I'm about to face the truth, I'm about to face the truth. In our ongoing study of precepts, we should understand that precepts are really the basis of Buddhist practice.

[01:03]

How we maintain the precepts, keep and maintain the precepts. It's not always clear how to do that. When we think of precepts, we usually think of, don't do this and don't do that. I think that that's what comes to mind when we hear about precepts. Don't kill, don't steal, don't do something bad with your sex. That's what usually comes to mind. But actually, that's only one part of bodhisattva precepts. That's one part of our Bodhisattva One Mind Zen precepts. Actually, the key, the main thing, is the very positive side of Be Buddha.

[02:17]

The main precept which encompasses all precepts is, Be Buddha. Be yourself. Return to yourself. And include everything within yourself. That's number one precept. And all the other precepts are a kind of commentary on that precept. So precepts are actually very positive, not negative necessarily. Positive and negative, both. Positive side and negative side. So it's really necessary to understand the positive side and to stress the positive side of precepts. Otherwise we get tired of precepts.

[03:21]

And we feel that we're always being restricted. So, the first precept is be one with Buddha. Sometimes we say, take refuge in Buddha. Refuge is okay, but be one with, I think, is more complete. And it doesn't sound like you're running away from something or hiding from something. And it actually expresses the nature of our practice. Be one with Buddha and don't look outside of yourself for Buddha. Don't look for Buddha outside of yourself. don't look for some Buddha outside of yourself.

[04:25]

Each one of us actually is a Shakyamuni Buddha. We feel, we think Shakyamuni Buddha was a man who was in India 2,500 years ago, about. That's so. But Shakyamuni Buddha is also right here. And there are uncountable Shakyamuni Buddhas. Each one who practices is Shakyamuni Buddha. That's our understanding. So please be yourself. What is myself? Oh, I'll be myself. What is myself? That's our koan. So how to be yourself and how to be Buddha is first and biggest koan for us.

[05:38]

So the koan is, what is myself? So we usually have, who am I? Or, what is this? As a koan. That's the basic koan. Whether we want that koan or not, we have it. You may feel that you don't want a koan, but it doesn't matter. You have it already. It's a natural koan, genjo koan. Who am I? Who is this? That's good. Who is this? Who is Buddha? So first precept is be one with Buddha.

[06:42]

Be one with yourself. Be one with everything. Who is Buddha? What's Buddha? So we study. What is Buddha? And that's what we're always studying. What is Buddha? What is Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi? The Zen school places a lot of emphasis on enlightenment. What is enlightenment? It's a good question. Who is Buddha? What's enlightenment? Who am I? It's all the same question. How can I be myself completely? So, all of the precepts are about this precept.

[07:51]

And the second precept is be one with dharma. So dharma is also Buddha, a different aspect of Buddha. Dharma is whatever teaches us is dharma. Do inanimate objects preach the dharma? That's a big question. Do inanimate objects preach the dharma? Tozan dealt with that question. In the Citrus it says rocks, trees, brooks, rivers, clouds all preach the dharma, continuously. So how do we learn the Dharma?

[08:58]

How do we learn about Buddha Dharma? That's second precept, be one with Dharma. All of Buddha's teachings are worthwhile. And third precept is be one with Sangha. Be one with everybody. Everybody is the larger Sangha. The people who you practice with is the smaller Sangha. And when we talk about Sangha, we usually talk about the people that we practice with. Sometimes we talk about Sangha as people at Berkeley's Zen Center. And sometimes we talk about Sangha as all Buddhists.

[09:59]

And sometimes we talk about Sangha as all people and animals and things. But all of them are B1 with Buddha. B1 with Dharma is like all-encompassing. Or B1 with Buddha is all-encompassing. like dharmakaya, which is beyond our comprehension. And be one with dharma is like sambhogakaya, which is all things are our teacher. And nirmanakaya is someone who walks around on the earth countless Nirmanakaya Shakyamuni Buddhas. That's us. So these are called the three bodies of one Buddha.

[11:10]

Sounds very much like Christian teaching. It's similar, actually. not the same, but some very similar feeling. There's some need to differentiate, some need to divide one thing into many pieces in order to explain it or think about it and apply it. And then there are the three prohibit the three pure precepts. They're very simple. Don't do evil is the first one. Do what is good. That's the second one. And for bodhisattva precept is

[12:15]

Do whatever you can for everyone. Live your life not just for yourself. So, first one is a negative. aspect. Don't do that which holds you back or holds others back. Don't do that which makes life difficult for everybody. And the second one is do that which promotes everyone and yourself. do that which promotes good karma. And the third one, be a friend to everyone.

[13:37]

There are many ways to explain it, many ways to say that. Each one of these is a koan in itself. Each precept is a koan. How do I live my life for the benefit of everyone? It's the same as be one with Buddha. These are just different ways of saying be one with yourself, with your true self. And then there are the ten prohibitory presets. Don't kill. Don't take what is not given. Don't steal. Don't... Don't misuse your sexual energy.

[14:48]

And don't lie. And don't sell intoxicants or make yourself stupid by taking them. And don't gossip about other people. And don't raise yourself up and put other people down in your own eyes or try to convince others. And don't withhold the dharma or material goods. Don't be stingy or avaricious. And don't become attached to anger.

[15:53]

And don't put down the three treasures. Don't put down Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. So those are don'ts. But the don'ts also have a positive side. If you don't do that, if you don't do those things, then your life will be very much of a do. Your life will be very much, very positive. Because all of these precepts, the negative don't precepts, the ten prohibitory precepts, are there in order to help us to become free of attachment. And they all give us a difficult time because our tendency is to form attachment. and form attachment to the various desires.

[17:09]

There are two aspects to practice. One is that you train yourself, that you practice the various practices of buddhadharma and train yourself and cultivate your own buddha nature cultivate your practice in order to bring out the quality of buddha nature that everyone has And the other aspect is to help other people to do the same. So on the one hand you're reaching up, and the other hand you're reaching down. This is very characteristic of Bodhisattva's practice, to be reaching up with one hand and to be reaching down with the other.

[18:23]

So each one of us finds ourself in a certain place. For some of us, it's all we can do just to help ourselves. But when we come to a certain place where we have confidence, then we have to reach down and help other people. And we don't have to wait until we're enlightened to help other people. Just have some confidence. So if we practice precepts as a basis and understand the two aspects of reaching up and reaching down It's called creating a buddha land.

[19:34]

Creating a buddha land. And each one of us creates a space or a place, a spot, our spot. And that spot where we practice is called buddha land. And that Buddha land can be very small or very large. A small Buddha land is very nice. A little spot is very nice. If you can just take care of yourself, it's very good. You don't necessarily have to go out of your way to do something. create your Buddha land in a very small spot, it actually helps other people.

[20:44]

So, you know, Zendo is a kind of tiny buddha land and your house is a kind of tiny buddha land and wherever you walk is buddha land. Actually, you can create quite a large buddha land, buddha country, buddha place. But we definitely have a place. Everyone is someplace. And that someplace is where we practice all the time. No end. Endless practice. So this is also called pure land. And we tend to think of pure land as the pure land of the Western paradise.

[22:08]

But for Zen people, pure land is just wherever you are when you practice. Not someplace in the Western paradise, just right here, your spot. But we have to understand something about purity. In the meal chant, we say that the lotus grows out of the mud. The best place for a lotus to grow is in a slimy spot. Lotuses don't grow in a rarefied atmosphere. They grow in very mucky ponds. kind of stagnant, mucky ponds, just like our impure world. So each one of us is a kind of lotus flower growing in a mucky pond.

[23:19]

If you try to get rid of the mucky pond in order to create purity, your flower will wither and die. When things don't suit us or satisfy us, we tend to want to change them, which is okay. No problem. But changing things is pretty tiring. If you want to make everything just right before you practice, you say, well, when everything is just right, then I can practice.

[24:23]

Or when I become really pure, then I can practice. Or when I'm really good, then I can practice. Or when everything around me is good, then I can practice. And this slimy spot, this dirty pond, this impure place is where we have to discover the purity. So when we talk about purity, be careful. is right in this mucky spot and grows very beautiful flowers. So when we start to cultivate our nature,

[25:41]

We begin to appreciate everybody and the way things are. We can begin to enjoy our world even though it's impure, even though it's mucky. we can establish ourselves, you know, right in the middle of it. So this is another part of the koan. How do you establish pure practice in the middle of the mucky world? with no excuse and no hindrance.

[27:08]

We tend to see things as obstacles, but there are no obstacles. This is another part of the koan. How do you see through all obstacles? There are only opportunities to practice. If you realize that there are only opportunities to practice, you can enjoy your practice a hundred percent.

[28:18]

You don't need to look any further than the first obstacle. This is really the secret of our practice. If you get disturbed by things too much, you don't see them as opportunities. You only see them as obstacles. And our sense of ego, Our sense of self just increases as obstacles are put in our way. So be careful.

[29:30]

We should be careful what we accept and what we reject. Sometimes it may be good to accept something that we want to get rid of. And sometimes it's good to get rid of something that we think we want. And sometimes we keep looking for the perfect thing. Just looking for the perfect thing. I know that someday I'll find the perfect thing. Sometime. Somewhere. Something. Anyway, we have a wonderful opportunity to be Buddha.

[30:32]

All we have to do is do it. I really appreciate practicing with all of you and I fully appreciate the problems that you give me. Thank you.

[31:39]

Do you have any questions? I'd like you to know that I fully appreciate the problems you give me. taking over the question of responsibility or irresponsibility in my actions if I feel... If I'm not putting a judgment on... If I think I'm coming from my true self all the time, I don't, you know, what is my responsibility to everything around me? Unless, I guess as long as I'm not hurting, I think I'm not hurting my environment, whatever that environment is, or myself, then my actions are okay.

[32:51]

Somehow though, I don't know, I still go along with, you know, the question of, kind of totally irresponsible, still thinking I'm coming from my true self, you know, and... Well, where does it... not being responsible come into this? Well, it feels like if I've always... because I can be nothing else but acting for my Buddha self, my true self, which should be my highest, because I can't do it anymore, right? It's alright. Alright, yeah. You know, I'm just doing what I'm doing and without judgment, you know, I'm accepting myself.

[33:59]

See, the problem comes up when you feel that non-discrimination means no judgment. But that's not what it means. We have to really understand that non-discrimination doesn't mean no judgment. Non-discrimination is a kind of phrase we use which means when you When you divide the world up into little pieces, you should also know that it's one whole piece. So we're constantly judging, constantly making decisions, constantly having to choose and pick, right?

[35:02]

But we should do that on the basis of non-discrimination, which means the whole world is one piece. And when I make my choices, you should understand that. That's the basis on which I make my decisions. If I just make my decisions on the basis of self-centeredness, I am the center of the universe, which I am. But I'm only the center of the universe in my total self. That's why I say we need to know what is myself. That's the biggest koan. What is myself? Then you can deal with discrimination and non-discrimination. But only when it comes back to what is myself Whatever I do to you is affecting myself.

[36:08]

Not only in a small way, but in a big way. So, precepts are there to help us to discriminate. And those precepts are based on what Suzuki Roshi used to call Big Mind. Non-discriminating mind. in which everything is equal. Everything is equal, but yet everything is unequal at the same time. This is very important, and it's the whole basis of, it forms a whole important part of what we need to understand. So study of precepts is not just do this and don't do that, but

[37:31]

How do we go through this world in a way that makes complete sense? How do we live our lives in a way that makes complete sense? that takes everything into account. So, anyway, this is what we're studying. This is what we're practicing. Monday morning, we have our first talk.

[38:52]

If any of you are up at 5.50, please come by. We'll have our first discussion on the first precept. Don't kill. And then every Monday morning, we'll take up one precept. Thank you.

[39:20]

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