We're going to chat the vows today. Like it's going to share the screen and we'll chat along with you silently when you chant out loud. I think you're breaking up or something. Okay. I'm just saying, well, we can chant the vowels whenever you're ready. We'll chant along with you silently while you chant. Okay. An unsurpassed penetrating in perfect Dharma is rarely met with even a hundred thousand million Kabbalists. Having to see and listen to, to remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words.

[06:25]

Good morning. Can you hear me okay? Yoo-hoo. No. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Yes, I need an answer. Well, good morning. This morning when I was offering incense, I was offering incense for the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb incident, which two days ago was the 75th anniversary, if you want to call it that, of the atomic bomb, those two cities.

[07:27]

So I think that enthusiasm for that, for commemorating those two events is fading. And so I wanted to remind us, I'm sure many of us are reminded already, but I did want to remind us and to offer our condolences to those victims and hope that this doesn't happen again. So please get out and vote. I was talking with Ron a few days ago, last week, about what we call the three dharma seals of Buddhism. And there are two versions.

[08:29]

So the most common version goes like this. A dharma seal means This is the stamp of Buddha. This is true. This is truth. So these are the three truths of our existence, sometimes called the three marks. When we read the Prajnaparamita Sutra, It says, the true mark of all dharmas is emptiness. So I'll get back to that. But I want to remind you of what the three marks or the three dharma seals are.

[09:37]

The first one is, everything changes. which is called impermanence. The second one, the order is sometimes switched. The second one is called there is no abiding self in anything. And the third one, in one version, is called suffering. So everything changes. there is no self in things, no abiding self, or lasting self in things, and everything is suffering. That's one version. The other version is, everything changes, there is no abiding self in things, in anything,

[10:42]

The third one is, everything is living in nirvana. So, take your pick. The old version is much more popular because, for some reason, and when you say the third dharma seal, or the third mark is, Nirvana, people raise their eyebrows. Nirvana? No, it's suffering. So let's take a look at these three acts of existence. And that's good.

[11:50]

It's good that they're controversial. So it's undisputable that everything changes. The last time I was in this room, It looks just like it does now. Doesn't look like anything's changed. Changed. It's not the same place. Choppiness. Choppiness. We're gonna fix the choppiness, maybe. Okay, let's try this.

[13:00]

But everything in this room has changed, even though I can't discern it. And the person that you see before you, do you remember that guy back 50 years ago? He has changed as well. even though he's the same. Everything changes as well as it remains the same. So, the no-self in beings is indisputable, even though people have various ideas about it. But when you really investigate, you will see that not only does everything change, we are not the same person exactly as we were five minutes ago in some way, even though we relate to each other as if nothing has changed.

[14:09]

So these two factors are somewhat indisputable. You can argue about them and present logical or illogical feelings about them, but nothing is permanent. From one moment to the next, every single moment, everything is changing. So, since everything is changing, we can't say that I am immortal, because we are all mortal. given to transformations. This is called the world of transformations. That's all there is, is transformations. And we try to glue everything together, you know, and wish that things were different, but that's the way it is.

[15:26]

The third mark, or the third dharmasyil, you have to take a close look at everything is suffering. It's not that everything is suffering. Suffering exists and is very common to all beings. But it's not a permanent, it's not something that, it's always changing. and is a psychological phenomenon. Suffering is a psychological phenomenon. Pain is pain. Dislike is dislike, and so forth. But what we add to it is suffering. I can have a painful feeling, but it's not necessarily suffering. It's only suffering when I don't like it or don't want it. Think about that. Please take this away. Then it's co-suffering.

[16:30]

There are three kinds of suffering, or more, but categories. One category is that suffering, you hit your thumb with a hammer, right, and that's suffering. I mean that's a cause for suffering, a condition for suffering. You know, you can think of a million things that are conditions for suffering, but they don't have to be. Whereas the other two are immutable. They have to be. So, there's some doubt about if suffering is really the third dharma seal. So, instead of suffering, we say nirvana. because nirvana is immovable, so to speak.

[17:31]

It's always present, no matter what. So nirvana is a mysterious thing. We don't talk about it very much. Oh, nirvana, who can reach nirvana? Only a Buddha can reach it. That's not so. Nirvana is our most the closest thing to us, closer than hands and feet, as it says. Nirvana is our true self, which we experience every day. It's our everydayness. Just like change is our everydayness, no self, no abiding self is our everydayness. And nirvana is everydayness when we allow it to, I don't want to say appear, but appear because things are apparent.

[18:37]

Appearant. Nirvana is our true self. We think of reaching nirvana as some great feat Only Buddhas can do this, and so we don't bother with it because it's too mysterious. But it's not mysterious. We have to de-mysterialize nirvana. Zazen is how we recognize nirvana. When we said Zazen, we recognize nirvana. Everything drops away. So when everything drops away, what's left is nirvana. So that's why sitting Zazen is so wonderful. We let everything drop away. Things come and go and Zazen, you know, everything comes and goes flotsam and jetsam of our brain and our feelings and so forth.

[19:47]

But nirvana is just our fundamental self unbared. naked, our naked self. So nirvana is naturally the third dharma seal, because it can't be eliminated, and it's constant. And when we allow ourself, when we take off the coverings of ourself, what's left is nirvana. It's a leftover. But Buddhists, you know, survive on leftovers. It's true. You know, original Buddhist robes were rags, menstrual rags, rags from a carnal ground,

[20:58]

rags that were used to wipe up, you know, poop and vomit. The worst possible, the most stinky rags were suitable for robes, Buddhist robes. So the monk would wash the robes, I mean wash the rags, and sew them together. And they were beautiful. It was like redemption, redeeming what's been thrown away. The ultimate ecology. So, I want to talk a little bit about each one of those dharma seals.

[22:14]

But I also want to get back to what is meant by a mark. In the Heart Sutra, it says, the true mark of all dharmas is emptiness. Actually, nirvana. But what a mark means is its characteristic. The characteristic of fire is heat. The characteristic of water is wet. That characteristic of earth is solidity. and the mark of error is ethereality. But the true mark of all dharmas is emptiness.

[23:21]

The true characteristic of every single thing is emptiness, and emptiness has 20 meanings. But the meaning that's most important for us is interdependence. Because nothing has its own independent existence, even though everything exists independently. You know, we have to be very careful because Truth is not one-sided. Whatever we encounter has a momentary existence and a total existence. That's Buddhism, Buddhist understanding. And we are always falling into one side or the other.

[24:24]

That's what creates arguments. You can say everything is, and you can also say everything isn't. And they're both true. These are the kind of arguments that people had, that Buddhists had during the 20 school period, before the first century. The 20 school period lasted for about 400 years. where the Buddhists had all these arguments about what was, which is good, you know, very good for them, to discuss all this stuff. But it's all been discussed out. It's all disgusting. It's all... Suzuki Roshi said, I recently read where he said, in Buddhism everything's already been done.

[25:31]

All I have to do is read about it. So, the mark of a person is no special self, no abiding self, although there is a self. If we say there's no self, That's only half. The other half is there is a self. Otherwise, who is talking about no self? The one who's talking about no self is the self. And the one who's talking about self is the non-self. So we're both self and non-self at the same time. You know, Buddhism uses little examples to say one thing to mean, to include everything they're talking about.

[26:47]

So, they say, no self. But that doesn't, but no self has to include a self, otherwise what are we talking about? We can't talk about a hammer without a hammer being there. We didn't mix this up. but our salvation is realizing that there is no abiding self in ourself. But what does that mean? How can we exist in this way? Well, we are earthlings, and all we have to do is look at nature to see how everything exists, and we are a part of nature. There are schools which claim that we are not a part of nature, and they're ruining the earth because what the heck. But we are definitely a part of nature, and so our true self is the whole universe.

[27:49]

When we realize our whole self is the, our true self is the whole universe, because there is no specific self that is abiding, then we can flow with change. We can flow, you know, we used to say, go with the flow. Oh yeah, that's just hippie stuff. Well, the hippies said it right, in a lot of ways. Look what's happening, you know, without the help of the hippies today. The hippies tried to put us on the right track. Everything is constantly changing. And this was one of Suzuki Roshi's main teaching, among other main teachings. His main teaching was everything changes.

[28:53]

And the only thing that doesn't change is change itself. The only thing that doesn't change is change itself. So that is a constant. That's why it's a dharma seal. And the other thing is our human being, like animals all over the world, are always You know, at the same time we're growing, we're dying. We're living and dying at the same time. Being born and dying at the same time, moment by moment.

[29:55]

That's why we can say that we are alive, because we are also dead. If we weren't dead, we couldn't be alive. Why would we worry about that? We cling to life, of course. We cling, you know, because that's where we are. And we are part of this world where so-called life is undesirable and death is undesirable. But for Buddhists, Birth and death are the same thing. They're just two sides of the one going. So, Buddhist practice, the goal of Buddhist practice is to understand this.

[30:58]

You know, it's called the great matter. The great matter of birth and death. I don't call it life and death, because life includes death, and death includes life. So they're not really opposites. What I feel is more opposites is birth and death. Birth is inhalation, and death is exhalation. And without death, you can't come back to life. being born and dying at the same time. At the same time. If it isn't a dichotomy, it's not truth. So we live in, we actually live in a dualistic world which is one-sided pretty much.

[32:06]

We live in a dualistic world that's one-sided, like a glass. You know, we're on one side of the glass, and we think it's a hemisphere, but actually it's a wholesphere, because we're only looking at one side of the glass. But the glass is one whole piece, and birth and death is one whole piece. And the older you get, the more you think about this. When you're not so old, you know, you don't think about it. You think, well, you're going to live forever. You don't even think about it. Oh, yeah, dying. Oh, yeah. But when you get to a certain age, you realize that there's an ending. And then you add it up. Well, let's see. 10 years, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, or whatever.

[33:17]

So, Nirvana is understanding this and living and uncovering your true nature. Poor Nirvana really takes a beating, but it's okay. So we don't have to see nirvana as, although it's a great mysterious thing, it really is a great mystery, but at the same time it's under our hands and feet. It's right there. It's called seeing things as it is. as we call it, seeing things as it is. Nirvana. When we do that, instead of seeing things through our imagination, imagination is really important for human beings.

[34:26]

It's great. So we have to get our imagination straightened out so that it doesn't interfere with the naked truth. If we practice satsang for a long time without trying to make it into something, nirvana will become apparent at some point. And you won't have to worry anymore. I would say nirvana is non-clinging. It's sometimes, you know, you can't describe it, it's not something describable, but you can use various images to look at it.

[35:33]

Like, when everything is dropped, that's Nirvana. Because there's nothing hindering its expression. But it appears in everything we do. It's kind of like salt in the ocean. It's just there as part of the ocean. As a matter of fact, the example of the ocean is a viable example for Nirvana. The waves are our activity, and Nirvana is the ocean in which our waves exist.

[36:42]

Our waves are part of the, are the ocean. And the ocean is the light, but each ocean, each wave is an individual. Oh, there's John wave, there's Mary wave. And none of the waves are permanent. But they all belong to the ocean. The ocean is their source. So what more could we want? When we realize that the waves are the ocean, that's nirvana. So, nirvana basically means dropping. Or renunciation is another term that's used.

[37:44]

What is renunciation? Well, it means dropping our false sense of self. When manas turns, it becomes the wisdom of equality. which is nirvana. So instead of talking about nirvana, we usually talk about letting go of ego or transforming ego. Transforming ego into nirvana. regarding no self. The Diamond Suja, as I remember, has a statement that says, we vow to save all beings, all living beings, even though there are no living beings to be saved.

[39:04]

wonderful koan that you're on. We bound to save all of the beings, even though there are no living beings to be saved. I would do you a great disservice if I took that apart and explained it. So dealing with these three marks or three dharma seals of existence is very deep. And I think all of Buddhism, all of Buddhist understandings come from these three

[40:36]

fundamental truths. And you should tear them apart if you want, you know. If it disturbs you, you should really attack them and dig deeply in and see if you can prove them wrong. That's Buddhism. See if you can prove them wrong. You can prove that suffering is not a constant because otherwise there would be nothing called joy. Although we say joy, joy is a constant even though we don't always experience it as a constant. In the same way you can say that suffering is a constant even though we don't always experience it as a constant. Joy and suffering actually can be one thing.

[41:41]

You know, we always appreciate somebody who has a lot of physical problems and a lot of suffering, so-called, and can smile through their suffering, can help other people while they're suffering. noble practice. We call the Four Truths the Four Noble Truths. And we call the Buddha the Noble One because the Noble One takes in all the suffering of people and smiles. and doesn't complain, and helps other people, and suffers the suffering of all people.

[42:47]

Actually, without suffering, we can't have any wisdom. Our wisdom has not, we can't open our wisdom mind until we suffer the suffering of beings. of all beings. So, in regard to the third dharma seal, you can say suffering within nirvana and nirvana within suffering. Nirvana and suffering go together Without suffering, nirvana doesn't open up. The key to opening up nirvana is through your suffering. That's constant.

[43:53]

Constancy. So we can say everything is changing. There is no abiding self in a person, in an individual person. And nirvana within suffering, and suffering within nirvana.

[45:07]

I want to go back to no self, no inherent self we call it, because everything is connected to everything else and doesn't exist without everything else. You know, you're probably familiar with Thich Nhat Hanh talking about the table is all You have a nice table in the middle of the room, and the table is all made of elements that are not the table.

[46:14]

Without all the other elements that are not the table, the table doesn't exist. Just like a human being. Without all the elements, they're not you. They make you into what you are, because you're just one particle of the whole being. We are all one particle of the whole being for a moment. Even though I don't exist, please treat me as if I do. So do you have any questions? I'm happy to... I don't know what the question thing... I think the question thing is supposed to come after the talk.

[47:18]

Oh, it is time for the end of the talk, probably, right? I need somebody to tell me. Yeah, Sojin Rishi, would you like to entertain one question before I make the announcements? That's okay. Okay, anybody have a question? Oh, this is like... Ross has his hand up. Hi, Ross. I don't see your hand, but... Good morning, Soja Roshi, and thank you so much for that lovely talk and the spin on nirvana and samsara. So suffering and nirvana. So I'm thinking about the Four Noble Truths. The first truth is suffering. The second is there's an origin. The third is cessation. And the fourth is the Eightfold Path leading to cessation of suffering. Can you reword the Four Noble Truths using Nirvana instead of suffering?

[48:25]

Does it have the same resonance for us in practice? Or is this from the Theravada an old way of looking at it, an original way of looking at it, and not so appropriate to reword it? I don't think you... What was the third one? The cessation of suffering, freedom from craving. Well, the third one, as I understand it, is that there is a way to deal with so-called suffering. And suffering is, you know, suffering is one term that covers the various dissatisfactions in our life. So rather than naming all the dissatisfactions in our life, the term suffering is used. But it can be anything, right? So let's take the stereotype, which is called suffering, okay. And there's a cause, that's the second one.

[49:27]

What is the cause of our unease? Or what is the cause of our delusion? Or what is the cause of our misunderstandings and what is the cause of, you know, all kinds of unwholesomeness. You can say sentient beings are subject to. That's what I usually use the term, subject to. We're subject to suffering. We're subject to misunderstanding. We're subject to pain and we're subject to hate and ill will and greed and so forth. And the second noble truth is there's a cause for all these things. Buddha is called the physician and so he's stating the problems that you have and he's giving you the

[50:35]

The medicine. So the vulnerable truths are divided into two and two. The first two are, this is the problem, doc, please fix it. And he said, okay, here's the medicine. So the problem is delusion and that we actually are ill at ease. For various reasons, life is uncomfortable. And the second truth is, well, there's a reason for that. And these are the reasons. Being with people you don't want to be with, doing stuff you don't want to do, all the stuff that you don't like, that you don't want, that causes suffering. And all the things that you do want, you don't have, and that causes suffering. That's the stereotype. Then the third truth is that there is a way to deal with this problem.

[51:43]

That's the third truth. There's a way to deal with this problem. And the way is the Noble Eightfold Path, the Noble Eightfold Path. What was your question? Well, if one could reword the Four Noble Truths, like there's the truth of suffering, we could say there is the truth or we are subject to nirvana. Yeah, it's not that we're subject to nirvana, nirvana is the basis of our life. Okay. We're subject to life. There is an origin to nirvana, instead of there's an origin or a source of suffering. Well, nobody knows what the origin of nirvana is. Nirvana is just nirvana. Things are just what they are. But as you said earlier, in Zazen, if we let go and drop everything, then we are inclined toward the experience of nirvana.

[52:47]

Nirvana becomes tangible. Tangible. We become aware of our nirvana. Yes. Everything is on the opposite side, you know, when I'm looking at this. I don't like to have my collar. I like to have it exposed. I heard a half an inch of juban is the... That's the preferred part. We won't graduate today, but thank you very much for your talk. Nirvana just is. Yes. Yes, it is. It's the ground of our being. Indeed. So, we compare samsara to nirvana, right? Because what's bad? Well, what's bad is samsara, and what's good is nirvana.

[53:49]

So, the good and the bad are like this. The good and the bad are like this. The right and the wrong are like this. Nirvana and Samsara are like this. The place where you find Nirvana is within the suffering of Samsara. And there's a movie coming out on this very topic. I'm sure there is. Good, the bad, and the ugly. If the good and the bad are not resolved, Samsara and Nirvana, then it's ugly. And that's the life that we suffer with. Yeah. So be it. I mean, so be it. It is so. Was that the end of the? Yeah, I think it's time to chat for more vowels. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, everybody.

[54:54]

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