Karen, you're muted and somebody's buzzing. Sorry, I am going to mute people. And we're trying to deal with this echo. Karen, could you say something so I can hear whether there's an echo? Hello. We are going to start with a few minutes of zazen while people arrive. Good evening, everyone.

[05:06]

Welcome to class two of our five-part series on practicing the Bodhisattva precepts. I'd like to start by just checking in and asking if, did anything come up for you this week regarding precept practice? Any challenges or realizations? And did you choose a precept to work on during this class? And if so, is there anything you'd like to share about how you worked with that? You can raise your digital hand. Actually, I can see you all from here, so if you would like to raise your hand, that is fine.

[06:10]

Okay. Shoray or Yoni? Hi, everyone. Thanks, Karen. Right now, the precept that's really alive for me is the not killing precept. And I've been thinking about it from sort of a more, like, subtle way of... if I feel any kind of negative reaction to something, sometimes I have an equally ingrained reaction to simply not care. Or like, oh, I don't need to feel this discomfort feeling if I don't care. And I think that not care, I think, is actually maybe a kind of killing of my own experience that I don't like having.

[07:19]

So that's been really, I've just been really trying to pay attention to that exact... And it's been really tricky because I'm like, how would I not do that? Like, what would it be like to not just reactively sort of shut down a sense of care or concern and just feel what's going on? Thank you for that. As we'll discuss a little later, killing has so many... for example, there's the obvious one that you don't murder people, but how does that relate to killing one's emotions or killing one's joy or killing another person's joy? So I think that is a really valid question to investigate.

[08:24]

Anyone else? Kathy? I'm not really sure if this would be the killing or stealing one. I'm actually pretty good at my job and pretty competent and recognized for it, but I somehow steal or kill my confidence. I tell myself I'm not good enough, and then I try to rely on other... I try to trick people into thinking that I'm competent when I... Actually, I don't think that that's necessary. It's more my internal, like, I don't think I'm confident, so therefore I have to prove it somehow, and it comes across a little weird. So I'm not sure if I'm just stealing confidence or killing confidence and trying to steal it back or something, but it's an inside job for sure. I'm working on my goals for the year, and I'm just writing them, noticing how much I fight myself on it. That's a really good example, too. I don't know exactly immediately which precept it is.

[09:35]

I'm going to talk a little more about each of those before we discuss again. So thank you for bringing that up. Anyone else like to share about working with a precept in the past week? For those of you who were not here last week, I think most of you were, but I had asked people to choose, pick a precept that you feel is something for you to work on, something looking at your life and what comes up and your relationship to people, objects, animals, and just see what it's like to investigate that during this class.

[10:47]

Heather. Hi, everyone. I've been thinking about the vow not to harbor ill will, which in the Bodhidharma version is about not being angry, which somehow the meaning is really similar, but the language just, it lands so differently in me in the different versions of it. harboring ill will. It just feels so like there's so much attachment in that language. So I've been thinking about that a lot and wondering about the health impacts of harboring ill will. It feels deeply damaging at a cellular level, not to mention all the other levels we talk about here.

[11:54]

It just... I think it does harm to oneself as much as to the other people, maybe even more to oneself, if I'm honest. Yeah, well, if you're the one harboring, it is a deep attachment that is certainly adds a lot of stress to the body. Mm-hmm. In this practice of the precepts, we learn about... Often Dogen refers to self and objects are one. So we can't take ourselves away from that which we're interacting with or...

[12:57]

killing or stealing from. We're not separate from that. Jeff? I've been, as I've been perhaps too engaged with recent events and news and wars, I've been really finding myself coming back to the third pure precept. I vow to live and be lived for the benefit of all beings. I am on the board of a group called the Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage and we organize a big bike ride every year and a spiritual theme and the theme for this year is going to be continuity of practice and I'm finding along with that, I'm finding this in myself, I'm finding this kind of third precept, third pure precept really fill that out.

[14:08]

And it's like, you know, it kind of relates to engaged Buddhism and just like, how can I continue my practice in this field of just raising awareness about what's going on and protest. Thank you. Well, if no one else wants to share yet, you will have more opportunities. What I'd like to do is for us to recite together Bodhidharma's One Mind Precepts. And last week we recited the 16 precepts as we chant them during the Bodhisattva ceremony at Berkeley Zen Center.

[15:13]

So that's Buddha's words from the Dhammapada and then Dogen's poetic elaboration. Um... I thought it would be interesting during this class to just listen to and recite other versions because sometimes people connect to certain words more than other words. So Mary is going to screen share Bodhidharma's One Mind Precepts. And I am going to call on people... Let's see. I can't see anyone, but that's okay. I know who's here. I am going to ask one person, how about you, Jeff, to read the first five of these aloud, unmuted.

[16:15]

The rest of us will stay muted, but we can all chant. And after Jeff reads the five, Fulani, would you like to read the next five? Would you like me to read the intro? I really like that intro. Go ahead. In the instruction, to receive is to transmit. To transmit is to awaken. And to awaken, the Buddha mind is called through Jukai. Each precept is a vignette of the one mind that is always with us. Self-nature is inconceivably wondrous. In the everlasting Dharma, not raising the view of extinction is called not stealing. Self-nature is inconceivably wondrous. In the ungraspable Dharma, not arousing the thought of gain is called not stealing.

[17:17]

Self-nature is inconceivably wondrous. In the dharma of non-attachment, not raising the view of attachment is called not being greedy. Self-nature is inconceivably wondrous. In the inexplicable dharma, not expounding a word is called not lying. Self-nature is inconceivably wondrous. In the intrinsically pure dharma, not arousing ignorance is called not being intoxicated. Fulani, can you read the next five? Are you there, Fulani? Do you hear me? I do hear you. It's hard for me to see. Are we on number seven over here? Number five? Six. Thank you. I see it that well. Okay. Oh, self nature is inconceivably wondrous. And the Dharma of equality, not talking about self and others is called not evading oneself and putting others down.

[18:33]

You know what? Uh-huh. I think you missed a line in numbers. I did? You started in the right line and then I think. Uh-oh. Okay, because, okay, faultless dharma is not talking about sins. Oh, my gosh. And mistakes is called not talking about others' faults and errors. I'm not sure do this fancy. Self-nature is inconceivably wondrous and the dharma of equality. Not talking about self and others is called not elevating oneself and putting down others. A self-nature is inconceivably wondrous. and the genuine all-pervading dharma not clinging to a single thing is called not being stingy. Self-nature is inconceivably wondrous in the dharma of no self, not contriving a reality of self is called not being angry. That's a hard one for me.

[19:34]

Self-nature is inconceivably wondrous in the dharma of oneness. Not arising a distinction between Buddha and being is called not slandering the three treasures. Thank you. Welcome. So this, tonight,

[20:37]

We're going to talk about the precepts that relate to the body. So as you know, when we chant repentance, we say, all our ancient tangled karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, born of body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow. So it comes through body, speech, and mind. So I'll just talk for a minute or two about these. The first one, there are three of them that relate to the body, particularly one is non-killing, one is non-stealing, and one is non-misusing sexuality. So as far as not killing goes, that's very complex.

[21:48]

Because how do we live with the fact that to support life, we must take life? Life leads on life. We all do. We have to eat something and we have to drink something. Animals are life. Plants are life. The air is life. What about those microorganisms in our organic vegetables? How do we decide what to do if taking life is inevitable? What are our intentions? How do we relate to war, abortion? capital punishment? What about using plastics which may be consumed by whales in the ocean or dropping litter on the street?

[22:48]

Probably most of us here haven't murdered anyone, but to quote Dogen, he says, killing is the failure or refusal to maintain life. So we ask, then, what is life? And in the Buddha Dharma, all is life. Humans are life. Flowers, beauty, emotions, thoughts, laughter, depression, pain is all life. Killing is wanting something or someone not to exist. We don't want to be in harmony with it. When Nancy and I got married in the Zendo in 2014, we rewrote our marriage vows as precepts that we took in the ceremony.

[23:59]

And the first precept, instead of saying, I vow not to kill, we said, I vow not to kill your joy. And that sticks with me. You know, I reflect on that often. And I think that's something that comes up for people about wanting other people to feel differently than they feel. Then there's the precept about non-stealing. Many of us are not thieves or pickpockets, although I was a pickpocket when I was a child. But there's still ways to steal, such as cheating on taxes, stealing ideas. And it stems from feeling a lack, that what we have is insufficient.

[25:10]

And a question one can ask oneself that's helpful is, do I feel stolen from? One of the great teachers said, the mark of an enlightened person is a person who is satisfied. Carol Paul gave a talk a few, maybe a month ago, about Dogen's text on what makes a good person. And she talked about what is enough. It's very confusing. Then there's the question of, what about stealing someone else's truth? Very often people If someone looks differently from them or comes from another country or different culture or different skin color, often there's a question about their reality.

[26:22]

Is denying another person's lived experience stealing their truth? And then, finally, Sexual relationships. Not misusing sexuality. Back in the old days of Buddha, of course, the monks were celibate, but that evolved over time. So a lot of monks are not celibate. And then, you know, some of us here lived through the so-called sexual revolution where so many things were suddenly not only okay, but almost encouraged. And where do you, there were so many choices to make, and so few restrictions. How do you decide? How do you understand working with that precept? But once again, misusing sexuality, harming others through sexual activity,

[27:39]

can stem from a sense of lack or loneliness or uncontrolled desire. And it's complicated by all the taboos. And now, of course, you know, people are more out in the open about topics like incest, rape, sexual abuse. Um... But sexuality in much of Buddhism is considered a creative energy and often described as hot or warm. And how do we use that energy in a way that doesn't harm? So that's basically what I have to say before we go into groups.

[28:41]

I'm going to give you some prompts, which Mary already put that in the chat. Heather, do you have a question? Yeah, I was just noticing on the two different versions of the precepts, the one we use at BZC, we say, I vow not to misuse sexuality. But in the Bodhidharma one, it says it's about not being greedy. And that just really stood out for me, how distinct the framing is. And what I've studied about the not misusing sexuality has a lot to do with being greedy, but it's just a really different entry point to the conversation. Yes. Very often people, after they've committed some sexual act that they regret you know they say well I just couldn't control myself I wanted them so badly you know it is a strong desire force any other questions well

[30:11]

Mary posted in the chat what the prompts are, but several people arrived after they were posted in the chat. It might need to be posted again, but I'm going to read them to you. We're going to have 15 minutes in groups of four. I'm going to give three prompts, one for each of those, but just answer what you feel compelled by. So you can just pick one, or if you have enough time, pick another. But I'm going to tell you what the three prompts are. One is, number one, tell us a way that you kill. How do you experience Everyone and everything is Buddha.

[31:14]

What are you learning about yourself? Number two, tell us something you steal. Where do you feel a lack? What are you learning about yourself with this precept? And number three, tell us a way you have misused sexuality. How do you experience the fire or the warmth of sexual energy? What are you learning about yourself from this precept? Are there any questions about the prompts before we start? William? In the chat, I only see prompt number three. Is it possible? I see no prompts. Okay. Is it possible? I think I kind of got the gist of them, but if it is possible to put the other two prompts or all of the prompts in, that would be helpful. They're all in there.

[32:17]

If you scroll up, you might see them. No? I think that when people come in after they're posted, they can't see them. Probably why. That's probably how I saw the third one, because of when I arrived. Okay. Mary, are you able to either... put them in the chat or put them. I think I can. Put them in a breakout room. How's that? Okay. I see them. One note is that one group, room four has three people. Okay. Otherwise, ready? Just a minute. Sorry. We're one screen, but technically two people. I don't know if that does something for you. I actually noticed that, and you are going to be four people in your group, but three screens. Okay, ready? Ready.

[33:17]

No need to join. Yes. Oh Judy, I am going to move you Thank you.

[39:57]

Hey, Mary. Hi, Simone. Is everything okay? No, I had a little computer problem. Okay, you want me to put you back? Where were you? Yeah, let's see if it works. If not, I'm going to try a different computer. Where were you? Were you in room four? Sue Oser and Ryushin. Okay, here we go. Judy and Judy. Okay, you see a sign that says join? Recorded.

[48:38]

Mary, thanks for wrangling all of us. I appreciate the working. You're welcome. Welcome back. Would anyone like to share anything that came up in your group or any thoughts you have after your group discussion? Shoray. Shoray. I just want to say I was really sort of proud of and delighted with my group because we went with the prompt three about sexuality, which is not easy to talk about with your sangha.

[50:15]

And I just think that's really cool that we did that. So thanks, everybody who's in that group. You know, it came up in our group that that is hard to even... decipher exactly what it means. Is there anything you feel comfortable sharing that was said in the group? I guess I'll share a little bit of my own, what I had to say, because I feel most at liberty to share that. Kind of like the other side, like so much of that precept seems focused on the desiring. But I was a little interested in how do I make the dynamic of being desired something that's giving me security or something about protecting myself by having some sense of worth. And that feels more about me versus the...

[51:24]

dynamic relationship that I think sexuality is when it's like really sure. Thank you. William. I'll just add on to that a little bit, not go into much detail, but it seems we talked around that prompt about more about how we sort of what we bring to a situation as opposed to, um, which is sort of like a starting point of how you, how you maybe think about that, that prompt. Um, uh, and of course it's different for different people depending on where they are in their life and type of relationships they have. But, um, but with all of those it seemed like that was, um, what are you getting and what are you giving and how much. Thanks. Thank you. Kathy.

[52:40]

I worry myself that I'm talking too much, so. No, you're not. This was just an interesting mirror. It was more a meta-reflection. I started studying the precepts about a year ago, and I remembered how scared I was and how I didn't know enough, I couldn't have opinions, and we had someone in our group who was new and said that they were worried. I interpret it as not sure they should say anything, but what they shared was really profound to me. I remember people telling me when he first came, it's about perspective and how we look at it, not how much experience you have. And it just was a really nice loop for me coming back to like, oh, I remember being so scared about speaking up, but it isn't about how much, how deeply we've dove in grammar, but really like, what are we seeing right now and how can we see ourselves better? So I don't know. It's just, I was really touched by the experience. So thank you. There's a lot of looking deeply into oneself involved in practicing the precepts.

[53:54]

I always think of Dogen's quite famous verse from the Genjo Koan, to study the way is to study the self. And to study the self is to investigate You know what, I don't remember all the words. If someone knows it, they can unmute and say it. Study the Buddha way to study the self. Study the self to forget the self. For the self to be actualized by a myriad of things. Thank you. It's been said about the precepts that in practicing the precepts, we are actualizing, we are actualized by all things. Because we've dropped this ego assertion that is usually the problem in practicing the precepts.

[55:07]

Because when we study the self, we look inside, if you just observe and observe and observe without clinging, you see that there's no real self, that all this is kind of a construction, and then other people and forms of life are part of you and why would you want to hurt them? Any other or comments about anything that's come up tonight or any precept.

[56:22]

In my group, you know, the prompts were for three precepts, but another precept came up that we didn't have on the agenda tonight, which is harboring ill will. And when we really look at that precept, we realize it contains all the precepts, and each precept contains all the precepts. Well, if there's no more discussion, I would like us to chant again Dogen's Ehihei Kotsu Hutsuganman, which really is about arousing vow, arousing the aspiration for enlightenment and for taking, practicing these precepts.

[57:44]

Mary? Well, I was wondering if you'd be willing for me to do something in the meantime before we do that. I didn't get a chance to be in the group because I don't know how to be a host and get in the group. But I was given a poem. I was in Gokasan today. And I was given a poem that seems to me to be all about... The self being part of everything. And I was wondering if I could read it. Please do. If I can do this now. The poem is by Muriel Ruckhauser. And it's called The Conjugation of the Paramecium. This has nothing to do with propagating.

[58:46]

The species is continued, as so many are, among the smaller creatures by fission. And this species is very small, mixed in order to the amoeba, the beginning one. The paramecium achieves, then, immortality by dividing. When paramecium desires renewal, strength, another joy, this is what the paramecium does. The paramecium lies down beside another paramecium. Slowly, inexplicably, the exchange takes place in which some bits of the nucleus of each are exchanged for some bits of the nucleus of the other. This is called the conjugation of the Paramesian. I would also like to thank Mary for being the tech host tonight, all the way from Kauai.

[60:13]

And don't be jealous because it is storming and raining here. And it's wonderful. It's wild and wet and gray. And I feel like I'm on the Washington Post. Okay. Shoray. Before we chant this, I had a... I had a question that came up just now that I'm curious for anyone else to respond to. When you were talking, Karen, about this arouses vow or the to practice vow, because my group, we talked about the sexuality precept, I kind of couldn't not hear that arousal, unwholesome arousal, wholesome arousal. There was just something that came up for me in that, and I can't put it into words in an eloquent question, but I think enough people get at what I'm pointing at.

[61:24]

They might be able to say something about it. Judy. I remember years ago, it was a class series with Chosen Bay's Roshi. Great Vows and Monastery up in Oregon. And she taught a lot about about Zen and sexuality. And we would do these exercises of actually feeling, so to speak, sexual energy, the root chakra. And then, you know, having a mindfulness practice around that and then how to relate it to that. both in terms of the other chakras, like the heart center energy and so on. We could use different language, and then she did, because she's a Zen teacher. But that shifting the awareness or just noticing, as we do in the flow of breath, the flow of all these energies.

[62:35]

So they're both distinct, what we call... What I call sexual arousal or sexual energy actually is a whole range of sensations and emotion, right? And how to really be intimate with that. And that was a real game changer for me. First of all, it took away the taboo or whatever, but that actually this is the practice where we are embodied. And so I'm just appreciating this in the context of the precepts because the precepts are embodiment, you know, realized. And so, and of course, you know, sexual violence is a thing too. So the relationship between ill will or, you know, all these kinds of things, we could reimagine the whole thing is just this vast vortex of quote, sexual energy that is birthing, you know, a new era through the power of vow.

[63:45]

So that hadn't occurred to me, but in this conversation, it came forward. So thank you. Any other responses to Shoray's question. Okay. Oh, wait. Did you want to say something else? Yeah, I just remembered. It's actually from Chris Fortin in the wonderful book, The Hidden Lamp, that Sue Moon and Lawrence Keplow edited. of all these koans featuring women. And there's, I encourage you to look, I can't remember the name of the koan, but Chris Fortin was the one who commented on it. But it reminded me in this conversation of the mother of all Buddhas, that the womb from which Buddhas emerge.

[64:51]

So that too is sexual energy and aligned with Val. Thank you. Well, why don't we recite Dogen like we did last week? And once again, everyone can recite along, muted, and I will call on a different person to recite each paragraph. It's almost there Mary.

[65:54]

It wasn't bad before. I think we can make do with that if you scroll down when we get to the bottom. Are you at the top? Okay. So we'll start. Philip, would you like to read the first paragraph?

[67:19]

Okay. We vow with all beings from this life throughout countless lives to hear the true Dharma, that upon hearing it, no doubt will arise in us, nor will we lack in faith, that upon meeting it, we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha Dharma, and that in doing so, the great earth is and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. Kwong, second paragraph. Although our past evil karma has greatly accumulated, indeed being the cause and condition of obstacles in practicing the way, may all Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way be compassionate to us and free us from karma effects, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance.

[68:29]

Simone? May they share with us their compassion, which fills the boundless universe with the virtue of their enlightenment and teachings. Buddhas and ancestors of old were, as we, We in the future shall be Buddhas and ancestors. Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. Because they extend their compassion to us freely and without limit, we are able to attain Buddhaputh and let go of the attainment. Therefore, The Chan Master Lung Yaa said. Nancy. Those who in past lives were not enlightened will now be enlightened.

[69:34]

In this life, save the body, which is the fruit of many lives. Before Buddhas were enlightened, they were the same as we. Enlightened people of today are exactly as those of old. Libby, you're muted. Quietly explore the farthest reaches of these causes and conditions, as this practice is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha. Confessing and repenting in this way, one never fails to receive profound help from all Buddhas and ancestors. By revealing and disclosing our lack of faith and practice before the Buddha, we melt away the root of transgressions by the power of our confession and repentance. This is the pure and simple color of true practice, of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith.

[70:36]

Thank you, everyone, for being here and sharing your practice of the precepts. And next week, we will talk about speech precepts. Not slandering, not bragging, not lying. Be well and good night. Thank you. Thanks, Kieran. Thank you. Thank you. Good night, everyone. Good night, everyone. Thank you. Thank you for the group. Aloha. Aloha. Be well.

[71:53]

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