Okay. [...] I'm going to go to England in about 10 days. And the topic for this retreat I'm going to is something like

[01:09]

Zen Koans and the Bodhisattva Precepts. Zen Koans and the Bodhisattva Precepts This morning I mentioned that the word Koan could be understood as meaning ultimate truth. Koan can only be understood as a word standing for reality. But another way that the word is used is referring to stories. Stories that because they're in language, they're conventional truths. But they're used as objects to

[02:11]

realize ultimate truth. Like like eyes. They can be like eyes that you focus on to see the ultimate truth. So some people would say that these verbal koans or these linguistically expressed koans are ways to see the koan. Or are ways to see emptiness. So usually koans are not these verbal koans, these historical koans are not usually stories where a teacher is explaining how to practice generosity and ethical discipline and concentration

[03:13]

and patience. They're often stories which are about interactions where people realized the ultimate truth. They're stories about people realizing ultimate truth. But some are not stories about realizing ultimate truth. Some are just linguistic expressions to assist one in focusing on something in order to open. So sometimes a koan can be in the form of what is it? Or you know the famous one, what is the sound of one hand clapping? Or moo. Now the word moo is one word from a story where a monk is talking to a teacher about

[04:15]

ultimate truth. So that word moo is the answer the teacher gave to a question from a student. But then that word is used as an object of meditation where one can focus and eventually realize the object of purification of the mind by focusing on that word or that Chinese character or that sound. The word moo does not say avoid evil, practice good, benefit all beings. That's a teaching which people might recognize as Bodhisattva precepts. The Bodhisattva precepts are also linguistically presented. They are also conventional truths.

[05:22]

But they can also be used or seen as things to focus on in order to realize ultimate truth. So the precept of going for refuge in Buddha, going for refuge in Buddha or I go for refuge in Buddha, one could use that precept as a conventional thing to practice. I go for refuge in Buddha. But also one could use that as a koan. I go for refuge in Buddha as something you focus on and open to and take care of and don't attach to and don't dwell in. And by taking care of this precept of I go for refuge in Buddha, you open to emptiness, you open to the koan. You focus on the precepts, you practice the precepts wholeheartedly

[06:27]

until you realize the emptiness of the precepts or that the precepts are emptiness. So we have 16 great Bodhisattva precepts, 3 refuge precepts, 3 pure precepts, and the 10 major prohibitory precepts. Not killing, not stealing and so on. But also, as I talked last month, we also have 6 Bodhisattva precepts. The first Bodhisattva precept is giving. The second Bodhisattva precept is ethical discipline. And you could say that the second Bodhisattva precept is the 16 Bodhisattva precepts or you could say the second

[07:29]

Bodhisattva precept of ethical training is the 3 precepts of avoiding evil, practicing good, and saving all beings, plus the 10 prohibitory precepts. Those are the 3 precepts. Each one and all of them can be koans. And matter of fact, they all can be the koan manifested right now with this precept. In the 6 Bodhisattva precepts, the third one is patience. The fourth one is vigorous heroic effort. Did I say fifth? Fourth. The fifth one is concentration. Especially concentration on the mind of enlightenment. And the sixth one is the precept of wisdom.

[08:33]

The precept of wisdom, when you first hear it, is a conventional truth. But the precept of wisdom, when you realize it, is an ultimate truth. When these precepts become empty, then the conventional precept, the conventional truth of the precept, becomes the ultimate truth. Then the precept, which is a practice, becomes the truth. And the simplest place to understand that is when the precept of wisdom is ultimate truth. So the sixth Bodhisattva precept of wisdom is the same as ultimate truth. The other precepts can be conventional truths, which you practice in terms of existence or non-existence.

[09:37]

Like I'm practicing this precept or I'm not practicing this precept. This precept exists here or it doesn't exist here. The sixth precept of wisdom does not see things that way, does not think of things that way. And when we realize that precept, then all the previous precepts also become like that, that we don't treat them as existing or not existing. So most of us, when we start practicing these Bodhisattva precepts, we often think of we want to do the precept or not do the precepts. This is a conventional attitude towards them. We think we can practice them or we don't think we can practice them. Or we want to practice them but we have conflicting interests. So we don't know if we can. We think we are practicing them

[10:39]

or we think we're not practicing them. We think other people are practicing or not practicing them. So in that case, we have a deluded mind thinking in these terms and the things it's thinking about, the precepts, are also delusions. But they're also conventional truths which we need to take care of. So sometimes people look at Zen and they think, oh, Zen's about koans or Zen's about ultimate truth. But other times people look at Zen and say Zen's about these conventional precepts, these forms of practice, these ceremonies, these rituals, which they're doing. And the people who are doing them look like they think these things exist. And they give strong feedback to people when it looks like these things don't exist. People are concerned about whether

[11:44]

these precepts are existing or not. And they are confessing when they feel the precepts are not existing or when they're acting in a way that's not realizing these precepts. So it's another one of these balancing acts between your mind and your body and using conventional truths like Bodhisattva precepts, using them and observing whether we think they exist or not. Watching our mind, seeing if this is a dualistic mind or a deluded mind that thinks about the precepts in terms of existence or non-existence. And then see if you can keep practicing them and noticing that you're thinking of them in terms of categories of existence. And see if you can finally find a way to practice them wholeheartedly

[12:45]

without leaning into their existence or non-existence. Or another way to put it is discover that wholehearted practice of these precepts is practicing them without leaning into any existential position. Practicing them wholeheartedly means that you practice them and realize ultimate truth in the practice of these conventional, these things which originally are conventionalities. But also remember that when you realize the emptiness of anything, except emptiness, you're realizing the emptiness of a conventional truth. Emptiness is not a conventional truth, but it is empty. Conventional truths are also empty. But aside from ultimate truth itself, whenever we have emptiness, it's emptiness of a conventional thing. So in terms of practicing the ethical precepts,

[13:59]

this would apply. In terms of practicing giving, this would apply. Patience, effort, and concentration. Any feedback on this? Questions? Yes? So the being who lives in the ultimate truth totally leaves the mind? A being who lives in ultimate truth, just before we get to the next part, a being that lives in ultimate truth. Now, what being is that that lives in ultimate truth? Well, all beings live in ultimate truth. Everybody lives in ultimate truth, because everybody is a conventional thing.

[15:02]

All beings are conventional beings. It's the only kind that exists. There's no ultimately existing beings. So do you mean somebody who realizes emptiness? The manifestation. The manifested being that is in ultimate truth. The manifested being that's in ultimate truth? Yeah, all manifested beings are inseparable from ultimate truth. All of us manifested conventional creatures, we are also not separate from ultimate truth. Right now. Then why do we get stuck in the mind? Because of the conventional thing called delusion. That's the reason for getting stuck.

[16:05]

But the ultimate is not deluded. The ultimate is not deluded, that's right. But deluded minds are inseparable from the ultimate, but deluded minds can't realize the ultimate, because they think in terms of existence and non-existence. That's why they can't realize it. And if you don't realize the ultimate truth, then you're stuck in conventional truth, or worse. And if you're stuck because you're not realizing ultimate truth, then the thing to do is to practice the Bodhisattva precepts with your being stuck, starting with being gracious about it. If someone accuses you of being stuck, you say,

[17:07]

Totally, you got me. I'm stuck. But I feel very cheerful about it somehow, even though it's painful. If I'm going to be stuck, I want to be wholeheartedly stuck. Yes? I have a question about the Bodhisattva precept of wisdom. I got the sense when you were talking this morning about that wisdom being a wisdom that actualizes another wisdom of non-duality, that there was like a stage process. And I recall that it sounded to me like that was... Sounded like a stage? Yeah, like there was realizing emptiness, and maybe perhaps there was realizing the emptiness of emptiness as the non-duality stage.

[18:09]

You could realize emptiness, and by realizing it, actualize a non-dual wisdom. But before you get into that, you could also realize the emptiness of emptiness, and actualize a non-dual wisdom. I was curious because you mentioned realizing the emptiness of the precepts, for example. Yes? But perhaps that would not be going to the final stage of the emptiness of emptiness. It would be like one stage of emptiness. If you correctly realize the emptiness of the precepts, you would also realize the emptiness of emptiness. If you realize the emptiness of a conventional thing in a mature way, you would also realize... In other words, you wouldn't attach to the emptiness of this conventional thing.

[19:16]

You wouldn't need that additional instruction. By the way, the emptiness of this thing you just realized is empty. But that realization that the emptiness is empty would also go with realizing that there is no separation between the wisdom and what is known by the wisdom. That there would be no substantial separation. So, it is said that way, an emptiness which realizes a non-dual emptiness. That sounded to you like it's a stage. This wisdom realizes emptiness, and then later, maybe, there is the actualization. No, it's not later. This wisdom, which realizes emptiness, actualizes a non-dual wisdom, which also realizes emptiness, but which is not separate from what is realized.

[20:20]

So, the wisdom which is the same as the thing known, the wisdom which is the same as the thing understood, the wisdom which is the same as emptiness, also has this... that's part of it. The emptiness is a wisdom, but also the wisdom knows the emptiness. So, you can start by saying the wisdom that knows the emptiness realizes the wisdom which is emptiness. But the wisdom that is emptiness includes a wisdom which knows emptiness. So, the wisdom which is emptiness kind of de-emphasizes the knowing. It's actually just emptiness. But the wisdom which knows the emptiness emphasizes the cognition. But in fact, the wisdom that is emptiness shows that emptiness is actually a kind of mind. That a spaciousness that's full of compassion is the Buddha mind.

[21:29]

It's not just a big empty space full of good stuff. It's a mind. So, that's that kind of perspective. That's the non-dual wisdom. But then there's also wisdom which knows things. And that actualizes the wisdom which knows things without being separate from them, without being different from what is known, which is really the kind of knowing that always is there. There really isn't a separation between knowing and known. So, it's kind of dynamic, isn't it? A wisdom which realizes a non-dual wisdom. So, is that what you described as the pattern of consciousness? Yes, it's the wisdom which actualizes a pattern of consciousness which is emptiness. A pattern of consciousness which is ultimate truth itself. And there's a wisdom which knows the ultimate truth

[22:35]

and then actualizes the ultimate truth as a mind. Is that bodhichitta? That is the actual bodhichitta. That's enlightenment itself. There's other bodhichitta, the conventional bodhichitta, which still thinks in terms of existence and non-existence. When we first start thinking, I would like to realize Buddhahood in order to benefit all beings, when that first arises, we're probably thinking in terms of beings exist or do not exist. And we still may be thinking, I'm separate from the beings that I'm devoted to. And although I wish to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings, I still actually can't figure out how to change places with some beings. For example, my students, I still can't exactly figure out how to be equal

[23:42]

and change places with my students or my enemies, which are, of course, kind of the same thing. May I ask a follow-up question? Yes, you may. So, last month, I think you talked about there being ten Bodhisattva precepts. Ten Bodhisattva precepts? Oh, yeah, there's ten, too. There's also ten. So you can add four to the six, and as you know, four plus six is ten. Yep, that's right. And I got some sense last month that those last four involve some purification beyond the wisdom precept. No. No, they're not. They're not. The first six include the ten. The first six include all the Bodhisattva practices. The last ten assist the first six. The last four assist the first six.

[24:46]

For example, the last four are... remember what they are? Knowledge, powers, vows... Knowledge, vows, powers, skill and means. The seventh is skill and means. The eighth, powers. The ninth, vows. The tenth, knowledge. And the knowledge is actually the non-dual wisdom, which helps the Prajnaparamita. The non-dual wisdom helps the wisdom which actualizes the non-dual wisdom. And the skill and means assist the first three practices of giving ethical discipline and patience.

[25:48]

And the powers assist... No, no, I got it wrong. The vows assist the fourth Paramita of effort and the powers assist concentration. But those four are already included in the six when the six are fully realized. Next. Yes. I don't understand Dogen's language around time, that future and past is contained in the present. You don't understand how future and past are contained in the present? Yes. Well, aside from what Dogen says, it is good to understand how future and past are contained in the present.

[26:53]

The present has a past and a future. If your present doesn't have a past and a future, it's what we call a defective present. And your past also has a past. Your past has a present, past and future, and your future has a present, past and future. These are full-fledged past, present and future. So right now, I have a past. Do you have a past? Do I? Yes. Do you? In a conventional way, yes. Time, by the way, is a conventional thing. Time is not an ultimate thing. So, you've got a past, I've got a past, everybody's got to have a past. I've got a future, you've got a future. You've got a future, girl. So do you. You've got a future. You all have a future. And one of the reasons you have a future is you have a present. So we all have, right now, right now, right now and right now,

[28:00]

and right now and right now, we have a past. And we have a future. So you could say the past and future are contained in the present. And the present is also contained in the future and the past. And past, present and future, each have past, present and future. I propose that to you. And I think Dogen agrees with that. So, forget about Dogen, just remember that you are just like that. And he just agrees with you. I still don't understand how the future is right now. I said I don't understand how the future is right here, right now. Well, it's not in a conventional sense. No, it is in a conventional sense. Yeah, because time is conventional. It is in a conventional sense because if it arrived, if the future had arrived, it wouldn't be future anymore.

[29:01]

So what has not happened yet, right now, all the things that haven't happened yet, well, not all the things, but the things that are going to happen that haven't, that's your future. And it's right here. And it's right here and it can't be in the past. And it can't be in the future, because in the future, it wouldn't be the future. So it's respective of karmic consciousness? It is karmic, well, no, it's karmic consciousness. Karmic consciousness has past, present and future. And sentient beings, what kind of consciousness do sentient beings have? Karmic. We've got karmic consciousness. That's what we've got. That's what we've got, past, present and future. Do Buddhas have karmic consciousness? No, they don't. Do they have past, present and future? Yes, they do. But it's not karmic consciousness,

[30:04]

it's Buddha, it's past Buddha, present Buddha and future Buddha consciousness. Now, do you understand? You can say whatever you want. We're waiting to see, what will it be? Yes or no? Well, I'm not getting satiated, let's put it that way. In the present, you're not satiated. And in the past, you weren't satiated. But in the future? We don't know, because it hasn't arrived yet. I think satiation is not really, what do you call it, highly recommended in the Buddhadharma. We're not into satiation. We're into... Hungriness. Eternal hunger for deeper and deeper and wider and wider realization of the truth.

[31:08]

We're not satiated. We're content, but not satiated. Well, I'm not content. But that's not good either, right? Not being content is really naughty. But not being satiated, that's fine. So what you need to be is a contented, not satiated. And you can switch to being contented right now if you want, it's alright. And you can change your mind in the next moment. I'm contented not being satiated. You're contented not being satiated? That's what I'm looking for. And I'm contented that you're contented not being satiated, but not satiated, because I want another one. And I want constant contentment, moment after moment, without satiation. Without it? Without it. The Bodhisattvas are not satiated until all beings are free.

[32:10]

Until that, they're not satiated. They want more beings to be free. They want everybody to be happy. And they're not satisfied until that happens. So they're not satiated. But they're content with a lot of people not being happy. They're content with that, at the same time that they cannot be satisfied with it. They're at peace with not being satisfied with people suffering. So they're highly motivated to practice these precepts. They're highly motivated to realize the ultimate truth, so that they can continue to be contented and enthusiastic about being devoted to beings. And not slipping into contentment. Bodhisattvas got to be careful not to get content. Slip into nirvana. They got to be careful not to go into nirvana, but to stay in the realm of beings who need their help,

[33:16]

with enthusiasm. That's why we need ultimate truth. Otherwise, we might try to get some satiation. Yes? So, you know, Dogen says, birth is of something complete this moment. Yes, right. Death is of something complete this moment. Complete this moment. Yeah, yeah. And then he says, birth has past, present and future. I was thinking, would you agree with the statement that delusion is whatever, complete this moment. Yes. Realization is whatever, complete this moment. Yes, I would. There's no permanent state of realization. There's no permanent state of realization. Can you say thank you? You're welcome. Yes? Going back to past, present, future.

[34:20]

So, I was trying to understand what you were saying in that exchange. And the metaphor came to mind of a seed. And the seed has a past in the formation of the seed. And the seed contains the future and the potential of what the seed can germinate and grow into. Yeah. But the tree that the seed might become is not the same as the seed. It's not the same as the seed, no, it's different. So, while the potential of the future is contained in a single moment of the present, it's not an identity. No, the future is not the same as the present. And the tree is not the same as the seed, even though the tree is in the seed. And even though the fruit, where the seed came from, is in the seed.

[35:26]

So, past and future are not the same as present, but they're contained in present. Is that seed analogy correct? It seems satiating. It seems satiating? She got me. So, now she's really in danger of being satiated. You're really in danger. Are you still content? More so, yes. What is, just to get it down, just something that I might be able to relate to in more real life, like an organization like Doctors Without Borders, Pardon? Doctors Without Borders, the kind of work that they do, Yes. So, are their actions about compassion and devotion in the moment?

[36:41]

Yes, it seems like they're trying to practice giving and patience. A lot of patience they need to work in these situations. And they're trying to be... They're probably trying to practice ethical discipline, you know, like not steal medicine for their patients, not kill their patients, not lie to their patients, not lie to the other doctors, not lie to the government officials, not hate the government officials, not hate the bandits who are stealing their medicine, not hate the people who are hurting people. They have to practice those precepts. Otherwise, the doctors go there and they just cause more trouble, right? Because it's so easy to get angry and hate what's going on. And also, the doctors have to be ethical about not being possessive of what's going on there, not trying to control it. So, they're working at being generous, that's obvious. They sort of know they have to be ethical,

[37:44]

and they have to be patient. So, those are pretty clear. Those Bodhisattva practices would be practiced by doctors without borders and doctors with borders. But what I'm saying in addition is that in order to really be joyful in this process, we need to also realize that others are not separate from ourselves, and we need to be able to really exchange ourselves with the people we're serving. And also, we need to realize ultimate truth, so that we don't get exhausted in doing these practices. Not to mention the specific form of the gift, like setting a broken leg or giving medicine, but to practice giving without getting exhausted in giving, we need to realize ultimate truth. So, for them to really be able to do their work most effectively,

[38:46]

they need to realize ultimate truth. And also, the most effective way for them to do their teaching, their medicine, is while they're administering these conventional medicines, to also transmit the Dharma at the same time. Because if you fix somebody's leg, but they're only concerned for their own welfare, this patient, they're going to have their leg fixed, but they're going to still be miserable, because they only think of their own welfare, themselves and their friends. So the doctors, if they really want to be effective, they need to do conventional medicine, and they need to also teach the Dharma. Because that will make the people not just recover from this particular injury or illness, but recover from the fundamental human illness of selfishness. So it's happening to the infinite, because the amount of resources you would need for something like that to materialize...

[39:49]

Are infinite. That's right. And Bodhisattvas have infinite resources. When they realize ultimate truth, they have infinite resources. Infinite, miraculous resources. Every moment a miracle is possible, because they're not attached to the situation. But they also do these conventional practices of giving and so on, because that's the content of the understanding of emptiness, which is emptiness, are all these compassion practices. So the compassion practices are filling the emptiness, and the emptiness facilitates these forms of compassion, protects them from people grasping them, and if you grasp in the process, it enervates and exhausts the practitioner.

[40:57]

Shall we go and save the world? May our intention equally extend to every being and place. With the true merit of Buddha's way, beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[41:56]

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