Call forth as much as you can of love, of respect and of faith. Remove the obstructing defilements and clear away all your taints. Listen to the perfect wisdom of the gentle Buddhas. Talk for the meal of the world for heroic spirits intended. Anybody ready with their memorization? I'm not sure, but you want to try it. Okay. Oh, look she's laminating. No, I didn't So I wouldn't lose it Shariputra asks, how then must a Bodhisattva course if he is to course in perfect wisdom, and Subhuti answers, he should not course in the scandals, nor in their signs, nor in the idea that

[01:18]

skandhas are signs, nor in the production of skandhas or in their stopping or destruction, nor in the idea that skandhas are empty. or I course, or I am a bodhisattva, it does not occur to him, he who courses, thus courses in perfect wisdom and develops it, he does not go near any dharma at all, because all dharmas are unapproachable and unattainable. inappropriable.

[02:25]

The Bodhisattva then has concentrated insight, not grasping to any Dharma by name, Vast, noble, unlimited, and steady. Not shared by any of the disciples or pratyekabuddhas. All right! Excellent! Did you have any thoughts about it during the week? Do you have any comments to make on it, or do you have any insight into what it means to course in the skandhas?

[03:35]

Or not course in the skandhas? Well, I wanted to ask you why you chose this. Well, I tried to choose, for the memorization, I tried to choose things that I saw as very seminal or essential to, you know, to what perfect, to describing what perfect wisdom is. And I, you know, I had to come up with I came up with 20 or something, so it wasn't like I chose my two favorite things, but I thought that, I think that's very much the essence of what's being taught here, that you don't, that you're not trying to produce or stop skandhas in meditation. It's very profound. Wow! It's in here somewhere. It's knocked down all the thoughts that I've had in the past. Like, you know, that a true bodhisattva doesn't even think about these things or attach himself or herself to things, ideas.

[04:47]

And then the fact that all dharmas are unapproachable and inappropriate, That just proves everything I have in my life. It's really very, very deep. Other thoughts? Thank you. That was a very nice recitation. Anybody else want to do their recitation or have anything, any questions from the previous or any insights from the last week? I'll do my recitation. Oh good. Maybe the only thing I say all evening. Great.

[05:48]

I lost the little sheet. But you found it in there? Well it's on page 97. Page 97, okay. That's fine. Armed with a great armor, a bodhisattva should so develop that she does not take her stand on any of these, not on form, feelings, perceptions, formation, sorry, it's impulses. Form, feelings, perceptions, impulses, consequences. Just a different translation of the same thing. Eye, ear, nose, tongue. body and mind, not on form, sound, taste, touch, touchables, smells in there, form, sound, smell, taste, touchables, mind objects, not on eye consciousness until we come to mind consciousness, not on the elements, that is earth, water, fire, wind, ether, consciousness, not on the pillars of

[07:01]

mindfulness, right efforts, roads to psychic powers, faculty powers, limbs of enlightenment, limbs of the path, not on the fruits of streamlinner, once returner, never returner, or arhatship, not on pratyekabuddhahood, nor on buddhahood. Good. Thank you. Very good. We talked about that a little last week. Do you have any further thoughts about it? I don't know how to think about it. You didn't have to. Sometimes thoughts pop into your head even if you don't expect to. It's sort of similar to what she was saying. It really just knocks out everything. It knocks out all the

[08:02]

all the little supports, even Buddhahood, just knocks them all out. It's pretty all-inclusive. So it leaves me with this kind of feeling of, well, what, you know, I don't know, I can't even think. Right. Thank you. Does anybody else want to say anything about what we've talked about so far? The next sections kind of take a turn here, so we're not going to be sort of hashing over the same old ground, so anybody has any thoughts they've had or any experiences or anything? Well, I wanted to ask a question about I think more of what Agnes was quoting

[09:03]

about coursing in the whatever, you know, the Bodhisattvas coursing in Dharma or not Dharma or whatever, it seems to me that there's an aspect of self-consciousness that they're warning against, or that the quotes are warning against, that when you say, It seems like I go along with a lot of my day not being aware of what I'm doing, I just do what I do, and it's fine, and then I'll say, oh, I just did that really well, or gee, you know, my back stops hurting and I'm feeling really good, you know, and then all of a sudden it gives it a new opportunity to hurt again or whatever. That seems to be like a pitfall that's being continually warned against. Is that what I'm hearing? Like self-consciousness? Yeah, I think so. And what comes up for me when you say that is, well, what's the difference between awareness of what you're doing and self-consciousness then?

[10:06]

Because it's not that we don't, we're supposed to be mindful of what we're doing, right? Well, that's true too. Did you say something? No. So that's a question, you know, I think. I think it's like, If your awareness is one thing, but if you fixate on this is me, kind of, in time, you know, as a kind of continuing thing, that's when the self-consciousness is, it's self-clinging, or it's clinging to the skandhas or the dharmas. Because I can't imagine any human being not suddenly being aware, let's say, sitting, zazen, and coming back to an awareness of sitting really well for a moment. I can't imagine that anybody could not do that occasionally. Right, and so I don't think what they're saying here is that you're not a bodhisattva if these thoughts come up.

[11:10]

At least, that doesn't make sense to me. I think, you know, do you think they're real or do you just think, oh, that was a kind of deluded thought that came up, totally unrelated to the moment where I was in samadhi or whatever, you know, I just had this the story I made up about something that happened a minute ago, or you know, which is not necessarily connected, it's just another in the stream of thoughts. So, I don't know if I'm answering very well, but... I think it's a pitfall of the awareness practice. In other words, if you're not even trying to be mindful, you won't hit the problems that they're bringing up here. So, you know, it's like you try to be mindful and then you start clinging to that, you know? Okay. Anything else on the perfection of wisdom as we've come to appropriate it so far?

[12:15]

Okay. Well, wait a minute. Yes? Something you just said did remind me of something I thought about. a lot after the last Thursday night. And I think this is like a continuing thing I worry through. You said, you know, was it just another deluded thought or was it real? Well, especially reading this, I keep asking myself, what is real? It seems as though we're assuming something is real. And I read this and it seems as though it's saying... That's all an assumption. It's all an assumption. And so... I don't know. That's just the question.

[13:18]

Yeah, I actually didn't say was it a diluted thought or was it real? I think in a sense in the way this is talking about it's not even maybe diluted is too negative but you know maybe that yeah that you're just your mind is just producing these thoughts one after another caused by conditions and in a sense they're all diluted in the sense that you think they're about something but they're not they're just one thought after another that's that's But the thing is, you can't stop that. It's just to sort of wake up to that that's what's happening. That's what the mind does. So it's not like to stop those thoughts from occurring and then you'll have thoughts that are about real things or something. You know, I mean, it does seem like they're bringing up some reality or all knowledge or something in here, but I don't think it's anything that you ever get with your thoughts. You never get a hold of it with your thoughts. pretty clear, so they'll say at one point, you know, all knowledge, and then they'll say, it doesn't exist.

[14:24]

Right. Or that, you know, our conversation isn't getting at it, is more what I feel like they're saying. Whatever we say about it's not getting at it. And then somebody goes on to say, you know, and even what I'm saying isn't getting at it, you know, I'm not saying anything. Yes. But our moment-to-moment experience is real. Yeah. So that there is reality, as long as we don't construct it in some way. Right, and maybe it's not something we can conceptualize. So it's happening all the time, it's just constantly pouring forth. But whenever we think we've got an idea about it, we know that idea is just an idea about it, it's not the thing itself. or something. So it's more to just admit and keep waking up to the fact that you're just pouring forth all these ideas continually and keep coming back to your actual experience.

[15:30]

I just wonder even how much of our experience is constructed, you know, culturally and otherwise. Well, bare attention, bare attention isn't constructed. You know, just the arising isn't constructive. But I don't know where that ever exists. I can't imagine. I mean, if I bumped into a table, what's the bare arising about it? The pain? Yeah. So the physical sensation. Even before you say table, maybe? The physical sensation. Yeah. Or the bird sings, and even before you say, oh, it's a robin. It's sound. The sound. The sound. That's right. I see. Or I say, Susan, and you immediately turn. Yeah, and I just, the idea of thoughts, there are no real thoughts, isn't to put down the thought, but if you bump

[16:37]

If you see the table, that's a construction. I mean, this object, you could sit on it, and you could call it a chair. You could analyze it. If you could see into its molecular structure, it could be the universe. You know, it's not just a table, and it is a table. Does that make any sense? No. Oh, OK. I was really helpful there. No, it's OK. Anybody else want to? Probably me. No. Anybody? Most of this doesn't make sense. That is true. Remember, do not hinder the one who understands, right? You may not understand, but do not hinder the one who understands. OK, so we're moving on to Chapter 3. And it's a kind of a different, Shariputra, I couldn't even find him in this one.

[17:39]

Should we get our guy's hand out? He wasn't in this chapter. It's mostly between the Lord, which is the Buddha, and Chakra, the God, the kind of head God guy. And the gods. Kind of like Zeus, I guess. And there's a little bit of Ananda at the end. And it's also not so much about, very little about what perfect wisdom is, and very much about all the good it's going to do you in your life. Right. It's a little grasping. Yeah, and it's kind of, this stuff I have to admit, you know, I think it's very, it's kind of, cosmic irony or something that I had to do this class by myself because, you know, I've read this book several times and I've gone through and I've sort of underlined or marked out parts. There was like nothing in this chapter that I'd underlined in the past and it's a lot of stuff I kind of avoid dealing with actually. So it brings up, it's bringing up merit basically.

[18:44]

It's bringing up the concept of merit and we, and this is going to be an important Basically we're just going to cover chapters 5 and 6 in the next two classes and it kind of climaxes in this very intense sort of way of dealing with the idea of merit. And so we need to explore this if it's going to be developed in the next couple chapters and classes. So I talked to Reb a little bit about what merit was. And it's, my sense is, it's like basically benefit that comes to you, or either from good karmic action, so it's karmic result that's positive, that's pleasurable, or it's also benefit, benefit comes to us from insight into emptiness, or insight into the emptiness of karma, of the process of cause and effect.

[19:47]

And one of the things that this chapter is saying is basically the benefit that comes to you from the insight into what, you know, as we've talked about codependent arising or cause and effect or emptiness is kind of, I don't know if I should use this term, but it's kind of nuclear in comparison to the benefit of good karmic action that you do. It's like, it's so much bigger. It's unbelievably bigger benefit. So that seems to be one point they're making. And one of the reasons why I am, you know, why this is kind of uncomfortable or confusing is because at least we, you know, in our school, our Zen school, there's a big emphasis on no gaining idea. So why are we even thinking about this merit? Why do we even care whether these things have more merit or less merit? Why are we even thinking about, you know, it seems to be assuming that we're thinking about things in these terms, in terms of merit.

[20:52]

Like that we're doing these things, we're doing zazen, or we're doing not kind things, or generosity, or we're doing these things to get benefit, to get merit. So, I'm just putting that question out there. I think it's going to keep kind of preying on us. What's the date of this history? I forget about... Didn't Alan say it was like 500 A.D. or something? What did he say? Sorry, he's sort of taken over the... Well, I was just thinking, if you compare it to some of the Old Testament or New Testament scriptures... Yeah, well, that's quite old, and that... You know, I think that that's... There's got to be some political history or something that is involved with this discussion. And the audience, who was the audience for this? Not just monks.

[21:54]

Well, in a sense, gods are people who've had this great, such a strong, but karmic, positive benefit of their karmic action that they've been reborn in heaven rather than in the human realm. Oh. So they're positive beings. They're beneficial beings. They're not just like the greedy ones. These are those jealous gods and stuff. No, these are more like people who have done so many great things in their human life, whatever, that they're reborn in this realm where everything's wonderful and food falls out of trees in your mouth and stuff. What do you think about, as a parent, training your child to make their bed or clean up their toys? I think most likely that you try to instill in them there's some good idea or merit from that act. But actually, if the child is really to grow, they'll learn to do that as a natural response to taking care of their life. this carrot of enlightenment or gaining merit by doing good deeds and seeing some people and all that, but if we really are to kind of break through all that, it's sort of like seeing that there's really that absolute side that there's no merit or nothing, gain is just, you know, giving and just doing.

[23:31]

What I just popped through my mind when you're talking is that basically when you're a kid the merit is your parents approve or they don't. I mean at least parents use that mostly. They try to use their approval or sometimes even love, you know, withholding it if you do bad things. So that's sort of like the original merit or something. Well there's a story that parallels that in the Lotus Sutra about the good physician. And the Lotus Sutra also written at the same time is full of merit of gaining it. wanting it. And the physician tells his sons and daughters to do this and that and this and that to keep healthy, but a certain number of them won't do it, no matter how much he says. So finally he says, he decides he'll die, or he'll go away, and then they're terribly contrite, and then they wish that they'd done all the things that he told them to do, now that he's absent. And when, in his absence, when he's found that they do the things that they're supposed to do, then he comes back and they're all terribly pleased.

[24:38]

But it takes his... And that was in fact why Buddha decided to die. Because he decided to die because it would actually help people internalize the teachings. So, is that on the subject? In a sense, anyway, we're sort of, before we even started this, we're putting out one hypothesis, which is that the merit is something that gets you into the practice, and then you have to get past it. Isn't that kind of what you're saying? Yeah, it seems like it's like the carrot that, why go through all the... But I somehow feel like the way we practice here, we're not even supposed to have that carrot from the first day. But it's there. I think it's being aware of it as a caretaker. It seems like it's assumed more than anything else. My contact with Mel is very minimal, but does he, in some quiet and subtle and direct way, encourage certain people who, as a parent, is that not one of his... I don't really know.

[25:48]

I don't really know. And if he feels that you're not serious, there's a certain disapproval by his not responding. Don't all teachers sort of function that way? I guess. At a certain point in one's life. Maybe. I think he encourages people, but it's not in a way that is too terribly obvious sometimes. And I think some people get frustrated. given enough, and it's a real difficult place because if he is constantly giving very obvious strokes, people can be very complacent and fall off the side of just doing things for his approval, which is not going to help him or themselves. So I think being a teacher is an evolving process over the years. Meili would be a good example. how his, I'm assuming that you could comment on the spot, I don't know.

[26:55]

But it's on tape now, so you're on. I remember one time here, when we were sitting in this room, because the Zendo wasn't built, I think Mel had gone through a kind of discouraged period. And it was suggested that we spend the time going around the room and saying what we appreciated about Mel. And one person said, people said nice things. And one person said, oh, he's just very plain, he's just like a mirror. And you could see that that was what, that was the remark that he most appreciated. Well, let's dive into this ocean of merit and Let's see what we come up with here. I was, let's see, let's have... Chapter 3, I think.

[28:00]

We're in Chapter 3, right? Page 103. Reverence for the receptacle of the perfections which hold immeasurable good qualities. And this section is called, Worldly Advantages of Perfect Wisdom. Okay, so I was thinking, I've been thinking, let's try to break this down more like a little play rather than just read section after section. So, I'm going to be the narrator, and Anne, you're going to be the Lord. So, I'm just going to read the first section. You want to be the Lord? There's going to be another opportunity. There's going to be another opportunity and you can be the Lord. I did this morning with a bunch of three-year-olds. Agnes, Ross, Debbie and Ellen are going to be the four great kings.

[29:01]

And we're just going to read those two paragraphs. Does everybody know who they are? No. You don't? Do you have the page? Do you see where it says the four great kings? Yeah, you're the four of you. The four of you are the four great kings. And I'm going to read the first sentence. The Lord saw that the gods were assembled and seated, and that the monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen were assembled and seated, and he spoke thus to the gods. Mara and his hosts will be unable to harm those who take up this perfection of wisdom, who bear it in mind, preach, study, and spread it. Men and ghosts alike will be unable to harm them. Nor will they die an untimely death. Those deities who have set out for full enlightenment, but who have not yet got hold of this perfection of wisdom, will approach a person who has done so, listen to that person, and will also take up, et cetera, this perfection of wisdom.

[30:02]

experience no fear. This person will certainly never be stiff with fright, whether one be in a forest, at the foot of a tree, or in an empty shed, or an open place, or a road, or a highway, or the woods, or on the ocean. It is wonderful, O Lord, that those who take up and center the profession of wisdom should discipline beings in the three vehicles and yet not perceive any being. We, dear Lord, will protect such a person. Okay. So, this is kind of scary stuff, because, sort of like, what first comes up to me is, gee, I guess I'm not devoted to perfection of wisdom, because I've certainly experienced fear, and blah blah, but anyway, They're bringing up the great things that are going to come our way as we get more and more devoted to this teaching.

[31:11]

Like reading thoughts. And I was just going to encapsulate sort of the next list of great things that are going to come to you, which starts at the bottom of this page, the Lord. So the quarrels and contention, the contradiction of those who oppose his Dharma, Buddha Dharma, will simply vanish away. And I thought this was kind of interesting. It is perfect wisdom which appeases all evil from ordinary greed to seizing on nirvana. I think it's kind of amazing. It's on 104. I guess two things I found interesting were using the word appeases all evil. and sort of linking in a continuum, you know, ordinary greed to seizing on nirvana and kind of calling seizing on nirvana an evil.

[32:22]

All the gods and buddhas will protect this follower, the perfection of wisdom. The speech of the follower will become acceptable, soft, measured and adequate. Wrath and conceit will not overpower him. nor ill will will not take hold of him. He will be mindful and friendly. If he were to go to a battle, to the very front of it, he could not possibly lose his life. If someone should strike it in, his body cannot be hit. Because it's a great lore, and when one trains oneself in this lore, one is intent neither on disturbing one's own peace, nor that of others. And then there's another thing both Alan and I sort of noted as being interesting. Where this perfection of wisdom has been written down, now I'm at the bottom of 104, and has been put up and worshipped, for it has been taken up, there men and ghosts can do no harm except as a punishment for past deeds.

[33:36]

It's kind of an interesting little thing. It says, you know, normally harm can come to you for other reasons than as a punishment for past deeds, then I guess. So... I would rather say just as a result of past deeds. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that made it seem more comprehensible. I think you're right. I think... I don't think we need the other punishment as extra. But still, it's interesting that... I don't know, I find it interesting anyway. So that's just, that's that section. I don't have a whole lot more to say about that. Does anybody want to ask or comment or does anybody have any deep insight? Yes, go for it. No, I don't have any deep insight, but I did have trouble with this because it sounded so magical, you know, like you're going to battle and nothing can hit your body. But if I look at that just sort of as, you know, more of an extravagant picture or as a metaphor

[34:42]

it did make sense that if you were really steeped in this perfection of wisdom, you wouldn't be either in your inner dharmas or all your inner beings creating any more conflict for yourself, and you wouldn't be encouraging it from anybody else. And that we all have such a... I mean, there's such a sort of incomprehensible, complex train of past causes and conditions that create this moment, that you could very well be hit and killed for who knows what combination of past and present. contributing to it. By sort of taking things as signs or getting sort of attached and clinging to the appearances that are happening. Yeah. And I think maybe some, most of us, at least if we've been practicing the wild, have noticed something like this happening over the course of our lives, I think.

[35:56]

That, you know, it's not Somehow we don't have the same opponents we used to. We don't have as many opponents. There, you know. That's good, Ann. That's good, yeah. So, it's sort of, if we can get past... It's making a strong statement to use the magical images, but, you know, as long as we can keep getting to the part of what's being said. I had done had some understanding about the, where it said, because it is perfect wisdom which appeases all evil from ordinary greed to seizing on nirvana, which you had brought up. And I understood that as because I, in my life, have had a tendency of, you know, like demanding heaven, everything's going to be perfect, we're all going to, you know.

[36:57]

and then I never get it. And so when I sit back and just, you know, I've learned as I've gotten older to just sit back and allow it, you know, or just allow the heaven or the nirvana to, or appreciate it when it's there and not be demanding or grabbing it, because then it's like never there, you know. So I related to that in that sense. Yeah, I like this part about One is intent neither on disturbing one's own peace or that of others. So what that means to me is when you're doing these things that we've been talking about in the last two classes, coursing in the skandhas or taking these things as signs, you're disturbing your own peace. In other words, there's a peace there just with things as they are. And if you're trying to appropriate or abandon these various, your various moments of experience that you, you know, you're just disturbing your own peace basically and others too. but I just like that expression.

[38:01]

I found that helpful. Anybody else want to take a stab at it? Okay. notes since capsule section two okay so now here's the way they get into this the comparing people so the first comparison is we're on page 105 in the middle but you don't need to really read this i don't think i'm going to kind of skip over this a little quickly um One person who has written down the Perfection of Wisdom, honor, revere, worship and adore it with heavenly flowers. And the other deposits and stupas the relics of the Tathagata who has gone to parinirvana.

[39:02]

Who would beget the greater merit? And of course it turns out that because the Perfection of Wisdom is the source of the Tathagata, not his relics or his physical personality, but actually the Perfection of Wisdom is the foundation and the source of all knowledge that you get much greater merit if you revere the perfection of wisdom. And then he compares, what does he say? So then he compares someone who actually not only reveres the perfection of wisdom, but confides in it, is resolutely intent on it, serene in his faith, in earnest intent, learns it, bears it in mind, recites, studies it, spreads, demonstrates, explains, expands and repeats it, illuminates it in detail to others. Uncovers its meaning investigates it with his mind using his wisdom to the fullest extent Thoroughly examines it copies it and preserves and stores away the copy so that the good Dharma might last long So that the guide of the buddhas might not be annihilated, etc, etc that person is compared to the person who Would build many coatis of stupas whatever coatis are is that like zillions probably or something?

[40:31]

It has seven precious things. Even if one would fill the entire world with such stupas, even if every single person built a stupa for, you know, eons, the devotee of the perfection of wisdom would have greater merit. Because in an absolute sense, he honors the past, future, and present Buddhas in all world systems. which can be comprehended only by the cognition of a Buddha. So they're comparing that and they're saying this kind of nuclear merit comes from the perfection of wisdom. And then I wanted to, I thought we could do again as a little sort of a play, this section which starts on the bottom of page 109. Howard, you could be the Lord. But I have, if nothing else, already gained a little bit of wisdom.

[41:37]

I see them grasping up after being the Lord. I'm flying in the face of the teachings, so I no longer want to be the Lord. Well, you still get to be the Lord. It's not based on whether you want to or not. There's a recognition that I have certain qualifications. You know how to read, that helps. We all have the essential ingredient which is... Oh, we all do. Okay, now there's going to be a narrator. Maybe I'll be the narrator again. And then, it's a little bit tricky, we have to concentrate, because there's a paragraph, for example, we'll start with the narrator, and it'll say, Sakra, chief of the gods, reflected, and then, then chakra has to start, so it doesn't exactly say your name, if you're chakra, so you have to pay attention here.

[42:40]

So, let's see, Linda, you can be chakra, And then we have Shariputra. Meili, why don't you be Shariputra? And then we have Mara. Sue, you can be Mara. And then the gods. Then there's one section at the end that's the gods. It's kind of long. I hope you guys can stand it. We're going from the bottom of 109 where it says the Lord, which are... prefacing this with the advantages here and now to be expected from this stuff. And then we'll all be the gods at the end. Okay? Did anybody not get to be anybody yet? Ellen? No, I got to be one of the four kings. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so.

[43:43]

Go for it. I don't know where to read. Bottom of page 109 where it says, those devotees. Oh, oh Lord. I'd rather be God than the Lord. Could you just read hell please? I can't do this. My hearing aid is falling out. The Lord has problems. This is great. I think we're having a kind of earth shattering experience here. I never thought I'd get to be the Lord and now that I can be. You're not ready for it. That's how it always is. I think that's true. I think that's true. No, come on Howard. Really? Yeah. You can pretend it's someone else. Dennis the Menace. He will be by tapes.

[44:45]

By the time I get to reading, a Cody will have passed. Okay, we all need a good laugh. Occult. These first two lines are really hard. I can't. Okay, okay. I accept it. Agnes, you can be the Lord. those devotees will not die an untimely death, nor from poison, or sword, or fire, or water, or staff, or violence. When they bring to mind and repeat this perfection of wisdom, the calamities which threaten them from kings and princes, from kings' counselors, and kings' ministers will not take place. If kings, etc., would try to do harm to those who again and again bring to mind and repeat the perfection of wisdom, they will not succeed, because the perfection of wisdom upholds them. Although kings, etc., may approach them with harmful intent, they will instead decide to greet them, to converse with them, to be polite and friendly to them.

[45:56]

For this perfection of wisdom entails an attitude of friendliness and compassion towards all beings. Therefore, even though the devotee of the perfection of wisdom may be in the middle of a wilderness infested with venomous vipers, neither men nor ghosts can harm them except as a punishment for past deeds. Thereupon, one hundred wanderers of other sects approached the Lord with hostile intent. Chakra chief of the gods perceived those wonders from afar and he reflected Surely those wanderers of other sects are approaching the Lord with hostile intent Let me then recall as much of this perfection of wisdom as I have learned from the Lord Bring it to mind repeat it and spread it So that those wanderers cannot approach the Lord and the preaching of this perfection of wisdom may not be interrupted Thereupon, Chakra Chief of the Gods recalled as much of this perfection of wisdom as he had learned from the Lord, brought it to mind, repeated.

[47:01]

What reason had those heretical wanderers reverently saluted the Lord from afar and then departed on their way? When Chakra Chief of Gods perceived the thoughts of those hostile wanderers of other sects, he recalled this perfection of wisdom, brought it to mind, repeated it, and spread it, with the object of turning back those wanderers of other sects who wanted to quarrel, dispute, and obstruct, and of preventing them from approaching the place where the perfection of wisdom is being taught. And I have granted permission to Indra, chief of gods, because I saw not even one pure Dharma in those wanderers they all wanted to approach with hostile intent, with thoughts of enmity. Thereupon it occurred to Mara, the evil one, the four assemblies of the Tathagata are assembled and seated face to face with the Tathagata, face to face.

[48:08]

Those gods of the realm of sense desire and of the realm of form are sure to be predicted in that assembly as Bodhisattvas to full enlightenment. Let me now approach to blind them. Oh, return. Thereupon Mara conjured up a fourfold army and moved towards the place where the Lord was. Thereupon it occurred to Chakra, chief of the gods, Surely this is Mara, the evil one, who, having conjured up a fourfold army, moves toward the place where the Lord is. But the array of this army is not the array of King Vimvisara's army, not of King Prasarajit's army, not of the army of the shakyas or the vichavans. For a long time, Mara, the evil one, has pursued the Lord, looking for a chance to enter, searching for a chance to enter, intent on hurting beings. I will now recall this perfection of wisdom, bring it to mind, repeat and spread it."

[49:11]

Thereupon Shaka recalled just this perfection of wisdom, brought it to mind, repeated and spread it. Mara, the evil one, turned back again and went on his way. Thereupon, the gods of the thirty-three conjured up heavenly mandorava flowers, flew through the air, and scattered them over the Lord. And in triumph they cried, For a long time surely has this perfection of wisdom come to the end of gentle freedom. Seizing more mandorava flowers, they scattered and strewed them over the Lord, and said, Mara and his host will have no chance to enter those beings who pre-preach and develop the perfection of wisdom or the course in it. Those beings who hear and study the perfection of wisdom will be endowed with no small wholesome root. Those who come to hear of his perfection of wisdom have fulfilled their duties under the trimmings of the past.

[50:13]

How much more so those who will study they will be people who have honored the Tathagatas. For it is in this perfection of wisdom that one should search for all knowledge. Just as all jewels are brought forth by the great ocean, they should be searched for through it. Just so the great jewel of all knowledge of the Tathagatas should be searched for through the great ocean of the perfection of wisdom. So it is, Hasika. It is from the great ocean of the perfection of wisdom that the great jewel of the all-knowledge of the Tathagatas has come forth. That's cool. That's great. I like that way of doing it. So... What are the four assemblies of the Tathagata?

[51:20]

I think that's the monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. Well, I just wonder about a specific example of using this knowledge, you know, and expanding it and bringing the perfection of wisdom to mind and repeating it and spreading it, you know, and if you were in Bosnia, if we were in Bosnia, and there were hostile armies approaching, how would you deal with that, given this teaching? Well, the Buddha sat under a leafless tree while the armies approached. And he made such an impression that, as the story goes, that the general of the army asked him why he's sitting under this tree in this bright blazing sun.

[52:26]

Do you remember what the answer was? Something like... It reminds me of my country, the cool breeze of my country. It was sort of, it made him think of the cool breeze of his homeland. And since they were attacking his homeland, I think they sort of saw it from his side as his precious place to another person. That was what I remember from it. And retreated. But I think they did it twice and then the third time they went ahead and attacked, right? Which means you can only do what you can do. But you know, I mean, you said, like, what would you want to do in Bosnia? I think about, like, do I want to go to Safeway tonight after work, I mean, after class, and get some yogurt? And what would I encounter between here and Safeway walking? I mean, that to me is like, is Bosnia, and my life could be threatened, and all that, and how would I carry myself, and how would I deal with

[53:27]

the approach of the armies of the, you know, the suffering. Not so different. Very immediate. Yeah. So what they're saying is maybe the only way we can be ready for that is to study, of course, in the perfection of wisdom. So do we believe it? Does it seem possible? that we would... Well, what it seems to demand is that you give up your attachment to living, which I'm not sure that's possible, to survival. Not so much this part, but the essence of what the Perfection of Wisdom is saying from before? Well, this part. if you're approached by hostile armies or hostile beings and you can remain focused and concentrating on emptiness that to me is almost incomprehensible obviously it isn't because I can talk about it but that seems to be

[54:52]

do if she was attacked by an assailant and her child was with her or her father? Would they think about their lives at that moment? Well, they might, but they might also react in a very responsive and wise manner. So I suppose there are people who, under any circumstance, simply perceive what has to be done and what they can do about it and are not thinking of death or overcome by fear at least. I feel like somehow I have a feeling I've seen this where I can't remember any particular incident but somehow I have the sense that I've seen someone sort of approach with harmful intent and then something about the person they're approaching just It kind of, they will instead decide to greet them and to converse with them, you know.

[56:10]

I somehow, I have a feeling like I've seen that happen, you know. There were definitely stories about Issam, like that. Do you remember any? Oh, there was one, a very hostile person came into a San Francisco Zen Center. He just got in the door and began threatening. and making a lot of trouble, and his son just came out and sort of put his arm around him and said, brother, you look hungry, let me make you a sandwich. And it just all evaporated. It's probably a pretty good example. I think it's a very good example. The Iliad, that's the constant thing. What was that? The Iliad. The Iliad? By Homer. I haven't read that. I'm afraid. Please, expound.

[57:10]

Isn't that the name of the book? Yeah, it is. I know what you mean. The Odyssey Epic by Homer. But it has to do with the immediacy of death and the the experiences of each of the different warriors as they're faced with the prospect of either being killed or inflicting death on someone else. But it's like a ballet, a drama, a great drama of awareness, really. They're right there. And I guess that's the power presence, being there, not being anywhere else. So they were depicted as being very awake during this very intense time, right?

[58:15]

They were depicted as being very awake as to what was going on and being very present. Yeah, and not engulfed in fear because they couldn't be anywhere else. The cold thrust of their lives had led them to this grand battle, a conflict, which had all kinds of overtones and shadiness. The training and the culture of the warrior in the Greek heroic time was that. To produce that result, it seems like our culture has, if there's an opposite to that, that's what we have, which is to cultivate resentment and fear and defensiveness. To be able to be unconscious at that moment and not actually killing the other person, which ends up not working. Well, it's not even just killing another person, it's just walking down the street around here.

[59:17]

Linda Ann Agnes, anybody who hasn't spoken, have anything? Well, my brother was confronted in a life or death situation. He was at the New York Hilton Hotel with his wife, and as soon as they approached the elevator, this man appeared with a gun. give me all you've got. And so my brother said, hey, don't hurt us. I'll give you everything I've got. And he just handed, please, take it all. And the man seemed quite content with that. And then my sister-in-law, she was starting to take her purse, and she yanked it from him. And for a moment, my brother thought, this is the end. But then he just thought it was too much trouble because she was so resistant and he ran, ran away downstairs. But in that instance, you know, he felt appeased when he just gave him everything.

[60:26]

This is making me, this is really, I find this intense to be talking about myself. It's making me nervous. Well, I find the problem is somehow... I might say, well, now if I can just understand the teachings, I'll be... And then we wander around in personal anecdotes that have nothing at all to do with Buddhism, just our experiences. But when it really fundamentally isn't just the basic notion of being where you are and confronting circumstances as they exist and not bringing with

[61:37]

your own little museum of artifacts. If you went to Bosnia, fear, you know, hordes of people rushing down. Well, it's all an abstract concept. When you're there, when you're in a situation, it's never like that. It's kind of a matter of fact. certain time of day, I don't know, it all seemed, it was never as scary as the anticipation of being tossed about in waves when I was a kid. Tremendous. So reading the newspaper is a way of creating falsehood, in a way. What you're saying is very true. in a situation where you're not involved.

[62:44]

Creating all sorts of stuff out of it. Anxiety. So that you become paralyzed. Exactly. I did some work with people who were very hostile and I seem to have found out that most of what was behind it most of the time is fear. And if you can turn around and not bite into that fear and stay calm, and show them that it's okay, which is very difficult to do. It took me a long time to actually get to that point, but it was necessary because I did it because of Austin, and I didn't want him to have that influence. So I had to really stand out. Most of the time, it really dissolves that anger. It really kind of neutralizes it. They don't have anything to stand on. They want you to respond in anger when you don't. But then I've also been called, you know, passive-aggressive.

[63:47]

So, sometimes it doesn't really, you know, work too. But a lot of times the anger is backed by fear. And a very small, scared person. You know, when you say just personal anecdotes that don't have anything to do with Buddhism, I do think, though, that... No, I didn't mean that. Perfect wisdom is sort of this unattainable or this very difficult realm or this thing that we have to devote ourselves to, but it's also something that's kind of running through our everyday life at the same time and, you know, will appear in a moment, you know. I meant that I think that the problem is trying to Just the ordinary, what you discover, just in trying to be alert and understand what's going on, that they're not separate.

[64:55]

So even though it sounds lofty and incomprehensible, what they're really talking about in those first two chapters is how to do that, how to just be with what's happening. Something else? Does anybody feel more like studying the perfection of wisdom after hearing that all this good stuff is going to come your way? The goodies. Did it affect anybody that way? No? Good Zen students. Good Zen students. I just find the hard future so much easier and accessible, you know? Not to say that we shouldn't study the 8,000 line version or the 25,000 line version, but it's just It seems like through my academic career, reading Cliff's notes or that sort of thing, someone's effort to make the essence brought out was helpful. It'd be good to maybe study that in conjunction with this and see where the ideas were drawn from and expanded on.

[66:02]

Maybe we're doing that anyway by virtue of the discussion. Alan and I talked about that, and he had some feeling to try to keep them So the next section I was just going to quickly paraphrase is that the perfection of wisdom controls the other five perfections. Does everybody know what the other five perfections are? Perfections of wisdom, they're sort of the territory of the bodhisattva or the realm of activity of the bodhisattva. So they're a little bit, they're part of the Mahayana rather than being something that came in the earlier teaching. And they are giving generosity, morality, or restraining yourself, patience. Wait, is patience the third one or the second one? Patience or as Suzuki Roshi had a great, what did he call patience?

[67:08]

It was like duration or endurance? Constancy. Constancy, right. constancy, and someone else described it as having a very large capacity for experience. Not having any kind of experience that you can't allow yourself to have. Never, Mel said, never having to wait for anything. That's a good one. They're really great. The Six Perfections are a great study, I think. And then there's enthusiasm or vigorous effort, concentration, samadhi, and wisdom, which is And there's more advantages from the Perfection of Wisdom. They have no fear of being plied with questions by hostile persons. They do not see the hostility, nor those who act with hostility, nor those who want to be hostile.

[68:11]

Isn't that interesting? That's at the bottom of 112. So it's almost like you see through the person. I mean, that's the feeling I had just reading that. It's like you see the hostility, but you just see through the whole thing to, like, the thousands of causes maybe, you know? And you don't see it as this hostility coming at you. Well, that's what I was saying about seeing through the hostility and seeing that fear in there. That small little person is really very scared. And they're putting out this big Right. He will be dear to his father and mother, to friends, relatives, and kinsmen. Competent. Capable of refuting any counter-arguments. I don't know if we need to keep recounting these. Then there's this really How does one know that gods or other supernatural beings have come to that place to hear?

[69:16]

I think I just want to dip into this because it's in here and we should at least get our feet wet in this. But I don't, I can't say I understand. How do we relate to the gods? Yeah. When one perceives somewhere a sublime radiance or smells a superhuman order not smelled before, one should know that for certain that a god or other supernatural being has come near. Clean and pure habits will attract those gods and will make them enraptured, overjoyed, full of zest and gladness. Did this remind anyone of like Christianity? I kept getting this, this kind of teachings of Christianity that I had when I was a kid. I wasn't Catholic, but just promised it. I didn't find that it reminded me, but I did keep trying to understand merit like in terms of maybe the pitfalls you would get into as a Christian wanting to do something to go to heaven rather than do it because it was the activity to be doing.

[70:21]

But I didn't find, this stuff is so weird about the gods and stuff. For me, it seems like things, I mean, to make it relevant to our mundane life and to elevate our mundane life to something more meritorious, when we have experiences of the essence of a flower or the beauty of a piece of furniture made well, and it's been written by commentators in all fields, or the natural beauty of a space, that's kind of the realm of the gods. And it's happening all the time, and yet we're not aware of it, and waking up to that seems to be this elevation of our kind of mundane, ordinary spirit to something more, bigger than ourselves.

[71:25]

And it can be discouraging to think that it's this other realm that is unattainable. the superhuman order order or something like that yeah I mean there's a couple weeks ago as I was listening to this John Coltrane piece and it's like this little snippet of his horn and the recording bad karma in his life and he came through it and the sound that comes from that just right to my heart and I finally kind of understood what my friend who was trying to instill in me about you know that this guy is playing something that is like otherworldly and when I first listened to it in smoking pot yeah it sounds great but now finally I could kind of see what he was what he was addressing

[72:37]

This is actually a lot easier and more accessible than something like the Avatamsaka Sutra, which is so grandiose. It seems like, wow, this is way out there. But somehow or other, it makes it easier to understand, to reduce it to our... Just the gods? Yeah, just gods. Just a few gods, only 33. Yeah. That's good. You guys have done a really good job, I think, of keeping this grounded tonight. So you help me, that's for sure. So the way we can look at the gods in this situation, and based on what Ross was saying, seems to me, is that an experience of transformation that just comes along, and we don't think we deserve it, and there's no reason for it, and all of a sudden there's this tree, it's not just a tree, it's a tree, you know, that experience of Thou, you know, that Martin Buber talks about. If, you know, if you can't allow that in your life outside of, unless you have the gods to explain it, then that's what you need.

[73:48]

Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, the real life over there has the six realms of existence, and we're going through all six realms. We are. And so we have this heaven realm, and we also have hell realm, and if we can't allow the hell realm to be there with all that pain and suffering, and to be in there with it, that we're missing something. But the opportunity to sort of transform is in all those realms. You know, it's a... Go ahead, Maile. Well, just speaking of the gods, I've been very moved by these pictures of the Bodhisattvas. Yes, that's Shariputra and Subuddhi. Those are for our class. They have such a sweet... Aren't both of them? I know. It's just very encouraging. Look at them. I know. They're Japanese statues. I love them. One of the reasons I like them is because, you know, in this book, Shariputra is kind of the buffoon, or he's the... You know, just to remind us that, you know, he was an illustrious Bodhisattva too.

[74:52]

I really like them too. You know, I think one of the reasons why, an underlying reason why the gods are being addressed here is because it's a little bit, maybe this is similar to what we'd initially brought up, you know, we can be reborn as gods in a moment, so that's another way to look at the six realms, like Ross was saying, so like when you You know, it could be anything, like when you get a whole bunch of money, or when you find yourself in a beautiful place, just even being in a place where you can practice. When something really wonderful comes your way, it's kind of like being reborn in the realm of the gods. And it's a little bit asking you to go a little bit further than that. Don't just settle. Don't just sort of... Well, definitely don't cling when you get reborn there. Don't cling to it. But, you know, to take that opportunity and take it a little bit further, turn it a little bit more, turn it over, you know, so that you can see the emptiness also in the good things that are coming to you.

[76:06]

I find that very puzzling what you just said. I don't quite understand. When you get some money or when something Well, not godliness in the Christian sense. No, in this sense, in the, in this, in Buddhist sense, I think that, don't you think, Meili, isn't that right? That that's one understanding of the six realms is that we're constantly cycling through the six realms. So some parts of our everyday life are being in the realm of the gods. And it's, you know, when some wonderful food or, it's, but it's pretty much in the material realm, mostly. You didn't get a parking ticket. Good stuff, good stuff comes your way. You know, like you appreciate it and see the emptiness in it. To take, you know, to use that as an opportunity to, yeah, something maybe in pain that we want to see the emptiness of it more or something.

[77:10]

Well guys, I hope, I'm sorry, I know I don't, I feel like I don't really, not that I understood the rest, but I have some sense of what they were talking about before, and this one I found, actually, I got as much help from you as I brought to the class. This was good, but thank you. There's about zero minutes, two minutes, six minutes. Anybody have any final comments? We're gonna skip chapter four, which is kind of more of the same. You can read it. I should get up to the Great Ball of Merit. Yeah, that's... That's the flyback to the class. Right. And that's a good point. This thing about turning it a little bit further, you know, is what this is all leading up to, I think.

[78:18]

We're going to study Chapter 5 in the next class, The Revolution of Merit, and then The sixth class, if you survive, is going to be Dedication and Jubilation, which is a really great, great stuff. More great stuff that we don't understand, but that's very evocative. I do remember Joanna Macy's in Arizendo talking about the Great Fall of Merit. Oh, really? I just hear it. I don't remember. Well, she was just infused with it. It was a very kind of... She used that expression? Yes. Oh. The Great Ball of Merit. That, you know, the despair aspect and then the totally jubilant way of understanding the whole world is the Great Ball of Merit. Yeah, we're going to get to that. That's what we're going to get to.

[79:21]

Does anybody want a different memorization or want something? Want anything that I can give you? Related or unrelated to the... This was wonderful. Thank you. I appreciate it. There's this part about, I felt really personally attacked by this section about how you have no strong desire for food. I thought about that too. Anna, when she hears me, two o'clock in the morning, trundle downstairs. She can know that I have not yet attained this state. Okay guys, thanks a lot. See you next week.

[80:17]

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