In Zen practice, we speak of this thing called Zazen, sitting Zen. And there seems to be some possibility that there that this practice could happen in the world, the practice of Zazen. And if that practice happens in this world, then there is Buddha's way in this world. Then there is Buddha's compassion and wisdom in this world. And the practice of Buddha is verified by this practice of zazen.

[01:08]

We're sitting in this room, each of us, and the practice of zazen is happening here, but It is not something which we do individually. The practice of zazen is arising right now. It doesn't depend on any conditions. And yet the conditions of our life, together with this practice of Zazen, is the life of Buddha's compassion.

[02:29]

I've been speaking about the precepts of the bodhisattvas as a way to try to help us understand what this practice of zazen might be or how it is. Today I'd like to refer to the three pure cumulative precepts, and in particular to one of them, to help us understand what zazen is. Zazen is not something we can know.

[03:37]

All the Buddhas in the world, in the universe, cannot know what Zazen is. But to understand what Zazen is, is what a Buddha is. The three pure precepts are As we chanted them this morning during the meal chant, and as we will do at lunch, we say that we vow to avoid all evil, to practice all good, and to save all beings. Those are the three pure precepts. They are the shape of the Buddha's mind. They are the shape of Buddha's body.

[04:40]

The saying, avoid all evil, practice all good, and benefit all beings, is a universal vehicle, Mahayana, expression of an earlier rendition of these three precepts, which you can find, for example, in the Dharmapada, which is to avoid evil, do good, and clarify or purify the mind. This is a universal instruction in Buddhism, and it's also a universal thing about life. The way life really is, the way life really is, is that evil is avoided, good is practiced, and the mind is clear.

[05:54]

And for the bodhisattva, the clear mind means benefiting all beings. For our minds to be clear means that our life is the working and benefiting other minds. Zazen practice is to verify and demonstrate that life is free of evil, practicing good and benefiting all beings. The way that this first pure precept is phrased in the Soto Zen school is a little different though.

[07:19]

The way it's phrased is to fulfill rules and manners. And then the next one is to fulfill all good, and the next is to fulfill all living beings. So rather than saying avoid evil, we say it's put positively, to practice or fulfill all rules and manners. So rather than trying to avoid something called evil,

[08:30]

This tradition emphasizes practicing something which has a form, practicing certain forms. For example, rather than trying to avoid evil, we say, join your palms. we say, not rather than, but rather than saying that, we say, sit upright. And the Zen teacher, Dogen,

[09:44]

when he gives this precept, this first precept of fulfilling all rules and manners, he then says, he comments on that by saying, this is the abode of the laws of all the Buddhas. This is the source of the laws of all Buddhas to fulfill these rules and manners. So I'm going to try to indicate how these forms, how these behaviors, how these manners are the source and abode of the law of the Buddha, and how this is the Zen way, particularly the Soto Zen way of avoiding evil.

[11:05]

Now, looking, although I can't really look at it with my eyes, but somehow looking at this place, it's not really a place, but looking at this abode, which is not really an abode, as you know, it says in the Diamond Sutra, the bodhisattva, the enlightening being, should produce a mind which has no abode. In other words, produce the mind of Buddha. the mind of Buddha has no abode, and that abode is the abode I'm talking about. This abode that depends on nothing, and yet this abode which depends on nothing coupled with our condition, that's the life of Buddha. I'm also indicating or looking at a source which can't be grasped, in this precept of fulfilling manners and rules is this source, is this abode.

[12:46]

This source, this abode, is said to be universal, and unchanging. It's just radiance. But this unchanging universal light, which is the source and abode of all Buddha's teachings, it can take innumerable manifestations. And so it takes manifestations of many forms of practice, many rules and manners.

[13:57]

Like I said, sitting upright, joining the palms, walking carefully, and so on. To accept these forms and these manners, has been done since the early days of the Buddhist community. To get stuck in these forms and to hold on to them is sometimes called the narrow vehicle, which is the vehicle of practice which you can do by yourself. to go beyond getting stuck in a practice of these forms and to practice these forms in a way that you do it with all beings, or to practice these forms as they are practiced by all beings.

[15:30]

This is called the great vehicle, which is to be free of these forms. The unique breeze of reality. The one breeze of reality.

[16:33]

Can you see it? When Suzuki Roshi first came to America, he lived by himself, didn't have anybody to cook for him, and he did his own shopping too. He went to the grocery store, and the story goes that he would always pick, or anyway, sometimes pick the what would usually be called the worst vegetables, vegetables that, you know, were kind of rotten or getting limp.

[17:44]

He said the reason why, what I heard, the reason why he picked those is he felt sorry for the worst vegetables. Everyone took the, you know, went through and took the best and then they would leave these very sad, soggy ones. So he felt sorry for them sitting there by himself so he took them home and ate them When he was a young monk, his teacher once served he and his other fellow monks some rotten pickles. And when the teacher went away, they took the pickles and buried them. Somehow the teacher found out

[18:56]

about this and dug these rotten pickles up and served them to the monks again. And they ate them. Suzuki Roshi said that he understood much better after that. what Zen practice was about. someone said that he could see, Suzuki Roshi could see, the unique breeze of reality.

[20:17]

He could see the truth running through the lousy vegetables. He learned, maybe from his Zen training, to see run through all things, not just through good vegetables or nice people or even through Zen students, but he could see it running through everything. And, of course, you can't see it with your eyes. So some people tried to copy him, and they would go to the market. They wouldn't even go in the market. They would go behind the market and find the garbage in the back and pick that food, thinking that they could get the Dharma by getting the bad vegetables. How can we find this unique breeze?

[21:31]

How can we find this source of all the Buddhas? Well, you find it in these rules and manners. So you hear, oh, my teacher goes to the grocery store and picks the worst vegetables. So then you go yourself and pick the worst vegetables. You follow the manners of the teacher. But, you know, where is the point of it? Is it in the vegetables? There was a Japanese monk who lived, I don't know when, but I do know his name.

[22:39]

It was Cho On. And he had a Dharma brother named Tetsugyu. Tetsugyu means iron bull. And one day, Tetsugyu was serving tea to the warlord of Sendai. Sendai is a city in sort of northeast Japan, on the coast, I think. So this other monk was serving tea to the lord of Sendai. And Chon dropped by, and they invited him in to join them for tea. Tetsugyu said as he was making the tea, this tea bowl was given to me by Lord Sendai.

[23:40]

It's a very important antique. And Chon took his stick like this that he carried as a monk And he hit the tea bowl and broke it. And he said, see the authentic tea bowl before birth. See the unique breeze of reality. See the abode of all Buddha's teachings and see the source of all Buddha's teachings before birth, right here, he said after he broke the tea bowl.

[24:47]

His Dharma brother, Tetsugyu, turned rather pale and almost fainted. Lord Sendai said, I gave this bowl to Tetsugyu, but I would like it back. And I would like to have it glued back together and a box made for it. And I would like this bowl to be named the authentic teabowl before birth. And I will transmit this teabowl to my descendants. So there is this antique

[25:59]

precious form, which is broken, and then put back together. The monk Chon only knew how to change the precious, unchanging vessel of our practice. He didn't know how to bring that unchanging practice into life. But the warlord understood how to bring it into our life. glue it back together, give it a name, and pass it on to your children.

[27:05]

The one monk, he took care of the bowl. He held the bowl, but he got stuck in the bowl. When it was broken, He almost fainted. The other monk destroyed the bowl with energy and vitality, but he was not in the abode of the Buddhas. He was off by overemphasizing change. One emphasized that it doesn't change. One emphasized that it changes. But the warlord joined the two. One, some people take care of the forms and hold them and they become the narrow vehicle which you can do by yourself.

[28:20]

Some other people come and tease us or break these forms or get us to break them Well, that's good, but that's too much too. How do you join the two? How do you fulfill these manners without getting stuck in them, without emphasizing even transcending them? Soto Zen emphasizes details of behavior. And by practicing them in the proper way, we may develop a very fine insight and very effective compassion.

[29:32]

But the danger is for us to get stuck in them Without these forms, how will you avoid evil? There may be some other way, but usually people need some form to positively practice avoiding evil. Rather than trying to stop yourself from doing something all day, how can you positively do something? Well, here are some forms. How can you do these forms in such a way that you don't get stuck? How can you realize that they change, while at the same time bringing them into our life and practicing them?

[30:35]

So for example, this morning I mentioned to you, We say, when you're cleaning your first bowl, don't hold it up in the air, but either put it down, you know, put it solidly on your thigh or even put it down on the meal board when you're cleaning it with the water. When you're drying it, you can pick it up and dry it in mid-air, well, with what you're holding with your hand. The other bowls, when you're washing them, you don't pick them up. You leave them down on the board to form. It's a manner. Also, the little salt containers, the sesame salt containers, when they come to you, as they're given to you, the handle of the spoon is pointed towards the server, right? And the bowl of the spoon is pointed towards you, and you receive it that way.

[31:45]

When you give it back, we made a form of turning it so that the handle's towards you and the spoon's towards the server. Now someone, so if someone says, why do you do that? Well, we say it's more polite when you offer it to not have the handle pointing at the person. Someone said maybe that. Okay, that's the reason. But that's not really the reason exactly. It's sort of the reason, but not really the reason. The reason is that by having a form, you can realize the abode of the laws of all Buddhas. You can verify the source of the laws of all Buddhas. I went to visit another Zen center earlier this fall, and when they serve the bowls of salt, they have the handle pointing towards the person that you give it to. Now, I may think now, oh, how rude.

[32:48]

But I think the reason why they do it that way is probably they think that's more polite. Anyway, at this place we do it that way, right? And you people can do whatever you want. In fact, you will. But where is, in this little form, where is... practice of zazen. How do you work with that so that the way you receive and give back, the way you give and receive back that sesame salt, that that is the verification of Buddha's way? The human mind is constantly working. When they come, originally, they're usually pointed in one way.

[34:00]

And since they come and get my bowl, my thing last, when they bring it to me, sometimes I see these spoon handles going all different directions. So my human mind can think various things about the practice in this meditation hall. And I can try you know, I can give a lecture about how to do it, and then we'll see what happens. But before I have a chance to give the talk, what's going on in my head? You know? Am I, like, stuck in the form and sort of saying, why, how, what's going on here? Let's get these people under control. Or am I thinking, you know, Hey, let's forget about this stuff. How silly to be concerned with which direction the spoon's pointing, especially when I've been to other places where they point the spoons other directions.

[35:09]

And I've even been places where there's no spoons. I've even been places where there's no salt. Then what will the Buddha way be? What will the source of all the laws of the Buddhas be then? Will it disappear? How will we realize it? So the feeling I have about the practice of Zen as we do it in this tradition is a very polite attitude.

[36:14]

Not like, you know, towards yourself or other people, you know, get this guy under control. Stop her from this, stop her from that. No. Very polite attitude. very respectful. So when the spoons come in all different directions, very, oh, what is this? How is this happening? Ah, here's a chance. Here's a chance to practice with people. Here's a chance to give a talk. Rather than stopping something or inhibiting and controlling, rather see how strictly this practice can be done and use that strictness to realize the point of it all.

[37:19]

The Dogen Zenji who said that this practice of fulfilling these forms, these manners, is the source of the laws of all Buddhas, he also said that when there are full bows in this world, then there is the Buddha way in this world. When there are not full bows in this world, the Buddha way perishes. When hands are brought together like this, when palms are joined in this world, there is the Buddha way. When hands are not joined like this, when these hands do not appear in this world, there's no Buddha way. He talked like that. What is a full bow?

[38:44]

What is joining the palms? What is it? It's got something to do with this. You see this? See the hands coming together here? This practice of joining the palms has something to do with the palms being joined. But it's not the palms being joined either. Now that you hear this for the rest of your life, you have to deal with that. You don't have to be doing full bows for full bows to appear in this world. You don't have to actually be bowing down to the ground for those forms to appear. But if you're not bowing,

[40:02]

Where is that form? How are you taking care of that form if you're not doing it? And if you are doing it, what are you doing? I could go on like this.

[41:43]

I have been doing so for quite a while, for 25 years. And if I live longer, I will continue this exploration of what it means to fulfill these forms, these manners. and to try to understand how this is the source of the laws, the abode of the laws of all Buddhas. Today we have this kind of example or occasion. We have this new altar sitting there. And it's got a big hole in it. It's empty. It's hollow. And there's a hole in the top. There's no statue on top of it.

[42:44]

And we've been having services and bowing anyway. We've been bowing to each other. And I don't know what else we've been bowing to. So you're all here today on this special day when we have not had any statue in the Zendo. And later this afternoon, they will finish building this altar. And as in a popular movie, they say, build it and she will come. Once this thing is done, the big statue will come and sit up there. But before it comes, we have a chance to realize that there's something there in the middle of the room, or there's nothing there in the middle of the room. And this something there and this nothing there is what will attract this statue.

[43:56]

This statue will come in here and sit there. What is, what's going on? What kind of a show is this? What are we doing? Please join us in this, what do you call it, theater. The theater of building a beautiful platform and bringing a beautiful statue and sitting on top of it. What does this have to do with the place where wisdom and compassion come from? Please enjoy this historic theatrical event in the history of Buddhism. You will be there trying to understand What is happening?

[45:01]

What's this about? How does this save all sentient beings? How does this fulfill the manners of the enlightened ones? And how does your body sitting this day fulfill the rules and manners. And how do you take care of this form of your body posture all day long? No matter what room you're in, no matter what posture you're in, how is that form fulfilling all the manners of the Buddha way.

[46:07]

How is your form the source of the Buddha way? How do you not get stuck in your form and let your form change and yet bring your form into this world as the life practice of awakening? This is my question for all of us for the rest of our lives. Now who can remember such a boring question?

[46:58]

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