That face, the one that is different and distant. The face in the mirror, in the cradle, in the casket, or reflected in a quiet pond at the end of a long journey. This is the same face that 2,500 years ago Shakyamuni Buddha went into the dragon's cave to meet. And like Scrooge, he was haunted by ghosts of the future and the past. They attacked him like armies of demons. And when that failed, they called sweetly as voluptuous maidens named boredom, indolence, and lust.

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In the Buddhist tradition, that face has a name. It's called Mara, the evil one. And Mara means the very thing we fear most. It means death, murder, destruction. As a principle of practice, Mara symbolizes the passions that overwhelm the human mind and block our ability to act with respect. We can read about Mara's rages every day in the morning paper. This is the same face that blocks our view of the one human and sacred life. When Buddha

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first sat down under the Bodhi tree to meditate, it was his final act of desperation. The white flag was up. He had abandoned his family and his responsibilities, and that didn't work. He had mastered trances of cosmic unity and great bliss, and that didn't work. He had practiced severe asceticism, very much to the point of death, and that didn't work. So in the end, the young prince chose life. And when he did, it came in the form of a young woman making an offering to what she mistook for a tree spirit. He ate her food, regained

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his strength, and sat down quietly under a tree. He'd given up his strategies, his plans for the future, and he was truly open and willing to learn. At that moment, this great spiritual warrior made a simple gesture of connection and belonging. With his right hand, he reached down to the ground for permission and support. Mother, may I? And this gesture was the beginning of a new way of life. Like the latter-day saint, Ebenezer Scrooge, all that

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followed from that moment of true renunciation came to him as a gift. It had nothing whatsoever to do with something he had earned or that he deserved. He was simply open and willing to receive the gift. If each of us, when the time comes, when we're alone, will allow ourselves to open, this very same gift is there, moment after moment. This is a place of true humility. In the Diamond Sutra, it says that by this humiliation, you shall be liberated. By this

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humiliation, you shall be liberated. I think in AA, they call it hitting bottom. So this is the ground that we hit, the ground of our being, the ground of truth, the ground and the soil that sustains our life. In Middle English, from Old French, from Latin, the word humility is humus. It means the great earth, the mother of us all giving birth at midnight. O Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas, please shine your light on me. Out of your great compassion, please help me. I cannot do this alone. O Bodhisattva, Mahasattva, please shine your light on me. And so the earth and all living

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beings, as one voice replied to the humbled prince, okay. And then they said, now pay attention, young man, pay attention. And he did. And this is the true secret of our practice, doing what you're told, following the instructions completely. The small self dissolving moment after moment in what you've been asked to do, like a good fire burning completely and leaving no trace. When I was assigned the job as the guest cook at Tassajara, the first summer I was there as

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a fairly new student, I had absolutely no background or interest in cooking. And I whined to a friend, what am I going to do? My friend was a very good cook. And she said, without sympathy, follow the recipes. And of course she was completely right. I did not have to invent cooking. And at the end of the summer, thanks to cooking, I became a cook. And I wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't happened to me. So it is our great fortune that we also do not have to invent the path of awakening. And that's why we bow to the Buddha ancestors. We are very lucky seekers, you and I.

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There are many wonderful guides and teachings all along the way. Just follow the recipes. And then there's one other thing to never forget. Trust your own nose. I could always smell when something was burning. And like my friend, the cook, the Buddha ancestors also give pretty simple instructions. Like this one to the Buddha, attention, young man, attention. And look out for the snake. Or if you've finished eating, go wash your bowls. So what exactly was it that the young prince was

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paying attention to as he sat there under the tree? I often say to my daughter when she gets a little cuckoo, especially around her sense of entitlement to things with sugar in them, honey, it's not the cookie that's your problem. It's your noodle. To study the Buddha way is to study your noodle. And in particular, the beliefs that you have concerning yourself and the world around you. The alchemistry of enlightenment, as with cooking, has to do with turning solids into liquid. As us hippies used to say, go with the flow. And then you leave the pot to simmer for a

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while. As our young prince was sitting there upright studying himself in this way, there were a lot of other seekers in India during his day, each endeavoring for some spiritual attainment. It's a very popular thing to do, just like now. Some sought immortality, a union with God, long before explosives, through personal annihilation. Others sought elixirs, salves, and beauty treatments for eternal youth and health. And still others gathered gold and the harvests of their neighbor's fields. In modern philosophical jargon, these might be called the nihilists, the eternalists,

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and the materialists. And of course, then as now, there were also the shamans and the priests who read the signs in nature and predicted the welfare and misfortune of others. So to whatever degree these met with success, they set up their own schools and proclaimed themselves as teachers. What perhaps makes the teaching of the Buddha unique in all the world was the quiet declaration that arose after his careful study of his own mind. When basically he said, I find no evidence whatsoever for or against any view of any kind. In fact, he declared, holding views in itself is the very

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cause of your suffering. From the Brahmajala Sutra, whatever ascetics and Brahmins who are speculators about the past or the future or both, having fixed views on the matter and putting forth speculative views about them, these are all trapped in the net of opinions. 62 varieties in all, and whenever they try to emerge and try to get out, they are caught and held in this net. Just as a skilled fisherman or his apprentice might cover a small piece of water with a fine meshed net, thinking, whatever larger creatures there might be in this water, they are all trapped

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in the net, caught and held in the net. So it is with all these, they are trapped and caught in this net of opinions. I'm fairly certain that most of you have heard by now about the Four Noble Truths, which the Buddha explained by way of how he came to find the path of liberation. This was his teaching to his first disciples. The first truth is called the truth of suffering, and it's our common ground. We all suffer in this way. Birth is suffering. Aging is suffering. Sickness is suffering. Death is suffering. Sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering. Association with the loathed is suffering.

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Dissociation from the loved is suffering. In short, not to get what one wants is suffering. And this first truth is not without cause. That cause is named in the second truth. It is this very clinging to opinions. Or as it says in the Sutta, clinging to views produces renewal of being and is accompanied by relish and lust, relishing this and relishing that. In other words, craving for material riches, craving for eternal life, craving for the end of life. Basically, wanting things to be any way other than precisely how they are. And these two truths together make a

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circle, an endless circle. And the name of this circle is called samsara, which means endless circle, like a cat chasing its tail. The second pair of truths are truth number three, the good news. There is cessation of suffering. And truth number four, the path to the good news, which is none other than the Buddha's own way of life. The simple recipe for liberation is as follows. Number one, raise the white flag. Abandon your strategies and plans and ask the great earth beneath your feet and all living things to help guide you along your way. And number two, ask your

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chicken dinner for permission and forgiveness before you eat it. This is the holy life, the whole life, flexible, soft, gentle, upright, and harmonious, the complete renunciation of self-concern. The young prince who had become a Buddha, an awakened one, taught what he had learned to a monk named Bahiya in this way. Then Bahiya, thus must you train yourself. In the seen, there will just be the seen. In the heard, just the heard. In the reflected, just the reflected.

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In the cognized, just the cognized. This is how, Bahiya, you must train yourself. Now, Bahiya, when in the seen, there will be to you just the seen. In the heard, just the heard. In the reflected, just the reflected. In the cognized, just the cognized. Then, Bahiya, you will not identify yourself with it. And when you do not identify yourself with it, you will not locate yourself therein. When you do not locate yourself therein, it follows that you will have no here, or beyond, or midway in between. And this would be the end of suffering. Thank you very much.

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Happy New Year to all of us.

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