We have four weeks to study about the precepts, talk about them, and try to cultivate a practice of them. And we'll hopefully have some time to reflect on how that practice is going. Four weeks is not a lot of time. I've prepared not readings, but a handout It's a different preset system. So I don't know if you can tell what's in there. And I think we'll reference these in different ways.

[01:19]

The first page is the Bodhisattva precepts, which some of you have received, and some of you will be receiving, who are preparing for Judai, which includes the refuges, pure precepts, and the head, grave, or that we've been using lately, as well, the positive sides. In other words, our resolve not to kill, but to cherish our life. So it's both the side of refraining from as in the pure sex, pure precepts, refraining from an unwholesome act, and then doing, devotedly doing, the act of good.

[02:19]

That's the way we can keep in the precepts. So that's that page. The second page, you're probably familiar with from the Full Moon Ceremony, Bodhisattva Ceremony. And the commentary, the line that says, yoshi, is Dogon's, a translation of Dogon's commentary on each precept. So it is, In the text, it's just very pithy to read the comments, but those are piths. And then on the next page, actually, I think next week I'd like to read this aloud. This is a wonderful text. Do you think you'll notice?

[03:22]

During Sashin, they chanted people's names. Oh, is that so? Really? Yeah. Oh, that's great. I think it's wonderful. I had never seen it. It was part of what we were given when we were working on Dharma Transformation. And this is Dogen's vow. It's quite beautiful. So next week, actually, I'd like to change it. So then the next page is Bodhidharma's one-line precepts. These are wonderful. They express the that naturally arise in the practice of the precept.

[04:25]

The practice that arises when you uncover all of your habits and all your likes and dislikes. So I think we'll come back to that also. And then on the last page, are Thich Nhat Hanh's version that Tsongkhapa developed somewhere about 10 or 12 years ago. And they are the five basic precepts. And we'll talk more when we talk about the precept systems. But these are the basic precepts that cut across the grain of all the traditions. And they've been creatively modified to express how one's individual practice can shape or is shaped by society.

[05:39]

So there's a social dimension to that, which is irrelevant. So I encourage you to read that. While we're going along here, I think today is going to be a fair amount of lecture. And please just stop me if you have any questions. I'm happy to discuss this stuff. So I think today, So I'd like to begin by quoting Suzuki Roshi in one of his lectures. He said, the real meaning of precepts is not just rules, but is rather our way of life. When we organize our life, there we see something called rules. As soon as you get up, to wake up completely, you wash your face.

[06:47]

That's a precept. So how you keep your precepts is how you actually organize your life. And how you organize your life is how you practice sasang. If you think, I have to observe this precept and this precept, ten precepts, one by one, that is wrong practice. It's heresy. precepts should be observed without any idea of observing. In short, when you observe precepts in the same way as you practice zazen, that is perfect precepts transmitted from Buddha to us. So as usual, Suzuki Goshi, he's got a really big view, a really a view that encourages us to the highest level of practice, the highest level of realization for ourselves.

[08:00]

So he's just encouraging us to let these precepts arise in the same way that things arise for us in Zazen. We may or may not be able to do this. And when we fail, we just keep on in the same way as when our intention lags or wavers during zazen. We just come back. So that's a way to hold the precepts. Not to hold on to them rigidly as rules, as seems to be practiced more broadly, but to hold them very lightly as a way guide us in our lives. But still, we have to understand something. So we're studying. Because even though they're naturally arising, there's so much that gets in the way in our lives, in our society, in our families, that it's really helpful to

[09:15]

have some understanding of what they're about, to be able to name them, and then to be able to receive them as some of you are. Some of you have been sewing rock suits. How many people in that particular group? So you're preparing for lay ordination. So chukai means actually means 10 precepts, receiving the precepts. So that's a basic ceremony two weeks from now. So that's going to be in June, right? What's the date? So it's just before the 16th. Oh, that's right. It's before the 16th. Brilliant idea. That is terrific.

[10:17]

I mean, it's really nice because you'll be able to wear your ROPSU. You'll be able to wear the precepts. I wear my ROPSU a lot when I go to Buddhist events or when I go to big events. And some people do, some people don't. And I feel that the reason that I tell myself that I can do it is as a reminder to be wearing the robe. This is a robe. because I'm from the Pensacola, to remind myself that I carry these things. So, you know, it's not to show something special, but it's really for people.

[11:22]

And I encourage people to do that, to wear them to Dharma events and spiritual events. And actually, we are wearing it all the time. There's a sutra. One of the early Chinese sutras says, once ordained, the efficacy of the precepts can never be lost, even in future lives. So it's like, that's it. And another one, we don't use quite the same text, but in one of the piece of text for ordination, it says, you will become a Buddha. I have already become a Buddha. It's in the process of transmission. But it's on the basis of these wisdoms.

[12:23]

So it'd be really nice to hear a position on that. How do you spell this? So two weeks from now, we're going to have a pre-sortation for Greg Bain and Eric Green, who some of you know. And that's essentially the same process. It's the same process with a few more pieces. You get a full okhasa, and you get your hair shaved off. But the precepts are the same. So for me, the most moving ceremony is the chitra. Because receiving the precepts, you

[13:28]

fully and intentionally acknowledge and are acknowledged to be in this sangha, and in the broad sangha, and to be in this new extended family. And you receive a name. So it's very emotional for me, and for a lot of people. And that's what I think is wonderful about coordination. But really, this is Jukai, and police coordination, the full moon ceremony, which most of you are familiar with, and the funeral ceremony are all variations of the same ceremony. They're all three sets of ceremonies. It's one size fits all. So that's a traditional, it's a rendition of a traditional monastic ceremony that goes back to Tamazuga.

[14:48]

I'll say more about that. They do, yeah. Weddings are more a kind of invented, Japanese form. And I don't think, usually what happens, the Buddhists do some, but usually what happens in Japan is that you get married in a Shinto shrine, in a very Buddhist temple. But we do them. And when we do them, that's a certain Buddhism. So it's really where the ceremony that I was given to do, you know, it's really a transmission of taking place between the person who's doing the ceremony and the two people. It's like, for us, we need something where the people are in tune with each other, and make vows to each other rather than each of them making their vows to the universe.

[15:57]

But, So that ceremony, let me just outline what it is. This is part of the basic precept ceremony. It's a vowel, the vowel of karma. So all my ancient wisdom, karma, goes through body, speech, and mind. That goes back to the original. precepts in what the Theravada monks call vipassana. And they do that each month at the time of the new moon. And in order to be able to, they do it in a circle. It's called a sima. And it's a circle of monks and or a circle of nuns. They don't sit together. But in order to do that,

[16:58]

you have to make your avowal of karma first. In order to take your place in the circle, if you have broken any of the rules, you actually, depending upon the seriousness of the rule, you have to make confession. Very specifically, you say, what will you And you are heard by another monk, whether it's a peer or a senior. And then you can sit in the ceremony. So the ceremony begins with this avowal of karma. And then we have the homages to all the Buddhas, the Buddhas of the past. And then we have the four Bodhisattva vows, which are in essence the Vow of Love, to save sentient beings, to let go of delusions, to enter

[18:24]

all the dark gates to realize the bliss of this life. And after that, then we take refuge. Refuge, the refuge of the refuges. Which is actually, that's the one sermon that crosses all lines. Some people would identify that as sort of fundamental. And after that, we came to bureaucratic studies. to retrain from evil, to do all good, and to save many beings. And then you think that your mind resets for the greater good. So that's the essential ceremony with some variation.

[19:29]

It depends on the clothes you get. That all comes after. It comes after the clothing. precepts. It does, for sure. And then you can turn to other people. That's right, correct. What do you call the four vows? Which? The ones you're on. The bodhisattva vows. So those vows are specifically Mahayana. It's a practice that doesn't exist anymore. So it's rather a so-called Indian mysticist. Because we have this Bodhisattva ideal. The ideal that there's a model that we live for the sake of all beings. And that all becomes a bit clearer when we actually look at the precepts themselves.

[20:34]

So many of us have taken these vows, and we've received our lineage papers. You get this rock seal, and you also receive this paper, which is a kind of diagram. It's called the Japanese Keshiki Akari. And that means blood moth. I'm into it. Maybe I'll get one. Have you seen them? No. That's actually, it's interesting. It's sort of like that. But the way it works, it would be easier if I had one. So up at the top of the chart is Shakyamuni Buddha. And then there's a red line that goes down through the arhats. They're all in, I think they're all in my sub-work suit.

[21:49]

You know what that is? What? Yeah. And that's underneath my shelf. Actually, just bring the sub-work suit, okay? It'll be easier when we see it, but it goes through, the Indian ancestors and the Chinese ancestors. And then it's got two streams. And each name is connected by line, connecting the Rinzai Zen lineages and the Sojo Zen lineages. And then they come together at Dogen-senshu, who actually had transitions in both lines. And then it goes from Dogen Zenji through all the ancestors who lead up to Suzuki Roshi, and then Hoitsu, and then Sojin, and then you. And then the line goes back up from you to Dr. Nakamura.

[22:57]

So it's like this. this genealogy. Now, perhaps it's a bit heretical, but there's some dubious spaces in this genealogy, especially early on. But the Japanese are really into it. Actually, some of the other Buddhist traditions could care less. But since the Japanese and the Chinese were very into So when you say early on, that's back in India, early in China? Early in India, early in China. And some of them have a historical record. There are stories. For all the Indian ancestors, there's this, that they all wrote.

[24:01]

which we have is the story of all the lineage up through Dogen to one of his disciples, Gesang. And some of those stories, there's no thought associated. And then at the bottom of it, There is a text that is written by him, a male, which says, quotes, it says, it was revealed to Myozen Daisho, who was one of Dogen's two teachers, quote, that the perceptual vein, the pre-sexual vein of the Bodhisattvas is the single great causal condition at the same gate. Oh, OK.

[25:08]

I knew somebody had one around here. I think they're upstairs having a party. So this is a two-step document. And you can see at the top in that circle, in the top is Shakyamuni Buddha. And that big square seal, the square seal is, in Chinese, Buddha Dharma Sangha. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can look at it.

[26:14]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the three treasures. Yeah, you're supposed to leave it open. It's important that you don't frame it, put it up on your wall. On the other hand, it's good to know what it is to see it. OK, well, let me get it.

[27:15]

Say something about that. Yeah. Well, the quote is, the text tells the whole circumstances in which Dogon received his Dharma transmission. then it has the sense that it was revealed to Dōgen's teacher that the preceptual vein of the Bodhisattvas is the single great causal condition of these entities. Does that make sense to you? Well, what's interesting there is that... Preceptual vein. Right. Well, the preceptual vein is... So this is a blood vein.

[28:21]

Bloodline. This document. And the precepts are the blood. So the precepts are the essence. They're what make, according to this, they're really what make Zen Zen. Which is interesting because we usually think of it as meditation and realization. And what I feel this statement is saying, I'm curious to know what you think, I feel what this statement is saying is Why do we do this? Why do we practice? What is the purpose of it? The purpose of the what? What motivates it? What motivates it is to be upright in the world.

[29:23]

To be honorable, direct, reasonable. To be that sort of And that's what the perceptual field needs, and that's what's good about it. It's a balance. Yeah, also the environment, mission, realization, and practice will stand you accountable for the things that you've done to the country, to the city, the country, whether it's housing, folks, or something, or at least something that you've done to save the country. So I just wanted to, as soon as I can, do something to save the country, I think we should save the country. I think it's important that we do that. I think it's important that we do that. I think it's important that we do that. I guess if you're talking about the stream of Zen, the lineage of Zen, that makes more sense to me. Because to me, a more fundamental experience is one of meditation and the insight of experience.

[30:26]

That's not unique to Zen practice. No. And it's not just Zen that puts a high value on the precepts. One thing, in a discussion I had with Robert Aitken a while back, he was saying how much he appreciated, particularly, the character of people that he met in the Brookings incident, the dimension of character development. He was actually distinguishing in a way that we might not. That one could have very deep insight. And that insight, it could be a mile deep in each one.

[31:32]

And that the character development is about being an integrated person. And for me, I think that's the way we try to practice. That's the teaching that comes to Soko Zen, to Gogen. It's not that insightless realization is unimportant or negligible, but it gets used for the practice of how we are with ourselves and others. which is basically a matter of precepts. So these precepts are tools for investigation. Investigation of ourself and our connection with the other beings and things. And each one of these precepts gives you a kind of, it has its own territory.

[32:39]

It gives you a certain kind of guidance. It marks off a certain kind of ethical ground. And even though that completely overlaps with all the others, still there's a kind of specificity to it. And so we use this tool. And when we're given the results, then It's like our failure to keep the precepts, to make mistakes, and to fall away from the laws of religion, are also incredibly useful. These mistakes are inevitable. It's law. And learning from them is the way we cultivate wisdom. And seeing them, And the natural response is to sit down quietly.

[33:43]

And so right there, you have sila, which is preceptualism. You have the bhushan, which is prashna. And you have samadhi, or jhana, which is meditation. And those are the three. basic areas. They're all different. I think that compassion is a character. Compassion is built into the precepts. I'd like to come back to that. We actually start from the precepts. So going back to Suzuki Roshi's words, the precepts should be observed without any idea of observing them.

[34:52]

In short, when you observe precepts in the same way as you practice zazen, that is perfect precepts transmitted from Buddha to us. practice of Buddhism, Bodhisattvas. So in an absolute sense, each one of us is Buddha. And in the relative sense, we fall short, most of us. And we live by our intention and our vow. We intend to sit upright each day. We intend to follow our breath. We intend to be kind to people that we work with, support, and encounter. And we intend to, we vow to save sentient beings. And these are really strong vows, strong vows. And so the research advances to help us keep track.

[35:59]

It's interesting, in the Rinzai tradition, They don't talk about these precepts until the end of your training. Nobody ever ... the class like this would not be held. It's actually the last part of the Koan curriculum, as I understand it. So they're not discussed earlier in one's practice. doxa, the fear that a student with incomplete understanding will naturally fall into duality, the dualistic thinking. They have these, they take these things as rules, which they fear could be dangerous. I don't think that that actually works very well here in the West.

[37:08]

First of all, we need all the help we can get. But if I did not wait to the end, not so many of us are going to get to the end of our co-op curriculum if we've had one. And also, what's interesting is that most of us have a really strong ethical grounding in whatever religious tradition we can. And we need to integrate that. We need to refine it, understand it. And so that when we hear the precepts, we naturally think of the 10 commandments. And so some of the work we have to do is to distinguish them from the Ten Commandments. You can see them as naturally arising, not being given to us on some tablets.

[38:20]

No books, history of the world. You know that scene? He's carrying these three tablets. I bring you these 15 drops of, oy, 10 commandments. So we have these. sort of at the heart of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic tradition. So in our kind of Zen, we just sort of plunge into these waters within its mind, with the mind that In order to find our way, we actually dare to make mistakes.

[39:27]

Because if we don't try to find our way, we're certainly going to make mistakes. So why not have some tools? We're seeing people hurting. We're seeing people leaving the world. And then as we sit in satsang and we repeat these vows and ceremonies year after year, we gradually forget about their being and just live them and actually become the Buddhas that we are. Like it says in that coordination text, you will be a Buddha, I already am. This is the church. So I want to go on and give a little historical background.

[40:34]

But maybe I should stop with the thoughts or questions. If you want to take it. As far as I know, the whole concept of intention, this is the kind of thing that is hardly ever used. This is the notion that if I don't want to treat you the way I want to treat you, then this is my intention. It's not about what you want. Whereas, no, talk to me personally. This is my intention. I struggle with that concept. I'm not sure what she means. I'm not sure what I'm talking about. Right. I wonder if it's the same as if you have a potential to use it in ways that I'm resisting from being able to do.

[41:41]

So what does it mean? Now, it doesn't bother me that much. I'm curious. I'd like to know about this as a EOG part. But I think we use attention in a way that we use map. You know, it's just vowed at the final moment. It's a person who took too much. And it seems kind of great. And maybe that's a great effort. And I think that we need some attention. And maybe it's saints that we use it just to kind of

[42:45]

on Earth, that vow is there. But intention is kind of a moment-to-moment. Intention is about the moment-to-moment working of the mind. It's the simplification of the human mind. Right. Right. I think that other people may have thoughts.

[43:49]

I think that the distinction that I make is that According to the Scythian tradition, one can say something like, you be the boss. You be the boss of you. And what Nell, I think, means by the intention or what I mean is that the choice is to be turned or to be pushed around by circumstances, or not. And that the way of our practice is to try to not react, which calls for a certain, you know, intentional clarity.

[44:57]

Not something that we hold on to, but really tight, to grasp, but just something that guides us. So that when I'm in a meeting, and I feel like I want to react, I remember my intention to step back and not engage. So I'm not pushing around. It's an impractice. So it's great in the reset. It's interesting to me that you're not familiar with the basic structure of the preceptual being of one, of two, of three, and that you work harder to make that which feels like you're part of the relationship

[46:05]

Right, so that's intentional. In other traditions, the covenant relationship, if you make a difference in Jewish tradition, is the covenant, is the battle that you play, is part of your relationship. And Christianity has the same covenant aspect. It's a little different, but the idea that you So, you must bring yourself to the table, and bring yourself to the community, and bring yourself to the relationship. That's what you do. I think that's right. And you have to come forward to do it. And then there also is the mysterious force that brings you forward. How did any of us get here? To this, to this, to this, to this room.

[47:09]

You know. I'm going to tell you. Well, I was just on a similar note. You know, there are a lot of people. There is some. Right. And you know, I don't want to get too sidetracked. You don't want to be too much in Japanese Buddhism. So they have these two approaches. There's the self power school, which is Zen. And there's other powers, which is essentially pure And there's been this kind of historical distinction between these two schools.

[48:18]

But it's a false distinction. Yes, we get ourselves to this end when we sit there and we sit upright and we trust God's will. But how the hell did we get there? you know, the naturally arising means the causes and conditions of the world arise in such a way that one comes to practice and then says, that is not about self-power. That just, you know, that's your fortunate karma. Right. So, and then we're We also need to pay attention, all of our service is kind of falls over into the realm of other powers in this world. It's a devotional aspect.

[49:19]

Sometimes we don't see it, because at least for some of us, myself included, as a man, quote, quote, from the devotional world, which would be the space where we're going to be posted. And so it's not that fun. But that's also the other kind of thing. Anyway, I think I want to go on. So in the Buddha's time, the first monks were all arhats, fully realized beings. And they lived very pure lives, alone in the forest, in a small group. 500 months, even the least accomplished was already a screenwriter. He was already guaranteed on the path to full enlightenment. So there was actually no need, or very little need, for rules and regulations.

[50:23]

But it's become the benign part of the teaching of the Trinidad. And then the Buddha went along. He made up rules as circumstances came up. So there was a sort of flexible set of regulations. Now, I'm not going to speak at the function. You should read it sometime. There's some really funny rules. But so the first rules, the first four, he said, are called the parajita, which means defeat. So if you break any of these rules, if you broke any of these rules, even today, if you were a monk or a nun, if you break any of these rules, you're expelled from the order without any legal procedure from the legal state. So those are the reasons. Should any bhikkhu, a monk, engage in sexual intercourse, even with a female animal,

[51:28]

He is defeated and no more in community. Let me remind you, every one of these rules is there because somebody did it. Two, should any bhikkhu with intent steal, take from an inhabited area or from the forest, what is not given, he's defeated and no more in community. should any bhikkhu purposely deprive a human being of life, or recommend advantages in death, or encourage him to kill himself, he is defeated no more. Should any bhikkhu, while having no acquaintance of it, suggest that some superior state worthy of the noble one's knowledge and vision is present in himself, saying, I know thus, I see thus, unless it were through overestimation, he is defeated.

[52:36]

That's that one. It's a little, it's basically claiming powers that you don't have. It's like you think you have this power, and you're just sort of deluded. So delusion is not defeat. But claiming powers is. And so these are the four parajitas. And actually, they're generally thought to be laid out in reverse order of seriousness, with the error of claiming powers to be the most serious. And so then what follows at Emotions is smooth, very specific regulations governing society. And for the order of monks, and I know this from, you know, we spend a lot of time, something that my friend Satyakarupi, who comes here a couple times a year, he said, he's a Thai monk in a forest tradition in American town in Chicago.

[53:44]

And I see how he lives and see what he does, you know, and he tries to keep these precepts mostly. He keeps almost all of them in a very thorough book, and it's very natural. So there's no gap between the rules and their way of life. Actually, their practice, very largely, is about the fulfillment of these rules. And some, the forest traditions, but not all monks meditate. But they all keep these rules. They're completely involved in the Vinaya regulations in a way that's very different from how we live our lives. Actually, we really need some time to bring, to have a discussion with Santikaro or with Hacham Amaro.

[54:45]

or one of the nuns, maybe I'm sure, will be responsible to talk about how they live their lives within this whole system of the Maya precepts. And as I was saying, to read it, there just are some incredible rules about things about food, things don't stick your penis in a knopple in a tree you know it's like there's some there's some very there's some very weird things in there and you know you know you can just see like the buddhist in here it's like Lord, venerable such and such just did this. There's no rule about this yet.

[55:50]

Don't do that. Please, write that one down. And so then they got to be 227 of them. So in 543, the Buddha took the old one, took him to death bed. And almost at the point of Parinirvana, the death, he left his disciple Ananda with the last instruction in the order of the monks. Ananda, after Maitreyavana, If the Sangha asks for the nullification of some articles of the Peddhi Vinaya, I give you permission to nullify them. Three months after Buddha's death, they had the first council of 500 Arhats. And Ananda submitted the Buddha's, he said, well, the Buddha said, we have permission to nullify the Peddhi Vinaya rules.

[56:57]

And then he said, well, you understandably, asking, well, which rules did the Buddha consider to be petty? And unfortunately, Ananda had not asked that question. And they argued about this for days, until Mahakasyapa, Buddha's first heir, suggested that And since the denia was designed to protect the monks from sin, none should be nullified. And that was the resolution that they passed. And the denia consisting of that particular denia, there's several, but they're all around the same size, that denia of 227 rules, as we know it in the Theravada tradition, has been fixed from that day. And then 100 years later, At Vaisali, there was a second council, the Order of Naga.

[58:00]

And again, there were arguments that arose over articles of the Pei Yulai. And I won't go into any more detail, but it was this dispute that led to a split in the Order, and then it became several different, slightly different, sects. Not radically different, but one of them led to Theravada tradition, and one of them ultimately led to Upper Yantra tradition. So it's important, I think, to understand in a general way that our precepts have these roots. But if you look at these higher rules, they're very different from the precepts that we read from Bodhidharma or Dogon. that Theravada Vinaya prohibits particular actions, not states of mind. There's an assumption, a kind of assumption, that states of mind, like lust, and anger, and greediness, will, from time to time, arise for even well-seasoned ones.

[59:13]

And these rules speak only to the actions of life's noble states of mind. I'll say that's good for you. I hope it's true. I know what you want to say. But we need spoken along in there, you know? They have an ethos of being cool, cooling the flames of passion. But it's really hard to deal with those fires. So they have very particular ways to live, really, with these actions. But our precepts, which we sometimes call one-mind precepts, point directly to the mind as the source of suffering, and simultaneously as the source of enlightenment. So I think that's a major distinction, and we will examine it in the course of each precept in our own experience.

[60:22]

So let's skip ahead about 800 years. We're traveling north to east, several thousand miles on the train. And in most respects, the Mahayana rules were essentially the same monastic rules from what was there before. But there were several different levels of rules that governed Chinese monasticism. And they're still there in Chinese and in Japanese. At the basic level, there are regulations for each specific temple. For instance, and these are just what we call forms. For instance, when we leave the zendo, we bow. We do a shashu bow as we're walking out the door. In other temples, when you leave the zendo, you turn and you face the altar. You bow. Kao shou. So these are just regulations or forms.

[61:37]

Another one is, at our meals, we eat seconds immediately upon them being served. Whereas other places, it's just as logical. Other places, out of politeness, we wait till everybody has been served. One of these is just as logical as the other two. They're just forms. So that's a very low level. Another level are the regulations that are known as Shingi, which is set up for all Zen temples by Yakucho in 880. And he was the one who also restructured Chinese then by introducing labor. His saying was, a day without work is a day without food, which still rings in his ear.

[62:41]

So he organized the monastic system. And then the third level of these rules is the Vinaya that we've been hearing about, but with something new that is on. So they took the Vinaya. But they also developed Bodhisattva precepts, which were added to the Vinaya precepts as part of the monk's vows and ordination. And so you have these rules for behavior, but then you also have this other system of precepts, which are given simultaneously that deal with the deal with the karmic implications of the states of mind that we have, the states of mind that underlie our actions. So I think for the next weeks we'll approach them in both directions, the form side from the rule, and the emptiness side, which just points to the workings of mind.

[63:56]

This is a good place to take some more questions. We do not have to start talking about the first precinct. There might not yet. Go ahead. And she was like, I can't take this. And she had just finished her transmission. And she was very emphatic about all of these stuff she said. Basically, she wasn't interested. And she was very clear. She said, if you want to go there, go there. So there was a sense of going the route. You know, all this stuff. an older woman

[65:01]

I think she had actually been a philosophy teacher before. She had a whole career before she was. And this is a big deal, by the way. I'm going to skip over this. So you know about the ordination of women? People familiar with that? How that came to a traditional end, traditionally? Well, so... Right, so... It was his stepmother. She came to him and asked three times for ordination.

[66:27]

Actually, the third time. Before the third time. she got a bunch of nuns together and they put on, they made saccharine robes and they put them on and they just showed up the next place the Buddha was. And all this time, you know, Ananda was saying, you know, You ought to ordain these people. These people are very sincere. And don't you grant that they have the same ability to realize, awake, and be good. And he also said, well, something defective. If I ordain them, there's going to be big problems. Actually, it's going to mean that the viability of Buddhism is going to be several tens of centuries of being locked off from these problems.

[67:38]

But in the end, what? Theoretically, he said. Theoretically, he said. Right. Now, where this really came from, we don't know. He was a person in his cultural setting. whether this was actually his words or whether this was something created at the first council after his death. It was all guys. Somebody had neglected to tell the nuns that they were having this council. He allowed there to be ordination. And he gave, he decreed eight special rules, which basically established a pretty intense patriarchal

[68:48]

superiority in, you know, in terms of status, none of however many years was instantly junior to monk of one day. These are very difficult things. You know, to say this lightly, they're actually very difficult things to consider. And they're kind of co-ops for us. And so what One thing that happened was that somewhere by about 600 or 800, the nuns' order in South Asia, what became Theravada, died out. And it continued in North and East Asia. There were nuns taking full ordination according to the ritual, which is a priesthood ritual, and taking a Vinaya that was very close to what the Theravada Vinaya is.

[69:58]

And so the woman that Andrian met was somebody who had, in the last 10 years, only in the last 10 years, had women in the Theravada countries, essentially in Thailand and Sri Lanka, had ordination And it's very controversial, because the officialdom doesn't recognize it, although there are quite a number of monks who do. But it's because that lineage was discontinued, but they imported it. In other words, mostly they went to Taiwan for an ordination ceremony. And so there's a whole new crew of of nuns in those countries. In South Asia, maybe a couple hundred of them. Right.

[71:01]

And in a different tradition. But the ordination procedure is actually essentially the same. Right. And they have no support. They have no financial support. Right. But this is nothing new. This is nothing new. I remember going to an American Academy of Religions meeting a few years ago, and somebody was reading a book. It was really interesting. He had done research, wonderful research. I think Gregory Schopenhauer. He had discovered, essentially, fundraising manuals for monastics, how to raise money for your temple. This is after Buddhism became essentially institutionalized. And it was quite amazing the things that the men were allowed to do and the women were allowed to do.

[72:07]

So from very early on, the struggle has been much harder for women. You know, I just think that reflects this. Talking about perceptual being, it's also true that the, in this case, the male supremacist being is also pretty small. Is there a terrifying enclave in Taiwan? No, there's a Mahayana enclave in Taiwan. There's a fully ordained, in fact, mostly ordained people in Taiwan. There are more nuns than monks. No, not for the Taiwanese. For the Theravadans, yeah. 97, 98, something like that. Are the charters listed on the floodplain? enough.

[73:14]

The Acharyas are a kind of our addition. They come from the Theragata, which is basically the stories from the nuns, but it's not a lineage. It's just this story, this story, this story. It's really an attempt to recognize that all through time, there's been this therapeutic effects. And these are programs that the disciples have, and the other teachers, which all day will have a new chart. Right. So that research is important. When Meili and I did our Dharma Transition, when we have Dharma Transition, you go around every day, you go around to all these altars, and then you go up to the Zen Dojo, and you do a bow to each ancestor.

[74:24]

It's a lot of bows. We chant about half the lineage. There's another half the lineage, which is a temple lineage, which continues from Khezan through Suzuki Roshan, which is about the same length. So I think about 70? I think it's like 80. Yes. There's like 70, 75 in that lineage. Bailey and I decided that we were going to do a new chartist, also. So we just incorporated them and did our vows, even though it's not strictly speaking in India. Well, I want to get started on this. And then we can pick it up. We do have enough time.

[75:27]

But I just want to touch on the first precept and leave you with a way to think about it. So the first precept is about killing. And it's all the precepts you need. So Bodhidharma's precept is, I vow not to kill. Self-nature is subtle and mysterious in the realm of the everlasting dharma. Not giving rise to concepts that kill it is called the precept of not killing. And then, Dogen's text is not killing life, the Buddha seed grows. Transmit the life of Buddha and do not kill.

[76:31]

And then Thich Nhat Hanh is aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life. I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any killing in the world. My thinking is my way of life. I've been thinking a lot about the Middle East, about Israel and Palestine this week. I've seen pictures and been there, so I can visualize these things. And I was trying to think, what is the principle that I would invoke, the Buddhist principle that I would invoke?

[77:37]

And sort of come up with a rephrasing that That works for me. So I'm rephrasing the reframing of this first precept, which says, do not live your life at the expense of others. And I think that that gets to add essence of this precept. We can't help but to kill. Life feeds on life. There was a really interesting something Bell said in lecture a couple of weeks ago.

[78:37]

He was talking about the meal chant. where we chant the short-meal chant, we venerate, we treasure, we give thanks, we exclude the worth of many people and the suffering of other forms of life. In some places, they chanted the worth of many people and the offering of other forms of life. And he pointed out that the suffering of the apple and the carrot, seriously enough, has this plant or this animal offered itself to us? Seemingly not. But then he was talking about plants, and even certain kinds of animals, that they're born in great profusion.

[79:45]

because the universe is actually destined, it's destined them to be food for others. So this killing is built in. It's how one lives. But they only kill things use what they eat and leave the rest. And that's, so it's not, you know, you couldn't say a polygamous precept doesn't say Well, Bodhidharma's precept says, not giving rise to concepts of killing. So right there, pointing to mind, not to action.

[80:55]

So, there's a subtle interaction of mind in action, of intention in the world, or vow, and what we do in the world, how we live. Can we live in a way that's not at the expense of others? And I think a lot of things are going to be touching on these sorts of things. So this is where I want to come back to.

[82:28]

And just to remind you, this is why we begin the ordination with an avowal of karma. Because we can't avoid actions, that cause pain to other beings. Because we, ourselves, and we're talking about other beings, countless beings of our own mind, then we have to avow our karma over and over again. One of my teachers in the last couple of years showed up, Hirata Roshi. what his practice is, before he goes to bed, he reviews his day, and he tries to recall anything that he might have to, he might appropriately repent or vow, any way that he might have harmed blood.

[83:41]

That's the last thing, and the last thing he does. I thought that was really, really compelling. So I put this, he wrote me up and said, I said, repent. And I put it up over my bed. And sometimes I even, you know, I was up there one night, talking to Maria, and I saw that sign. It just struck me. I was just dumbstruck. Of course, that's all we ever do. I mean, like, that's the whole practice. All this sitting cross-legged, all the eating, the baby-do. I mean, just... If not then, I'll just do it. I'll just sit down and do it first. The old fire and brimstone Christians of the day. Well, yeah. So I've been using that, too. Right. That's the problem for us. And this is the problem of having the kind of ethical baggage that we do, is that we do have all that.

[84:49]

Even if we come from no background, it's so much embedded in the Western mind that it has other kind of scary implications we want to back away from. So when I put the sign repent up there, I can't do that without there being some small piece of irony in it. I'm afraid. And yet it's serious. It's also serious. Let's stop here. And we'll continue. We'll get done with background. We'll get to two precepts next time. And a different, I'd like to give you kind of a framework for thinking of these precepts.

[85:50]

Because they're not, they exist on more than one level. And it's really helpful to know that. So, thank you. Just write your name on the tape.

[86:10]

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