I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good morning. This somewhat precariously placed book stand is reminiscent of our eating tables in Anchorage, Alaska, during Sasheen. We were in the woods in a log cabin, 17 of us, and our eating tables were little boards on legs, and our sitting platforms were camp cots, so everything kind of tipped. Our eating bowls were a little tippy.

[01:00]

I always had to watch to see how much food was going in the bowl, because if it got too full, it was more likely to spill. Alaska is a great place for Zen practice. It's, especially right now in the winter, very beautiful. There's this quality of light that's quite remarkable, reflected off of the snow and the glaciers, and when there's a cloud cover, bouncing between the cloud cover and the snow-covered earth. So there's this extraordinary beauty, fragile kind of beauty about Alaska, mixed with a quite perceptible, narrow margin between birth and death.

[02:02]

So it's an inspiring place to practice. You don't have a lot of margin for error. Oops, I made a mistake. You die. A little like that. I somehow loved it. A group of us, women, are spending the weekend practicing together. So I'd like to invite all of you to eavesdrop while we continue our weekend together. What I want to talk about this morning is ethics and morality. In the Buddhist tradition, there is a great emphasis on wholeness, wholeness in the sense of that which is healthy, integrated, perfect, if you will, not in the sense of right and wrong.

[03:21]

But in the sense of, as with the name of this place, when a wheel is right, when a wheel is perfect, it's effective in its work as a wheel. And a wheel right is someone who makes the wheel right, makes it work, so it does its job. So we have our very own resident wheel right over here, who told me a few minutes ago that his hugging days are not over yet. So I thought it was extremely important that we all know that. I hope you don't mind, George, but I think it pays to advertise. So there is this sense in this wonderful ancient tradition about our possibility of cultivating, of allowing the arising of wholesomeness, of health in this deep way, especially an inner kind of wholesomeness.

[04:42]

It's rather different from the emphasis that some of us have grown up with here in the West, an emphasis on the human capacity for sin and the emphasis on the distinction between right and wrong. Much more an emphasis on paying attention to noticing that there are causes and conditions which lead to one thing or another and that our behavior has consequences. So this is a tradition about the cultivation of joyfulness and happiness, calmness, balance, harmony within ourselves, with each other, in our relationships with all beings and things in the environment. The whole works, as Dogen Zenji has said.

[05:49]

Someone recently sent me this book by Lama Govinda, Living Buddhism for the West, which I recommend highly. It's a collection of essays that Lama Govinda wrote in the last several years of his life, a long and fruitful life of practice and scholarship. He was gifted with an ability to learn many languages, and I think he has a remarkable ability to develop Buddhist English. So among the essays in this book is a very interesting and stimulating and really beautiful essay on ethics and morality. I recommend it to you all. There are other essays in the book that are also equally useful, but this is the one that I've been taken with and that I've been reading and rereading.

[06:58]

Over the last little while. It interests me a great deal, this notion of ethics and morality arising out of a certain state of mind. The possibility that some cultivation of ethics and morality may arise as a consequence, not itself as a cause, so that if it is true that our suffering arises from desire and aversion, and we can cultivate the states of mind, which are the antidotes or counterbalance to those tendencies, specifically a mind inclined for generosity and love, that it is out of such a mind state that a capacity for ethics arises.

[08:04]

It's very different from the notion that you better be good or else you know what's going to happen to you and where you're going to go. Of course, there is some of that in some traditions in Buddhism. What I appreciate about Lama Govinda's writing is his talking about, really pointing at the dynamism of the Buddhist tradition and how Buddhism has changed, willingly changed in most cases as it's moved from one culture and one country to another. And so he's expressing a certain look and feel and language for Buddhism as it has come to the West with a degree of sophistication, which I think is extremely useful. Because I think for most of us, to be threatened with a terrible rebirth, and that's a good reason for behaving with an ethical or moral sense,

[09:11]

is not something we're particularly inspired by. We just say, oh, phooey, superstitious nonsense. I'm not interested in being frightened into behaving well. I think a number of us have that kind of response. You better behave or else. Such a different possibility when a certain kind of behavior arises out of a commitment, a conviction, a cultivation of a mind of generosity and of love. So there's this system of do's and don'ts, which is a listing of description, not prescription,

[10:18]

description of what a realized being's life looks like. That a realized being is characterized by an inclination towards not killing, not stealing, not lying, not engaging in harmful activity having to do with sexuality or intoxicants, not speaking in ways which cause harm for others, is inclined towards a way of being which is marked by nonviolence and non-possessiveness. How different to have these ways of being arise from within us rather than being superimposed in the realm of I should or I ought to, which for so many of us brings up,

[11:23]

I don't want to, I don't have to, you can't make me, no. And all of the more sophisticated renderings of that state of mind. I have an actress friend who says that when that arises in her she's discovered that if she stamps her feet and yells it out loud it sort of goes away faster. I don't want to, I don't have to, you can't make me. I think particularly after we begin a practice of meditation one of the things we discover is that it becomes increasingly more difficult to sit with any kind of calmness if there's some disparity between our press release and our actions. That if there's a big gap between how we hope we will be seen in the world

[12:25]

and what we do, that we cannot sit with a calm mind. I think it's one of the reasons why after people begin practicing Zazen very soon for many people they start asking themselves questions about the work they do. Questions of so-called right livelihood, right in this sense of wholesomeness start cropping up and you start wondering. Am I back on? Yeah, good, thank you. I have to be wired for sound this morning because my husband and daughter wanted to figure out what I was saying but they aren't here so, checking up on me. So of course one of the best things we can do is to meditate because then we start noticing the cost, the consequences of what we do

[13:30]

and we have a chance to begin to pay more attention to that action, that activity of body, speech and mind that leads to liberation and to wholesomeness and that activity that leads to suffering. We have to see it before we can allow some different possibility. So simply by sitting down we can begin to see clearly and in particular in our own lives how desire and aversion leads to suffering. The relationship between those states of mind, the actions that follow from those states of mind and our activity. And we can also begin to see what happens when we pick up, even in a quite mechanical way,

[14:31]

some attitudes and activities that express generosity and that express understanding and love and compassion and what they lead to. And how different it is when we discover these consequences out of our own direct experience, out of our own activity of looking into things rather than having these considerations put upon us by some authority outside of ourselves. I have always loved the Buddha for his instruction about find out for yourself. Don't take it on my word or the word of a text or the word of a great teacher or some institution. Look into your own experience. Be a lamp unto yourself. Not that one cannot benefit from the guidance of a wise person

[15:40]

or a time-tested text, but that we don't do it blindly. We do it in a way which includes, in a very significant way, our actual experience. And if we have a question or a doubt, we don't turn away from it and say, oh, I'm probably stupid, I probably don't understand. We honor the place where we say, this doesn't make sense to me, at least not yet. What's this precept mean about not killing, for example? One of the things I've discovered in working closely, hanging out with the precept about not killing, is that there is a way in which I can't not kill. What I can attend to is not killing, not harming intentionally, and paying a little bit of attention to what I'm doing

[16:41]

and how it may lead to harm for someone or something. I've graduated from the garden snails. I'm now working on the fleas and ticks. And I'm told in Alaska that if I was there in the summer, I would be definitely concerned with the mosquitoes, the state bird. In living with bumping up against, considering, hanging out with the precepts, however you want to put it, what I see is once again a wonderful list, Buddhist list, that gives me some guidance about the antidotes to some of the states of mind and behavior that arise in my life,

[17:46]

which I know lead to suffering, and which if I can find a counterbalance to them, I can begin to shift, change, transform those patterns which are no longer useful if they ever were. Those patterns which I begin to understand lead to suffering. So, for example, I can see clearly that when what arises in me is selfishness, some clinging, holding on to, I don't want to tell you about Lama Govinda's book. I want to keep it all to myself. What is the antidote to offer it as a gift? The way we translate the precept that has to do with selfishness is not being possessive of anything, not even the truth.

[18:48]

I think that last part about not even the truth is very interesting. We have some insight, and there for a moment out of beloved self-clinging, I want to keep it for myself because maybe I'll look more important or be seen as more wise. Very tempting. One of the lists that I find particularly helpful and inspiring in moving towards the precepts is the list of the Eight Worldly Concerns. Four Pairs. The first of the four pairs is the desire for fame, and the fear of obscurity. Just gets you right in the heart, doesn't it?

[19:54]

The fear of obscurity. So if you don't tend to fall on one side of the sentence, you could fall on the other. The desire for worldly pleasure and the fear or aversion for worldly pain. The desire for worldly gain and the fear of loss. And the last one is the desire or yearning for praise and the capacity or inclination for blame. I think that's another one that's got a little heat around it. Today, as many of you probably know, is the new moon,

[20:59]

and traditionally in the Buddhist world, on the new moon and the full moon, there is this ancient tradition of taking precepts, renewing one's commitment to precepts. The timing is perfect, I find, because I can't get out there on the end of a long skinny limb quite so easily if I don't have a little more than two weeks. So if I have this taking of vows, commitments, making a commitment, especially with others, about every 15 days seems to be pretty effective. So traditionally, you do a ceremony of making some commitments that pertain to the precepts when it's still dark enough so that you can't see the lines on the palm of your hand.

[22:01]

I love the specificity of these old practices. Kind of nice. So as I walked out of my house this morning, I looked at my hand to see if I could see anything, and I thought, oh, good, we've got a few minutes. And so early this morning, 18 of us, 19 of us, took some of the so-called Eight Mahayana Precepts. And what we did was each of us decided which of the collection we felt we could make a commitment to for 24 hours. So you could take any from one to eight. And the list includes not killing, and so therefore for the next 24 hours, not eating any meat or fowl or fish or eggs.

[23:05]

And in addition to that, only eating up to the midday, not taking any solid food after that until tomorrow morning after sunrise. The second one was the promise or commitment not to lie. The third, not to steal, not to take what is not given. The fourth, a commitment to celibacy. Somebody said, what if I'm already celibate by default? What difference does it make? I think it's a very good question. Because of course what I've discovered during periods of inadvertent celibacy is that it makes a big difference what my mind goes to when I say at the beginning of a session, I will be celibate for the next seven days,

[24:10]

and being celibate by virtue of absence of opportunity during those seven days. Big difference. I'm much more likely to have the opportunity of seeing where my mind goes, having been placed, as they say in some stories, in the bamboo tube, wriggling and fussing and fuming and resisting. So there's a possibility, the opportunity, for the practice of celibacy for 24 hours. Probably more like 25. So where are we? Oh. A promise not to take any intoxicants. Not to engage in intoxicants in any way. So then there's the question of what's an intoxicant? It may be different for each of us.

[25:13]

The last three are quite interesting. A little troublesome in a way that I find. My attention in paying attention to the habits of my daily life. And they are the promises with respect to no adornments, no entertainments, and no sleeping or sitting or lying on... Actually, it's no sitting or lying on high places. And a high place is measured with the distance from your elbow to the tip of your fingers. So the first time I did this, I went around my life measuring everything. How high is the bed? Shucks, have to sleep on the floor tonight. We had a very interesting conversation yesterday about, well, how high is the car seat and are we measuring from the ground or the floor of the car? It's a great practice for getting your attention about things.

[26:21]

Of course, irony of ironies. Here we all took these vows in, among other things, the interest to be more rather than less awake. And I was cruising down to the garden to do a little walking meditation. And something caught my eye that I got very interested in. And I walked right into the puddle that went up over the tops of my rubber shoes. And I thought, ah, mindfulness. There I am with a wet foot. My capacity for mindfulness seems to be very selective some days more than others. So 19 of us gathered together to recite the confession verse, to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and to take whatever of these precepts we felt assured that we could take

[27:29]

until tomorrow morning after sunrise. And I'm hoping that everyone will send me postcards and let me know how it goes. I've been doing this now for the last six months, I guess. And I'm finding it very fruitful. The first thing I discovered was how easy it was to take this collection of promises. I was quite surprised. To not eat from the middle of the day until the next morning was not so troublesome. And, in fact, it was like getting a little gift because I didn't cook dinner. Since, fortunately, the other person with whom I live had also taken the same promise. Helps. So I had a couple of hours I hadn't sort of planned on in the evening,

[28:29]

which revolves around dinner. It's nice. And it brings up all kinds of interesting questions. You know, what constitutes an entertainment? Why would there be a promise like that? What is it about entertainment that leads one away from mindful awareness? Well, there are those cluster of activities that distract us, amuse us, take us away from the moment. So that's how I came to focus on the entertainment business. And, of course, according to the ancient texts and practitioners today, even, it is said that this practice of taking these vows or commitments for 24 hours,

[29:31]

even if we only do it for once in our entire lifetime, will bring extraordinary benefits to our life. It will bring great benefit to ourselves and to all beings. So there's also the opportunity in taking up a practice like this of dedicating it. For me, this morning and today, I want to dedicate whatever merit or benefit arises to the cessation of suffering in the world, and in particular, the suffering that is arising for the family and friends of our dear friend Kate Sherman, who died a little over a week ago. So we can, each of us, dedicate our practices in a very particular way and let that lead us to a sense of our connection with all beings, the cultivation of wholeness.

[30:34]

I want to read a section in this essay of Lama Govinda's. It's actually a quote that he makes from one of the early sutras. He's talking about if a person has once realized this deep within, referring to this state of mind of generosity and love. If a person has realized this generosity and love within, in heart and mind, and if that person has only the one wish remaining, to gain enlightenment for the sake of all beings, then what is wholesome and unwholesome will become obvious of its own accord. A truth seeker will not lie, and one who has the well-being of all beings at heart will avoid slander and harsh speech, as well as all vain and foolish chatter.

[31:43]

This rejection of negative forms of behavior has a positively helpful effect for the practitioner and for all beings. And here's the quote from the sutra. That one, he or she, speaks the truth, is devoted to the truth, is trustworthy, is dependable. That one never consciously speaks a lie, either to his or her own advantage, or to the advantage of another, or to any advantage, whatever this may be. What he or she has heard here, that one does not repeat elsewhere to cause dissension, but reconciles those who are at variance, and encourages those who are united. Rejoicing in peace, he or she delights in peace,

[32:51]

and uses words to bring about peace. Abandoning harsh speech, he or she refrains from it. Speaking words that are gentle and pleasing to the ear, calming, loving, reaching the heart, urbane, pleasing and attractive to the multitude. Avoiding idle chatter, he or she speaks at the right time what is correct and to the point of Dharma and discipline. He or she is a speaker whose words are to be treasured seasonable, reasonable, well-defined, and connected with the goal. This is what is called perfect speech. I find this description quite inspiring, especially when I understand that it's a description of consequences.

[33:57]

It's not a prescription about how I ought to be, but more a description of what is possible with a degree of realization. A description of the consequences of a particular state of mind. How interesting to think of morality and ethical conduct as the consequence of our state of mind and not the other way around. And I find that this particular proposition is extremely helpful in undercutting, if you will, the habit of self-criticism and editing and that kind of habit of judgment which is unconscious and consequently so much an obstacle to being present.

[35:04]

That state of mind which keeps me dwelling in the past about how it could have been different and what happened and how it should have been and sends me into the future thinking about what could be or how it should be or how I want them to treat me, etc. This notion of the precepts as descriptive of a way of being, if I can cultivate the mind of generosity, a state of mind inclined towards the cultivation of understanding as it leads to compassion and love. I find this way of understanding ethics and morality inspiring and something which I feel drawn toward, a path which seems possible, a path which emphasizes that this sort of cultivation

[36:14]

takes a very long time and great patience. We as Americans are in a bit of a rush about most things. We want everything to happen right away. So it's quite beneficial for us to slow down and to be reminded of the fact that certain kinds of things don't turn, don't change, don't transform quickly, but that they do change and that the changes that hold in our lives seem to be the ones that happen a bit slowly. Remember when we were all at least reading about, if not involved in, encounter groups not so long ago? Those wonderful heady weekends when we would stumble into real insight

[37:18]

only to be dismayed when a few weeks or months later there we are back in the same soup. So what the Buddhist tradition suggests is that there is a way for transformation, for cultivation, for moving towards wholesomeness and harmony and balance and we must not be in a rush. As I said, I think the last time I spoke, we begin with the cultivation of the mind of generosity which is so much what this holiday season is about. So many of us feel like the generosity of the holiday season is inflicted on us. It's from the outside in.

[38:22]

So I want you to know about a little town in, I think it's North Carolina, it's a mill town, textile mill town, where basically everyone in the town works for the textile mill and for the month of December, since the 50s, they've been decorating doorways, wrapping telephone poles and ribbons, putting lights on everything and every year they decorate a little more. Carols are sung and all of the stores are closed for the month of December. One cannot buy or sell anything. The textile mill pays the cost of the lights and the ribbons and the wreaths and thousands of people drive to that town

[39:31]

to enjoy the beauty of the decorations and the beauty of the singing and to go home. Thousands of people go there to enjoy generosity. Isn't that a great idea? I tried to imagine Mill Valley. For the month of December, all the merchants who say, but this is when I make a third or a half of my income for the year. I mean, it would be really hard. You know, a one-company town, it somehow is easier. You only have to have one or two or three people enlightened enough to have such an idea. But I started to think about, wouldn't it be great, a whole month of you couldn't buy or sell anything?

[40:32]

So this year my family is taking on the holiday season as the season of not buying or selling anything. What kind of holiday season will we have with each other if we aren't buying or selling anything for ourselves or each other? There's an interesting degree of nervousness about it, kind of a buy-bulk habit, and enormous relief. So what is that mind of generosity which is not for sale, can't be bought? So I hope you all have a joyful and happy and wholesome holiday season. Thank you very much. May our intention...

[41:41]

May our intention...

[41:41]

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