Okay. Tonight, my intention is to speak to two parables. I want to speak to two parables a week, if we can, in the class. And those two parables are what are titled Willing Acceptance and Herbs. So chapter four and five of the Lotus Sutra. And we'll see how far we get. They're both, they're quite different as parables and make quite different points. So before we go ahead, are there any, so last week we spoke about the parable of the burning house, which is related by, the Buddha is relating, who is one of the Shravakas and Arhats.

[01:07]

And I just wanted to know before we go forward, are there any questions or any thoughts or anything come up to you about that parable? Genpo, I see your hand raised. Yeah, I was just sitting in the Zendo today and thinking about that parable that would be kind of, I felt like we had kind of, we left it somewhat undigested. And for some reason, the words to Amazing Grace were to my mind as I was thinking about that parable, this idea of, you know, saved a wretch like me, this idea that somehow the parable is less about our practicing, and more about just kind of how we see ourselves and how we see the functioning of of dharma and i kind of feel like this idea this like amazing grace idea is kind of a through line through all the parables of the lotus um rather than other sutras which are a bit more instructive i think that that's right and as as i

[02:30]

I think I spoke about last week and I'll speak about more. The idea of grace that is available to everyone is a very important point of the Sutra. But it's different from other schools, from the Pure Land schools, in which fundamental thing. You know, it comes back to one of the, you know, one of the interesting theological issues in Christianity, the dynamic between faith and works. You know, are you in other words, is one just given this gift of salvation or is it somehow related to our actions and i think that in the lotus sutra and we will come to this uh in uh in some of the that um there's an activity that has to happen to catalyze the grace or the buddha nature that's available to everyone does that make sense yes yeah anyway thank you for that it's wonderful to

[03:59]

Other thoughts or questions? I'm not seeing, just see a second. I don't know if Ron is here. I don't think so. But I want to, Ron gave a Monday morning talk the other day and he's reflecting on A quotation from Suzuki Roshi from Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, the chapter on right effort. And Suzuki Roshi said, people ask what it means to practice Zazen with no gaining idea. What kind of effort is necessary for that kind of practice? The answer is effort to get rid of something extra from our practice. was contrasting that perspective with the image of the carts and the toys in the Burning House chapter.

[05:16]

And he was, I think he was saying essentially, he found a resonance particularly with what Suzuki Roshi said. And I was thinking about this, and you may have further thoughts about this yourselves. I think that these, those are speaking about two very different moments of practice for us. So Suzuki Roshi is speaking to people who have already consciously uh wait there's a message from lori uh i am are you on the bcc network of what hang on a second or a home network i am on the beach plum mountain does that answer your question is there something about that you're you're cutting out a little from time to time i thought

[06:28]

No, I'm on Plum Mountain. I don't know why. No worries. Okay. Should I get closer to the microphone? Does that help? It's more of a freezing up. Anyway, what I was saying was that Suzuki Roshi is talking to established practitioners and pointing them to a very pure and challenging practice. And, you know, he's presuming that... the people he's speaking to on the path. You could say, as Suzuki Roshi said elsewhere, he was always aiming at emptiness and understanding the intertwining of the relative. And in a sense, the Lotus Sutra ultimately has the same aim. But here, in the context of what the Buddha is developing as skillful means, he's coming from the relative.

[07:41]

He's pointing towards the absolute, but he's coming from the relative, and he's speaking to other beings. He's speaking to beings who are unaware of practice and who are in awe of those who are entrant toys, if you will, either the toys of the regular mundane world or the toys of enlightenment, rather than the absolute of Buddhahood. So I think, you know, simply saying, Suzuki wrote pure practice. And the Lotus Sutra is emphasizing skillful means that lead us to pure practice. So that's just somehow a clarification that I was thinking of in response to what Rondi.

[08:41]

Any thoughts or comments about that? Rondi, you're muted. Yes, I've been thinking a lot about skillful means and the first two parables. And it's me that, you know, the protagonists of the first two parables try to execute skillful means. That is their intent. But we might or I might think that they fall off. That happens with us sometimes in our practice, like it might be our intent. to utilize skillful means, but it doesn't work out that way. So I think that is one of the through. But what is skillful means? And sometimes I might fall off.

[09:47]

And then how do I recoup myself? Well, I think we actually get to that in the third parable of the medicinal herbs and the Dharma rain. You know, just to say, not to skip ahead too much, but the fact that the Dharma rain is always falling. So we always have a chance to go out in the rain and get wet. So if we ride up and, you know, we go outside and get into the rain. But we'll come back to that. That's a really good question. Other points or questions? Okay. So I want to talk about the parable in the fourth chapter. Sometimes this parable is called the parable of the prodigal son.

[10:54]

which is actually a kind of, it's a misnomer. But it's interesting because, you know, the early French translator, Bernouffe, I believe, all the early translators into English were essentially Christian. And so they had this frame of reference. And they saw a kind of parallel even though it doesn't really fit between the parable of the prodigal son in the New Testament, which you find in Luke, the Gospel of Luke, and this parable, because both of them involve sons who are lost and get found. and who are welcomed back after long wandering.

[11:59]

But the parallel are very different. It's interesting, though, there's some speculation that I've come across that the cultural mix of the Silk Road, you know, where you had an incredible blending of cultures, of Mahayana Buddhism, of Islam, all of these cultures were meeting and spending time in the spaces and in the caravans and in the marketplaces of Central Asian cities. And so it's not impossible that there's some interpenetration of these kind of archetypal stories. You know, just to, just without going into it, just to remind you that the story of the prodigal son is the younger son, the man had two sons, and the younger son asks for his inheritance in advance of his father's death.

[13:12]

The father gives it to him. He goes off and lives a life of prodigality. of wastefulness and extravagance. And he runs through all of his money over a period of years. And he ends up in a land where there's famine. And he also ends up having spent all his money. He ends up being a swine, which of course to, this is a parable that Jesus tells to a Jewish audience that would not actually have been, they're not have gone down so well. That's how low he sank. And he comes to realize that, you know, even the swine have more food than he does, and he decides he's going to go home. So he goes back home, and his father is overjoyed to see him and welcomes him back and sends the servants to give him robes and to go out and kill the...

[14:19]

And to have a wonderful party and celebration, welcoming back. Meanwhile, the older son, who has, of course, been the good son, is jealous. And he said, you know, I've been here all along. And I've done everything that you asked me to do. And, you know, you never gave me even a goat. You know, and the parable concludes with the father explaining to the elder son that everything the father owns also belongs to the older son. But because the younger son had returned, as if from the dead, a celebration was necessary. And he wanted both brothers to celebrate. and alive that what was lost was found.

[15:24]

This goes back to, interestingly enough, to what, to Gempo talking about Amazing Grace. I once was lost, was blind, but now I see. So, it's a very different point than this parable, but it's a beautiful story. It's a story of redemption. And in fact, the story is also a story of redemption. So to tell you the story very briefly, so at the end of chapter three, which has been the Buddha speaking, telling the parable to Shariputra, and Shariputra joy to realize that what he had previously thought was kind of the end state of his practice, being an arhat, being freed from rebirth, was really just a way station towards Buddhahood.

[16:45]

So in this sutra, What you have is comments from four other great arhats, some of the early and very senior of the Sangha, which is Subuti, Katayana, Yayana, Moggoyayana, and Makashapa. And they relate this parable to show that they understand the replacement of Three vehicles with the one vehicle that the Buddha recounted in the first, in the earlier parable. So I just want to read you something, by the way, their introduction to this parable. At the time, these four shravakas, having heard the unprecedented teacher from the Buddha,

[17:49]

and his prediction of Sariputra's highest complete enlightenment were filled with wonder and ecstatic joy. They in their seats, straightened their garments, leaving their right shoulders bared and touched their right knees to the ground, which is kind of a ritual monastic posture when hearing the Dharma. With rapt attention and with palms pressed together, they bowed in veneration and gazing at the Buddha's face said to the Buddha, we are the seniors of the Sangha, old and feeble. We considered ourselves to gain nirvana and to be incapable of further seeking highest complete enlightenment. So we did not do so. So in other words, they were happy with what they got, how far they went.

[19:01]

It has been a long time since the Buddha taught the Dharma in the past. Now we sit with weary bodies and only contemplate emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. So if you recall, in January, we had a study of those three practices, those three perceptions of signlessness, emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, what we talked about as the three doors of liberation. So that is the practice of these arhats. Neither the bodhisattva teaching... nor the carefree sporting with transcendent powers, nor the pure Buddha worlds, nor helping sentient beings attain enlightenment, produced any in us.

[20:03]

In other words, they just weren't going to try any further. Having come to this place of arhatship, they were going to leave it at that. Now, in the presence of the Buddha, having heard him bestow upon us this prediction of complete enlightenment, our hearts rejoice enthusiastically, and we obtain what we never have had. We never thought that now we would suddenly be able to hear this rare dog. We never thought that we could be Buddhist. So this is... This really touched me this week. And maybe you have similar feelings. You know, the feeling... You know, I... I couldn't aspire to complete Buddhahood.

[21:13]

And really, the message of this parable is... because it is available to each of us if we listen and practice the Dharma, particularly if we practice the bodhisattva path, that none of this is beyond us. This is a powerful message because I think there's a level on which often many of us lack the confidence to really go the distance towards Buddhahood. And we're being encouraged by the Sutra to do that.

[22:15]

And this really reached me recently with an awareness of where I perceive my limited aspiration. Ross has his hand up, yeah. Thank you, Hassan. I was wondering if you could say a little bit more about what does it look like to not fully step into or actualize Buddhahood. And secondly, Bodhisattva is allowing others to so-called go first. And I'm wondering about the tension between allowing others to maybe express Buddhahood or manifest in a certain way, and if that's actually a kind of a cop-out of not stepping forward oneself. I mean, I think this is a really...

[23:23]

interesting and ongoing question that that we won't resolve but um first of all you know to go to this what you're raising that bodhisattva practice uh and this comes up later in the sutra you know in chapter 20 when you hear about when you hear the story of the bodhisattva never disparaging uh who tells everybody that he sees they're going to be a Buddha. This is a radical shift, you know, to see everyone as a prospective Buddha. And in fact, it's not just a radical shift for, it's a radical shift for us, I think, as individuals, where we might want to say, Well, yes, except for so-and-so.

[24:26]

But it's also a radical doctrinal shift, where in other even models, there was really the proposition that not everybody was going to get to be a Buddha, and not everyone even had Buddha nature. that there were some people whose transgressions precluded that. But as far as... I think that if one can see Buddhahood in those around us, then by implication we would see it in ourselves. And I think the inverse is true. If we can see... in ourselves, then by implication, we can see it in others.

[25:27]

But I think that's just the start, how you do this. And I think this is, you know, we really have, we have such an example of it in Suzuki Roshi, who just seemed remarkably to see buddhahood in everyone and to treat to treat beings as buddhas that's i mean sometimes an actual physical example someone to model ourselves after and you know our teachers uh offer that to us indeed yeah yeah it reminds me Somebody talking about being outside of Sojin's office, and the student was yelling at him and being very upset. And a few days later, the person asked Sojin, what was that like for you to be so insulted and sort of attacked by this person that was just venting?

[26:37]

And he said, I was just looking at the other person's side of the Buddha that is just still. And the manifestation, I inferred, was just her upset. saying this person is just a bad person she's upset and there's still the buddha right there um right and that that person down to they didn't the distillation of that person was not that upsetness exactly yeah in that moment it's the upsetness but it's not ultimately it the other thing you you mentioned just in passing which i think is really important is confidence that people you know lacking confidence we don't come forward and so about awakening and practice is that a confidence fills our body, and then we, in fact, can step forward, or we are confident enough to step back and let others step forward. If we don't have confidence, then we kind of waffle, and we'll let, oh, because I'm afraid, or I'm going to step forward because I need to be seen.

[27:44]

So it works in both ways, like stepping forward, stepping back. Right. So, yeah, he was often, I mean, I often heard him speaking about confidence. And I love this passage, this introductory passage in this parable, because these arhats are actually admitting their lack of confidence. and their transformation. So that brings us to the parable. Yeah. Thank you. So let me talk about the parable a bit. So briefly, you have a wealthy man's son from his father as a youth. And for 50 years, he

[28:47]

he wanders from one place to another in total poverty. And he hires himself out wherever he goes as a menial laborer. And he's just wandering. And one day in his wandering, he chances upon his father's mansion, which in all this wandering between 50 years, maybe his father moved, but anyway, He wasn't recognizing if it was that. But the father recognizes him right away. And he's overjoyed. And he wants to give him all of his wealth and his possessions. So the father, you know, as it goes, later in this parable, the father is the Buddha. But the son does not recognize his father.

[29:51]

And something about the grandeur and the wealth of this frightens him and overwhelms him. And he runs away. And so the father sends a messenger to bring him back. And the messenger thinks, the son thinks the messenger has come to arrest him, and he faints. So when he hears this, the father tells the messenger to release him and send a couple of other servants wearing really dirty clothes, offer the son work, clearing away manure in the stables. And that's the kind of work that the son was used to, and so he happily agreed.

[30:59]

So after a while, you know, the son's labors there, by the way, lasted another 20 years. So we have an interesting kind of chronological challenge there of 70 years of life unfolding in the course of this story. But after a while, the father disguises himself in dirty clothes, approached the son, and he comes as kind of the foreman of the stable cleaners. And he tells the son that he always has a job there. And that this foreman will treat him like his own son.

[32:04]

And so here, the son works for 20 years, cleaning away the dung. And he gradually, this is in the language, he gradually gained self-confidence. And the rich man also gradually, the father gradually promotes him and charges him with administration of the stables and then administration of the property. And he comes to, the son comes to understand the whole workings of the estate. And eventually, as he senses his death approaching, the rich man invites all of his relatives and the officials of the kingdom, declares to them that this servant is actually his real son.

[33:08]

And he transfers to the son his whole estate. So the rich man in this parable represents the Buddha whose desire is to have everyone experience the same awakening as his own. Just as the rich man with his wealth to his son that all All beings are the Buddha's children. And the sun represents sort of ordinary people about aimlessly and transmigrating through lifetime after lifetime without encountering the one Buddha vehicle.

[34:13]

And so to lead them to, Buddha employs expedient means and preaches what is appropriate to his son's capacity. So he gives him work that's appropriate to him, that's going to help him feel at ease, that's going to help him build his confidence, as we were talking about a moment ago, and develop confidence in his ability to understand and do the work and in metaphorical terms, to understand and be at home in the Dharma. And so the father is teaching the son gradually, and the Buddha leads sentient beings gradually to higher teachings, and ultimately reveals the one Buddha vehicle of the Lotus Sutra. One of the things that struck me in this parable is the moment where the father dresses in dirty clothes and meets the son.

[35:37]

This is in accord with, this is bodhisattva practice, often we say. Bodhisattvas, great Bodhisattvas, have the capacity to meet each being in the form that is going to most appropriately lead to awakening. In our chaplaincy training, the work that I've been doing at Upaya Zen Center for about 10 years, The expression that we use is coming alongside. It's just, it's not confrontation. It's not taking by the hand. It's just walking alongside, taking the form that allows you to be side by side with sentient beings and subtly guide in the right direction.

[36:42]

and you have to find the way to do this. But, I mean, I think in many ways, for some of you, there's some of you who have chaplaincy experience or have other teaching experience. This is something that we've learned to do, to come alongside. And I actually love that expression. And there's a... I haven't been able to find them. I remember the quotation, but I can't. I've never been able to find it again. But I remember an expression of Kovencino Roshis, where he says, being a bodhisattva means just walking alongside someone at the same pace. Ryushin's shaking her head. Do you remember something like that? Can't hear you.

[37:47]

I do remember it, but I don't remember the source, but we had someone who knows his writings well. Yeah, we'll have to look for this. So in other ways of looking at the content of this, the cleaner, the job cleaning out the stables, can also be seen as presenting the teaching of the early Buddhist tradition. You know, it's like cleaning away what the work is, well, it's like the poetry contest in the Platform Sutra where Shen Shu says, about the mirror, you know, the dust falls and our practice is to clear away the dust.

[38:53]

So our practice, that's very nice, but really our practice is to clear away the shit that lives, which is probably more tedious and not as easy as dusting. Sue? Thank you. A couple of thoughts arose. When we walk alongside someone, what I don't see here is a mutual contribution, reciprocity, where if you say you're walking alongside someone, you can receive gifts. If it's all one way, you get very It's daunting. Does that make sense? Yes. And that, one of the things that I love about Gene Reeves' commentary, it's actually a commentary on the next parable, but throughout this, throughout Gene Reeves' very, really generous, open-hearted commentary,

[40:13]

he is constantly emphasizing that role, that it's not, there is a reciprocity, that it's not like, when we get to the next parable, it's not just that the Buddha's reign falls on everybody, but that everybody has to preach the Dharma, and to share it. So I think the implication is there, and I think it's really helpful for you to draw that out. When we come alongside, what that is, is what Dogen talks about in only a Buddha and a Buddha.

[41:18]

Buddha's meeting, one may recognize that he or she is a Buddha and the other may not, but ultimately, that awakening allows them both to work together, to cooperate. Thank you. I want to add something, which is the joy, the leaping for joy, the joyous reception or understanding moment of the bodhisattvas, the arhats and so forth. I think that that exhibits an equal platform in some ways. And it's really fun for me to imagine that. Yeah. I can imagine, you know, routine on that, based on that.

[42:23]

But it was really great. And the father going in and covering himself with dung and cleaning up the stables or the cattle stables. I'm still trying to process that one, but I sort of get it. Thank you. Thank you. Ryushin. Thank you. I have a comment, which your last, how you started this, really for me to add. And then I have a sincere question. And the comment is, in training my last dog, we replaced the usual command of heal, which is a way to tell the dog that you want them with you to follow you with, and it's very, it's a similar feel and it really is relational in terms of how I relate to the dog and it's a quite different feel and I think it changes how I interact with her.

[43:39]

So that with Powerful. That's really beautiful. I mean, that's a restatement of the power relationship between the dog and the so-called owner, right? You got it. That's right. That's really sweet. I like that a lot. Yeah, thank you. Anyway, thank you for that. Yeah. So here's my... So this was a surprise reaction to reading this parable, which I've read many times over the years, and I've always been very warned by the grace and the possibility in it. And when I read it, I was struck by how so much power of revelation of the person's true nature and gifts was vested in the Father. And although he makes it horizontal, it's really a vertical kind of, it reads as very vertical.

[44:46]

And maybe it's the translation of Christians doing that, or maybe this is something else. But I really struggle when I read it this time, too, that actually, you know, the Buddha nature, the point is, it is us, and our work is to uncover it by understanding our effort and good fortunes, the grace of practice and people we come in contact with and our teachers. Could you say something about that? Yeah, I totally understand. There's all kinds of uncomfortable elements in the midst of a very beautiful message. And the uncomfortable parts are patriarchal, male supremacist. There's no prodigal daughter. There's no, you know, there's no mothers that are mentioned in these things.

[45:49]

It's like, yeah, I think it behooves us to be uncomfortable about these things without throwing them out. This is the, this is the really, the challenge. How do we have to, the only way that these sutras are usable, it's completely dependent upon how we use and understand and interpret them, not on the words that are on the page. And so, yeah, I understand that. Thank you. Thanks. Kavir. Hi, everybody. how the father approached the son and met him where the son was, I kind of see that how our Zen practice is.

[46:52]

I'll give you an example of what my experience has been since I've been with Berkeley Zen Center in late 2017, it doesn't matter, but where I walked in an azendo, no clue, and nobody told me what to do, how to do it. You're doing it wrong. You're doing it right. It was just, I was just, and until this day, I'm making so many mistakes that I can't even, however, not once I was judged or was scolded or in any way, I was mad where exactly where I, you know, From the minute I walked in, I didn't know what Zazen was until I broke a soup until right now. And I kind of see the psychology of that is because our minds are so fragile. Our minds are skittish. You know, our egos are fragile.

[47:54]

And by, you know, if the father showed, you know, when his king outfit in the, you know, in the stable, you know, how would have that, the Buddha would have, and the son would have felt. But no, he just met him where he was. And I feel that in our practice, you know, especially with our, I've always feel that I'm always met where I am in my ignorant, not knowing, in my very limited knowledge of the Dharma or Zen or anything. But I always feel that I'm home. And there's nothing special going on here. It's not like we're not really doing anything really special. We just sit, count on breath, get up, bow out, you know, and then just go on our day. But there's this, and I think that's where, and what really attracted me to this practice was that we're doing exactly what is under the Bodhi tree.

[49:01]

He was just sitting and he got up and he did his work. goddess meal, and then to just keep repeating it. So I see that that hasn't been broken. That thread or that vein or whatever you call it, that has not been broken the minute that the Buddha sat in the Buddha tree until we're having this class. So that's how I see it with meeting the father and the son. Thank you. One thing that occurs to me is that... Thank you. We are a patch robe order, not a brocade order. You can go to some temples and the teachers wear fancy robes. Our model, the most precious robe I have is this worn out

[50:06]

kangasha robe that's got a lot of patches, and sojins were like that. And when you read about Ryujin, Dogen's teacher, Dogen's teacher never wore a fancy robe. You know, so this is the model for how our practice is. It's very down-to-earth. So... So Pauline, and then I want to move on if I can. So, yeah, I just wanted to say, I mean, when I was reading this, I certainly had some of the same reactions that Yushin was describing. What I found myself counterposing to that is actually my favorite part of the parable, which is the part where the father gives the son the job on the storehouse saying, OK, I want you to keep watching all these treasures. Why do I want you to do this? Because you and I are one in the same.

[51:09]

You know, where the son is the wealthy man, the son is Buddha. He's just not, he doesn't know it and isn't in yet. And of course, you know, the reason that he is also the wealthy man is because he's the father's heir and there are these patriarchal, you know, inheritance laws and all that. But that's like, you know, that's the scaffolding of the parable. And at least in this moment when he just says you and I are one of the same for me, the building kind of falls away and there's a bit of essence there. Good. Thank you. Let's just take a breath here for a moment. And I'd like to move to the next chapter and to the parable, peculiarly named herbs.

[52:17]

And it begins with the Buddha addressing Mahakashapa and the other great disciples saying, splendid, splendid, oh, Kashapa, you have skillfully explained the real merit of the Tathagata. In other words, you get this. The Buddha relates this parable of the three kinds of herbs and the different trees that illustrate that although the Buddha's teaching is the same, counter it, understand it differently, and develop in different ways. So he says, it's just like the grasses, trees, shrubs, and herbs that do not know their own natures, whether they are superior, mediocre, or intelligent.

[53:21]

Yet the Tathagata knows the teachings of one aspect and character, the character of liberation, dispassion, cessation, complete nirvana. and eternal tranquility, which ultimately leads to emptiness. The Buddha knows and perceives the aspirations of sentient beings. For this reason, in order to protect them, he does not immediately teach omniscience. O Kashapya, it is a rare thing that all... Agatha teaches according to your capacities and that you believe and accept it. Why is this? Because the Dharma taught by all the Buddhas according to what is appropriate to sentient beings is difficult to understand and difficult to know. The metaphor is that there's a great cloud in the sky giving out rain and moisture equally.

[54:30]

to various types of trees and plants. And the various types of plants and are kinds of medicinal herbs and two kinds of trees and all of them by virtue of their distinctive nature absorb moisture differently and grow at varying rates. So, there's a contradiction here. And the more I look at it, and the commentaries say this, that in a sense, this parable appears to be in contradiction to the previous two. Because it seems to imply that different beings have different capacities for receiving the Dharma.

[55:31]

And in a sense that identity determines capacity or the vehicle that you're capable of following. So, you know, the inferior herb supposedly denotes the teachings for heavenly beings and human beings. The mediocre herbs denote teachings for yoga. And Pacheca Buddha is the Four Noble Truths and the laws of dependent origination. And the so-called superior herb denotes the teachings for the bodhisattvas. So this is kind of a conundrum. I want to read you something that... Donald Lopez and Jackie Stone write.

[56:34]

The metaphor of a single truth leading to different results odds with the previous parables, which emphasize the Buddha's ability to perceive the capabilities of his disciples and using skillful means to adapt his teachings accordingly. To borrow the metaphor of this chapter, the notion of skillful means there would see a different rain falling on different plants. The central image of this chapter is a variety of sentient beings and how they differ in character disposition and capacity, something perceived only by Buddha. In fact, the chapter seems to acknowledge the tension between the notion of a single vehicle And the plurality of skillful means of explaining that the Buddha attracts sentient beings with a single resounding.

[57:39]

I set free all who have not been freed. I enlighten all those who have not been enlightened. A little later he says, as before, the Buddha reiterated verse, and here again, no attempt is made to resolve any contradictions between a single teaching and a multiplicity of skillful means. So I'm wondering what you make of this. Hiko. I'm just thinking of single moon reflected in many ponds and many dew drops.

[58:48]

Each drop or pond may seem to be differently receiving because of its shape, size, you know, agitated character. if there's a wind blowing, and yet it's still the same moon. And for each separate being to understand the idea of skillful means is really only the being itself receiving, not the Buddha's changing the message. That's what I take for him. It's just like the one moon. Yeah, thank you. i'm sure if i'm going to be able to articulate this and maybe should think a little bit more but but i think one of the things is um there's sort of two central teachings in the lotus sutra and it's skillful one vehicle and so the question is whether we which one of those we think is more true

[60:07]

So in other words, is the one vehicle teaching another skillful means? Right? Or is it a skillful means all to the one vehicle? So there's two different ways of reading this. Because if you think the one vehicle is actually just yet another skillful means, then I think that's what resolves those tensions. because they're all skillful means towards something that can't be named. As I said, I maybe need to think about that a little more to try to put that into words, but just that that's the question. Is the one vehicle teaching itself only a skillful means? That's an interesting point and maybe we should come back to this a little later because um i think that quite a number of points in the in the text it's really arguing that the one uh is the supreme vehicle uh and you know of course also just to to name it

[61:31]

because we've been kind of flirting around the edges of it tonight. The Lotus Sutra, as we're reading it, and as we're reading these parables, seems to be implying a gradual path, which is distinct from kind of the the sudden awakening approach of Zen. So it's a little different. You could look at it as a little different. Whether it is or isn't depends on, you know, then there's all kinds of interpretation. But to this question, I think this is the, you know, this is the conundrum of this particular parable because it seems to stand the other two parables, the previous two, on their heads. Dan?

[62:33]

I started thinking about Ryushin's observation about the hierarchical nature of the second parable, and that it seemed to me that the reason it was that way is not so much about the father's position, but the son's hindrances and his inability to fully accept in that moment. So that there took a series of steps and skillful means to sort of bring him to that awareness. And that I think that's sort of the, I don't see it as a contradiction. The parable of the rain is that the very, the variability is due to the various states and abilities of different beings to accept and understand those teachings, but the ultimate. teaching, just like the ultimate essence of the rain, is the same, although it manifests itself differently because of the different beings involved.

[63:41]

Well, one of the things that Gene Reeves writes, which is interesting to think about, with the simile of the cloud and the rain, the focus of the sutra has shifted somewhat. focus on skillful means in chapter two through four to an emphasis on the universality of the Dharma and the equality of living beings. So that's what that's what he reads. So the universal the universality of the Dharma is that's pretty clear if we look at this image of the cloud. and the rain, the equality of living beings, you know, I think that actually, that's kind of what Ryushin was talking about in relation to the training process of her dog.

[64:56]

To say, come with, acknowledgement of equality. It's not a statement. Everyone has their own. We each have our own capabilities, our own intelligences, our own aptitudes. But in a fundamental way, we are essentially equal. We're equal in our value as sentient beings. And this is what it said. The blade of grass is equal in its meaning. But it can only accept what would feed a tree would deluge a blade of grass. So, you know, it's an interesting ongoing question.

[65:59]

To me, it's about also the interpenetration of the relative and the absolute. That the absolute is the equality of all beings. And we always have to acknowledge that. That never disappears. But on a relative basis, we come along at our own rates. And you know what? I think if I look, if I really put a bit, the full growth of a blade of grass is Buddhahood. The full growth of a tree is Buddhahood. them in their maturity comes to buddhahood each so each of us in our maturity comes to buddhahood which is very encouraging and what and then talk to me at the end of it uh at the end of this chapter um

[67:28]

that he's saying it's not just that the Buddha has this great cloud is this comes up this comes back to the question that was asked before you know it's also we are responsible for raining the Dharma on those around us and They offer their nurturance and their reign back to us. There's a balance, there's a harmony. And this is really important. Let me read you this section from Reeves, because I think this is really an interpretation, and it's very powerful to me.

[68:54]

Today, many believe that the minimal harmony necessary for human beings on Earth is being destroyed by the Earth's dominant group of human beings, of living beings, human beings. Whole habitats, rainforests, wetlands, uncultivated plains, natural have been destroyed and are still being destroyed at an increasing rate. Increased economic activity virtually everywhere also means increasing pollution of the air and water and the very soil upon which we depend for much of our food. In addition to such environmental destruction, humankind has developed weapons of enormous destructive power that could hardly have been imagined a century ago. In this sense, human beings have made themselves more important, that is, more powerful than beings in this ecosystem.

[70:02]

They threaten to destroy even the minimal harmony that makes life on Earth possible. This is a situation well beyond what the Indian compilers of the Lotus Sutra could have imagined. It would be foolish to claim that the Sutra provides a recipe for solving the kind of problems that threaten the planet today. But in principle, the Sutra is hardly silent about such matters. It calls upon us to recognize that in important respects, all are equal. all are nourished by the same processes symbolized in the simile as the reign of Dorma. That's a really beautiful interpretive passage. Humbling. You know, just as a species, we can be so

[71:12]

self-centered and of course the same is true of us as individuals and the practice that we've been given and I think the practice here that's being communicated by the entirety of the Lotus Sutra is to be to be awake to all that is growing around us, which includes ourselves, and to be in a continual process of growing. The rain is always available to nurture us. and to take this chapter in the larger context sutra the rain promotes our growth to buddhahood and that's um that's a great opportunity

[72:37]

So I want to just, let's just, I think we can express gratitude. We are nurtured by this rain. And we do that by, you know, returning the gift of practice to those around us, whether it's in very particular forms in simple kindness and respect so any any thoughts or any comments as we're moving towards the end of this session Echo?

[73:53]

This doesn't follow, but it came to my mind as that one of the reasons things seem so disordered in my mind is that humans are not providing as much as they are taking. And the thing that came to my mind was that by its nature, a mountain provides and nurturance to every kind of creature and being. And in that sense, we should respect mountains a great deal and take our place in the order of nature. But instead we are mountain top mining and we are environment and that is out of order. And so that's just my comment. For now, I'm thinking about that. I think that's important.

[74:55]

That's a really good point. And, you know, it brings to... I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago, we actually had a Buddha's birthday ceremony at the Nevada nuclear test site. I don't know if any of you were there. Stan was there. And you go to this... site and what they did, something like 100 above ground nuclear tests. So there's craters all over the place. There's all these wires and, you know, kind of decaying machinery lying all around. It's a kind of wasteland, but it's also a sacred space. And it was really challenging to see that as a sacred space, you know, and to wonder how are we sacralizing what's being done to make sacred, say, the mountaintops that are strip mined in West Virginia, you know, or other places.

[76:18]

You know, what are the... Native peoples in the Southwest, how are they sacralizing their spaces that have been disrespected and mined? How are we doing this? You know, one of the things powerful to me, this is now, gosh, 20 years ago, Joanna Macy and some friends created something called the Nuclear Guardianship Project. And we actually talked about this, the possibility of this Green Gulch, basically a place or would adopt a defunct nuclear weapon and preserve it because nuclear weapons last for 10,000 years. And if we think about it,

[77:19]

no language that has survived for 10,000 years. So how are you going to communicate to the people, if there are people, 10,000 years from now, that this is a source of poison, toxicity, and danger? You can only do that in a way, a sacred space. So that's what comes to mind, Eiko, when you talk about this. And But it comes from a place of be with, not be over, not lord it over, but actually to be side by side in partnership with all beings. Thank you. That seems to be what the whole movement going for today is adjusting that well it's what it needs to go for you know I wish I could say I thought it was going for but either we will go for it or we will all die we will destroy which is a possibility but even if we destroy what we have

[78:47]

I really recommend, it's a wonderful book called Learning to Die in the Anthropocene, which is about finding out that even in these dire environmental circumstances that we find ourselves, we have to preserve what is really precious and valuable at human life. And in a sense, the Lotus Sutra, and our practice is part of it. So to preserve it in the face of potential loss is, I think this is bodhisattva activity. It's a little dark place to end, but, you know, that we are here thinking about this and talking about this together is really, it's just, I can't tell you how encouraging it is and how fortunate I feel to be part of this in the community because we have to create community.

[80:14]

It's not a given. Any last thoughts, please? Yeah, Jerry. At the risk of being sacrilegious, I'd just like to ask you if you plan to join Gary in cleaning the bathrooms during practice period. Sure, why not? If that help is needed, that's fine. You know, first, maybe I need to start with my house. We'll see you Saturday morning at work period, Hosanna. Okay, that's fine. Good. Okay, let's chant the Bodhisattva vows and say goodnight. And we'll see you in the Zendul. Beings are numberless.

[81:15]

I vow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to be committed. Okay, everyone. Thank you. See you next week, if not sooner.

[81:42]

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