I vow to taste the truth of the Teutonic Times words. Good morning. Good morning. I'd like to welcome all of you who are here for the first time and also those of you who are sitting the one-day sitting for the first time. There are some of us here who will be sitting Zazen all day and many are beginning a ten-week practice period or a ten-week period of somewhat more committed daily practice. And it begins with a one-day sitting. So I'd like to make a brief mention of a little detail of

[01:03]

walking meditation in the Zen Dojo during a full one-day sitting like this doesn't give you a lot of space. We're a little bit crowded. So at the beginning when people have bell rings and we get up and some people leave for whatever reason and then we start walking meditation. When we begin, we do a little bow and then make the circle in your quadrant of the Zen Dojo and sort of even out the spaces between you, step forward or back, so that there's sort of an even distribution of the space. And then as we begin walking, if it turns out that the space in front of you gets shortened, maybe you want to take slightly smaller steps. Or if the space in front of you begins to get longer, maybe you want to either take a little longer steps or take a couple of extra steps

[02:05]

to kind of see that everyone has some room. We're not going anywhere in walking meditation. We're just continuing our meditation but giving our legs a little opportunity to rest. And it is in fact, I find, a very effective meditation practice, the walking meditation, because since we're actually doing some physical activity with each breath, we're actually taking a step with each breath, it's very much easier to stay focused on breath, for me, doing Qing Yin, than doing sitting meditation. And if it feels like people in your world, you can't move fast enough, think of it as standing meditation, just taking a little step to keep up with your breath, and then you won't become irritated with someone in front of you moving too slowly. We breathe at different rates,

[03:08]

our breaths are not all the same length, and so some people will take more steps and others fewer steps. Don't adjust your breathing to someone else's breathing, breathe naturally according to your own need and just adjust the length of your steps so that we can move easily together in the Zen Do. Now when the bell rings to end the period of Qing Yin, step right out briskly until you come back to your own place in the Zen Do. So for this next ten weeks of the practice period, the main focus of our study and the sort of path of practice that we will look at is this practice which is presented in the Bodhisattva Charya Vatara,

[04:18]

A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. This long epic poem on the Bodhisattva way was written by an 8th century monk teacher at Nalanda Monastic University in India, and there is kind of an interesting story about Shantideva. He arrived already at Nalanda having developed quite some meditative... I don't know what to call it... quite some developed meditative practice. But he did all of his practices at night and in the daytime he sort of rested and so he was considered by the other monks there to be rather lazy.

[05:22]

As a matter of fact, he was called the monk of the three realizations eating, sleeping and defecating. And they didn't hold him in much respect and they were a little actually embarrassed at having him around and they wanted to try to figure out how to get him out of there. These were gung-ho monks and this guy didn't look like he was doing much of anything. So they devised a way to have him give a teaching before the whole assembly and they thought he would be so humiliated that he would leave. And it was at this teaching that Shantideva presented this text which has become a beloved text and there are said to be as many as a hundred commentaries on it in the Tibetan language alone. And it is said that he got so carried away – it's in ten chapters –

[06:24]

that about the ninth chapter he started to sort of rise up and he was speaking about space and spaciousness and the rest of the ninth and the tenth chapter were given from up in the heavens somewhere but his voice was still quite audible. And after this he left Nalanda and went to teach in South India. But later on there was some controversy about whether there were nine or ten chapters and they went and sought him out and he wrote it all down for them and so we have it now as the Bodhisattva Charyavatara guide to the Bodhisattva's way of life. And he begins the teaching by speaking of the great benefits of bodhicitta, of the continual and spontaneous state of mind

[07:29]

that constantly strives to attain perfect enlightenment solely for the benefit of all living beings. This is bodhicitta, the aspiration for enlightenment to benefit all beings. And it's interesting, you know, we studied last practice period Devan Sanjeev's teaching on the Gakkadyajinshu, the points to watch in the practice of the way and he also begins with talking about the importance of arousing way-seeking mind, the importance of arousing bodhicitta. So as Devan Sanjeev's Gakkadyajinshu guidelines for practicing the way is his advice about how to practice,

[08:31]

so the Bodhisattva Charyavatara is Shantideva's advice on how to practice the way. Thank you. And just to read you a verse or two of his story of the wonders and value and merit of bodhicitta. I'd like to just read a verse or two. He begins by paying homage and offerings. To the blissful ones who have the Dharmakaya and to all their heirs and to all who merit veneration, I bow down. According to tradition, I shall now in brief set forth an entrance to the Bodhisattva discipline. What I have to say has all been said before

[09:39]

and I am destitute of learning and of skill with words and therefore have no thought that this might be of benefit to others. I wrote it only to sustain my understanding. And then he gives this verse which is used again and again. May precious bodhicitta take its birth in those in whom it has not taken birth. And where it has been born, let it not cease but swell and increase ever more and more. As when a flash of lightning cleaves the night and in its glow shows all the dark black clouds had hid, likewise rarely through the Buddha's power virtuous thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the world. See the utter frailty of virtue. Except the mind of perfect bodhicitta,

[10:42]

there is nothing able to withstand the great and overwhelming strength of evil. So then he talks about our afflictive emotions and how painful they are and our non-virtuous thoughts and how much suffering they cause us. Now non-virtuous actions and how much suffering they cause us. And again urges us on to develop this mind of awakening for the benefit of all beings. Of course, this one whom we identify with,

[11:47]

this elusive self that we think that we are, is one of these beings who will benefit by this, by bringing forth the mind of awakening. But it is not for ourselves alone, it is for all beings. And so he speaks of overcoming, in the second chapter of overcoming obstacles. And the obstacles being our own evil thoughts and deeds and accumulating merit or positive potential energy by virtuous acts and deeds. And then the fourth chapter is about conscientiousness or carefulness. And at the fifth chapter then, having aroused way-seeking mind, having aroused bodhicitta,

[12:49]

he begins with the bodhisattva vows and the presentation of the practice of the six transcendental perfections which we call the bodhisattva paramitas. And generally they are presented with dharma or generosity as the first of the perfections. But Shantideva says generosity and it's combined with the dedication in the end, where he dedicates the merit of all of this practice to all beings, and he includes generosity in the tenth chapter then. So he begins in the fifth chapter

[13:55]

to talk about what's generally thought of as the second perfection or the second paramita of shila, or spiritual discipline, or alertness, or mindfulness. Attending to our actions, the discipline of... Precepts are shila. Attending to, being aware of our actions, guarding our conduct so that we don't create suffering and so that we create virtue instead. And then the sixth to the eighth chapter discuss the virtues or the perfection of patience, joyous effort, meditative concentration, and the ninth chapter is on wisdom,

[14:57]

and the tenth, as I said, is on generosity and dedicating the merit. So this is sort of the outline of the text that we'll be studying in this practice period. And in a way, the outline of the text follows this verse that I read before, May the supreme and precious bodhicitta take birth where it has not done so. So this is the first part of it, bringing up the importance of bodhicitta and wishing that it take birth where it hasn't done so. Where it has been born, may it not decrease. So the practice of the paramitas that will... Guarding our mind so that the bodhicitta doesn't decrease, and then where it has not decreased, may it abundantly grow.

[15:59]

So this is the organisation of the text. But one of the things that I'd like to mention is that we can think of these perfections as, well, I want to cultivate generosity in order to overcome greed or stinginess, and I want to perfect virtue in order to overcome non-virtue, and I want to perfect patience in order to overcome impatience or anger or irritation, and I want to perfect jealous effort or virule in order to overcome laziness or sloth and torpor. In other words, we can think of these perfections in a very dualistic way,

[17:01]

as taking up this practice in order to overcome some negative aspect of human condition. But if we look at them dualistically, they're not really perfections, are they? I mean, perfect means complete. We have to look at generosity or at patience or at any of these paramitas in the wholeness of looking at our life and our practice and our human condition, if we take up the practice of dharma, if we take up the practice of generosity, of giving, and keep it in our awareness, we will soon come to recognize stinginess and greed.

[18:05]

And we shouldn't set them up one against the other, because in the very practice of generosity is how we begin to see how suffering is caused by non-generosity, and we begin to be able to work with what we find here, which is a great mix. Perhaps at the very end of it all, who knows, we may turn out to be beings who never have a non-virtuous thought and never do a non-virtuous act. But in the meantime, we work with who we are and we include everything that's here. And when we undertake to practice, let's say, with patience, and we discover non-patience, as we surely will,

[19:09]

then we need to be willing to be with non-patience or anger or irritation, and stay with it, understand it, understand the suffering that it causes, so that we will know why we want to abandon it. We don't want to abandon it because someone says it's a good idea, because the Buddha said so, or because Shantideva said so, or because the Dalai Lama said so, or because I said so, or because my mother said so. We study our lives and we see, oh, this is something I want to understand thoroughly, so that it doesn't cause the suffering that I see it causing. So as we take up each of these, they are each one a window onto our life.

[20:16]

They are each one a way to see our life and see suffering and see the possibility of an end to suffering through our own taking care of what we find in our mind when we go to work, as we work. And taking care of it doesn't mean pushing it away or ignoring it. It means understanding it. It means being willing to actually feel the suffering of it, so that we are ready to let go of it, so that we see that there's no advantage to be gained by it, by these unwholesome states of mind, that the only advantage is to cultivate the wholesome states of mind. This is the way we can help suffering beings.

[21:17]

But if we try to just push away the suffering that we find in ourselves and pretend that we've got it under control because we're sitting on a powder keg here, we'll push away everyone who reminds us of it, which means that we won't be present with them and for them to help them in their own suffering. If what we want to do is to express the compassion of a Buddha, we have to be compassionate to ourselves, recognize our own suffering, and through recognizing our own suffering we can recognize the suffering of others and be present for them. These particular perfections cover a wide range of human experience and enable us to see a great deal of who we are and how we are.

[22:26]

And in particular, when we come to wisdom, we come to see that in fact we don't exist in the world in the way that we thought that we did. We exist interdependent with everything. This all beings that we want to liberate is completely connected to this being that we think we are. And through this practice we've come to see this complete interdependence and interconnectedness of this being and all beings. We come to see that we arise in each moment from causes,

[23:29]

not a cause, but many causes. And each state of mind arises in each moment from not one cause, but many causes. And we come to see how thoughts are produced, how emotions are produced, how all phenomena are produced. All of us, I think, have come to practice because we've had some glimpse of the evanescence of our life.

[24:40]

And we may have some feeling of urgency about practice, the verse that's usually on the Han says, birth and death is a big deal. Everything is changing, nothing remains stable. Wake up, don't waste your life. And so I think many of us have come to practice from some very strong, urgent sense that this life is short. We don't know when it will end. We know surely that it will end. And so what shall we do in this brief life that we have? And I notice sometimes that people...

[25:52]

I was noticing a little bit this morning in the Zen Do, sometimes people are very serious about practice, and that's good, but sometimes they have a look of being slightly grim about practice. And the fact that practice is urgent and life is short, and birth and death is a big deal, still it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy this life. If you really have ease and joy, where else can you possibly have it except in the midst of birth and death? So to be really sincere about practice, and still in the midst of practice, to find some ease and joy in this evanescent life,

[26:57]

we need to see the nature of our life. We need to see its constant arising and passing away, so that we can enjoy each moment of it. It isn't a terrible, threatening thing that's constantly arising and passing away. It's a very freeing thing, it's very liberating. We can express our gratitude and appreciation for each moment in each moment. So, when Shantideva talks about practicing the Bodhisattva way, and generating bodhicitta,

[28:01]

he begins by saying, The happiness and joy I have in virtue which relieves all beings from the sorrows of the states of grief, and places those who languish in the realms of bliss. And in that wealth of virtue I rejoice, which is the cause of the enlightened state, exalting in the freedom never to be lost of living beings from the round of pain. And in the Buddhahood of the protectors I delight, and in the stages of the Buddha's offspring. The attitude of heart, that virtue ocean-vast, that brings the happiness and benefit of all that lives, such is my delight and all my joy. I join my hands, therefore, and pray the Buddhas who reside in every quarter and direction to kindle now the light of Dharma for those who grow bewildered in the gloom of sorrow. I join my hands, likewise, and pray to those who have the victory

[29:04]

and long to pass beyond the reach of sorrow. Do not leave us now in ignorance. Remain among us for unnumbered ages. All those options I have now performed, and virtue I have thus amassed, may all the pain of every living being be thereby scattered and destroyed. So, taking great joy in having entered the way of practice, rather than considering it as a kind of a grim necessity, seeing it as an opportunity, that is actually quite rare. It is rare that we have been fortunate enough

[30:04]

in our life somehow to have encountered a flash of lightning in the dark of night, which has given us an opportunity to practice. And in that spirit of gratitude for the opportunity to practice, we then develop this mind of bodhicitta. Having the opportunity to practice, we want to develop the mind of awakening for all beings, so that all beings will have this opportunity for liberation. Once we have aroused bodhicitta,

[31:19]

then we can take the bodhisattva vow. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. We take this vow at the end of each lecture in class here. Sometimes I actually like a little better the translation Beings are numberless. I vow to awaken with them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. And this teaching of a guide to the bodhisattva's way of life is one of the dharma gates that we can enter. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it.

[32:23]

So during the coming weeks, those of you who are in the practice period, I would like to recommend to you that you... I think I would like to recommend that you study the commentary by the Dalai Lama because the translation... He's not got the full translation in here, but the translations of the verses that are in here, I particularly like. And I will put some copies of the Dalai Lama's commentary and Stephen Batchelor's translation of the entire text

[33:52]

and the commentary called Meaningful to Behold in the reading room for use in the reading room as reference for the study period. May the supreme and precious Bodhicitta take birth where it has not done so. Where it has been born, may it not decrease. Where it has not decreased, may it abundantly grow. May our intention be fully penetrated

[35:31]

A reading in place. A reading in place.

[35:36]

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