The seventh day of our Sashin, called Rohatsu, which is commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment. We always have this at the end of the year, this seven-day sitting. Buddha's enlightenment is celebrated on the 8th of December. Today is the 9th and we had our ceremony yesterday commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment. And today we end our sitting. So we've been sitting all day and into the night for seven days. What happened? My lecture today is going to end my talks, so my lecture will be directed towards the participants, mostly.

[01:27]

So during Sashin, I've been talking about Gakudo Yujinshu, five points, five major points of how we should pay attention to practice. Five major points gleaned from Dogen's Shobo Genso, and his other works, on the meaning of practice and enlightenment. clarifying the meaning of birth and death, and repentance, meaning of repentance, release through repentance, precepts and enlightenment, the vow to save all beings before you

[02:56]

cross over yourself. And the fifth one, which I will talk about today, is called constant practice and gratitude. Maybe it should be the other way around. Gratitude and constant practice. There are several elements here. But I'll read you what Dogen has to say. little bit. Dogen says, the opportunity to awaken to the Bodhi mind, the mind of enlightenment, is in general reserved for human beings living in this world. Now that we have had the good fortune not only to be born in this world, but also to come into contact with the Buddha, Shakyamuni, how can we be anything but overjoyed?

[04:02]

Quietly consider the fact that if this were a time when the true law had not yet spread throughout the world, it would be impossible for us to come into contact with it. Even if we were willing to sacrifice our lives to do so, how fortunate to have been born in this present day when we are able to make this encounter. So, for Dogen, expressing gratitude to the Buddhas and ancestors is a very important aspect of enlightened practice. Sometimes people like to, you know, are not so interested in expressing gratitude. And not so interested in paying attention to the tradition that the practice comes from.

[05:13]

People sometimes say, well, now that practice is here in America, we can do whatever we want with it. Why should we pay attention to where it comes from or who gave it to us? There is this attitude. And also the attitude of, well, now that it's American, we should change everything to suit our own way, which is logical, but not very enlightened. Suzuki Roshi used to, people would, you know, he would encounter this all the time from people. He said, you people are very egotistical. You want to take something that's taken thousands of years to develop and suddenly turn it into your own thing.

[06:25]

Without any kind of feeling of gratitude for where all this came from or how it was developed or what is the meaning. You want to turn it into another American fad and then go on. So Dogen says, we are now able to come into contact with the Buddha Shakyamuni and hear his teachings due to the compassionate kindness that has resulted from the constant practice of each of the Buddhas and ancestors. If the Buddhas and ancestors had not directly transmitted the law, how could it have come down to us today? we should be grateful for even a single phrase or portion of the law, still more for the great benefit accruing from the highest supreme teaching." And then he says, the true way of expressing this gratitude is not to be found in anything other than our daily Buddhist practice itself.

[07:40]

That is to say, we should practice selflessly, esteeming each day of life. It's a well-known thing that the way that one repays their kindness to their teachers is through their practice. You know, for a monk's practice, a monk is completely dependent on the charity of people for livelihood. So a monk's practice is to study the Dharma and teach the Dharma to people and keep the Dharma alive in the world. That's the monk's role. And if people think that's worthwhile, then they feed the monk.

[08:46]

If they don't think it's worthwhile, they don't feed the monk. And the monk has no other means of support. So in our meal chant, we come across this line that says, we hope that our virtue and practice deserve this food. That comes from the monk's practice. The only thing that the monk has force to elicit support is their virtue and their practice. That's all. And so we say, we hope that our virtue and practice are enough to merit the fact that people are offering this food. So if the practice is no good, monks will starve.

[09:53]

But if the practice is good, the monks will always be supported. So a monk has great faith in virtue and practice. One of the most important aspects of practice is faith. Faith that if your practice is genuine, you'll always be supported. And if not, you won't. That's the chance you have to take. So, when you go to work, you get paid in money, or some kind of goods. And that's your support. And if you're a student of the Dharma, and your teacher is teaching, and you're a student of the teacher, then the way to repay the kindness of the teacher is to practice, and offer a little support to the teacher.

[11:23]

You offer a little support to the teacher in your practice. But the best way, very best way, even if you can't offer more than a nickel, the best way is through your practice. That's how the teacher knows that it feels the most gratified. So Dogen says, time flies faster than an arrow. Life is more transient than the dew. No matter how skillful you may be, it is impossible to bring back even a single day of the past. To have lived to be 100 years old to no purpose is to eat of the bitter fruit of time, to become a pitiable bag of bones. Even though you have allowed yourself to be a slave to your senses for a hundred years, if you give yourself over to Buddhist training for even one day, you will gain a hundred years of life in this world as well as in the next.

[12:37]

Each day's life should be esteemed. The body should be respected. It is through our body and mind that we are able to practice the way. This is why that body and mind should be loved and respected. So people sometimes think, well, this is pretty ascetic practice. Maybe we shouldn't eat. Sometimes people come to Sashin and they don't want to eat. They want to fast, which is good for you. But we should take care of this body and treat it very well, because it's the instrument of practice. In the meal chant we say, we eat to support life and to practice the way of Buddha. That's the primary reason for eating. To support life.

[13:41]

And this form of life. This is this form. We also feed each other and support other forms of life. We eat to support life and to practice the way of Buddha. That's the biggest reason for eating, when you practice. So, taking care of our body. Although, you know, a lot of monasteries don't eat so well. People don't eat so well. In some monasteries they do. Sometimes, The monks just eat rice and pickles and soup all day, twice a day. Sometimes monasteries have a lot of lay supporters who give them a lot of nice food.

[14:42]

So sometimes the monks like to live in that monastery where they have a lot of lay supporters. Nice food. But sometimes a very good monastery is a place where the food is not so good. But it's not so good for the monks. They get sick. So when Suzuki Roshi and the other priests came to America, they were happy to see that, to help us to work out a good diet, you know, healthy diet for people so that they could practice well and easily. And so we worked out, over a period of 30 years, a diet, a monastic diet that works very well for people. And part of that is making the bread from the Tassajara bread bakery and the Tassajara recipes. All that comes out of developing a monastic diet that people from all over the world could agree on.

[15:53]

and eat in a secluded place where you can't go to the store. And so that took many years. It's still going on. It's still developing. That's part of the menu of all the Zen centers. It's still being developed. So if you're a cook, in the Zen Center, you should pay attention to what people have done in the past, not just invent your own recipe. Because all those recipes have been worked out to satisfy a great number of people from a lot of different places who can agree on what's good. So, he says, it is through our own practice, it is through our own practice that the practice of the various Buddhas appears and their great way reaches us.

[17:14]

You know, there are books about Buddhism and there are the sayings of the old teachers but it's actually through our own practice that the Buddhas appear. Buddha appears in this world through our practice, not exactly through the literature, but through our own practice, which I'll explain in a few moments. Therefore, each day of our practice is the same as theirs. The seed of realizing Buddhahood All the various Buddhas are none other than the Buddha Shakyamuni himself. The Buddha Shakyamuni is nothing other than the fact that the mind itself is the Buddha. When the Buddhas of the past, present, and future realize enlightenment, they never fail to become the Buddha Shakyamuni. This is the meaning of the mind itself being the Buddha.

[18:20]

Study this question carefully, for it is in this way that you can express your gratitude to the Buddhas. The meal chant, the old meal chant, the original meal chant that we had, you know, in our present meal chant, we say homage to Shakyamuni Buddha, but in the old one it said, homage to all the numerous, the innumerable Shakyamuni Buddhas all over the world. Referring to the fact that when you practice Shakyamuni Buddha's practice, you are Shakyamuni Buddha. As well as being Marian and Ted, you are Shakyamuni Buddha. Actually, you are Shakyamuni Buddha more than you are Mary or Ted.

[19:24]

When Mary and Ted are gone, there's always Shakyamuni Buddha. Your true nature is the true nature of Shakyamuni Buddha, and there's absolutely no difference. So we say, Sentient beings and Buddhas are not two. This is fundamental understanding. And as Dogen says, this very mind is Buddha. It's the same thing. You can say this very body is Buddha. This is Buddha's body. This is also Buddha's mind. But it doesn't manifest until we practice Dharma. It doesn't manifest as Buddha's body and mind until we practice Dharma. So, the meaning of this mind is Buddha can be explained in various ways.

[20:41]

Mind has two aspects, small mind and big mind. Small mind is our everyday discriminating consciousness in its various aspects. And big mind is our fundamental Buddha nature. which is supporting the whole universe. Not just supporting the whole universe, it's the integral aspect of every created thing. So we say, my own mind is the mind of the universe.

[21:48]

Each one of us can say this. This mind is the mind of the whole universe. So on the one hand we have big mind, and the other we have small mind. And small mind, our individual consciousness, is an expression of big mind. Buddha nature, the mind of the universe, there's absolutely no difference. So we have the five, we have various levels of consciousness which we call our mind. The five sense consciousnesses, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, feeling, and the sixth is thinking. And the seventh is

[22:54]

a sense of self, self-consciousness, called ego. And the eighth is the storehouse consciousness, called alaya consciousness, where all the seeds of our actions, all the memory and personality is stored, is sometimes called subconscious. So psychology deals with these aspects of consciousness. This is consciousness in the realm of delusion. Delusion and enlightenment, we have to be careful because when we say delusion, it doesn't mean bad. And when we say enlightenment, it doesn't mean good.

[23:57]

We should not attach these characteristics to delusion and enlightenment. Delusion, in this sense, means the realm of discrimination, where things are not seen completely. And so, since they're not seen completely, it's hard to understand. It's hard to understand who we really are, because we only see from a partial standpoint. So this is the realm of delusion, which is driven by consciousness. Sense doors receive information. And then the discriminating mind divides and separates. And so we have the eyes see, the ears hear, the tongue tastes, the nose smells.

[25:08]

If you didn't have the discriminating consciousness, the tongue would see, the ear would hear. The ear would smell. It would smell through your ear. Master Tozan says, when you can hear through your eyes and see through your nose, you will understand. And discriminating consciousness creates a scenario. and tells us what everything is based on the paltry information that we receive through our senses. It's not much. It's really not much. And it's very illusory. The senses are somewhat reliable, but not completely.

[26:22]

We easily mistake a rope for a snake. You know, you may see something dangling from a tree in the dark, and if you come from a place where there are a lot of snakes, that's a snake. But when you get up close, you find out it's just a rope, This is a very widely understood simile in Buddhism. And the seventh consciousness is the consciousness of self-consciousness. I am this person made up of these elements and I am a substantial thing. and the world revolves around my center. This is ego.

[27:27]

And we all have it. You have the feeling that the world revolves around your center. That is your center. The world does revolve around your center, but that's not the center of everything. It's the center of you. Everybody's world revolves. And then all these auras meet each other, interact. It's kind of nice. But where is the center of the universe? Then we have the alaya consciousness, which is not exactly a consciousness, but it's subconscious. And all of our actions create karma. And the karma creates seeds for the next action, like a tree. It draws nutrition and then drops its seeds.

[28:30]

And the seeds are all stored. Everything we do creates some kind of seed. And then at the right time, when the rain comes, they're watered. And then when the conditions are right, they sprout. And we have what we call habits. And our habit energy keeps pouring out because we're continually watering the seeds through our actions and creating new seeds. And the seeds keep sprouting and our actions come flooding out, driven by our past karma. So this is consciousness in the realm of delusion. because it's delusion, not because it's bad, but because it's partial and divided. When we become enlightened, the five senses become... the eight consciousnesses become the four wisdoms.

[29:51]

So we don't call them consciousness anymore, we call them wisdom, because they're operating in a non-dualistic way. So when we say turning on a basis, when there's this turning from delusion to wholeness or enlightenment, or non-duality, then the five senses become the wisdom produced through activity. Our activity is no longer in the realm of delusion. What we see, hear, taste, touch, and feel are no longer delusive. And our actions stem from non-dualistic center and Mind consciousness sixth one when it turns It's called the wisdom of Discernment Seeing each thing as it really is in its individuality Without

[31:18]

being fooled by discrimination. And the seventh consciousness, the ego, when it turns, it becomes the wisdom of equality, to see everything as equal, the equal characteristic of things. So, mind consciousness sees everything in its individuality is different. And the ego consciousness, when it turns, sees everything as equal. Unless you can see both ways, you're still in the realm of discrimination. to be able to see everything as equal and at the same time as unique, the unique quality of each thing.

[32:27]

And the alaya vijnana, the storehouse consciousness, becomes the great wisdom mirror to reflect everything just as it is. To reflect everything just as it is means without impartiality, just the way a mirror sees without changing anything. In the realm of discrimination, when we see something, we invent a story about what it is. Our minds are usually not clear and open enough to just see things just as they are. So discriminating mind is the same mind as Buddha's mind, as enlightened mind. They're not two different things. So when we say this very mind is Buddha, it means the discriminating mind of the consciousnesses

[33:44]

are the same mind as the Buddha mind. And when there's a turning to non-discrimination, then enlightenment comes forth. This is a kind of crude model for explaining this. mind is Buddha mind. This very discriminating mind is Buddha mind. But in order for enlightenment to manifest, it has to turn around. And what disappears is ego. It all turns around this seventh consciousness, ego consciousness, this sense of I. So in Buddhism, the point is always to let go of this ego consciousness, not grasping onto ego consciousness.

[35:02]

There is a place for ego. You know, there's a place. But ego is like a bad boy that doesn't know its place. And gets really out of hand. And thinks it's running the show. Wants to run the show. So you sit over there. Stop that. Very hard. If you ever had children, you know how hard it is. You're the same way, and I'm the same way. It's really hard for us to behave. It's hard for us to let ego reduce, you know, it gets blown up, and reduce it to its proper size, so it can participate nicely with things.

[36:10]

allow ourself to. There's also a ninth consciousness in some systems. They talk about a ninth consciousness. Ninth consciousness is when the whole eight consciousnesses are turned, then there's pure mind, which is pure Buddha nature. When we actually are able to do this, then the mind of enlightenment embodies the mind of faith. Faith arises through this confidence. Faith is at the center of enlightenment. It's very important to have faith in the fact that this mind is Buddha.

[37:25]

But you can't contrive faith. You can't believe in something. You can, but we don't say, you should believe in such and such. You should believe that mind is Buddha. No. When you experience mind is Buddha, then your whole body and mind will be the body and mind of faith. It will just arise. It's like when you do something, you don't know if you can do it well. But yeah, you take a chance. And, you know, you learn to ride your bike when you're a little kid. You don't know if you can do it or not, but you get on it and you start riding. And then you fall down a couple of times and you get back up. And after a while, You begin to get confidence. Yeah, I can ride my bike. And you have confidence. Confidence is an aspect of faith.

[38:30]

And you see what it can do. And without that confidence, you can't get on your bike again. You might fall down and skin your knee. and lose your confidence. And then you can't get back up. So everything we do is based on faith. Everything. You can't walk out the door without your walking being based on faith. You have the faith that you can get up off that seat and walk out the door. It is possible to not have it. You know, when you drive your car down the road, you have faith that everyone is going to pay attention to the rules. Even though you're watchful.

[39:38]

But if, at any one moment, everything could, people could just start going their own way. And it would be chaos. And that does happen. But we have this great faith. Society works on faith. Money works on faith. Money is total faith. So, what do we have faith in? Money? Society? If we have faith in money and society, why shouldn't we have faith in our true nature? But, you know, it seems a little mysterious to us.

[40:43]

True nature, Buddha nature, well, a little mysterious. So, it shouldn't be so mysterious. Through practice, through zazen, you resume or return to your true nature. When I say resume, you let go of everything and just sit there, immersed, in enlightenment. And you do have confidence in it. At some point, you will have faith in it. But don't conjure it up. Let it appear. then it would be genuine. This ninth consciousness is our unconditioned nature.

[42:36]

We are very immersed in our conditioned nature, the nature which is in the midst of conditions and always immersed in the realm of comparison, the realm of comparative values. The realm of comparative values is This is better than that. I like this more than I like that. This works and that doesn't. This is the realm of comparative values. Someone is short, someone else is tall. But the unconditioned realm is the realm beyond all comparison, where everything is completely equal. And this is the realm where we have to kind of feel our way. We're not so sure about that because we're so immersed in the realm of conditions that we're a little suspicious sometimes of trusting our unconditioned nature, which is beyond comparison.

[43:53]

So when we sit in Zazen, we resume our unconditioned nature. And that can be a little bit, we don't know what we're doing. What am I doing? I know it's okay, but I'm not sure what I'm doing. That arises and is, I think, normal. But at some point, you're able to have faith in your unconditioned nature, which is your true nature. It's the one thing that is not subject to change. All conditioned things are subject to change. How can you trust them? How can you have faith in conditioned things?

[44:55]

It's only the unconditioned that we can have faith in. Of course we have faith in the conditioned things too. If we understand what that is, we should hopefully trust each other even though we're all untrustworthy. It's true. We should trust each other even if we're untrustworthy. This is one of the problems of the world. You know, people perceive each other as being untrustworthy, and so they don't trust. It's a big problem. We have to be able to trust the untrustworthy. But we're afraid that something will happen to us if we do. And it will. But we have to be able to accept that too. When you really have trust in your unconditioned nature, you can do that more easily.

[46:20]

Because you see the unconditioned nature in the untrustworthy. So you can see Buddha nature in all the conditioning. You don't have to stop the world in order to see it. You can see it in the waves. Once you have experienced it in the clear water, you can also see it in the waves. So, when you address the untrustworthy, you should address their Buddha nature. If you address their Buddha nature, they may realize that there is such a thing. This is how you help sentient beings.

[47:25]

Treat everyone as Buddha. Even the worst types, so-called. Even people, this is how you can forgive people. How can I forgive people? If you see everyone as Buddha instead of as your enemy, then you can do that. It's not easy. And you'll always have problems. Yes? You know, I have a really hard time with people who hurt kids. Who do what to kids? Hurt kids. Who hurt kids? He took his girlfriend's three-year-old boy in a pot and put the pot on the stove. And the boy went to the hospital with third-degree burns.

[48:31]

And it's like, it's hard for me to treat. How do we deal with people like this? Well, one of the problems is that those people have never seen the nature of things. Or they've had so much cruelty on themselves that they don't know what to do with it. And they project it on someone else. There are a lot of reasons. Yeah, I'm not talking about the reasons why they do what I'm talking about. How can somebody do that? No, not how can somebody do that. How can we relate to people like that? with compassion. No, that's not compassion. Compassion has many forms.

[49:36]

The compassionate thing may be to lock somebody up. The compassionate thing may be to hit someone. The compassionate thing may be to sit down and talk to somebody. But no matter how you're dealing with somebody, to always be able to not lose sight of their Buddha nature. So that whatever punishment or whatever they need that is restrictive is still done without losing sight of compassion. So That's the only way that we can deal with our anger, or our retribution, or our resentment, or our feeling for justice.

[50:40]

Just when someone does something, the thing that rises up in us is, I'll show them, I'll give them what they gave such and such. So what you're doing is bringing the same power into the world as you're matching power for power. So you may have some personal satisfaction you feel, but actually you're bringing into the world the same power as in a reaction. So how do you avoid that? How do you avoid starting war? You have to practice peace all the time, not just when something comes up. It has to be constant practice. A finite being with an ego and all the limitations that we're all there to,

[51:49]

How do I decide that the most compassionate thing is to hit somebody? How do I know that I'm acting out of anything other than my own ego? Well, supposing someone's choking your baby. And there's nothing you can do except pick up a stick and hit him over the head. Right? Compassionate. Well, through a corrective it would seem to... to be around such aberrant, nightmarish phenomena.

[53:04]

My goodness, this is getting gnarled. What I'm trying to say is to imagine, as best one can, the living hell that a person is suffering through, who can behave as a man did. Imagine the torment of his life. To have a mom is so distorted and cruel. And so the compassion would be equal with him as to the baby. It's a lot easier for me to have compassion for the baby. It's a lot easier for me to have compassion for the baby. We all have our limitations and our abilities. So in the process of our practice, we try to be more and more open and unlimited.

[54:22]

So it's important to bring enlightenment into the world. And there are various ways to do that and to act in an enlightened way. And Buddha has compassion for everyone. You know, if you're a Christian, Christ has compassion for everyone. Not just the people you like. I don't want to carry this on any longer. That's what I'm talking about. And we can all see our limitations in that. I'm limited too. You're limited, I'm limited. Nevertheless, this is how we do it.

[55:26]

And sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail. And we're all successes and we're all failures. And our failures should help us to be successful. But whether we're successful or not, practice is just practice. We just do our best and continue. And this is like constant practice. This is what Dogen means by constant practice. Not to be attached to your success, not to be attached to your failure, and to bring enlightenment into the world. Realize your own mind.

[56:22]

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