I've been talking about the 100, or I have been talking from the treatise called the 100 Dharmas by Vasubandhu, I've been specifically talking about the dharmas associated with the mind, and specifically the seventh consciousness, which is called manas. And manas is self-consciousness, the consciousness of a self.

[01:15]

And associated with the consciousness of a self are these 51 dharmas associated with the mind called manas, self-consciousness. So there are wholesome dharmas and unwholesome dharmas associated with the mind. And last time I talked about the wholesome dharmas which are associated with the mind. I wish there are not as many as there are unwholesome dharmas associated with the mind. but I talked about the 11 dharmas which are associated with, wholesome dharmas which are associated with the mind, and I'll just read those to refresh your memory. They are faith, vigor, shame, remorse, absence of greed, absence of anger, absence of stupidity, light ease, non-laxness, renunciation, and non-harming.

[02:32]

Now there are also six fundamental afflictions, which are unwholesome dharmas, and twenty derivative afflictions, which are also unwholesome dharmas, and two intermediate grade afflictions, and eight major grade afflictions, and four The early Buddhists were very careful to avoid the afflictions because lack of afflictions is nirvana. And what prevents nirvana or freedom is the afflictions. So I'm going to talk about the eight major grade afflictions today.

[03:35]

And the eight major grade afflictions are lack of faith, laziness, laxness, torpor, restlessness, distraction, improper knowledge, and scatteredness. Does that sound familiar? So the first one is lack of faith. And in looking at these eight afflictions, I realized that lack of faith is common to all of them. Because faith means focus. It means something that you relate to as a focus. So if you're thrown into the ocean all of a sudden, where is your focus?

[04:45]

What will you relate to? You see a life preserver or you see a piece of a log or something and so suddenly you focus on the log and then you go for the log because there's no other way. You're going to sink if you don't have faith in the fact that you can swim to that log and that log is your So you have faith that the log will support you or that the life preserver will support you. In Christianity, they call it the rock of something, right? But it's the same thing. So it's probably the most important factor is focus. Something that will always guide you and something that will

[05:50]

support you without fail. So that's what everyone is really looking for. We say, is everybody looking for the same thing? Yes. And we find it in different venues. So we come to a place in our path where there are maybe 10 different ways to go. And so we have to choose one of them. Which is the best way to go? Which is the way that is not a dead end? And it's like a maze, right? You go through the maze and which one of these paths is a dead end and which one actually goes all the way through? So there's blind faith. and there's confidence, and there are several ways to express what faith is, trust, confidence, and so forth.

[07:03]

But we don't like the term blind faith, you know, because faith should come through understanding. Like Buddha says, don't take what I say as the truth without investigating it yourself. Don't have blind faith in what I say. you should investigate yourself. So to investigate yourself is to have faith or confidence because the actual investigation is the path itself. So, but in a sense it is blind, ultimately blind, but because we human beings have fallen from the Garden of Eden and we have the knowledge of good and evil, we have to weigh those two, right?

[08:36]

But if you are no longer then blind faith is okay because it's the true seeing, actually. When you investigate totally through finding your way by investigation, you will end up with blind faith at the end. just total trust without having to figure it out. Anyway, so lack of faith is one of the eight major afflictions because it means you can't, there's nothing, you can't focus on the Dharma. You don't, faith, another word for faith is belief, but we don't like the word belief.

[09:40]

I don't like the word belief because it means you have to believe in something, right? But it does have a place. Belief. You believe that what you have faith in is something that you should have faith in. So that's belief. So the next one is laziness. Laziness, laxness, and torpor, you know, are related. And these are the inhibitors. These are the blockers. They don't allow you to proceed. Laziness is like, oh well, You know, I'd rather stay here than do that.

[10:47]

So it's a kind of lack of impetus. You don't have the impetus. And the reason that you don't have the impetus is because your faith is actually very weak. You may have some faith, but it's weak. not strong, because you may not see, or we may not see, the danger of complacency, the inability to arouse yourself. I know that I should do that, but oh well. So it's a kind of indolence. Laying in bed, you know, till noon. Putting on your bathrobe. There's a bathrobe culture.

[11:54]

Watching TV. New bathrobe. I'll do it tomorrow. I want to get to the Zen, though, but I'll do it tomorrow. That's laziness. Laxness is, although you have something, you allow it to drop. You allow it to atrophy. So this really applies to a structure. Laxness applies to structure. In order to keep something together, So structure is using practice as an example. Formality is the structure of practice. So laxness means something like, well, let's see, we always bow, but I won't bow this time.

[13:01]

you know, what if I don't bow? Who's going to care, you know? Or, we always do that, you know, do we have to keep doing that? Or, I know I'm late, but I'll be on time tomorrow, but it turns out that every day I'm late, you know, that's laxness. but just kind of letting down, you know, and you let down once and that's okay. You let down twice and then you let down the third time and it's a habit. You let something go the third time and it's a habit. And then pretty soon we just get into the habit of laxness. And then pretty soon the structure of our practice starts coming apart at the seams. And then pretty soon, we don't have much of a practice anymore.

[14:06]

So the formality, the rules, so to speak, the structure is what really keeps things together. If you are too rigid, that's not so good either. But there has to be some ease within the structure, some ease within the formality, when you can practice formality as if it was not formality, then the practice becomes your own. So I don't really see formality as formality. I just see it as a kind of sweet way of doing things that keeps everything, holds everything together as a structure. So this is also, laxness is also a kind of distancing or weakening of faith in the structure.

[15:25]

We should be able to do practice without the formal structure, then we enter that form and that form creates the atmosphere for practice and when the atmosphere and the structure is tight then the spirit is strong. when the atmosphere and the structure is loose or loses its potency, then the practice becomes weak or the spirit becomes weak. So the third one is torpor. Torpor is kind of a haziness. or it's a little different from laziness.

[16:30]

Laziness, you can still be alert, but torpor is lack of alertness or hazy is pretty good. If you smoke pot, it leads to torpor. although there is some wonderful effects, still the general effect is torpor. You kind of sit down and you fall into a kind of daze. it's an inability to move yourself. So these three are related and the three block your energy and then the next four

[17:36]

like restlessness is energy that can't find a place to settle. This is one of the biggest barriers for people coming to practice, is restlessness. Sometimes when we have a wedding, we ask people to sit for five minutes, the guests to sit for five minutes before we start the ceremony. And I've had people say, that's the longest I've ever sat still in my life without moving. And it's very true, you know, movement is the fundamental thing in this world. Nothing stays still.

[18:50]

Even in Zazen, it's movement. But within the movement is stillness. To find the stillness within the movement and to be able to settle on some place without the need to be carried off. is restlessness, is a hindrance to practice. It's not being able to control yourself. And we say the monkey mind. The mind is always jumping around. And this is the big complaint that people have in practice. No matter how long we've been practicing, the complaint is, but my mind is always jumping around like a monkey when I sit in zazen.

[19:55]

And I have to say again, that Zazen is the tether for the monkey. When you sit down, you put a leash around the monkey, somewhere around the monkey, the neck or the wrist or the foot, ankle, so that although the monkey jumps, he can't go anywhere. then pretty soon the monkey, you know, you have to train the monkey. So I think we should write a book, How to Train the Monkey, so that the monkey will settle and sit down with you. But we shouldn't, you know, the monkey, hang on the trees and you know do all those wonderful things, which is good.

[21:02]

So you don't want to discourage the monkey from its nature or train it in a way that's not compatible with its nature. We don't want to damage the monkey, And instead of you doing what the monkey wants, the monkey should do what you want the monkey to do. This is called controlling the mind. But we don't control the mind by taping the mouth of the monkey, or by putting chains on the monkey, or by beating the monkey, or by scolding the monkey, or thinking the monkey's bad.

[22:05]

It's just, the monkey's your friend. And there needs to be some gentle persuasion and some incentive for the monkey to be able to sit with you quietly. So while you're sitting Zazen, the monkey's playing. That's okay. The nature of the monkey is to jump around and play. It's kind of that restlessness. So there has to be some room for the monkey to play. So the monkey jumps, and you say, oh, that's nice. Isn't that sweet? Isn't that cute? And then you keep your eye on the monkey, but you pay attention to Zazen. If you try to, that monkey is really slippery.

[23:09]

If you try to grab hold of him, he, you know, and, oh, I've got him now. So I remember one time in the attic at Zen Center, when we had the place of Zen Dojo on Dwight Way in the attic, the cats would sometimes come and go. And so one time the cat came into the attic and somebody said, the cat should not be in the attic. So he chased the cat around the attic while we were all sitting down and he was chasing the cat around the attic. And he could never catch the cat, you know, but he was just stumbling and falling all over himself trying to catch this cat. He could never catch the cat. It was very funny, very kind of tragic in a way. But if you just let the cat come in, the cat will do its thing and get in your lap and go out the door. So this is how we treat the monkey.

[24:12]

The monkey comes in. The monkey can't get out of your mind, but it's kind of captivated in there. But it will find a place to settle down. It'll move around. Don't pay any attention to it. I mean, you have to pay attention, but don't get caught up with the monkey, the cat. Just keep coming back. And then there'll be some harmony. between the monkey and Zazen. Just don't get upset. Anyway, that's restlessness. So, allow yourself to settle. But you don't have to try to capture the mind. And then the next one is distraction. Distraction.

[25:14]

Being carried off. You know, something wonderful goes by. Oh, she's beautiful. Oh, he's really handsome. I'll go follow that. or, geez, I made thousands of dollars. Maybe I can, if I really put my mind to it, I can make more. That's a distraction. Wanting more and more, wanting, always getting, looking at something better than what you have. I was talking to somebody, yesterday and he had this high-class car and so he decided that he didn't really need that car anymore. So he sold that car and bought a less expensive car and he told that to somebody and the person said, you mean you're grading down instead of up?

[26:26]

So distractions are all around us. And it's really hard to have your sights someplace and follow that beam and not get pulled off the path by something. The world is full of temptations. Really hard to stay on the path when there's so many interesting things. No. Practice is not interesting. Sazen is not interesting. And there's so many interesting things. It's amazing that people can stay practicing when there's so many interesting things to pull you around. I have to hand it to you. Sometimes I'm really amazed. So this distraction affects everyone and it's really hard.

[27:38]

So this is where faith has to be really strong, otherwise you get into a vortex. A vortex is like this and it creates we all get pulled into one vortex or another depending on our disposition and desires or lack of them. So if we don't have something, a beam, a very strong beam that has a point somewhere, then when we pass a vortex we get sucked into it. I mean, it's so obvious, and there are millions of vortexes to get pulled into.

[28:40]

So it's very hard to stay, and then we go this way. But we stay going in a straight line. But sometimes our line is like this. Most of us, it's like that. So the next one is improper knowledge. I don't know if that's a good translation or not, but I think it's like it's not so much that your knowledge is improper, but it's that you interpret it improperly. You may be spouting something that you don't understand or it's like harboring dogmatic opinions that are not really your own, they're simply opinions. Suzuki Roshi talked about opinions and he said, my teacher, when he said something very strong, he said,

[29:55]

He didn't say, this is the truth. He would say, in my opinion. As long as you say, this is my opinion, then you acknowledge that it's simply an opinion. And then you can be very determined about it. But if you say, this is the truth, or this is real, or this is right, without acknowledging that it's only your opinion, then that's to be caught by improper knowledge. And it's also sticking to literalness. If you interpret the Bible literally, that's heresy in my opinion. Religious stories are meant to be metaphorical. to point out some reality or some truth.

[31:08]

But it's always open to interpretation. It's meant to be interpreted. If you read the Blue Cliff Record or study the koans in Zen, if you take them all literally, that's heretical. they're meant to point out something. If you think that Bodhidharma actually cut off his arm in the snow and presented it to Bodhidharma who said, hmm, if you believe that literally, that's improper knowledge. If you think that Nansen actually cut the cat in two, that's improper knowledge. The stories are meant to be dramatic, to make a point.

[32:12]

Maybe he did cut the cat in two. But you don't know that. If you say, I know that, or believe, I know that he cut the candidate, that's improper knowledge, but he may have. And the last one is scatteredness. It means the mind is latching on to one thing after another and cannot sustain a steadiness, can't stay focused. So this is really very distant from faith because the mind is looking for something to believe in, something to attach to or to find a resting place

[33:23]

or a place that will afford a foundation, and it goes from one thing to another. This is called shopping, in one sense it's called shopping. Today, when I started practicing, Zen Center was the only place to find an alternative practice place, almost. Now there are hundreds and thousands of them, and so shopping is pretty easy. You go to this place and you get a little bit of this, and then you go to the next place and you get a little bit of that, and you put them all in your basket and you think you have something. but all you have is little pieces of this and that.

[34:27]

And when they're put together, they're not a real thing. So to focus on one practice, whether it's good or bad, whether it's right or wrong, whether it's is the best or that are not, to just stay with that. Because it's you that you're studying through the practice. It's not like by studying some practice you're going to gain something or learn something. You can learn all kinds of things. But practice is something beyond learning. To have a focused practice means that there is a focus. And through that focus, you will understand good, you will understand bad, you will understand right, you will understand wrong, you will feel good, you will feel bad, but you'll be studying the self.

[35:36]

Not just gaining knowledge about many things. Gaining knowledge about many things is okay. but only if you have your own faith in your own practice. Otherwise, you're just hopping around from this thing to that thing, from this discipline to that discipline. And in the end, you end up with nothing. I don't say you should do this practice. you should do some practice and stay with it. And the practice will get really difficult for you at some point. And when it gets really difficult, then it's real practice. And when you can stay with it, when the winds are blowing, and the storm is pushing you around.

[36:42]

That's real practice because it pulls something out of you instead of you trying to collect things to put in your basket. So a scatteredness, the mind is divided against itself or can be divided against itself. So it's a kind of confusion, leads to a kind of confusion, mixed up. So those are the eight major grade afflictions according to Vasubandhu's 100 dharmas associated with the mind. Do you have any questions? Yeah, Gary. Can you speak? That was only seven, I thought. Oh yeah? You may be right. It's eight.

[37:43]

Eight. It's eight. Then three, then four. Three and four and one. Faith is the first one. Laziness, laxness, torpor, restlessness, distraction, improper knowledge, and scatteredness. That comes under a different category, but it's there. Yes? Well, it means that you have to respond. When we get to a difficult place, what we want to do, our natural tendency often is to escape. When you can't get to an impossible place, the tendency is to want to escape.

[38:44]

So to be able to stay there and face the difficulty is what I mean. So that brings forth a very strong spirit to be able to see something through in that way rather than turn away or find another way that seems better. Does that make sense? you're something that you didn't know you had, a kind of determination that you didn't know you had. Ross? How can one discern Harfrit from laziness? Well,

[39:49]

discern preference from laziness. That's not laziness, that's laxness. Well, preference in a dharmic sense means something that is for your own benefit.

[41:06]

That's preference in that sense. when you see that something needs to be done like washing the dishes or collecting the teacups or setting them out or whatever, you may say, well, I don't want to do that. That's preference. You may think, I don't want to do that, but for the benefit of everyone else, I'll do it. That's a kind of preference, but it's a good preference. So we don't say that's preference, it's like going beyond preference. And then, because the teacups need to be washed, you wash them, that's non-preference. Just because they need to be washed. And even more pure non-preference is, even though they don't need to be washed, I'll wash them anyway.

[42:11]

It seems to be related to faith in practice. It seems related, as you said, faith is associated with all those dharmas, that there's faith in doing the teacups, whether they are clean or not, having faith that there's something to be done. Yes, it's just that they're doing something just for the sake of the doing. How do you practice with torpor? Because it's kind of self-reinforcing. Yeah, with torpor, it makes it very hard to practice. But with torpor, it's kind of like the lack of desire to practice. It's getting down to where you don't have the impetus to get up to practice.

[43:18]

So I don't know what you do with it. You kind of stumble around until, unless if you have people to help you, that might work, but you may have to fall into a hole before you can wake up. So you stumble along until something hits you on the head. and then hopefully that helps to wake you up. Because torpor is a kind of sleep. It's like when you, I don't know if you have a computer that has the button that is the sleep button. then everything goes to sleep, you know, but it's still alive. And then you press the button and it comes back to life. That's kind of torpor is like that, you know, you have to, when the right button is pressed, then you come back to life. I might have missed something because I've got my hearing aids.

[44:29]

But if you approach the teacups, It can also be called anally compulsive. But I'm not talking about it in a compulsive way. Simply, it's just an example, right, of just doing something.

[45:34]

Don't take it literally. Don't take it literally. It's an example of just doing something for the sake of itself without thinking about what it will do for you. You don't have to. Unless you don't have anything else to do. Linda. Is faith different from polishing the tile hoping it will become a jewel? You don't polish the tile hoping to become a Buddha. It's simply polishing the tile to make a jewel, because the tile, to make a tile into a tile,

[46:41]

So the problem is polishing the tile. That's a good thing? Yeah. Polishing the tile to make it into a tile is... So faith is actually hopeless? Hopeless, yes. That's right. It's hopeless. Total hopelessness. I was thinking about the monkey. and the care of the monkey, not the care and breeding of the monkey, but the care of the monkey. And I was thinking that it should be on a harness, not on an ankle shackle or a choke chain. And no treats for the monkey until after Zazen, right? Yeah, that's right. That's right. No treat until after Zazen. Actually, that's a good point.

[47:48]

If you really make friends with the monkey, you don't need a leash or a harness or anything like that, and the monkey will understand your relationship. just like, you know, but to train the monkey in the beginning, you need that. In the beginning, you need that. It's like there's this wonderful, I'm going to end with this. I can't remember this monk's name in the Tang dynasty, but he studied on Mount And he said, for 30 years, I was on Mount Guishan. And I studied, and all I did was tend an ox.

[48:54]

And when the ox, this ox had a mind of his own. And whenever he ran off and trampled on people's fields, I hauled him back. went off into some other venue, I hauled him back. Whenever he started doing nasty things, I hauled him back. And then he said, but then at some point, or now, he's just a patient white ox that just hangs around me all the time. And even if I try and chase him away, he won't go. So I can go over that again. When I was studying about Isan, I didn't do anything but tendon ox and I ate Isan's food and I shit Isan's shit.

[50:01]

That's what he said. But all I did was tendon ox. And when he did all these things, I hold him back. And now he just hangs around in front of my face all the time. And when I try to shoo him away, he won't go. He's so kind and gentle and sweet. So, you know.

[50:20]

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