How many people weren't here last week? Raise your hand, please. Okay. Well, may I do a little review? A review, but also I want to ask how many people sort of know what a bodhisattva is? Would you raise your hands? How many people don't? Okay, how many people know what the Mahayana is? Raise your hand. Okay. So, saying what a bodhisattva is isn't quite as difficult as saying what God is, but it's kind of like that. Literally, a bodhisattva is a being The way it's used in Mahayana Buddhism, which will be defined soon, a bodhisattva is a being who wants to be a Buddha for the welfare of all beings.

[01:18]

And then, based on this basic desire, then there's quite a bit more involved, which I will go into with you later also. And what's involved is called the Mahayana. And the Mahayana means the universal vehicle. So the bodhisattva wanting to be the Buddha then enters into this thing called the Mahayana, which is this process of enlightening all beings. and all the kinds of activities which promote the enlightenment of all beings. Okay? This course... I don't know if this course said anything about Mahayana or Bodhisattva. I don't think it did.

[02:25]

So I hope you'll forgive me if this course is about Mahayana Buddhism. This course is about the process, the vehicle of saving all these beings that live here on this planet and throughout the universe. Is that okay? Now, the title is The Three Wisdoms of Buddhist Yoga. And to explain this to you a little bit more, what I'm going to try to bring to your attention to your meditative minds is the three yogas, I mean the three wisdoms of the Buddhist yoga of the Bodhisattva. There's different kinds of Buddhist yogas, but there's this particular yoga of those who wish to be Buddhas. Not all Buddhists want to be Buddhas.

[03:26]

Did you know that? Hmm? Is that a surprise? Well, it's sort of a fact, a sociological or anthropological fact. I live at the Zen Center and I've been living there for 34 years and quite a few people come to me and say, I'm sorry, I don't want to be a Buddha. I do like being here and meditating and I like the food. Actually, I like sitting. I kind of like you, actually, but I don't want to be Buddha. It's too much. Can you give me a break? I say, okay. You don't have to be a Buddha. Yet. Eventually we're going to get you, but you know. Anyway, not everybody at Zen Center is a bodhisattva. Even though they want to be a Zen student, if I say, are you a Zen student, they say, most people are Zen students.

[04:29]

I shouldn't say, are you a Zen student, but do you consider yourself a Zen student? Most people will say yes. If I say, do you consider yourself a religious person? Most will say no. If I say, do you consider yourself a spiritual person? More will say yes. If I say, do you consider yourself a woman? And if it's a woman, most of them will say yes. I say to a man, do you consider yourself a man? Less say yes. Almost all the women say yes, but not as many of the men, percentage-wise. Generally speaking, the people at Zen Center feel comfortable considering themselves, not to say I am a spiritual person, but that they consider themselves spiritual people. So Zen students, easiest. and spiritual person is next, religious is next, and I say bodhisattva, not too many will say, dare to say yes, because it's such a lofty thing. But this course is also called Course in Zen Buddhism.

[05:34]

Zen Buddhism is actually, strictly speaking, What Zen Buddhism is, it's a course for bodhisattvas. So Zen centers do sometimes let people in the door who don't want to be bodhisattvas, but actually the program is a bodhisattva program. And part of the bodhisattva program is to let people in who don't want to be bodhisattvas. Sure, come on, you know. And then, little by little, attract them to the bodhisattva way. Make them say, well, gee, it's really hard, but I guess I wanted to practice the book. OK, OK. Yeah, I do. You want to be a Buddha? Yeah. Be happy about that? Yeah. Are you scared? Yeah. Well, we have practices to get over that, too.

[06:35]

Part of what I am, so this, I gave a class here last fall on samadhi, didn't I? Samadhi means a lot of things, but to make a long story short, samadhi is defined as the one-pointedness of thought, the fact that our mind is one-pointed with what it's aware of, that awareness and aware-ee are one. Knowing and known are one point. That's the definition of samadhi. And then samadhi also means developing an awareness of that fact and of course enjoying that fact because it's actually once you're aware of it and know it you feel calm and blissful and things like that. So samadhi is also that and samadhi also means the one-pointedness of the entire universe.

[07:37]

So it means then also the awareness of the interdependence of all beings and the oneness of Buddhas and us. So anyway, that samadhi business is part of the bodhisattva path, part of the Mahayana, which we talked about before, and I'm going to continue to talk about it at least for the rest of the year. pretty much wherever I go, but this class is going to be also give you some other perspectives on this, well, for example, on samadhi practice and on these three kinds of wisdom. So one perspective I'd like to give you for your consideration, you don't have to hold it if you don't want to, but it's just a view, and that is that Zen Buddhism is a type of Mahayana Buddhism.

[08:39]

Mahayana Buddhism is the universal path, which means that it's a very complex phenomena of lots of different, many, many, many, many, many, many limitless practices. Limitless practices. And it uses anything that would be helpful to feeding the development of the liberation and happiness of beings. So strictly speaking, if we have a Mahayana practice center and people come who don't want to practice Mahayana, they can do some other practice. And although the practice they're doing is not a Mahayana practice because they don't want to practice Mahayana, they don't want to be a bodhisattva, but they want to be at the Zen center or the bodhisattva center So they're allowed to be there, and they do practices which are not intended to realize Buddhahood.

[09:43]

That's not what they're interested in, so they do some other practice. But in a sense, the Mahananas are using whatever they're doing as developing the context for their liberation eventually. Strictly speaking, Mahayana practices are those that are dedicated to Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings. And also Mahayana practices eventually will take on contemplation of ultimate truth, because that's part of the work of becoming a Buddha. these three wisdoms are kind of like starting to warm you up to like start looking how we approach ultimate truth. So Zen is one of these types of Mahayana and I actually would like you to see, get a picture for now, which you can use for the rest of your life if you're a member, of the relationship between Zen Buddhism

[10:49]

the Zen Mahayana and the other kinds of Mahayana, particularly the kind of like classical, scriptural Mahayana. So scriptural Mahayana means the Mahayana that we find presented in the Mahayana scriptures in India, for starters. because that's where the Mahayana was born, is in India. And part of what Zen is, actually, is a school which is trying to help people be bodhisattvas, trying to help people enter the path towards Buddhahood for the welfare of the world, but without relying on the scriptural presentation. So the early definition of Zen, one of the early ways of talking about it is it's a special transmission. It's a special transmission.

[11:54]

It's a special event. It's a special like meeting with Buddha, like outside the scriptures in a way that doesn't sound like it's like the way you're meeting Buddha in the scriptures. And yet this meeting that the Zen people came up with is to try to help people actually really deeply enter the bodhisattva way, but in this very innovative and direct and spontaneous method. Okay? For example, tonight when you're sitting, I mention to you a traditional and early Zen or my rendition of an early Zen introduction to Buddha of mind. I offered you a way, a way to enter the way, and I said the way, but actually it's a way to enter the bodhisattva way.

[12:58]

I said it to you while you're sitting. And that's my rendition of the way that the founder of Zen in China is supposed to have instructed his disciple. Now... Sure. But before I repeat it, I just want to mention that in this particular case, I am citing my source. But I often don't. And I heard on the radio here on... the Berkeley Public Radio station, 91.7, about a preacher who, what do you call it, he plagiarized some of his sermons and got fired. So... I'll just tell you right now, I plagiarized the Buddhas, and don't necessarily tell you that they said what I'm saying, because actually they didn't, because they didn't speak American English. So really, they didn't, I'm not really plagiarizing them.

[14:01]

But if we had a Buddha like living in America and then he was delivering talks in English and then I quoted him without citing, I would get... So fortunately, Buddha was not speaking English. So you can't really... You get by with it, right? If you translate it in their language and change it a little bit. Anyway, I may be dragged out of here at any minute. So the founder of Zen, so what I'm trying to, I'm just telling you a little bit about Zen Buddhism, okay, to give you a feeling for Zen instruction. Maybe not just a little bit, I might spend most of the class on this. But I would like not to spend the whole class because I would like to, towards the later parts of the class, I would like to introduce you to a very brief presentation a very brief presentation of the inconceivably elaborate and extensive practice of a bodhisattva.

[15:05]

But before that, the Zen part. And so Judith wants me to say it again. So here's the teacher's name, Bodhidharma. He had a student, he had many students, but his The successor student, not all the students were his successor, his successor, who we call the second Chinese ancestor, named Hui Ke, here's how he supposedly instructed him. He said, outwardly, whatever objects appear, don't get involved. No words. See them, but don't get involved. Don't grab them. Don't turn away from them. Just meet them. Period. With no kind of messing around. Inwardly, no coughing or sighing in the mind.

[16:09]

Inwardly, also no grasping or seeking. With this mind like a wall, thus you enter the way. This was his instruction to wake up. And then, in the story that sometimes we hear of this instruction to Hueca, then the next line is what Hueca says. But there was quite a few years between the first line and the second line. I think they often say eight years, seven or eight years between when he said, thus you enter the way, and Hueca came back and said, I have no involvements. So what went on during those seven years, you know, you can imagine, whatever way you want. No one can tell you. But one of the ways I could imagine it is that, you know, he saw Hueca the next day and Hueca said, blah, blah.

[17:12]

And he said, you're still involved. You're still, you know, messing around. Get out or whatever, you know. So for seven years, perhaps seeing each other frequently, maybe several times a day, maybe once a week, I don't know. But anyway, it took seven years for Heike to finally get to the point where he wasn't, whenever he would see something, he had no involvement with it. And again, no involvement is supposed to mean that you don't turn away from things and you don't get entangled in them. Because turning away is a kind of entanglement. So he finally got to the place where he said, I have no involvement, and Bodhidharma kind of believed him. And then Bodhidharma said, different translations, but the first translation I read was, doesn't this fall into nihilism? But the actual character says, is nyeh in Chinese, which means extinction.

[18:16]

Or it's a character that's, which refers to nirvana. And Nirvana is not that bad. But anyway, Bodhidharma says to him, doesn't that fall into Nirvana or doesn't that fall into extinction? Or another translation would be, you haven't fallen into extinction, have you? Because Bodhisattvas are not supposed to fall into extinction. They can visit, but they're not supposed to fall into it. They're not supposed to stay in extinction. They're not supposed to stay in peace and quiet. They're supposed to, like... be enlightened and work with everybody all the time to help people. So you shouldn't, like, just totally cool out. But it sounded like, when he was checking, another way I would sort of paraphrase what he said was, you haven't taken my instruction too far, have you? You haven't taken my instruction and, like, gone to nirvana, have you, leaving us all behind here?

[19:18]

And Huayka says... Nope. In Chinese. And Bodhidharma says, prove it in Chinese. And Hoike says, I'm always clearly aware and no words can reach it. In other words, I'm not checked out. I'm right here meeting you and everybody. I'm in an aware state. But the way I'm aware, nothing can reach it. It's inexpressible. It's the wonderful Buddha way that you taught me, teacher. And I'm right here. And Bodhidharma says, I forgot, but something like, right on, have no doubt, you got it right. That's the story. That's sort of one of the earliest Zen stories.

[20:23]

And then a couple generations, three, Two generations later, you have Hueca's grandson that makes the fourth ancestor, right? And the fourth ancestor, he had quite a number of teachings, but his basic teaching at the beginning of his teaching record, he says something like, in my teaching, I make Buddha mind, the first principle. So the first principle is Buddha mind. And the one practice of samadhi which is that being aware of Buddha is Buddha. So, again, this is my take on it is, the teaching here is that the practice is just Buddha mind.

[21:52]

And Buddha mind isn't like over there, or over here, or out there, in here. You know, it's not located someplace, there's no place where it isn't. So all you got to do is just like, don't mess around. Like the Buddha doesn't mess around with Buddha mind, you don't either. That's the practice. And if you don't know how to do that, good. Knowing what to do with that, just messing around with it. So just practice with confidence. in the Buddha mind. And then you have the fifth ancestor and then you have the sixth ancestor.

[22:56]

And the sixth ancestor has lots of disciples and lots of stories, but I want to tell you two stories about him. and his relationship with his two main disciples. So one of his disciples is, I don't know which one to mention first. I'll mention his disciple, which is his name is, at Zen Center we say Seigen Gyoshi Daisho. His Chinese name is Chingyuan Xingzi. Shinsen means walking and thinking. And I always think he's walking and thinking of Buddha. He's always walking and thinking of Buddha.

[23:59]

Wherever he goes, he's thinking of Buddha. Or that word for walking could also be practice. So he's practicing thinking, practicing thinking of Buddha. All day long, think of Buddha. The Bodhisattva way is basically to think about Buddha all day long. That's what he did. I kind of feel that his name is like that. So again, the Bodhisattva way is wherever you go, whatever you meet, you think Buddha. In other words, you meet people like Buddha would meet people. How does Buddha meet people? You don't get involved. You meet them without liking them. Well, I shouldn't say you might like them, but without grabbing, without attaching to your likes and dislikes. You meet them always concerned for their welfare, like a Buddha. So you're always thinking of Buddha, [...] Buddha. So it's kind of like you're meeting Buddha and you're meeting people as Buddha, both ways.

[25:01]

Always thinking of this, always working on this. This is shing-sa. So he goes to meet the sixth ancestor and he says, I think the sixth ancestor says something where you're from, and he says where he's from, and then he says, what do you want? And he says, well, I'd like to know how I can practice without falling into any kind of steps or stages. Now, as you'll see, this is an allusion to the scriptural presentation of the Bodhisattva path, which has tons of steps and stages, lots of stages and steps, all kinds of progress and development You know, lots of developments are ahead of us on our path to Buddhahood. But how can we not, like, fall into these steps and these stages? How can we, like, not fall into them? That was his concern.

[26:04]

To make a long story short, I'm going to stop there just to let you know his concern. The Zen people from the early days were very concerned to practice in a way that didn't fall into steps and stages. But I feel that in the conventional world, it's really difficult to avoid steps. Like, it's hard to get to this class and avoid steps. Now, some of you, I noticed, did fly in through the window. I'm not criticizing you, but really, please use the steps. if you don't mind. But don't get stuck in them. That's the point. Don't get greedy about getting to the top. Don't be afraid of going down. Just be careful. You know what I mean? Don't get stuck. There are steps in this world, there are stages, but we don't want to get stuck in them. In other words, we want to walk up and down the stairs with the pure mind of Buddha, like If we have to stop at the landing, we can stop at the landing without getting stuck on the landing.

[27:16]

You know what I mean? Some people might stop at the landing for a while. For years they might be there. But, you know, no attachment to the landing. Some people say, would you come upstairs? I say, fine. Would you come downstairs? No problem. Happy to. So you can stop at any point and no problem, no attachment. People want you to move, you can move. If people want you to stay and it's helpful, you can stay. You can do anything with those steps. You can be like, you can teach people like the real Buddha way to deal with these steps. You can learn how to do that. Do you understand, Rochelle? Okay. She's pretty good. You watch her. Do you understand? It's not that we don't use the steps. It's just that we don't get stuck on them. We want to learn how to not get stuck on them. Because steps are useful sometimes. Yes?

[28:18]

Jennifer? Well, you need Bodhidharma or one of Bodhidharma's surrogates. or the sixth ancestor surrogate. So we have these teachers around that you form a relationship with, and then you go and say, well, am I stuck? And they say, what do you mean stuck? I'll tell the rest of the story now. Can't help it. So then he says, how can I avoid getting stuck? And the teacher says, well, what have you been practicing? He said, well, I haven't even started practicing the Four Noble Truths, which are basic. Actually, that's stages too, right? It's a basic stage practice. I haven't even been practicing those. And then the sixth ancestor says, well, what stage did you get stuck at? He said, well, if I haven't even been practicing them, how could I get stuck at any stage? And the sixth ancestor said, good boy. So you need a teacher, probably, or even better, fellow students.

[29:19]

They're even better at catching you if you're stuck at anything. Like, you know, you get one step higher than, oh, aren't you good, Jennifer? Oh, you really got up there, didn't you? You're so concentrated. You're so kind. And then if you're like stuck, you know, you probably get irritated with them down, lowly beings down there, wisecracking about your superior status, you know, saying probably, oh, maybe I'm stuck. But if you kind of like, if you can laugh along with them, you know, and not worry about them criticizing you for getting developed, Or what also sometimes happens, if everybody else runs up the stairs and leaves you down at the bottom, you look up there and say, well, you're farther away now, but I can see your calves. You know, if you're basically at ease and happy with other people's progress and happy with your own progress but don't feel you're better than other people, these are ways that you can get a feeling that maybe you're not so stuck.

[30:20]

Another way to not be stuck is just never attain anything. Then you won't be able to be as stuck in any of the stages because you'll never have any. Get the picture? Huh? Well, anyway, you need a teacher. You need a sangha. And then that way you will find out if you're stuck. Okay? So that's that story. Then the other story is about the other big disciple. I say big in the sense that all the lineages of Zen come from these two teachers, these two disciples. Each of them, from those two, the five houses of Zen in China came. So the other side, his name is Nanyue Huirang. He went to see the sixth ancestor, and he said, you know, hi. And the teacher said, where are you from? And I think he said, Mount Sung. And... And the teacher said, the sixth ancestor said to him, what is it that thus comes?

[31:31]

And that's kind of a pun because what, you know, what thus comes or thus comes is the name for Buddha, is an epithet for Buddha. The Buddha is what thus comes or is what comes in thusness or suchness. That's the name for the Buddha, one of the names for Buddha, Atagata, thus come. So he sort of said, what's Buddha? But also it's a pun because it's kind of like, what's up? Or, you know, this guy just came. He said, what? You just came. What came? What just came? Or who are you? So it's both who are you and what is Buddha? So this new monk says, to say this is it, misses the point.

[32:33]

So if I ask you, you know, like, what's Buddha? And you say, to say this is it, misses the point. Or if I ask you, well, where is it came when you came? You say, to say this is it, misses the point too. Do you understand? Then the ancestor says, well, then is there no practice in enlightenment? Because you're not going to say what Buddha is, or even what you are? And he doesn't say, no, there isn't, or yes, there is. He says, I don't say there isn't. I don't say there isn't practice in enlightenment. I just say that it cannot be defiled. And the sixth ancestor says, This non-defiling way is what has been protected and maintained by all Buddhas. Now you're like this, and I'm like this too.

[33:40]

So this is like sort of essential Zen concern, is that we're practicing, we want to be Buddha, we want to practice the bodhisattva way and become Buddha. But this path must not be defiled by saying, this is it and this is not. Like, you know, Gary's it and Laurie's not, or vice versa. Or I'm practicing it and you're not. Or this is it and that's not. Or this is it and that's it. Of course you can talk like that, but it's a joke to talk like that. These are just jokes. We don't really mean this is the way or that's the way. We mean the way is right before us. Don't defile it. All day long practice the way. All day long be devoted to all beings just like a Buddha.

[34:44]

All day long think about being a Buddha. Think about all the Buddha practices without falling into the stages and also without defiling the Buddha by saying it's this or that. So when you sit, that's the same as not getting involved in what's happening. Like, you know, oh, those objects, now if I work with those objects this way, that would be like Buddhism. And if I worked with them that way, that would not be Buddhism. No, just don't get involved. In other words, don't defile your Buddha nature. See if you can sit and just leave yourself alone and open up to see what's going on. So these are traditional Zen practices. And then I don't know where to go. Oh, I'll go one, two more steps. What's his name?

[35:49]

Huiron's big disciple, main disciple. His name is Matsu, Master Ma. Master Ma was a very prolific teacher. He had many, many students. I visited what's left of his temple in, I think it's... I can't remember the name of the city, but it's in Jiangxi. It's the capital of Jiangxi. That's where his temple is. And they said that at the time he lived, you had to ride a horse. The person who was a fire watch, put out the lamps, you had to ride a horse to get around the temple. It was so big. Most of what is the present city was the temple.

[36:50]

He had so many students. Anyway, this is Matsu. And Matsu said, the way of meditation, I would say in parentheses, the way of bodhisattva meditation does not require cultivation. You don't have to do anything. Just don't be defiled. You don't have to do anything. Just don't defile yourself. which is quite a feat. So the training, Matsu's training is training in how not to defile your true nature, to learn how to not defile your true nature. And then one more big step, then all the way to 13th century or late 12th century, the teacher of, the Chinese teacher of the Japanese founder of Zen, Soto Zen,

[37:55]

He said, basically he said, Zen is body and mind dropping away. That's the practice. So it looks to me like I have a body and mind, and it looks to me like you've got a body and mind. Do you all have body and mind? Anybody who doesn't have a body couldn't hear me say that because you don't have any ears or eyes. Anyway, looks, you probably have a body-mind. It seems to be. I shouldn't say you have one. Anyway, there is a body-mind in your neighborhood. There's one over here. The practice of Zen is the body-mind dropping away. In other words, the practice of Zen is not to have anything. Now, you do have a body-mind, but get over that you have it, in other words.

[38:58]

Don't be possessive of your body-mind. And tune into the fact that it's constantly being given away. This is Buddha. No, I didn't mean that. But anyway, this is the practice of Zen, is to keep giving up your body and mind. In other words, body-mind means what's happening, don't get involved. Let it go. This is the way not to defile your Buddha mind. So, got a Buddha mind? Okay, now, got a Buddha mind? Now, here, here's a body-mind. Now, can you accept this body-mind without grabbing it? Okay, here's a body-mind. Come on, here, take it. Can you receive it without holding it? Can you receive it and then give it away? This is the practice. Receive your body and mind, give it away. Receive yourself, give it away. That's the samadhi we talked about last time.

[40:01]

Receiving yourself, give it away. Receive your body, mind, give it away. Receive it, let it drop away. Receive it, let it drop away. This is Zen. Direct, direct, spontaneous entry into the Buddha mind with no further adieu. Okay? So my feeling is that from doing these practices, from living these practices, from studying these practices for a long time, I think they're wonderful still. I did when I first heard about them. And also I feel that the people who do these practices are able to behave in ways that attract people like me to be like them. But what attracted me to Zen was not people practicing meditation like I've just described.

[41:13]

It wasn't that I heard about people who didn't have anything and had no attachments. or who were meditating on no attachments, or who weren't involved in what was coming and weren't clinging to anything in their mind, that wasn't what attracted me. What attracted me was the way people can behave when they do this meditation. In other words, that they can behave like a bodhisattva. That's what attracted me. When we do these kinds of practices or when we give ourselves to body-mind dropping off, then when somebody comes up to you and spits in your face, you can do something totally cool in response to the spit. I don't know what it would be, but you would know what to do. And the person who spit on you, if they saw what you did, they very well might say, wow, that was fantastic. You really... Nobody has ever used my spit so well. That was great.

[42:15]

Can I do it one more time? That's what the... The practice is not to be all enlightened, you know, and cool, although you would be enlightened and cool. The practice is that when you're enlightened and cool, you can do cool things. You can liberate beings. You can, like... track them to the practice where they'll be liberated and help others. That's what the track can mean. So these practices help you then go back into this bodhisattva way. You feel inspired and supported to do the amazing thing of handling spit well. and all the other things mean things people do to you and all the other mean things you do to yourself and all the stupid stuff that happens in your life and all the afflictions that happen you feel inspired to like do well with all that stuff you feel supported you feel this tremendous resource of your source nature

[43:28]

If you're what? You don't put it up. But anyway, you get, huh? No, no, it's not there. You are like a wall. Your mind is like a wall. Okay? Okay? So what's your mind like? Okay? It's like a wall. So somebody walks up to you, okay? And spits on your mind. I just told you a good work's right there. Here's a good work. Somebody comes up and spits on you. Okay? Now here's an opportunity for good work. Don't you think? Most people... At the time that they get spit, they think, this is not the time for good works, this is the time for revenge. I'll do good works with those people over there who are nice to me. When you have a mind like a wall, when people come up to you and insult you, you say, I'm for good works.

[44:40]

But basically the first good work is just the way the spit slides down the wall. That's the good work. The person watches the spit go down your face. They watch it like go down your cheek and then fall on your chin and drop onto your suit. They watch. That's your good work right there. It's not like later you're going to do good work. And then you say, would you like to go out for dinner? And they say, what? They say, I'd like to take you out to dinner. And they say, what are you talking about? Well, I just happened to be going to dinner, and you spit on me, so I thought maybe you'd want to go with me. And that person says, wow, or whatever, you know. Or they maybe say, no, not now, but maybe later. Do you understand? You look like you're looking for some other time or place for good works than now. That's what you look like. You look like you're looking over there rather than over at me. Work in general?

[45:45]

We were all Buddha. Yes. And we all have slumped off mind and body. Yeah. Well, how about just say if you were. Just start with you. Start with one term at a time, okay? So you're Buddha. Body, mind is slumped off. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Do I do anything other than just be Buddha? Yeah. Well, if you're Buddha, you don't do anything other than be Buddha. No, that is what you do all your time, all day long. No matter what you do, basically your job is being Buddha. Can you imagine if you were Buddha that probably that would be the main thing that people would be concerned about? Well, that's pretty scary. Well, you're not afraid anymore. You're Buddha. Buddha's not afraid. Buddha's not afraid to be Buddha. Most of us are afraid. Want me to tell you about how that is? Sure. Well, it's wonderful. You love everybody. You think everybody's great. People ask you for anything. You have no problem responding.

[46:47]

You don't necessarily give them what they ask for. Like if they ask you for some poison, you say, well, I'd like to know what you're going to use it for. In other words, no matter what, you're Buddha all day long, and no matter what people do, you come back with skill because you know exactly what they need. And wherever you go, you're Buddha. And if you have a job, you'd have to decide whether you'd go to the job, I guess, whether it would be helpful. I guess we really don't have to worry about all the people who will become Buddhists. We don't have to worry about it, no. Probably will not have to. Well, I don't know about that, but you don't even need to worry about you being Buddha. Because actually it's not really a problem when you're Buddha. It's not going to be a problem. Worrying about being Buddha is not really recommended. You do not have to worry about it. As a matter of fact, you don't even have to worry about not being Buddha. Worry is not helpful in this case.

[47:48]

Okay? The question is, do you want to be Buddha? And if you want to be Buddha, then that's what this teaching is for, is to help you understand how to be Buddha. And if you have any doubts or fears about it, I welcome you to tell me your fears, and we'll deal with those fears. So far, I have never heard anybody who told me about their fears of Buddha, that it has never been a problem. There's always some way to work it out. When you're Buddha all day long, you're the one who's helping everybody else work everything out, which is a great joy. And the body-mind sloughing off means every moment you get a brand new, fresh, spanking new body to give away. And you never run out of them because you're giving them away all the time. And as soon as you give it away, you get another one. You're constantly giving yourself in total joy.

[48:51]

And if people are mean to you or the weather is mean to you, You're a Buddha, you practice patience with it. And you love to practice patience with your pains that are coming to you. And everyone is totally inspired by how patient you are while they're afflicting you. And they keep afflicting you just to see how, you know, how patient you are. And they think, wow, fantastic. This is great. Look at that. This is fantastic. The more I attack him, the more he laughs. This is wonderful. And finally they give up trying to hurt you. And they just put their hands together and burst into tears and say, can I please learn how to do this? And you say, sure. And you teach them. Not me. No, you're the Buddha. You're the Buddha now. I'm talking about you. Okay, now I said I wanted to introduce this thing, but I want to take a couple more questions before we do.

[49:54]

Judith was next, I think. Did you want to withdraw your question? Yes. Okay. And tell me your name again. Ann. Ann? Just for context, I was wondering if you're somewhat defining that Buddhism, would you be willing to compare it to Tibetan Buddhism? Would I be willing to compare it to Tibetan Buddhism? I would particularly compare it to Mahamudra. Have you ever heard of Mahamudra? Mahamudra... is an Indian form of Mahayana Buddhism, which is very similar to Zen. And it became part of the Tibetan Buddhist practice. So today, a lot of the teachers of Mahamudra are Tibetan yogis. So there is a type of Buddhism practiced in Tibet part of Mahayana in Tibet called Mahamudra, which is very similar to Zen, very similar place, which is, the emphasis there is to initiate people very quickly into the Bodhisattva path and give them a very pure way of practicing so that as they practice the Bodhisattva practices, they do them with a very pure mind, with a non-gaining, non... Okay?

[51:15]

Now, What I'm leading up to is a presentation of Buddhism, which some people think is Tibetan, but actually it's Indian. But the presentation, some of you might recognize it, it's similar to the standard model of the Bodhisattva path that is often presented in Tibet. But it was actually originally in India, just like Mahamudra was. But the Zen school is to try to help us and help you deal with what you're about to hear. Okay? And one more question. Yes? How is turning away an entanglement? How is turning away an entanglement? You get entangled in denial. you get entangled in, you know, running away.

[52:17]

You get entangled in negativity. Like some people run away from the devil and then the devil says, one more slave. Of course, people who indulge in evil also are devil's disciples. So you indulge in evil or run away from it, the devil's got you. But if you just stand there, you know, and drool, Like, wow, a devil. Fantastic. Who are you? You want to go to dinner? Devil can't use you. Devil can't use you because you don't grab the devil. Devil can't grab you. You push the devil away, devil's got you. You grab the devil, devil's got you. but you just stay upright and balanced and flexible and relaxed, devil can't get you. And nobody else can either.

[53:22]

Your Buddha can't even get you, but you are Buddha. You can't get Buddha, Buddha can't get you, but you are Buddha, and Buddha is you. Okay, now I want to introduce to you a very brief presentation of the Bodhisattva course. And in this course, you will see these three levels of wisdom. So this is a yogic course that the Bodhisattva practices to attain Buddhahood, and you'll see the three wisdoms as part of this course. And then in this class, I will try to go through this course with you while simultaneously practicing Zen so you don't get stuck in these stages that you're about to read about. Okay? Not to say that you would, but... I mean... And again, some of you would get stuck in these stages kind of like, oh boy, I'm going to climb these stages.

[54:23]

Others of you might get stuck in these stages by saying, this is too hard. I'm not going to do this. God, that's too hard. I've got to get out of here. So trying to run away from these stages, if you want to be a bodhisattva, it's not going to work. And grabbing these stages is not going to work. That's why, in some sense, I love Zen, because Zen will help you do this incredible bodhisattva practice, which is summarized on this sheet of paper, with no attachment, with joy, and not getting stuck in it. Okay? So now I'd like to pass this out to you. Would you pass this out, please? And see if you can take these pieces of paper without having any attachment to them. And now, for the sake of the tape recorder, I would like to say that paper is being passed out. And for the sake of the tape recorder, last night at Green Gulch we read this in unison, which is nice, but it doesn't tape very well.

[55:26]

So I thought it'd be nice, maybe nice for the tape if I read it. Or is somebody here good at reading? Some kind of a theatrical expert? Some actor or actress with great voice and good at reading parts? Would you like to, Fred? No? Okay. Okay, so I'm going to read it. My reading will not be too good, but it'll be... It'll be like this. The standard or classical scriptural presentation of the apparently gradual path of the bodhisattva to Buddhahood. The entire path of the Mahayana, the universal vehicle of the bodhisattva, may be seen as one of yogic practice and realization. Yogacara. The path of yogic meditation. The Mahayana is three things. or the Mahayana has three main aspects, or to attain the all-knowing of Buddha, practice three things.

[56:38]

They are, number one, compassion, number two, bodhicitta, which is the wish, the aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the welfare of the world. That's bodhicitta. Number three, is realization, which means realization of wisdom. So again, in terms of yoga, number one is the meditation or yoga of compassion. Number two is the meditation or yoga of bodhicitta, the thought of enlightenment. Number three is the meditation or yoga which is the full realization of the bodhicitta and which in turn opens onto the stage of Buddhahood. The yogic meditation which finally becomes full realization is means, skillful means, together with wisdom. Means, that is, virtuous actions in the world, namely giving discipline and ethical precepts, patience,

[57:52]

diligence and concentration. All these are practiced in the world with these turkeys, all of which are practiced under the guidance of the developing wisdom. The yogic, the yogin meditator is encouraged to acquire three kinds of wisdom. The meditating bodhisattva works within the world to develop skillful, compassionate means giving charity, fearlessness, and teachings, patiently forgiving those who spit on him, teaching the Dharma in spite of all obstacles, heroically coming to the aid of all suffering beings, and simultaneously cultivating wisdom in three ways. First way, in Sanskrit, is called Shrutamai Prajna, which literally means Wisdom arisen through hearing, truta means hearing.

[58:57]

It is understanding arisen through study and learning. The bodhisattva reads scriptures and studies with the teacher who understands the meaning. Number two, cintamaya-prajna, literally, wisdom arisen through thought. It is thinking, reflecting, and investigating. The bodhisattva herself ponders the scriptures and penetrates ever more deeply into the truths, investigating by reason, by reference to the authority of the scriptures, and by discrimination between nayartha and nitartha, or implicit and explicit, or interpretable and definitive meaning of the teachings in the scriptures, and so on. The third kind of wisdom is bhavanamaya-prajna. literally wisdom coming into being or wisdom arisen through cultivation or meditation. It is wisdom through yogic meditation with logic and scriptural as with logic and scripture as her guide.

[60:03]

She meditates upon the doctrines and objects of true nature of reality. So those are the three wisdoms. which we'll go back over in detail, I hope, in the following weeks. Okay? Then, the third kind of wisdom, the basis of third kind of wisdom, meditation, the basis of third kind of wisdom, is practiced in the following way. First, by mastering Samatha. And Samatha is calm abiding or tranquilizing the mind. So that's a major topic which we can touch upon to some extent. We've had a whole class of here on Samatha. And through observing moral and ethical instruction, the nine stages of Samatha, the four dhyanas, the four trances, and the four formless attainments, and so on.

[61:05]

These are the practices involved in developing mental stabilization or calm abiding. The next kind aspect of the meditation is vipassana or higher wisdom. which is the observation and analysis of the object of meditation from the point of view that has been studied and investigated. So you use the previous two kinds of wisdoms come into play in this aspect of meditation. And the third kind of aspect of meditation is when the yogin succeeds in mastering to some extent both calm and analytic observation. She proceeds to practice both of these simultaneously. This is called shamatha-vipashyana-yogananda, the blissful union, yoga, of calm and analytic observation. They are united when the bodhisattva mentally attends to the one-pointed mind. That is, they are joined in samadhi.

[62:10]

What is one-pointed mind? It is the realization that this image, which is the focus of samadhi, is only the mind. Having realized this, the mental attention is towards suchness. Okay? And then, at this stage, after realizing these meditations, one is ready. Well, it says there, better to enter the actual... the paths of the bodhisattva and the stages of the bodhisattva. Okay? So the first path is five paths and ten stages. And they're laid out here. So the first path is called the path of accumulation, sambhara marga. And from the moment of the arising of bodhicitta, in other words, from the first time that you wanted, that you aspired to be Buddha for the welfare of the world, from that moment that that happened until you get to the point

[63:14]

of the just-mentioned phase of samadhi where the calm and the insight have been joined, that whole process there is the first path. So the first path is a pretty big path. Anyway, that's the first path. The second path is the path of concerted effort, prayogamarga. Succeeding in this yoga of common insight together, the yogan is placed in the preliminary stage just prior to the official ten stages of a bodhisattva. Here the bodhisattva continues contemplating suchness with firm conviction that events have no inherent existence at all. As faith or conviction turns into realization, she penetrates more and more deeply into reality and passes into the first bodhisattva stage and the third path of vision, which is number three, the path of vision, darshana-marga.

[64:23]

You now enter that immediately. The yogin rejoices in the realization of the truth that she has not known before and her vision of reality of suchness arouses in her the aspiration to work even more fully for the welfare of others. Thus, the perfection of giving thoroughly pervades all her activities. Then the next path is the path of cultivation, bhavanamarga. And this is a big, big one. It has nine stages in it. Then through the following stages, The yogin repeats this process of calm, insight, and their blissful union in relation to the nine transcendent practices, the paramitas, thereby purifying and maturing each of them at the appropriate stage. And the nine paramitas are the first one's giving, the next one's discipline and ethical precepts, the next one's patience, the next one's diligence, the next one's samadhi, the next one's wisdom,

[65:37]

The next one is skill and means. The next one is vow. The next one is power. The next one is knowledge. So those, all those virtuous practices which the Bodhisattva is doing in the world, in the supermarket, in the home, in the school, in the street, he's doing all these practices together with this wisdom practice. So in each stage, you actually purify these practices, all duality and all impurities of cleaning, so they become fully realized. That's the course. And then you finally reach the fifth path, which is the path beyond learning. No more learning. You're a graduate, a Shaikshamarga. Finally, the yogin enters into the diamond-like samadhi, Vajrapamo samadhi, and she emerges therefrom as a Buddha. She realizes knowledge that knows everything that can be known, unattached, unhindered, and inconceivably and universally helpful.

[66:43]

Nothing to worry about anymore. With a billion magically created bodies, she serves the needs and aspirations of all living beings for as long as the world exists she has reached the unsurpassable complete perfect enlightenment for the wheel of the world so this is a short presentation of the bodhisattva path okay and zen meditation is to help you with this path to practice it without being afraid of how immense it is and also without falling into any stages along the way, and also without getting some kind of gaining idea. So we actually do practice this, but we usually don't mention it so explicitly. But I thought to let you know so that you'd understand the relationship between Zen practice and the huge process of the Bodhisattva.

[67:53]

And as I mentioned last week, the foundation of this whole thing, and it's the foundation of Zen too, is that first item there, compassion. So we certainly all can start with that, which actually some of you did start last week. I heard about you, that you've been practicing compassion. I got reports from the people who are watching you. So thank you for practicing compassion last week. So please continue to practice compassion. Try as much as possible never to forget all day long no matter what people do to you no matter what they say try to remember to be kind and gentle with all being until you get back here next week and then we can maybe see how you did and work our way into this path a little bit further.

[68:58]

How do you feel? You feel okay? Are you okay? What happened to Linda? She went to Shasta. She went to Shasta? Shasta City? Shasta Mountain. Okay. I noticed a change of name. Kind of old school, huh? She wasn't attached to her name. I thought you were going to say she wasn't attached to her husband. But she's... She wasn't attached to her name, and she's working for the welfare of her husband. Yeah.

[70:08]

Some people think, okay, I'm willing to be a bodhisattva, but working for the welfare of my husband? Well, not really. I live near somebody who acts out my shadow side. I haven't heard her say that she's dedicated to the welfare of George Bush. Some people are holding out, trying to help that guy. Yes, and so do I. We all need a lot of help, so please, as part of your compassion, please be very generous and give people the help they need because they do need a lot of help. Okay? With no attachment, though, no attachment.

[71:10]

That would be quite helpful. Anything else you'd like to say this evening before we conclude our class? I enjoyed your class very much. Great, great. Because you were the star. Next week, John gets to be the star. Okay, don't remind me about that part. And also, I would like to say to you, ask you, if I was gentle enough tonight, and if I wasn't, please let me know. I sometimes get a little bit enthusiastic about this teaching, and maybe I'm not gentle enough about it.

[72:19]

So let me know if I should be more gentle for you. I'd be happy to do it. Let Bodhidharma be rough.

[72:31]

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