This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning and welcome to all of you here at Beginner's Mind Temple. Today is a special day. Well, it's a special day in two ways. Today is the day that there are some children here with us. Hi. Hello there. And it's also a day in which this afternoon a number of people will receive Buddha's precepts and Buddha's robe and will celebrate the birth of a bunch of baby Buddhas. Um... So you're welcome to join us.

[01:03]

That will happen at 3 o'clock this afternoon. Meanwhile, I'd like to say hello to the young people who are here. Now, this young woman has been in the sewing room while her mother was sewing her ronkosu. I've seen her quite regularly. And each of you are older than the last time you were here. As a matter of fact, All of us, each of us here are older than the last time we were here. And other things have changed too. You're probably a little bit bigger. You've probably learned a little more. Many things change all the time. That's one of the things I will be talking about today. But you can think about it when you're off with Stephen, having fun.

[02:08]

What has changed for you today from last week? Just try to think of all the ways in which things have changed just in a week. Because that is the nature of our life. Things change all the time. And we need to pay attention to how we live our life so that things change in the way that we appreciate how we are with our friends. You know, maybe you noticed that if you're kind and friendly with the people you play with, they're kind and friendly back. And if you're cross and fussy, you're probably cross and fussy too.

[03:12]

You have a lot of power by how you act. It affects how other people around you act. That's one of the things that I would like you to notice. And you could notice it today while you're with Stephen. I think maybe you could go and be with Stephen now. Is that okay, Stephen? Okay. So I... I ran across something recently called the Five Remembrances. It's from a Pali Sutta called the Upajasana Sutta.

[04:15]

The Five Remembrances, subjects for contemplation. And I've It begins, there are these five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, priest or lay. Which five? I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old. This is the first fact that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man. priest or lay. I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health. This is the second of the five facts that one should reflect upon whether one is a woman or a man, priest or lay.

[05:19]

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death. This is the third of the five facts that one should reflect upon often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or priest. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them. I cannot keep anything. I come here empty-handed, and I will go empty-handed. This is the fourth of the five facts that one should reflect upon often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or priest.

[06:25]

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand. This is the fifth fact that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, priest or lay. This caught my attention when I saw it, well, partly, you know, the first one is I'm of the nature to grow old. And I'm acutely aware at this time in my life, and as my husband is becoming affected in his mobility and his physical capacity is We're all affected as we age, but at a certain point, it's inescapable and in your face.

[07:34]

And that's where we are in our life right now, Lou and I. So this really struck me as something I should pay attention to. Further, it really did help me to see this. I've mentioned before that my first coming to practice had to do with discovering that I personally was going to die. I had come close to it. My friend had died recently and then I had come close to it. And suddenly I realized very personally that I myself was going to die. Up until then, it hadn't been personal. It had been, oh yeah, everybody dies. I'll die someday when I'm old. But what came up for me in that moment that led me to practice was the question, oh, well then, how do you live if you know you're going to die?

[08:49]

And that's exactly what is brought up here. After talking about I'm of the nature to grow old and to have ill health and to die and that everything I love will not stay with me, the fifth point is my actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand. This is is the crux of the matter, how you live when you know you're going to die, is to begin to really be aware of the choices we make in the actions of body, speech, and mind. And notice, do these actions lead to ease and peace and contentment, or do they lead to strife and ill will? and discontent.

[09:55]

So one can begin to notice very clearly how my choices of actions of body, speech, and mind, including my choices, my choices of mind include what thoughts I choose to dwell on, whether I want to hold on to old grudges, whether I want to make a particular effort to be kind to someone who's having a hard time and has just irritated me, whether I want to cut somebody off on the freeway, or whether I want to get upset with someone who cuts me off on the freeway. Every moment we're making a choice on how we act with body, speech, and mind. What we say, what we think, what we do.

[10:59]

And it's for that reason that in Buddhism, as in every other religion that I know of, the wise people who originated that religious tradition thought deeply about What is the best way for human beings to act together in order to have peace and harmony, in order to have a society that we can all live in together? And so, in Buddhism as well, we have rules of behavior. which we refer to as precepts. It's also not surprising that some of the particular be careful, don't do that precepts, I mean, the precepts in Buddhism begin not with be careful, don't do that.

[12:12]

The precepts begin with taking refuge in the Buddha, in the truth that the Buddha taught, and in the community of sangha members that we practice with. So taking refuge in the Buddha, which is really our own true nature of awakening, Buddha is not something out there and separate from us. The Shakyamuni Buddha was a person who lived 2,500 years ago, Buddha just means one who is awake. And when we are really awake to how we are conducting ourselves in each moment, really awake to our experience of this life and our responsibility to pay attention to how we contribute to that experience, that's Buddha.

[13:21]

And Dharma is just the truth of what is, how things really are. Steve quoted Suzuki Roshi last time as, you know, in our practice we make an effort to accept things as they are and help them be better. So what What these people are doing this afternoon is receiving these precepts of Buddha, these precepts which have been guiding us, guiding Buddhists for many, many years. The precepts which we take are... called the Bodhisattva precepts, they grow out of the stream of Buddhism which developed around the beginning of the Common Era in the Axial Age called Mahayana Buddhism.

[14:36]

And in particular, they are the 16 Bodhisattva precepts. Bodhisattva is an awakening being We're all bodhisattvas. But the vow of the bodhisattva, the sort of heart of bodhisattva practice is the altruistic wish to wake up in order to benefit beings, not the wish to wake up so I can, you know, not for self-aggrandizement, but the altruistic wish to wake up in order that I will know what would be most beneficial to beings. So this, you know, the Dalai Lama says, each morning as I wake, I think, oh, I am fortunate to have woken up.

[15:42]

I'm alive. I have a precious human body. I won't waste it. I will do all that I can to develop myself so that I will be able to wake up for the benefit of all beings. It's this altruistic wish to wake up so that we can actually know how to benefit beings. So we'll know what's beneficial, what's truly beneficial. And so I've been sharing that with you every time I'm on this Dharma seat since I ran across that quotation. And I've been trying to begin my day in the same way, waking up, appreciating the fact that I'm alive in a human body so that I can practice the Buddha Dharma, so that I might be able to benefit beings.

[16:45]

I think as we look around in the world and see how much suffering and distress there is, that the wish to be able to alleviate that suffering, to diminish that suffering in some way, even a little bit, arises in all of us. I think that's what we're all doing here. How can I live in a way that will alleviate some of the suffering and distress I feel and see around me? How can I be sure not to add to it? How can I conduct myself so as to lead toward peace and calm and contentment rather than stress and discontent? And so if you If you choose to be with us this afternoon, you can celebrate with this group of people who are going to be receiving precepts today.

[18:04]

In the meantime, I want to just share with you what these precepts are. To begin with, as I say, we take refuge in the triple treasure of Buddha, the teacher, Dharma, the teaching or the truth, and Sangha, the community that practices together and supports one another in practice. These are called the three jewels, and they are all equally important in supporting our life of practice. So using the wording that our abbot just used in a wedding last week, a couple of weeks ago, which I like, we begin by saying, I take refuge in Buddha, the true nature of all beings.

[19:16]

This is the luminous, unconditioned source of all life. I take refuge in Dharma, the truth of all existence. This is the innermost request of our hearts, letting our true nature teach us how to live. I take refuge in Sangha, our common humanity. This is living in the boundless interconnection of all life, family, friends, and all beings. One of the things that we realize as we practice is is this boundless interconnection of everyone with everyone, of every being with every being. We begin to see the total oneness of all that lives. I think it's important for us to notice when we're clinging to some thought that's about

[20:27]

that feel separating. It's about self and other. Is this other really other? Aren't we deeply connected? Whatever we have set up in our mind as other, is it really other? Are we all, in a sense, living one life together? we set up ourself as separate from other, we are sure to be setting up suffering for ourselves, at least for ourselves, and perhaps for those we set up as other. It's really important to notice the deep connection, the deep inseparability of ourself and other living beings.

[21:40]

And as we study the Dharma, we find this mention of something called the three poisons, greed, hate, and delusion. These three poisons are the source of a great deal of our suffering. The greed of clinging, wanting everything for myself. The hate or aversion or pushing away or separating of myself from apparent others. And the delusion that somehow I am separate from others. The delusion that there is some fixed self here which is independent of everything else instead of totally dependent on everything else.

[22:52]

And so we take into account that this is a very... that greed, hate, and delusion... are poisonous. And whenever we see any hint of them arising, we immediately pay attention and exert our effort to relinquishing it and not feeding it. So after taking refuge in the triple treasure, then we will, the Artemis will receive the three pure precepts. The three pure precepts, again, I'm going to use Paul's words, I like it.

[24:02]

Watch this Irish gift of gab, you know. You've got a great way with words. Thank you, Paul. So I'm going to steal it. But he says, the three precepts awaken our innate good-heartedness. This good-heartedness is already here. But sometimes we have to work at waking it up and cultivating it. and feeding it. And so these three pure precepts are just a vast, wide, all-encompassing intention. With purity of heart, I vow to refrain from all harmful actions. And with purity of heart, I vow to do all that is good. And with purity of heart, I vow to live for the benefit of all beings.

[25:06]

There's a story about a teacher in China a long time ago who lived up in a tree, and he was called Bird's Nest Roshi. And one time the local governor of the local province went out to see him, to see if he could learn something from this wise teacher. And he approached the tree and he said, goodness, you look very precarious up in that tree. And Bird's Nest Roshi looked down and said, oh, you look much more precarious to me down there in the world. And so then the governor says, well, tell me, what is the heart of the teaching of the Buddha?

[26:10]

And Burj Nesro, she said, to refrain from all harmful actions, to do all that is good, and to live for the benefit of all beings. And the governor says, oh, well, any child of three knows that. And Burj Nesro, she said, Yes, but even an old man of 60 like me has to work very hard at it. It's very hard to do. So we can spend our whole life cultivating these three pure precepts to our benefit and to the benefit of everyone around us. There's always... a way that we can be more kind, more helpful, more generous, more enthusiastic, more patient.

[27:17]

We always, as Suzuki Roshi said the first time I heard him talk, you're perfect just as you are. And there's always room for improvement. So the good thing about that is that you never wear out this practice. I mean, I remember thinking, you know, when I first started to practice... I thought, well, you know, my life's a mess now, but I'm going to get it cleaned all up with this stuff and get on with my life. And then 20 years later, I noticed, I'm not finished yet. I'm never going to finish with this. And for a moment, I was disappointed. And then, you know, since I'm such a Pollyanna, I said, oh, that means I'll never use it up. I'll never work it out. This practice will last all my life. So it's true.

[28:24]

It's true. There's always room for improvement, and so we get to practice right up to the moment we die. And that's really fortunate, isn't it? I ran across something yesterday that was on the website of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. A quotation that is Stephen Mitchell's adaptation of the first Psalm of David. Blessed are the man and the woman who have grown beyond their greed and have put an end to their hatred and no longer nourish illusions.

[29:33]

But they delight in the way things are and keep their hearts open day and night. They are like trees planted near flowing rivers which bear fruit when they are ready. Their leaves will not fall or wither. Everything they do will succeed. Shall I read that once more? Blessed are the man and the woman who have grown beyond their greed and have put an end to their hatred and no longer nourish illusions. But they delight in the way things are and keep their hearts open day and night. They are like trees planted near flowing rivers which bear fruit when they are ready. Their leaves will not fall or wither. Everything they do will succeed. This is what I hope for all of us, but particularly for those people who are today receiving the precepts in the ceremony of Jukai.

[30:45]

I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity in this life to practice the Buddha Dharma and to practice with these precepts and to know that they will never wear out, that I can always practice with these precepts and with the teaching of the Buddha to encourage me to live a life of benefit. I wish for all of you the same gratitude, the same wonder at how I got to do this in this life.

[32:00]

totally a gift, completely unexpected. It's so wonderful to live this human life with all of you. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[32:57]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_97.23