Now the time has come to discuss the second ray bodhisattva preset. No stealing. And the interdependent relationship with upright being. Being upright. This is the oneness of no stealing and then fitting. I want to show how to fully face and harmonize with ourself. And how to fully meet and be intimate with other beings all other beings animate and inanimate the way to fully face ourselves and fully meet another that is offered here

[01:32]

is to be upright and practice the precept of no stealing. Now the great bodhisattva precept of no stealing continues and extends the practice of the first grade precept, not killing light. First precept is ultimately meditation on the dependent polarizing of life and death. A deep and penetrating vision of the seamless harmony and cooperation between life and death.

[02:38]

This is called not killing life. Such a vision is called not killing life. Seeing the beauty and truth of life and death as they dependently co-arize together, we naturally respect and venerate all forms of life and all forms of death. Acting with such a vision and understanding of the preciousness of all light, one actualizes the precept of not killing life. In cooperation with this, the precept of not stealing is realized in clearly observing the interdependent relationship of self and other and the dependent co-production of mind and objects.

[03:55]

The life of this precept comes forth from the awareness of how our life is born of and sustained by the kindness of all inanimate being, and how all beings are supported and sustained by our life. Aided by such awareness, we witness a full and free-flowing giving and receiving between self and other. At such a time, we understand that everything we see and hear is our self. And thus, we forget our limited, independent self. And at the same time, our self is fulfilled and overjoyed

[05:07]

This is what is called in our school the self-fulfilling awareness. Realizing this kind of awareness and acting from it, one will not steal. And there is no stealing. For Zen monks, the front door to such self-forgetting and self-emptying and self-fulfilling awareness is total devotion to uprightness. It is being upright and gentle in the midst of all mind-object relations.

[06:10]

It is clearly observing all these relationships and settling into the true suchness of self and other. In the suchness of these relations, separation and difference between self and other Mind and object is revealed as insubstantial and ungrasped. This is the intimacy of self and others. Mind and object. Within such intimacy, the precept of no stealing is accomplished. Therefore, for those who wish to practice and realize the great Bodhisattva precept of no stealing, there is an authentic and unsurpassable path offered by the Buddha ancestors of the Zen tradition.

[07:26]

It is simply to sit, stand, walk, and even find with complete gentleness and uprightness in the midst of all other being. Such is the straightforward gate to the world of no stealing. It is also the way to enter the practice and realization of supreme awakening. No stealing is the same as supreme awakening.

[08:26]

There are... I see two complementary stories of how to approach this precept as well as all the other precepts. The first approach starts with the ordinary deluded point of view and then moves towards awakening. Here there is the mind of stealing which opens and turns towards the self-fulfilling awareness. That is the awakened mind, that is Buddha's wisdom, that is the mind of no stealing.

[09:33]

The second approach originates within the self-fulfilling awareness and expresses this enlightened mind of no stealing in the ordinary world as no stealing. One approach is using the key precept of no stealing to bring the mind of stealing to uprightness and self-fulfilling awareness and no stealing. The other is to use and start with uprightness, enter self-fulfilling awareness,

[10:41]

and then express that awareness and manifest it in the world as no stealing. These two approaches are complementary. Sometimes they seem to appear sequentially, and sometimes they're clearly simultaneous and perfectly dovetailed. So let's begin with the diluted perspective of the stealing mind. Here we are without the practice of being upright and have not realized the self-fulfilling awareness Therefore, for us here, by definition, we have an unfulfilled self-awareness.

[11:52]

That is to say, we believe in our separate self-centered existence. Thus, we have the mind-stealing, we have the basic mental conditions for stealing, and stealing will inevitably arise. However, even if we have such a self-centered stealing mind, it is never too late to receive and practice the precept of no stealing. This precept was created just for such stealing mind. Even if the act of stealing has appeared and has become a well-established habit, one can still be liberated from this action habit by uprightly observing its dependent co-rising

[13:10]

Being shown the precept of not stealing opens the way to this upright observation and thus freedom from the stealing mind. There was, we are told, a Zen monk named Ryokan. a fine poet. He had very few possessions and lived in a little hut on the mountainside overlooking the Japan Sea. On one full moon night, a Pete came to visit. Ryokan was not at home, so the Pete entered

[14:15]

and found nothing to steal. Ryokan returned and clucked the thief and said, Well, I'm sorry you came all this way. You didn't get anything. Here. Got my clothes. And you gave the thief his clothes. Peep was rather surprised, but still took the, uh, gift and stumbled off into the moonlit night. After he had left, Ryokan standing naked in the moonlight cried out, Poor fellow, he didn't get much. I wish I could give him this full moon, too. Uh, this, uh, is Ryokan showing the precept of no stealing.

[15:28]

Apparently, he got the thief's attention. But it's not clear if the thief could see Ryokan showing, opening the door. to the self-fulfilling awareness of the Buddha. But at least Ryokan's expression of his enlightened heart, through the teaching of not stealing, at least he got with his attention. Once I had a stealing mind that lived inside the heart of me. And I read the story of Yoko.

[16:28]

And it opened my eyes to Buddha's precepts. I was a thief And Ryokan showed me no stealing precept. Not only that, but after my eyes opened, I got a new glimpse of the inconceivable beauty of Ryokan's heart, of the mind, of the self-fulfilling awareness. And I said, that's where I want to live. This is the way to be.

[17:34]

I didn't know at the time the story didn't say at the gate to Ryokan's heart is sitting upright. Still, gradually, I learned that that was the gate, and through that being shown the teaching of no stealing and getting a glimpse of the mind from which no stealing is born. I was drawn gradually into the practice of upright sitting. In Western literature there's another story like this in the novel Les Miserables.

[19:03]

There was a man who stole some bread and he went to prison. And in prison, he was, uh, treated brutally. He was treated to the mind of stealing. He was punished by the mind of stealing. He never saw the mind of no stealing. And his heart got harder and harder. And his mind of stealing became stronger and stronger. That's all he could see. And he was a powerful person and escaped from prison and entered some French city and started to steal.

[20:23]

By some chance, He came upon a priest. He came upon a disciple of Jesus. And the man offered him food and lodging and friendship. But still he lived in his separate self-existence. In this feeling mind, he wouldn't come out, even to the kindness of a shani. He shrunk back in distrust of the objects of his mind.

[21:39]

At night, after the priest had gone to sleep, he stole silver plates from the church. He was caught by the police They brought him back to the priest and said, well, we caught this thief with your silver plates. The priest said, he's not a thief. I gave him the plates. Police were bewildered, but left anyway. After they left, the thief said, Why did you say I didn't steal these? I did steal them. Christ said, you did not steal them. They were given to you.

[22:55]

The thief said, no they weren't, I stole them. The priest said, here, take these silver candlestick holders too. Finally, the thief opened his eyes to the precept of no stealing. He broke down and broke open. Broke open the shell of his belief in his separateness from all being. Even this priest. He saw the self-fulfilling awareness.

[24:31]

He saw it being demonstrated to him. And he awakened to it. And he entered. Thus, the Buddha's wish was granted. This is all the Buddha's want. For us to open our eyes. to the wisdom of not stealing see it being demonstrated to awaken to its meaning and to enter it then the priest said now with these gifts I have bought you're dependently called as yourself. From now on, you belong to God and you will never again be able to do evil.

[25:41]

And the story goes on to show that this man was, for men, incapable of forgetting his precepts. his mind of the suchness of self and other, which can never steal. He then spent his life showing what it means to not steal over and over again. He was tempted sometimes but he was never completely fooled again after this deep glimpse of Buddha's mind.

[26:49]

In this story the repeat comes from delusion is shown not stealing opens to the self-fulfilling awareness and finally realizes steadfast uprightness and then from there keep in turn shares the self-fulfilling samadhi and the teaching of no stealing in the world. The priest, coming from the self-fulfilling awareness and uprightness, shows the teaching of no stealing and awakens the people to perfectly, simultaneously complete each other. And this, too, this complete meeting and intimacy is the precept of your spirit.

[28:06]

Once we have the great good fortune of hearing, seeing, thinking about this precept of no stealing, and have had a chance to have a glimmer at least, the wonderful mind of Buddha, And once we've heard that the entrance into this mind is being upright, then we may be ready with these gifts to enter into the practice of Zen. And be upright, enter the self-fulfilling awareness, and realize this precept. Realizing his precept in our mind and heart, in our whole body, we can then express it and manifest it in conventional world as not stealing.

[29:53]

And as all other appropriate ways of responding to animate and inanimate beings. When we practice sitting, standing, walking, and reclining in upright posture of body and mind, in the midst of all objects and others, If we have not yet fairly well seen the suchness of our relationship with other beings, if we have not yet fairly well realized the self-fulfilling awareness

[31:21]

then the uprightness seems to uncover and reveal a little or a lot of hate and anxiety. In uprightness, we don't turn away from the consequences of any incompleteness in our understanding. And if there is even a small amount of belief in our separation which could manifest as just one living being, we do not accept who you do not see as yourself.

[32:25]

That's sufficient to create anxiety and pain. So the upright sitting exposes us to that consequence of our not yet complete understanding. Once exposed to this anxiety, to this pain, the way recommended by the ancestors is to continue to be upright. Continue to do practice which has revealed the pain in the first place. Continue the awareness that dropped your defenses to the anxiety in the first place.

[33:26]

If we can continue to be upright even in this very difficult manifestation of our relationship with the other, we will start to see conditions of the pain. We will start to see the conditions of the anxiety. We will start to see and feel and hear the conversation that led to this anxiety. However, if we are not in the situation which uprightness has revealed to us. If we move forward into the future, we become afraid. In that fear, we will steal.

[34:29]

We will steal bread. We will steal Gomashi. We will steal many things because we are afraid of what will happen to us. Or if we don't move into the future, we can turn away from the anxiety and try to get something. That also leads to stealing and possessiveness. Or if we run away from the anxiety, distract ourselves from the anxiety, deny the anxiety, then we fall into anger. and abuse, abuse of sex, abuse of materials, which then become detoxes, abuse of finally treasure, not being upright

[35:45]

with what uprightness reveals, thus leads to not just not stealing, not just to stealing, but also to be possessive of whatever, even possessive of the teaching of Buddha. Being angry, misusing sexuality, abusing intoxicants, abusing the triple treasure, killing, lying, speaking of the faults of others, and praising yourself while putting others down. On the other hand, if we could continue to be upright, even under these circumstances, we will settle into

[36:47]

suchness of mind and objects. And in the suchness of mind and objects, as Dolin Zengi says, the gates of liberation will open up. Being upright with all kinds of situations means to practice the instruction of Bodhidharma, to make your mind upright like a wall. Meeting objects that don't activate the mind. You just clearly observe. You steal the object that accompanies your anxiety.

[37:52]

You study it. You don't try to figure it out. You just sit with You don't talk at it. You don't sigh about it. And whatever the object is, It will take off its mask and tell you its true name. It will whisper to you gently, I am you. You are just like you. And thus you will open the whole body.

[39:05]

When we have our whole body we do not steal anymore. When we have our whole body everything that comes to us is given. But if we don't have our full body if there's one thing that hasn't whispered to us that it's us, that one little dent will force us, inevitably, to try to fill it. And when we try to fill it, we will not understand that what we fill it with is a gift. We will think, it will seem like we are taking it. without the permission of everything.

[40:14]

And it will see and it will appear that they're stealing. In uprightness, you can see that everything is you. This is the self fulfilling samadhi. This is your whole body. This is the body that everything gives you. And this is the body that supports every other living being. This body cannot be controlled. This body cannot be grasped. All we can do is be present with it or not.

[41:27]

If we give our whole life to being present with this whole body, We will be met completely. And the precept of not stealing will shine in this world for all beings to enjoy. And the feasts will be converted to Buddhas. The Robin Hoods manifest the compassionate perspective of not stealing.

[44:06]

Sometimes the whole body of the self-fulfilling awareness will manifest not stealing, the precept of not stealing, as what appears to be stealing in the conventional world in order for the sake of compassion. But if the behavior of taking material from the wealthy and giving it to the poor comes from this attitude of self-cleaning, if it comes from the mind of stealing, then it's just stealing even though

[45:22]

may seem to be for a good reason. So I don't know the mind, personally the mind of Robin Hood. So each of us have to look into our own mind of Robin Hood and see Does Robin Hood love the sheriff of Nottingham as much as Meg Marion? Or does he look at the sheriff and say, that's not me, and Meg is me? It's so. That thinking, that way of thinking, is the mind stealing. So Robin should admit that, honestly. This is the mind stealing, and he should

[46:25]

uprightly observe the causes, the condition, causes the condition of that mind. And then he can become liberated from that mind, and then he may be able to practice and realize the precept of not stealing, breaking the sheriff's laws. And in that story, One way of telling that story is the sheriff's laws were broken by Robin Hood, but the king's laws were not. When the king returned, the king would have supported the breaking of those laws. So the self-fulfilling awareness is to move to the highest and greatest and the deepest meaning of the precept. The precept would mean the benefit for all beings, and if the benefit for all beings detailed the literal breaking of somebody's understanding of a precept, bodhisattva must break the precept at that literal level in order to realize the greatest benefit for all.

[47:49]

And this way of acting comes from a body that has nothing lacking in it. It doesn't need anything because it comes from everything. And when you see someone, as in these stories, if you ever see someone, and that someone could be you or another who seems to think that they lack something and thus is susceptible to stealing, we need to fill that lack as soon as possible to overfill it.

[49:01]

but not by stealing, by giving. Precept of not stealing is not punishment, it is generosity and compassion. So there was a then monastery in which the monks noticed the eating bowl were missing.

[50:13]

And then One of the monks discovered that there were a lot of eating bowls in one of the new monk's room. He reported this to the teacher, and the teacher said, all right, let's go find out what's going on. And in fact, they did find that this monk had lots of people's eating bowls in his room. The teacher said, OK, everybody, bring your most precious possessions. And they all brought them and gave them to the monk. To be upright with what's happening is not necessarily to go looking for what's missing or lacking.

[52:47]

Not necessarily to look at what you projected, what you say is not new, what you've abandoned. Actually, it is all those things, but not when you select them. When they present it to you and you just sit upright. Sit upright and have what you've abandoned come present itself. To have what you say is not new come look at you in the face. It's not that you say, okay, come here, I've abandoned you. Because there's a tendency, if we choose to look at what we've abandoned, the things we choose by our own will are not what we abandoned.

[53:58]

If we just are upright, what we really have abandoned will come. What we really say is not us, not all of us, will come. So in some sense I'm tempted to say is there somebody here or somebody's here that you don't really understand are you? Think about them. And I'd say I was tempted, but actually I went further than to be tempted, and I just said it. So when I'd say it to you, it's okay, because you didn't ask me to say that. You didn't come here, so I would ask you to look at those people and pay attention to the ones that you would just assume weren't here. For me to bring those things upon myself would not be upright.

[55:21]

But to sit here and be able to hear me talk about those things and let yourself feel what that's like and open to the anxiety you feel about being close to and having a life with those beings. being grouped up in a small space with the one who got problems with me. And the ones who you've got problems with. And then again, if that's the case, feel that anxiety. To feel the torment of that repulsion. And that rejection and that wish to abandon. And just let it be what it is. And realize that it too is a gift. This way of studying is called having a mind like an upright wall.

[56:30]

This is the mind that no words, no objects can reach. No others can reach. Because there is no separation anymore between self and others. Between mind and object. No separation of any substance. This mind is very close. But

[57:40]

If we indulge in our pain, if we stick our head into our pain, or if we flinch a tiny bit from our pain, if we force ourselves into our pain, or reject our pain, if we dislike our pain and try to move away from our pain, we separate ourselves from this mind. Here's the opportunity to settle the matter of your entire life right now.

[58:50]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_94.25