Good morning. The fifth day is the Shane. And even though you may feel that you're still struggling, there's a very settled feeling in Zendo. It's quite noticeable. Very strong, subtle feeling from Zazen. One thing that came up yesterday that I wanted to clarify, and that's your practice is your practice. And my practice is my practice.

[01:04]

And your practice has its successes and failures. And my practice has its successes and failures. And there's no way that we can compare yours to mine, or any one of our practices to anyone else's. Each one of us is in the place where we are. And we may think, well, so-and-so, they sit there and they don't seem to have any problem at all. And I'm droning away. But your practice is your practice. Someone else's practice is their practice. Your problems are your problems. Their problems are their problems. There's no one that doesn't have a problem. So, each one of us is dealing with our problem, whatever that is.

[02:14]

And it has nothing to do with anyone else's problem. So please try to remember that. Otherwise, you will think, well, they're so good and I'm so bad. and therefore I can't do this. So today, I want to continue with Gakudo Yojinshu. Dogens are the Soto-shu's instructions based on dogens.

[03:25]

Shogun Genzo and the five points. On Sunday I talked about birth and death, which is the first point, and the second point is release through repentance. So I'm just going to read that because it's very short. You have to remember that there's no really perfect translation. So if something bothers you a little bit, it may be the translation. The Buddhas and ancestors, because of their great mercy, have left open the vast gates of compassion in order that all beings, both human and celestial, may thereby realize enlightenment.

[04:29]

Although karmic retribution for evil acts must come in one of the three stages of time, I talked about that the other day, repentance lessens the effects, bringing release and purity. Therefore, let us repent before the Buddha in all sincerity. The merit power of repentance before the Buddha not only saves and purifies us, it also encourages the growth within us of pure, doubt-free faith and earnest effort. When pure faith appears, it changes others just as it changes us, its benefit extending to all beings, both animate and inanimate. The essence of the act of repentance is as follows. Even though the accumulation of our past bad karma is so great that it forms an obstacle to practicing the way, we beseech the various enlightened and compassionate Buddhas and ancestors to help us be free from karmic retribution.

[05:31]

Eliminate all obstacles to the practice of the way and share with us their compassion, for it is through this compassion that their merit and teachings fill the entire universe. In the past, the Buddhas and ancestors were originally just like us. In the future, we shall become like them. All of our past evil deeds were the result of beginningless greed, anger, and ignorance, products of our body, speech, and mind. Of all these do we now repent. That's kind of the formula. If we repent in this way, we shall certainly receive the invisible help of the Buddhas and ancestors. Keep this in mind and, acting in a proper manner, make repentance. The power derived thereby will wipe out your wrongdoings at their roots. In our Soto Zen practice, you know, once a month we do the

[06:34]

which we call the Bodhisattva Ceremony. Fusats is repentance. And ryaku, I think, means something like abbreviated. We don't repent of our sins one by one. In the traditional Buddhist ceremony for monks, the Upasata ceremony, twice a month, on the full moon and the middle of the month, the monks all get together and recite the Patimokkha, which is the 250 rules of behavior that the monks follow in the Vinaya. And then when each one of those is read, if any of the monks have transgressed any of those rules, they stand up and acknowledge it.

[07:46]

And according to the traditional monk's practice, there are four rules which lead to expulsion. And the rest have other consequences. So this is a very strict kind of practice. The monks practice very strict. And the full moon ceremony that we do, is related to that, but it's abbreviated. And we don't recite all the rules because we don't follow the 250 precepts. We follow the 16 precepts, the abbreviated form of precepts for both monks and laypeople. Originally, laypeople take five precepts, first five precepts.

[08:55]

But in our Soto Zen school, And Saicho was a Tendai, a priest who brought the Tendai's teaching to Japan. And he developed the 16 precepts, which most of the other schools in Japan go by. Anyway, the 16 precepts contain all the minor precepts. So what we actually have, the 16 precepts are the 3 refuges, the 3 pure precepts and the 10 prohibitory precepts. Those are called major precepts. And the rest are minor precepts. Minor precepts, here I am talking about precepts, which is actually the next, down the line, but it's okay.

[10:09]

Minor precepts are precepts which are related to time and place. Major precepts are precepts which are universal. which are not dependent on time and place. But the minor precepts are dependent on circumstances. In India, people eat with their fingers. And There are many rules about how you eat with your fingers, you know, how you don't stuff the rice ball down your throat, you know, and you're still chewing, and while you're still chewing, you're bringing up the next bite. That's kind of a minor preset. So, presets have to do with conduct. For a monk.

[11:17]

And there are a lot of them. And when Shakyamuni Buddha was on his deathbed, he asked, Ananda asked him, shall we keep all the precepts? A lot of the monks, some of the monks thought maybe when Buddha passed away that they didn't need to keep the precepts anymore. So he asked, Ananda asked Shakyamuni, should we still keep It's the same as my teaching. And he said, well, I know we should keep the major precepts, but should we keep the minor precepts? No, no. He didn't ask him about the minor precepts. He just asked him about the major precepts.

[12:20]

And then later, people asked him, well, What about the minor precepts?" He said, I forgot to ask him. And so Maha Kashapa said, we should follow the minor precepts. Rather than make a mistake, we should follow the minor precepts. So the practice of the monks in India, the Vinaya practice, was to practice the 250 precepts for men and 350 for women. And we will not discuss that. So when the various schools became established, although in China, all the monks would take the 250 precepts, but in Japan,

[13:57]

Although people would take the 250 precepts, they would really follow the 16 precepts, the abbreviated precepts. It doesn't make sense to follow all those precepts just because they were done in India. I remember Suzuki Roshi, I talked about this before, talking about the monk from India who came to China in the winter. And he couldn't wear the clothes or eat the food, so he had to go back to India. So Buddhists always have to adapt themselves to time and circumstance, and we should have our own minor precepts. Eventually, we will develop our own minor precepts, which are a benefit to people who practice in this particular age, in this particular place, and in these circumstances.

[15:12]

So what I want to read is from the Platform Sutra. Sometime we will study the Platform Sutra. I was thinking maybe during the next practice period, but Platform Sutra is a little too long for the practice period. we can study parts of it and continue after practice period to study it. But the Platform Sutra is the Sutra of the sixth ancestor, Daikon Eno, Hui Long or Hui Nong in Chinese. And all of our Zen lineage comes from the fountainhead of the sixth ancestor from China.

[16:44]

And there's a chapter on repentance. in the sutra. Sutra, of course, all the sutras come from India, except this one, which comes from China. But some of them came from China. Anyway. In this sutra, there are many wonderful things. But he talks about repentance, and this chapter on repentance seems to be the core of the sutra. The feeling was, from scholars, that the sutra was originally an ordination ceremony. And repentance always comes before an ordination ceremony.

[17:46]

And so this is the part which preceded the ordination ceremony. But the part just before that is about dhyana and samadhi, which is very short. And I'm just going to read you a little bit about that, because it's right here. And actually, it relates to the repentance ceremony. So he's talking about what are dhyana and samadhi. Dhyana, of course, means meditation. First he says, learned audience, what is sitting for meditation? In our school, to sit means to gain absolute freedom and to be mentally unperturbed in all outer circumstances, be they good or otherwise. To meditate means to realize inwardly the imperturbability of the essence of mind.

[18:54]

Essence of mind is Buddha nature, your own true nature. I'll read it again. It says, learned audience, what is sitting for meditation? In our school, to sit means to gain absolute freedom and to be mentally unperturbed in all outward circumstances, be they good or otherwise. To meditate means to realize inwardly at the imperturbability of the essence of mind. This is, of course, Zazen. not be perturbed or disturbed by circumstances, by anything. Learned audience, what are dhyana and samadhi? Samadhi, dhyana is actually meditation. Dhyana means to be free from attachment to all outer objects, and samadhi means to attain inner calm.

[20:06]

If we are attached to outer objects, our mind will be perturbed. When we are free from attachment to all outer objects, the mind will be in peace, tranquil. Our essence of mind is intrinsically pure, and the reason why we are perturbed is because we allow ourselves to be carried away by the circumstances we are in. One who is able to keep the mind unperturbed, irrespective of circumstances, has attained samadhi. So, samadhi is calmness of mind. To have calm mind in all circumstances, meaning not to let anything upset you, even though you're upset. One can be upset on the surface without being upset deeply.

[21:13]

Or one can be upset deeply and still have stability. And there are things that upset us very deeply. And the more deeply we're upset, the more stable we have to become. This is what we learn in Sachine. There are two ways to go when there's no place to go. One is to escape and the other is to go deeper. So on each moment we have this choice. Moment by moment we have this choice. Shall I escape or shall I go deeper, more deeply? So it forces us to go deeper and deeper, to become more still and quiet and unperturbed.

[22:16]

This is a choice we have, and we have to make this choice all the time. To be free from attachment to all objects is dhyana, and to attain inner calm is samadhi. When we are in a position to deal with dhyana and keep our mind in samadhi, then we are said to have attained dhyana and samadhi. The Bodhisattva Shila Sutra says, our essence of mind is intrinsically pure. Learn it, audience. Let us realize this for ourselves at all times. Let us train ourselves, practice it by ourselves, and attain Buddhahood by our own effort. OK, so on repentance.

[23:21]

Once there was a big gathering of scholars and commoners from Guangzhou, Xiuqiao, and other places to wait upon the patriarch to preach to them. Seeing this, the patriarch mounted the pulpit and delivered the following address. In Buddhism, we should start from our essence of mind. At all times, let us purify our own mind from one moment to another. Tread the path by our own effort and realize our own dharmakaya. Realize the Buddha of our own mind and deliver ourselves by a personal observance of the shilas, Sheila is precepts. Then your visit will not have been in vain. Since all of you have come from afar, the fact of our meeting here shows that there is a good affinity between us. Now let us sit in the Indian fashion, which I take to mean cross-legged, and I will give you the formless repentance.

[24:31]

He calls this the formless repentance. The reason why he calls this the formless repentance is because repentance is non-dualistic. In our school, repentance is non-dualistic. In other words, we realize that Both delusions and enlightenment have the same source. And within our delusion is our enlightenment, and within our enlightenment is delusion. We don't make a distinction. We don't say, even though we say bad or evil, It's not intrinsically bad or intrinsically evil.

[25:35]

It's just a wrong turn or ignorance. We do something through ignorance, even though we may do it purposely. When they had sat down, the patriarch continued. What he does is he offers five sticks of incense, and each stick is for one aspect of repentance. The first is the Sheila incense, or incense for precepts. which means that our mind is free from taints of misdeeds, evil, jealousy, avarice, anger, spoliation and hatred.

[26:38]

Spoliation means plunder. Like if you're in the army in Bosnia. The second is the Samadhi incense. There are three basic practices of Buddhism. Sila, Samadhi, and Prajna. Sila is precepts. Samadhi is meditation. And Prajna is wisdom. So these are three general headings. The first is the Sila incense. The second is the samadhi incense, which means that our mind is undisturbed in all circumstances, favorable or unfavorable. The third is the prajna incense, which means that our mind is free from all impediments, that we constantly introspect our essence of mind with wisdom.

[27:47]

that we refrain from doing all kinds of evil deeds, that although we do all kinds of good acts, yet we do not let our mind become attached to the fruits of such actions, and that we are respectful towards our superiors, considerate to our inferiors, and sympathetic to the destitute and the poor. The fourth is the incense of liberation, which means that our mind is in such an absolutely free state that it clings to nothing and concerns itself neither with good or evil, nor evil. The fifth is the incense of knowledge, incense of, quote, knowledge attained, knowledge obtained on the attainment of liberation. When our mind clings to neither good nor evil, we should take care not to let it dwell upon vacuity or remain in a state of inertia.

[28:50]

This is like when you have realization and have no attachment to anything and are completely free. Not to just stay that way. But Rather, we should enlarge our study and broaden our knowledge. In other words, enlightenment is the beginning of practice, not the end. Rather, we should enlarge our study and broaden our knowledge so that we can know our own mind, understand thoroughly the principles of Buddhism, be congenial to others in our dealings with them, get rid of the idea of self and that of being, and realize that up to the time when we attain Bodhi, the true nature or essence of mind is always immutable. Such then is the essence of knowledge attained on the attainment of liberation.

[30:02]

The five-fold incense is fragrant from within and we should not look for it from without. He says it fumigates us from within, but I associate that with insects. A five-fold incense is fragrant, fragrances us from within. Now I will give you the formless repentance, which will expiate our sins committed in our present, past, and future lives, and purify our karma of thought, word, and deed. And then he says, learned audience, please follow and repeat together what I say. And then he says, may we disciples, such and such, be always free from the taints of ignorance and delusion. We repent of all our sins and evil deeds committed under delusion or in ignorance.

[31:07]

May they be expiated at once and may they never arise again. May we always be always free from the taints of arrogance and dishonesty. We repent of all our arrogant behavior and dishonest dealings in the past. May they be expiated at once and may they never arise again. May we always be free from the taints of envy and jealousy. We repent of all of our sins and evil deeds committed in an envious or jealous spirit. May they be expiated at once, and may they never arise again. Learned audience, this is what we call formless, qianfu repentance. Now what is the meaning of qian and fu? Chen refers to the repentance of past sins, to repent of all our past sins and evil deeds committed under delusion, ignorance, arrogance, dishonesty, jealousy, or envy, etc. So as to put an end to all of them is called Chen. Fu refers to that part of repentance concerning our future conduct.

[32:09]

Having realized the nature of our transgression, we make a vow that hereafter we will put an end to all kinds of evil committed under delusion, ignorance, arrogance, dishonesty, jealousy, or envy, and then we shall never sin again. This is fu. On account of ignorance and delusion, common people do not realize that in repentance they have not only to feel sorry for their past sins, but also to refrain from it in the future. Since they take no heed of their future conduct, how can they commit new sins before the past are even expiated? I call this repentance. This is very common for, I think, most religious practices. And as he says, and as Dogen says, in order to maintain the purity of mind, it's necessary to unload ourself, to acknowledge and to

[33:24]

not to beat ourselves when we do something. True repentance actually is to just be able to acknowledge and turn. To see where we're off and acknowledge where we're off and turn around and get on. That's true repentance. And to feel the pain is important. If we don't feel the pain, then we don't have anything to guide us. Actually, our own pain is our guide. And it helps us to remember not to do something again. But we have a lot of tolerance for pain. And we do something over and over, you know, and then we become accustomed to doing something over and over. And it's hard to see.

[34:42]

It makes it more difficult to let go. So there's you know, transgression against people and against animals and against nature. And then there's transgression against our own nature, which is how we trip ourself up, how we hold ourself back, how we violate our own pure nature. When we stop violating our own pure nature, then we stop violating the nature around us. So, most important is, it can go both ways, actually. When we stop violating our own nature, it will be easier for us to take care of what's around us.

[35:48]

And if we actually start taking care of what's around us, we stop violating our own nature. So, either way, it works. Dogen says, if we repent before all the Buddhas and ancestors, then we receive some help in mysterious ways. Unseen help is translated, but it's like actually mysterious ways. It's like the universe itself comes to our aid. Buddha. Formless repentance means there's no difference between myself and Buddha.

[36:52]

And when I come back to myself in a pure sense, I'm coming back to Buddha and then Buddha helps me. But Buddha is no other than myself. Not my small self, but the universe is Buddha nature and myself is Buddha nature. This is non-dual understanding. This persona is an expression, one expression of Buddha nature and is thoroughly and unconditionally Buddha nature. Naturally, the universe will support this person. Buddha nature is always supporting Buddha nature.

[37:58]

And when we act correctly, we open the door for that help. It's not even help. Help is not right. It's like one thing helping another. It's like more nature expresses itself. We open the door for Buddha nature to express itself. through this form. Zazen is a kind of purification, actually, a kind of... You know, there was a few years ago this story about Eskimo, medicine man, and how

[39:04]

The story was about how he, his mentor, trained him. I can't remember all of it because it's a pretty long time ago and it's a little bit complex, but basically his mentor took him out, built him an igloo, and he had to stay in the igloo without food or water or anything for a long, long time, until actually he died. And he came to realization. And then he came back. And he said, the way to realization is through suffering. The purification of our life is through our suffering, through our pain.

[40:13]

You can live in a heavenly sphere for a long time. Who wants pain? In Buddhism, the heavenly spheres are places of wonderful good times. People who live there have no idea about suffering or pain, but they also have no realization. No way for them to come to realization. So in Buddhism, we don't talk about heavenly spheres as being the preferred place to go. Although there are 33 heavens, But none of the 33 heavens are the place, the abiding place of the Buddhas, except Maitreya, who will come down in the 33rd heaven someday. But the human sphere, the human world is the place where we find realization.

[41:27]

through our pain and suffering. So pain and suffering, you know, Buddha says, get rid of pain and suffering. The purpose of Buddhism is to get rid of suffering. But in order to get rid of suffering, you have to go all the way through it. You have to bump smack into it. and go through it and become it thoroughly. The only way to get rid of it is to be it thoroughly. and at the same time to be free of it.

[42:31]

You can't be free of it until you accept it thoroughly, just like the pain that you have. The way to be free of your pain is to accept it completely. Just be it thoroughly. then there's no you. So our painful lessons, everything that happens to us, you know, is valuable. Sometimes we wish that our life wasn't so painful But the more we wish our life wasn't so painful, the more painful it gets.

[43:40]

If we just accept whatever comes along as, oh, this is what's here now. It's not hard. It's not easy. It's just what has to be dealt with. But all our lessons are right here. So, when we deal with our pain directly, we become very sensitive. And we become sensitive to the pain all around us. we try to make things a little easier for people around us and ourselves.

[44:46]

And to unload, to acknowledge our transgressions, that which causes so much pain for ourselves and others is important. We don't have to keep creating it so much. And repentance is not something we'd have to do once a month, or it should be happening all the time. In other words, acknowledging each problem, acknowledging the cause of each problem as it comes up, and seeing where it's wrong, and doing something about it. So that's called giving up, relinquishing what you're holding on to.

[46:10]

I see people so much walking around, hang on to stuff, just hang on, hang on. and carrying big burdens and clutching resentment and anger for dear life. It's hard to let go of resentment and anger, you know, and lust and all these things. Hard to have. clutch onto them, and we become prisoners of them. As soon as we clutch something, we're hooked. We are the prisoner. And we think that we have something, but the something that we have has us.

[47:15]

So, rather than let go, you know, we think if I don't let go of my resentment, I lose something. What will I lose? My... I have to have my resentment in order to maintain my dignity. Right? Yeah. In order to maintain my dignity, I have to hang on to my resentment. Otherwise, I will be a coward. Well, you can have your pain, you know, as long as you like it. Keep it as long as you like it. But you should know, you know, what you're doing. We should always know what it is that we're doing. That by holding on to my resentment for the sake of my pride, I'm causing pain.

[48:32]

So it's okay. I'll take the pain. And people do. I know it's causing pain, but I'll take the pain. It's okay. As long as it's okay with me. But it's not necessary. There are other ways. There's forgiveness, which is so hard. If I forgive, I'm being weak. But actually, being strong takes a lot of strength, of character, to forgive when you feel resentment or anger. But resentment and anger are creating ego. Resentment and anger creating ego. So we should know that. There's stories about Buddha which are hard to believe and probably not true, but they're illustrative.

[49:39]

And also about the old Arhats, the Arhats living in India. There were a lot of tigers around at that time. The tigers in India are a dying breed now, but in Buddha's time there were lots of tigers in India. And the monks would Sometimes a tiger would attack the monk, and the monk would resist. He'd say, well, the tiger's hungry. If you read the Jataka stories about Buddha in his former lives, he's always giving himself to tigers. Or someone would come along and say, you were screwing around with my wife. I'm going to cut all your limbs off. He'd cut off his limbs, but he wouldn't complain. These are very, you know, I'm sure that we'd all do that. We'd all complain. I would complain. But this is an extreme example.

[50:50]

Nevertheless, sometimes we have to let something happen and not resent it, not bring up resentment, not bring up anger. or if it comes up to let it go. These are extreme examples of something that's really so. Anger thrives on anger. Resentment thrives on resentment. As long as we keep producing them, they will continue to be produced. When we don't produce them anymore, they will stop being produced. So, main thing is what state of mind do you want to maintain? Do you want to maintain a state of mind of dhyana and samadhi, imperturbability and calmness?

[51:55]

Or do you want to maintain a mind of anger and resentment? It's a choice. We have that choice, even though we may think we don't. It's the story of the five Buddhist monks who were traveling one day and they were accosted by robbers. I don't know what the robbers thought they could get because the monks didn't pay them. But the robbers saw they didn't have anything. I can't remember exactly the detail, but anyway, they tied the monks up to this grass. They said, we'll tie the monks to the grass and we know that they won't try to free themselves because if they do, they'll have to pull up the grass. And the king came along, the Raja came along later with his

[53:09]

I said, well, look at those guys. And they told him a story on the ranch that took him to a big feast or something, I don't know. He rewarded them some way. But that's another interesting little story. But anyway, I think we should know which path we want to follow. Do we want to follow the path of dhyana and samadhi or the path of anger and resentment? It's a choice. So if you follow the path of dhyana and samadhi, even though anger and resentment and all the rest arise,

[54:11]

we should let them go, make an effort to let them go, not be hooked by them, even though we get hooked by them. And we may be hooked by something for the rest of our life continuously, which will cause us a lot of anguish and pain. But that anguish and pain is also our vehicle for purification. Just like the pain that you have in Zazen is your vehicle for purification. When you leave after seven days, you feel very different than when you entered.

[55:13]

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