This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. How's everyone doing? No complaints? Thumbs up? Oh, great. Good. There's one. I hope you're all okay. Let me know if you need anything. The way is basically perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? The Dharma vehicle is free and untrammeled. What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust.

[01:04]

Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from one, right where one is. What is the use of going off here and there to practice? And yet, if there is the slightest discrepancy, the way is as distant as heaven from earth. If the least like or dislike arises, The mind is lost in confusion. So yesterday I talked about the years that led up to the Buddha's enlightenment, his home leaving, his early mastery of meditative trance, and also a long period of austerities, which nearly led to his death, until finally... Exhausted and unwell, he remembered the experience that he had had as a young boy in the shade of a rose apple tree.

[02:07]

Why am I so afraid of such happiness and pleasure that has nothing to do with pure lust for unprofitable things? Suppose I eat some solid food, boiled rice and bread. So it took a while, but eventually the young man regained his health and his strength, at which time his fellow companions, the five ascetics, departed from him in disgust, saying that he had abandoned the struggle for liberation and reverted to luxury. So in the narration of the Buddhist enlightenment experience, which is recorded in the Pali Canon, and I'm going to share with you in just a minute, there's a refrain that repeats at the end of each verse. I allow no such pleasure that arises in me to gain power over my mind. I allow no such pleasure that arises in me to gain power over my mind.

[03:14]

Right Use of Power So earlier in this same text, as he's undergoing the austerities, he uses the same refrain, only slightly different. Instead, he says, I allow no such painful feelings that arise in me to gain power over my mind. So whether in response to feelings of pain or of pleasure, the young prince had uncovered another very important element of what was to become the Buddhist path, the path of practice. Just stop at feelings. Feelings, by the way, are fruits. They're results of past action. You don't have any choice. They're coming for you anyway. You know, like Amazon orders. Did I order that? Did I order that? Yes, you did. So it's what you do next that determines your life. So in his own meticulous study of the way things come into being, later on he formulated as the 12-fold chain of cause and effect or the wheel of birth and death, the Buddha clearly saw how responses to feelings set up the next round of actions or karma, which leads to the seemingly endless spinning of causes and their effects known as samsara.

[04:47]

So feelings, actions, suffering, feelings, actions, suffering, including the suffering of delight. So you might consider giving this practice, this instruction to try for yourselves at various times during the seshing, you know, just stop at feelings. And it doesn't have to be a hard stop, you know, like Manjushri there. You don't have to hurt yourself. You can do a gradual stop like... coming to a red light. Just put on the brakes and keep pressing until you stop. Persistence. Silence and stillness. So this is the basic approach that's embedded in the Heart Sutra, which was articulated somewhat later by the Buddha to his senior students on Vulture Peak at a rather secret meeting. No suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path, no knowledge,

[05:49]

No attainment with nothing to attain. No, no, no. Just stop. Just stop. Silence and stillness. So I have found that this particular verse was very helpful in the face of our human tendency to get stuck either in the past remembering are glories of the past or the kind of nightmares of the past. Either way, they kind of line up like trophies on a mantle. I remember when I was a kid, I had all my little trophies, little plastic gilded trophies from volleyball and Girl Scouts and all of that. They were all decorating my shelves and stuff. It's not so easy to let go of what we did or what we didn't do, regardless of whether we did or didn't do them at all we really would like to get something out of this life since we are making such an effort we would like something to show for it and I think maybe we will but most likely it's going to be in the form of release of letting go Shinjin Datsuraku body and mind dropped off

[07:12]

Or as Paul Disco said to us on my arrival at Green Gulch many, many years ago, it's not what you're going to get, it's what you're going to lose. I think this is a really hard thing to learn, particularly in the face of the many amazing people that we encounter in our lives and all the amazing places that we visit and the things that we do and that appear before us, you know, moment by moment. as we travel along on the open water. I think for me it's the fine people who've come into my life, you know, year after year, here at Zen Center and other places with other friends, you know, that river of faces. If only I could just hold on to them a little longer, you know, if they just wouldn't go quite so soon. But we can't get a hold of each other, you know. In fact, We wouldn't want anyone to get a hold of us. You know, mine.

[08:16]

You're mine. None of us want that, and none of us can have that, and yet we have this crazy idea that that's what's missing. Mine. So it's a very tough assignment that we've been given here on planet Earth, you know, letting go. And without the water and the wind and without the sail and the rudder and the blue sky and the white clouds, without all the seagulls pooping on the deck, there would be no small boat, no sailor, and no sailing at all. This is dependent core rising. It's both the good news, now you see it, and it's the bad news, now you don't. All of these arrive together in the very same moment, or so it seems, as if in some kind of endless stream, the stream of consciousness that we call it. And yet, as we have been told, this trick of perception is a really good one.

[09:22]

There does seem to be something going on here, more than just this is it, more than just the arising and ceasing. There is an illusion of movement and of patterns, out of which such stories as the one I'm going to tell you now can be spun, as if from a beginning to an ending. A baby was born, an old woman died. The end. That's my story. The narrative of the Buddha's enlightenment is just like that, too. He couldn't really tell us what happened to him under the Bodhi tree, although he really, really tried. just fingers pointing at the moon, which by and by filled pages and pages of texts. In fact, there is a sutra called the Avatamsaka Sutra, which the Buddha was said to have spoken immediately following his enlightenment. It's a rather glorious vision, but unfortunately there is no entry gate for either practice or realization, other than to simply follow the printed words as they emerge down the pages of the text.

[10:37]

When you read this kind of a sutra, it's basically a trance induction. You'll find yourself transported for a while anyway to another universe, that's what it seems. But then, you know, when you close the book, there you are back again on your human feet with your human mind. So out of his great compassion, the Buddha used ordinary language to talk to us about the amazing transformations that had taken place within his mind, and in particular about the pathway that he had found and then followed to its end, to that moment when he awakened from the dream of a separate self. Suppose a person wandering in a forest wilderness found an ancient path, an ancient trail, traveled by people of old, and they followed it up, and by doing so, discovered an ancient city, an ancient royal capital, where people of old lived, with parks and groves and lakes, walled round and beautiful to see.

[11:45]

So I too found the ancient path, the ancient trail, traveled by the fully enlightened ones of old. There are several different versions recorded in the Pali Canon of the Buddhist Enlightenment. And it says, as though looking at his experience from a variety of angles, as one might describe a tree, from below, from above, or from various sides. Kind of like a 360. And each of these accounts begins with the young prince bringing his mind into the present by focusing on his breath. And then, once Sita achieved tranquility, Samatha, he begins his careful analysis, vipassana, with pondering and thinking into the processes of his mind as they are presenting themselves directly to his own immediate awareness. Samyak smirti, samyak samadhi, right mindfulness, right meditation, the bee landing on the flower.

[12:50]

So this account that I'm going to share with you this morning has to do with the primary discovery the Buddha made at that time when he awoke of the Four Noble Truths. In his words, or so it says, Now when I had eaten solid food and regained my strength, I entered upon an abode in the first meditation, first jhana, which is accompanied by thinking and exploring with happiness and pleasure. born of release, of letting go. But I allowed no such pleasant feeling as arose in me to gain power over my mind. With the stilling of thinking and exploring, I entered upon an abode in the second jhana, which has internal confidence and one-pointedness of mind, samyak samadhi, and pleasure born of concentration. but I allowed no such pleasant feeling as arose in me to gain power over my mind.

[13:59]

With the fading of happiness, I abode in equanimity, mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body. I entered an abode in the third jhana, but I allowed no such pleasant feeling as arose in me to gain power over my mind. With the abandoning of bodily pleasure and pain and with the previous disappearance of mental joy and grief, I entered upon an abode in the fourth jhana. But I allowed no such pleasant feeling as arose in me to gain power over my mind. So at this point in the narrative of the Buddha's awakening, he enters into what are called the three true knowledges. The first being... the recollection of past lives. And the second, insight into the death and rebirth of beings throughout the cosmos. And third, insight into the ending of mental effluents or taints, ashravas, within the mind, also known as purifying the mind.

[15:11]

So the first two of these three knowledges are not exclusive to Buddhism and they appear world-round within the shamanic traditions. However, as a result of the Buddha seeing these patterns, he had an understanding and recognized the workings of karma, that good actions lead to good results and bad actions lead to bad results. Feelings, actions, suffering. And then with this third knowledge, the knowledge of how the mind becomes tainted, he considered the possibility that karma was purely a mental process, a product of our human imagination. It was at this point that he turned his attention to the karmic patterns taking place in his own mind at that very moment in order to study the process more clearly. As Dogen would later say, he learned the backward step that turns the light inwardly to illuminate the self.

[16:18]

The resulting insight regarding the causal relationship between action and their result is what he called the Four Noble Truths, suffering and the cause of suffering, cessation of suffering and the cause of the cessation of suffering. The full-scale analysis between actions and defilements became the centerpiece of the Buddha's teaching, known in Sanskrit as pratikyat samutpada, dependent core rising. the wheel of birth and death, which is basically an elaboration of the first and second noble truth. But perhaps his greatest insight of all, by virtue of his own experience, was the very real possibility that we humans can develop skills, such as concentration and discernment, that allow the disruption of the cycle of suffering at its weakest link. Feelings. By stopping at feelings, the mind, in effect, is cut off from the craving and the clinging that by our very human nature would follow, just as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart.

[17:36]

So at one point in his study of the self, the Buddha went down to an even more elemental level of the mind out of which we humans are fabricating reality. This is the secret chamber of horrors. where, as far as I can understand, he saw the most basic mechanisms of our conditioning, by which the mind produces illusions of motion and of karma. Those mechanisms being the presumption of space and time. Sounds a little bit like Mr. Einstein here, who himself famously said, the universe doesn't actually exist. It's just that it's very persistent. By the way, our planet is passing through the tail of Halley's Comet as we speak. And I went out the last two mornings to see if I could catch a glimpse, and sure enough, I saw shooting stars.

[18:42]

Not so many. I mean, they're a little disappointing. I mean, they're really fast, and then it's just like... It's gone. But anyway, it's happening. If you want to go out in the dark when the moon's not up, so early morning is best, you might catch some of that. Halley's Comet was last year in 1986. I kind of remember that. I might even have been at Tasa Harlem when it was close by. And it won't be back until 2061. So what we're seeing right now in the sky is the tail of that visit, that last visit. in 1986. So some of you young people may be around 2061 to see that amazing sight. Anyway, time implies cause and effect, as if there really were something happening before and something happening later. Once upon a time in the city of Kapolevastu.

[19:43]

So the story goes. That's how we tell stories. Space implies this big, fat, present moment as if there were something happening here or there or wherever as a real location where something happens at this very time, time and space. So space and time are two of the bigger assumptions that we make about reality. And seeming... like no-brainers, and yet it was at the very point in his meditation where concepts of time and space had vanished that the Buddha experienced no further mental elaborations, which are in Sanskrit called prapancha, like ripples in the water and the sound of a stone or the moment a stone hits the water. That's what our minds do. we start to tell stories. Prapancha. And when that happened, when there were no further mental elaborations, the cycle of suffering dissolved, like snowflakes on a hot iron skillet.

[20:59]

So this was the Buddha's final knowledge, the total release that the young seeker had so long endeavored to find, the enlightenment of a Buddha. And tradition has it that the first words the Buddha said, who in the Buddha was no longer Bodhisattva, were these. Seeking but not finding the house builder, I traveled through the round of countless births. Oh, painful is birth ever and again. House builder, you have now been seen. You shall not build the house again. Your rafters have been broken down. Your ridge pole is demolished too. My mind has now attained the unformed nirvana and reached the end of every kind of craving. So we of the Buddhist tradition have been studying this young man's insight, method, and the many ramifications for 2,500 years now.

[22:01]

It's what we call the Buddhadharma. And we have tried our best to fathom this seemingly simple formulation of his primary insight, that was left behind on the stone walls of the Buddhist temples of ancient India. I've seen some of these stone carvings. They have them at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. If you ever get a chance to go and visit the, I think it's the third floor where all the Buddhist art is, it's the first room you enter. And there in Sanskrit are these carvings on these stone, pieces of stone wall. And what they say is... When this is, that is. From the arising of this comes the arising of that. When this isn't, that isn't. From the stopping of this comes the stopping of that. Sometimes this teaching is referred to as this-that causality.

[23:02]

Time and place. The transmission of the Buddha Dharma is central to the existence of our tradition. Had he not taught what he had come to realize, this, we would not be here today as beneficiaries of his inspired vision, that. So in class, I've spoken at some length about the first sermon called The Turning the Wheel of the Law, in which he expounded the Four Noble Truths leading to the cessation of suffering, and an extremely important element of his realization called the middle way, avoid the extremes. So now I want to say a little bit about what happened when the newly awakened Buddha set out to teach the Dharma to just about anybody who would listen to him. In fact, there's an interesting story in the Pali Canon. He runs into this wanderer on the path when he first sets out to find his five friends, the ascetics who had left him.

[24:07]

I forget the guy's name, maybe Upali or something, but he comes up to the Buddha and he says, who are you? He thought he looked very interesting, and the Buddha said, I'm a fully enlightened Buddha. And this man says, oh, that's nice, and keeps going. So it's optional. Anyway, so the Buddha finds the five ascetics, and he... teaches them the first sermon, the Four Noble Truths, and one by one they come to realize the same realization that the young prince had had. That is, they came to understand the law, the Four Noble Truths, and the three marks of all existence, namely empty, selfless, and suffering, which in turn led them to non-attachment, the step in the chain of causation that follows feelings. Attachment. grasping. And with that, they were also liberated from the three poisons of greed, hate, and delusion.

[25:13]

You know, I like it, I don't like it, I'm not sure if I like it or not. So the first of the five ascetics to be delivered by the spotless, immaculate vision of the Dharma was the venerable Kondana, at which time he declared, all that is subject to arising is subject to cessation. This, that causality. And when Kandana said that, the earth deities heard him and they cried out. At Banaras in Deer Park at Isipatana, a perfect one has set rolling the matchless wheel of the law, which cannot be stopped by monk or brahmin or deity or mara or anyone in the whole world. On hearing the earth deities cry, all the deities of heaven cried out as well, until at that minute, at that moment, at that instant, the news traveled right up to the Brahma world, and this ten-thousand-fold world element shook and quaked and trembled while a great measureless light, surpassing the splendor of the gods, appeared in the world.

[26:22]

And at that time, in response to the light, the Buddha exclaimed, Kondana knows, Kondana knows. And that is how the Venerable One acquired the name Anatta Kondana, Kondana who knows. To which Kondana then responded, Lord, I wish to go forth under the Blessed One and to receive the full admission. And the Buddha replied, Kambishu, the law is well proclaimed. Live the holy life. for the complete end of suffering. And there were now two accomplished ones living in the world. So after a time, each of the remaining ascetics in turn received the full admission from the Buddha, and the six members of the Sangha were now fully established. Having rid oneself of the defilements and entered into the holy life that is utterly perfect and pure, The monk, free from the shackles, both humane and divine, now wander freely for the welfare and happiness of many, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, welfare, and happiness of gods and men and women, teaching the law that is good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, with the meaning and the letter of the law, explaining the holy life that is utterly perfect and pure.

[27:46]

So guess who was unhappy about that? Mara, the evil one. So he appears at this time, and he says to the Buddha, You are bound by every shackle, whether human or divine. The bonds that tie you down are strong, and you shall not escape me, monk. I'm free from the shackles, whether human or divine, freed from the strongest bonds, and you are vanquished now, exterminator. the shackle in the air that has its hold upon the mind, with that I hold you bound forever. So you shall not escape me, monk. I am without desire for sights, sounds, tastes, and smells, and things to touch, however good they seem, and you are vanquished now, exterminator. And then Mara, the evil one, understood, and he said, The blessed one knows me, the sublime one knows me,

[28:48]

Sad and disappointed, he vanished at once. So before ending today, I wanted to share with you two other very important conversion stories that have had a very big impact on the Buddhist tradition up to this very day. It's the story of Yasa, the merchant's son, his father and his mother. So following the five ascetics, the next convert to what we would now call Buddhism was a wealthy layperson named Yasa who had become despondent on seeing the pleasures of his own palace turn revolting when the conditions for the seeming beauty and those people around him of place and those around him became unattractive when his lust had turned to aversion, to boredom and to conceit. Is this all there is? So he went to the Buddha saying, it's horrible, it's fearful, to which the Buddha replied, no, it's not horrible, it's not fearful, let me explain.

[29:56]

So first he teaches Yasa lessons on morality, on vanity, and on the dangers of a life devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. Then when Yasa's mind is ready, receptive, and free from the five hindrances, eager and trustful, the Buddha expounds to him the teaching peculiar to the Buddhas, that is, the four noble truths, impermanence, no self, and suffering. Yasa then asks for the full admission, to which again the Buddha says, The law is well proclaimed, lead the holy life for the complete end of suffering. Meanwhile, Yasa's mother is despondent at this news and sends her husband, the rich merchant, to get her son back And so he goes. The husband, on hearing the Buddha's teaching, also asks to take refuge, becoming the first lay follower to do so. And he then offers his son Yasa, the newly ordained monk, and the Buddha to come to his house for a family meal.

[31:02]

When Yasa's despondent mother makes her appearance, the Buddha speaks to her in the same way that he spoke to her husband and to her son. And then she too, asks for refuge in the Triple Treasure, becoming the first woman to do so. And soon all of Yasa's friends come for refuge, and before long there are 61 accomplished ones living in the world. After that, the Buddha realized that he could not keep up with the demands on him to personally grant admission to the Sangha, so he authorizes the newly awakened bhikkhus to give the full admission in this way. First the hair, and the beard are shaved off. Then, after putting on the yellow cloth with the upper robe arranged over one shoulder, homage is paid at the bhikshu's feet. Then, kneeling with the hands held out, palms together, this should be said, I go for refuge to the Buddha. I go for refuge to the Dharma.

[32:06]

I go for refuge to the Sangha. Sangam Saranam Gacchami. The Buddha thereby establishes the full admission, and it's then, from then on, to be given by recitation of the three refuges, just as we do each and every night. So tomorrow I'm going to continue talking about elements of the Buddha's enlightenment that were transmitted to future generations through his own analysis of what happened to him under the Bodhi tree. It's that transmission that we call the Dharma, the Dharma transmission. So again, thank you so much for your kind attention. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge. and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma.

[33:11]

For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[33:16]

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