Today, we commemorate Shakyamuni Buddha's parinirvana, which means his death. letting go of this world. There are several sutras which talk about Shakyamuni's last evening, the last few days, when I think he was about 80.

[01:08]

And he'd been teaching for 40 years, according to stories. And someone invited him. to dinner and fed him some tainted meat and he got very sick and that was his last meal. According to how people have used the story, some people say that he knew that it was tainted But he ate it anyway, because it was hard for him to refuse somebody. But who knows? Anyway, this was a long time ago.

[02:13]

And somewhere around 2,500 years ago. And on the last According to the sutras, on the last night before he died, he went over his teaching, summarized his teaching for his students. And so we have several versions of how he did that. And there's a sutra called the Parinirvana Short Admonitions Sutra. And in the Parinirvana Short Admonitions Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha talks about the eight awarenesses of an enlightened person, or the eight practices of an enlightened person.

[03:23]

And Dogen actually commented on that in his last written work. It's quite simple. The eight admonitions are something like the six paramitas or the eightfold path. Similar kind of teaching. So I want to, today, to commemorate Shakyamuni Buddha's Parinirvana, I want to go through Dogen's commentary on the eight awarenesses of the enlightened person. So the first awareness is

[04:37]

freedom from greed or to have few desires I'm glad that the translation doesn't say have no desires but it says having few desires is the first practice or the first awareness and I was talking about this last week in connection with the four noble truths. The first truth, of course, is that suffering in its various aspects is the tendency of human beings, and that desire is its cause. So Buddha said, he says, if you want to reach nirvana, you should have few desires.

[05:51]

If you want to reach an enlightened state of mind, you should have few desires. So Dogen says, all Buddhas are enlightened persons. Those things which the enlightened persons are aware of are called the Eight Awarenesses of the Enlightened Person. To become aware of this dharma is the cause for nirvana. Our master Shakyamuni Buddha taught this dharma on the last night before entering parinirvana. First, having few desires or freedom from greed and Not seeking too much among the objects of the five desires which are not yet obtained is called having few desires. Buddha, of course, is talking mostly to monks.

[06:53]

And of course, he's probably talking to lay people too. In the sutra it says, you monks, But we can also say, you monks and laypeople. You monks and laypeople should know that because those who have many desires search for fame and profit, there is much suffering. Those who have few desires look around less and desire little. Therefore, they have no worry of this sort. You should practice if only to have few desires. Needless to say, having few desires produces many merits. Those who have few desires do not have to flatter others in order to ingratiate themselves. Also, they withstand temptations from the various senses. One who practices having few desires has neither worry nor fear, for that person's mind is peaceful.

[07:56]

Whatever one comes into contact with, we find that it is enough, and never lacks anything. Having few desires, one is in nirvana. This is called having few desires. So, we didn't know that reaching nirvana was such a simple thing, is having few desires. But last time I was talking about not getting rid of desire, But actually narrowing down desire because you can't get rid of desire. Desire is a very important aspect of our life. That's why it's so dangerous. That which leads us to confusion and bondage also leads us to liberation. And it's called desire.

[08:58]

And so, it's important to know how to direct desire. So, Buddha says, direct desire toward practice. Don't scatter your inheritance around foolish things that will only cause you suffering. Don't scatter your endowment. Actually, desire is a very precious thing. But very precious and very powerful and needs to be taken seriously and treated very carefully.

[10:08]

as far as how we use it. If we don't use it, then it will use us. A lot of the literature we read in Buddhism makes desire look terrible and evil. But actually it's not so. Desire is just desire, light force. But it can make us either miserable or give us freedom. So the second One is called knowing how to be satisfied.

[11:16]

Knowing how to be satisfied. Dogen says, knowing how much to take of those things which one already has is called knowing how to be satisfied. How to take of those things which one already has. is knowing how to be satisfied, or how to use what we already have. So often, I see, we see so much waste, you know, we get rid of something that we're using and take on something new, just because it's new. Or just because it keeps up with the Joneses. The Buddhas say, you monks and laypeople should contemplate knowing how to be satisfied if you wish to be liberated from suffering.

[12:22]

The Dharma of knowing how to be satisfied is the realm of riches, comfort, peace, and tranquility. Those who know how to be satisfied are happy and comfortable even when sleeping on the ground. Those who do not know how to be satisfied are not satisfied even when dwelling in a heavenly place. Palace. Those who do not know how to be satisfied are poor even though they are wealthy, while those who know how to be satisfied are wealthy even though they have little. Those who do not know how to be satisfied and are always tempted by the five desires are consoled by those who know how to be satisfied. This is called knowing how to be satisfied. But the satisfaction, of course, is you can look at these eight aspects as a progression. But also, each aspect contains all the other eight.

[13:24]

So if you concentrate on one aspect, the other eight are there. So you can use each one of these as a center of practice. So having few desires makes it easy to know how to be satisfied. It's very easy to spark off desire. And the more we have, the more difficult it is to deal with it. and to actually allow ourselves to be satisfied. Because the more we have, the more demands are made on our desire.

[14:29]

And we feel we have to take care of all these things that we have. And then we can never really settle. So the third one is actually being able to settle, which is called enjoying serenity and tranquility. Another term for serenity or tranquility is settledness, knowing how to be settled, or allowing the self to settle on the self. Being apart from all disturbances and dwelling alone in a quiet place is called enjoying serenity and tranquility. This particular aspect

[15:35]

is a very monkish kind of commentary. The Buddha says, if you monks seek joy and peace, he doesn't say monks and lay people, he says monks. So he's not directing this to lay people, but I think that we need a different kind of commentary here. I don't completely agree with this commentary. He says, if you monks seek joy and peace in the serenity and tranquility of non-doing, you should keep away from disturbances and dwell alone in a quiet place. Those who dwell in quiet places are praised and respected by both Sakharendra, the chief of the gods, and by celestial beings. Therefore, casting away attachment to yourself and others, dwell alone in a quiet place and contemplate the cause of sliffering. Those who desire the company of other people suffer from their relationship with them, just as a tree will be broken and die when many birds rest in it.

[16:52]

The bondage of worldly involvement will drown you in suffering, just as an old elephant drowns in the mud because he is unable to get out by himself. To liberate oneself from complicated involvements is called detachment. That is one side, you know, the side of involved with things that are going to cause problems. But the other side is, how do you find settleness and tranquility and serenity within involvement? This is a kind of dualistic commentary, actually. It's like, you know, to go off in the mountains and sit Zazen is a wonderful thing.

[18:02]

But the place to test Zazen is in the busy city. So it's really good, actually, practice to have a noisy, to have a zendo in a noisy neighborhood. and to find your settledness in the busy marketplace. This kind of commentary is good for beginning practice. When you begin practice, it's good to get away from, to withdraw from the world. give yourself the space from desire.

[19:06]

But unless we go back into the world to practice, it's a kind of escape. So whatever your practice is, it has to be tested in the world. So both sides are good, both sides are correct, but it doesn't make sense to only emphasize one side. Not so good. Serenity and tranquility. How do you keep your calm mind, in other words?

[20:09]

How do you keep a calm mind in all circumstances? This is what Zazen is. This is what our practice is. Although, you know, we retreat by coming into the Zen Dojo to practice. You leave the world outside. But then you also re-enter the world. maintaining a calm mind in the marketplace, on the road, when people scream and yell at you, when things go wrong, when one frustration piles up on top of another. How do you keep your calm mind in that state? So this is a very important

[21:15]

aspect, enjoying serenity and tranquility. In a sense, it's being apart from, but it's being apart from in the sense of within the midst of the problems of the world. to not be turned over by the problems that you have. It's a very difficult practice, but it's probably the most difficult and necessary. And then the fourth one is called exerting diligent effort.

[22:19]

So, out of knowing how to be satisfied comes tranquility and serenity and calm mind. And out of calm mind, we can practice with diligence. Practicing with diligence is like not getting stopped before we complete something. Exerting oneself diligently and unceasingly in various beneficial practices is called diligent practice, diligent effort, to be precise and not careless. proceed forward and don't regress. It's like water. Water dripping will finally wear away the stone.

[23:30]

He says, if you monks and lay people exert meticulous, meticulous is not so good, precise effort, nothing will be difficult to accomplish. Therefore, you should make an effort to practice carefully. For when water flows constantly against a big rock, even a small amount of water will eventually dig out a large hole. But if one who practices becomes lax, it will be impossible to accomplish anything. It's like trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. If you stop rubbing before the wood gets hot, You can't start a fire. So, of course, when we have progress in our effort, then that progress stimulates more effort. So it's important to feel some confidence in our effort.

[24:37]

Even though we feel some confidence in our effort, we still get pulled away. So it's very hard to be single-minded about something. And then the fifth one is not forgetting right thought or mindfulness. This is also called mindfulness. Protecting the Dharma and not losing it means right thought. That's interesting. Remembering the Dharma, it means remembering your intention, knowing what your intention is and not forgetting it. The Buddha says, Nothing is better than not forgetting right thought or mindfulness. For those who don't forget it, the robber-like multitude of deluding passions cannot break in.

[25:49]

For this reason, you should always keep right thought in your mind and regulate it well. For if you lose this thought, all sorts of merits and virtues will also be lost. If the power of this thought is strong and firm, even then, Though you mingle with the robber-like five desires, you will not be injured. And the sixth one is practicing samadhi, or right concentration. Dwelling in the dharma undisturbed is what is called samadhi. It's interesting. Dwelling in the Dharma without disturbance is what is called Samadhi, or unifying the mind. When the Buddha says, when you monks unify your minds, monks and lay people, the mind is in Samadhi. Since the mind is in Samadhi, you know the characteristics of the creation and destruction of the various phenomena in the world.

[26:55]

For this reason, you should constantly practice with diligence and cultivate all kinds of samadhi. When you gain samadhi, the mind is not scattered, just as those who protect themselves from floods guard the levee. This is also true for practice. For the sake of the water of wisdom, then cultivate samadhi well and do not let it leak out. examples like having a reservoir, and the banks of the reservoir enclose the reservoir, enclose the water, so that it stays there and doesn't leak out. So samadhi's characteristic is not leaking, containing concentration and not leaking, not letting it So sometimes we think of concentration as like when you hold a magnifying glass under the sun and it burns a hole in a piece of paper.

[28:07]

That's very strong concentration. But concentration doesn't have to be that Concentration can also be very broad and encompass a wide area. It doesn't have to be hot, it can be warm. So sometimes concentration is very hot, sometimes it's warm, depending on what the function is. But it's containment and being completely one with

[29:21]

reality, moment by moment. And the seventh one is called cultivating wisdom. Wisdom is aroused by hearing, reflecting, practicing and realizing. The Buddha says when you monks and lay people have wisdom, You are without greed. Always reflect upon yourselves. Do not lose this wisdom. In this way you can thus attain liberation in my dharma. One who does not is neither a follower of the way nor a layperson, neither a monk nor a layperson, nor is there any other name for that person. True wisdom is a stout boat which crosses the sea of old age, sickness, and death. It is also a great bright torch in pitch black ignorance, a good medicine for all sick people, a sharp ax which fells the tree of delusion.

[30:31]

Therefore, by means of this wisdom, which is heard, reflected upon, and practiced, you will increase your merit. When one has the illumination of wisdom, even though one's eyes are merely physical eyes, one is a clear-seeing person. This is what is meant by wisdom. We usually talk about the four wisdoms. The great round mirror wisdom, which we see everything just as it is, without partiality or distortion. This is the clear eye of wisdom, which has no interference, no human interference, no egoistic interference. And then there's the equality wisdom, with which we see everything as being completely equal.

[31:36]

sameness of the one being. And then there's the subtle observation wisdom, which sees everything clearly and distinctly as different from everything else. So these three wisdoms, one One aspect of wisdom sees everything just as it is, without any discrimination, just like a mirror doesn't reflect anything of its own. And the second one sees everything, all things, as one piece. And the third sees everything as completely different from everything else. And then the fourth wisdom is the wisdom of our actions through our sensory data.

[32:51]

This is called the perfecting of action wisdom. Given the information we have, we act out of the wisdom of the other three. This is called the wisdom of non-duality. And then the eighth one is called avoiding idle talk. That's interesting for the last one. Having realization and being free from discrimination is what is called avoiding idle talk. to totally know the true form of all things is the same as being without idle talk. So this fourth one, I mean eighth one, is a kind of expression of seventh. The expression of wisdom is non-duality of wisdom is avoiding idle talk. And the precepts, don't lie, don't discuss

[34:02]

boast about yourself and put others down. These are three aspects of no idle talk. But it doesn't mean no small talk. It doesn't say you should never have small talk. It's idle talk, meaning opinionated talk, which nowhere and actually leads away from Dharma. The Buddha says, when you monks and laypeople engage in various kinds of idle talk, your minds are disturbed. Even though you may have left home, you are still not liberated. Therefore, you must quickly abandon mind-disturbing idle talk. If you would like to attain the joy of the extinction of delusion,

[35:09]

of idle talk. This is what avoiding idle talk means. These are the eight awarenesses of a Buddha. Within each one, all eight are contained, thus making a total of 64. Broadly speaking, the number could be infinite, but for the sake of simplicity, 64 are enough. This is the final teaching of the great master, the revered Shakyamuni, and it is the ultimate teaching of the Mahayana, spoken at midnight on February 15th. He then entered complete nirvana without any further Dharma teaching. The Buddha said, you monks and laypeople should continually and single-mindedly strive to accomplish the way. Every Dharma in the world, whether active or non-active, is characterized by destructibility and unrest. Now please keep quiet and say no more.

[36:14]

Time passes on and I shall enter complete nirvana. This is my final admonition. Right, it's always included in all the lists. And I guess sometimes I notice that there is sometimes a line between trying too hard and trying too hard to mess up.

[37:16]

Trying so hard to do something right. Right. Exactly the time. Right. Yeah, good point. When you first begin to practice you really have to exert a lot of effort and you stretch yourself as far as you can go and then you kind of let go and find what is right effort. Right effort, you know, if you're running a long-distance race you don't go as fast as someone who's running a 100-yard dash. It's like concentration, you know. Sometimes you need a strong burst, and sometimes the concentration should just be very calm and steady.

[38:19]

So, effort over a long period of time is more like something very steady. not so much like a strong verse as if you were going to do a job, a quick job. And you notice in Zazen, Zazen is a perfect place to find out what right effort is, because on the one hand we are exerting ourselves fully whole body and mind is being completely utilized in zazen fully. But if you work too hard, you get tense and tired out and stiff. And if there's not enough effort, then you get lax and tired and you can't quite come up to the task.

[39:22]

So as your practice becomes more mature, you find that you depend more on balance than on striving. But you have to strive before you can come to the place where it becomes easier. This is the same in any endeavor. Whatever you've done, you've noticed that you had to work real hard at first, and then you find a pace. So if you're running a long distance, you run sort of hard at first, and then you find your pace, and then you find your rhythm. So good effort means to continue to the point where you can find your right pace, easy pace. So there should be ease within your effort.

[40:32]

So there are various ways of working. One way of working is to just work as hard as you can and then fall out and sleep and rest. And then you get up and you work as hard as you can and then you fall out and rest. Another way of outworking is that within your work you also find your ease. So your work and ease are not two different things. So a person who has a good work habit will be able to work a long time and still not get tired out by it because The work is done in a relaxed way, or within the ease, and the ease is within the work, and they complement each other. So, it's called finding your pace.

[41:37]

And we have to do that in practice, because practice goes on for a long, long time. It goes on for a long, long time. And you have to find your pace, otherwise you can't do it. I know there's eight of these, and six of these, and ten of those, but I heard a new one today and didn't see what they were. What are the five desires? The five desires? Desire for fame. Desire for sex. Desire for sleep. Food and wealth.

[42:44]

That covers it all. Three out of five. How are you doing if you're like down to three out of five? Well, it depends on which three you're at. You shouldn't feel bad if you still haven't used it. Because everyone has them. You know, you can say the five desires are great hindrances. You can also say the five desires are great opportunities to practice. If you look at the list, it's obvious you don't want to eliminate them, you want to balance them in your life. Yeah, that's right. So that you're not being used by them. So if you have wealth, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

[43:52]

But how do you use wealth? How do you use food? How do you use sleep? How do you use sex? Instead of being turned by them. Instead of them being a bondage. Right, instead of them binding you. So, each one is an opportunity. This is just the stuff of our human life, you know, and to say get rid of it is okay, but it's not quite accurate. It's too extreme. It's not our middle way, actually.

[44:54]

I noticed When I get in harmony, in kind of health and balance, I have a kind of desire for trouble, or for the other. You know, it's kind of like the French philosophers talk about a desire for the other, which I noticed don't, wasn't in that. Maybe all of those are other. It's a desire to kind of get out of my own body, kind of a desire to get high, to get out of the skin of my own opinions, to be, to kind of a metaphor, to shape-shift, you know, to go into Mother Nature. Well, yeah, you know, life, our life has a tendency towards suffering.

[45:56]

And when that happens, we want to get out of it, you know? And so we have various avenues of escape. But this is what I'm feeling super healthy. I'm feeling in harmony. I feel like, I feel, if I'm feeling unhealthy or unbalanced or just, I want to integrate and then get back into balance. But if I'm feeling very... And once you're in balance, you want to get out again. If I'm feeling in harmony, I want to go out, I feel like I'm going to cause trouble to, you know? I understand completely. That's the problem, you know. It's like, you know, if you sit all day, if you sit Sachine all day, your body and mind is completely open and pure, and you walk out there and you say, well, what do I do? You have all the choices in the world, you know, because there's You have nothing left, you know. God, what will I do?

[46:59]

Anything I do will be wonderful. What will I do? And that's a terrible choice. So it's important to know that even though it would be wonderful to do all these things to get me in trouble, I better not do them. This is the power of intention. That's why intention is so important. You know, otherwise you just, it's so easy to just get carried away. We're very vulnerable. That's why your vows, your intention, you know, because when you get into harmony, you know, that's right, then what you want to do is get unbalanced again. So we get unbalanced and then we get into harmony and then we get into harmony and get unbalanced. And we really want to dive in and start the whole process again. But you have to be careful. That's why it's good to have some way, some discipline in your life.

[48:05]

Because the minute you get into harmony, you want to go and throw it all away. That's right. Because the world of infinite possibility is open to you at that moment. And anything you do will be a lot of fun. Anything. I mean, sometimes I go out, you know, after Sashina, I'll walk out the door, in that mood, and I'll start thinking of all the perverse things, you know, that would be great to do. So I have to be careful. Why would you become unbalanced again?

[49:14]

Well, the tendency, natural tendency, is when you become completely balanced, is to get unbalanced. Because this is like the rhythm, universal rhythm, is to go from quiet to movement, from quiet to movement, from quiet to movement. You know, there's a koan, a famous koan, all things return to the one. Where does the one return to? Well, I don't think you need to force it. Well, it's true for the moment. It's true until it becomes unbalanced again.

[50:30]

Is that an illusion or actuality? I mean, to say that it's true. To say that it's true? For the moment. To say that the balance is true for the moment, is that an imagination or is that real? Well, it can be either way. Because it can be either way. If it's true, why would it become unbalanced again? Well, if it's true, even though it's unbalanced, it's still in harmony. It seems that this way of saying wouldn't really resolve the actual problem quite yet. We can say, put it in a different way, but still, the problem Well, what solves the problem is being able to accept both.

[51:36]

If you want one or the other, then you have a problem. So it's okay to be unbalanced. Because we can't help it. Everything is unbalanced. It's unbalanced and balanced. Either way, it's right. It's not that one is right and one is wrong. But then what happens to all the stuff I do? It's there within the unbalance. See? Even when you're in the busy marketplace, you should still be balanced. It can't be both. It can't be both? It cannot be both, because theory is theory.

[52:44]

It's not actuality. Oh, but it's an actual theory. Anyway, yeah, this kind of philosophical discussion is not it. That's all I need. Thank you very much. Thank you. Although it's fun. I must say it's fun. But this is not the right place. He is our God.

[53:34]

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