I bow to teach the miracle of the cataclysm. Tonight, I'd like to take as the starting point of my talk, a question that I've been doing for a long time, and it's a question that came up during the yoga week about a

[01:03]

week ago now. We were having a discussion one afternoon in the dining room about Buddhism and yoga and sitting, and somebody asked, why do we keep our eyes open in Sazen? And the abbot turned to me and said, what is your answer to that? And I answered what I usually say when that question is asked, that we keep our eyes open to stay awake in Sazen, and also to stay in touch with this physical reality, this plane of existence, not to trip off into particular hallucinations or fantasies or dream worlds or whatever, but to stay in touch. And the abbot added one dimension to the question, to the answer, by saying that a student had

[02:15]

come up to him one day and said, I finally figured out why we keep our eyes open in Sazen. And he said, yes, what's that? And she said, so we can see each other. So I can see everybody. So we sit. That is one dimension of why we sit. We sit with everybody, for everybody. We do our practice together, our study together, for each other. And usually when we come to Buddhist practice or to Sazen, we're looking for some personal

[03:16]

realization, some personal liberation through some special experience in the Zen Do in our meditation. We think there's some enlightenment experience that we can achieve through our sitting. And because we approach our life with the mind of self-cherishing, we offer to each other the opportunity to practice for the sake of everyone, to turn our life over to everyone. Too soft? It's good. It's good. Thank you. OK. It's also natural, I think, to do our lives, to live our lives for each other, to turn

[04:35]

our lives over to all beings. I think that's as natural as self-cherishing. The cherishing of others is as natural. But that has to be awakened, usually. That needs some actualization. Initially, in the early days of Buddha, he invited his disciples to go forth, to be with people and to teach the Dharma to them and to alleviate their suffering. He asked his disciples to live among the people and to bring the teaching to them, because there was much suffering, maybe, and much misunderstanding of the truth of existence. And for a couple of hundred years, that was the practice of the Buddhist monks, to go

[05:43]

out into the world and to preach and to live among people. But after a couple of hundred years, there was a change, and the monks became interested in their own salvation, or liberation, and not so interested in being out there with the people. And they took to creating their own communities and doing their own practices to achieve their own salvation, the arhat ideal we have, symbolizing that kind of practice. And the bodhisattva ideal, which is the ideal of our practice, developed in the context of that time, when the monks were turning their backs on the people and separating themselves and living their own lives, hanging out together, following their breath and their posture,

[06:47]

watching their thoughts and their feelings, watching their states of mind. The bodhisattva ideal developed as an antidote, you might say, to this tendency to take care of ourselves and neglect others. I'd like to clarify the use of the term practice, before I go on. When we say practice in Buddhism, we don't mean like practice the piano. Some routine practice that we do every day, little by little, to get better and give a performance, in the by and by.

[07:49]

As Dogen used practice, Dogen is the Japanese monk who brought Buddhism, our tradition of Buddhism, from China to Japan. As Dogen used the term, practice means to accomplish the way. It's not 20% effort today, if I have the energy, and 70% tomorrow, and little by little, little more each day. But in each moment of our lives, to fully, completely accomplish the way, 100% of our effort, 100% of our energy, of our intention, is the expenditure of our life energy, 100%. Fully engaging with the moment, leaving nothing out, not waiting to pick up the little that

[08:58]

got left out. Adding something tomorrow, completely including everything in the moment. Fully engaging our life in each moment. Thinking about my life that way, and about my practice that way, settles me, centers me, keeps me here. This is where I live my life, in this moment, not the next moment. This is the only moment. That's our understanding, that the only place we live our life is in this moment. And the only place we can do our practice or accomplish our life is in this moment. There is no other moment. So Dogen wrote a fascicle about the Bodhisattva way of life, and I'd like to talk about it

[10:09]

with you tonight. There have been many translations of this fascicle. The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance, the Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Conversion, the Four Ways to Win Over Beings, the Four Ways to Benefit Beings. What I want to, the translation that I prefer of this title is that that Thomas Cleary used in his translation, the Four Integrative Methods of Bodhisattvas. The Four Methods by which Bodhisattvas can integrate themselves with others. The first dimension, integrating within the self on this dimension of,

[11:11]

am I practicing to save myself, or am I practicing to liberate others? First, to integrate ourselves in that dimension. And secondly, to integrate ourselves, actually, in our interactions with each other until there is no one outside of us that's different from us. To see ourselves as identical with everybody. So these four methods are, the first one is giving, or generosity, or liberality. The second one is kind words, or kind speech. The third is beneficial action, and the fourth is identity action, or cooperation. And I said once before when I talked about giving, that I've had a hard time even thinking about giving,

[12:14]

because I've always found it a kind of binding activity, full of obligation, duty, and reciprocity. You give when you have to give a present, birthdays, or weddings, or childbirth, or something, and you're never quite sure how much of a gift to give, and then there's a little tally you keep, and then you get some presents back. And we live our lives in this give and take, which ends up being kind of oppressive. So partly I think of giving as binding. The Buddhist texts talk about giving as wholesome activity. Giving to equalize differences between people who have much and people who don't have so much,

[13:15]

to equalize the differences economically or socially. But the giving that cheers my heart is when I think of giving as a liberating activity. Liberating giving from giving. Not even giving as a wholesome activity, but as a liberating activity. When there is actually no giving, no giver, no gift, and no receiver. In the text, Meaningful to Behold, which is a commentary on Shantideva's book,

[14:24]

Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, that book was written by an Indian yogi and scholar in 8th century India. It's kind of a classic text on the bodhisattva life. The commentary on that, Meaningful to Behold, indicates four motivations for our activity. The first one is impure, and the other three go from lower to higher. And they're interesting, and they are in the terms of which I was just speaking. The one that's not pure is when the book says, the text says, before we do an activity, we should generate a motivation. We should generate a motivation for that activity. And the motivation that we generate will determine the scope of our activity.

[15:29]

And they list four motivations. The first one, which is impure, is to gain a good reputation. That's a worldly kind of motivation or aspiration. To get something in this life. Fame or wealth or reputation. The lowest aspiration is to attain rebirth as a human or a god. The next highest, the medium aspiration, is to gain release from our own suffering and attain liberation. That's for ourselves. And the highest aspiration or motivation is to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. And then the commentary says that after you have completed an action, you should dedicate the virtue of that action.

[16:36]

And dedication is like having an intention. Definition of dedication is intention. And by our intention, we direct the virtue of our activity towards some direction or goal. Intention or dedication is like the reins on a horse. A horse of virtue, he says. And if we dedicate the merit or the virtue of our activity to enlightenment, it will remain undiminished until enlightenment is reached. It's just out there, continuing to work in the world. So, giving, the first of these four integrative methods,

[17:45]

is also the first perfection in the bodhisattva's life, in the bodhisattva's career. The perfection of giving. And it's a practice to liberate our minds from, alleviate internal miserliness, he says. I like that. Like there's a little miser living inside of all of us, who's toting up our activities and tallying up our accounts at the end of the day. And to alleviate that spirit, we practice giving. We practice turning ourselves over, giving without any hope of return. And we practice gratitude towards those who are the recipients of our practice. People who allow us to practice giving to them, or to practice patience, people who irritate us,

[18:48]

who bug us in one way or another, so that we generate practices stimulated by the difficulties of our relationships. And when people allow us to practice, they are our field of merit, because they allow us to reap the merit of the path. So, we practice giving on account of taking, on account of our tendency to take, to collect, to take from ourselves. We practice morality on account of immorality, and patience on account of impatience. Energy, because we are lazy. Concentration, because we are distracted.

[19:52]

And we practice prajna, wisdom, because of our ignorance, our confusion. I'd like to read just a little bit from Dogen, because it's so poetic and so beautiful, to give you a feeling for how he... Dogen is the master of non-duality. His teaching is always from the highest, the deepest understanding. And he says here, giving means not coveting. Not coveting is not being greedy. In worldly terms, it is said that not being greedy means not flattering.

[20:57]

That really reached me, how hard it is to be with each other when we're trying to get our own way in a situation where we want something other than what's happening. We want, in a relationship, or in a conversation, or in some circumstances, we want something to happen. We want somebody to think the way we think, to agree with us, or to get some approval, or just to win in some way. And how much that desire to affect the results undermines ourselves. How much we have to manipulate and adjust and accommodate ourselves to what's happening. How painful that is. How much suffering there is in that. When one leaves the way to the way, one attains the way.

[22:04]

When attaining the way, the way is necessarily being left to the way. When goods are left to goods, the goods unfailingly become giving. Self gives to self. Other gives to other. In Buddhism, we say that practice of giving, compassion, loving-kindness, begins with the self, that we have to practice loving-kindness and friendliness and charity toward the self first. And when I read something like, self gives to self, other gives to other, this is what comes up for me. That how we liberate ourselves from the self through giving

[23:06]

is when we liberate ourselves from the idea of a self, from the limited idea of what we can do, or be, or express, or experience. And then, when we allow ourselves to know the full range of what is in us, not just the light, positive, socially acceptable attributes that we enjoy presenting to each other, but the difficulties, the arrogance, the greed, the bully, the need for dominance, the rage, the violence, the confusion, when we include all that, and offer that, and offer that integrated being,

[24:11]

all-inclusive being to each other, we liberate each other. We liberate each other to be our full selves. When somebody just is who they are, and says what they think and feel, directly, it's a great liberation for me. I then can do the same. And when I can do it for someone, I offer them that same gift. Back to Dogen, he says, entrusting flowers to the wind, birds to the season, also must be meritorious acts of giving. When one learns giving well, being born and dying are both giving.

[25:14]

What is difficult to transform is the mind of living beings. This giving is to intend to transform the mind, even as far as attainment of enlightenment. In the beginning, it must be done by giving. There is a time when the mind transforms things, and there is giving in which things transform the mind. And the Tanahashi translation of this is especially elicitous, I think. He says, mind is beyond measure. Things given are beyond measure. Moreover, in giving, mind transforms the gift, and the gift transforms mind. I always feel that when I am not trying to do anything for anybody,

[26:31]

is when I am actually helping or giving the most. And I feel that way because I feel free to take whatever I need from anybody when they are not trying to give me something. Just when I see something happening, I see the way a person is moving or breathing or speaking, and I am free to take from that what I need. And I think we've all had the experience of people saying, you really helped me when you did such and such. And when you did such and such usually means when you were just living your life, you were just going about your daily business. Kind speech, the second of the four. He says, we should first arouse a mind of kindness and love.

[27:33]

Kind speech is the absence of harsh speech. First arouse a mind of kindness and love, and utter caring kind words. Here's a little story from Benjamin Franklin, who was tactless in his youth. He became so diplomatic that he was made a great diplomat. He was the United States ambassador to France. When he was asked the secret of his success, he said, I will speak ill of no man and speak all the good I know of everybody. Kind speech is trying to curb our impulse to say the first thing that comes up,

[28:38]

that impulse that we have to be truthful at the expense of somebody. We try to be charitable or compassionate. Sometimes kind speech is just being authentic. Beneficial action, Dogen says, universally benefits self and others. When I think of beneficial action, I think of a story about Suzuki Roshi. In the early days of Zen Center, when we were putting out the early version of the wind bell, it was a mimeograph sheet, a couple pages.

[29:38]

The students were pretty much in awe of him. Pretty much all sixes and sevens around him. The particular person who was helping him run the mimeograph machine that day couldn't get anything right, couldn't get the machine in, couldn't get it to turn, couldn't get the paper in right. Suzuki Roshi, noticing how nervous he was, began to drop the ink himself and to spill things on himself. It's generally been pretty clumsy. Pretty soon they both settled down and were able to get the publication done. That specimen is pretty generous. It's something that we don't often offer each other. And the last, except the four methods, is identity action or cooperation.

[30:39]

Dogen says that means non-opposition, not opposing oneself and not opposing others. I read a beautiful little story the other day, and I'd like to share it with you. Which illustrates this identity action principle of seeing the other as yourself. And this is a story in St. Luke about the sisters Martha and Mary, into whose home Jesus Christ came with his followers one day. And they seated themselves in the living room, and he proceeded to teach. And Mary seated herself with the disciples and the followers, and began to listen.

[31:44]

And her sister suddenly realized that she was stuck with getting the meal out, or serving the guests. And she wasn't sure she felt good about this. She felt kind of isolated. And part of her wanted to be out there with Mary listening to the teaching. And her irritation and her bitterness got strong, and she said something. She spoke up. And Christ's words to her were, were, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. And so Martha was left, not only with her bitter feeling about her sister,

[32:51]

leaving her to cook the meal alone, but with this teaching from Jesus, one thing is needful, Mary hath chosen that good part, and it shall not be taken away from her. And Martha was troubled about what that meant, how she should understand that and apply that in her life. Should she also, it was a needful thing to be a student, to be listening to the teaching. Should she also leave the kitchen and sit down at Christ's feet? And the way the story is told, she was troubled and she stood in the kitchen and she looked at the pots and the utensils, and if she tried to work quietly, she knew that she couldn't hear.

[33:52]

She could hear the sounds through the door, but not the words. What does it mean, thou art careful and troubled about many things? She began to think about how hard she worked, that it seems as if her path was service, and she began to think about how hard she worked, and she went over and over. Should she change what she was doing? Should she not serve the meal? Should she serve the meal, but how could she let go without understanding this? And as she stood there in some confusion, there was a letting go, a temporary, momentary dropping away, and letting go of this turbulence inside of her,

[34:53]

and space appeared. And in that space, in that moment of space, she realized that she was Martha, and she was also Mary, that that part of Mary, that Mary was a part of her, that she was not separate from her sister. She had not before been able to see, include within herself, that aspect of herself that was her sister, that aspect of her sister that was herself. And the story goes that with that new space, and that liberation from the tension of the opposition, and the competitiveness, and the bad feeling,

[35:54]

she suddenly had a lot of energy, and she was able to go about her tasks without being troubled, because in fact she knew how to do things, and she could work very easily and quickly without her mental obstructions, without the effort. There was some recognition in her that her path was service, that her path was working. Her sister's path was something else. And the story, I don't know if I told it in a way that comes across, but as I was reading it, I had one of those old experiences, because I too have sometimes been in a conversation with somebody where we seem to be pitted against each other, and we're struggling to separate ourselves from each other, and to clarify that person's situation or position,

[36:55]

and I'm clarifying my right to the situation, and we're trying to get through to each other. And when we stop the effort and just listen, there's a moment when you realize there's no difference. That person is doing exactly the same thing that I'm doing. Their aspirations and their intentions, their desires and needs are identical with mine. That moment I can drop my sense of combativeness, of needing to overcome or dominate, and just allow that person full space within me, and there's no struggle anymore. There's an enormous relaxation. And I suspect we've all had some experience like that. And it was especially poignant to have this story describing the conflict of these two sisters struggling with this issue.

[37:56]

Perfect timing. I'm two minutes over. Does anybody have any comments or questions? I think he is about to deliver this. My story. There's this wonderful little book called The Way of Working, and it's published by Parabola. And the story goes on there. I have a question about this 100% effort all the time. I was just thinking a couple hours ago, after a hard day's work,

[39:06]

getting kind of lost in the waiting tables and carrying dishes, and wiggling at the back door all the time, eating a few desserts, smoking some cigarettes, and being kind of tired, and blah, [...] blah. I'm not so sure that I've been doing 100% effort, and I'm kind of wondering how we lose our... In a way, it's good to lose yourself in a situation, to sort of plunge in, and kind of forget what our definition of 100% effort might be. And yet still have that 100% effort, perhaps. I don't think I really understand what 100% effort is. Could you clarify that for me? It's doing completely whatever you're doing at the time.

[40:08]

It's not standing outside and saying, I shouldn't be eating this third dessert. I shouldn't be having this cigarette. I shouldn't be reading the newspaper. I shouldn't be slouching. It's completely doing that, and leaving yourself alone. Doing it and dropping it, whatever you're doing. What do you mean by dropping it? I mean not pushing yourself around, not bullying yourself, not criticizing, not improving yourself. Where is discipline? What sort of discipline do we have? What's discipline? I think discipline comes from another place. Or let's say intention rather than discipline. Discipline sounds like the outside. Intention to understand our lives, and to practice non-duality, non-separation from our life,

[41:12]

from our activity. That's like a vow. And we do the best we can in each situation without commenting on it. It's the commenting on it that pushes us around and separates us from the activity. I think if we have that vow or that intention to keep clarifying our life and understanding it, we'll gradually find that we're less interested in reading the latest magazine out there. Sometimes we'll turn to a Buddhist book. Or even if we read the magazine, that's okay too. Some people, I think, push themselves too hard, push themselves around too much. And those people, I think,

[42:15]

should leave themselves alone and trust themselves. Trust their intention or their vow or their effort. And some people, when they need a little help, they need a little push. I feel like you work pretty hard. If somebody needs a push, he or she will get it in this community. Okay. This concept of one hundred percent seems in contrast to, for instance, this book I was reading earlier last night about one's conscience, talking about feelings in the context of a little voice inside of the comics we're doing, which is pretty much

[43:16]

in our Western society. Even the story of Pinocchio and the cricket thing is happening. So, since we're raised with that, a lot of having that little voice inside of us moving this around, telling us what to do, that idea that that part of us is telling us what's right and wrong. It's not easy. But we have to. I don't know, Brian, I didn't want to sound like there's no effort, because I want to say to you we have to make that effort. And the effort is just to let ourselves be. But watch what we do.

[44:17]

Just watch that voice coming up and watch that voice coming up and watch that voice coming up until it's on point. You don't... You see that that voice is empty. Until at some point there's a different quality to it. You can separate. You don't identify with it anymore. It's habit energy. It's the only way I know how to talk about it right now. That voice isn't who you are. If you watch it long enough without trying to do anything to it, at some point you'll identify, you'll see that it's not you. It doesn't mean it's not actually happening. It's not real at the time that it's happening. But that it doesn't come from any place except causes and conditions. It's not substantial or real. So the way we practice, as you know,

[45:24]

is just watching it. Not trying to stop it. At one point, I thought I heard you use the word authenticity when you were talking about some of the patterns of authenticity. One day, something will break loose and you'll see something about yourself that you haven't, that's free. Suddenly, you'll accept your envy or your greed. Or your despair.

[46:26]

Or your rage. And say, fine. That's just whatever that is. And you don't identify with it anymore. It's really okay with you to be that. It's okay with you to be an angry person, an ambivalent person, a greedy person, or an inquisitive person, whatever. When you can let yourself be all those things without trying to mask them from yourself, we include them. We put them out there for everybody. If we put them out there in that spirit of not hiding them or masking them, we liberate everybody to be free to include all their stuff too. I include my shit with you. You can include your shit with me. And we need to do that. To be truly real with each other. To be whole human beings. Let that stuff come into our lives.

[47:27]

That's part of who we are. And I don't think it means that it dominates us. For a time, it's part of our process of just including it. But when we practice with a vow to liberate ourselves and to liberate all beings, we need to see it in order to know what we're trying to liberate ourselves from. If we don't see this stuff, if we're denying it, it's not available to us. So first we practice looking at it. Identifying it. Acknowledging it. And then frequently, once it's given its own space, it doesn't have the same power in our lives. It can drop away. Or it might come up, but it won't tangle with us in such a powerful way.

[48:30]

The stuff that's powerful in our lives is the stuff that we're not conscious of. Once stuff becomes conscious for us, it doesn't push us around. It doesn't drive us in the same way. Is this communicating at all? Yes. Yes, it is. Pat, I don't think I answered you. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[49:23]

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