We're going to take up precept number eight, the last one. It's not the last precept, it's the last one we're taking up. And it's the precept about generosity and about, 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 that's kind of a long title. So, in short, not to be stingy. Sometimes it's translated as, don't be stingy, no stinginess. So evericiousness is a kind of hoarding or keeping things to yourself and not sharing them.

[01:19]

So in some way the precept is about sharing. 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. Dharma means things. Dharma with a small d means things, actually. Everything.

[02:22]

a piece of the universe. Everything is a little speck of the universe. the whole universe is in each decimal. So Dharma, the capital D, is the law pertaining to the Dharmas. It's the Dharma of the Dharmas. So Dharma, with a capital D, actually means the law of the universe or the law of reality.

[03:43]

And scientists study it from the point of view of their discipline. And in the spiritual realm, we explore it. 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.

[04:50]

And the dharmas that are most common to a human being 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. 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.

[05:51]

Interacting. So, Our understanding 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.

[07:03]

I did talk about this. I talked about Mahakasyapa in Buddha's time. Mahakasyapa was Buddha's disciple and how he was walking in this noble way. This gentleman was so fascinated with the way he was walking that he stopped him and 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 said, well, I don't know very much because I've only been practicing for a little while. I don't really know much."

[08:07]

And so the man said, well, what do you know? What does your teacher teach? And he said, well, the only thing that I really know 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 was not even self-conscious that he had this noble 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.

[09:30]

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. It gives people an opportunity to be curious about what the Dharma is, and that there's actually somebody practicing Dharma.

[10:55]

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 giving, a generosity, which is generosity toward the meals, toward the generosity of the to the monks, and the monks' response to the donors, and it says, the three wheels of giver, receiving, and the gift are all empty.

[12:40]

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, they're just receiving without any idea about it. And the gift itself is something that no one is attaching to. There's no attachment to the gift.

[13:47]

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 the person that's giving and the receiver don't look at each other. And when the the monk receives whatever it is, the offering, then the monk does a chant.

[14:53]

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 monk 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?

[15:55]

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 does that, well, feels right? Yeah, generosity, it's letting go. So, in order to be generous, it means that you're letting go of... When you have something, you have to decide what to do with it. It makes a decision.

[16:58]

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... 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, but it's 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, there are degrees of generosity.

[18:08]

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. 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 sympathetic joy to someone who is joyful.

[19:34]

In a way, the relationship between the laity and the monks 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 we say in the meal chant, we hope that our virtue and practice deserve this food. 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.

[20:42]

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 sort of 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. But the fact that it is just not attached to any idea of goodness, is this some kind of... Then why is it good? It's good because it has all these effects, which you're talking about.

[21:46]

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. But there's no attachment to it 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 those good effects fall from it. Yes. Well, that's true. That's one level. So there are 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.

[22:50]

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. So I remember talking about this before, that it's called the Hinayana and the Mahayana and the Buddha nature levels. On the level of Buddha nature, there's no giver, there's no receiver, three wheels are empty.

[23:52]

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, that somehow that empty, the completely empty realm, Still, there's some expression of it. Yes. So the dharmakaya is everything is empty. The nirmanakaya is everything is obviously what it is. And the sambhogakaya is the actual spiritual understanding.

[25:02]

has played out in life by the nirmanakaya. The sambhogakaya is your wisdom, wisdom mind. Everything in existence is an expression of God giving. We're always giving all the time. That's the nature of reality. That's why it feels better to give than to take. Because we're doing what we're doing anyway. Buddha nature, or God giving, or whatever you want to call it, is always producing and giving.

[26:06]

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. There's no, it's not dirty, there's no connotation. In Japan, they have a laundromat for money. It's not exactly a laundromat, but it's a purification place.

[27:12]

I think Shinto shrines, I'm not sure, I don't know, but people purify the money. And then they feel better about spending it, or doing something, giving it, or whatever. So money actually is quite pure, basically, like water. You know, water is pure. 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, and then it accumulates as karma, and they purify it. But it's really purifying your mind, right? You can't purify the money because the money's already pure. But you're purifying your mind by purifying the money. Laundering. Money laundering. Well, that's what they do in the St. Francis Hotel. Yeah, they wash your money.

[28:13]

Oh, that's right. But not the dollar bills. People like clean money. 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 not needed.

[29:18]

It actually in some cases might be better. 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 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, you know. And so the money may not be the right vehicle.

[30:18]

for them. But I refused to judge whether they needed it or not. So I always, 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 this money. And then the next night, or a week later, just to the letter, the exact same story, and the same gestures, and the same everything, you know. Look at this phony guy. And then people come to the door, you know, and they say, um, geez, I need this money for my child, you know, who has to go to the children's hospital and, 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. I know that they need them. There's no way they're going to get any money.

[31:20]

Nobody's going to give them a job. 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. They're going through this whole story just because they need something. really what they're going to use it for. They may use it to eat with. They may use it to eat with.

[32:21]

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. But I don't judge it. I just... It's not my business. So, I know we all have different ideas about it. I'm really glad this one came up, because this is the one that I was working with in a very mundane way. But what complicates it for me is not trying to second-guess sort of historically working with my own motivation for giving, so that the act of giving is not an attached thing, either way.

[33:23]

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 seems horrible for me to have something that other people don't have. And I need to be taken care of. Any pain I see, vis-a-vis the other person. So I had to learn that there were some kinds of giving and some other 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'm never going to be a soft touch again. I'm going to separate, etc. And I sort of reached that point where you don't see as much, back then, you didn't see as much, just raw meat on the streets.

[34:32]

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 you know it's not that nice so I went through a period of not giving just 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 be an accident in that person's life. It's sort of like, at this moment, maybe I give, maybe I don't give.

[35:37]

And 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 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. There are no rules. The precept is not a rule. And this is where you have to make a decision each time. And the decision is up to you. For that moment and that occasion, right?

[36:38]

You have to decide what to do. So it's a living preset. It's not a bound rule. And I always feel strange not giving something because my existence depends on people's generosity to me, right? 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, but I'm 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, you know, 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 walk 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?

[37:40]

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 can give you right now. Right. That's good. Sometimes it's not money, but some kind of recognition. Some recognition. I think that the Street Sheep in May, and Maylene contributed to that, And it's meeting the people on the street who we see. I mean, 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. And 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 And I always liked, I get a kick out of it, I saw some people 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, but it isn't, 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,

[39:25]

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 bill. And they could swear at you and they could spit at you and they could be profusely embarrassingly thankful. interesting experiment. Well, I do think that there is 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 we're all carrying and I think that in some way there's no getting around that and and we just have to acknowledge that pain and use it to persistently gradually and kindly and compassionately and persistently to reframe our lives so that the car

[40:48]

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 and have to attend to it. Should we take five minutes? I just want to say something about the three wheels of the giver, the receiver, and the gift. The emptiness of the receiver, the giver, and the gift.

[41:55]

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 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.

[42:57]

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, you know. 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.

[43:58]

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. Her graduation dress. 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, What is the system?

[45:00]

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 in the law. How do you get them to do that? It's sort of a red herring. That's not the point. It's a red herring. That's right. forever. And the system, all the systems are 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.

[46:05]

If you'll forgive me, I'll read it so I don't get it wrong. 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." That's really impressive. 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. What Dogen said, 1300 or so.

[47:33]

So yeah, it's like how do we allow things to flow through us and can come through us as well? But it's as 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. If we can't receive then, whoever it wants to give is stuck. 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.

[48:50]

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 you would have for someone like myself, who have quite a talent for giving gifts to my family that they don't want. It feels very awkward. After a while I stopped giving gifts because I feel like... Yes, absolutely, 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.

[50:06]

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 out and buy at the store. It is 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. 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. You know, parents were videotaping and cameras, but the moment itself was actually just happening.

[51:08]

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. 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.

[52:11]

And the flowers were giving and they're dying. Right, and now they're lying on my table just collapsed and they're so beautiful. That's true. Something that's presented. Who am I?

[54:01]

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

[55:05]

We own the universe. Because everything is ours. We just don't need it all. 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.

[56:19]

There was about 20 people at Green Gulch. but checking it with the sources and looking at how to express it, you know. You have to go through word by line by line and word by word and phrase by phrase, you know. And so it takes a long time to do a little bit, but we did manage to do some. And the preliminary, you know, 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.

[57:23]

So I thought maybe I'd just go through that for your interest, because the meal chant is all about generosity. It's about giving and receiving and the gift. About 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.

[58:30]

And it's probably gone through changes. 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. Our bowls are exactly Buddha's bowls.

[59:33]

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. 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.

[60:39]

So it's like mutual reliance. Emphasizing the mutual reliance. That's instead of what? 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 giving us offering. 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 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.

[61:39]

Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma, Mahayana Sutra. Manjushri Bodhisattva, Great Wisdom. Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Great Activity. 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 days? 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.

[62:41]

May all sentient beings in the universe be equally nourished. So this is the offering. May the virtues and tastes of the meal are offered to Buddha and Sangha. Oh, wait a minute. 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.

[63:46]

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. 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.

[64:49]

It's like, pah! So be it. And Maha Kushalaya is, we say, in Japanese, it's Maha... Kurosai. Yeah, that's the Japanese version of the Sanskrit. which is Mahakushalaya, which means pure 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 Well, let's see. We do know, but I can't remember.

[65:49]

You can probably recreate it. The donors and various donors. Praise people that keep us supported. Is this a plan to institute that in favor of the one we've been... 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? One of the hardest things for me when I came here was that I had learned the liturgy at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, and it was just a little bit different. I know it wasn't much different, but it was just a little bit different, and it was impossible.

[66:50]

I mean, it was just mind-boggling. So now I get to go through it again, right? That's right. And so we get to let go of our cherished presence. It does make me feel good, actually. I must say that that idea of standardizing it all, it's like each zendo and each practice has their own unique flowering. I mean, as long as it's kind of correct, it seems like... Well, here's the point. 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 places, 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.

[67:50]

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. a couple of different suttas and places and read different, slightly different translations of things like the Heart Sutra, those differences maybe understand what it means better. Yeah. There's that advantage. There's that advantage. But I think that the Heart Sutra may be the most difficult one to deal with, to translate, because there's so many versions. 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.

[68:55]

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 was the one we originally had it, 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. And then another version, I went along with that. And it keeps getting refined, you know, all the time. Periodically. When I look back at the old translation, it looks very crude to me. So I've had to let go of many attachments. 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.

[69:58]

you know, the way they bow, and the way they eat, and the way they serve, and the way, you know, oh God, you know. This is 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's not so many deviations. Just because people are practicing together in a certain place, I mean, due to the fact that people are practicing together in a certain place, quasi-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 Sangha gets attached to that teacher's way. different ways so you can go and find yourself thinking that's wrong.

[71:01]

Well, yes, if you were translating these, you'd be even more grateful. We have a few minutes. Do we have any more to say about giving generosity? Yeah, we have the original what? Translation? Yeah, I have it. 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, you know. It's very sparse and bare, and it doesn't have all the modification.

[72:34]

So it's fine, you know, it's just that it's... I gratefully accept. As far as I know. I don't know the subtleties of it. But does it include that whole universe, the view of the universe in one word? Well, yes, sure.

[73:36]

Of course. 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 that you must. 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.

[74:17]

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