Good morning. Yesterday I talked about how we study the Buddhadharma from Dogen's point of view, which is not different from the orthodox Buddhist teaching.

[01:03]

We study the Buddhadharma by studying what is the self. And to study the Buddha self is to realize, is to drop our idea of self and realize the reality of what self means. So, I want to talk a little further about what we mean by birth and death and self. Birth and death is a birth and death of a self, but According to Buddhist understanding, self is just a provisional way of speaking about something that has no fundamental existence, even though we feel like a self.

[02:27]

So there are, you know, everything, according to Buddhadharma, everything is dependent upon causes and conditions. So when causes and conditions come together in a certain way, something springs into existence. and that's called dependent origination, which is simply stated is, because there is this, there is that. When there is not this, there is not that. So everything, this is the fundamental equation of Buddhism. Because there is this, there is that.

[03:40]

If this is not, that is not. So everything arises depending on a cause. And anything that arises depending on causes and conditions only has a kind of provisional reality. It's called In the baking world it's called a confection, but actually in the philosophical world it's also called a confection, something that's put together. Some confections are tasty and some are not. But nevertheless, everything is put together. And as a result of this and that, this together with that makes this.

[04:48]

So in Buddhism, whenever we speak about something, there are always two levels. In both Mahayana and non-Mahayana, there are the two truths, the mundane truth and the super mundane truth, or the absolute truth. So, on the mundane level, we speak about birth and death. When we speak about birth and death on the mundane level, usual level, we talk about being born in the womb, conception in the womb, being born, babyhood, childhood, middle age, old age, and death as a process of this body, mind.

[06:07]

On the higher level, when we speak of birth and death, it's the birth and death of a self, which is constantly arising. If there is nothing arising, if there's no grasping at conditions, then there's no arising of a self. Self arises through causes and conditions. So, although there is this body-mind complex, it's not a self until emotion and thought cling to something, cling to conditions.

[07:24]

when emotion and thought cling to conditions, then the self arises. So, it's possible, I think, that someone could be born and go through all of life without clinging to conditions and the self would never arise. Theoretically, I suppose that's possible. But self arises through clinging to causes and conditions. This is why, well, In order to have freedom, freedom means freedom from clinging to causes and conditions.

[08:35]

That's why there are rules of practice. I don't understand why we're doing this. You get in the middle of Sashin and you wonder, In the beginning of the sushin, you wonder, how can I do this? In the middle of the sushin, you wonder, why am I doing this? We kind of forget the reason. But the reason why we practice, why we do all this, is to understand the self, to understand what our life is really about. When we understand what our life is really about, then we know how to live our life. So, what brings us to practice is suffering, inevitably. Because we've already experienced a lot of suffering before we come to practice.

[09:42]

because we keep getting caught by emotion and thought. And clinging, attachment, clinging, grasping, and the whole round of birth and death in various contexts keeps repeating itself. So the mundane birth and death happens over a certain amount of time, 50 years or whatever, 70 years, 100 years. But the birth and death of I, me and mine, is continuously happening, continuously rising up,

[10:47]

And the birth of I, me and mine, birth and death, birth, suffering and death of I, me and mine is always accompanied by suffering of one kind or another. Even the happiness is a kind of suffering. or unsatisfactoriness. So this is basic Buddhism. Dogen is always talking about basic Buddhism. Nagarjuna is always talking about basic Buddhism. Vasubandhu is always talking about basic Buddhism. And all of the Not everyone is talking about basic Buddhism in its correct way. So there are a lot of misconceptions and there are a lot of distortions of what is basic Buddhism.

[12:01]

So I think it's important for us to make some effort to understand what is reality in basic Buddhism. So I want to talk a little bit about that from this. Buddha Dasa was a Theravada bhikkhu. I think Alan knew him. No, you never met him, but you know his disciples. Alan gave me this book and Buddhadasa was trying to clarify what is real dependent origination, what is the real meaning of dependent origination. And you know there's a formula for dependent origination, how things arise, and he criticizes the Visuddhimagga as being a little bit off

[13:11]

which sounds right to me, but I'm trying to find the formula for dependent origination, which is usually given. You know, it's like how dependent origination goes from birth to death. and creates suffering and how to de-create it or how it's built up and how it's taken apart. So the formula, the usual formula in forward order of conditioned production, co-production, paticca-samupada.

[14:24]

Samupada is ignorance gives rise to concocting. Mental concocting gives rise to consciousness. Consciousness gives rise to mentality-materiality, which means consciousness of body and mind. Mentality-materiality gives rise to the sense spaces, eyes, ears, nose, and so forth. The sense spaces give rise to contact. Contact gives rise to feeling. Feeling gives rise to craving. Craving gives rise to attachment. Attachment gives rise to becoming. Becoming gives rise to birth. And birth gives rise to old age and death. This is called one turning of the chain or wheel of dependent origination from beginning to end. And this is the most commonly heard form and it appears in many tens, many hundreds of sutras in the Tripitaka.

[15:29]

And then the reverse order, sometimes dependent origination is given in the reverse order. Instead of starting with ignorance, mental concocting and contact, and going on to suffering, it starts with suffering and works its way back. Suffering arises because of birth. Birth arises because of becoming. Becoming arises because of attachment. Attachment arises because of craving. Craving arises because of feeling. Feeling arises because of contact. Contact arises because of the sense spaces. The sense spaces arise because of mentality materiality. Mentality materiality arises because of consciousness. Consciousness arises because of mental concocting. And mental concocting arises because of ignorance. So people sometimes feel this is like the process of mundane birth and death. But what this is talking about is how the self arises from moment to moment.

[16:40]

When all these conditions are there, the self arises through these conditions. All these conditions are contributing to the arising of a self. And ignorance is a very important factor. usually it's called a circle. So there's no place on the circle actually where there's a beginning. You still have to pick out a beginning. But ignorance means not knowing that, not understanding how suffering arises or action creates suffering.

[17:42]

Because we don't know that, we keep creating it all the time. So it starts from ignorance. If we understand how this problem of the self arises, then we know how to deal with it, or we can find ways to deal with it. So there are various forms of this form, yula, but this is the most common. And so he gives some examples here which are kind of interesting about how the self arises and causes a problem. I'll read you example three.

[19:00]

For our third example, let's suppose that a young lady sees her boyfriend walking along with another woman. She immediately becomes inflamed. Within the space of a brief moment, she becomes so enraged that it is just as if she had passed through 10 hells, so burned up is she. And all this because she saw her boyfriend walking together with another woman. What has happened is that her eyes have seen the form of her boyfriend with another woman. This causes eye consciousness to arise immediately. Before this moment, this kind of consciousness did not exist. There was only a functionless consciousness, a consciousness without any duty to perform. In other words, a latent consciousness that really hasn't arisen.

[20:03]

But now, this kind of consciousness arises with that form and these eyes, and together they make contact. So contact, form, eyes is the sense base, consciousness, and a form, and contact. Just a moment ago, there was no contact. Now there is. There is a coming together of the I, the I object or form, and I consciousness. Contact arises and causes feeling, craving, and so on to arise. Or to put it in more detail, once consciousness arises, it causes a newly conditioned kind of body, mind, to arise, which in turn gives rise to the kind of sense spaces, eyes, that can experience suffering.

[21:07]

This is followed by a feeling of suffering and a restless craving. Then arises attachment to the I concept. I, I, I'm so mad. The I has been born, has arisen with all these conditions. I'm so mad I could die. And it all arose by way of the I. This is birth, called jati. It is a suffering-prone ego. An I that can experience dissatisfaction has arisen and will become subject to suffering. We can simply say that it is an ego so attached to its arising that it suffers. It is the passing away of this ego that is suffering, sorrow and frustration. This is full-blown paticca-samudpada, eleven conditions, all within the mind of this young girl.

[22:16]

This particular example of paticca-samudpada arises by way of the eye. Now let us suppose that this young lady was fooled by one of her friends. In fact, her boyfriend is not going with any other woman, but someone decides to play a trick on her and tells her that her boyfriend was seen going with some other woman and she believes it. Now there is ear contact. Sound comes in by way of the ear and ear consciousness, accompanied by ignorance, is present. Ignorance is present. Because there is no mindfulness, this air consciousness gives rise to mentality materiality. Her body and mind are newly primed to give rise to the sense bases, which will function in a way that leads to suffering, as in this example. Only the sense spaces have arisen. There is complete contact

[23:18]

Once the sense space has arisen, there is complete contact, and then the feeling appropriate to the situation. Namely, an unpleasant feeling arises. Restless craving then arises, which gives rise to attachment. Then there is the full-blown becoming of the I-mind concept. It is the birth of the I, which has suffering, grief, and lamentation. Suffering has arisen in accordance with the law of dependent origination by way of the ear. Again, several hours or days later, this young lady may simply begin to doubt the sincerity of her boyfriend. No one has said anything to her. And she hasn't seen anything. But in her own mind, she begins to doubt whether or not her boyfriend has been going with another woman. She begins to make assumptions. And so dependent origination begins to operate by way of the mind door. A mental object comes into contact with a mind and mind consciousness arises.

[24:25]

This mind consciousness conditions a new mentality materiality to arise. What was an inert body-mind, not conditioned to experience suffering, is now the mentality-materiality that conditions sense spaces capable of experiencing suffering to arise. Contact conditions feeling conducive to the arising of suffering. then follows restless craving and clinging attachment and the same kind of suffering arises again. This is a case of dependent origination becoming active in that young lady by way of mind consciousness. So you can find all of your own examples which we find day by day. You know, every day we transmigrate through the six realms, the heavenly realm, the animal realm, the fighting demon realm, the human realm, the hungry ghost realm, and the hell realm.

[25:45]

And these realms are within ourselves, of course. Hell is not someplace under the ground, as opposed to heaven up in the sky, but is right here as we create it. But what is being talked about here has to be understood as volition. Before there's volition, there's no self. Self arises with volition, just like we say karma. Karma means volitional action. That's all it means. But every action done with volition creates a result, which creates a self.

[26:51]

So one of the skandhas, you know, is karma formations called, we say form, feelings, perceptions, formations, which means karma formations, which means thinking or volitional thoughts, volitional actions, and consciousness. And the karma formations are volitional actions, either wholesome, unwholesome, or sometimes called neutral. But nevertheless, these are what create these karma formations, which are our modes of feeling and the intensity of our emotions. And the way we react to stimulus creates the person, creates the self.

[28:00]

and which creates the realm of suffering. And then we say, well, so what? What do we do now? This is the way we are. But Buddha says there's a way to deal with it. There's a way to deal with it. Dogen says, to forget the self, to not allow craving to arise. Craving comes in the form of lust, it comes in the form of anger, it comes in the form of delusion, clinging to our delusive thoughts, to our partiality, to our misunderstandings, to our weaknesses, and to our anger, to the objects of anger, to clinging to desirable or undesirable things.

[29:28]

Zazen, it's clinging to like and dislike. The reason why we practice Zazen is to understand, one reason, to understand the cause of suffering. Really, it's just to understand Buddha's four truths. And we see it, it's just direct. It's really, this is really the shortcut. It's the shortcut to understanding how suffering arises, its cause, and what to do with it. So as soon as we say, I like this, or I don't like this, the self is born.

[30:41]

And then the self is prone, it's like the thumb sticking up, you know? When the thumb sticks up, in Japan they say, when the thumb sticks up, it gets hammered down. There's something about Japanese understanding of ego, It has a wonderful side. It also has not such a good side, right? Everything has, in the mundane world, has two sides. But Japanese people favored the group rather than the individual. So the group becomes very strong. It's like when you put a bunch of stems together, it's really hard to break.

[31:50]

But when you have one, you just tear it apart. So it makes a very strong group and people. Anybody who's considered individualistic is egotistical. creating a self. In the West, we kind of favor the self, our ego. And because we favor the self, we create a lot of ego problems. But ego problems exist everywhere. It's not that the Japanese don't have any. As a matter of fact, they have some big ones. there's also a sense of mutual support which diminishes the sense of a self and allows people to flow together more easily and interact more easily and

[32:57]

create a more harmonious society. There are problems with a harmonious society, but because of our radical egotism, Our society is very dangerous, actually. Pretty dangerous. It's all we can do, actually, to keep from... to hold back the people who want to dominate the world. But anyway, So there's this illusion of self.

[34:10]

When we talk about delusion and illusion in Buddhism, the delusion is the illusion of a substantial self. So the self is actually reborn on each moment and according to the conditions, according to causes and conditions. You know, there are many people who can't sit still, who never sat still in their life, because their life is so dependent on creating the self over and over again. So Dogen talks about this all the time, you know, how to let go of self.

[35:21]

Body and mind dropped. We hear that, you know. Oh yeah, Dogen keeps saying body and mind dropped. What does he mean by that? What does that mean, body and mind dropped? So, there are the three basic understandings in Buddhism. One is nothing is permanent, there is no self, and One understanding is life is suffering and the other is life is nirvana.

[36:25]

The old school said life is suffering, that's the third one. The new school, which is 2,000 years old, said life is nirvana. But suffering and nirvana are samsara and nirvana are not two things. So everything changes, there is no permanent self and this is the realm of suffering and nirvana. When the self is not arising, then there's the state of nirvana. When the self arises, then there's the state of suffering.

[37:32]

But, you know, the sixth patriarch Huy Nhung says, a fundamental thing is non-attachment. To let go of attachments. But it's not so simple, you know. Not so simple to let go of attachments. But when the self is dropped, Attachment is nirvana. That's a kind of koan. How to find release within the everyday arising of the self.

[38:50]

how to let things come and go, how to let everything pass through you without clinging to things, basically. It's like maybe a conveyor belt. You do your little job on the conveyor belt, and every once in a while, oh, I like that one. And then it's like Charlie Chaplin getting caught in the machinery. As soon as you break the rhythm, you get caught in the machinery. So how to flow with life, how to let things come, thank you, and how to let it go. how to pass things on and pass things around.

[40:00]

As Suzuki Roshi said in his talk about money, he said, money flows. When money flows everywhere, then the body of society is healthy. But when money only flows in a certain direction, then the rest of the body suffers. We don't know, people don't understand this for some reason, but it seems obvious. When everybody is supported and the money flows everywhere, then it's like the blood, you know, the society is flowing everywhere. And the body is healthy. then the self of the nation is not arising.

[41:05]

There's no separate self arising, nothing that will cause suffering. But society has a big ego. which causes suffering for everyone. Anyway, it's all there in Zazen. How to accept everything that happens without being attached to anything that happens. how to let feelings, thoughts, emotions come and go without grasping them or holding onto them or desiring them or desiring them to go away.

[42:15]

That's dropping body and mind. And existing in nirvana. No self is arising. As soon as the self arises, then you have problem. Do you have a question? I forgot your name. Our president. You once told me to be like a panther on the branch of a tree waiting for prey to come along.

[43:21]

And that this state of alert and waiting is like zazen. I'm wondering, listening to this talk, if when the prey comes along, does this create a self in the panther and sort of break that state? Well, the panther is mindfulness. and attention, waiting for a thought to arise. If you can notice the moment a thought arises, you'll have good attention. And if you can really notice, if you can be so attentive that

[44:27]

You catch the thought as soon as it arises. No thoughts will arise. But you can be attentive like a panther waiting for the thought to arise. And, oh, I've been thinking. I've been thinking for two minutes and I didn't realize it. So to have the kind of attention that will notice a thought as soon as it arises. That's what I meant. So what it means also is to be totally attentive and open without any I arising. Without any need to do anything. But when the right moment comes, when the mouse comes out of the hole,

[45:29]

the panther jumps and then resumes. So there's no need to be anxious or think about the future. Just be totally in the present. That's what I meant. Anne? Could you say something about and intention? Well, the positive aspect is to always be what I was talking to James about. Mindful. Yeah, mindful. Well, what about the self that has that intention? The self what? That has that intention to be mindful. But mindfulness doesn't bring forth the self because it's not attached to anything.

[46:39]

The self only comes up with desire, grasping, craving, and attachment. It doesn't come up with mindfulness. It only comes up with attachment. or clinging. So is it sort of the distinction between way-seeking mind and desire? Yeah, that's the distinction, right. Can you say more about what it means to say that when body and mind are dropped off Yeah, I got all those factors, but what is the question? What does that mean? Can you explain that? How can attachments also be nirvana? Because nirvana is our natural condition when it's not covered by the arising of a self.

[47:53]

I thought an attachment is only a product of the self arising. Huh? I thought attachment is just a product of the self arising, so I don't understand. Well, no, the self arises through attachment. Because of this, something happens. something is made, something is created. And what's created, it's like, you know, if you, it's one thing to taste something. Buddha Dasa would go so far as to say, just the fact that I taste something,

[49:09]

and I like it is attachment already. I wouldn't go that far. I would say to taste something is to taste something. And the fact that I like it is just the fact that I like it. But then I want more. That's attachment. That's what I would say. just coming in right it's just sensory awareness so you know right there you can recognize oh just sensory awareness coming in and you don't have to make anything more of it or you can go to you can go the next to the next step and then you can say oh I'm having some some

[50:29]

to the old thing. So you have opportunities. It's not like you're supposed to go blank or something. You have opportunities at different places to apply mindfulness and be transparent. So I've always contended that the first time you come into contact with something is contact. And so you say, well, I'll try it again. And that's experimentation. Then the third time, You're hooked. That becomes a habit. The other evening I had a feeling of self arising with a friend and desire arose and I'm wondering You were talking about Charlie Chaplin and the conveyor belt and that sort of mechanical thing.

[52:01]

How can we not have a mechanical life of just watching thoughts arise? Because I was feeling, oh this feels nice, this is a nice feeling arising and all that. To go through a relationship just over a cup of coffee can has the potential to be very mechanical, kind of what Alan was alluding to. Oh, you mean to analyze your feelings? Yeah. If I'm inferring from your instruction, that's a way to keep the self in abeyance, to just see these things as just feelings arise, feelings pass away, all the kinds of feelings that arise. Let's pretend it was a girl. Or even a woman. And so you're having coffee, right, and you're having a nice conversation, nice feelings are arising, and then you're thinking, gee, is she single?

[53:05]

Gosh, she has a nice this and that, you know, and maybe it would be nice to do this and that with her, you know. And so this is when feelings come up, right? And then you either say, well, I'm going to make a play or I'm going to, it's nice to have these feelings, but that's, you know, I'm not going to create any more of a fantasy on these feelings, which will lead me to play out my fantasy. And that's all future. What's happening now is just this feeling arising. Yeah, but the self arises with the feeling. It's like when you get into inzasen, thoughts come up, right? And we don't push the thoughts away. We don't try to get rid of them. we simply come back to posture and breathing. Just come back to your tea.

[54:08]

But what I always say to people is don't build, don't use the thought or the feeling as a foundation for a fantasy, which means stop thinking. Instead of saying stop thinking, I say don't use the idea or the feeling as a platform for a rocket ship to embellish your story, right? But what's wrong with that self coming up? That's the question. What's wrong with that? The S word. Yes. When you were talking about food, you said you wouldn't go as far as to say this is a test. It's just, I like it and it's okay if you have something, if you have a morsel of food or a cup of coffee.

[55:14]

There's something qualitatively different, except if one becomes obsessive about eating or compulsive eating, that in relationships with people, be it amorous relationships or work relationships, that it's it's more tricky and the S word comes up more. Yeah. See, that's the ignorance part. The ignorance is that we put our best judgment in abeyance because our desire is so strong, you know? And when people, you know, want to get together, get married or something and they put their judgment and abeyance and say, I really like you because of your this and that and let's get married. So I say, well, but the other side of that is some suffering. Every relationship has suffering of one kind or another attached to it.

[56:17]

So I say, well, which kind of suffering would you rather have? The kind that goes with the relationship or the kind that comes without it? And they say, well, I'll take the suffering that goes with the relationship. And then you're going in with your eyes open And then suffering becomes nirvana. I think the problem that people struggle with is flowing stream, or a counterpoint. And so the music just flows. And as long as you don't break the stream, it's nirvana.

[57:19]

And as soon as you break it, you've got all kinds of problems. Well, at least it's flowing. It's wonderful. I don't know if it's nirvana, because nirvana is without self-centeredness. So flowing without self-centeredness, yeah. So we have to kind of, you know, is this a selfish thought? That's the basis, really. Okay, this is the last question, Ellen. Not too long, please. Yeah, it's just a short question. It's a short question, but I have to frame it. I know. So going back to the idea of There we are. We're the panther or whatever. And then these things arise. And Alan was talking about how you have some opportunities. But if you don't get the opportunity, then sort of what my question is about, I have the image of a molly bolt.

[58:23]

You know that bolt that you're doing, and then it lets these things out, and you can't get it down. It like hangs from the ceiling. You hang a plan on it. So it's like, what I've noticed this machine. I don't even notice the opportunities that I missed. And I talked a little bit about that. And then I get hooked in a way that I, I mean, yes, well, then there are then somehow actually, it does kind of go away with that. But I don't have any idea how I participated in that. Well, you should look at, to analyze your feelings. I think it's good for you to analyze your feelings. Why is this arising? How is this thought arising? How is this feeling arising? Based on what is this feeling? How or why? How, not why. How is it arising? We know why it's arising, but... Well, you know, it's arising through insecurity.

[59:32]

But why is it arising? Why am I so insecure? I did.

[59:37]

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