Well, we just had our Bodhisattva Ceremony. Our Bodhisattva Ceremony is once a month and it's a very ancient tradition. But the way that we do the Bodhisattva Ceremony has changed depending on what school of Buddhism you are practicing. Just after Buddha's time, the monks created the Upasattva Ceremony where they, twice a month on the full moon and the waning moon, had

[01:06]

Confession Ceremony. Because in those days the monks practiced 250 precepts, major, minor degrees of precepts. And that was their practice, to focus on those precepts. In Japan, the precepts were reorganized so that there were 16 instead of 250. And these 16 represented all of the 250. And instead of focusing on practicing precepts to the letter, the precepts became more of a guidance vehicle for practice, rather than to simply practice literally every precept. So in Bodhidharma's time in China,

[02:14]

whether he presented this or not, it's called the Bodhisattva One-Mind Precepts. Instead of focusing on 250 precepts, to simply act as Buddha. So the first three precepts, which are accepted by all schools of Buddhism, of course, is the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. And then there are the three pure precepts. Don't do evil, do what is good, and help all beings. For the salvation of all beings, devote yourself to the salvation of all beings. And then there are the Ten Clear Mind Precepts, sometimes called Great Precepts or Prohibitory Precepts.

[03:16]

But they also, if you look at both sides of prohibitory, which would be don't, there's a side of do, which you don't do, and which you do do. So that's 20 precepts. And so when we do the Bodhisattva Ceremony, we're actually acknowledging our transgressions without naming them. We say, all my ancient karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion. So greed, hate, and delusion are the three poisons which lead to suffering for ourselves and others. But our karma, karma means volitional action. That's all. So we're always creating karma through our volitional action, but some karma creates suffering, and some karma creates good abodes. So we say good karma and bad karma. But there's good karma, bad karma, and karma.

[04:31]

So good and bad is a dualistic way of thinking. The good boy and the bad boy, and so forth. But then there's just the boy, you know. So, when we say there's just the boy, this is our compassionate mind, because we accept whatever. We understand that good and bad are indivisible. Right and wrong are indivisible. So you might say, the indivisible precepts of one mind. But at the same time, we realize that the dualistic precepts are the one mind precepts as well. Duality is the expression of oneness. And so we go through the ten precepts, and we go through the sixteen precepts. So we acknowledge, you know, all of our ancient tangled karma, we used to say twisted, twisted or tangled, in other words our bad karma, we acknowledge that, but because karma is so complex, complicated,

[06:03]

our actions, where do our actions stem from? We say, so and so is such a good person now, how could he do this bad thing? Or someone is so bad, how could they do this good thing? But the roots of our actions are so historical. When we psychologize ourselves, it's very hard to get below the surface, because of our reaction. Our reactions are always creating this dualistic judgment. So we're pretty much on the surface, even though we go very deep, but there's no way to really get to the bottom of where our karma comes from. And Buddha is supported to have said, the study of karma is the most complicated, undecipherable study.

[07:11]

We don't know all the cross-currents of our, the sources of our actions. So we have to be very careful with people. We always want to create, we always want to go to judgment. And it's hard to not do that. So, I'm going to go through this a little bit. We pay homage, after we do the repentance, which is all my ancient tangled karma, without naming anything specifically, we unburden ourselves. And then, we pay homage to our, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of our own mind. We pay homage to Shakyamuni, to the seven Buddhas before Buddha, to Maitreya, who will be the Buddha of the future, whoever that is.

[08:23]

And Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, who is the shining practice Bodhisattva, who rides an elephant. Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, who is the Bodhisattva of compassion. And Manjushri Bodhisattva, who is the Bodhisattva of wisdom. This is Manjushri, and one on the other side is Samantabhadra. So he's riding a lion, and Samantabhadra is riding an elephant. Elephant is a symbol of practice. The English used to talk about the elephants, the rabbit, the horse, and the elephant. The rabbit just across the ground, and the horse runs around the ground, but the elephant goes, even though they can get up to 60 miles an hour, but just one short step at a time, don't let him step on your toe.

[09:41]

And then there are the four Bodhisattva vows, which are the Bodhisattva's response to the four noble truths. The truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth that there is a way out of suffering, or to deal with suffering, let's say, and the path. So, being numberless, I vow to save them from suffering. And delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to save them, because delusions, what we call delusions, or desires, is the cause of suffering. And the Dharma gates are, there are many ways within the Dharma to practice, so I vow to enter them. And the Buddha's way is unsurpassable, that's the path, I vow to become it, or we say become it, you know, practice it.

[10:54]

So those are the four Bodhisattva's response, the Bodhisattva's four responses to the four noble truths. And then there are the refuges, taking refuge in Buddha, taking refuge in Dharma, and taking refuge in Sangha. We also say returning to Buddha, returning to Dharma, returning to Sangha. I'm assuming Roshi would like to use those terms. It's kind of like the prodigal son, or the prodigal daughter, who leaves home, and then goes through all various adventures in the world, and finally ends up back at home. Back home means back to yourself as Buddha, realizing your own Buddhahood, realizing your own Dharma, realizing your own Sangha. We say each one of us is Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, within ourself.

[11:58]

We don't really look outside, even though there seems to be an outside. So then, we come to the three precepts. I'm sorry, let me say this again, the three refuges are actually the first of the three precepts. So to take refuge in Buddha means to take refuge in the vastness of your own being, actually. This is the one mind precept, is to always take refuge in the vastness of our own mind, which we call Dharmakaya, the great Dharma realm, which is formless, but which is the basis of all form. So we say, we take refuge in emptiness, or nothing, no thing, but no thing contains everything.

[13:03]

And then we take refuge in Dharma, which is our wisdom. Dharma is our wisdom, called Prajna, which is non-dualistic wisdom. And then we take refuge in Sangha, which is take good care of yourself, take good care of each other, because yourself and others are not different, even though we're all different. So then, the three pure precepts are kind of like building blocks or headings, to refrain from all evil, to vow to do all that is good, and to vow to live and be lived for the benefit of all beings. So, Suzuki Roshi one time said, the main thing about precepts is compassion.

[14:17]

Precepts are all about wisdom and compassion. Wisdom is the essence, and compassion is the activity. So, the function of wisdom is prajna, compassion. If we keep that in mind all the time, we will know what to do. Because precepts are on three levels. There's the literal level, don't do this and don't do that. And then there is the one-mind level, where there is no such thing as good or bad, right or wrong. And then in the middle is the bodhisattva precept, which is you understand that ultimately there is no such thing as good, bad, right and wrong. Everything is just as it is. And on the other level, you don't do this and you don't do that, because you don't want to cause suffering.

[15:24]

So, when we understand or embody the understanding of both of those levels, then precepts are actions and they are not something that are set, but how we respond to circumstances at every moment. Given the understanding of this and this, how do we actually respond spontaneously to every situation? Spontaneous means presently, with presence. This is called living precepts. If we don't have the living precept, then just following the rules is called dead precepts.

[16:31]

Just doing something by rote. So, living precept is to be compassionate with wisdom spontaneously in every moment, knowing that every person that you meet is Buddha. If you simply keep that in mind, you will keep the precepts. But we forget that. So then, there are the ten grave precepts or clear-mind precepts. I like the clear-mind precept because the precepts spring from the clarity of our mind. And then, when we have the bodhisattva ceremony,

[17:38]

there is a call and response with the precept, and then I read the response, which is Dogen's comment on the precept. So, I vow not to kill. And then, Dogen says, Not killing life, the buddhacy grows. Transmit the life of Buddha and do not kill. So, although this is about not taking life from beings, it really means don't squelch life itself. Don't kill the earth. Don't kill yourself by squeezing up your own life, strangling your own life, which we do. But, of course, this is very far-reaching. And this is a great koan, because there is no way that we don't take life.

[18:41]

When we eat, we take life. Even if it's vegetables. We take the life of vegetables. But because we are one with vegetables, life is feeding life. Life is giving and life is taking. Life is devouring and life is being devoured. This is what's happening with every single atom in this world. Everything is eating everything else. Everything is taking life. But taking, this is why we bow when we eat. Because we appreciate what we're taking. We respect what's happening. We don't just take it selfishly. Everything that we eat, all the life that we take, we respect. And because we respect it, we understand it, and we realize that we are also feeding something else.

[19:43]

We think, oh, I'm here eating all this stuff, but we don't think that I'm also being eaten by life. Inside of our eyes, you know, the little bugs are cleaning our eyelids. Millions and billions of them. Being devoured all the time. We used to have a little song. The world is crawling in, the world is crawling in. So then, I vow not to take what is not given. In other words, don't steal, don't take stuff. And Dogen says, self and objects are such, two yet one. The gate of liberation stands open. So, if we realize that everything actually belongs to us, we don't need to take. This taking, you know, it's not just in objects.

[20:51]

We do like to take objects, you know. But we also take positions. We take, suck the life out of things. How we... I can remember what she's saying. You know, this typewriter doesn't belong to me, but I use it and it's really helpful in my work. So, you can't have it. And Suzuki Goshi saying, these are my glasses, they don't really belong to me, but thank you for letting me use them. So, here comes the big one. I vow not to misuse sexuality. This is so complex that nobody talks about it. Because it's such a volatile subject and very difficult.

[21:56]

We used to have two sexes. Now we have five, or six, and more. So, it becomes more and more complex. We're going to have to have more discussion about it, but not today. But, let the three wheels of self, objects, and action be pure. Objects, well, you know, if we objectify, that's not so good. I remember Suzuki Goshi, there was this one guy who was an overt womanizer. And he just had many, many short affairs. And, with a thugger, a woman thugger. And he asked Suzuki Goshi, he said, is that okay? What about that?

[22:58]

And Suzuki Goshi said, well, if you can remember the name of each one. He didn't really mean it was okay, but he said, he just wanted to make a point. If you can remember the name of each one, it's okay. In other words, is this a real relationship? Or is this just stealing something? So, with nothing to desire, which is really hard, one goes along together with the Buddhas. You go along together with the Buddhas, struggling with it anyway. So, then, I vow to refrain from false speech. The Dharma Wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither surplus nor lack. Not too much and not too little. The sweet dew saturates all and harvests the truth. You know, idle speech is

[24:02]

for Dogon. When your speech is not serious, or when it doesn't apply to the Dharma, that's called idle speech. Idle speech is any kind of talk that's not Dharma words. Just what he means. So, talking about focus. We tend to think of false speech as lying. Maybe. But here he means speech that doesn't hit the mark. Just, you know, opinions, basically. If you don't say, this is my opinion, if you say, this is my opinion, that's okay. But, if you're just voicing opinions based on speculation, that's not so good.

[25:07]

That's idle talk. I remember Suzuki Roshi talking about his teacher and about opinions. And he'd say, when my teacher had an opinion, he would say, this is my opinion. So, it was very clear that he understood, this is my opinion. This is not the truth. This is my opinion. So, that's good. In that case, his opinion is a true opinion. So, I vow not to sell the wine of delusion. That's a kind of Suzuki Roshi-ish. But, you know, you're not supposed to sell wine. You have to be a wine merchant. There was a wine merchant once in the Saga who made it very difficult for him to practice. I was very easy on him.

[26:11]

Maybe I should stop. Maybe I should quit. And he wasn't ready to quit. I think that if... Um... I think that we have to be careful about when we give up, when we start to practice. When Suzuki Roshi was around, when we first started practicing in San Francisco, there were men, you know, who would leave their families in order to practice in Suzuki Roshi. Send them back home, you know. Your wife is doing Zazen while you think you're here. She's doing Zazen in bed while you think you're doing Zazen here in the Zendo. Go home to your family, you know, and be reasonable about what your practice is. We're doing practice period

[27:15]

and I exhort everyone to really be reasonable about what your practice is during practice period so you're not overstating yourself. So, wine is just a metaphor for any kind of delusional stuff that we smoke or drink. Although, sometimes the delusional stuff will actually clear up your delusion. That's the other side. There are times when you take something and it clears your mind even though it makes you intoxicated. Sometimes we need to be intoxicated in order to clear our mind of stuff that we're stuck with. I can go into that, but I won't

[28:15]

because I'm not trying to advocate that you should do that. And the next one is well, it says originally pure, don't defile. So, defiling is cluttering your clear mind, even though you may think that it's clearing your mind. Hmm. I vow to slander. Not to slander. In the Buddha Dharma it says go together, appreciate, realize and actualize together. No fault finding, no haphazard talk and don't corrupt the way. So, fault finding, we do find fault. We're always finding fault. But there's a habit called fault finding where when you when you feel that you're inadequate you find fault

[29:18]

with someone else. You think it raises your righteousness level to find fault with other people and then when you look around for someone to find fault with or something to find fault with and that raises your esteem because you're the cop. You know. Cops are criminals. They're just the other side of the equation between, not all cops but but It's just the flip side. I don't want to go into that either. So Uh

[30:20]

It makes us feel it bigger than we are when we become addicted to fault finding. Just always looking for something to criticize is something to feel feels not right. So when we find ourself doing that we have to realize that we are caught in our own mind. So I vow not to praise self at the expense of others. This is kind of related to that. Sometimes in order to make ourself feel higher we instead because we can't get higher we lower others. When we lower others without having to raise ourself we feel higher. So

[31:31]

we want to be in the spotlight. We want to stand out. And then we kind of hide others behind ourselves. So I vow not to be avaricious to collect a lot of stuff. The feeling that we need to have a lot of stuff. One phrase, one verse is the ten thousand things in one hundred grasses. So in other words one if we have the understanding of the oneness of things we don't need anything else. One dharma one realization is all buddhism ancestors. From the beginning there has been no stinginess at all.

[32:33]

So someone I heard that someone said that I think Mel is losing it. That can sound awful but then I thought hey that's pretty good. So then I vow not to harbor ill will neither negative nor positive. Neither real nor unreal. In other words we do have ill will. Ill will comes up all the time. Anger. Ill will. But harboring it means hanging on, right? Because whatever it is that we hang on to also has us. So when we harbor ill will we're actually hurting ourself. We're actually being attached to this thing

[33:36]

which also has us. You know people walk their dogs on a leash. I don't but they walk their dogs on a leash. The dog has you. And so you're condemned to holding this having this dog lead you all around. Even though you think you're in control. I vow not to harbor ill will. But he said dogs neither negative nor positive neither real nor unreal. There is an ocean of illuminated clouds and an ocean of ornamented clouds. I never really knew what that meant until about an hour ago. What it means is that behind the clouds is the sun

[34:37]

that ornaments the clouds. Like you know beautiful sunset with clouds. This cloud has a silver lining. So behind the anchor the anchor is on the surface where the clouds are in a much bigger you know. Dogin says when you are swimming in the waves on the top of the ocean your feet are walking on the bottom. So the clouds of anger anger makes clouds. Behind the clouds is compassion or light. And the sun lights the clouds. You see the clouds

[35:38]

but so anger can be transformed um by the light. This is how anger becomes dispersed through understanding. The world tearing itself to pieces because of reactions. And then there are clever people behind the reactions that keep the reactions going in order to be prosperous. We are being used all the time without knowing it. The world is being used all the time without being used by their own anger. You know dog fights when people have

[36:39]

cock fights and dog fights they are using the animals getting the animals more and more angry at each other so they have this big fight and then they bet on who is going to win. This happens in our society. This is rampant in our whole society. Creating anger and ill will in order to profit by it and turning everybody against each other like mad dogs or cock fights. People are not aware of this. Just not aware. Anyway. Then I vow not to abuse the three treasures. To expound the Dharma with this body is foremost. Virtue returns to the unfathomable ocean of reality. Let us accept it with respect and gratitude. So to expound the Dharma with this body

[37:43]

means you practice. How do you expound the Dharma? People say, well how do I practice the Dharma after I leave Zen Do? I was talking about this yesterday. The door is the end of the building but it is not the end of the Zen Do. The Zen Do wherever you go the Zen Do goes with you. So you expand the Zen Do to wherever you are. And to expound the Dharma with this body is how you practice. And nobody can tell you that. That is like the living practice. If I'm just going to follow some rules about how to practice when I'm not in Zen Do, that's dead practice. Living practice is

[38:45]

how you meet each situation with attention and compassion and wisdom. And the rest is up to you. Nobody can tell you how to do that. That's the creative practice. It's got to be creative. So we treat everyone as Buddha even if we're angry with them. This is the preset. Even if you're angry with somebody, even if somebody says, you made me angry. Well, you did something and I got angry. So we always have to look at ourselves. How are we creating a situation that looks like someone else is creating? How do we

[39:50]

not allow ourselves to get into a dog fight or a car fight? Who's going to separate all that? This is our practice. It all comes back to how to self-reliant practice, self-reliant practice. We're creating, self-creating and creating it all the time. We can either create a situation that is virtuous or a situation which is detrimental. Every moment's activity is up to us. So when we say, I wish someone would stop doing that. Well, maybe I should stop doing something. What's my part

[40:54]

in all this? What is my part in all this? So this goes back to all my ancient tango karma at the beginning. What is my part in all this? Do you have a question? When one is responding spontaneously, is that the same as without karma? The same as without karma? No. Spontaneous means present, being present. Sometimes people think spontaneous means without thinking. But it includes

[41:54]

thinking. Spontaneity includes thinking. It includes, you know, retrospect and so forth. But it's um you can only be who you are. Is one ever without karma? No. No. We're never without karma as long as we're in this world. So this is the world of, this is the dualistic world. And the dualistic world, just by virtue of having to make decisions, um and discriminate, is creating karma. We're always doing that. But when we sit in zazen, we're creating very little karma. It's like really minimal karma. Because we're not discriminating.

[42:57]

If you're really sitting in zazen, you're not discriminating. Even though something comes up, you don't take it up. You don't fall into like and dislike. You don't fall into right and wrong, good and bad. You just accept everything as it is. If you can do that totally in your life, then you're not creating karma. But who can do that? Because we meet circumstances all the time and we're making judgments and decisions. Right? But if we know our judgments and decisions are based on through practice, then we're not creating so much karma. So that's why we sit every day. We come to zero and then we start discriminating. We walk into this discriminating world. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. But actually zero is zazen. Then there's the line. This is mathematical zen. Zero is at the bottom.

[44:00]

And then the line. And then 1, 2, 3, division. Right? Division means you have to make decisions all the time. We're making micro decisions constantly. But what are they based on? If they're based, if we have enough experience of zazen, then that gives us the opportunity to see how we create this and how we create that. It's really the way that we can have a true vision which is not based on partiality. Okay. Do you have any struggles or doubts in your practice of precepts

[45:02]

currently? I always have. All the precepts are struggles for me. They're not doubts. I don't have doubts but when you say struggle, I don't struggle that way. I realize that the difficulties are just part of life. My practice is the practice of appreciation. So whatever happens, maybe difficult, maybe I don't like it or do like it, that's all on the surface. I don't live on the surface all the time. It's there but I'm always walking on the bottom. So this is where I go. That's how I can maintain myself. Otherwise life would be too tragic.

[46:04]

Is there a moment sometimes when you don't know what is the way to observe? What is the meaning of this precept for me right now? Oh yeah, that comes up all the time. That's always there. But that's just called life. I don't think so much as hard time and good time and bad time. It's just this time. This is how it is now. And there's this time. This is how it is now. I don't try to compare so much. We say comparing is value. Do I value what's good over what's bad? Yeah. But there's also virtue which means the virtue of everything just as it is. Then you can appreciate your life. It doesn't matter what the

[47:11]

circumstances are. We have to get beyond what the circumstances are and accept everything the way it is. That doesn't mean we can't change. We can't not change. But we shouldn't get stuck. We had a meeting with a Japanese shumucho last year. And Akiba said, if you're a monk you should make your death poem. You should write your death poem. And I think, what's my death poem? And the only thing I could come up with was appreciation, appreciation, appreciation. Yeah.

[48:11]

Can we, is it possible to create good karma? Well, yeah. Hopefully. You're doing it all the time. Right. Why do you think you're not? Well, it seems like you get back into good death. I'm just wondering if... We create good karma, we create bad karma. You know, because that's the human condition. We can't always create good karma. You know, we stumble and we you know, we become thoughtless and we make mistakes. And we have to accept, you know, the fact that the human condition, that's called perfection. Perfection is not just doing everything always right. It's seeing that some things are right, some things are wrong.

[49:13]

And that's what's perfect. So we're not getting upset all the time. I mean, there are things that really upset us. And I, you know, and there are things that are so tragic that we can hardly stand it. It's true. And that's the difficult part. I remember Suzuki Roshi saying, you know, when you have a problem with your children and your family, and you can't stop walking back and forth, you can't even sit down. You know, it's so bad. Even Zazen won't help. There are times like that. So then he said, what are you going to do? He also said, if you didn't have any legs, how would you sit Zazen? So there are, you know, there are extremes of life.

[50:14]

And Zazen doesn't extend to all those extremes. But there's a middle ground in our life, which is where we usually live. Right? Zazen will take care of them. It will address those extremes, depending on the nature of your practice and how much faith you have in your practice. It's really important to have faith in practice. You know, all throughout the history of the world, faith has been the number one thing. If you don't have it, what's your touchstone? Money? Success? Family? We're always looking for what is the main touch, what is the final touchstone

[51:17]

of our life that we can depend on. And we forget that, and we go about our business and never remember. And then something tragic will force us to think about that, because how do we stop walking back and forth and just stand there? What do we stand on? Didn't the Bodhisattva say no touchstone? He said nothing, there's no one thing that's holy, meaning the whole thing is holy. Nothing to depend on, except... So, where do you find that nothing to depend on, to depend on? That's our call. That's That's

[52:15]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ