I thought we'd see if anybody had homework, and then we'll proceed with the class, and then we have about 20 minutes of slides. So, do we have any plays or any homework? Yes, Tim? And I want people not to forget that Talent Night is coming towards us. And it would be great to have a little play for Talent Night. It would be great to have a little talent for Talent Night. Or several little plays. We were pretty hot last year, weren't we? Yeah, but I like to do something different each year, and I'd be more up for a play. So, if anybody, if anyone is interested in that idea. Well, I'm interested. I would be, I would be happy to, to see what could be developed.

[01:03]

Do you mean skit numbers? Yeah. It's less frightening than talent. Right. It's more, okay. Accurate. Well, I can't promise that it's mostly, they just come from some place. Well, the one that you wrote. That one. Maybe develop it or just have it that way. No. Okay, well we have one more chance next week for homework. I think I finally got an idea. So it might happen. And Annette said that she just has been too occupied with too many things, but she said she would hand in homework after the class had ended. So that too is an opportunity. We'll have a take-home exam, right?

[02:03]

Well, that's an idea. Okay, so the kind of... We're launched into the middle part of the light, so to speak. So I wanted to talk tonight some about... Well, read the story of Yasa, which you have, and read through that. And first, I do want to say that The more that I go over this material, the more the Four Noble Truths penetrate and it seems really very wonderful. We haven't had much of a discussion of the Fourth Noble Truth, which is the

[03:05]

Noble Eightfold Path. So I just want to say that and read this passage in 27. Do we have it? Yeah, we do. Suppose a man, wandering in a forest wilderness, found an ancient path. This is non-emotional. You don't have to. I'm just going to read it. It's just a little paragraph. This is just the reminder that the Fourth Noble Truth is in place and We haven't done much with it, because it could be a whole course. Suppose a man or a woman, wandering in a forest wilderness, found an ancient path, an ancient trail, traveled by people of old, and followed it up, and by doing so discovered an ancient city, an ancient royal capital, where people of old had lived, with parks and roads and lakes, walled round and beautiful to see, So too, I found the ancient path, the ancient trail, traveled by the fully enlightened ones of old.

[04:17]

And what was that ancient path, that ancient trail? It was the noble eightfold path. That is to say, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. I followed it up. By doing so, I directly knew aging and death, their origin, their secession, and the way leading to their secession. I directly knew birth, its origin, its secession, and so on, and all the links, the chain. So you see, again and again, these teachings are overlapping and interlocking in this way. And a very nice book, which I have recommended, is the Aya Kema's book, When the Iron Eagle Flies. And she talks about the Four Noble Truths.

[05:22]

How the Four Noble Truths are just the way that the Buddhas process, experience. They're just the way Buddhists think about things. And they just come naturally. And as our paths develop, as we develop in our Dharma understanding, more and more we find that the Four Noble Truths, the four of them, is the way we think. So, I just wanted to say that. Now, we have entered the chapter four, the spreading of the Dharma. So, last week we talked about Buddha becoming a teacher and kind of trying out his

[06:24]

teacher legs and not being so skillful, but just trying it. And so this process now is going to continue. So I'm not going to, I don't want to read the whole, have most people read the story of Yasa in there? Yeah, yeah. So I don't want to go over it word for word, but just kind of go through it. It is page 48 in the Nanamoli section. So there was this clansman named Yasa, a rich merchant's son, and it's a little bit of an echo of Gautama's experience as well. And he was delicately brought up with three palaces, one for winter, one for summer, and one for the rains. And while he was amusing himself, enjoying the five kinds of sensual pleasure, whatever they were, with which he was furnished, he fell asleep, though it was still early, and his attendants fell asleep, too.

[07:36]

And when... An all-night light was burning, and when Yassa woke up early, he saw his attendants sleeping, and there was one with her lute under her arm, another with her tabor under her chin, another with her drum under her arm. The hair of one had come unfastened, another was dribbling, others were muttering. It seemed like a charnel ground, he saw it, and when it squalor squarely struck him, he was sick at heart, and he exclaimed, it is fearful, it is horrible. And then he put on his gold slippers and went out of his house. And non-human beings opened the door so that none might stop his going forth from the house into homelessness. And then he went to the city gate and non-human beings opened the gate so that none might stop his going forth from the house life into homelessness. It was quite a beautiful story, really. how we can be comfortable and then slip into a different state and the whole thing turns and it's horrible.

[08:54]

We see it in a different way and never quite know when that's going to happen. And then the presence of these non-human beings who are right there, ready to open doors and to kind of protect, the kind of very subtle guardians of the way that open opportunities to move. They close it, they can be. in that sometimes you awaken to the beauty of something that looks ugly or the generosity of people who are homeless and you can get nothing but suddenly... The ground, that ground can shift. It shifts in the opposite direction. Right. So then he... Yasa goes and everything is looking bad.

[10:03]

When Yasa was not far from the Blessed One, he exclaimed, it is fearful, it is horrible. Maybe Yasa was in the grips of now, of a terrible depression. And the Blessed One said, this is not fearful, this is not horrible, come Yasa, sit down, I will teach you the Dharma. So now what comes is a really first, very skillful presentation of the Dharma. Buddha has found his role. So Yasa thinks, this is not fearful, it seems. This is not horrible. And he was happy and hopeful. He took off his golden slippers and went to sit where the Blessed One was and pays homage. And then the Blessed One gives him progressive instruction. And that's a well-used term. and we'll see more of it, this gradual instruction.

[11:07]

So, skillful means just meeting the person where that person is and not saying a whole lot about the emptiness of self and, you know, not pushing things too much, but just being with the moment. That is to say, talk on giving virtue, on the heavens. He explained the dangers, the vanity, and the defilement in sensual pleasure, and the blessings in renunciation. And when he saw that Yas's mind was ready, receptive, free from hindrance, eager, and trustful, then he expounded to him the teaching peculiar to the Buddhas. suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path to its cessation. So then he comes, the big drums for Noble Truths. And just as a clean cloth with all the marks removed would take dye evenly, so too while Yasa sat there, the spotless immaculate vision of the Dharma arose in him.

[12:14]

All that is subject to arising is subject to cessation. So, just as a clean cloth with all the marks removed would take the dye evenly. You know, when we are in a certain state that's receptive and willing, there's just a way that the teaching comes and in a balanced, even way, like cloth taking a dye. And then Yasa's mother went up to the palace and is worried that she can't find Yasa. And, oh, went to the merchant, and the merchant is Yasa's father. And so they get upset and send messages in all directions. And seeing the prints of the gold slippers on the ground, they followed them.

[13:18]

The Blessed One saw him, that is, the merchant coming, and he thought, suppose I use my supernormal power so that while a merchant is sitting here, he will not see Yasa sitting here. And then he did. And then the merchant came to the Blessed One and asked him, Lord, might the Blessed One have seen Yasa? And so now there's another teaching opportunity. So Yasa is invisible and his father is taught. and his father is impressed. Magnificent, Lord, magnificent, the Dharma has been made clear in many ways by the Blessed One as though he were writing the overthrown, revealing the hidden, showing the way to one who is lost, holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eye to see visible forms. And then the merchant, was the first person to take the triple refuge, because there'd been two others who had just taken the first two refuges, because there was no sangha.

[14:24]

But now, here's a sangha of three people. And so now a lot is going on. While the Dharma was being taught to his father, Yasa reviewed the plane of knowledge that he had seen and experienced. And then the blessed one sees this and realizes that Yasa is no longer capable of reverting to what he has left behind. And decides that now he, Buddha, can stop using his supernormal powers. And the merchant sees his son sitting there. And then the mother is brought in and so on. And then And then his mother, and I guess some of her friends, were the first women adherents in the world to take the triple refuge. And then more friends come.

[15:27]

So, that's a story of how, it's a nice early teaching story using the skillful means and the supernormal powers that are just just used in order to teach and then 50 of his friends come and now after this success Mara comes again and challenges the blessed one And I think this is, was this on your sheet too? Where does your homework, where does that Xerox end? 51. What? And then it goes, it skips over to 103. Yeah, okay. Well we'll do a hundred, it skipped, it's 52, does it go to 52?

[16:31]

No. No. Okay. So Mara turns up and tells the Blessed One that he is bound, and the Blessed One says, no, I'm free, you are vanquished, exterminator. And Mara says, no, I bind you forever. And then Buddha says, I am without desire for sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and things to touch, however good they seem. And you are vanquished, exterminator. And Mara, the evil one, understood. The blessed one knows me. The sublime one knows me. Sad and disappointed, he vanishes at once. So this, I, there's nothing for Mara to shackle because Buddha has, is without desire for taste, sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and so on.

[17:31]

How can he be caught? This made me think of a story which I couldn't remember where to look up, but there's a story of a Japanese monk who's cooking, and Mara is right over his shoulder, and what? Oh no, no, it's Avalokiteshvara appears, and he beats, he beats the apparition with a spoon. and his assistant is horrified. Is that the one you're thinking of? You mean Avalokiteshvara is cooking? The Tenzo is cooking. The Tenzo is cooking. It probably is. And? And Avalokiteshvara appears over the pot in the steam of the soup. And he takes a spoon and he beats the steam as if to drive away this apparition. And his assistant is shocked and dismayed at this aggressive behavior.

[18:38]

Is this the one? Not quite. And he asks the Tenzo, why are you doing this? He says, if Shakyamuni himself appeared before me, I'd do the same thing. No, that's not the one. No, the one I'm thinking of, somebody is cooking and Mara is waiting to get the person, but because the person doesn't have a single coalesced thought, It was just cooking, just doing it, and there was nothing to hit, nothing to pinch. So, if someone comes across that story, they can let me know. And now we have the first story about Sangha, now that we've got 55 or so people who are liberated from their taints.

[19:47]

By now the Bikus who had set out to wander were bringing in from various quarters in various countries men who wanted the going forth and the admission so that they should be given to them by the Blessed One. This was troublesome for both the Bikus and those who wanted the going forth and the admission. The Blessed One considered this matter, and when it was evening, He summoned the Sangha of Bhikkhus on this account for this reason. After giving a discourse in the Dharma, He addressed them thus, Bhikkhus, while I was alone in retreat, this thought arose in my mind. Bhikkhus are now bringing in from various quarters and from various countries men who want the going forth and the admission. so that these should be given to them by me. This is troublesome for both the bhikkhus and those who want the going forth and admission. Why should I not now authorize bhikkhus to give the going forth and admission there in whatever quarter, in whatever country they happen to be? So, and here's a great spreading of the teaching.

[20:52]

Authorized bhikkhus can now teach others. This, in fact, I allow you to do, and it should be done this way. First, the hair and beard should be shaved off. Then, after putting on the yellow robe, the upper robe should be arranged on one shoulder, and homage should be paid at the bhikkhu's feet. Then, kneeling with the hands held out, palms together, this should be said, I go for refuge to the Buddha, I go for refuge to the Dharma, I go for refuge to the Sangha, for the second time and the third time. I will allow the going forth and the admission to be given by the triple refuge. So that's the first Sangha structure. And that's still the way, you know, in Theravada practice, when you see bhikkhunya, you bow. Then throughout, one could just

[22:14]

one could trace, and I'm sure it's been done extensively, the development of the Sangha. But it just happens bit by bit. As the occasion arises, new instruction is given out. And here's another occasion. When the Blessed One had lived at Rajagaha as long as He chose, He set out to wander by stages to Vasali. Now, while traveling between the two cities, He saw many bhikkhus on the road, loaded down with robes, with bundles of robes on their heads, on their shoulders, and on their hips. And He thought, these misguided men with their robes only too easily revert to luxury. Suppose I laid down a maximum and set a limit for bhikkhus' robes. Then, in the course of the journey, the Blessed One, at length, arrived at Vesali, where He stayed at the Gautamaka Shrine.

[23:21]

At that time, the Blessed One sat in open in the night, during the cold, wintry nights of the eight days of frost, and He only wore one robe, but He felt no cold. When the first watch was over, He felt cold, and He put on a second robe, and He felt no cold. When the middle watch was over, He felt cold, and put on a third robe, and felt no more cold. This is the middle way, right? When the last watch was over, with the red dawn coming up and joy on the face of the night, he felt cold and put on a fourth robe and felt no more cold. Then he thought, even clansmen sensitive to cold, afraid of cold, who have gone forth in this dharma and discipline, can survive with the triple robe. Why should I not lay down a maximum and set a limit for Bhikkhu's robes by allowing the triple robe? The Blessed One then addressed the bhikkhus, and after telling them what had occurred, He announced the rule for wearing not more than the triple robe. Bhikkhus, I will allow the triple robe, an outer robe of patches and of double thickness, a single inner robe, and a single waist cloth.

[24:31]

All right. And then finally on this theme, the Patimokkha, that is the monastic code, sometime towards the end of the first 20 years, The disciple's training rule was made known. The patimokha, the monastic code, was laid down. Just as when various flowers are put in a table well tied together with threads, they do not get scattered, blown away and lost. Why is that? Because they are well tied together with threads. So too, then, those Buddhas, those blessed ones, and the disciples enlightened by them personally, disappeared.

[25:40]

Then the disciples who had gone forth most recently, variously named of various races, of various clans, maintained the holy life for a long time. That was the reason why those blessed lives, holy life, lasted long. Then the Venerable Shariputra rose from his seat, and arranging his robe on one shoulder, he raised his hands, palms together, towards the Blessed One and said, This is the time, Blessed One, this is the time, Sublime One, for the Blessed One to make known the training rule, to lay down the Patimokkha, so that the holy life may last long. That is, if there are just these teachings, separate, lying on a table like flowers, without some kind of structure, the teaching won't last. Wait, Shariputra, wait. The perfect one will know the time for that.

[26:43]

This is a little bit uppity on Shariputra's part. The master does not make known the disciple's training rule or lay down the padimokkha until certain taint-producing things manifest themselves here in the Sangha. But as soon as they do, then the teacher will see to both of these, doing so for the purpose of warding off these taint-producing things. Some taint-producing things do not manifest themselves until the Sangha has become great by long establishment and grown large. It is then that they manifest themselves and then that the teacher makes known the disciple's training rules and lays down the patimokkha for the purpose of warding off those taint-producing things. Some taint-producing things do not manifest themselves until the Sangha has become great by completeness and so on and so on. It's interesting, it just made me think of the whole thing about Richard Baker, you know, when you just read that, that the Sangha achieves a certain size and strength and then the tank producing.

[27:53]

That's right, that's right. At various times in the life of the Sangha there are particular problems arise. Yeah, yeah. And so he's he doesn't lay down any particular edict. But he does, there is the patimokkha, there is the monk's rule, and he says that it's necessary, but he doesn't spell it out in detail, it goes beyond particular situations. Of course, that did happen after his death and things got very, the monastic rule became very rigid and codified, but it's an interesting, it's another middle way balancing. So, as problems arise during his teaching, he makes another rule or two, but it's quite situational.

[28:55]

So now going back to sort of the theme, the way the text is going, there was Yasa and there were the new disciples and the first discussion of the robe and then Mara and and now, and a few other episodes, and now there's another testing episode. The Blessed One journeyed on by stages until He at length arrived at Uruvilla. At that time, three matted-hair ascetics were living at Uruvilla called Cassapa of Uruvilla, Cassapa of the River, and Cassapa of Gaia. And Cassapa was the leader, chief, head and principal of 500 matted hair ascetics. And Cassapa of the river of 300.

[30:10]

And Cassapa of Gaia of 200. So now the old guard is coming up and we're going to have a confrontation between the old and the new. The Blessed One went to the hermitage, and Buddha is going to take them on. The Blessed One went to the hermitage of Kassapa Urvilla and said, Kassapa, if you have no objection, I would like to spend one night in your fire chamber. I have no objection, great monk, but there is a savage royal Naga serpent there. He has supernormal powers. He is venomous, fearfully poisonous, and capable of killing you. the blessed one asked a second time and a third time and received the same reply. He said, perhaps he will not destroy me, Cassapa, so grant me the fire chamber. Then stay as long as you would like there, great monk. So the Blessed One went into the fire chamber.

[31:11]

He spread out a rush mat and sat down, folding his legs crosswise, setting his body erect and establishing mindfulness in front of him. When the Naga serpent saw the Blessed One come in, he was angry and he produced smoke. Then the Blessed One thought, suppose I counter his fire by fire without injuring his outer skin or inner skin or flesh or sinews or bones or marrow. He did so and he produced smoke. And then the Naga, no longer restraining his fury, produced flames. The Blessed One entered upon the fire element and produced flames also. The fire chambers seemed to burn and blaze and glow with their flames. The matted hair ascetics gathered round and they said, the great monk, who is so beautiful, is being destroyed by the Naga. when the night was over and the Blessed One had countered the Naga's fire by fire without injuring him.

[32:13]

An interesting example of non-violence. He put him into his bowl and showed him to Uruvela Cassapa, this is your Naga, Cassapa, his fire has been countered by fire. Then Urabella Kasapa thought, the great monk is very mighty and powerful since he is able to counter fire by fire of the savage royal Naga serpent with supernormal powers who is venomous, fearfully poisonous, but he is not an arhat like me. So this is an interesting, it's a very tantric story, right? that Buddha meets the serpent, smoke with smoke and flame with flame. So the Tantra is joining in and so Buddha is joining in. What does it really mean meeting fire with fire without... I mean is the Nagas fire

[33:24]

kind of an illusion, and so Buddha produces an illusion? Well, I can think of two. We have the story. It's in the story, it's in the Tozan. It's about, it's the end of the story about polishing a tile. But if you want to, if the conditions are hot, become a hot Buddha. If the conditions are cold, become a cold Buddha. Kill yourself in the heat, kill yourself in the cold. So whatever the conditions are, you just completely go into them. Now, I was having practice discussion with somebody who was talking about a situation at work where the person had been really hurt, insulted, and the person's first impulse was, of course, to lash out, and then realized that didn't want to do that.

[34:33]

And so the person just sat. and so disturbed that the person was unable to work, but just sat there in that feeling, not wanting to harm. So, you know, that's an example of this. It's not easy when these huge feelings come up to just be there. It's against every instinct. but that's a very powerful technique. But the fire with fire that we just read about, you'd think that that person wouldn't lash back. Wouldn't that be fire with fire? Well, that would be hurting the other. See, Buddha doesn't want to hurt the snake. And in fact, it would be producing karma, which Buddha would never do. Buddha is incapable. By definition, Buddha cannot produce karma.

[35:37]

Suppose I counter his fire by fire without injuring his outer skin or inner skin or flesh or sinews or bones or marrow. It could be psychic fire. Well, everyone saw the flames leaping. So in a way he becomes his enemy. That would allow him not to hurt. He takes it on. That's what I'm going to do from now on. There was more of a neutralizing effect, what he did, it seems to me. But he reduced the serpent to a little snake that he could put in his bowl and offer. Well, sure, because if somebody screams at you and you do nothing, they have nothing else to do. They just shrink up. unless they keep screaming, but at some point, you know.

[36:55]

It takes two people to keep that going, and if you don't feed into it or play off of it, then sooner or later, you know, the person's not playing by themselves. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So maybe it's confusing because we think of our own phrase of fight fire with fire, and that's not really what it means at all. Yeah, yeah. Or maybe if you were going to do something perhaps, do something with I guess what you would call skillful means from a different place. Maybe not just standing still and letting it continue and letting it happen again and again and again to the detriment of everyone around you to come when you're in your own center, you know. Yeah. You could do something productive. Right. He waited, you know. Buddha took his time.

[37:57]

And then he decided to go. Yeah. He decided to make a positive step outward towards these ascetics. Towards the matted hair ascetics. He knew he was ready. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We could get image of fire too. I mean practices if your head was on fire. you know, that kind of energy. Or don't waste this, you know, I can't remember the phrase, but don't waste this spark from the twin stone that is a human life because they come so rarely. So that the energy can be out there without burning. Yeah. Yeah. Now, I thought I put the clock on top of that. Oh, yeah, I did. Your head is in the way. Okay. I want to keep watching. I might ask you to just move it from time to time. Oh, thank you. But it's very intense.

[39:00]

His life is in jeopardy with the serpent. He's in the fire chamber, so he could be killed. he won't be. Yeah. But he can take that risk. Yeah. So things, in these circumstances, even if it's me, say, it's still a life and death in a way situation at the moment. Or at least it's that intense. But Buddha, of course, is without fear. Right. But we would, one would be, if you were so concentrated on doing that. Yeah, right. And then this dialogue with the matted hair aesthetics goes on and on and on. innumerable miracles or supernatural powers are produced and the last line is always, the great monk is very mighty and powerful since Shakya ruler of God's waits on him but he is not an arhant like me.

[40:12]

Until finally... Well, we go on for many times. And finally, some relationship happens. There's a great rainstorm and an inundation, and the place where the Blessed One was living was all under water. And then the Blessed One thought, suppose I made the water stand back all around so that I could walk in between on dry grounds, and He did so. And then Cassapa, thought, I hope the great monk has not been carried away by the water. And he went by boat with a number of matted hair ascetics to the place where the blessed one was living. And he saw the blessed one was there. He said, is that you, great monk? See, he's become fond of the Buddha now. Is that you, great monk? It is I, Kasapa. The blessed one rose up in the air and came to rest in the boat.

[41:19]

And then Cassapa thought the great monk is very mighty and powerful, since even the water has not overcome him, but he is not an arhant like me. Then the Blessed One thought, this misguided man will go on forever thinking, but he is not an arhant like me. Suppose I give him a shock. That didn't do it. He told Cassapa, Cassapa, you are neither an arhant, nor are you in the way to becoming one. There is nothing that you do by which you might become an arhant or enter into the way of becoming one. Thereupon the matted hair ascetic prostrated himself with his head at the Blessed One's feet and said to him, Lord, I wish to receive the going forth and the admission from the Blessed One. But Cassapa, you are leader, guide, chief, head, principal of 500 matted hair ascetics. You must consult them first so that they may do as you think fit.

[42:20]

We have long had faith in the great monk. If you lead the holy life under him, all of us will do likewise." And so they were all converted. What does this matted hair look like? Yeah. Well, you know, even lately in the Hindu Vedanta tradition, the holy people can just let their fingernails grow forever and never comb their hair and always let it grow. And when people look at them, they can think they're just crazy. This is an amazing film that we love. Even in some of the representations of the starving Buddha, he's got a long beard.

[43:24]

There's no bones, but there's lots of hair. Although at the end his hair was coming off in tufts, but before that it was probably matted. and so he's converting not only the individuals, the leaders, but their groups and now of course after this success Mara reappears and they have another dialogue and And Mara now is getting more discouraged after this dialogue. He says, suppose Lord, not far from a town or village, there were a pond with a crab in it.

[44:27]

And then a party of boys and girls went out from the town or village to the pond. And they went into the pond and pulled the crab out of water and set it in dry land. And whenever the crab extended a leg, they cut it off, broke it, and smashed it with sticks and stones, so that the crab, with all its legs cut off, broken, and smashed, would be unable to get back to the pond as before. So, too, all Mara's distorting, parodying, travesting have been cut off, broken, and smashed by the Blessed One. And now I cannot get near the Blessed One anymore when I seek the opportunity." Then Mara uttered these stanzas of disappointment in the Blessed One's presence. Step by step for seven years I've followed the Blessed One, the fully enlightened One, possessed of mindfulness. He gave me no chance. A crow there was who walked around, a stone that seemed a lump of fat.

[45:29]

Shall I find something soft in this? And here, is there something tasty here? He, finding nothing tasty there, made off, and we from Gotama depart in disappointment too, like to the crow that tried the stone. Full of sorrow, he let his lute slip from under his arm, and then the unhappy demon vanished. Yeah, like the tortured crab. Interesting how Marav... He's just a kind of... His suffering just goes on and on. I mean, he just lays himself, makes himself available over and over to suffering. So that's what he gets. What strikes me is the difference between how hard it is for all of us to get where these people seem to get in a split second.

[46:53]

Well, they had a better teacher. Is that it? That is exactly. I mean, Charlie says that facetiously. They just don't, they just walk up and boom, they've got it. This is the condensed version. Well, some of them are. We see, we never hear about the failures. Well, we do hear about it. Well, there is something about Buddha's presence. I was just going to say, I mean, you know, I've only seen the Dalai Lama twice, but when you're around him, there's something about him that's, I don't know, it strikes you. And to think of being around that person a lot, It seems like it would have an enormous effect on him. Yeah. In terms of waking up. Yeah. Yeah. And yet he has a terrible time with some of his own people. Yeah. Well maybe that's not a good example. I don't know. Yeah. But it is usually said that the Buddha presence and the way the Buddha... Next time we're going to talk about the qualities of the Buddha.

[48:02]

So more will come up about that. What was I going to do? Oh, maybe just, because we're talking about teaching and the Kalamas, that's the, you have that, that's the only part of the Xeroxed homework, I think, that we haven't talked about. Page 33. not of Nanamoli I hope you can find it but on this section that says skillfulness and we did we did look at the first part which is a description of the enlightenment experience but now I want to come back to page 33

[49:02]

The Kalamas, this is another kind of similar testing situation. The Kalamas, and maybe they were some kinds of priests, I don't know, said to the Blessed One, Venerable Sir, there are some priests and contemplatives who come to Kesaputta. They expound and glorify their own doctrines, but as for the doctrines of others, they deprecate them, revile them, show contempt for them, and disparage them. And then other priests and contemplatives came to Kasaputta. They expound in their own doctrines and so on. So, which of these venerable priests and contemplatives are speaking the truth and which ones are lying? So the question to Buddha is, how do you know what the right doctrine is? How do you test what's being given to you? And Buddha replies, of course you are uncertain, Kalama.

[50:14]

Of course you are doubtful. When there are reasons for doubt, uncertainty is born. So in this case, Kalama, don't go by reports, by legends, by tradition. Okay, so now Buddha is recognizing the function of doubt. That doubt is good. Doubt is fine. So when there is doubt and when there is uncertainty, here are 10 reasons. This is a famous passage. Here are 10 reasons not to accept the teaching. Don't go by reports or by legends or by traditions, by scripture, by conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement with your views. by probability or by the thought. This contemplative is our teacher. Four, when you know for yourselves, when you know for yourselves that these qualities are unskillful, these qualities are blameworthy, these qualities are criticized by the wise, these qualities, when undertaken and carried out, lead to harm and suffering, then you should abandon them.

[51:32]

So always it comes back to one's own direct experience. And the guide to experience is whether what is happening is skillful, that is, leads to liberation, or unskillful leads to further suffering. That's the way you know. What do you think, Kalamaz, when greed arises in a person, does it arise for welfare or for harm? For harm, Lord, and so on. And so he goes on in this kind of Socratic method, just pulling it out, underlining it bit by bit by bit. Then on 35, it's kind of all summed up in two Dharma discourses, four lines.

[52:40]

See evil, be dispassionate toward evil. Dispassionate toward evil. With a mind dispassionate toward evil, you will make an end of stress. Very succinct. When you're dispassionate of evil, when you recognize evil and dispassionate, suffering will end. Easier to see in other people. Right. Right. Right. But it's key that it's dispassionate, not passive. But dispassionate. Dispassionate. Right. And see evil. The first line. See it. See it. Yes.

[53:41]

Totally different. Totally different. Completely. That's right. That's right. If you ask how is Buddhism different, this is... It's like that thing we were reading by Dogen about evil, just don't do. Oh, that's right. The three pure precepts, avoid all evil, do all good, save all beings. And Dogen's phrasing of that is, devotedly do. Refrain from. and save all beings. So all you have to do, those are the only three things. And number one and number two automatically lead up to number three. So all you need to do is one and two.

[54:41]

But all he means by dispassionate is don't be caught by it. You know that thing we chant in the morning? Or whenever. Don't be caught by it. Don't be caught by the light. Don't be caught by... Oh, the Sando Kai. Yeah. Don't be attached. In darkness there is light, but don't be caught by it. In light there is darkness. Yeah. Right. Right. Because you're much more able to deal with it if you're not caught by it. But it's still dependent on the first Dharma discourse, which is see evil as evil. Yes, that's right. The first noble truth, you know, acknowledge the suffering. Yeah, it's almost, yeah, it just keeps going around and around.

[55:43]

Well, I don't see how you can know it if you're just passionate at the outset. You have to experience it in order to identify. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't be detached. We have, yeah. No, no, you're usually not. Let's see, what else do we want to do? But we've, I've seen, in fact, had a practice of cultivating my passionate stand against things and see how that, you know, my life, I sacrificed my life to that and really wasn't aware of other people because my, it was not just passion.

[56:54]

It's very unbalanced. Yeah, and this is not a practice without passion either. You know, the bodhisattva devotedly do is passionate. And the bodhisattva ideal is a passionate ideal. But isn't it like do and let go, and do and let go, and do and let go, and don't keep accumulating the doing? That's right. The leave no trace part of it. Yeah. Yeah. And also, I remember, there was something from Dovan that somebody read, I think maybe it was Ross, during a talk not too long ago, about speaking in a way so that your words will be heard. It's not just speaking the truth.

[58:00]

It's speaking the truth in a way that will be received. When you see evil as evil and name evil as evil, you don't get caught up in in screaming at the evil or whatever, you have to deal with it in some way that the evil hears, sort of. I mean, you know, you think in terms of political action and trying to devise strategies that don't just, you know, make everybody feel good, but nothing happens because the other side never listened, because they were put off by The attacks. And how difficult, how incredibly difficult that is. But that's part of, I think, of being dispassionate towards evil is not getting caught in your opposition to evil so much that you don't think about

[59:05]

is the change going on. Right. That's well said. Yeah. It's so easy and gratifying to get caught up in oppositionalism. The other side of it, you know, preaching to the converted. Yeah. And that's the same thing. Yeah. Right. The other side of it. Right. It works when you get caught up in it. In the oppositionalism. Yeah, you do. You do. You do. But it feels good at first. That's my experience. That's a model we really need for political action. There's probably a lot of people here who left the movements because they couldn't stand it. Yeah. Well, I think it's at the heart of nonviolence, which is... not just Buddhist. So in a certain way, I mean, when Charlie said, be dispassionate towards evil, it would be interesting to hear someone like Martin Luther King respond to that.

[60:26]

A person who really was very grounded in non-violence. It's like probably, you know, doesn't make much difference. But, you know, I won't name other dangers. But, you know, you can see it, I mean. But the idea of justice to a Hindu who believes in the caste system for themselves is a different kind of justice than what I believe in, or what the kids that I know who've grown up in the, the teenagers

[61:33]

So beliefs, beliefs just have to be taken lightly. I think that we should move now to the slide portion of the evening. And so next week we'll talk about, we'll talk some about the Dharma as it is taught and about women and about I didn't know where we were after last week, and so I jumped ahead. And this is sort of a forward-backward thing. And the reason these two are together, or three, these represent the sun wheel, which then turns into the wheel of the Dharma.

[62:52]

And this is, whoops, And this is two sides of a stone that has different representations of the sun wheel. One represents the sun itself with its rays, and the other is the wheel of the sun going around the Earth, which of course we know it doesn't do, but the path that it traces in the sky, which defines time in a way. So, and then before this, we have a deer, and traditionally in the earliest representations of Buddha from the deer park, which we've been talking about, you would have two deer holding up a representation of the wheel. And this deer is actually much later, it's Mongolian, but it had the wheel. In between was one of a pair

[63:54]

in one time. So, whoops, oh, going the wrong way. And from there we go into the physical attributes of the Buddha, which I guess you'll be talking about next week, which I thought we were going to be talking about this week. Yeah, well I told you we were, but we didn't. So, anyway, here's attributes have to do with his feet. His toes are sort of even and he has the sun wheel stamped in the foot, in his foot. So first you get the representations just of the sun wheel as representing Buddha and then actually on this footprint and you also see the swastika like designs which are again represent the turning of the wheel. And at the bottom you get the symbol that again has the wheel, which is the Tripitaka.

[64:59]

The little symbol that looks like a trident, but is Tripitaka. That's the same said wheel that's on the current flag of India. Right. And where would this have been from? Well, these are from what we call the aniconic period, the period before Buddha was actually represented as a person. So it would happen sometime after his death. The first representations were really the stupa. which supposedly had, you know, bones or hair or different things from the Buddha. And then you go into these kinds of footprint, the sun wheel, and sometimes the wheel with the pyramid. And you don't actually get the representations of Buddha as a person until about 200 AD, which is a good 700 years.

[66:02]

When the Mahayana arose. So, this one we just saw is quite an early one. I think it's from Sarnath. Actually, one of the earliest geogues in places. This one is quite later. from where we're getting our information, it's from Southeast Asia, and it's actually in stucco, but you see some, let's see if I can, there's the wheel in the middle, and even toes. What was the reason that there weren't images of the Buddha? What was the reason? Was there a reason that there were no images of the Buddha? Usually there weren't. The same thing happened with Christ.

[67:03]

There were no images of Christ. There were no images in Judaism. There were no images in the contemporary religions. But when you talk to people about it, especially... I can't remember the name of the man who used to live with you, May Lee. May Lee? Oh. But he's written from the point of view of why there started to be images. And as long as it was basically a religion of practice and ideas, then you didn't need images. But then when it became, there was a great deal of suffering of different kinds, it became a religion of, a massive religion of people. Then you needed images for people to identify with. So you began making images of the Buddha then. I thought Buddha said something about not making great images of him, didn't you? Sure, so did Moses and all those people.

[68:07]

Pia Silo. Pia. Pia. Pias. Piasila or Pia Silo? Pia Silo. But he still said, make these four stupas. So I just thought this was a nice, that's a person walking behind a Buddha foot there. That's great. Where is it? It's in China. It's in the Three Rivers area. I wanted to show this because we're so used to seeing things that have been ripped off from temples and little things that people could bring to museums rather than, so. We have some good books here of different Buddhist caves. So the hands, well, we have these feet that are flat, no arches, rounded at the heels, even toes, and have all these marks on them, high in step.

[69:12]

Those are all things about the Buddha. But we have, hi, this part. What's this? This is high, but the arch is flat. And the heel is rounded and fleshy. But we have these long, tapered, expressive fingers. And hands. And there's the number one. And they're very good for mudras. And the hands are sometimes described as looking like a lotus. The root of a lotus. And there's some beautiful, so here we have, we're still in that, I'm skipping back and forth, but we're back in the aniconic period. And here we have all these people worshiping Buddha's throne, which in the middle has the double, those are not sathus, they're the double stone, this double sun.

[70:17]

Stones representing the sun. It's a really interesting problem in composition to get all of this stuff going on and then emptiness represented in the center. These are from India. And I should be able to tell you the stupas. They might be from India. I can't. So that's a seat where he rests against it? That would be a throne, and that would be the wheel. It is not a cushion. But you can just barely see a bite. There are these marks on it that would look sort of like a swirl, the same as Here's another representation that you can see.

[71:26]

Some of these slides are very difficult. I just sort of stole them out of books with a handheld camera. Now, who do you think these cute women are? We don't see women like that. Who could they be? They're the daughters of Mara. I love this because it's made out of ceramics. They're so innocent looking. Oh, well, I'll read this passage in the book about the daughters of Mara. Oh, good. We'll do that next week. This is the coming attraction. And here we are with Buddha touching the ground, to get in touch with, and to, this, I don't know whether this comes up in anything she'll be reading, maybe, but.

[72:29]

No, this story is not in these old texts. But the information that I have is that there are very, very old representations of Buddha touching And then, of course, it happens in the Mahayana tradition. He's touching to call up the goddesses and the gods of the earth to help him subdue Mara, or to attest. This one. Yeah, this is very sweet. And I just put this in to sort of go backwards to the Buddha sitting in Zazen. And this is a thing that's with us in the Burndage Collection. Very small and very beautiful. And it's one of the earliest dated Buddhist works.

[73:31]

It actually has a date that tells you when it's from. engraved on it, it's Chinese. So here we are back to the wheel, but underneath what we have is Buddha doing the first sermon. And he has, which you can barely see there, his hands are in the dharma chakra, mudra, turning the wheel, which he enters when he gives the first sermon, which is the Avatamsaka Sutra. Supposedly. From a Mahayana point of view. Beyond sinning. In which no one can understand. So he has to develop skillful means. But he's got that turning the wheel. In this case, the two wheels represented by the two hands. This is a preaching mudra, and you see it in all the traditions.

[74:32]

but the hands are separate this time. And here, in Japanese it's called the Tenborin, and it's Dharma Chakra. And of course, when we heard about Ashita and how there were the things where he might become a world leader, he was going to be something very powerful, but they didn't know what he was going to be. a Dharma leader or a world leader, in terms of a king, and the father wanted him to be a king. But the two are very closely related in terms of chakra, turning things. It's like being a wheeler-dealer, turning the wheel. What does chakra mean? Wheel. In this case, the sun. And then we get into the stopping fear mudra, and this is our own, which is a slide that I made, so you can't really see it very well.

[75:42]

It's a stopping fear. It's a stopping fear mudra, which is a teaching mudra. It isn't sort of just a protective one, because when you stop fear, you become intrepid. you get energy, you're not afraid. And there are these long lists of fears, including the fear of not having a self, of not being able to face that you don't have a self. That's just one of the, there are lists of 20 and 40 fears. So it's a teaching, it isn't just, you know, well, here you guys, don't be afraid, but a real deep, Be intrepid. Search out the Dharma rather than just... Another variation of this. This has so much energy of some kind. Again, we saw this slide the other day, but we have a different stopping fear.

[76:50]

These are all stopping fear? And this one is about an inch and a half high, and it's also in the Brundage collection. You have to look hard to find it. It's beautiful. Is it ivory? Yeah, it's ivory. On a wood base? I think it's a bone base. Now, here we have a slight difference, and you've got This is a teaching of the law. One hand is down, but the other has the circle, the dharma circle, the other hand. And the fingers are straight up. Usually, you'll see them curved so that it gives that sense of movement on the outside along with the wheel. Again, a teaching of the law. When you get into Japan, these things get mixed up, but this is a giving, which is different than the first lectures, which is an offering.

[78:10]

And the hand down is a giving, or a generosity, an empowerment, which is a little different. And here we, did we get any of this at all? So here we have our other Naga. We have Musa Linda. And this must have been part of a pillar because you've got him on the four sides here. But this is also a good example of some of the physical characteristics of the Buddha. You have the long arms, the fleshy shoulders, which are sometimes described as the arms like the trunk of an elephant, and the torso like that of a male lion, and of course the erect posture, and the hair that goes in all the same directions, which you can't see here.

[79:20]

And when he stands, his fingers can reach his knees without bending over. And he has... There are the snakes again. And the lump on top, the ushnisha, and the urna on the forehead, the swirl of hair, And let's see, what am I forgetting? The earlobes are not the marks of a Buddha. They're the marks of someone who has been wealthy, and they are the marks of Bodhisattva too. And that's because he had all those earrings, because he was a wealthy man. And his ears were all extended. And one of the, in Mahayana at least, the first Relics are when he cuts off his hair and throws away his earrings and the angels come down from heaven and pick him up and take them to whatever heaven it is they go to where they collect relics.

[80:33]

I love this one. This one is also here in San Francisco. I mean, this was in the middle of the big rainstorm. The sun and the rain and everything happens and the Nagas come and protect him. in the form of Mukulinda with these seven heads. And his belly is swollen. Now we have a good female. And here he is. This is... Oh, I'm sorry. You want... Yeah, that full belly there is... He really looks pleased, doesn't he? The coil of the serpent underneath is very clearly swollen. If anybody goes to Tassajara, they have a book where the snake is all braided into a kind of weaving that you see in African things, symbols often, where that thing keeps getting broken. Anyway, here we have a trinity, and he's sitting under Musalinda, Buddha is, and on one side you have Avalokiteshvara, and on the other side you have Prajnaparamita.

[81:47]

And usually in later things you'll see these people with all kinds of jewelry on them. But originally they were made very, very simply. And then the jewelry happened when people would bring offerings and hang them on these figures. And then the sculptors and people would start imitating them. The figure makers would put the jewelry on ahead of time. So we're getting to Nirvana. And here we have Parinirvana. And here we're having all the arhats around and Buddha in the middle. When we got to Japan, this was something I really wanted to see because we had all these conversations about whether these people are wailing or laughing, how the arhats are responding to his entering nirvana.

[82:56]

And I finally found it, but it was so dark you couldn't see any of it. And so what are they doing? I don't know. You didn't get the answer? They don't look dispassionate, do they? At that point, I decided that this was a pilgrimage. Well, wasn't this temple only open one day a year? That's a different one. You just happened to be there on that day or something? This is right outside Pisa, so you'd be leaving during their lamb dower. I had to imagine what was in there. But here they are. In a lot of the ones from Tibet, the followers are sitting around looking perfectly calm. Is this Gandhara? I mean, it certainly looks classical.

[84:01]

beyond you. This one I have trouble figuring out which way is up, but I think this is it. Oh no, it's correct. It moves his elbow. And it's the right hand. This one, I believe, is a part of the one we put on the altar that really belongs to Fran, that we put on for the coroner bonus. This one is sort of wonderful because it looks like he's about ready to float away. And I believe that's it. Thank you. Thank you. That's his life.

[85:29]

It's another organ that we don't have. It's the process over.

[85:36]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ