to our personality. One side is our karmic life and the other side is our dharmic life. So karmic life and dharmic life. And karmic life is simply giving vent to our feelings and emotions and ideas for our self-satisfaction and not really paying attention to the consequences. This is our karmic life, a life in which we're creating karma all the time and binding ourself and causing problems for ourselves and others without understanding how the law of karma works and without understanding the consequences of our actions.

[01:18]

and continuing to create habit patterns that continue in an endless pattern of So, dharmic life is the life of vow, actually, or the life of intention to take the path of liberation from creating karma. So that when we do something, when our action is, and our intention is to live a life which understands the problem of birth and death, understands the problem of the creation of suffering for ourselves and others, and makes an effort to live a life free from that kind of complication,

[02:36]

In other words, a life of freedom. So a life of karma, although a life of karma is looking for something satisfying, a life of dharma is actually entering into a life which has deep satisfaction, that is not dependent on looking for ways to satisfy our desires. So when we enter practice, it's because we have this karmic life, which gives us a lot of problems. And so we make an effort to veer toward practice. But it's difficult, you know. We're always being drawn back into karmic life. And then we wake up to that through some painful experience or some realization, and then we veer back into dharmic life.

[03:47]

So there's a kind of oscillation, you know. So in other words, in karmic life, when you get angry, you give vent to your anger. and you get caught up in your anger and you blame others and you see the problem is out there and that creates a big problem for yourself and others because it's looking in the wrong place for the cause and the solution. In dharmic life you try to understand the cause of anger and you try not to be caught by anger. You try not to blame the other person for what comes up in you. So this is how we find release from our delusions. So, you know, one of the, probably the most helpful attitude is mindfulness.

[05:00]

as we're studying mindfulness, the more we really look into the meaning of mindfulness, the deeper it gets. And when we really pay attention to mindfulness, then we begin to see the contrast between what is Dharma and what is Karma. So mindfulness means being mindful of the body in the body, mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings, mindfulness of the mind in the mind, and mindfulness of mind-objects in mind-objects. So, we create problems through our opinions and ideas, we create problems through the way we react to feelings, and we create problems for ourselves by not paying attention to the body.

[06:18]

So mindfulness means to continually bring ourself back, return to our original intention. In the Eightfold Path it's called Right View, seeing the way and maintaining the way, and Right Action. So how do we maintain our practice? And in a monastic situation, there's nothing but a practice situation. So your practice is continually being reinforced day by day. In a situation of lay practice, we need to really work very hard to maintain mindfulness. and keep returning to practice.

[07:39]

When you really have a practice, it means that everything you do comes back to practice. You don't do anything that is not an act of practice. Or if you do, you know, this is not practice. This is self-indulgence, or this is, you know, doing something that hurts people, or whatever. Or this is something that I do that hurts myself. We know that. That's mindfulness. Mindfulness is knowing exactly what you're doing, and why you're doing something, and how that's happening, and the cause. But mindfulness also means continuously coming back to practice, so that everything you do is an act of practice. That's called continuous mindfulness or continuous practice.

[08:46]

So when we get angry, we don't just get angry. Or you could say, well, we only just get angry. Instead of reacting, we step back and respond to the anger. In other words, when anger arises, we know what to do with it, because we offer the anger up to practice. And practice says, don't act on this. Instead of reacting, how do I respond to this situation? In other words, how do I respond means what's the cause? And what is an alternative? And how do I actually protect the person I'm angry at?

[09:48]

And then we say, I think the person made me angry, but the person only did what they did, and anger arose in me. So the anger is mine. The anger is not the other person's. The anger is mine. It's simply my response and my response ability. In the karmic life, we blame the other person. That's creating karma. And we blame the situation. That's creating karma. So, to be free of anger, to be free of hate, to be free of ill will, is to practice. That's the practice side. How do I let go so that I can take care of this situation in the very best way without reacting with anger?

[10:57]

This is called saving the world. How do we save all sentient beings? That's how we do it. It's called saving the world. So when we realize what is practice and what is karma, we see the big gap between the two and we see where we are. So we may not be able to always deal with this situation in a dharmic way, but if we realize that there is a dharmic way to deal with it, even though we can't do that, then that's mindfulness. And little by little, if we continue to act with a Dharmic mind, we find that little by little we can actually achieve this kind of practice.

[12:01]

We complain about the world, everyone being at each other's throats, through revenge and anger and distrust and so forth. But then, what do we do? How do we act? So, it's an endless process of swinging over from karmic life to dharmic life. And part of that dharmic life is to be very patient. Patience is probably the most important, you know, every time we say something is the most important, I mean, among other most important things, it's the most important thing. But it really is, because you have to be able to

[13:08]

Be where you are. Patience means being where you are in a settled way. Not necessarily waiting for something. If you wait for the world to be peaceful, that's great patience, but futile. If you want the world to be settled, then you have to settle yourself. So when anger arises, how do I settle myself? How do I find dharmic life right now in the midst of this feeling, this emotion? And so in Zen practice, since early times, and in Buddhist practice, we have what we call gathas.

[14:12]

Gatha is like four lines or eight lines or whatever, a little poem, a little saying that you say to yourself in various situations. the four vows, the four bodhisattva vows, is a gatha. And when we open the sutra, or when we have lecture, we just recited a gatha. So these gathas kind of reinforce our dharmic mind and bring us back to settle us into the situation of practice. and keep reminding us. So mindfulness is reminding, continually reminding, and bringing us back to practice. And there are gathas which are for getting up in the morning.

[15:14]

First thing you do when you get up in the morning is recite a little gatha. When you wash the dishes, you can recite a little gatha. When you go to the bathroom, you can recite a gatha. we don't usually do that, you know, but I'm thinking it's really not a bad idea. There was a time at Zen Center when Thich Nhat Hanh presented this kind of gatha, and there are gathas actually from our own practice, but I had this little book of them which I misplaced, I can't find it. I never really memorized them, but I kind of got the idea. In India, you don't brush your teeth, you chew on a little twig. So they have these little twigs that everybody chews on in the morning. And so the gatha for chewing the twig is, when I chew this twig, I vow with all sentient beings to chew through the delusion of something or other.

[16:25]

But the gatha always says, with all sentient beings. It never says, I vow to do something. It says, I vow with all sentient beings. The idea is that you're not just doing it for yourself. What you're doing actually is for the sake of not just for yourself, but for everyone. So I come back, I let go of anger with all sentient beings. I vow to let go of this anger. So it has that kind of feeling that you're offering this practice, whatever you do, for the sake of all beings. That's Mahayana practice and that's dharmic practice. Karmic practice is doing something just for yourself. So we have to be careful that we don't pervert

[17:35]

dharmic practice and make it karmic practice. Suzuki Roshi was always saying, when we sit zazen, we all sit together. That's dharmic practice, because we do it for the sake of everyone, not just for our own sake. If you just sit by yourself all the time, without practicing with other people, that's karmic practice, just for your own sake. So we don't do things in dharmic practice just for our own sake. We don't sit zazen just to improve ourselves or to make ourselves better or whatever. We do zazen for the sake of everyone and for the sake of not just the people in the zendo, So I'm going to read some examples of gathas which can be useful for everyone.

[18:55]

Agatas, or some of them are from his old, from Vietnamese Zen practice. Some of them are his own. They don't say with all sentient beings, or for the sake of all sentient beings, but they are. So I'll just comment on some of them. He has the waking up gatha. You know, as soon as you get up, You put your feet on the floor and recite this katha. Waking up this morning, I smile. 24 brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion. So this sets the tone for the day, actually. And setting the tone for the day is very important.

[20:11]

How we actually, the first thing that we do in the morning sets a pattern for the day. And then taking the first step of the day. Walking on earth is a miracle. Each mindful step reveals the wonderful, wondrous dharmakaya. Dharmakaya is our basic nature, our essence of mind. So we recognize our essence of mind first thing in the morning with the first step. And he says, washing the hands Water flows over these hands. May I use them skillfully to preserve our precious planet." It's interesting about water.

[21:16]

Often when I wash dishes or wash my hands, I turn on the tap and every time I do that, water flows out of the tap. You know, we just really take it all for granted. Water is just... we say, oh, it's like water, you know, meaning plentiful and you don't have to worry about it, but actually water is very precious. And if you think about the problems of the Middle East, the problem that most people don't know is the problem of water rights. Anyway, it's really wonderful to feel this water, because water is like is in everything. Water, we are at least 75% water, and water is one of the elements for mindfulness.

[22:22]

Water, fire, earth and air are the four elements to be mindful of. So when we, whatever kind of liquid that we're involved with. We should be mindful of where it comes from, how it's used, where it goes. And when we think about water, water is very pure, but water also becomes contaminated. it becomes poison, it's blood, it's all of the liquid parts of our body, and it runs through everything. But actually, water itself is very pure. And then, when the impurities are leached out, it's simply pure water again.

[23:27]

But all the time, it's pure. Even when it's contaminated, it's pure. So we should understand this, that even in our, as we use water, we contaminate it, but it's still pure. Every time we use it, we do something to, not alter, but affect its nature. So we live in this world where we're always, our pure essence is continually being stained or colored by our activity and all the activities that we enter into. So to recognize this when we use water, we can be very careful about how we do it. We should be very careful of water. We should be very careful of fire, which is, for most of us, electricity.

[24:33]

And it's also the heat in our body. We should be mindful of earth, which is our body, our solidity. And when we look at our body, realize that we take care of the earth the same way we take care of our body. So then he says, looking at your hand, whose hand is this that has never died? Who is it who was born in the past? Who is it that will die in the future? As I was saying yesterday, when I look at my hand, I can see that it's not the same hand. It's the same hand, but it's a different hand than it was 20 years ago.

[25:36]

or 30 or 50 or 60 years ago. It's changed a lot, you know, but I enjoy, I always enjoy contemplating it. especially in different lights, takes on different aspects. And just to be able to appreciate the changes and the way it is and the maturity of my hand. I think my hand becomes more mature all the time through so many years of use. It's very interesting. Then he talks about inviting the bell to sound. This is one of my refrains. I'm always talking about the sound of the bell. So this gatha is body, speech, and mind in perfect oneness. I send my heart along with the sound of the bell.

[26:39]

May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness and transcend all anxiety and sorrow. So when you sound the bell, I think we should probably have this gata pasted on the bell. I lost it. Body, speech and mind in perfect oneness. I send my heart along with the sound of the bell. May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness and transcend all anxiety and sorrow." So, the sound of the bell brings us back to stillness and to letting go. If the bell is sounded in a wonderful way,

[27:48]

then everything drops away, you know, and you just feel in a different space. In the past, we used to carry a long stick called the kiyosaku, and we would hit people in the shoulder with it. They would ask for it, and a big whacking sound. A lot of people don't like that, but the sound You know, it's not so much the hitting the person as the sound. And when the sound is just right, there's no hitter, no one being hit, and no stick. Everything just disappears. And life is renewed on that moment. So it's really just a moment of renewal. It has nothing to do with aggression or anything like that.

[28:51]

So it brings us back to ourself. It brings us back to, it allows you to let go of all the stuff that's going on in your head and all the emotions that may be coming up or the sleepiness and just brings you back to attention. Quite a wonderful thing. And then I got to unhearing the bell. Listen, listen, this wonderful sound brings me back to my true self. Smiling at your anger. Breathing in, I know that anger makes me ugly. Breathing out, I do not want to be contorted by anger.

[29:53]

Breathing in, I know I must take care of myself. Breathing out, I know loving kindness is the only answer. This gatha, if you could recite that gatha when you get angry, it would really be a great blessing to everyone. Because it helps you to understand that what practice life means is to create harmony. So how do I help this person who I think is making me angry? rather than how can I get back at that person or how can I punish that person. How can I help that person? How can I create harmony between us?

[30:57]

That's the practice side. Otherwise, you're just giving in to karma and creating a worse situation. Once you make somebody defensive, once you put somebody on the defensive, their back is against the wall and then they have to fight back. So every time we get angry at somebody or make the wrong remark or something, we back that person against the wall. And then they have no alternative. They do have an alternative. Once you're backed against the wall, you have an alternative, but mostly people strike back. So, backed against the wall, what will I do? That's another, you know, you can make up a gatha, it's good to improvise.

[32:01]

When I start reading these gathas, I realize that I can just improvise, you know, on the spot, what my desire to return to Dharma is. and simply pay attention to returning to calmness of my mind. Returning to the calmness of our mind in our breath is the most important practice. That should be there continuously. It has to be there continuously, otherwise it's not practice. You know, our feelings rise up and we want to give vent to our feelings because that's a great release. But what other kind of release is there? There has to be another kind of release, another venue for release. Without chickening out,

[33:06]

You may feel, well, if I don't vent my anger or my revenge, I'm chickening out, or I'm being weak, or something like that. But actually, that's being strong. It takes great strength to be patient and to let go. That's where the strength is. That's the strength of practice. The weakness is in giving in to the anger. So it's called topsy-turvy views, upside-down view. And then Eken Roshi has a few, he has a whole book of them called The Dragon Who Never Sleeps. Oh, I have something about the temple bell, too.

[34:11]

He says, sounding a bell at the temple, I vow with all beings to ring as true in each moment, mellow, steady, and clear. Sounding a bell at the temple, I vow with all beings to remember I am ringing the dharma for the sangha of all who can hear. With the sound of the temple bell, I vow with all beings to offer my skull as a bell in the echoing chilyakasams. He says, when the meeting gets loud and contentious, I vow with all beings to hold fast to my breath as a tiller and take each wave as it comes. At a Zendo meeting for business, I vow with all beings to drop my plan in the hopper and let the process evolve.

[35:24]

When joining others for sharing, I vow with all beings to give my report on the weather without making a mess on the floor. When people show anger and malice, I vow with all beings to listen for truth in the message, ignoring the way it is said. This is very important because we get caught by the tone and sometimes people will say something to us as a message but they'll say it in such a way that it's not a good tone and the tone puts us off so that we can't listen to the message. So to be able to not get caught by the tone and perceive the message Whenever I'm feeling imposed on, I vow with all beings to recall that interdependence means for others, the other is me.

[36:41]

So when we feel that in position, we tend to separate the other from me, and then we can set up an opposition. You have to realize that the one who is imposing and the one that's imposed on are one being. When I'm worried about my attachments, I vow with all beings to remember interdependence. If I weren't attached, I'd be dead. When the outcome proves disappointing, I vow with all beings to look again at my purpose.

[37:47]

Was it dharma or something else? That's really very important. Why do we do something? And we get involved in some project with somebody or something, and then we're disappointed. If we're disappointed, why? What didn't we get out of that? If it's Dharma, we simply do something for the sake of the thing. not for the sake of what we get or gaining anything. Disappointment often comes with, I didn't get what I wanted. This is tough.

[38:52]

We don't know how much we're totally involved in ego. Our whole lives are based on it, most of the time. what I get, what I lose, what I gain. Gaining and losing, that's karmic life. Dharmic life is, there's nothing to gain and there's nothing to lose. Something comes my way, okay. Something leaves, okay. When my head is in a turmoil, when my head is a turmoil of trivia, I vow with all beings to relax in good-humored patience as I would with a mischievous child." That's very important.

[39:56]

Just return to your innocence again. You know, I realize that this is just happening. It's just turmoil nine, that's all. Enjoy it. When amused by thoughts in zazen, I vow with all beings to wave them through with a smile, and then follow them out the door, and not follow them out the door. When a demon disrupts my zazen, I vow with all beings to explain... I'm busy right now. We'll work things out later on. When a demon disrupts my zazen, I vow with all beings to remember who generates demons, in return, with a smile to my breath.

[41:06]

When anger or sadness arises, I vow with all beings to accept my emotional nature. It's how I embody the Tao. When anger raises my voice, I vow with all beings to take the hand of the other and conspire in silence for a while. Very good advice. Did you read that one again? Yes. When anger raises my voice, I vow with all sentient beings, of all beings, to take the hand of the other and conspire in silence for a while. You know, just come back to joining and letting go of this balloon of emotion. We are feeling beings. Sometimes people say, geez, I'm a very emotional person.

[42:15]

I'm a very emotional person. We're all just bundles of emotion, you know. Anyway, your emotional being is no different than everybody else's emotional being, so don't worry about it. When anger threatens my reason, I vow with all beings to wait while the storm runs its course before poking my nose outside. When fear seems overwhelming, I vow with all beings to relinquish even my fear and die. All at once. Or once and for all. Once and for all, just die.

[43:19]

No more fear. When I'm left with nothing to say, I vow with all beings to rest content in the knowledge there is really nothing to say. And then, when someone speaks of no-self, I vow with all beings to be sure there is no contradiction. The speaker is there, after all. So, these kinds of gathas are very helpful. And they bring us back to what is dharma. and keep us from, at least have the possibility of keeping us from getting lost.

[44:23]

We get lost in our emotions and our feelings and we get lost in our thoughts and our opinions. Carried away, you know. In zazen, the mind is always coming up with thoughts and feelings, and continuously getting carried away by them. And then we keep coming back. So the gatha of zazen is, wake up, wake up, wake up. The mind is carried off by something, and then wake up, wake up, come back, come back, come back. over and over again. And it's the same with our daily life. Zazen and our daily life are not two things. It's just that in Zazen, you have concentrated practice that allows you to do this.

[45:29]

There's nothing else. But in your daily life, you have to make a big effort to keep coming back to practice. Keep continually returning to your breath, continually returning to your empty mind. Empty mind simply means the mind that's not creating karma, that's not reacting to things. It's not that we try to get rid of feelings. We don't try to get rid of feelings. It's that we put feelings, we honor the feelings and put them to use. Offer our feelings to Buddha. We offer our emotions to Buddha, which means that we When we can keep coming back, then the feelings and emotions become transformed.

[46:41]

So anger can be transformed into compassion. Anger can be transformed into kindness because it's all the same energy. It's just a matter of how you use it. all the same energy. But in order to feel alive, we feel love or we feel anger. If we can't feel love, then we feel anger or ill will, because either one makes us feel alive. So some of us become addicted to ill will, anger, because that's what you feel most alive. And then we become addicted to sensuality, because that's where we feel most alive. So we have our addictions, and then we play out our addictions with substances.

[47:53]

But the addiction isn't necessarily to the substance. The addiction is to the emotions and the feelings. So, taking responsibility or owning the feelings and the emotions and honoring them. When anger comes up, to honor the anger, but knowing how to deal with it. Because when fire comes up, Fire is wonderful, but we want to control it. We don't want to burn the house down. But we're continually burning the house down. Fires are raging.

[48:56]

Buddha says, your head is on fire. Cool it off. So we use fire in a cool way, right? When you want to cook something, you don't turn the fire all the way up. You turn it down to simmer or whatever, you know, so that you can actually use that energy in the right way. That's Dharma. so active in reminding us and bringing us back and helping us in our path and practice. How does mindfulness of sort of the prosaic everyday object, which is like appreciating the hand or the way the screw is put in the wall or what have you, how is that, or is that helpful for our liberation?

[50:08]

Or is it just appreciating what's in front of us? Well, liberation is to see things as it is. to see clearly what something is. To see, you know, as the old master said, when people see this flower they don't see it as it really is. So, when you're putting, you know, putting a screw or something in the wall, you realize that the energy of the whole universe is putting that screw in the wall. It's not just me doing something. I'm using the energy of the whole universe. I'm a channel for the energy of the whole universe to do something, even if it's just putting the screw in the wall.

[51:15]

So we can appreciate, it's not just me doing something, we can appreciate the energy of the whole universe right there. And how does that save me from my suffering? Well, it saves you from thinking it's you. But it takes it from self-centered thinking? It takes it out of the self-centered mode. Self-centered mode is karmic mode. I'm afraid we have to end.

[51:56]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ