Please feel free to sit down in any open seats. Just a second.

[06:59]

I'm good. Michael McCormick, meet your end priest, and longtime friend of Berkeley Zen Center.

[12:43]

I first got to know Michael close to 30 years ago. Maylee Scott invited Michael to come here and teach a class on the Lotus Sutra, and it was incredible. So we're really lucky to have him back with us. Oh wait, there's more. Michael is the founding and current senior minister of N. Ryuzan Shinganji, also called the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area. Reverend McCormick was ordained in 2001 at Kowunji Temple on Mount Minobu after serving as a novice under the Venerable Ryusho Matsuda, senior minister of the San Jose Nichiren Buddhist Temple. He has been propagating the Odaimoku practice and the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha in the San Francisco Bay Area and internationally since then. He's also the author of several books on the life and teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, and a real good egg, and our friend for a long time.

[13:48]

And just this morning, Michael told me that no one had ever given him a kotsu. So Michael, On behalf of the Japanese Zen Center, I'd like to offer you this Japanese kotsu. Oh my gosh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. You can pick up me. You'll just show me how to hold it properly. Thank you. Okay, so thank you all so much for inviting me to be here today and to once again talk about the Lotus Sutra. Let me unwrap these books I brought here. So I have, what I have here is this old battered thing, is the Nietzschean Shoes liturgy book.

[14:49]

that they published, I guess, in 2007, based on stuff that had been translated back in the mid or probably mid-20th century. And then I spent six years with Reverend Chishin Hirai at the Nietzschean Buddhist International Center translating the official Nietzschean liturgy book. based on what was there, I corrected what was in here, so we created our own little book. And in it, it has a portion of chapter two of the Lodha Sutra, the opening prose section, and it has all of chapter 16. And in Nichiren Shu services, we typically chant the first prose section of chapter two, we call the Holbenpan, and then we do the verses of chapter 16. Sometimes we'll do the whole chapter 16, but not that often, actually, in Nichiren Shu. now this is the uh soto school scriptures for daily service that is in english and what these books have in common is all of them have the verses of chapter 16 in them but i think at many uh uh

[15:58]

Soto and I imagine Rinzai. I know Rinzai also has chapter 16 in their liturgies. It very rarely gets chanted in the United States. I think some places do. Greg, you told me there was... At the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, we did a service where we chanted the Abelokiteshvara, chapter 25. That's right. We also chant chapter 25 in the church shoes sometimes. And I once asked one of the ministers who was training me, you know, why do we have that in our liturgy? Because we never, you know, in Nietzsche's writings and teachings, we don't pay attention to that. All things are shifted to different chapters. And he said, well... We're the experts in Loda Sutra. Everybody else chants that chapter. We have to be able to also. It's a lame explanation, but sure. Because everybody else does. Nevertheless, I would like to talk about this practice that Soto Zen and Yitrushu have in common.

[17:01]

And since many of you may not be familiar with it, I decided just now that I should probably recite it for you so you can hear it and get a sense of it. I'll do it very quickly in Japanese, or in the shidoku style, and then I'll do it in English. And then just get a feel for these words and how they impact you, okay? So I'm going to, I'll do it from my book here. I should probably get into my reading glasses, because I'm old. Let's see. All right, usually we do this with bells and whistles. Well, not whistles. Bells and wukukyo and all that shit. I'll just do it plain voice today. All right, so first the Shindoku version. Excuse me, is that being recorded? We're all recording this, right? Yes. I believe so. It's ongoing. Okay.

[18:08]

. [...] Thank you. 3,9,9,9,9,9,9,9,9

[19:33]

So, you know, we did not usually do it that fast, but I didn't want to take up all the time chanting it. In fact, there's a video of a Nichunshu priest, as I think these are on YouTube as well, where he's teaching people how to chant and using the mokugyo and setting the different rhythms. And there's like a point where he's practically pleading with people not to chant that fast. He says, like, just do it at a nice, normal pace, like, ji ga toku butsu raishou kyo shou koushu, like that. So anyway, but that would take a while. All right. Now I would like you to hear it in English. When we chant in English and eat your shoe, we try to kind of keep that steady monotone beat.

[20:37]

So I will do it that this way. And I will use the Soto Shoe book here. How widely available are these anyway to people? Widely available. They are? Okay. I mean, Soto Shoe sells them. Okay. So here it is in English. Since I attained Buddhahood, the number of kalpas that have passed is incalculable hundreds, thousands, myriads, and billions of long eons. Constantly I have voiced the Dharma, teaching countless millions of living beings so that they entered the Buddha way. All this for immeasurable kalpas in order to liberate all beings as skillful means. I appear to have entered nirvana yet truly i am not extinct ever dwelling here to voice the dharma i forever abide in this world but use my powers of spiritual penetration so that confused living beings though nearby fail to see me all those viewing me as extinct everywhere venerate my relics all harbor feelings of yearning and arouse adoring hearts

[21:57]

When beings have become sincerely faithful, honest, and upright with gentle intention, wholeheartedly wishing to behold the Buddha, not begrudging their own bodily lives, then I and the assembled Sangha appear together on sacred vulture peak. Then I tell the living beings apt in this world I abide without, and by the power of expedient means appearing to be extinct are not other lands contain living beings reverent with faith aspiring among them as well I give voice to supreme dharma you who do not hear this only suppose I am passed into extinction I behold the living beings drowning in the sea of suffering hence I do not reveal myself but set them all to yearning till when their hearts are filled with longing I then emerge and proclaim the dharma with such pervasive spiritual power for uncountable kalpas i abide on sacred vulture and every other dwelling place when living beings see the kalpas and with all consumed in a great place not my domain stays serene and calm ever filled with human and heavenly beings gardens and gross pavilions and palaces adorned with every kind of gin

[23:23]

And jeweled trees lush with flowers and fruit where living beings delight and play. The heavenly beings beep celestial drums ever making pleasing music. Chowering white Mandarava flowers over Buddha in a great assembly. Not pure land is not destroyed yet all view it is. Ravaged by fire so that fear and distress pervade everywhere. The beings vexed with their offenses caused by their unwholesome karma through vast rounds of kalpas hear not the name of the three treasures but those who practice virtuous deeds are gentle upright and sincere these all see that i exist abiding here proclaiming dharma At times, for the sake of that assembly, I describe Buddha's lifespan as immeasurable. For those who after great lengths see the Buddha, I explain how rarely Buddha is encountered. Such is the power of my wisdom with beams of insight shining beyond measure.

[24:25]

This lifespan of countless kalpas was gained from long-cultivated practice. You who are possessed of wisdom in regards to this entertain no doubts, cast them off forever and for buddha's words are true not false like the good physician who with skillful means in order to cure his delirious children although truly a life spreads word he is dead yet cannot be charged with falsehood i too as parent of the world saviour of all suffering and afflicted for the sake of confused worldly people although truly living i am thought extinct if due to always seeing me their hearts become selfish and arrogant This allude and set on the five desires they would fall into evil destinies. I always know which living beings practice the way and which do not. In accord with what their salvation requires, I give voice to the various teachings. I ever make this my thought.

[25:27]

How can I cause the living beings to enter into the unsurpassed way and promptly embody Buddha? So that is the verses of chapter 16. Could I have the tissue paper, please? Thank you so much. Before I start in on my comments, I'm really curious as to whether anybody here or online has any responses to hearing that. How does that strike you as a major part of Buddhist liturgy? What impression do you have or a reaction do you have? No right or wrong answers. I just really want to know what you think.

[26:28]

Anyone? Joy. Joy. And devotion. Nice. Nice. Yeah. I had the experience of being in Hawaii. In Hawaii? Really? I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Yes. Speaking to the universe. Yes. I felt like a feeling of compassion. Right? Very nice. Very nice. Yes? At one point I stopped hearing the words and just heard the sounds. Oh, good. Excellent. Excellent. You know, I often tell people, actually I haven't said it in a long time, but I used to often tell people that, you know, when we chant in shindoku, that means like true reading. When you use the... Japanese approximation of the Chinese sounds that they first learned way back in the 6th century, you are just getting into a devotional mood and not getting into discursive thinking about what this means, right?

[27:37]

And that's a good mode of practice. But then sometimes I think we should chant in English or in Japanese they have kundoku, the country reading, which is sort of a Japanese translation. Apparently it's very archaic, so I'm told. And then you do kind of just let the associations wash over you, because you do understand what is being chanted or read. And that's also a good mode. So yeah, thank you for that. Yes, lay in the back. Yeah, the thought that was made in my mind was like, no, I don't cease to exist. There we go. Thank you. I was waiting for that. Yes, go ahead. A couple people online. Yes. Let's see. Barbara? Jeff? It felt like an invitation. I couldn't track every word, but I felt invited into the flow of the behavior, I guess.

[28:42]

And it felt both accepting of how I'm doing that And believing or having faith in that possibility and also an encouragement toward it. So invitation. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. One more comment and then I'll take two more comments. One there. And Peter. Thanks, Sherry. Thanks, Michael. Listening to the Japanese. recitation. At first, I was kind of like dumbfounded. And then I found myself just breaking into a smile. And then I just started laughing. And it reminded me of my years in college when I was high most of the time. And then I got this impression of this is endless, which was kind of like, when's it going to stop?

[29:46]

But also, this is like practice. It never ends. And then with the English recitation, the phrase cast off all doubts just hit me in a way that it never has before. It felt really powerful. So thank you for that. Nice. You're welcome. And one more comment? I wish I, for the English version, I wish I had the word. Yeah. But I also felt kind of rock. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, I wish I had Michael Krugel on my belt because that makes it even better. But anyway, thank you all. And wow, I'm glad that you have such a positive impression. I was actually expecting people to be a little more put off by it. So I'm going to share the put off reaction myself. I think that, you know, sometimes people, you know, they expect that Buddhism is irrational and, you know, it doesn't indulge in the kind of metaphysics that some other traditions do.

[30:56]

And then you hear something like this and you're like, wait a minute, you just deified the Buddha who spent like 50 years telling people there's no self. And then the whole point is to like, you know, extinguish the self. And now here's like, I'm always here, and you have this like Santa Claus-like thing about, I know if you're following the way or if you're not. Like, what is this? You know, like, you know, wouldn't the gutter just chant the Heart Sutra that everything is empty? Because like, we know that's true, because physics and neuropsychology tell us that's true. So I can fit my mind around that, that's like, the Santa Claus Buddha and Vulture Pete? Wow, where's this coming from? So what I want to do is I want to connect the dots from not so much the Theravada tradition per se, but from the pre-Mahayana teachings as carried down to us through the Pali Canon, for example. It's also in the Adama's, but we don't have translations of that. Although the Bukyo Dendo Akilkai is working on it, we still don't have it quite yet, some of it.

[32:00]

So I just want to connect those dots, and I'm going to do so by sharing with you some bits and pieces from a study program I put together some years ago. of sutras and treatises to read before you read the Lotus Sutra, because that way, when you read the Lotus Sutra, you won't have a reaction that Hakuin had, the great 18th century Zen master, which was like, wow, this is a bunch of fables about cause and effect, and everyone can attain Buddha, but we all do that anyway, so this is garbage. And then years later, after having many awakenings and insights, he read it again, and just was like crying, because he's like, oh, this is the King of Sutras. I didn't see it before. So I want to save you that, well, that, but save people that by saying, look, here's some things to read. And this doesn't make up for practice and insight as Hancock only did, but it will set up context so that when you do read the Lotus Sutra, you get the full impact of what is happening in the Lotus Sutra. So this is gonna be like a very brief run through with that.

[33:05]

So the first thing is, I think that what is being expressed in Chapter 16 is not a deified Buddha. I think that's a misreading. I think what is being expressed is a mutual embrace of all deluded perspectives in the awakened perspective of Buddhahood being actualized in every moment of our life. That's what I think is really happening here. So how do you get to that? How do you get that out of these verses? Some of it, you get it out of the prose part too, but I'll get to that. So nature in Buddhism comes out of Tiantai Buddhism, just as Dogen had previously studied Tiantai. And you can see the fingerprints of that throughout the Shogo Genzo, if you know how to look. But he goes more for like a direct, poetic, paradoxical way of expressing things, and he doesn't get into all the Tiantai terminology and code, in a sense.

[34:09]

But Nichiren stuck a little more closely to that. And a lot of Nichiren Buddhism is really what I think of as an accessible version of Tiantai Buddhism. So in Tiantai Buddhism, Buddha's teachings are looked upon as having four different categories of doctrine. And they're really like four steps of deepening insight into the nature of things. So the first step is what Tiantai Jerry, the founder in 6th century China, called the Deer Park teachings. And that's of course the Four Noble Truths that he taught at the Deer Park and everything that kind of followed from that. This is what you would find in the Pali Canon. And some people may not know this, but right after he gave the talk about the Four Noble Truths, the Terminal Dharma at the Deer Park, he immediately launched a new discourse on the characteristics of non-self or the marks of non-self.

[35:10]

So how all our form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness are marked by impermanence. They're unsatisfactory and they do not qualify as a self. So, you know, and he did this in a dialogue for him. He said, is the form that you have totally under your control? Can you just save it? Let it be this, and will it be that? You know, sure, I can move my hand voluntarily, but like if I have cancer, for instance, I can't just override that. I mean, unless I believe I'm the faith healer, I'm not going to get into that. But, you know, most of us, we do not, if we're honest with ourselves, have total direct control over our bodies, right? So the Buddha says, you know, is that... self you know and is the form permanent or impermanent so this all gets summarized in the question is what is impermanent suffering and subject to change fit to be regarded thus this is mine this i am this is myself and they'll agree it's not so the buddha says to them seeing thus monks the instructed noble disciple experiences revulsion for the five aggregates becomes dispassionate regarding them and is thereby liberated from them

[36:24]

In doing that, he understands, destroyed his birth, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being. And by the way, if I remember correctly, I think Ajnada Klondinya, I think he became an Arhat when he heard the Four Noble Truth discourse, and then the other ones became Arhats after hearing this follow-up discourse, or something along those lines. So, Later on, however, some of the monks kind of misunderstood what the Buddha is saying to mean that after death, the Arha after the Tathagata attains nirvana and then death attains nirvana without residue is just annihilated, no longer exists. But the Buddha corrected this. He said to them, whether the Buddha, was it appropriate

[37:25]

to identify the Buddha with form, or as being in form, or apart from form, and then the same for the other aggregates. Are you saying that the Buddha is perception, or in perception, or apart from perception? Then he asks whether the Buddha is without the five aggregates. There's a couple of discourses on this theme. Can you talk about the Buddha in terms of the aggregates? What he just says is non-self. Can you talk about the Buddha without the aggregates? If you talk about a Buddha without the aggregates, what are you relating to? If there's no form, no perception. So in all these cases, the person questioned and answered, no, none of these was correct. There was something not quite right about any of these conclusions. So the Buddha then asked them, when the Tathagata is not apprehended by you as real and actual here in this very light, is it fitting for you to declare that a Tathagata exists after death or does not, or both exists and does not exist, or neither exists nor does not exist?

[38:36]

This is that typical four-cornered tetralemma that covers all possibilities and it shows that none of the possibilities really works. Each of them is too extreme. So the Buddha's saying, how can you say that I'm annihilated when I'm saying that, you know, you can't identify with something that can be annihilated. Later, there was a nun named Kema who explained to King Prasinaji that these four options do not apply because the aggregates by which someone might try to describe the Buddha have been abandoned by him and are no more subject to arising. that the Tathagata is liberated from reckoning in terms of any of the five aggregates, and so is deep, immeasurable, and hard to fathom, like the great ocean. So there's actually, in the Pali game, there's some real doozies by the nuns that later get taken up by the Majamaka Prasangita teachers like Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti.

[39:41]

No credit is given. So I'm trying to give them the credit back. I think there was another nun, I think her name was Vajira or something like that, who actually was responding to Mara trying to distract her meditation with a poem about comparing the body to a chariot and how all the pieces of a chariot were non-self. So that whole simile about a chariot that gets used by Nagasena later on, that also goes back to a nun's discourse in the Pali Canon. Um, basically the Buddha wished to abandon people to abandon some speculations about whether the Tathagada is liberated or a liberated person does or does not exist after death. And what he did want people to do was understand suffering, understand the cause of suffering and uproot that to realize the end of suffering and to follow the way to end suffering. Um, the Buddha said, if anything is said to arise, no more.

[40:43]

It is the aggregates subject to clean which are suffering. So form, feeling, perception. But those aggregates are not the Buddha. So who or what is the Buddha? And that takes us to Vakali, still in the Pali Canon. Vakali was a Sikh monk who wanted to see the Buddha before he died. And when the Buddha did go to see him, he said, enough Vakali. Why do you want to see this foul body? One who sees the Dharma sees me. One who sees me sees the Dharma. So it's a Buddha, quote unquote, identified itself with anything. It's with the Dharma itself. The Dharma was his true life. The Buddha then taught Vakali about the non-self nature of the five aggregates, as we have just been explaining. So what is this Dharma that one sees if one sees the Buddha? According to Shariputra in another discourse, one who sees dependent origination sees the Dharma, and one who sees the Dharma sees dependent origination.

[41:47]

So, to see the Buddha is to see the Dharma, which is to see dependent origination, which is to see reality as it is. And that brings us to the next step, the second of the four steps, the shared teaching, which is, as you know, I mentioned in the Heart Sutra before, all phenomena are empty of characteristics, they neither appear nor disappear. All the aggregates are empty. It isn't just that they get annihilated, it's that there's nothing really there to annihilate. They're all appearances. And then the Heart Sutra goes on to say the same about all the links in the 12-fold chain of dependent origination, right? So emptiness really is the deeper understanding of the implications of dependent origination. And by the way, if anybody sees it supremely silly but fun movie, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, listen to the theme for Ghidorah, because it's the heart sutras being chanted in there. And I was listening to that, wait a minute, it's the heart sutra.

[42:52]

That really shows that I think in Japan, People kind of, and I know this from things some people from Japan have told me, you know, the chanting of sutras is associated with funerals and with death. And then this idea that everything's just empty seems to them like nihilism. And you'd think they'd know better because, you know, this has been taught the true meaning of the Heart Sutra in Japan since like the seventh, eighth century. But there's still this kind of feeling like, oh, that's ominous, right? So what better? chant to set to the King Ghidorah with his five heads, then the emptiness of the five never gets. So, but really emptiness is, there's a more positive way of looking at it. Nagarjuna mentions it, the root verses, that without emptiness, nothing would be possible. With emptiness, everything is possible, right? The dynamic, interrelated world that we know would just be fixed and unchanging blocks

[43:57]

that would be not just boring, but unlivable. Emptiness is what allows this to be the way it is. So taking this back to the Tathagata in the Diamond Sutra, it is asserted again and again that the Tathagata cannot be identified by marks or characteristics, and all dharmas or phenomena are no dharmas. And in section 29 of the Sutra, I can't quite myself to say chapters because like two or three lines to me is not a chapter but there's these chapters or sections in the diamond sutra 29th says sabuti buddha speaking is sabuti sabuti if someone were to say the tathagata either comes or goes either sits or lies down that person would not understand the meaning of my teaching and why the tathagata does not come from anywhere nor does he go anywhere therefore he's called the tathagata There is no coming or going with the Tathagata.

[44:59]

So much less annihilation or appearance or eternity or any of that. Not the way we usually think of those terms. So this will bring us to the third of the four steps, according to Tiantai, the Buddha's doctrinal teachings, the distinct teaching for the Bodhisattvas. Did I mention that the first... The first step is the Deerpark teaching. The second step is the shared teaching, because it's shared by the Arhats and the beginner bodhisattvas. So now we're into the distinct teaching, which is distinctly for advanced bodhisattvas. The Flower Garland Sutra is especially associated with this, but I'm going to share with you something from a much easier text to deal with, The Awakening of Faith and the Mahayana. Flower Garland Sutra is like a thousand pages or more than Awakening of Faith you could read in an afternoon. So the distinct teaching Jerry associates not just with the flower garland, but generally with the Buddha nature teachings and those that talk about the positive qualities of nirvana or the unconditioned, which is purity, bliss, eternity, and true self.

[46:11]

Because if conditioned things are impure, unsatisfactory, impermanent and non-self, then the unconditioned must be the opposite of that, at least rhetorically, right? So here is, and I'm sorry, this is kind of a long passage, but I think it's worth hearing. This is from the awakening of faith. Moreover, in the positive sense of nirvana, or the true nature of dharmas, in this type of teaching is referred to as suchness, right? And in chapter two of the Lotus Sutra, that we recite as part of our usual daily service in Eastern Shoe, they talk about the 10 suchnesses, such an appearance, such a nature, such an entity, et cetera. And we actually recite that three times because each of these 10 suchnesses have the aspect of being empty, the aspect of having a provisional nature, provisional appearance, and the aspect of being the middle way, which is both.

[47:14]

So back to the awakening of faith, here's what it says. Moreover, two senses of suchness are distinguished through language. What are they? The first is emptiness in accordance with what is real. This is because it is ultimately able to reveal what is real. The second is non-empty in accordance with what is real. This is because it has its own intrinsic reality which is replete with untainted qualities. Suchness is empty because it has always been dissociated from all defiled dharmas. That is, it is free from the characteristics that differentiate all dharmas because it is none of the thoughts that the false mind has, none of our false imposition. One should know that the self-nature of suchness is non-existent, non-existent, both existent and non-existent, or neither-existent nor non-existent. And it is not the same, different, both the same and different, or neither the same nor different. So in general terms, it is said to be empty because it is dissociated from any of the discriminations that sentient beings with their false minds create with each thought moment.

[48:18]

This is because there is really nothing to be emptied when one is free from a false mind. So bottom line, nothing is the way you think it is. It is empty of that. Finally, it says suchness is non-empty. because dharmas are intrinsically empty and without falsity, as has already been shown. It is precisely the true mind, constantly unchanging and replete with pure dharmas, and so it is called non-empty. It has no characteristics to be grasped, because it is only by being free from conceiving in the characteristics of perceptual fields that realization accords with substance. So it is not empty of the positive quality of the true nature of things. Using negative skillful means, we can say that things are empty self, that they are not subject to our total control, they are impermanent, unable to provide unconditioned happiness. Even unconditioned dharmas, or dharma, nirvana, is not a self in the sense of a graspable, isolated, substantial thing.

[49:22]

But in terms of positive skillful means, we can say that the unconditioned true nature of dharmas, their suchness, so to speak, is non-empty of such qualities as purity, bliss, eternity, or constancy, the Chinese character could also be constancy, and selfhood or authenticity. So now we come to the perfect teaching, which is a Tiantai associated with the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra, with the Nirvana Sutra being kind of a reiteration of what is taught in the Lotus Sutra. And in there, we find this passage in the prose section of Chapter 16 Lotus Sutra, which I think is the perspective that is really needed to understand where the verses are coming from. And here is, this is my own translation of what I think is the key passage in the prose section of chapter 16. Everything I teach is true and not false. Why is this? The Tathagata sees the mark of the triple world as it really is. Birth and death do not leave it or appear in it. Also, there is no one who lives and then reaches extinction.

[50:26]

It is not real and not false. not thus and not otherwise. I do not see the triple world as those in the triple world do. These things the Tathagata sees clearly and without mistake. So here the Buddha is saying that he does not see the world in terms of entities or cells that appear or disappear. This is fully consistent, I believe, with the teaching of dependent origination and emptiness, wherein the Buddha said, when the Tathagata is not apprehended by you as real and actual here in this very life, Is it fitting for you to declare that a Tathagata exists after death, or does not, or both exist and does not exist, or neither exists, or does not exist? To wrap this up, I want to say that it may sound as though chapter 16 is coming down on the side of the view that the Tathagata exists after death, but I think Really the passage is saying that no entities come and go.

[51:31]

They are all empty of a self or self nature that could be said to come or go, appear or disappear. What is unconditionally present though, is the unconditioned true nature or suchness. And this is the Dharma that will be seen if we see the deeper implication of independent origination directly for ourselves. And if we see that we will see the true Buddha, And we see that, we will see the true Buddha. Not the Buddha mistakenly identified as one or more of the five aggregates, but the Buddha who is always present and always teaching. And this is the Buddha who is giving expression to the verses of chapter 16. And even more importantly, it's the Buddha who is giving expression when we get in touch with that true nature ourselves in our practice. When we are chanting the sutra, we're chanting the refuges, and we just come together. as friends and support each other as beings here. And just throughout our daily lives, when we are really awake with each other, that is the Buddha who doesn't come or go away.

[52:41]

Right? That is the Buddha who is always present if you take the time to let yourself see and be open to that. And, you know, our formal practices, are really just a way of giving us kind of an optimal situation to get in touch with that. But the point of that is to keep doing it, even though we're not doing formal practice. So with that, I will conclude my talk based on my notes. And I guess we have about 13 minutes left, and I really hope to hear your comments and questions. Objections. Yes, go ahead. So the four qualities, purity, say it again. Purity, bliss, eternity, and true self, which is the opposite of the qualities of conditioned things.

[53:47]

So when you said that, I knew them... They're in the Nirvana Sutra. Right. A lot. Yeah. They're in the Inmejuku canal. That's what I was going to say. Jo-ra-ga-jo. We chant that all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Back there. The woman here. Thanks. So when you chanted, there was a line, I think, the pure land appears that have been destroyed by fire. Is how it went? Right. That would jump out at me possibly just because of living in California in a second. Yeah. I just wanted if you could say something about that line you see. Yeah, it's, let's see if I can. Yeah, I don't have any glasses on it. I'm having trouble finding the English part here. Part of what you're referring to. Let's see, oh yes.

[54:48]

So the inverted people think this world is in a great fire. The end of the capital destruction is coming. In reality, this world of mine is peaceful. It is filled with gods and men. The gardens, forests, and stately buildings are adorned with various treasures. So I think what that's speaking to is that we can get into a frame of mind where everything just seems so negative and hopeless. But Really, it's not any particular thing, really. This is Tiantai's teaching of the mutual possession of the ten worlds, or ten realms, from the hells to the hungry ghosts, animals, et cetera, and then the four noble states, the Buddha's bodhisattva's own. And what Tiantai says is all of this is going on at once, all the time, every thought moment, every moment of awareness. And so, in a sense, you can choose to tap into these different perspectives. anything that's creating suffering even your own inadvertent or sometimes inadvertent mistakes can be viewed as part of the lower realms of suffering or it can be viewed as a skillful means of the Buddhism bodhisattvas that is helping us to awaken right it's like Dogen says in Genjo Kalan you know it's not we shouldn't be deluded about awakening we should be awakened to our delusions

[56:12]

That means every moment of delusion and suffering is a moment of awakening. So, you know, how are we going to choose to relate to it? So we can relate to it saying, everything's on fire. We're doomed. Or we can see it as, okay, here's an opportunity to bring the Dharma into the situation of being awake. Recently, I've been talking about the lives in my Sangha of Tiantai Jiri, the founder of Tiantai in the 6th century China. Eventually we're going to talk about Kamara Jiva, the translator of the Lotus Sutra, whose version we chant. And the reason I'm going to talk about them is people looking at the situation that we're facing now, you know, politically, socially, et cetera, and it just looks so awful. And in some places in the world, it really is that awful, like in Ukraine, for example. But you look at the lives of some of our ancestors and, oh my God, the stuff they went through. like I think five or six dynasties rose and fell within Tiantai Jiri's lifetime.

[57:15]

His parents were killed when the city that he was living in was sacked. Jian Ling, I think was the name. I can't pronounce the Chinese names, but, you know, so he was an orphan at the age of 17 by these armies of roving mercenaries and warlords. Kumar Ajiva kept getting kidnapped by one warlord after another as he was like the prestige translator, you know. So we all have it relatively easy, except in some places in the world where we don't. But those of us here, and I believe most everyone online, we have it relatively easy compared to what they went through. But they're the ones who preserved and passed on the Dharma for us. They're the ones who made their situation into a pure land by what they did. So that's how I take those words. Yes, back there in the corner. I have a question about- Please wait for the mic. Mic is coming. My question is about the state of mind when chanting.

[58:28]

Is the focus on being present with the words, the sounds, that experience? In my limited experience of Ludus Sutra, Buddhist practice, there's been this focus on repeating on your Renge Kyo with intention in it, which feels related to prayer to me, and I've felt a confusion in that. Yeah. That's a good question. Optimally, yes. I think, you know, just as Dogen talked about just sitting, Shikantaza, I think, In Nichir Buddhism, we should talk about just chanting. Just be with the chanting, with the words. When you find yourself getting away from the words, just bring it back. Usually, we don't have to chant with a mandala, and then Nama Miorangiko is inscribed down the center. I found that if I gaze at the Mio part, not even the Mio character, it centers me there.

[59:37]

If my eyes wander from that, just kind of have a soft gaze on it, but if my eyes wander from that, that kind of happens in conjunction with getting in the daydreams or this or that, then I'm not just chanting anymore. But, however, I think that there is room for what we might relate to as prayer within Buddhism. And there are the four aims of Buddhist practice, which Kentai talked about in Nagarjuna. talked about, which is there's the aim of worldly benefits. There's the aim of overcoming our weaknesses. There's the aim of cultivating our strengths. And these three combine to bring us to the ultimate aim, which is to be present to reality as it is. And so I think that when you are chanting like the Daimoku, yeah, you know... Use that as a vehicle for sending loving kindness and compassion to those who have passed on, to those who are having a hard time, to issues that you want to resolve in your own life.

[60:43]

Get it all off your chest, right? And just be authentic. Be who you are right there with whatever is disturbing you. And then let it go. And then after you've chanted sufficiently to kind of present all that, then just be with the chant. with the mantra. That's how I do it anyway. Thank you, good question. And then I have one down here. I apologize if this is not the most skillful way of questioning. Oh wow, that is different. Isn't there this concept like the Buddha is already within us and Buddha is in everybody and there isn't like one person who went off and is more enlightened than the rest of us. He's just as enlightened as the double-splated grass. Isn't that a part of the... Yeah, yeah.

[61:46]

It is very much what Tentai is talking about, the mutual possession of the ten realms, right? But we all equally also have the hell nature in us. and 100-dose nature. And Tiantai controversially pointed out that even the Buddha retains the lower realms within. That even purity is not pure the way we would think it is. It's an empty purity. It's a relational purity. So the real trick is through our actual practice, through our actual relations with others, how do we choose to bring out the bigger perspective, which is the Buddha perspective, right? And that's why in chapter two, which as I mentioned, we also recite Nichiren Shu, there's this line, , in fact, we wrote a whole essay with that title. Only a Buddha together with a Buddha can fathom the true reality of all existence, right? What an interesting phrase.

[62:47]

Not just only a Buddha can, but only a Buddha together with a Buddha. So it's like interrelational. So it's not enough to just have Buddha nature. Something has to happen with it. I always mangle this story, but at the end of Genjo Koan, there's this story about a monk who asks his teacher about the air being ever-present and constantly... What's it? Nature of the wind is permanent. Yeah, nature of the wind is permanent. That's why you keep banning yourself. Yeah. There's another part of it, permanent. But although you understand that the nature of wind is permanent, the teacher says, and Suzuki Rishi said he was being very kind when he said that. Yes, right. Although you understand that the nature of wind is permanent, you do not understand the meaning of the fan. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, the wind is there, but if you don't use it, it might as well not be, right? So the fan, which is your practice, is what allows it to come out.

[63:50]

Let's see, if you wanted to look online. I don't see any hands raised, but then I'm all the way over there. Yeah, there are no hands raised. There are no hands raised, okay. Oh, I have one over here. The gentleman there in the blue. Thank you. Could you please talk to the expedient states of mind that helps stewards release from attachment to identity? Well, this is all states of mind, your expedience, right? It's really about being disillusioned with this idea that there is this self I need to hold on to or be concerned about or be self-absorbed in and You know, I think it really comes down to, in daily life, paying attention to what you're doing and being considerate of the people around you, the beings around you.

[65:05]

Like, I have, like, we have a lot of animals in our household. We have like six snakes, four cats, two dogs, and one gecko. And they require a lot of care. and caring for them properly and going through the routines that need to be done so you don't skip anything because some of them need medicine, some don't, some need this kind of food, some don't. There's no time to worry about myself, right? And if I'm getting caught up in that, I'm not doing, I'm not caring properly for what's in my life to care about. So I think the most expedient state of mind is to just stop worrying about the self. and take care of what needs to be taken care of. And if you do have a spare moment, or if you can't help but think about the self, really look into, what is it that I'm concerned about here? Try to find that. You're not going to find it.

[66:06]

That's a little cheat there, a little giveaway. You're not going to find it. But you go ahead and try. And in trying, then you'll have the direct experience of not finding instead of just taking my word for it. or the Buddha's word for it or Chandra Kirti's word for it. But in the meantime, take care of what needs to be taken care of and kind of lose your self, quote unquote, in that. Yes, I just want to thank you for your amazing talk, Michael. And I didn't tell you, but we're going to chant the whole thing here. on Memorial Day, May 26th, and you and all your Sangha are invited to join us because we're going to project it onto a screen so you don't have to have the sutra in your possession. Oh, nice. And we're going to do screen sharing on Zoom so anybody can join us. Oh, fantastic. Same link that I gave you for this. Enter the Zendo Network.

[67:08]

Yeah. Oh, and that'll be Monday the 26th? Memorial Day. Oh, what time? Roughly, we're going to start at 8.30 a.m. 8 hours or so? About 8 hours or so. Okay. Yeah. Nice. And hear all of it. Thank you so much. Alrighty. The Shusaw has a question. Could we take one more? Yeah, there's time. Sure. Michael, could you share some of the form of your mantra practice for you and your community? The form? But you mean like the rubrics, the literacy? Is there a number of times a day or you do it together? What's the instruction for that? Well, ideally, we would practice sometime in the morning and then in the evening again. Basically, I'll just take you on a tour through this real quick. Actually, part of it Before this talk, you did the, what do you call it, the moon sutra opening verse?

[68:09]

Yeah, no, the whole... Oh, the full moon ceremony. The full moon ceremony. Oh, right. So like at least two parts of that that you did for the full moon ceremony today is part of our regular liturgy. So basically, we do the verse on the place of awakening, recognizing this is a place where all the beings are gathered like Injur's Med. And then we do revering the three treasures, which is a very simple reverence for three treasures. And then we do the Kanjo, which is kind of like, no, I don't have a sheet from me, but when you were revering all the Buddhas at the three times and the ancestors of Bodhisattvas are invocations like that. And then we do the verses for opening Sutra. The first paragraph is the same as what you do. And then Nichiren Shue, priest in the 19th century, added a whole bunch of other verses to that particular Dwarak tradition. And then we chant chapter two of the Lodha Sutra, the first prose section. Then we chant chapter 16. And then we, this is kind of optional, but sometimes we do a little thing called directing our intention and soul paragraphs about how great it is to chant Daimoku.

[69:21]

And then we chant Daimoku, Namunyamurgekyo. Our Sangha does it for at least 12 minutes. And, but there's really no set time, just enough to just be really into it, with it. And then we do the verses from, some verses from chapter 11, is it, yes, 11, called the Hotogei Verses and the Stoop of Treasures, which basically says if you have uphold the Lotus Sutra even for a moment, you have uphold all the precepts and all the ascetic practices and such. So it's kind of a pat on the back from the sutra, like, good job. The Buddha's very pleased with you. Then we do the dedication of merit, which is much longer than the one you did today. It's a whole sentence, I think. We have three pages of dedication and merit. Then we do the four great vows, and three more daimogu. Then we do the threefold refuge, which is very much like the last.

[70:23]

the threefold refuge in the middle of your ceremony today. I think it's the same one, it's just a slightly different translation. Then we do another verse called the buso, which is basically like, thank you all for being here, please come again to all the beings who gather. And then we do three daimoku dante, and that's our daily service. Is it only done in community, or do you also do it by yourself? Oh, yeah, we have Blix-a-Dots. And so, you know, just do it yourself. If you can come together and do a community, that's great. I broadcast my morning service every day from Monday through Friday. And then, of course, we have our Sunday service that we do. And now I've begun doing things on every other Saturday for various things. So, yeah, if you can do it together with other people, super. If you can't, just do it yourself. All of that takes about... 30, 35 minutes. And several of the things in here are kind of optional, especially for lay people.

[71:26]

I am going very much by the book that I helped translate for six years, so I'm like, I'm just going to do this. At the San Jose temple, like half of that got left out. Yeah, they didn't do all the verses at the beginning, and then they just skipped right to the invocation, the verses from the sutra, chanting the sutra, daimoku, dedication of merit, four great bowels, and then finish. I like everything. I just want to do the whole thing. We do have a couple of online people if there's time. Sorry. Sorry about that. Okay. The angels are numberless, I vow to awaken with them.

[72:35]

Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless, I am out to become it. I allow to become it.

[73:38]

Kings are numberless. I allow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I allow to dread them. I bow to become it. Berkley Zen Center.

[75:09]

And a special welcome to anybody who is here for their first time. My name is Sho Ray. I'm today's Saturday director. Here are some announcements for today. On Monday at 8 a.m. in the online Zendo, Clay Taylor will give Away Seeking Mind Talk. Next Saturday, we are having our mid-practice period dinner and skits, starting with dinner at 3.30. Please sign up on the bulletin board today. or soon to help with food prep, set up, and clean up, and if you'd like to perform a skit. Next Saturday's Dharma Talk will be given by Greg Fain. Next Sunday, May 18th, there is a half-day sitting from 8 a.m. to noon. BCC students and members are strongly encouraged to meet and develop a relationship with a teacher or a practice leader. Our abiding teachers, Reverend Greg and Reverend Linda, Other teachers and senior students are available for formal DocuSan or practice discussion.

[76:09]

Please visit the BCC's website Teachers tab for contacts and information about practice interviews. You can also see the calendar on the Zendo porch. For more information about our programs or membership, you can check the bulletin board, see the Zoom chat, or visit berkeleyzencenter.org. To make a donation to support BZC, you can use a donation box out in the courtyard or visit the website and click the generosity tab. Lastly, I will need two volunteers who have time to stay after tea to wash teacups. Sorry, just a clarification. I think next Saturday's talk is going to be Arshusso. Ah, I apologize for the error. It will be Arshusso, Mark Hopperthorn. You don't want to be a volunteer to clean teacups? I have a senior student meeting in just like 10 seconds. I'll wait for another pair of buddy softbusters. Thank you.

[77:13]

Need one more. Thank you so much. Let's see. For those in the Zendo, please maintain silence as we exit until you are off the porch. And those online, please feel free to unmute and read each other. Thank you. Morning, everybody. Hello. Good morning. Have a good week. Take care. Have a good week. Lots to chew on. Bye, Lynn. Good to see you. Good to see you. Bye, Ed. Bye. Is Ed there? Ed, nice to see you. How are you doing? Hi.

[78:15]

Good to see you. Hanging in there. Oh, good. Hope you are too. Yeah, yeah, I am. Thank you. Just recovering from a cold. Yeah. Yeah. See you soon. Okay, sounds good. Bye-bye. Thank you. Thank you.

[81:31]

Are you going to use the laptop for the meeting? Okay. Do you want the speaker? I usually do. Do you want the speaker set up and everything? Yeah, that would be great. Perfect. Thank you. So you don't need this headset, right? No. Okay. Just the microphone. Oh, you do the microphone. Yeah. I usually use it. We sometimes pass it around. Okay. Thank you. I'm sure anything's too sticky.

[82:52]

There's going to be a private meeting, so I could either remove you or if you could sign out of Zoom, that would be good. Thank you. Come back. The trick is that the chair, the top of the chair, is at the front end, is at the front end. So here's the top of the chair. You're the chair. Move like that, you're good. It goes all the way to the front. then the legs actually will go underneath.

[85:12]

It will further back be the legs like that. Okay, seven minutes. We'll put the record, 16. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. so far.

[95:15]

Can you hear me? New seating arrangement. I have to sit over here. I can't hear you. You might be muted. Yeah, you are muted. Hopefully you're still muted though. Oh, there's Jerry. They're still finding their way in. You're still muted, I can't hear you. It's okay. You gotta... It's the microphone. You click the microphone. You are, and it's not working.

[96:18]

Maybe reboot and try it again. Try coming in. We can't hear you, Jerry. That's not her fault. That's our fault. It is? Yeah. If we can't hear her, it's our sound. Not anybody's speaker. It was on, though. Try it again. Oh, you're muted. Yeah, they're all muted. Who just came in? Oh, that's you. Can you not unmute? They're not letting you unmute? No matter what you do, you can't unmute? That hand signal doesn't mean anything to me. She's saying no. I can read hand signals. We should maybe start the meeting again. Is there a way that we have a setting? Oh, it's still recording. Oh, that might be it. Somebody didn't close it out.

[97:17]

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