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. Am I audible? Okay, good. Welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. It looks like it's a nice day to be inside. It's a nice day outside too, but it's a better day to be inside than some that we've had recently. It's a little gray. And especially welcome to any of you who are here for the first time. I hope that you enjoy the morning and have a good experience today, and in fact that we all do. So this morning, well today, we're doing a one-day sitting.

[01:03]

About 50 people began at 5.30 this morning to do a one-day sitting. And so we'll follow a schedule that includes more Zazen sitting and walking meditation and meals and some work. and some breaks, and we'll keep it up until dinner time. So this is the first one-day sitting of a practice period that began Tuesday morning. So it's a six-week practice period, and both the practice period and the one-day sitting are opportunities for us to practice practice a little more intensively than we normally do. So there are some additional events connected with the practice period, a series of classes that start this coming week, and every week we have a tea and discussion for the practice period participants on the theme of the practice period.

[02:19]

And the theme of the practice period is practicing with intention, making a difference in the world. So when I say practicing with intention, I mean being mindful of what our intentions are. I think we often are not fully aware of our intentions, of why we do what we do. So during this practice period, we'll be asking ourselves and looking closely at what kind of intentions we have. Wholesome or unwholesome intentions. And by that, I mean either intentions that tend towards happiness and liberation or intentions that tend towards suffering for ourselves and others.

[03:37]

So during this practice period, we'll be exploring the quality of our intentions and and studying how we can nourish, nurture good intentions for ourselves. I think we all want to live meaningful lives. And I think intention is the most important factor for living a meaningful life. Even when I fail to live up to my intention, when I don't do what I intend to do, still having an intention gives my life a direction and leads me to where I want to go, hopefully.

[04:43]

So my true intention, whether I'm conscious of it or not, has a tendency to get enacted and becomes my life and my world and radiates out in all directions and impacts others as well. I can't control the circumstances of my life, but I can decide which direction of my intentions, I want to nurture, have them grow, and if I see that I have some intentions that aren't so useful, I can practice antidotes for them. So through practicing with intention, I can change my karma. I can change the quality of my life.

[05:48]

and that of the people around me. In every present moment, I can pause in whatever circumstances are presenting themselves as a result of my past actions or other people's past actions and make a conscious decision about what I want to do. based on my deepest intention for my life. I don't have to be a victim of circumstances. I can choose my actions based on my deepest values. So there's an expression that I imagine most of you are familiar with that says, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

[06:51]

And I think what is usually meant by that is either that we don't do what we intend to do, so be skeptical of those promises, you know, or that our intentions are not so good. But actually, I think that is not true. Very much not true. I think the road to nirvana is paved with good intentions. And when I say nirvana, I mean peace, calm, liberation, happiness. But we have to see clearly what our intentions actually are. So practicing with intention means being very mindful and looking closely at our intentions as we act in the world.

[08:07]

And this is bringing our meditation practice into our activity. I think that usually I find for myself that I have multiple intentions operating all at once. And some of them are good and some of them are frankly not so good. They're mixed and they move and change so fast that we're hardly ever... aware of all the intentions that are operating in us right now. As long as we cling to the idea of a self that's separate from everything else, inevitably our intentions are gonna be selfish, at least to some degree.

[09:11]

So this is our root delusion, this clinging to the idea of a self that we practice to overcome. Even our wholesome intentions, even when we actually do what we intend to do, sometimes our actions produce unintended, unforeseen consequences. So it can certainly happen that we do something that's largely good but somebody gets hurt in some way, in an incidental way. And that's the difference between intention and impact. And I think we have to be attentive always to our impact as well as our intention. I mentioned in my talk Wednesday night, so I apologize to people who are hearing both talks, that before the practice period, I had a dialogue with myself about whether the practice period should be called practicing with intention or living by vow.

[10:38]

So living by vow is the name of a wonderful book by Reverend Shohaku Okamura that we'll be using for the practice period class. And it talks about how vow is expressed in the chants that we do here. So it talks about the four bodhisattva vows that we will chant at the end of this Dharma talk, and the refuges, And all my ancient twisted karma, the rogue chant, the heart sutra, merging of difference and equality, it's a wonderful compendium of our chants and what they mean and why we do them. And we won't complete the book in our little four-week class. We'll do what we can. But anyway, I ended up settling on the word intention because I think it's more accessible and approachable.

[11:52]

I think vow is a little harder to relate to right at first when you come to a Dharma-centered practice. And I think we're going to be working with both words. We'll work with both words in this Dharma talk and in the class and in the practice period. So right now I want to explore where both words come from in the context of Buddhism. Vau is the Bodhisattva vow to save all beings from suffering. And I think... that that word save, we get caught on that word save sometimes because it has some kind of Christian connotations to it, I think. And it sounds pretty ambitious, doesn't it?

[12:56]

To try to save all beings from suffering. Maybe an easier way to think about it would be that we vow... to free all beings from their suffering. I think that's a little easier for me to accept. And a bodhisattva, by the way, the definition of a bodhisattva is someone who wants to save all beings from suffering and has devoted his or her life to that intention. And then the word intention is the second element of the Noble Eightfold Path. And the Noble Eightfold Path is the practice component of the Four Noble Truths. And the Four Noble Truths are the truths that Buddha realized on the night of his enlightenment.

[14:06]

So they're his description of the nature of reality, which became his fundamental teaching that he repeated in various different ways for the rest of his 45-year teaching career until he passed away. So the four noble truths are... The first one is the truth of suffering, that there is suffering in the world. The second is the truth that suffering is caused by clinging, grasping, attachment, wanting to get what we want. The third is that it's possible for us to end our clinging and thereby end suffering. And the fourth is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is the way to end our clinging and our suffering.

[15:19]

So this is a path of practice with eight steps that we work with. And the eight steps are right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. So this is Buddha's prescription. It's the medicine he offered for the illness of suffering. And right intention, the one that we're talking about, is second on the list. It comes right after right view and before right speech and right action. Right view is a correct understanding of karma or cause and effect and the Four Noble Truths.

[16:34]

So it's both a starting point on the path, you know it's enough to get you started in practice, and it's a description of the nature of reality. So right intention, based on this correct view or understanding of reality, leads us to right or skillful actions of body, speech, and mind. That's the idea. And we practice and cultivate these rights to end suffering. I once heard a really wonderful Dharma talk here where someone talked about the word right for the elements of the Eightfold Path. And she described right as like riding a ship, riding a sailboat. And while she was talking, she would lean and come to the center and lean, and I was getting seasick watching her.

[17:44]

I really wanted it to be over, and I'll never forget it. So what about the word vow? Vow, as I said, refers to the bonus sattva vow to save all beings from suffering. So how many of you think you can do that? Does that sound? There's a hand over there. So we vow this, and you will vow it after this Dharma talk. I have confidence that you will join in, even though we know it's impossible. But what the vow really means is is that we vow to awaken with all beings. And since practice is awakening, it means we vow to practice.

[18:47]

And that's something I think we can do. So each of these words, vow and intention, has its merits. And what I really want to consider is their relationship to each other. So we have lots of different intentions all going on at the same time. They can be deep or shallow. They can be strong or weak. And they're always changing, moving around. Some of them we're conscious of, some of them we're not conscious of, and some are wholesome and some are unwholesome. Whereas vow is probably a stronger word. It's more compelling. I find it more inspiring, though I certainly think intention is a very useful word.

[19:56]

helpful idea. Vow is more mysterious. What is it and where does it come from? It lives in our heart, I think, more than in our head. And it's bigger and more durable. So it's usually describing some lifelong project. I think. It's more of a commitment than intention, perhaps, to either ourself or others. And it may involve a public declaration of intention. For example, taking vows in ordination or exchanging vows in marriage. So, The vows, the four vows that we will chant after the talk today are beings are numberless.

[21:05]

I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. So I think the first thing we notice about these vows is that they seem like quite a bite to take, probably impossible. But maybe you can also see through them their relationship to the Four Noble Truths. So the first noble truth is the truth of suffering And the first vow is the vow to save beings from suffering.

[22:08]

The second truth is that suffering is caused by clinging, which is the most fundamental delusion that causes us pain and suffering. And the second vow... is to end delusion. The third and fourth truths have to do with Buddha's teaching about how to end suffering. And the third and fourth vows are to study and practice the teachings to become a Buddha. There was an older version of the Four Vows that was worded in such a way that it was closer to the Four Noble Truths. But this is the version that we have now.

[23:12]

So why would we take such an impossible vow? I'd like to quote Suzuki Roshi on the topic. He said, we have four vows. Although sentient beings are innumerable, we have to save them. That is one. Although our evil desire is limitless, we vow to get rid of it. That is second. And although the teaching is limitless, we vow to study. Although Buddhism is unattainable, we should attain it. That is for vows. If it is unattainable, how can we attain it? But we should. That is Buddhism.

[24:15]

Because it is possible we will do it, that is not Buddhism. Even though it is impossible, we have to do it if it is our true nature. Whether it is possible or not is not the point. If we want to do it, we have to do it even though it is impossible. So whether it is possible to get rid of our self-centered idea or not is not the point. Anyway, we have to try to get rid of it. When we make this effort, there is our appeasement. There is our nirvana. There is no other way to attain calmness of your mind than to do it.

[25:21]

than to try to do it. If you think about it, before you determine to do it, you have difficulty. But if you start to do it, there is no difficulty. There is appeasement. There is calmness of your mind. So I think we have probably all had some experience of this in our lives, that we take on something very difficult and if we just say yes and stop mulling it over, it gives us the energy for the task. Have you had that experience? So even though we fail, And we will fail at these vows. It's impossible. It truly is impossible to be perfect in living up to these vows.

[26:24]

But still, our effort is beneficial. We're doing what we want to do. We're moving in the direction that we want to go. And our vow is like a magnet pulling us along to where we want to go. So I want to talk a little bit about the second half of the theme, making a difference in the world. The way to change the world, I think we've been taught that we know, is to change how we act in the world and how we see the world. If we do that, we're able to stop the momentum. of our past karma and turn it in another direction. We're small and limited beings, and we may think we can't do very much, but actually our little bit of what we can do is very important.

[27:38]

The founder of the Soto Zen School in Japan, Ehe Dogen, tells the story of Guishan Lingyu, who was sent by his teacher to start a monastery on Mount Gui. And Mount Gui in China was steep and remote. There were no buildings there. There were no temple provisions. Huishan ate chestnuts and horse chestnuts. He lived in a thatched hut, and there was wind and snow and a pond and a creek that were covered with layers of mist and ice. He made friends with bears and other animals, so it wasn't an easy life, and he had no company.

[28:43]

So Dogen asks us to contemplate what it was like for Guishan to have this experience, to practice in this solitary place. I think he means imagine it as if it were us. And he says, listen to the sound of rain at midnight. The raindrops have the power to pierce not only moss, but also a rock. On a snowy night in winter, even birds and animals don't come to us. Unless we devote ourselves to continuous practice, valuing Dharma more than our own lives, we cannot stand. such a life.

[29:48]

So Guishan didn't start a monastery right away. He didn't build buildings. He just set his solitary zazen. He set zazen all alone as we set zazen all alone. But by enacting his vow of continuous practice, he did establish a monastery, and eventually many worthy disciples came to practice with him. I think we can also think of this image of raindrops when we think about practicing with a sangha. So we can each... only sit for a short time and we don't live for very long. So how much can we really do? But if we practice in a sangha, we join with everyone else and we have more power.

[31:02]

So our little individual raindrop is very ephemeral. It's fluid, and it just disappears into all the elements. It loses its shape. But combined with other raindrops, it becomes a heavy rain, a creek, a river, the ocean, and it can literally move mountains. So I think we're like raindrops. When we live together with others and practice with others, what we do and think matters and creates the world, our world and the world inside and outside our experience. And it lasts beyond our lifetime, beyond our scope.

[32:12]

changes our character. And when we change our character, we change what we do in the world. And as a result, people respond to us in a different way. And based on that, we change how we see ourselves and others. And all of this changes our entire life the world as we know it. And in this way, we create ourselves and our world. So I think we all have a vow in us. But most of us don't know it yet. Maybe that's not fair. Maybe some of us don't know it yet.

[33:12]

We haven't found it. Or maybe we need to keep finding it. Maybe we find it one day and can't find it the next day. So we have to keep finding it over and over again. So I think when we come to a place like this to practice for the first time, we may have an intention to meditate and be mindful. Those are very good intentions. And then after we've been doing that for a while, we may notice that we have an intention to be kinder and help others. I think the process of our intentions turning into our vow is like walking in the mist. and having our clothes get soaked through without being aware that it's happening.

[34:18]

But it's also a process of steady and continuous practice, like Guishans, and mindfulness practice, meditation practice, and loving-kindness practice are very helpful. to help us nourish our vow, our bodhisattva vow. Loving kindness practice is the practice of cultivating goodwill towards all beings. Very important. So I want to close with a quote from Shohaku Okamura that's from this wonderful book, Living by Vow. And he's talking in this quote about how he went to Minneapolis Zen Center to become the teacher there after Katagiri Roshi died.

[35:28]

When I came to Minneapolis in August, all the trees had green leaves. It was very beautiful. After a few weeks, the trees turned many different colors, and this too was beautiful. If we tried to paint each leaf by hand, it would take forever. But when autumn comes, all the leaves change color, suddenly, almost at once, because there is a cause inside of the tree. That's how things happen. If we don't have the right conditions, not even a single leaf will change color.

[36:35]

This is important to consider, in the context of vow. Vow is a kind of long-range project or plan. We don't need to be in a hurry. Practice, sit, keep the seed alive, and when conditions ripen, it will grow. I think our vow is in us either dormant or active like the cause inside of the tree. It's our true nature. When conditions are right, it will manifest. Our job is to create the right conditions through our devoted practice. This is our vow to continuously practice to allow our true nature to manifest.

[37:47]

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 Dorma.

[38:12]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_98.39