Recently some of you have taken the precepts, sixteen precepts, and a Buddhist name. So I ought to talk about the precepts a little bit. I think it may seem strange to you that Whenever we get down to the nitty-gritty of Buddhism, they say, take the precepts. The precepts are it. This is the true transmission from Buddha to us, these precepts. There's nothing other than these precepts. You know, at the moment you're taking ordination or an initiation of any kind in Buddhism, all those Zen stories and patriarchs are forgotten, and we only take the precepts.

[01:23]

And we say, if you do zazen, you don't need the precepts. You are automatically following all the precepts if you do zazen. This makes sense, sort of, because you're not doing anything. It's pretty hard to break the precepts. But that's not really what is meant. The precepts are useful only if you break the precepts. That also makes sense, sort of. I don't know if you know exactly what I mean. If you need the precepts, it means you've broken the precepts. Precepts are not a method of accumulating merit for eventual attainment of some superior state.

[02:41]

Suzuki Roshi, you know, I've talked about the precepts in some length, and mentioned, I believe, Suzuki Roshi saying, the ten prohibitory precepts are like, you're already okay, so don't do that. Don't do this. It's all, don't do this, don't do that. But feeling is, you're already enough. Why add that? So I want to concentrate today on the three pure precepts and the three refuges, making a total of sixteen precepts. But I'll start backwards with the ten. Usually we take the refuges and the three pure precepts, and then the ten prohibitory precepts. The ten prohibitory precepts I've already talked about several times.

[04:15]

But to give you, I want to give you some more feeling for it. The ten prohibitory precepts are like the boundary of your self. And they're a description, in Buddhism they're understood from the point of view of Buddha, not from the point of view of you conditioned being trying to practice. From that point of view, there'd be some way of accumulating merit. But say, for example, you have some intuitive feeling. I'm trying to give you a feeling for this. Say that you have some intuitive feeling for someone or something, looking at a spring flower.

[05:28]

or driving a car, seeing somebody in the next car. You don't know who the person is, and yet you feel an intimacy with that, as if the same kind of experience as your own experience of yourself, you experience this other person or flower. Anyway, we all have that kind of experience sometimes. This is an instance of what we mean by our original nature. But as soon as you have some idea, this flower is not as nice as last year's spring flowers, or this person in the car is such and such a class person. You've lost it. You're instantly on the surface of things when you have that feeling. So, when you break the precepts, thinking, this person is such and such, criticizing him, you know, or praising him, you've broken a precept and you've lost your experience of that person.

[07:00]

from his own point of view. And then you're on the surface of things, and then you need the precepts. You see what I mean? It's more like that. So sudden enlightenment, you can see, makes sense. There's no merit accumulated here. If you're either over that boundary or you're not. And the precepts, you know, we say, don't think or don't discriminate. The precepts are just ten major ways we discriminate. But if you're Buddha, there's no killing, there's nothing to kill, there's nothing to possess. Nothing to steal, nothing to misuse, nothing to abuse, nothing to slander or praise or blame or hide from. So there's no need for the precepts. So to be caught by things means we're

[08:28]

breaking the precepts. Usually we're always breaking the precepts. Our basic attitudes are breaking the precepts. We're concerned with ... it's interesting, even if our practice is good, We sometimes seek the rewards of our practice in the surface of things, from other people. We want other people to acknowledge us or love us so much, we'll force them to do it, or hate them for not doing it. You know, which means we can't be satisfied with our own experience. You know, Lukia, she used to say, how does an eye see an eye? All of Buddha's teaching is a way to have your eye see your eye. Your ear, you know, when you hear something, you're not hearing an airplane or a stream, you're hearing your ear hearing. You're hearing your mind minding.

[10:00]

When we have this kind of state of mind, you don't lose your balance, but as soon as you lose that basic sense that's your ear hearing, that you're hearing, and you characterize the airplane as such and such, or the stream as such and such, you've lost your way. So the three pure precepts then, which are very simply translated is, don't do evil, do good and help others. Or you can translate them as, live in enlightenment, live for the benefit of all beings.

[11:35]

I don't know. Anyway, the basic idea is you can experience yourself creating yourself. So you refrain from doing evil, and you don't refrain from doing good. You don't refrain from doing what occurs to you. And the larger sense is you do what works or is good for others. But however you translate this, you know, these three things, it means what you do on each moment.

[12:48]

And three refuges, then, are how to have a stable state of mind. You can't follow the precepts or practice the three pure precepts if your mind is not stable enough. So the idea in the three refuges is you can't take refuge in that which is characterized by self. Anything which has self you can't take refuge in because it's unstable. So what is not characterized by self is Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. And that, of course, has various meanings. But we can say it means to

[14:25]

one way to understand it is it means to take refuge in that which is immediately in front of you as Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Not saying, oh, it should be something else or somewhere else, just what's in front of you as Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. And it means to take refuge in a more intuitive or sometimes we say spiritual experience, like I said, the man in the car or somebody you see, that you don't make any qualifications, you actually experience your equality or oneness, when you don't discriminate. and you no longer have the attitudes of discrimination built into your activity and perception. So to take refuge in what we intuitively experience, something

[15:52]

something subtle. The second of the three gates of un-one, which I mentioned yesterday, is what stops the flow of discrimination, what stops the flow of rebirth? That's the precepts. And that's our intuitive Intuitive is not such a good word, but it's how we realize. And third is ultimate reality, to take refuge in nothing, not what's just in front of you, not some intuitive. Again, this is like nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya, dharmakaya. So you can stabilize your state of mind in this way.

[17:26]

If you feel your mind is searching around, you take refuge in what's right in front of you. You accept things just as they are, you know, quite receptive. And if your mind seems dim, You're friendly to your mind. I don't know what to say about that. It's like turning up the juice or turning a light on brighter. Your mind is weak if it's caught by externals. It's also weak if it's dim or your energy is something shaky. So although you may be accepting things, it's quite dim. It's like turning up a light or something. I can't explain exactly, but that kind of effort is necessary in practice until your mind is quite stable. If it's quite stable, then we can reverse the order of the three, of the sixteen precepts,

[18:49]

You know what to do on each moment and what not to do, and by that won't create self, won't create karma. And at the instant you lose that stability of mind, you will see what your karma is, what your accumulated karma is, because your attitude is a broken precept. But basically in this is, there is nothing to kill, nothing to possess, nothing to misuse. So it's to get off and out of the surfaces of things.

[19:53]

I'm not so interested in talking about the surfaces of things, because in this sasheen I don't think it's our concern. But actually, usually, we are caught in the surfaces of things, and once we're there, unless we have the precepts to remind ourselves, we try to find an equivalent satisfaction in the surfaces of things. in an objectification of our experience, and an objectification of other people. So the precepts are to reverse this objectifying process, and it shows you where the objectification begins. It begins when you have some thought of praising or criticizing or possessing, hiding or lying

[21:54]

etc. And to do good means to act in accord with Big Mind, or what you intuitively perceive without discrimination. Perceive without discrimination, anyway, something like that. And all of it's based on taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Because as long as you're taking refuge in things characterized by self, you can never have a stable state of mind. So the three refuges are the basis for practice, the basis for our bodhicitta.

[22:56]

for our thought of enlightenment, for our realization of acting for the welfare of all beings, basis for our practicing the six paramitas and ten paramitas and ten bhumis, basis for practicing generosity, etc. So all Buddhist life is characterized by this initiation of taking the three refuges and the three pure precepts and the ten prohibitory precepts. So you can see, have the basis, the stable mind that's necessary for practice, for realization, And so you can see how you create yourself constantly through the three pure precepts. And so you can see how your accumulated effects of breaking the precepts. So you take the ten prohibitory precepts. So you can free yourself from your accumulated karma and your constantly creating self by taking the

[24:26]

pure precepts and prohibitory precepts. So we take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, making the whole world Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Everyone takes refuge with you when you take refuge. Before you are acknowledging that, there is nothing really other than Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, including all those beings who don't take refuge. So this kind of effort is characterized by rejoicing in

[25:29]

the merits of others, as if they were your own, or better, not your own people. And accommodating yourself to this Being which is manifested in each of us, and in you, and without discriminating between it. This manifestation is preferred to that one. It's killing Buddha nature. Anyway, that's kind of what I just said. It's kind of mechanical. But when you're trying to practice with each occasion, you need some kind of sense like that, till you can do things without having to think about what you're doing.

[26:43]

Is there anything you'd like to talk about? I hope you could hear me better than I can hear you. Don't you think we're getting just about the right amount of sleep? I don't mean for every day, I mean for this session. I'm not suggesting that every day we have this much. But the session seems easier or smoother, don't you think so? This is the first session where we've had this

[28:28]

I think in Zen Center this is the first Sashin where there's been this little sleep. But actually this is usual amount in a Sashin. Our schedule is somewhat more dense. Anyway, our Sashins are certainly as difficult as Sashins in Japan. I'm not saying ours are easier or something like that. They have a kind of different schedule, usually with less sitting, because they have more, I don't know, chanting or something. Only Antaiji has dashis, which are more sitting. There's more sitting than we have, because they don't chant. But it's customary to have about four hours of sleep, and in some sashins, two hours of sleep. Rohatsu. I think that, don't you find, the more

[29:58]

You are just sitting and not doing anything else with each day. You're not so sleepy. Isn't that true? It's our distracted mind which makes us need sleep. So the more stable your mind is, the less sleep you need. And the busier your day is with various kinds of things, the more sleep you need. unless your mind's quite stable. But in any case, a variety of activity makes us need more sleep. So, if we have only one thing to do, Zazen, to have too much sleep creates problems. But also, you know, your real energy isn't so dependent on sleep. And you, even those of you who sleep a lot, still, it's a different kind of sleeping. It's quite alert sleeping. When Kyosaku is coming, you're sitting quite straight. As soon as the Kyosaku turns around,

[31:28]

But somehow, intuitively, the head goes... I don't know how you know. Your third eye is spying rather than rotating like a radar. I watch you, you know. And if I'm talking, if I say something, that pertains to you, you'll suddenly wake up, or might pertain to you, and don't, rather boring. Sometimes I'll say something to see if I can wake you up. Do you want me to say something else about sleeping? Claude. You know Claude? Claude gets mad at me still. We'll talk about something, about something Suzuki Roshi said in a lecture.

[33:03]

For five years you were asleep in the adventure. I'm not recommending by that you all go to sleep when I'm talking. But I had rather a busy life at that time, because Zen Center was quite different than I had a full-time job, which took a lot more than 40 hours, and I was a full-time graduate student. And I came to everything at Zen Center, so I was quite out of it a lot of the time. But I still was able to be alert in that way, as I told you. He, at that time, was really studying the Blue Book records, which I'm talking about now. And he'd always have me read the book, and I would be going with him. And he'd come to this point, and he'd hand me the book, and I'd go... And I never missed. I don't know how I did it, actually.

[34:28]

I always sat in the middle of the front, so I could help him with things like that. So it's better to be awake, but the kind of sleepiness that occurs in Zen is not the usual kind of sleepiness. So if you can't be completely awake, Zen sleepiness is better. And if you can't be Zen sleepy, I don't know, you should get out. When you start banging the partition with your head, that's the wrong kind of sleepiness. And pain? I don't know. There's much to say, because you're all so familiar with the subject. It's painful, that's all. And some of you who don't

[36:02]

feel much pain are unfortunate, actually, because your practice is actually quite sleepy and dull. But as long as, and as long as you don't like the pain, It's unbearable, and you will struggle through it. But if your state of mind is quite stable, pain doesn't go away. It sometimes does. For various people, it's different. It depends on your legs and things. But even if you can't expect it to, and often it doesn't go away, But it's a small problem. It doesn't flood us. If you have that attitude of just accepting, taking refuge in what's in front of you, how can you escape? And if you really know you can't escape, I don't know, it just hurts.

[37:34]

But this kind of pain that we experience in Zen, which just comes from sitting still in one place for one week, isn't the usual kind of pain. It's something very characteristic of our being. I think you would agree with me that someone who doesn't know in their life this much pain that you have in a sasheen doesn't know anything. I mean, you don't have any feeling for what characterizes our life together. And you have no ability to withstand our actual encounters. You'll always be ducking and dodging and taking refuge in the surface of things. So if you don't have that experience of pain in sadhan,

[39:22]

You'll be a ducker and dodger all your life. So just to sit there is enough and everything. I know how discouraging it can be, even after many years of sitting and many sashins. I sometimes... Well, I can't say I almost gave up, but, you know, I... My legs never function very well. They're like they're made of glass, and I have to be very careful with them. or I'll damage them. They don't bend very well, none of my joints do. So, you know, when you realize, when I realized I was in this life, I saw endless sashim stretching into the future, and oh my God, what a career! Every year.

[40:53]

Zen is nice, but there must be some easier way. Who cares about the ultimate? I'll take something or less. But I've tried many things, and the suffering's the same. Once you are aware, the suffering's the same. So this gives us some chance to practice together. If you don't discriminate about it, it's not any problem at all. I have to sit six sessions a year, and I don't mind. Yes, Mary? Mary? I can't remember. Oh, good. Yeah?

[42:33]

taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha versus taking refuge in the surface of things? I don't know how to express it any better than I've expressed it already.

[43:41]

Pardon me? I just did. Three pure precepts are how to refrain from not doing and how to do what you have to do on each moment. It doesn't mean anything to say, do good and don't do evil. What that points to is how you experience yourself creating yourself on each moment. Yeah? Q. What about avoidance and knowing when to stop? Can you hear what he said? You know, if you can't hear, if you just go like that or something, you know. He said, asked me to say something about how to know when enough is enough, correct?

[45:47]

And you can only rely on yourself. So there's no rules, you know. So you have to just become more sensitive to that minute, the minuteness of our existence, and trust your intuition. When you have some feeling that you ought to stop something, even if logically you should continue, just stop at that moment and see what happens. I mean, don't overdo it. I mean,

[46:59]

You could get yourself into some funny situations just to follow that too strictly, but... Anyway, you know what I mean. Anyway, I've talked about all this stuff before, so... Yeah. Now may not be the time to go into this, but I would like to ask you a question. What do you think of your own experience with Suzukiroshi? My own experience with Suzukiroshi, what? Your own experience?

[48:01]

I've been talking about darkness all week. I don't like even talking the way I've been talking today, so much about sashiens and things, because I'm not interested in it. I'm always, if you want to know what my experience is like with Suzuki Roshi, it's the same as my experience with you. So you should look to your experience with us, that's all. Not somewhere else. What are you looking somewhere else for? So I'm ... today, you know, it's the fourth day of Seshin, and I've spent three days talking about the group of records. And today I actually feel I just don't want to interrupt your zazen, so I'm

[49:36]

talking about the surface of the thing. Anyway, I'm just having a cup of tea. But it's okay. I can repeat it. You said, I think, what kind of effort we should make during a session? I think we know what to do already, you know, without my saying anything. If you see somebody sitting well, you know, not moving,

[50:58]

You have some feeling of gratitude for that person. You feel glad for that person. And that same kind of feeling you'll give others if you sit, with nothing else to do but just sit. I don't think we have to get involved with me doing it. Anyway, that's enough Fuck.

[52:12]

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