play with the true merit of Buddha's way.

[48:27]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_86.65