Well, if you've been around here for any length of time, you've probably chanted the Metta Sutta. Metta Sutta or Sutra is one of the chants that we do. And it is the Sutra which expresses unconditioned love In Zen practice, the emphasis is on wisdom. Monjushri stands out as the personification of the Zen student. Monjushri is the epitome of prajna or wisdom. And Avalokiteśvara is the representative or expression of

[01:04]

compassion, which is actually Karuna, but these two sides, wisdom and compassion, or wisdom and dispassionate love, are two sides of one thing. So, recently someone said to me, well you know in Zen, they didn't say it to me exactly, although I was there, they said, and it was an older member of Zen Center, says, we never talk about love or, you know, metta or this kind of thing in Zen Center. And that was a little shocking to me, because I feel that I'm always talking about it, And I felt very funny about that.

[02:08]

But I think it's something that we have to, because we have to put some emphasis on this side, because whether I feel that I'm doing that or not, people don't, many people don't feel that. And I've heard this before, you know. So it's important to balance both sides and have a good understanding of both sides of this practice, which is both prajna and metta. So today, I'm going to talk about the Metta Sutra. Pali, you know, doesn't use R's, Pali language, which is an old Buddhist language.

[03:12]

So they say Sutta. And Sanskrit says Sutra. So it's the same thing, but it's nice to use Sutta. Metta Sutta. Metta means as I said, dispassionate love or concern for the well-being of others, actually. And not just the well-being of others, people, but the well-being of the earth and all of its inhabitants. And also, just metta without an object. In other words, I think I talked a little bit about this during Satsang. Metta is like a state of being for yourself.

[04:21]

Like, where do you abide? What is your disposition? It's one thing to offer bits and pieces of metta, but to actually embody metta so that whatever you do, metta is always being expressed, is more like practice, more like a state of being. So prajna is intuitive wisdom. Prajna is the wisdom beyond wisdom, as we say, which is not our own personal wisdom, but it's the universe's wisdom. So it's the deep source of wisdom. And metta is its expression.

[05:26]

Metta or karuna love or compassion is the expression, how wisdom is expressed. So we say, someone has enlightenment. Well, how do you tell? Maybe they can answer a koan very well. But that doesn't necessarily mean that a person has enlightenment. Or if they do have enlightenment, so what? What if you do have enlightenment? So what? What is the advantage of that? If you really have enlightenment, you realize that you're nothing. But who wants that? How do you tell that a person is enlightened?

[06:28]

you tell by the way they interact with people and the way they live their life. So, to live your life based on metta is an expression of enlightened activity. Just being able to answer good questions is not enlightenment. It's how you actually embody these qualities and how you express them. So the Sutra says

[07:30]

starts out, this is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise, who thinks what is good, and has obtained peace. Well, already, you know, the first couple of lines talks about an enlightened person. So, that leaves us out. But anyway, just suppose. This is what should be accomplished by the one who has prajna, who has realized prajna, and who seeks what is good and has obtained peace. Well, even though you haven't realized prajna, and even though you haven't really attained peace, you can still practice this. This kind of way of expressing means once you have done this, then prajna and metta flow naturally.

[08:36]

That means that there is nothing stopping it, because the expression of metta is our natural attitude, if you want to talk about self-nature. What do you do until you're enlightened? What does a person do until they're enlightened? There used to be this book called, What do we do until the Messiah arrives? That was a book in the 70s. You act in an enlightened way. Your effort, you know, It says, one who seeks the good. Well, seeking the good means to practice. You practice, even though you're not enlightened, you still practice the way.

[09:41]

And when you make the effort to practice the way, even though you're not enlightened, that's enlightened practice. So you don't have to wait for someone to come and save you. Not necessary to wait for someone to come who will save us all. Each one of us has to do it ourself. Even though Maitreya, Buddha, would appear today, you'd still have to work out your own salvation. No one, even Maitreya, cannot give it to you. But peace here means nirvana. And nirvana means letting go. Letting go of self-centeredness.

[10:46]

Letting go of dualistic thinking. letting go of all the obstacles which prevent your nature from being expressed. Greed, ill will and delusion, of course. So, this is how the sutra opens. This is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise, who seeks the good and has obtained peace. or would like to obtain peace. Let one be strenuous. Strenuous means to put some effort into practice. Upright and sincere, without pride, easily contented and joyous. I'll just read this and go back.

[11:54]

Let one not be submerged by the things of the world. Let one not take upon oneself the burden of riches. Let one's senses be controlled. Let one be wise but not puffed up. Let one not desire great possessions even for one's family. And let one do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reprove. So strenuous, upright and sincere are wonderful qualities to cultivate. Upright means not leaning to the left or the right, but staying right in the center of things. making the effort to stay right in the center of things, that's always our practice.

[12:55]

That's maybe the main focus of how you practice. It's the way you practice zazen, and it's the way you practice all of your activities, is to remain upright, even when you're sitting down, or even when you're lying down, to remain upright. So upright means centered and not leaning left or right in a biased way. Not to be biased by anything, but to always maintain this kind of attitude. And if you sit Zazen in an upright way, your mind will be less likely to be pulled around in a biased way.

[13:57]

So without pride means to be gentle and humble, easily contented and joyous. Easily contented is one of the most difficult things for us. Let one not be submerged by the things of the world. And let one not take upon oneself the burden of riches. This is very difficult, you know. To be submerged by the things of the world pertains to a greedy mind. Because there's so much, we want a lot. It's hard to I say no to things. How to live a simple life in America, very difficult.

[15:11]

Because it's just so much. So much to... The other day, you know, our stove went out. And so we have to decide, shall we fix the stove or shall we get a new one? Well, you know, a new stove has all these advantages. And the old stove, well, you know, the enamel is chipping off in there, you know, and maybe it'll go out again, you know, maybe, you know, so you have this kind of controversy with yourself. Well, we can afford it, you know. It's nice, you know, to be able to have a few things that you really take good care of and that really take good care of you, you know. That's the art of living, actually, is to be able to have a few things that you take care of well and they take care of you.

[16:25]

and you have nice interaction and you have a feeling for them. Just to get things and throw them away. There's something missing there, something lacking. But I probably will get a new stove. Self-cleaning ovens. The rest is Zen of it. And taking on the burden of riches. Riches is actually a burden. But we think of it as something we really want, you know. It pulls us. It's hard to avoid. Hard to avoid. Hard to avoid wanting too much.

[17:33]

Riches is a kind of security, but it's a kind of false security. Not too long ago, you used to be able to live pretty easily without so much, but it's getting harder and harder because the ante is being upped. And it takes, if you're renting, it takes a good percentage of your salary just to pay the rent these days. It didn't used to be that way. So we were kind of forced into getting as much money as we can and as much wealth as we can, which is not good for people. You don't have much choice. You used to be able to choose, but now it's really hard to choose. But still, we have to be careful. And we need a certain amount of money to live and to feel comfortable.

[18:46]

But be careful that you don't get caught by trying to get more and more, because that's where all of your effort goes. Pretty soon, that's all you think about. The more you get, the more you think about getting more. And that's where your mind is. And you don't have time to practice or do anything, anything spiritual. And then when there are so many people in the world that don't have anything for us to collect, we have to think about that. So let one's senses be controlled, meaning don't allow yourself to get pulled around by what your senses smell. That smells good. Don't let one be wise, but not puffed up.

[19:51]

It means you should have wisdom. Don't let it inflate you. Don't think that because you have a little bit of wisdom that you have a lot. This is one of the biggest obstacles to realization, is to think that you know something. You should know what you know, but As much as we know, we should realize it's nothing. Let one not desire great possessions, even for one's family. When we start collecting things for our family, it's easy to make a kind of fortress.

[20:53]

for ourselves. This is one of the problems that's facing us today, is people making fortresses for themselves, around themselves, and then excluding all the other people around them. It's easy to start doing that, and then you move into fancy houses and so forth, and think that this is security. So I think the one thing that we have to avoid is the sense of false security, that by having possessions for our families and building a secure fortress, we'll be safe. But it's going the wrong way. There is no security. We can rely on this for a long time, but eventually it doesn't work.

[22:00]

So, let one do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reprove. And then it's a kind of little prayer here. It says, may all beings be happy. May they be joyous and live in safety. This is expressing metta. All living beings, whether weak or strong, in high or middle or low realms of existence, small or great, visible or invisible, near or far, born or to be born, may all beings be happy. So this is how metta is expressed. And to born or to be born kind of brings up the subject of abortion, which we've never talked about. born or to be born. I think it would probably be a good idea for us to bring up that question sometime.

[23:07]

Let no one deceive another nor despise any being in any state. Let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another. This is maybe most difficult. To really be careful about how anger arises in the mind, and how we take care of that. How do we take care of it? It's continually arising. And even as a mother, at the risk of her life, watches over and protects her only child, so with a boundless mind should one cherish all living things, suffusing love over the entire world, above, below, and all around, without limit. So let one cultivate an infinite goodwill toward the whole world. And of course there are metta meditations in which you can practice in this way.

[24:14]

There are the four meditations First, one must be able to receive love from oneself. In other words, one must be able to accept oneself and to have goodwill toward yourself. And that's the first stage of meditation on metta, is to feel Allow yourself to feel goodwill toward yourself. Without judging. Letting go of all of the self-hatred that you have. To just allow yourself to accept and feel good about yourself.

[25:15]

To send metta to yourself. Sometime soon we'll have a metta meditation. It'd take too much time to do this now. And then, to direct, once you've established it within yourself, then you share that with some person who is somebody that you know, but not someone that you have a sexual attraction or leaning toward. unless you eliminate that. So this is sending or expressing love without any kind of attachment or desire. And then, to extend that to someone who you don't even know, maybe somebody walking down the street,

[26:22]

And then to extend it to someone who you don't like, like an enemy, if you have an enemy. Or someone who you ordinarily would not extend that to, someone who bothers you a lot, you know. So that's the most difficult for most people. That takes some a higher degree of detachment or non-attachment. So those are the basic four having to do with people. And then you can extend it to the city, and then to the state, and then to the country, and then to the world, and then to the universe. So that's the method of metta meditation.

[27:27]

So then it says, standing or walking, sitting or lying down, during all one's waking hours, and I changed it here a little bit, practice the way with gratitude The way we have it written is, cherish the thought that this way of living is the best in the world, which is okay. But it also talks about it being the best. I think that can be implied, but not so good to state that, because it compares. this way with other ways. Of all the other ways, this is the best. It's okay that it's not. It sounds a little arrogant. So, I said, standing or walking, sitting or lying down during all one's waking hours, let one practice the way with gratitude.

[28:45]

It could be stated some other way. Translations are always open to reinterpretation. And abandoning vain discussion, that could also be abandoning wrong views, which actually is the same thing. Having a clear vision, that means endowed with insight, freed from sense appetites, One who is made perfect, and I change that to one who achieves the way, because made perfect is a little too much. One who achieves the way will never again know rebirth in the cycle of the creation of suffering for ourselves or others. Well, that's my line. I mean, I originally translated it that way. The original is more like one who achieves the way will never be reborn again.

[29:55]

And I think the spirit of this is not so much that one will be or not be reborn, but that one will not be reborn in a cycle of suffering. Teaching is about suffering, not about whether or not you will be reborn or not be reborn. And I think this whole thing about reborn and transmigration and so forth gets mixed up with the concept of suffering. Buddha's teaching is not about whether or not one will be reborn or not. but whether or not one will keep being reborn into the cycle of suffering. In other words, we're continually being reborn, moment by moment, in the cycle of suffering.

[31:02]

And we create suffering for ourselves, and we create suffering for others. So, the concept of rebirth or reincarnation is an old Indian idea. And so Buddhists always also use that as a way of talking about our life. And there are various ways of talking about it. But basically what Buddha and Buddhism is about is about how to deal with suffering. And we use the metaphor of rebirth in order to talk about the cycle of suffering.

[32:08]

So whether or not one is reincarnated is not the point. In Buddhism it's more appropriate to talk about rebirth because all of our actions and all of our thoughts and volitional action creates for the next moment, or the next times. That's firmly established by science, that all actions continue, that the energy of actions continues, and continues to create other forms. That's called, in Buddhism, rebirth, or continuous birth.

[33:17]

or action influence, actually, is more appropriate. The influence of our actions continues to influence other forms in conjunction with other actions and other forces. So this is a kind of rebirth process which is going on with everything. But reincarnation is another subject, which I don't want to talk about. So whether or not that is so, I don't know. But the creation of a cycle of suffering is something that's always going on. That's action influence. That's the influence of our actions, which we're continually perpetuating. and to get out of the cycle of birth and death.

[34:23]

This is called the cycle of birth and death in Buddhism because actually there is no birth and death in Buddhism. To be free from birth and death means to step out of the cycle of suffering and step out of the cycle of creating blind suffering for ourselves and others, and realizing, when one realizes that this self is not a true self, then one steps out of the cycle of birth and death, because the cycle of birth and death is illusory. Of course, You know, on one level, we're born into the world and we die.

[35:24]

That's a fact. But it's just a small perspective of our life. It's a very narrow perspective of our life. In a larger perspective, there is no birth or death. There's no one that's born or dies. Even though there is someone is born and dies. In a larger sense, there is no one that is born or dies. Nothing is born or dies. But we just say it. We just use those terms because of what it seems like is happening. So, to step out of the cycle It doesn't mean to change anything. It just means to have realization of what is so.

[36:29]

So, you know, there are four principles of reality leading to release. Impermanence, the understanding of impermanence, the understanding of suffering, the understanding of no self, and the understanding of purity. And understanding purity means the understanding that even though things seem to be dual, they're not dual at all. Purity means non-duality. Even the most impure things are, in another sense, pure. Maggots are pure. Garbage is pure. It's just from our perspective that we call things what they are. Or we call things what we want to call them.

[37:34]

Because garbage smells, we hold our nose. But that doesn't mean that garbage is impure. It's just we have attitudes and draw conclusions. So the practice of metta is the practice of how to find release from suffering, which doesn't mean that we won't suffer. Within our suffering, you can't escape from suffering in the world, but you can find release from suffering within our suffering. If you think that release from suffering means that you won't have any more suffering, I'm sorry.

[38:36]

We still have pain. Life is painful. But it's not necessary. It doesn't have to be suffering in the sense that we don't have any freedom within it. We have freedom within our pain. and we can't have freedom within our suffering. And, you know, Avalokiteshvara suffers the suffering of all suffering beings. But that's also freedom from suffering. Freedom from suffering is to completely suffer the suffering. When you sit in zazen, have a lot of pain after five days of cixin, and you cannot escape from that. And sometimes you call it suffering.

[39:40]

To be completely painful, to be completely suffering, without trying to escape from it, is how you escape from it. So metta is actually letting go of self-centeredness. That's how you let go of pain. That's how you let go of suffering, is to be completely open and non-self-centered. And completely concerned with other people's or with the suffering of others.

[40:47]

In other words, when everyone feels, when everyone has, when you can extend well-being to others, to everyone, then you can have it yourself. It's like when everyone is saved, then the bodhisattva will enter nirvana. So it's just this bodhisattva practice. And it's not... You can give little pieces of it away, but It's not the same as embodying it in your whole being.

[41:54]

So, to embody it in your whole being means to suddenly have realization. I think this is the basis of realization, is when you suddenly realize that there's no barrier. When Shakyamuni Buddha was enlightened, as the sutra says, as it is said, he said, I, together with all sentient beings, have enlightenment. This is his expression of metta. So Buddha nature seeks Buddha nature.

[43:09]

Buddha nature recognizes Buddha nature. It really doesn't have so much to do with personality. Do you have any questions? Yeah. Why did you decide to get a new spill? Well, you want me to explain it in detail? The pilot light in the oven, when it goes out, there's a little part that shuts off the gas. But that wasn't working. So I changed it. And it still wasn't working. And then PG Neiman came out, three of them.

[44:10]

And each one had a different idea about what was going on. And pretty soon you start thinking, is this worth it? And then you start thinking about all the other things. But I, you know, I really like the idea of saving, you know, the old one. Oh, it's pretty peachy, man. It's not real. It sounds like you did it. Well, that's right. Thank you. I feel vindicated. How do you deal with anger arising? Well, first thing is, this is anger arising. That's the first step to deal with anger arising.

[45:12]

This is anger arising. And while Suzuki Roshi used to say, while you're thinking that this is anger arising, then it's no longer anger. step back from it. As soon as you recognize it, as soon as you contain it in that way, then you step back. Then you can take another step back. What should I do with this anger? And then you can take another step back. And, of course, these steps can go very quickly, or they can go slowly. So to keep questioning the anger, to look at it and then question it, just to be aware. The first step is to be aware. This is basic Buddhist meditation.

[46:16]

And we practice this. This is meditation that you practice all the time. to notice what's there. Anger is just one thing, you know, but there are all kinds of feelings and emotions that come up, and to recognize each one of those. So anger is just one of them, among all the others. And once you notice it and identify it, this is where the anger has now arisen. And then you can say, The thought of anger has arisen. Now, the thought of looking at anger has arisen. And diffuse it. You can also count to ten. Truly. I used to think, oh, hi. But really, one, two, three. I just want to add that I have been practicing and teaching that for the last six months

[47:32]

come to sudden rest, so I just sit down. Right, and if you're going to do that for two hours, you might as well cross your legs. Yes. That's what I'm saying, it's great, it's great. I'm out. Are there situations where anger shouldn't be diffused? Well, if you are using anger, that's one thing. If you're being used by anger, That's another thing. Well, being used by anger is when you're reacting. Something hits you and you hit it. That's a reaction. And then you are coming over to the side of the thing that you're angry at. And to step back and find a calm place and be able to use anger as a way of expressing yourself is sometimes appropriate.

[49:08]

For instance, if, you know, I don't want to say for instance, I don't want to give you any ideas, but sometimes it's appropriate if you're using it. And you express yourself that way, and then you drop it. If you can drop it, immediately after using it, it means that you're not being used by it. But if it keeps building up, and you can't stop doing something, then you're being turned around by it. So the point is not to get turned around anything, which is hard. But you can't just decide to do that. You have to practice it. It has to be part of your practice. And then, when something comes up, because you have been practicing, you can do something with it. But if I say, you know, you may or may not be able to, but probably not, unless you've been practicing it.

[50:23]

Or unless you really have a desire to not let anger turn you. But you have to have a pretty strong desire, because it's easy to get caught. I mean, even if you've been practicing it, you still get caught by it. But when you get caught by it, you say, now I'm caught by anger. And you know that. even though you do get caught by it, you can still have the opportunity to step back. So the main thing is to recognize what you're doing, and to know what you're doing, and to know that there may be a better way to respond to things. But anger is helpful. Anger creates a lot of energy, and you can use that energy in various ways. So, when the anger arises, which it does, whether you like it or not, and then, how can I use this energy in a way that's not destructive, that won't eat me up, and won't eat up the object of the anger?

[51:41]

So, that's using it. You find another, maybe I can talk more quietly, You know, I know that sometimes I'll get angry at somebody and I just want to, you know, force them into understanding what I'm talking about or what I want them to do. So instead of, if I think about that, that's not going to work. So I go and I whisper, respond to the way, to what you're doing, right? So if you're responding with anger, then anger will come back. But if you're calm, then calmness comes back. So you create your world. That's how we create our world. Through conscious volitional actions, instead of reactive

[52:52]

But you have to want to do that. And it has to be worth more to you than reacting. But sometimes reacting is worth more to you. Because vengeance is such a wonderful kind of reward. But we reap the So, it's a great release, but, you know, we pay a price.

[53:32]

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