I would like to continue to discuss with you the great precepts of the Bodhisattvas. I would like to discuss with you the great precepts of the Bodhisattvas. I've been working on a book with some other people in Zen Center, of ...

[01:24]

Suzuki Roshi's teachings and the talks that I chose to work on were the talks during the last year of his life. I wanted to study what his last teaching was. I should say his last teaching in the form of lectures, because of course he taught even after he couldn't give lectures anymore. He died in 1971, at the end of the year, and his last talks, his last dharma talks

[02:34]

were given here at Tassajara, so about the end of August were his last talks in lecture format, in this world. So I feel happy that the other people let me take the opportunity to work with them, in a similar way to the good fortune I felt that Zen Center let me work with Dan Welch on pulling a rock out of the stream, this side creek here, up

[03:41]

around the reservoir, and dragging the rock over to the hill, and putting the rock in place as a memorial to Suzuki Roshi. I feel fortunate to be supported to spend my time looking at his final lectures. And in those final lectures I have found several about the precepts, which I've been studying and editing, and will share with you, as I can, his teaching In the middle of March 1971, I think March 11th, I again had the good fortune to be

[05:09]

his Jisha, and attend upon him as he went to Portland, Oregon, to give a Sashi, and when we got there I also served as the Eno for the Sashi. During I think the first day, or maybe the second day of the Sashi, I was carrying the stick and he was sitting, and suddenly he bent forward in his sitting posture and put his head down in front of himself, which I never seen him do before during Zazen, and I went over and asked him what was the matter, and he said he felt really sick. And so, I don't remember exactly if he finished that period of meditation or not, but soon

[06:09]

anyway we helped him out of the meditation hall, and he went back to the house where we were staying, and he was very sick, but he wanted the Sashi to go on, and so I finished the Sashi on his behalf, and then after the Sashi we went back to San Francisco. On the way back in the plane sitting next to him, I noticed how difficult it was to be sitting there next to him. In one sense again I was very happy that I could be there to help him, but I noticed

[07:10]

that my mind went everywhere else but just being there next to him in his suffering. I noticed how far away my mind wanted to go. So, I was ashamed that I couldn't just sit there and attend upon him. When we got back to San Francisco and landed and came off the airplane, we walked off and his wife and Yvonne Rand were waiting for us with a wheelchair and asked him if he wanted to sit in the wheelchair, and he said, �No, I'm a Zen master.� And he walked up to the car and we got home and we walked into his room and he took his robes off and

[08:22]

just dropped them on the ground, which I never saw him do before. He was always very careful with his robes, folding them up when he took them off. Then the doctor came, or I don't even know if the doctor came, but anyway, an ambulance came and the ambulance people went upstairs and carried him out of the room on a stretcher. He didn't say he was a Zen master at that time. And he went to the hospital and he had his gallbladder taken out. And he and his wife knew and the doctors knew that the gallbladder was malignant, had malignant growth on it. He didn't tell us. And he recovered nicely from the operation and we talked about how after people have

[09:24]

their gallbladders removed, sometimes they feel much healthier. So we were looking forward to him being healthier than he was before. And he did get quite healthy. So by June he was giving talks again and we had a great Sashin in June. And some of the talks from that Sashin have been published in the Wind Bell, some of his most memorable teachings on what Zazen is. And after Sashin he started to teach about the precepts and also after he came down to Tassajara he continued to teach about the precepts. Because of this gallbladder operation, of course we were all concerned with his health

[10:31]

and during his talks as he was recovering it seemed like he said more often than usual that he was old and that we're all going to die soon. One time in San Francisco I wasn't sitting in front of him and he turned and looked right in my face and he said with great intensity, things teach best when they're dying. Still I couldn't believe that he was saying to me, you know I'm not going to be around here for more than a few more months. But in fact that was the case. And semi-consciously we all knew that he was telling us that he was possibly going to die

[11:37]

soon. He was definitely telling us that we were going to die soon. So when he said that he was going to Tassajara for the summer I thought, well it would be good if I could go with him. So I went to him and I said, I'm ashamed to ask but I would like to go with you to Tassajara. But I also feel like if I go that may upset the sangha because I was a director in the city center and so it might make people jealous if I got to go to Tassajara with you. And he said, yes that's so. Let's see maybe something will work out. But in fact he went to Tassajara and I didn't go with him and those were his last talks.

[12:45]

So now I feel very good to be able to look at what he said when I couldn't hear him. I'm telling you this story partly to prepare you. To listen to what I say about the precepts. I'm talking this way as a kind of formless repentance.

[14:06]

And not only to prepare you for what I say and what you hear but also to prepare you for how to respond to what you hear. In fact I may never talk about the precepts. That doesn't matter. What matters is that you're ready to accept whatever you hear. Tangario is a kind of formless repentance. I'm kind of leaning to the right. And in a way before listening to the teachings in a way it's good to fast in some form or another.

[15:30]

So that when you hear them you're hungry and you open your throat and take in the good medicines. So part of what I'm doing is a group kind of group fast right now. I'm trying to open our hearts and throats to a very basic message. So basic that I've had a great deal of difficulty conveying it over the years. The teaching of the three treasures. And the teaching of the three kinds of three treasures.

[16:38]

Part of the reason why I think I've had trouble conveying it is because it's so simple and so common and so uninteresting. That when I've read about it myself and talked about it myself and observed people listening to the teaching about these three treasures my impression is that I and everyone else feels kind of like well that wasn't very interesting. And I told the practice committee before I started to embark upon bringing these three kinds of three treasures up I told them that I actually have had difficulty teaching it and that I hoped that the sangha would help make these teachings come alive.

[17:53]

But still as I approach them I think these are just not interesting. I can't think of anything interesting to say. I mean I can but it seems kind of undignified to jazz them up and to make them more sparkly and fun to hear about. And one of the talks Suzuki Roshi talks about the three kinds of three treasures and what he said about them was it was really kind of confused and not very interesting.

[18:57]

And then after he finished he said that's what I told you. It's quite too common, nothing interesting. Why is it necessary then to accept the three treasures? There's some big reason. Now you say it is very common but you know how important it is to do things that are very common and to be interested in something that's very usual.

[20:03]

I'm drinking water now but it's not sweet, it's very plain, no taste at all. But why I drink it is because something's wrong with me. My throat is not so good so when I'm very thirsty to drink something common is very meaningful. So for us, you know, human beings who are very egotistical is necessary to have very common liquid like this. This is buddhism. It's a taste. It's cold.

[21:12]

Before buddha actually people were interested in something unusual. Unusual power or magical power or mystical being and more and more they lost the ground they were standing on. As someone said, religion is opium. It's very true. He said before buddhism people actually people interested in something unusual. Now when I first read that I thought that means

[22:38]

you know 2,500 years or more before people were into religion as something unusually powerful and magical. And after buddha they were willing to accept something more simple like buddha dharma sangha. That's one way to understand what Suzuki Roshi said. That after buddha people were willing to accept something so simple, so ordinary. That his integrity and his sincerity somehow let him offer something simple and people would listen. But another way I heard this was right now at this moment before buddha arrives

[23:41]

we're looking for something interesting and unusual. After buddha arrives we may be able to listen to something and be interested in something that's very common and ordinary and not unusual at all. So then I don't have to tell you something interesting about these uninteresting things. I don't have to make them more interesting. So this kind of repentance that we're going through right now is to prepare us so that we can accept. If there's any true dharma in the neighborhood we can accept it.

[24:47]

We can vow with all beings to hear the true dharma and that upon hearing it no doubt will arise in us nor will we lack in faith. That upon meeting it we shall renounce worldly affairs. And what are worldly affairs? Well, basically thinking, evaluating. So the Zen teaching says think of nothing, worry about nothing. Or same thing is don't think of anything, don't worry about anything. But another way to say it is instead of saying don't think of anything or think of nothing, say before you think, accept. Before you think about something, accept. Receive it before you do anything with it.

[25:56]

Just like that wind bell. Whatever the wind may be, let it touch you. Don't worry about whether it's from the north or south. Don't worry about whose wind it is. Don't get involved in whether it's good wind or bad wind, true wind or false wind. Before anything happens, accept. Thinking will be there but the kind of thinking that will be there is called thinking of nothing. The way we read the Diamond Sutra,

[27:45]

where you can open the book to any place you want and start reading, allows an opportunity to learn something over and above what's in the book. So I noticed that after reading it for a while, I found certain spots that had more impact and were more interesting than others. And I noticed after a while that when we did that reading that I would tend to turn to those spots, those interesting spots. Particularly I like section 10c because that was a place where the Sixth Patriarch was awakened originally. So I like particularly to go to that spot. But if I keep going back to the more interesting spots after a while

[28:50]

they lose their interest. Not so much because they're not interesting but because I'm looking for the interesting spot. And if you just read through the Diamond Sutra and you read the uninteresting parts and you accept them, then when the interesting parts come you're open and they can really go in. And again reading and reading and reading after a while you just start accepting it. So reading sutras is actually primarily a samadhi practice. So

[30:19]

now the first three precepts, the Three Jewels, which are the foundation of all precepts in the Buddha way. So again there's Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, you know what those are. And there's three ways to look at them. One is the single body or the one substance. And Suzuki Roshi calls it the indivisible Three Treasures.

[31:27]

Next is the manifest or manifested Three Treasures. And next the abiding and maintaining Three Treasures. So the Buddha or Buddha under the indivisible single-bodied Triple Treasure, the Buddha is awakening, unsurpassable, correct and complete. Or as Kadagiri Roshi says, it's the universe.

[32:41]

The Dharma under this kind of point of view is the purity of this awakening. And it's freedom from dust. It's freedom from objective knowledge. And the Sangha under this heading is peace and harmony. And this peace and harmony is in particular the peace and harmony between the awakening and its purity.

[33:55]

This kind of awakening is pure. It is free of any objectification. You can say whatever you want about it. And you or I may be able to say something interesting and wonderful about this awakening, which is, we already said, unsurpassable, correct and complete. But you could go on. But no matter how little or how much you say, it doesn't touch it. It doesn't apply to it. It does not apply to it. So make yourself at home. Do whatever you want. It's completely free of whatever we do. And that freedom of whatever we say, whatever we do,

[35:04]

in regard to awakening or in regard to anything else in our life, that is the purity of this awakening. And that purity and this awakening are in perfect harmony and at peace with each other. You cannot have one without the other. So an awakening that is not in harmony with this purity is not Buddha's awakening. So the Sangha treasure under this heading points out that you must have harmony between these two, between purity and awakening. There can be awakenings in this world that do not have this purity. There can be great enlightenments that don't have this purity. And there even could be other kinds of purity. But the balance and harmony between this kind of

[36:14]

radical, complete purity and this kind of awakening, this is what the Sangha jewel points out. So you cannot, if you look at it, separate these three aspects. They're one seamless, indivisible body. In fact, they're just one precept. They're not three. They're just one treasure, not three. They're just elucidating one thing. Another way Suzuki Roshi talked about this first

[37:22]

single body, triple treasure, is to say that the Buddha means great being. That Buddha became one with great being. Dharma means that Buddha became one with the function of great being. And Sangha is the harmony of great being and its function. Because you cannot recognize the Buddha by any marks, its function is truly unimpeded. Because the purity of Buddha and Buddha are so thorough and harmonious,

[38:28]

we have rain. If I talk much more about this first type of triple treasure, the indivisible one body triple treasure, it might get too interesting. So I've run out of uninteresting things to say. So I will now go on to my next boring presentation of the manifest triple treasure. The next way of looking at the three treasures. So again, as it says in the teaching and instructions on teaching and conferring the precepts,

[39:40]

the manifesting verification of awakening is the Buddha jewel. So the manifesting of verification of this one precept, which is unsurpassed, correct, and complete awakening, which is in perfect harmony with pure purity. So to manifest verification of this, that's that Buddha as the manifest Buddha jewel.

[40:41]

That's something that happened in history to this person who we call Shakyamuni Buddha. Before that happened to him, it was not manifest verification. But at a certain time and place, there was manifest verification of this great being, which is in perfect harmony with its great function. Still, this manifestation of verification is completely beyond human evaluation of good and

[41:54]

bad. And that which is verified by Buddha, that's the Dharma, that's the manifest Dharma treasure, which is also completely beyond all of our evaluation and moral and ethical sense. Now, this verification, this manifesting of verification,

[42:54]

the way Suzuki Roshi always put it is that at some point, Shakyamuni Buddha was just himself. He realized the practice of just completely being a human being, and he found that other beings were thus all Buddha. This was the manifestation of verification of awakening. And under this heading, those who are learning or practicing this kind of manifested verification of awakening and practicing what is verified, this is the Sangha.

[44:01]

So, in a simple way, this one, it just refers to the appearance of the Buddha in the world as a historical figure, what he taught, and those who studied him and his teaching. So, the Sangha are the group of people who make this universal Buddha and its teachings alive in their lives. So, it occurs to me to ask us here, are we a Sangha? Do we make

[45:15]

this universal Buddha and the teachings of this universal Buddha alive in our lives? Again, regardless of our evaluation, the Sangha is what does that. So,

[46:18]

and then the third type of three treasures, the abiding and maintaining, we already talked about the other night, converting celestial and human beings appearing in vast openness of being or appearing within dust, appearing within the objective world. This converting and appearing in these two different ways is the Buddha, the abiding and maintaining Buddha. So, in a way, this is saying, well, a Buddha appears, which is whatever you want to say, you can say if you want to, that's great, got a Buddha that's appearing in the world and verifying the universe.

[47:26]

Abiding and maintaining is saying, well, there's a little bit more to it than that. Abiding and maintaining can also be said to be protecting and maintaining, not protecting as a synonym with abiding, so you can say abiding, protecting and maintaining. Practically speaking, if you've got a Buddha, what will protect the Buddha and maintain the Buddha? Well, converting celestial and human beings. If a Buddha just appears in the world, who knows what might happen? People might be jealous, it's possible, or angry or frightened. But if they can only see the Buddha with their eyes and touch the Buddha, because it's manifest, but they can see that in relationship to this manifest thing, what the real manifestation is,

[48:39]

that people are helped, that people are converted. Or rather, maybe I jumped ahead, the Sangha is the relief of suffering and the freedom from the triple world that happens to the people that are around the Buddha. This is what happens to the people who are converted. So, these people who are converted and thereby released from suffering and free from this world, while still being manifest in it, these people protect the triple jewel. And they maintain it by transforming it into an ocean storehouse or transforming it into scriptures

[49:42]

and using these then again to convert animate and inanimate beings. And animate and inanimate can mean the whole universe of sentience and mountains and rivers, and it can also mean to use, to convert mountains and rivers into teachings, to use the mountains and rivers to help people, to get the cooperation of the mountains and rivers to expound the Dharma. That's the Dharma jewel. Transforming, being transformed into an ocean storehouse, being transformed into scriptures and thus converting animate and inanimate beings, that's the Dharma jewel under

[50:53]

this third type of triple treasure. So, there is again the manifest Buddha and Dharma. The manifest Dharma, that which is verified, but the abiding and maintaining or protecting of this thing which is verified and manifested, this happens by converting it into ocean storehouses. What are ocean storehouses? Well, Tassajara is an ocean storehouse. It's one drop also in the ocean storehouse and there are scriptures too which this can

[51:56]

be converted into to protect and maintain this ineffable thing. And then again, to use the environment, not to do anything with it even, but to be able to use the environment by living in close rapport with it, by virtue of support from the triple treasure, to live a long time in the mountains and then finally be able to use the mountains and rivers to help people, to be able to point out the environment by taking care of itself and ourselves in it as a way to use this wonderful world to teach.

[52:58]

This protects and maintains the Dharma. In fact, after the manifestation of the triple jewel then everything we do is the abiding and maintaining triple jewel. And everything we do is in relationship to all beings and the whole earth. Therefore, this relationship is the manifest triple jewel. And for human beings who are living and everything they do, being converted, being transformed and finally being relieved and set free,

[54:13]

this is the manifest, this is the abiding and maintaining triple jewel. These are the first three of the Bodhisattva precepts. That is what I told you. And I think that I would guess that in this kind of confused way that I presented it, you may not have a perfectly clear sense of this. But if it's any comfort to you, even though I realize what I said is somewhat confused,

[55:16]

in my confusion I've become clearer myself about them. And by you listening to me talk about them, it's been quite helpful to me. And the next time I talk about them, I'll be able to get into more confusion and get more clarity until finally the Dharma becomes clearer and clearer. So thank you for listening with open hearts so that I could speak this way about something so ordinary and common, which is, as I mentioned before, the rock-bottom foundation of all the other precepts and the essence of the Buddha way. So we will talk more about these and I would like to encourage you to discuss these

[56:21]

three jewels in their three aspects, to have dramatic conversations and vital arguments about the significance of these triple treasures in art life. The next step in discussing these three treasures I would think would be to discuss how to take refuge in them. So probably tomorrow then I will discuss taking refuge in these three jewels in their three aspects. But now I feel that it's good to sit quietly and let all the dust settle, so I'll stop.

[57:27]

May our intention to fully penetrate every being and place.

[57:43]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ