Well, this evening we're going to take up precept number eight, the last one. It's not the last precept, but it's the last one we're taking up. And it's the precept about generosity. I think we say not to be avaricious. That's one way to express it. It's often expressed as, don't withhold the teaching, don't withhold the dharma, and don't withhold material things. So it's kind of a long title. So, in short, not to be stingy. Sometimes it's translated as, don't be stingy, no stinginess.

[01:05]

So, avariciousness is a kind of hoarding or keeping things to yourself and not sharing them. So, in some way, the precept is about sharing. Don't be stingy. Don't be avaricious by collecting a lot of things for yourself and withholding them from others. And on the positive side, to be generous and to share with others. So, Ekin Roshi says, don't spare the Dharma assets. That's his way of speaking. Dharma assets. Assets are what you have. So whatever you have. Dharma has several meanings.

[02:12]

Dharma means things. Dharma with a small d means things, actually. Everything. a piece of the universe. Everything is a little speck of the universe. But if you add up all those things, all those decimals, they don't make the universe. the whole universe is in each decimal. So Dharma, the capital D, is the law pertaining to the dharmas, is the dharma of the dharmas.

[03:30]

So Dharma, with a capital D, actually means the law of the universe, or the law of reality. And scientists study it from the point of view of their discipline. And in the spiritual realm, we explore it. from the point of view of religion or spiritual practice. But it's all about the Dharma or the laws of the universe, not just the physical laws, but the way things work and happen. And in Buddhism, a lot of it is about the law of karma, the law of cause and effect. The early Buddhists had a list of dharmas which included emotional and mental dharmas, and the dharmas that are most common to a human being.

[04:57]

And through the study of these dharmas and the way they interact, They studied the human self, the self, in order to reassure themselves that there was no self. They studied what is the self in the most minute way, both physically and emotionally, and And the study of Abhidhamma is to study the self so thoroughly that you come to the end and realize that there is no substantial self, just dharmas. They're just dharmas interacting. So our understanding

[06:04]

in the law and Buddhist teaching is the Dharma, with a capital D. So, in order to help people, we try to educate them or to have them realize what is so. And this is sharing the Dharma assets So everyone, I think I talked about this last week, that everyone is in a different place as far as our understanding goes and as far as how much we have accomplished or learned or realized in our practice. I did talk about this.

[07:08]

I talked about Mahakasyapa in Buddha's time. Mahakasyapa was Buddha's disciple and how he was walking in this noble way. And this gentleman was so fascinated with the way he was walking that he stopped him and he said, What is it that gives you this bearing? And Mahakasyapa says, well, I've been studying with the Buddha, with Gautama the Buddha. And he said, well, what is the teaching of the Buddha that gives you this? Well, at first, he said, well, what do you know that gives you this? He says, well, I don't know very much, because I've only been practicing for a little while. I don't really know much." And so the man said, well, what do you know?

[08:15]

What does your teacher teach? And he said, well, the only thing that I really know from what my teacher has taught is that all created things will... nothing that's created will last. In other words, everything changes, is what my teacher taught me. Whatever comes into being disappears from existence. That's the only thing I know. And this is what gives me... and my realization of this is what... He probably is not even self-conscious that he had this unnoble bearing. but just through his understanding, and by being who he was, he was spreading the Dharma, not holding anything back, not particularly teaching anything, but just through his being and his actions, conveying the Dharma.

[09:32]

So, in a way, through our practice, We're always conveying the Dharma. We're always conveying something. I remember when Suzuki Roshi, people asked Suzuki Roshi one time about why he wears his robes. He said, And I might as well wear something that conveys my role in life, which is to be a priest, a Buddhist priest. And when people see this, they connect with it in some way. or it gives people an opportunity to be curious about what the dharma is, and that there's actually somebody practicing dharma.

[10:57]

In the meal chant, the way that the meal chant is translated is a lot of paraphrasing. It's not completely accurate as far as coming from the Chinese. And where it says, the natural order of mind, which is that wonderful phrase, that's a kind of paraphrase. And the Chinese actually says something like, this gift, which it talks about a giving. generosity, which is generosity toward the meals. The generosity of the donors to the monks, and the monks' response to the donors.

[12:31]

And it says, the three wheels of giver, receiving, and the gift are all empty. The three wheels of giver, receiver, and the gift given are all empty. And this is like the non-dualistic understanding of generosity, is that When the giver gives, there's just giving without any idea about it. And when the receiver receives, there's just receiving without any idea about it. And the gift itself is something that

[13:41]

is no one is attaching to. There's no attachment to the gift from either the giver or the receiver. When the monks do Takahatsu, or begging in Japan, they wear the hat, big straw hat. So people don't really, you know, the hat comes pretty low. So, you know, they don't look at each other. You know, you walk along and you ring the bell and you do some chanting through the town and you come to the doors and you ring the bell at the door and do a chant and then somebody will either tell you to go away or they'll go into the house and give you some money or something. But you don't look, the person that's giving and the receiver don't look at each other. And when the monk receives whatever it is, the offering, then the monk does a chant.

[14:55]

He doesn't say thank you or anything. He just does a chant for the occasion. It's not that there is no... The feeling of gratitude is present. But there's no real expression of gratitude. And it's not like, thank you very much, you know. It's allowing the giver to give, actually. That sounds a little selfish. It's allowing the giver to give, and it's allowing the muck to receive. So it's not a personal thing. It's not really a personal thing. It's like a selfless, act on both sides. Yes. If there's no idea about giving, then why is it a good thing to do? Where does that come from, that it's a good thing to do?

[15:58]

It allows the person to be generous. When I say there's no, you know, in the act of giving and receiving, it's empty. the act is empty, but it allows the person who's giving to be generous for their sake. And that, but that's also, where does it come from that generous is a good thing to do? I mean, I have the sense that it is. I'm just asking, where is that? Feels, right? Yeah. Generosity, it's letting go. So, in order to be generous, it means that you're letting go of, you know, when you have something, you have to decide what to do with it. It's a decision.

[17:01]

When you have something, you have money, you have to decide what to do with it. And you can go buy something, And people will set a price on the article. And then you think that's fair or not fair, but you pay the money, and then you receive the article, right? That's tit for tat, so to speak. This for that. Which is one kind of... not necessarily any generosity in it, right? It's self-interest. But in giving for nothing, for no reason, no particular reason, or to giving and not getting anything back, that's generosity. So when there's giving with some idea of getting something or anything, you know, it's not

[18:09]

There are degrees of generosity, but pure generosity is just giving and forgetting. Just give and forget. So the letting go has something to do with the natural order of mind? Well, natural order of mind is a paraphrase. But yeah, I would say that natural order of mind is the non-dual mind. When we say natural, it's a wonderful phrase. I'm going to hate to let go. But it means the natural mind is the mind of non-clinging, the mind of non-duality. So if there's the slightest hook in a gift, then it's not really generosity. There's some self-interest.

[19:10]

It seems to me, too, that generosity is sort of an open response to the situation, that here's a monk who is hungry and needs food, just like compassion would be the open-hearted response to someone who is suffering, or a sympathetic joy to someone who is joyful. In a way, you know, the relationship between the laity and the monks, traditionally, in Buddhism does have a little bit of this for that. The monks, I mean, the laity support the monks. The monks go out every day and they beg. And somehow the monks then teach the lay people or provide the spiritual guidance for the lay people. So There is that aspect. And, you know, we say in the meal chant, we hope that our virtue and practice deserve this food.

[20:24]

That's the monk's hope, because that's the only support they have. So the monk is supported through the virtue of the practice. Traditionally, the monk is supported because of the virtue of his or her practice. And people see that and they say, well, yes, we will support that because it's inspiring to people. And that practice provides guidance for people's ethical and moral and spiritual life. Well, I'd like to go back to Karen's question, which you're responding to, but it's a question that I never can quite fully settle myself, that the emptiness, the no-idea quality of giving, the just giving, is what we're going for.

[21:30]

But the fact that it is just not attached to any idea of goodness, Is this some kind of well? And why is it good? It's good because it has all these effects, which you're talking about, but there's some place where it just isn't good, it's just empty. Yeah, it's just not good or bad. It's just not good or bad, yes. Which means that it's good, but there's no attachment to its being good. You can say, yes, it's good, you know, but there's no attachment to its being good. You may say it's bad, but there's no attachment to it being bad. So it's not... it's empty of those conditions. And so we say it's good because all these good effects fall from it,

[22:36]

Yes. Well, that's true. That's one level. So there's various levels. You have to realize there are various levels. On one level, it's a very good thing to give to a monk, because you're supporting the monk, and you feel very good supporting the monk. And it helps you to do that, and it helps the monk. That's the first level of precepts. The second level, the highest level of precepts, is there's no monk. There's no giver and there's no receiver. And that which is received is empty. That's the highest level. And then in between is bodhisattva practice. Well, how do you decide to give something or not give something? And to who? On each occasion, you have to make a decision. And that's where our life actually takes place. that is called the Hinayana and the Mahayana and the Buddha nature levels.

[23:49]

On the level of Buddha nature, there's no giver, there's no receiver. Three wheels are empty. But on the practical level, or the obvious level, there is a giver, there is a receiver, there's a gift. So you have to see it on the three levels, but the first level is obvious, but the other, the highest level is not obvious. Well, maybe it's this, I guess a way that I get into it is thinking of the three bodies of Buddha, the Dharmakaya and the Sambhogakaya, but somehow that empty, the completely empty realm still there's some expression of it. Yes, so the Dharmakaya is everything is empty. The Sambhogakaya, the Nirmanakaya is everything is obviously what it is.

[24:54]

And the Sambhogakaya is the actual spiritual understanding as played out in life by the nirmanakaya. The sambhogakaya is your wisdom, wisdom mind. One of the lectures that's in my Beginner's Mind, Suzuki Roshi, the title of the lecture is God-Giving, and I think it's the same idea as the Natural Order of Mind that she was speaking of. And he says that the whole universe is God-given. Everything in existence is an expression of God-giving. We're always given all the time. That's the nature of reality. And he says that's why it feels better to give than to take. Because we're doing what we're doing anyway, so to speak.

[25:59]

Right. And it's the Buddha nature, or God-giving, or whatever you want to call it, is always producing and giving. That's right, the universe is always giving. And as we give, we become a vehicle for that giving. We become a vehicle for that generosity of life, actually. That's very true. And Suzuki Roshi talked about money, a famous lecture about money, that money needs to circulate. When money is circulating and there's not a lot of retention or avarice, then things work well. So money is actually quite, in itself, is pure. It's not dirty. In Japan, they have a laundromat

[27:01]

for money. It's not exactly a laundromat, but it's a purification place. I think Shinto shrines. I'm not sure. I don't know. But people purify the money, you know, and then they feel better about spending it or doing something, giving it or whatever. So money actually is quite If it's pure, they're purifying it from the effects of the people who have had it before, or the intention. If it's karma. Yeah. So it's actually neutral. Yeah. And then it accumulates as karma, and they purify. It's really purifying your mind, right? Right. You can't purify the money, because the money's already pure. But you're purifying your mind by purifying the money. It's laundering. Money laundering.

[28:11]

Well, that's what they did in the St. Francis Hotel. Yeah, they washed the money for you. Oh, that's right. Well, half the dollar bills. People like clean money instead of dirty money, and the St. Francis Hotel got this reputation for having all these shiny coins and these crisp bills. I don't know if the purpose is the same. Well, they were paying attention to their money. It's perverted, but it sounds like it has the same effect of getting rid of the accumulated sweat and dirt and sin that's gathered up as well. We don't have the opportunity so much to give to monks in this country, so what comes up is giving money to people on the street. And it seems from a place of practice, the question whether the person really needs it or not can come up, and it causes a separation.

[29:18]

So they might not need it. It actually, in some cases, might be better to not sort of hold back. And then perhaps they think, well, maybe I need to do something to be more self-sufficient. it's a way for us to look at letting go and not being attached to money. So there's still this, there's this degree of intentionality and looking at what we're doing and then releasing. Right. But I think that, you know, whenever people ask me for money, I almost always give them money without thinking about what are they going to spend it on or do they really need it. Sometimes I wonder whether they really need it, but it They wouldn't ask for it if they didn't need it in some way. Maybe it's not the money they need. They need something.

[30:19]

And so the money may not be the right vehicle for them. But I refuse to judge whether they need it or not. So I almost always give something. But I remember up on Telegraph one time, this guy gave me this story about his wife and his child. I gave him his money. And then the next night, or a week later, I get exactly the same story, you know, again. It was just to the letter, the exact same story, and the same gestures, and the same everything, you know, this phony guy. And then people come to the door, you know, and they say, geez, I need this money for my child, you know, who has to go to the children's hospital You know, got this thing and that. And I always give them some money because I know that that's not true. But I know they need the money. You know?

[31:21]

I know that they need the money. There's no way they're going to get any money. Nobody's going to give them a job. You know? And it costs money to live in this society. So I always give them money. I don't believe their story for a moment. But I give them something because they need something. And they're going through this whole story just because they need something. I feel pretty much the same way as you do, but I have friends who refuse to give money to people because they feel that it will support addiction to drugs and to alcohol. And so they say that they will not do that because they don't want to have this person continuing drinking alcohol. Sometimes the people who do ask me for money don't know about alcohol, you know, and so how do you deal with that? I refuse to judge what they're going to use it for. It's not my business, really, what they're going to use it for. They may use it to eat with.

[32:22]

They may use it to eat with. I can't tell. What are they going to eat? They do eat. Even though they drink, they still eat. Most of them. So yes, maybe they will drink. I don't judge it, I just... It's not my business. So... I know we all have different ideas about it. Katherine? Yeah. I'm really glad this one came up, because this is the one that I was working with in a very mundane way. What complicates it for me is not trying to second-guess what the outcome but sort of historically working with my own motivation for giving, so that the act of giving is not an attached thing, either way.

[33:26]

And I was raised in a way that made me codependent, so that the giving was absolutely compulsive. It was like, if I have anything, I have to give it away, because it's horrible for me to have something that other people don't have. And I need to be taking care of any pain I see out there, and I take it all on. I was harming myself. And I really do think that I got some feedback from what was happening in the way I was giving that taught me that it was not particularly healthy what I was doing vis-a-vis the other person. So I had to learn that there were some kinds of giving and some moments and ways of giving that weren't lovely. So giving can be bad. I had to get it. Giving can be bad. So then I did the opposite. Codependent no more. I won't, you know, I'm never going to be a soft touch again. I'm going to separate, et cetera. And I had sort of reached that point when I got back to the United States from Holland.

[34:29]

And in Holland, you don't see as much, then, you didn't see as much just raw meat on the streets. And I arrived there, and I was wrestling with this, because everywhere I turned, somebody was asking, And I was doing the thing of, I don't want to contribute to the drugs and alcohol, so whenever somebody asked for food, I would take them and we'd go and have some food together. But even that was feeling like, they're not asking me to get that involved in their lives. All they want is something to eat, or some drugs. They're not asking. So I went through a period of not giving, just to know that I could not give. And finally, I just, It's like the confusion around that responsibility I took just finally was so great that it collapsed on itself. And I had this moment of realizing, I don't have to give or not give as if I knew anything at all about the outcome. I have to be present in the moment and be an accident in that person's life.

[35:35]

It's sort of like, in this moment, maybe I give, maybe I don't give. It's like it really doesn't matter in the cosmic scheme of things. It only matters that in that moment, I didn't have the attachment. I didn't have that word then, but the discovery that I needed not have an attachment to either one. I couldn't have rules. And whenever I hear you speak of where you've come to, where you've evolved to, that you just give, it almost sounds like you're telling me there's a rule. I don't think you are. And I really think that what I had to learn was I needed no principles. I needed no rules. I needed to just be in the moment and this moment would be an accident. I think that this is the Bodhisattva attitude. That there are no rules. The precept is not a rule. Right? And this is where you have to make a decision each time.

[36:36]

And the decision is up to you. for that moment and that occasion. You have to decide what to do. So it's a living precept. It's not a bound rule. And I always feel strange not giving something because my existence depends on people's generosity to me. And maybe they think that they're giving because I'm good, or because I'm a priest, or because I'm nice or something. I don't know, not any nicer than any of them or any better or any more deserving, actually. And so for me, it's circulating. I'm circulating what's given to me to other people as well. And so it's just circulation of the goodies, right? So that's my basic, sometimes I don't give it to people. Sometimes I'm just so tired. You know, I think, God, I just gave it to five people, you know, here's another one, right? And I just walked by and I feel funny, but it's just, like you say, it's just another moment in the universe, another blip in the universe, right?

[37:43]

And you even can have a way of just seeing the person and giving him that seeing that is just feels, can feel, for me anyway, some days, as much a gift as if I had and put down my heavy bags and done what I don't want to do, which is dig out, you know, whatever. I don't want to do that, but I can at least acknowledge that person and smile and feel like, and then I don't even feel funny. You know, it's like, I gave you what I could give you right now. Right. That's good, yeah. Sometimes it's not money, but some kind of just recognition. Yeah. Some recognition. I think that the street sheet in May, and Mayling contributed to that, that that whole I met the kids, meeting the people on the street. I recognize the photos of the people that I've given to and found out some of their names and got a little of their story through that newspaper. It helps to see these people.

[38:47]

As you said, nobody's out there putting their hand out because they want to be. and they may not need money, or they may not need that kind of help, but that's what you've got to give the money, I think. And you can't take everybody to a restaurant. And I always liked, I get a kick out of it, I suppose some people would take an objection to this, but I always thought that John Carroll's untied appeal was very funny, as opposed to the united appeal, where you, it was a, I just think it's very humorous, It is a, for me, it was a practice, not that I've done it, but it is a practice, it could be a practice of detaching from your giving, because you just, he says, you know, look at your bank balance, see what you can afford and take out a bunch of 20s from your ATM, and just, you know, just the first five people or the first three people or what, and you just give them, who are begging, or look like they could be begging, and you just give it to them, you know, a $20 balance,

[39:48]

and they could swear at you, and they could spit at you, and they could be profusely embarrassingly thankful, but it's just... I know that was an interesting experiment. Well, I do think that there's a level of attached giving and unattached giving and how we deal with street people, but underneath that is a very painful question of the distribution being so wrong. And that our small encounters just remind us of that underlying terrible pain that we're all carrying. And I think that in some way, there's no getting around that. And we just have to acknowledge that pain and use it to persistently, gradually, and kindly, and compassionately, and persistently to reframe our lives.

[40:50]

So that the car, the wonderful expensive car that looks so good after a while, it just doesn't look so good. And the old battered car feels much better. And that we all just are knee deep or worse from time to time in consumerism. You have to attend to it. Shall we take five minutes? I just want to say a little something about the three wheels of the giver, the receiver, and the gift.

[41:51]

The emptiness of the receiver, the giver, and the gift. I think we have to remember that emptiness means interdependence, basically. It does not mean that nothing is present. Emptiness is not something to visualize as a whole. I mean... It's not a pit. It's not a pit. It's not a pit. For someone who gives, it's necessary to have a receiver and a gift. And for the receiver, it's necessary to have a giver and a gift. And for the gift, it's necessary to have a giver and a receiver. So these are all interdependently empty. Empty or interdependent. So basic generosity is maybe not even generosity.

[43:01]

It's just allowing things to flow where they're supposed to go. Well, this is so crucial in so many realms of our lives. If you look at, I guess I'm thinking of the worm tank that was in my classroom, the earthworms. And the kids were, you know, the earthworms were having a hard time for a while. They're back in the outside world now. But that is such an example of giving, receiving, interdependence, recycling. taking care of the earth and it just, it's a small, you know, that worm means so much. But we were talking in our break about, I guess I want to relate this to the interdependence of the receiver, giver and gift. You can't give without receiving. And you cannot be involved with that without somehow embodying gift.

[44:02]

And I heard on the radio today, as I was driving in, on the BBC that 1.4 billion people make less than a dollar, make a dollar or less a day. And, you know, there's something very misused here about our resource of money, that there's not, like the keeping it in circulation becomes very obvious, the need to do that. And so, you know, spending our time focusing on our guilt feelings or our discomfort about giving a quarter to the lady who said she had to get her daughter's graduation dress out of the dryer cleaner, which I gave A for effort. It's definitely a new one for me. And her graduation dress. And so just how do you put that in a larger perspective? It's not, yeah, we've got to take care of things in our immediate presence, but what is the system?

[45:03]

How is it that that's the case, that seven of the richest people in the world's wealth could end poverty? Not that we all don't support that, but that system is a little off. How do you get them to do that? It's sort of a red herring, and that's not the point. It's a red herring, that's right, because there's system after system forever. And the system is theoretically workable, but people get in the way, you know, and appropriate the system for their benefit, for their own benefit. So it really starts with people and ends with people. I went upstairs to get this during the break. This is something I jotted down when I was at the Zen hospice recently. It's kind of so doganesh.

[46:08]

If you'll forgive me, I'll read it so I don't get it wrong. If you study giving carefully, you realize Indeed, by being originally gifted with the power of giving, one's present self came into being." That really impressed me. Could you read that again? And then explain it. If you study giving carefully, you realize that living as well as dying are giving. Indeed, by being originally gifted with the power of giving, one's present self came into being. But Dogen said 1300 or so.

[47:34]

So yeah, it's like how do we allow things to flow through us? important to receive as it is to give. I think they're both equal and sometimes you don't know how to receive things, you know, and so it's easier to give in some way for some people and harder to receive because we feel embarrassed or clumsy or undeserving or something or maybe burdened. But If we can't receive, then whoever wants to give is stuck.

[48:41]

So it's really a matter of circulation. When the body is circulating, when everything in the body is circulating well, then the body is healthy. And when it stops circulating well, it starts to get sick. And the same with society. Society is a body with all these members. And we can see that this society, all societies, are sick, you know? They're all sick. Because people are not generous. Maria? Yes, I was wondering what suggestion or recommendation It feels very awkward.

[49:46]

After a while I stopped giving gifts because I feel like... Yes, absolutely. I mean, how many neckties can you give? I think there are many ways to give, which have nothing to do with material stuff. Present a flower. I think that when you're in doubt, or next time Christmas comes up, or somebody's birthday or something, just give something ephemeral. Something in passing. is not something you go out and buy at the store. It's a convenience. In a convenient way. I just want to share a little story that happened yesterday about giving and all the stuff that came up around it and it's related a little bit to what you just said, Maria.

[50:59]

Yesterday we had a ceremony for the fifth graders and they graduated and it was like this precious moment, you know, that sort of came and went. It just happened. It's, you know, parents were videotaping and cameras, but the moment itself was actually just happening. And one of the parents brought me fresh-cut roses from the garden, their garden. They must have cut them several hours before and gave them to me with no water, knowing that I wouldn't get back to the... Anyway, here were these big, gorgeous roses. Just living and dying in my hands, really gorgeous, really precious. Just like the graduation, there was just this moment rather than this symbol. And all these gifts that were coming to me from parents, I found myself evaluating my worth against their notion of a gift. And it was like this crazy thing. How much do they like me? How good a job did I do? All this stuff got added on. And it was very refreshing to participate in the giving rather than the gift as meaningful.

[52:07]

Even though the gift is part of the three, the triumvirate, we put a lot of emphasis on the gift. And it's nice to free up the gift into the giving. And the flowers were giving and they're dying. Right, and now there's a line on my table just It's just funny, but it's true.

[53:08]

That's true. Something that's presented. There was that, you know, not-lying-slam, you're self-praising. Who am I? Who am I?

[54:09]

Who am I? But I think that this precept also is somewhat related to not stealing. Kind of the opposite of stealing. In a sense, when things are flowing, then nothing belongs to us, and everything belongs to us.

[55:15]

We own the universe. Because everything is ours. We just don't need it. And this body is not ours either, but we do have to take care of it. We're in charge of it in some way. And we're not in charge of it in another way. You know, we had a couple of weeks ago a three-day conference on translating the liturgy.

[56:30]

There was about 20 people at Green Gulch, and we didn't get too far. with the sources and looking at how to express it. You have to go through word by line by line, word by word, phrase by phrase. And so it takes a long time to do a little bit, but we did manage to do some. And the preliminary, it's not ready to be. We'll probably go through it again and also do some more in a few months. try to do the whole thing. But we did go through the meal chant and chanted it and re-translated it.

[57:34]

So I thought maybe I'd just go read that, you know, for your interest, because the meal chant is all about generosity, you know. It's about giving and receiving. and the gift of the giver and the receiver and the gift. Where's it from? Where's the original text? Well, I know it's in Chinese. We checked it out with the Chinese and some Chinese scholars. What do you mean? Does it come from a certain book? A certain author? Well, yeah. I mean, it's not like out of a book, it's part of the liturgy. It's not like it's in a sutra or something, but it's part of the liturgy. And I don't know how it was first devised or who, if any one person devised it, and it's probably gone through changes.

[58:44]

So, Buddha was born in Kapilavastu, which is, you know, there are various names for the modern Indian, modern names for Indian cities and places. And there's also a specific place where Buddha did things in general, like a place within a city that he did something, and the city itself. So sometimes it's translated differently, those places. So Buddha was born in Kapilavastu, enlightened in Magadha, taught at Varanasi, and entered nirvana in Krishnagara. Now we set out Buddha's own bowls. So these are Buddha's bowls or our bowls. In other words, our bowls are exactly Buddha's bowls. Not the same as Buddha's bowls, but they are Buddha's bowls. And may we, with all living beings, We used it with all living beings rather than sentient beings.

[59:59]

Realize the emptiness of the three wheels, giver, receiver, and gift. And then during service, we say, well, there's some of it was left a little undecided. In the midst of the three treasures with all beings, let us recite the names of Buddha. Humbly mindful of the three jewels, which together bestow on us a sealing of our knowledge, like a seal. Humbly relying on the Sangha, we invoke." And then the invocation is not decided yet, the wording of that. But so it's humbly, this is a little different than, right, because it's saying, humbly relying on the Sangha. So it's like mutual reliance. Emphasizing the mutual reliance. That's instead of what?

[61:02]

What is? That's instead of what we... Let us recite the names of Buddha. Yes, we do say, let us recite the names of Buddha. Just being a suffering. Yeah. Right. Does it say, recite the names of Buddha? As opposed to invoking the presence of the Buddha? Right. Yeah. But we haven't decided what that is yet. So then we put this in a little differently. This is more original, more from the original. Vairochana Buddha, pure dharmakaya. Lochana Buddha, complete sambhogakaya. Shakyamuni Buddha, myriad nirmanakaya. Maitreya Buddha, next to be born. This is fairly literal. All Buddhas throughout space and time. Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma, Mahayana Sutra. Manjushri Bodhisattva, Great Wisdom. Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Great Activity.

[62:04]

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Great Compassion. All Honored Ones, Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas, Wisdom Beyond Wisdom, Mahaprajnaparamita. And then at breakfast, the leader says, this morning meal of 10 benefits nourishes us in our practice. Its rewards are boundless, filling us with ease and joy. What about the six takes? The 10 benefits. And the leader at lunch says, oh, here's the six tastes. The three virtues and six tastes of this meal, that's lunchtime, are offered to Buddha and Sangha. It doesn't say dharma, because the dharma is already there. So the dharma is offering to Buddha and Sangha. May all sentient beings in the universe be equally nourished. So this is the offering. May the virtues and tastes of the meal

[63:06]

are offered to Buddha and Sangha. The three virtues and six tastes of this meal are offered to Buddha and Sangha. Dharma is not included. It's a little strange. May all sentient beings in the universe be equally nourished. So it's really, even though one is eating the food, the offering is to Buddha and Sangha. And one eats just enough to sustain oneself. So then there are the five contemplations verse. We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us. Reflect on our virtue and practice and whether we are worthy of this offering. Remember, it is essential to keep the mind free from excesses such as greed. We regard this food as good medicine to sustain our life.

[64:13]

And for the sake of enlightenment, we now receive this food. And then at lunchtime, O spirits, we now give you an offering. This food is for all of you in the ten directions. First, this is for the three treasures. Next, for the four benefactors. Finally, for the beings in the six realms, may all be equally nourished. The first bite is to end all evil. The second is to cultivate all good. The third is to free all beings. May we all realize the Buddha way. And then in bowl cleaning, we say, this water we use to wash our bowls tastes like ambrosia. We offer it to the many spirits to satisfy them. That's close. Om Maha Kushalaya Svaha. Svaha is like an exclamation. It's like, pah! So be it. And Maha Kushalaya is, we say in Japanese, is Maha... Kurosai.

[65:20]

Yeah, that's the Japanese version of the Sanskrit, which is Maha Kushalaya. activity. And then the leader after the meal says, abiding in this ephemeral world like a lotus in muddy water, the mind is pure and goes beyond. Thus we bow to Buddha. So that's a little different. Do we know who the four benefactors are? You can probably recreate it, you know. The donors and various donors.

[66:25]

Various people that keep us supported. This is a plan to institute that in favor of the one we've been using? Yes, because this is... I think it still needs a little more work. But the effort here is to standardize the liturgy so that wherever you go it's the same. And it's not that way now? No. One of the hardest things for me when I came here was that I had learned the liturgy at Sonoma Mountain Synod Center And so we get to let go of our cherished presence. I must say that that idea of standardizing it all, it's like each zendo and each practice has their own unique flowering.

[67:34]

The point is that everyone can agree on a translation. I mean everyone, meaning all of the centers and the teachers can agree. And then when they go, whatever you do in your own place is your business. But there is. And this is the way it is in Japan also. There is a book that has all the standard translations and chants and so forth. But every place does it differently because... But there's a reason for the standard. You can always check against this to know if you're straying off the path. Well, I found it useful for me to go to a couple of different suttas and places and read slightly different translations of things like the Heart Sutra. Those differences made me understand what it means better. There's that advantage.

[68:42]

There's that advantage. But I think that the heart suture may be the most difficult one to deal with, to translate, because there's so many versions. But I think it's important to know what the Chinese actually says. so that you're not just doing something you think is correct, and it's not, even though you like it. See, this is one of the problems we have. We like, we get used to chanting something, and we like it. You know, the old Sonoma Mountain ones, the one we originally had at Zen Center, you know, is very crude. It just is very good, nice, but it was crude. And I was very attached to that. And then when the new one came out, you know, I kind of went along with that.

[69:44]

And then another version, I went along with that. And it keeps getting refined, you know, all the time. Periodically. And when I look back at the old translation, it looks very crude to me. So, I've had to let go of many attachments to, you know, every time we go to a new place, we say, oh God, they're doing it wrong. Even though you know they're not doing it wrong, that comes up, you say, you know, the way they bow, and the way they eat, and the way they serve, and the way, you know, That's because you're attached to your own way of doing things, and everybody else looks like they're doing it wrong, and they're not coming up to your expectations. So, in a way, it's nice to have things standardized, so there are not so many deviations. Just because people are practicing together in a certain place,

[70:49]

I mean, due to the fact that people are practicing together in a certain place, semi-isolated from other places, means that things will develop in an individual way in each place. That's bound to happen. Every place has their way. Every teacher has a certain way of doing things, and then the saga gets attached to that teacher's You can go and find yourself thinking, that's wrong. Yes, if you were translating these, you'd be even more grateful.

[71:56]

We have a few minutes. Do we have any more to say about giving generosity? Well, yeah, we have the original what? Translation? Yeah. I'd love to see it sometime. Bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara, practicing deeply, Prajnaparamita. A lot of the ands, ifs, and so forth are not included. It's just a kind of... It's kind of nice that way. It's very sparse and bare, and it doesn't have all the modification. So it's fine, you know, it's just that it's... And also acceptance.

[73:35]

I gratefully accept. As far as I know. I don't know all the subtleties of it. But does it include that whole universe, view of the universe in one word? Well, yes, sure. Of course. It includes the whole... If, when you say that, you're totally concentrated on it, then the whole universe is included in that statement. That's the secret of practice. You don't have to say it, because you don't have to. You don't have to do anything. But because we don't have to do anything, we do all the things that we do.

[74:41]

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