I said that we're not going through the precepts one by one. It's too long. And that's detail work which could be done over many years. So I'm not really going into those. Spending more time on the kind of process or the ceremony, right? And the sort of change that was called to water locks at the ceremony. But I did want to tell you some, give you a few little goodies about the three pure precepts. These three pure precepts are Translated here as, we sometimes say, I've already prayed from all action that creates attachment. And in Berkeley, they said it a little differently.

[01:05]

They say, I've already prayed from all action that is rooted in ignorance. And that strikes me as saying the same thing as I vowed to print from all action. Other way, both of these translations are elaborations or what do you call it, renderings of the original. The original more accurately translated, not accurately, but more literally translated with the I vow to avoid all evil. But we don't like that word, so we say . And then we say, I vow to make every effort to, this one says, to reveal beginner's mind. And the other one we had was, I vow to make every effort to live in enlightenment.

[02:12]

Again, the original is more literally, I vow to do good, or to do all good. And then the third one is, I vow to live, to benefit all beings. And the original, which is from the Dharmapada, right? The original is finding the Dharmapada. And the original says, I vow to, no, not I vow, yeah, I vow to, to purify my mind. Mahayana version of that is, I vow to live for the benefit of other beings. In other words, in Mahayana Buddhism, the way we clarify our mind is to help other people. Because if other people are in trouble, our mind is messed up. So, our mind is messed up because they're in trouble. Anyway, the original is simpler like that. I vow to avoid evil, I vow to do good, and I vow to live for the benefit of other beings.

[03:15]

This is the Mahayana basic vows. And here's some sort of, this is the, this is the stuff that I want to give you in addition to that. One is, if I can remember now, I'm very sleepy today. I did up late last morning. The first one, I believe it's called something like, I'll say that, I'll do the second one actually. The second one is called something like Kusala Dharma Sangraha, which means to gather together all the wholesome dharmas. And the third one is something like Sapva Kriya And the first one is called something like, I believe it's called something like Pratimoksha Samvara, which means the discipline of the Pratimoksha and the discipline of the precepts.

[04:41]

So the ten great precepts, in a sense, are actually put sort of under the first one of the three, namely to practice in such a way as to clean up your karma. You don't push my karma. To refrain from wrongdoing. That was sort of a translation of it in Sanskrit. The additional information is that these three precepts, these three vows or precepts, are associated with the three bodies of Buddha. Which body could be associated with which? Well, I think that would be the usual, uh, in the first month, correct, am I?

[06:07]

The Dima Chiap is associated with this thing about avoiding wrongdoing or You know, the discipline of the precepts. Would that be surprising? What? I guess I think, you know, the Dharmakaya is like the essential nature of everything, you know? And it's the ineffable Buddha nature. That's how I thought that to associate it with with, you know, that careful, detailed practice surprised me a little bit. But anyway, that is the way it's set up. Dharmakaya with the first one. And therefore, the Dharmakaya would be associated with past, present, or future. Hmm? Huh? Not past.

[07:13]

I'll just tell you, that's the association we'll be talking about lately. So then you associate the Dharmakaya, the Sambhurakaya with the good one, and the Mnemonakaya with the helping people. That makes sense of the Mnemonakaya with helping people, right? The Buddha in the form of a person, or some phantom person, or some transformation of the Buddha nature into a form that people can, that beings can relate to. Next slide. Which one would you put that in? I already, you already, I eliminated the, you didn't get the Dhanakaya to be present, so there's a present and future left for the new Monica, which one would that be? You've got two wrong, and that's the maximum number you can get. You can't get, oh, you actually get the third one wrong too now. But you could guess again on the third one.

[08:18]

I did it right. The nirmanakai is not the present. The nirmanakai is the present. Did you say the present? The nirmanakai is the present? that I told you it's not the future, which time do you think it's in? Free people! Come on! The present, right. The mnemonic eyes in the present. Now that may seem, in one sense, once you sort of want the domicile to be in the present, you may just not really want to think about the mnemonic eyes in the present. Now that you've got that tip, doesn't it make sense if the harmonica is in the present? I mean, it's just, there it is. The harmonica, the present manifestation. Sambhogakaya is in the future. Now, of course, all kinds are in the present. There's no past or future.

[09:20]

So don't worry about it too much. Okay? We like to start with it. But what is the meaning of saying past, of saying the Dhamma guys get past, and the Sambora guys be preacher, like my uncle loves? So, refrain from evil, that practice is somehow past-oriented. Helping people is present-oriented, and doing all good is future-oriented. Of course, there is no past or future, so what does that mean? I guess you could say the thing about doing good, but I'm just talking about doing good as being something more active.

[10:27]

If you think about past and future being doing just things that are going on in the present, then past and future, basically. Something like that. Some of the... Can we say some of the... Can we say some of the... Huh? Yeah. Sambo Rukhaya means bliss body or reward body. So the bliss body or the reward body is in the future. That makes some sense in that way. The reward or the bliss is in the future. No? Well, but remember, the future is not some of the time. That's what a bliss is, a bliss.

[11:35]

I mean right now all sentient beings are not liberated, right? If they're not, then you can think about or realize the time when they are all liberated. I'm not saying it is. The future is only an idea. The past is only an idea. The present is only an idea. All this stuff is empty, right? But still, what is, you know, what's the difference in the, what, what, why do they mention this? What's the use of recognizing we operate in past, present, and future? So, since we do, since we're caught up in that game, and we sort of like, for example, we like the dominant guy to be in the present, so on, so forth. Well, since we're in that game, we have to use that game to set ourselves free. And this is, they're bringing our usual thinking of past, present, future, in association with this practice. Yes. You talked about what's causing you here.

[12:48]

Pass an email. Basically, ask, we have this inexorable, we have, all of us have done everything we can think of. That's why we should not go around and say, oh, that dirty old mass murderer. We could say dirty old mass murderer, but we should not be in a position that I would never be such a thing. Now, some people ask, some people think they would never be a mass murderer. Well, there would never be a nice murder today.

[13:51]

This is a crime. You could take care of nothing. You know, you don't have to take care of the criminalized assault. Like that? Yeah, yeah. Seems like putting all those on a photo for a comment or anything like that. Barnard was treated with doing evil. They were called them fetal and blitz. All of them had a trip down the moment they tried. It was actually for me. The actual present, the real present, of course, includes past and present and future, which means that the actual present is contradictory.

[15:04]

Because the actual present includes the past, which is in that sense, and that present includes the future. There's no other past or future, and yet there seems to be. So what the present is really like is contradictory. So you also have all three bodies of Buddha, there, and you have all from the street that's there. And the real president, the real president is very crowded and confusing and conflicted and . That's why we like to break up the president across president feature, because then we have some sense that there's not contradiction in life. which is well, but then we forget that we just set that up for practical purposes. Because it's hard to be down the stairs without a future, so we say, okay. It's not that I'm sitting here thinking of going down the stairs, and I have an image of going down the stairs, but actually, that is not in the future.

[16:09]

I'm just sort of thinking that so that I can I told him I could go down the stairs, but I said, I'm not going down the stairs, I'm just thinking of going down the stairs. And now I'm still talking about it. So we started saying, that really is a thing, and then we can move. When I'm at my door, I won't count even nine hours in the morning. When I freak you came down with anything, you lose count. You know, with the aid, the little aids that help you regulate me. past, present, future to be kind. Like past, past, present, past, future. And it really, I don't lose count even without doing it, but I do it to other people. Past, future, present, future, future. And once it's in there, remember that I offered it, I'd think, because there it is.

[17:41]

But really, somebody else may have offered it, right? For all I know. I can remember maybe my hand going like that. When I offered pardon, I'd say you did it twice. I can remember when you literally lift it up. Maybe the first one and the second one. You know, the reason why I do it three times is because one time, the first time, and then I read it, and then I think, well, it wasn't really the second time. The first time, so I should look at it. Yeah, none did. What did they say? How can you tell spring and fall on the naked branch? When you lift the infant up right here, this could be the first place I could offer.

[18:45]

Now, if there's no instant in it, it must be the first place, no. But if you're in the middle of the service, this could be anywhere, anytime. It could be the 19th kind of opportunity. Somebody else might have offered it. Well, no. How do you remember? So, as you get older then, you come on like... Are they coming soon now? Yeah. That confusion, just no memory. It's totally in the present. I don't know. How do I get this in there? I don't know. I'm getting there. But next to where you is from Nigeria, the man who mistook his wife for a hat.

[19:51]

This guy who, you know, you meet him and say, how do you do? My name's Rep. You say, how do you do, Rep? I come, boy. Hey, how do you do today? And then he turned to wear and he said, who are you? Where you come from? My name's Rep. Oh, hi, Rep. How do you do? And I see you. Who are you? So when you do something, then it's gone. It's over. How do you remember it? You remember it because when you do something, one of the effects of doing something is that you've got a habit now of doing it. So when you do it again, it's easier to do because you did it before. But actually you can't. It's gone. So that's a little bit on the precepts.

[20:55]

And as I was saying the other night, in both pre-Buddhist India and in pre-Buddhist China, ritual acts were kind of like this little dial, the little cognitive dial you turn, and as you turn it, this whole little string connecting this central act to the stars, and the moon, and the past and present and future, everything orients around that act, and everything harmonizes and minds up with that act. If the act is done properly, the entire cosmos harmonizes. This is both the idea, the Vedic or Dramonical idea of a properly performed ritual, and also the Chinese pre-Buddhist and even pre-Defusian idea.

[22:06]

These precepts are like that too. These three precepts are kind of, you see, they're kind of cognitively related to past but in the future. So your action, then, orients. It's a way to deal with your past, which is gone, and the future. So all the planning space is being related to this ethical activity. That notion only Well, if you think it makes sense, then you're not doing a ritual act. Then you're saying, I'm a human being.

[23:14]

I will forget I'm a human being. Now say I'm going to do something. If I remember I'm a human being, then I remember when I say I'm going to do something, it doesn't mean that much. It just means I'm saying something. When a human being says they'll do something, what that means is that a human being has said they're going to do something. Like they say in driving school, when you're driving behind somebody and they turn their turn signal on, and you see the left turn signal beating off and on, what that means is the left turn signal beating off and on. It does not mean they're going to turn left. It does not mean they didn't stop. It does not mean they didn't go. It doesn't mean anything about what they're going to do. It just means that they turned their turn signal on or somebody turned their turn signal on and it's working. No, it does not mean that. They might have mistakenly turned it in the wrong direction. You might be ready to turn right and you turn it down left instead and you turn right. You intended to turn right. But push the left thing down. We're confused.

[24:16]

We make mistakes. And even when we intend to do things, in the middle of the term, we say, oh, that's the wrong place to turn. We turn back. And that's how it went into us. People are confused. That's why we should be compassionate towards us. And they don't intentionally screw up. They just intentionally do one thing after another, and then they forget. But, you know, we're intending to do the thing, but then they think, maybe I already did it. So because of the way we work, we don't necessarily, we aren't exactly predictable. So, if we're going to the dinosaur, we're going to be afraid because we think we've got, maybe we've got problems or maybe we'll hurt, but never is what we expect. Also, what happens to us never is what we expect, and what we do is never what we say we're going to do. Never. Never, never. Now, if we weren't human beings, maybe that would be true, but for human beings, we don't However, we say we're going to do it. Saying we're going to do it, I would suggest to you, not easy to understand, but when you say, I restrain, I vow to do all good, this is our intention.

[25:25]

But this is not what we're going to do. Who knows what we're going to do? I don't know what we're going to do, but we won't do what we say we're going to do. But we still say we're going to do it. That's why I said earlier, and I'll say it again, the precepts, ethical conduct is normative rather than descriptive of human behavior. It's what we intend to do rather than what we are doing. And what we intend to do doesn't have to make any sense because it's not what we're going to do. So what we intend to do is something that is a ritual thing, which will make the entire universe happy. So what makes sense to us doesn't make sense to the stars. So we suggest something like, I'm going to do all good, I'm going to refrain from all bad, and I'm going to help all beings.

[26:28]

This makes the stars happy, and it makes everybody happy. And it doesn't make sense. And we still say it, and we really mean we're going to try to do it. It's our goal. And it's not a sensible goal. If you're going to set up a goal that you couldn't realize, then you probably should say something like, I vow to someday not do some bad thing. I'm not sure what one's going to be. And I vow to someday do a good thing. That would be more reasonable. And I vow to help somebody somehow, even though I don't quite know how to do that. But we don't vow that. We vow something that is clearly beyond our abilities. Now, if you vow to do something on a smaller scale, that's swell too. But it doesn't make other people particularly happy because it doesn't include them.

[27:29]

the stars say well it's fine for you but what about me so then they rain down uh all kinds of evil influences on you because you left them out so so what you do is you make you make these gestures on a scale that will that will is beyond your scope but deals with the whole story because if you don't deal with the whole story the rest of the story will get If you're practicing this little box here, then you'll notice that everything we do gets knocked down. Have you noticed that happening? You haven't noticed it happening? Well, because you're, because it's like, let's say you're on a hill, okay? And there's an avalanche, and you try to pile up some rocks. The universe isn't against you, but all these rocks are running down the hill. So when you try to make a little pile of rock, other rocks can start knocking you, and you'll rock a pile of rocks down.

[28:32]

You wouldn't try to pile up the rocks if you knew they were the avalanche. You would say, I'm just going to get smashed, and I'll try to do it gracefully. But since you don't know it's an avalanche, you think, well, I think I'll make a little sand pass up here. or making a sandcastle in the surf. Now, if you know that you're making a sandcastle in the surf, in the hearse, you will not be surprised that you're unsuccessful. Right? You know, that's... You can try, and it's perfectly fine to try, but you know that it's going to be very difficult, and the water's going to keep knocking your castle down. So for a human being to suggest that they're going to do some good thing someday is like building a sandcastle in the surf. You won't even be able to do that.

[29:35]

Because although you can build a sandcastle, of course you can build a sandcraft with no problem with that. And of course you can do some good thing someday. That's not so difficult, is it? The problem is the surf gets you because you actually are in the surf. You're not on the beach. You're in the middle of an enormous event. That's like being in the surf or out in the ocean. That's where we really are. But we can't deal with that. So we take a little subset of it and we try to do something. that work because much more is going on than that. So, these vows are not like daily life. Daily life, we think, how can I build a sandcastle? And we try, and sometimes there's a few minutes before the waves hit. We say, I feel good. I got out the door. I said I was going to go out the door, and I did. See? Like right now, I say, I'm going to go out the door.

[30:40]

Watch me. I'll probably be successful. really get the kind of trick that I play in myself. The vows are on a big scale. The vows are on a scale of what could I say that actually would work? Well, nothing's happening that won't work if I'm going to fail on a huge scale. Like, for example, I could say, I'm going to drown. That would be easy to do in the ocean. I would rather say something like that. Yes, I am a sir. I'm a sir. What do you think vows are saying? Vows have a way to say, in terms of your own action, what it's like to be a sir. What do you think you're saying? You're bound to not get in the way.

[31:41]

You're bound to join the cosmos. Look at the early, as I said, the early acts of religious service are sacrifice. I make this little sacrifice to the God. And then these divine forces behind the forces of nature, they saw, they had this God behind fire, behind water, behind wind, and behind earth. That's the way the Indians saw it. There were these forces of nature which you can see, and behind each of these forces of nature, at the bottom of each of these forces of nature, is a divine force. And then you can't see the divine force, but you can see the wind, and you can see the fire, and you can see the sun, and you can see the moon. So you make offerings to these forces. And then the power behind them, and also you make offerings to the psychic forces within you. You can see the psychic force of passion, anger, confusion.

[32:44]

You see that. But there's some, that's what you see right now, but those are the immortal forces. They're there day after day, among all of them. They're not going to go away, even though they're going to go away for a minute. So you make an offering. You make an offering to the force that you think is kind of like the one that you think deserves the attention right now, to the best of your ability. And the safest way is to make it to all of you. So be really actively making offerings to these divine feelings. And if you do it right, in a way that really does address them, it means people felt that that would make light work better. But what do you actually do? You just take a piece of meat, kill some small animal, a big animal, and you put it on the altar. That's the best you can do. So here you say some words. But do you think those people, those Greeks, actually thought that those things were going to come down their feet and that the flesh was going to fly up to the spirit behind them?

[33:51]

Do you think they thought that Zeus was going to come down and eat the cow? That wasn't going to happen. But eat it afterwards. Just like we do. We put the stuff on the altar and then the cheat ends eat it. We're not fools. We're not stupid. What? Well, some cheat ends do. As a matter of fact, if you read the Philemon Odyssey, a ritual text, they're explaining to you how they did it. And they said, and they had elaborate methods. These soldiers were actually also, they had some priestcraft. Because, as I mentioned, they couldn't necessarily bring priests along with them into the battlefield. But sometimes you had to make an offering immediately after the battle because the gods would say, you're going to wait until next Tuesday to make the offering? And then they'll get you and you'll be slaughtered for the next day. So they didn't even do it right at the time. So they did their offering. And then after the offerings, they were offered, they would eat the stuff themselves.

[34:55]

So that people who read that book would understand that you both eat it afterwards. But in Zen Center, we don't have a thing with Shaq, which explains that you make offerings to the God, plus you eat it afterwards. So that you don't necessarily know. But sometimes I teach them, I say, can I, would you give me that rice? I say, oh, he's giving me that rice. Can I read? Even the rice offered to Buddha? At first, I think that Western mind might think, well, first of all, it's weird to offer food to Buddha or to a dead ancestor. And second of all, If you did, you shouldn't beat yourself afterwards. Right? Isn't that sort of the Western way? Isn't that the way you love this thing? You don't think of that one? You know, Miss, I was sort of raising a preaching position where community was an offering of sacrifice. The person who participated in that, you see the empowerment in the vision of the community. Some of the offerings who teach.

[35:56]

Oh, I see. The first thing you do, if you put it on the altar, then you take it off and leave it to the people. So you have some training. See, a partial training would be, and again, Protestants maybe don't do this. It's a Protestant, actually. Protestants have more power. And that's the thing. And if you're going to be holy, then you should be holy. You shouldn't get any of it. That's the Protestant method. It's a pure method, I should say. That's a pure method. First of all, you don't make orphans anyway, but if you did, they shouldn't have enough for you. That's right, they're not for you. They're for the gods, but giving to God is for you. And that's all you can deal with. So, but it's up to the cheetahs, but they don't want to eat it. I don't care if they do. I like that stuff myself. I believe that. Number two. It's nice to give people that.

[36:58]

After you make the offering, that's very quickly and say, let's give them the Buddha. But, you know, especially special food. And it's kind of inconceivable to people that you would not give it to some other animals. You know, it's kind of incredible how much. Something that wasn't there But another time I was walking and I just said, oh, there's trying to go off and go to it. It's no different to all of it. That's what we need to read and make it back.

[38:00]

You know, we're trying to bring it back into our lives. You know, the death, not. It's all around us. And the life we do. I don't know. I really, I just, what I saw, the people were totally involved in how to do it. And there was nothing else happening. And I thought, you know, doing that was like, and when I was stopped by it, there was nothing else happening. All I could do was, like, stand there. And I felt the same way at a French dinner table.

[39:14]

From my point of view, that's a French ritual. If they're eating, sitting down eating, that's where they're at. I get found on my bottom of my pathway, but I see no sign of paralysis in my life whatsoever. I couldn't. But the whole nation practices need it, and they're really good at it. And when they're eating, I have distinct impression like I was at the center of the universe. And that there was nothing else. I was like that there was nothing else going on because I also realized that in that same country there were other tables that were also the center of the universe. That a high percentage of the nation was now sitting down at numerable centers of the universe. And the people around the tables were not thinking of anywhere else up there.

[40:16]

They were now sort of wondering about the things they were actually It was, they were concentrating on what was going on there. And it isn't just the beating, either. Like I was, I was, you know, the cook here, Laurent, you know, Michel? Michel Dubois, he lives over the Gaspard. Anyway, they're both Panteris. And I was riding with them and my wife, who lived in France for a while. And we got in the car and they started talking about recipes. how to cook, well, what we call potatoes au gratin, something like that, potage au gratin. Except it wasn't quite that. And I've been there and they're having this very detailed argument about different ways to make that dish. It's too many. The point is that I'm trying to make anyway that we'll do various things in various cultures which are the center of the universe.

[41:23]

And if they're done properly, I think the idea is that... Because it seems fun, you know, I think to myself, you know, I guess France has atomic power plants now, right? Do they have nuclear missiles too? They got weapons. They got weapons. But basically, excuse me for my prejudice, but I don't think France is really able to defend itself. I mean, if a push comes to shove, I don't think it matters that they have those things. I don't know if they have an army, but I don't think it really matters that they have married me. That's my impression. What I think protects France is that dinner table. I think that's really what protects them. I think that's what they want to sell them like. Yeah, I know, but I don't think that protects them. Maybe it's good business.

[42:25]

I can see that. But then I wonder, what does protect France? It's not their army. It's not their navy. It's not their air force. I think what protects France is their culture, and particularly their cooking. Just like what protected Kyoto. Why didn't they bomb Kyoto? America started bombing all over Japan. Kyoto didn't have any, fortunately didn't have any military establishment to speak of. The reason why they didn't bomb Kyoto was because of their architecture. Because of their beautiful buildings. And because of their religion. Otherwise, they would have bombed this. So what? Why not? But they'd stay away from it. They wanted... Sure they wanted to bomb it.

[43:26]

Nice people here, they're talking about it. Yeah, it makes them nice fires. Watch those... They'd make some new fires, you know. Watch those muts run out of there. They're cute. I read the book, Quarried Biography by Harry Truland. And I think he was late there that the target was Kyoto, but a cloud had come over the entire world. A cloud came over the entire Kyoto. A cloud came over the entire body. And they switched it to their chamber. They couldn't see. You mean they were going to drop it? They want that bomb. Yep. Maybe so. But the regular bombing, they were going to do too. But Reichauer said, please don't bomb it.

[44:26]

And this is what I'm talking about by, you know, building sandcastles in the surf. It's your culture that protects you. Not the wall that's on your cities. This is, this, these three balls are cultural statements. They're not reasonable human statements. They're not, they're not personal statements. I personally would like to, you know, accomplish certain things today. And I may be somewhat successful. But it depended on a lot of cooperation. These things are not things which I can realistically accomplish, but they're cultural events which, if we keep practicing these things, even though we can't do them, if we practice these things, these are our real protection. These are our military... These are our self-defense, even though we can't do them. If I try to practice a... I'm just talking, by the way.

[45:32]

This is a true answer. If I try to practice ethics on a level at which I would be successful, then I'm going to need some other kind of protection. Everybody's out to practice some ethics when it's convenient. All people do that. The Mafia have ethics, but the police shoot them down because of their ethics. Because their ethics is an ethics that's basically in the ballpark for them, that they can do. It's not really a cultural... They don't have a high level of ethical development, these Mafia people. They're at low level. Some people don't want to protect their culture in that way. Even though it's impossible. I believe the stories are like that. They say, you see when you're saying something, it's absolutely impossible. But it's a very clear intention. But to say, I will be trained for all action that creates attachment, that's just a wrong idea.

[46:37]

It seems to me that's just a wrong idea. It's just a dumb idea that's about... Well, because it seems to me that any human action necessarily creates attachment. Did you hear what I said about this other one, rooted in pigments? Yeah, right. As to both of those translations, which we're using commonly in our sanghas, it seems to me that the stars wouldn't like that. Because they're dumb. Because they're what might be about the Dharma. Can we take something like that? Well, why can't we just say, I vow to do all good, do all evil? Yeah. Why can't we just do that? I can say that. You know, if we're going to say an unrealistic thing, why not say I have to do it?

[47:39]

Well, actually, the thing is that you said they're dumb Buddhism. But they're not dumb people. They're sophisticated from the human point of view. But the Buddhist statement should be dumber. The stars are dumb, too. That's a problem. So I think that it probably would be better to go back to this dumber statement like that, which is also more clearly impossible. Because you say, bother to frame more action because attachment is kind of like, well, you can do some kind of action, but you just do other kinds of things you do. Maybe there is some action that doesn't create attachment. So maybe we'll change that then. It's possible. No, the Chinese said, don't do bad. This is a Richard Baker.

[48:41]

This is a Richard Baker and this other one, because I don't know who did it. I don't know who did it or who, but... Anyway, it's not translation. It's rendering. And trying to say a little bit more than is there. What was it? What did that do? What did that do? What did that do? says, I've already refrained in all actions that are rooted in ignorance. But it's clear Buddhist teaching is ignorance, climate formations, consciousness. Someone said to me a joke something the other day, something about, why do you do things, or why do you do that, or why do you do that? And I said, because of ignorance. That's why I do what I do. Just, you know, big lines, combinations, consciousness, you know, sense, name and forms, six senses.

[49:51]

That's all good. We don't think that's too much, but that's the story, that's the teaching. And if you admit what you're doing, then there's a possibility going the other direction. So that also means that Although it's true that what we do is not true that what we'll do is based on ignorance and what we think is based on ignorance. At the same time, if you remember that, then what you think goes back to the common explanations and the common explanations go back to the ignorant. It goes the other direction then. If you admit what you're up to, you don't admit what you're up to, this keeps going again. If this transition comes along, I don't think we think we could do. It's like an attempt to make it. bring it into a ballpark that... Right. And it's also part of the first... There's several phases of adapting to American culture, and one of the phases is... One of the things that happens is you try to make some of this stuff not so shocking.

[50:53]

Believe me, I can understand. People's parents and relatives come to the ceremony, and then the original says, And now you're going to abandon your parents. Abandon your parents. And your parents go, and later it says, which will bring them great benefits. But still, they don't care about that. So these things in the original were shocking to the relatives that it may take us 50 years to be able to dare to say that they're Huh? That's a reason for you. I'll let you read that part. Let it say abandon your children. If you read this next section, please. Behind the altar. I think that being confused about whether or not there's something that you can do that creates attachment or doesn't create attachment, I think that's a worthwhile confusion.

[52:06]

It's okay to think, well, what can I do that won't cause problems here? That's a good problem. I think, also, the other day, you said that, you know, activity is more or less confined to Godisatva's actions, because Buddha doesn't act, it's doing it. So, when you say, I vow to be praying from all actions and feelings of attachment, that is sort of equivalent to saying, I vow to be Buddha. I vow to become Buddha. And you do vow to become Buddha. So, in a way, it's fine. Yeah. Also, another thing, just to toss out things, it's okay to say, I'm going to help people. It's okay to say, I'm allowed to help people. But you don't have to say, I did help people. That is unnecessary. However, as I said to somebody yesterday, if you need to say that to get to the day, fine.

[53:13]

It's no worse than sucking your family's milk and cigarette. But it's that kind of thing. You need to do it, but otherwise, if you can live without it, it's better. So bodhisattvas function more efficiently if they don't go around saying, I'm helping people. But if you have to, fine. Also, bodhisattvas function more efficiently if they don't go around saying, I'd become Buddha. Even though we intend to become Buddha, we should try, and we should try to help everybody. Still, you can't help anybody. You can't become Buddha, et cetera, et cetera. However, you should still try. And if you have to also not only try, but say that you've also already done it, fine, say it. But you're not. It's not necessary. . Uh, no, not down the side of it.

[54:15]

So when you say they pump in the down the bottom? They're in the down the bottom. So you were finding a poly down the bottom? Poly down the bottom, not, not the Tibetan down the bottom. It's in the poly. And then the, and the mind has changed a little bit, changed the last one. I think one will do a statement to say that I saw a gateway to a Berlin temple like that. Very simple. A short statement seems to me that they're good. They're proud of you, ma'am. [...] They're proud of you. Right. That's part of another reason for changing is it sounds like something you've heard before. Another thing to know is that a lot of us came to Buddhism because we didn't like Christian or the Jewish tradition of original sin.

[55:22]

Do the Jews have original sin? It's a little different idea instead of that sin. Anyway, I think there's some stuff in the Old Testament and the New Testament which we don't like. And again, so... And I'm one of these people, you know. You have a certain understanding of stuff, and then you hear about Buddhism, and it confirms your understanding, and says, well, I'll go to that place. A lot of us think of Buddhism because Buddhism, what we've heard about Buddhism, it confirmed our own ideas. But now I'm feeling kind of more like religion has to do with not getting our own ideas confirmed, but reversing our own ideas, and not doing the opposite. So if you think you should do good, it's not that you should start doing bad. That's not the opposite. I mean, that's the opposite, but not the reversal. The reversal is much scarier, much more annoying, and maybe the reversal is what we were running away from in Christianity and Judaism. but it's too late.

[56:24]

Original sin is a positive thing, and most of the agents say that they're lacking in their own. They're born in this world of purpose. Yeah, I don't know if it's similar or not, but I think that a lot of Buddhists think that the idea of original sin is a very powerful religious idea. And one of the main reasons why it's a powerful Buddhist idea is that people don't like it. Like the other day, I said, do it to be mean or smart or anything. But I said, and practice won't make you happy. And I thought to myself, you know, shouldn't say that. Because so many Buddhists say practice doesn't make you happy. And everybody wants to be happy. And we should help everybody happy. And we should wish everybody to be happy. And practice won't make you happy. But then later I thought, you know, that was good that you said that, even though you didn't mean to exactly.

[57:34]

That's what causes trouble. Yeah, it causes trouble. But actually, if we do want to be happy, we should help people be happy. Why not? It's just something like practice. The practice, the practice, it's like, it's their treasure story, what it opens, you lose it, it will. I always feel like, to an extent, this big promise, this goes down a little bit, but sometimes, you know, it makes good practice, too, but It's also true, the treasure store will open up itself. That's great. And if the treasure is used, good. Nothing wrong with the treasure, isn't it? No, it's a little different. The treasure store will open up. But when the treasure store opens, it may not actually happen. Yeah, it may look like that when the treasure store opens.

[58:37]

Yeah, that's what it is. Okay, so then we come to the, after the precepts, we come to the presentation of the lineage. I don't know that you are, but many of us are uncomfortable with it. Well, it's already had its effect. Namely, you don't like it, and you're uncomfortable with it. That's my point. I brought it up because it's an example of something that we don't like. That may be actually the best medicine for us. No. I'm not saying you should adopt it. You don't adopt medicine. You take it. Yeah. But you don't adopt medicine. You just take it when you're sick.

[59:39]

And it sometimes is bitter. But you don't adopt it. If you adopt it, then it becomes a drug that you take all the time. You just take it until your illness is gone and then the medicine is gone. So original sin is not a fact. It is or it is not. I don't think it's a fact. I think it may or may not be medicinal. And the fact that you don't like it, and a lot of people I know don't like it. It's not that everything we don't like is medicinal. But it's often that what's medicinal is something they don't like. And in religion, Usually the first phase of learning the truth that liberates you, usually the first phase is not that you change the truth to work with what you like, but you change to the truth.

[60:43]

And it's not the truth, again, it's the truth independent of your changing. The truth is sometimes something that is true because you have to orient to it, and the truth is what happens to you after you orient to it. And that orientation is being convenient and uncomfortable. So, most people in the Buddha practitioners and most religious groups get pretty comfortable. That means that they're attached to what they're doing. And if they actually are dealing with what's going on, they're probably uncomfortable a good share of the time. That doesn't mean you should go around trying to make people uncomfortable. But, in fact, if you say what's true for you sometimes, it will make other people uncomfortable. And therefore, if you want to have a comfortable group, it's good for everybody to be careful of what they say so that they don't make anybody uncomfortable.

[61:50]

And therefore, you have to compromise your own integrity a lot in order to keep everything nice. So I shouldn't even bring up original sin. Because I know that... See, I never really understood what it was in the first place, so it doesn't remind me too much. But more learned Christians and Jews have much stronger associations because they study on, heard more about it. So when I bring up words like that, a bit of tackles get raised. Like last night, you know. To some extent, I'm kind of innocent of a lot of stuff, and I just sort of just fooling around. Like last night at the ceremony, I said this thing about... Well, first of all, I said that I thought it was an auspicious occasion. I don't know if that annoyed anybody. And then I said that the moon was cuddled in spring rain. And that annoyed some people because they think it's winter. So what am I doing saying is spring?

[62:51]

What are you doing? You know? But to me, to me, you know, I was writing some Buddhist names, you know, and I go spring wind. But spring rain is one of the names. So then I said, spring wind. It's not spring, it's winter. Therefore, you should say winter. Anyway, I said, then I said, I guess nobody seemed to be in mind but the moon cuddle. And I said, that the Buddha is in ten directions, and then some hackles for it. What are you talking about, Buddhism? And I thought I just heard it'd be, Buddhism, ten directions, sitting down for evening zazen and smiling gently upon us. And then the Bodhisattva was around and saying, hey, boss, what's going on down there? What are you smiling about? But I thought, I thought you're going to be kind of cute. I didn't think I was doing anything... Did you say poetical? Poetical.

[63:51]

Yeah, sort of poetical. But again, poets get in trouble, too. Huh? I was wondering how you describe it now. By what? How would I be describing it now? I... You know that poem by Baudelaire, one of the first poems in his Flowers of Evil? It's a proper name, but anyway, it starts out by something like, the mother of a poet looks up at God and curses him for giving her this baby. And the mother of a poet is society. Societies produce poets. But the society hates God for cursing them. Poets are trolls. They're the worst possible thing.

[64:56]

Because they say things which we can't control. Because they can't help it because they have to say it. And I have to keep watching myself to not say to people what I think they need to learn. Because if I look at Buddhist teachings, I see a lot of Buddhist teachings that I don't see people are familiar with. And I think, nobody's studying this stuff, so I should tell them about it. But I don't think that's the best way to do it. I think the best way to do it is if I need to tell them about it, I should tell them about it. If I want to tell them, I should tell them, but not tell them for their own good. Because they need it. I should just say, because I have to say, that's my integrity. But that's not necessarily popular. And I kind of like people to not do that. I like them to agree with me. I don't like them to go, no, no, no. We don't want to hear about emptiness.

[65:59]

Oh, we hear about emptiness a little bit. But don't go into the actual teaching of emptiness about the dharmas. Don't do that. If I get a thing of, you should know this. You should know it. It's worse. But if I do it on the basis of, I want to talk about emptiness. I need to talk about emptiness. I still may go, no, no, no. And, you know, like my early days at Zen Center, Zipareshi didn't very often hog in such a way that I was going, no, no, no. It wasn't that way. So I have to watch out for that. So I'm in a difficult spot right now because, not always, but because he didn't necessarily do it that way. He didn't seem to cause a lot of disturbance.

[67:03]

At the same time, I notice that if I say what I really feel, it seems to disturb people. So it's kind of a problem. It disturbs me too. But at the same time, I think, well, maybe that's not necessarily bad because it isn't necessarily that people need to hear what they're comfortable with all the time. And all we really have to offer people is our own, our true self, even though they don't like it. And also part of my true self is that I would like them to like it. Even though if they liked it, it probably wouldn't be good for them. I still like it. I wish people would say what they feel. I wish people would say that. You know what I heard people's feelings. Right. I think two months of that. They mess it up with passion.

[68:04]

Or, you know, Buddhists have to do nice, nice. So I don't want to say to this person because I'm a Buddhist and I don't want to be speaking. It's difficult. I mean, I would say from my own experience that it's always difficult for me to express, you know, I do want to be lying, but when I have to say something that is... not likable. I fear of not being like. So I say things that conform and I get a short end of it. So when I'm talking about Buddhism You know, we have all these English words available, and a lot of them have been already used by Christians or Jews in the past.

[69:07]

So if I use them, then people sort of go, they have these reactions, all these associations with other religions, and then I, so then I kind of feel like I've got to watch out for these Christian words. If I use any words that the Christians use, I'll get shot down by the Buddhists who are running, who hate the Christians. See, now what word did I use at this point? How about... Then I can't say anything. So fortunately, I just go ahead and talk, and I get bombed. And then later, I may just stop music. Is that direct? Yeah, that's not direct from the college. Anyway, the Sanskrit of those three is the meaning is to discipline yourself.

[70:13]

The first one is discipline yourself. The second one is to generate wholesomeness. Wholesomeness is not generating wholesomeness. It's not the same as discipline yourself. It's not the same as disciplining yourself. It's not the same kind of discipline. To guard against wrongdoing is not the same type of activity as to generate positive energy and wholesomeness. To avoid unwholesomeness is not the same kind of mindfulness and alertness as to creating wholesomeness. So there's two different dimensions that we're trying to address there. And then the third one is Mahayana is to help others. Kriya, kriya means to clean or to work through. So you work through the other, through the beings, through all beings. Help all beings develop and clear up. That sounds good.

[71:18]

Okay, so then we come to the lineage then. And so you have received Buddhist precepts and thus have entered the Buddhahood with your new clothes, your new name, with the lineage of transcendent wisdom, where a child of Buddha taught at the one with all beings. So this morning someone, I just want to reiterate, this morning someone asked about whether you're in the lineage after the ceremony. And yes, you are in the lineage now. You're not behind the plow. You never get rich by digging a ditch. You're in the lineage now. Everybody don't like that one. I went to Elizabeth. Mmm.

[72:37]

Well, maybe that's enough in the ceremony. Any questions? The lay ceremonies, we must sing, so... And there's two ceremonies, so you get tea and get these twice, and we cut the bowl. So I'd like to ask the priests, I hope the priests sit with the lay people, support them in their ceremony, and hope the lay people sit with the priests, support them in their ceremony, as much as you can. You have Friday night off, pretty much, or Saturday night off, lay people doing well. So I hope you can help support each other and support each other through these next two days.

[74:19]

I think an hour and a half to two hours. Probably not longer than two hours, but I can't be sure. You two and this other guy have some special pain to go through. So you make yourself as comfortable as possible. So you can survive. Don't push yourself too hard. Well, the origins of this Zen Center and most of the Zen Center in the United States

[75:39]

is rather monkish. So if we can separate, again, these terms are kind of difficult, but priest is not necessarily monkish, right? Priest is a ritual situation that forms and is trained to do certain rituals. The monk And most priests, I hope, are monks. The monk is someone who's trying to, who's really putting, who's changing their life in order to understand the essential nature of existence. So some of us are some, we have some priest trainees who are being monks and some, not some lay people who are being monks. So the activity of studying our nature, to study our life, to find out what is existence, this is the job of all Buddhists.

[76:51]

And to make some lifestyle change to promote that study is an aspect of impulse. Some lay people get up in the morning and sit zazen or worship an altar. That kind of activity is monastic. Unless you emphasize it's a ritual, which it could also be. The point is to do something to promote the opportunity, change the situation, to optimize mindfulness of the study of existence. That's a monastic gesture. Would you say that poor practice, they weren't going down the street for a job? No. That's basically, that's studying Buddhism, but it's not necessarily a, well, it's not necessarily a monastic gesture unless you change the way you walk down the street. Like to walk in a different neighborhood, where it's more quiet.

[78:00]

That's sort of like a monastic impulse. Or to not go to party. So that you can study more. Just have a monastic impulse. But not necessarily more or less Buddhist. The key issue is the study of what's going on. And whether you're changing your lifestyle so you're off to the side a little bit of the usual flow of the the usual torrent of society so that you have a little bit more leisure and a little bit more quiet in which to study what's happening. The actual study is not better over here than over here. It's just that this person moves off to the side a little bit or moves up into the mountains a little bit or whatever so that they can study more effectively. However, it doesn't mean that the study is more effective than some people in the middle of the torrent.

[79:05]

The important thing is that the study is effective. And some people have more effective study in the torrent than some other people on the edge. But a lot of people on the edge also have very good study. So what does lay mean? Well, lay doesn't necessarily mean monk or lay. If you mean by lay, what does it mean to practice in the middle of the Torah? Is that your question? If you set up rules and regulations about how to handle the interaction, then you're moving more towards the monkish life. If you talk about lay as opposed to priests, then I think what the lay people should do is they should support the priests.

[80:15]

They should do things like build the temples and things like that so the priests can do their thing. If you're talking about whether or not to provide yourself with structures and supports for your study, And I think we're talking about Hmong household. And then the essential thing is what promotes your study. And you may feel that at some point it may promote your study not to have the structures. That's when you become a non-monastic as a as a step towards practice, not as a step towards weakening your practice or taking out the supports of your practice, but you make that gesture in order to deepen your practice. To integrate your practice, to integrate some things into your practice in order to deepen your practice.

[81:22]

So some people get married, some moms might get married and see that that's a step down. That's okay. In fact, for them, it might be. But I would like to see, again, this is what I would hope, is that the lay people are lay people because they think they can practice better as a lay person than as a monk. That's what I would think would be the ideal. And the monks are monks because they think they can practice better in that one than they can as a householder. In fact, some people who are monks probably would practice, their actual Buddhist practice would be better if they were lay people. And some lay people would be, their actual Buddhist practice would be better if they were monks. Some lay people don't study at all. They give themselves no time to look what's happening. Some monks study, but they're very rigid and their study is not correct. because they're not looking in the right direction.

[82:27]

And if they had a couple of kids crawling on them, they would look away from this direction over towards what's really happening. So some people, if they would have to cope with family life, would do A practice would be closer to the Buddha way than what they're doing in this special environment. And those people, the habit or whatever, she suggests they lead the monster in some way that they don't feel rejected, but that they feel this is now being directed in a more effective and appropriate form of practice. That's what I think would be the great way for all Buddhists that aren't in monasteries to feel it. They are doing this to aid their practice. Yes. Pardon? I can't hear you. I'm going deaf.

[83:29]

Yes. Yes. Maybe so. Well, it makes sense. But also the other way should be true, too, that for a monk, becoming a lay person should be, from the Buddhist point of view, both lay and monk practice should be therapies for wherever you're at. So monk in one sense means a special situation in order to optimize study. But lay should also be a situation where basically you're doing the same, you're thinking about how to optimize study, but maybe the way you think about optimizing study is that it'd be best now not to have any of these supports so you don't become too dependent on it. So I hope that those people who enter the marketplace do so with that attitude.

[84:37]

But I think that for me, when I got married, I felt like it was an engagement more in practice than before. I think it has increased my sincerity to practice, even though it It removed some of my monastic involvement, or limited some of my monastic involvement. I think it improved the overall effort of my practice. And I did it with that sense of things. Okay?

[85:29]

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