I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good morning. Today we are having a one-day sitting, which means we alternate sitting meditation with walking meditation from early in the morning until nine o'clock at night. These all-day sittings give us the opportunity to set aside our everyday activity and our everyday thinking mind and to just sit. To be present for whatever our body and mind creates

[01:01]

and to watch how our thoughts, our emotional states, and our physical sensations arise, exist, and pass away without having to do anything about them. Zen Buddhism developed in the context of Mahayana Buddhism or later Buddhism. One of the characteristics of Mahayana Buddhism is the bodhisattva. And the word bodhisattva has two parts. The first, bodhi, means awakening or enlightenment. And it's from the same root that the word Buddha is from. Sattva means any living being.

[02:07]

So the bodhisattva is a being who is becoming enlightenment or an enlightening being. Excuse me. The bodhisattva takes the vow not to enter nirvana until all beings have entered nirvana. And the word nirvana seems to be used more frequently now in English. I think often it's used to mean the enlightened state or some kind of heavenly state that's free from problems. The Buddhist usage of nirvana is extinction or cessation, cessation from all outflows.

[03:11]

And when one qualifies for nirvana, it means that one is free from cyclic existence or free from the cycle of birth and death. One has been delivered from all future rebirths. The metaphor used to illustrate nirvana is usually a bonfire whose fuel has been spent. And which has simply gone out. And nirvana or utter cessation is the goal of Hinayana Buddhist practice. In Mahayana Buddhism, the ideal is the bodhisattva who vows not to abandon living beings

[04:13]

in this world of confusion and ignorance, but instead is willing to take on innumerable rebirths. He's willing to experience whatever living beings experience until all beings have realized unsurpassed, perfect, and complete enlightenment. The bodhisattva vow is usually stated, as beings are numberless, I vow to save them. And save means to enlighten them or to liberate them. But once I heard this vow translated, as beings are numberless, I vow to be one of them. And for a long time, this didn't make any sense to me.

[05:16]

Why would we vow to be a sentient being? To be what we already are and have almost no power to change? Stating the vow in this way takes our condition as a being dwelling in ignorance and confusion and makes this condition a vow. Now I see the usefulness of doing this is that it helps us acknowledge our actual condition, which makes it harder for us to think or pretend that we may be doing something else. We need to acknowledge our actual situation and to get a sense of the aversion and confusion and grasping of existence

[06:21]

so that we can begin to practice with it. The basis of practice for the Bodhisattva are the six paramitas, or the six perfections. These are giving, right conduct, patience, vigor, meditation, and wisdom. Suzuki Roshi referred to these as the six ways of true living. And it's no accident that the first of the six is giving. The quality or the practice that's most emphasized for the Bodhisattva is generosity, or giving. And Buddhism teaches

[07:23]

that even compassion is exhibited, practiced, and developed through giving. The aspects of giving that are most emphasized are liberality, or open-handedness, the warm-hearted readiness to give, which is indicative of an unattached, spontaneous mind, so that the way we give has more emphasis or more importance than what we give. The readiness to give has a lot to do with flexibility. Or the ability to let go, to let go of our present state of mind,

[08:24]

of the object of our attention, to be ready to move on to the next thing, to whatever we are faced with in the next moment. The essential condition for true giving is that we feel happy and joyful when we give. And it's been said that the nature of generosity is that whatever we hold is our possession. Or whatever we identify as belonging to us, that is the nature of what we must give. In Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, Suzuki Roshi talked about giving

[09:28]

in terms of, to give is non-attachment. Or just not to attach to anything is to give. And Kadagiri Roshi said, all beings that exist in this— Sorry. All beings that exist in this world manifest themselves as the practice of giving. Just by being whoever they are. When we do zazen, we have to completely give away our body-mind to zazen. Dogen Zenji, who is our 13th century ancestor

[10:31]

and who founded Soto Zen in Japan, wrote a fascicle called The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Giving. And the first method that he teaches, I'm sorry, the fascicle is The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance. And the first method is giving. And I'd like to read some selections from this fascicle. It begins with, giving means non-greed. Non-greed means not to covet. Non-greed is to give away unneeded belongings to someone you don't know. To offer flowers blooming on a distant mountain to the Tathagata, the Buddha. Or to offer treasures you had in a former life

[11:33]

to sentient beings. Even if the gift is not your own, it does not hinder giving. The principle is that the effort must be genuine. You give yourself to yourself and other to other. Give even a phrase or a verse of truth. It will be a wholesome seed for this and other lifetimes. One should give even a single coin or a blade of grass. It causes roots of goodness in this age and other ages to sprout. When you learn giving well, you see that to accept a body or to be born,

[12:34]

and to give up a body or to die, are both giving. All productive labor is fundamentally giving. Entrusting flowers to others or petals to wind, birds to the season, also must be meritorious acts of giving. The mind of living beings is difficult to transform. In the beginning, it must be done through giving. For this reason, the transcendent way of giving is the first of the six paramitas. Mind is beyond measure. Things given are beyond measure. Moreover, in giving,

[13:36]

mind transforms the gift, and the gift transforms mind. If we take Suzuki Roshi's phrase, just not to attach to anything, is to give. We can use it for practicing with our breath. Usually, when we breathe, we breathe without attachment. We may not be present with our breath. We may be distracted, or our mind may be wandering. But usually, it's not because we're attached to some breath from the past, which brought us great pleasure, that we're trying to hold on to the memory of,

[14:40]

so we can try to repeat it in the present. As we inhale and exhale without attachment, we can let this be a model for letting thoughts come and go without attachment. Non-attachment is an attitude of being ready to let go. To let go, or to move, or to open. Basically, it's being willing to change. When we don't give, when we hold on or hold back, we impoverish ourselves. The second precept is a disciple of Buddha

[15:42]

to take what is not given. Commentaries on this precept say that if one is poor or poor-spirited, a mean-spirited person cannot become rich by taking the possessions of another. And likewise, a full-spirited person or a rich person does not become impoverished by having their possessions taken away. In order to become wealthy, one must have acquired the necessary merit through open-hearted giving in the past. One teaching is that when we give things away, we do not lose them,

[16:46]

because the good effect of giving persists. Usually, I don't think we associate the practice of giving with a precept of not taking what is not given. But Jack Kornfield, a Vipassana teacher, recommends a way to practice with refraining from stealing, as to try for one week to act on every single impulse of generosity that spontaneously arises in the heart. Thank you. Suzuki Roshi commented on this precept

[17:49]

of not stealing. And he said, when we think we do not possess something, then we want to steal. But actually, everything in the world belongs to us. So there is no need to steal. For example, my glasses. They are just glasses. They do not belong to me or to you. Or we could say they belong to all of us. But you know about my tired old eyes, so you let me use them. Thank you. Buddhism teaches three methods or three ways

[18:51]

to practice with the precepts. The first is to take the literal meaning of the precepts and use it to regulate our outward behavior, regardless of the mental activity or the intention with which we act. The second way emphasizes following the spirit of the precepts, which is the mind of compassion. Actions that express this compassionate, reverent mind uphold the precepts. And actions that betray this mind break the precepts. The third method is the way of the Buddha nature precepts. When one realizes

[19:53]

or experiences Buddha nature or unconditioned nature, there is no duality between inside and outside, or self and other. Acting from this position requires acting from enlightenment. When one's life accords with the absolute truth, that is observing the Buddha nature precepts. However, this condition is so specialized that we don't need to, we can pay a lot of attention to the first two ways of practicing with the precepts. It's a way to help inform us

[20:54]

of non-duality Bodhidharma wrote a commentary on the Buddha nature precepts. And his commentary on the second precept I'd like to read. Self-nature is sacred and profane. In the midst of the unattainable Dharma, not to produce the thought of attainment is called the precept. of not stealing. As long as we are breathing, we have the opportunity to practice. Most of the time

[21:54]

we take our breath for granted, the way we take gravity for granted. But today, during this sitting, we can try to appreciate our breath. Instead of assuming that it must always be there, we can try to experience the uniqueness of each breath. We can accept each breath with gratitude as if it were a gift. Compassion is exhibited, practiced, and developed chiefly through giving. What do we have to give?

[22:55]

What is the most fundamental thing we can give? In giving, mind transforms the gift, and the gift transforms mind. Because of the one-day sitting today, we won't be having questions and answers in the back of the dining room. But I can take questions now. Yes. What is the most fundamental thing we can give? What is the most fundamental thing we can give? I find asking that question

[24:02]

is a way to practice. And it's something you can ask in many different situations. I think it comes up for me the most as I walk down the street, and the people I encounter on the street, person after person. What could I give that would make a difference? Yes. I've been wondering about this question about giving money to people who are dependent on the street. It seems on one side there's this idea

[25:03]

that it's power that changes the position of the person at all. On the other hand, it seems like having a gift therefore is a gift is where I'm kind of confused about how a gift after some time can have any significance. I don't know, maybe especially in San Francisco or in a city, we're all confronted with that. And it certainly seems like it's not going away. On one side, I know some people have decided not to give money to panhandlers because they might buy alcohol or whatever with it, but to donate money to shelters. I find myself going through a lot of different things when I encounter people.

[26:04]

And a lot of it has to do with the mood I'm in at the time rather than the condition of the person. But when I'm at my best, I feel like this is an opportunity not just to share but to contact another person. But basically I feel like it's an opportunity to watch how we react to things. And because I don't think there is a solution that's going to make the problem go away, we're going to have a lot of opportunity to face this problem. Sometimes people come up and ask me for a quarter and I give them a dollar. Or I sort of wish every once in a while I'll see someone and I'll wish I had five dollars or ten dollars because I feel like this is a person that I'd really like to

[27:07]

be able to help. But I don't have an answer. Yes? Well, I heard somebody translate the vow that way. Sentient beings are numberless. I vowed to be one of them. And it just puzzled me for a long time. But I noticed that there were two or three translations of the vows we were using over a period of years

[28:12]

and often when I say the vows to myself that's the one I said the most often. And I sort of had this image of just all these people and I vowed to be one of them and it didn't really seem like much of a vow but it kept coming up for me. And especially in terms of the bodhisattva vow of vowing to continue taking lives over and over and over again. For me it just comes down to being willing to experience whatever goes with life until all beings you know are enlightened. And it's sort of that never-endingness of the vow. Yeah. I vowed to be one of them

[29:12]

with them or included with the whole schmear. It's a it's an Asian term. Yeah, it's you know, sometimes I think that you're just walking down the street meeting all these people in many different states of mind. I mean, some of them are asking for something and some of them some aren't.

[30:13]

They're just there. And sometimes I feel like the best response I can come up with is just to look at them and not to look away and pretend they're not there. And heart or in essence we're all the same. So literally realize that we're all separate. Maybe we truly see and truly realize that there's nothing that's the same in all of us. It also for me brings up when Shakyamuni Buddha was enlightened he saw that

[31:14]

enlightenment was the inherent quality of all things. So when he was enlightened he saw that all things were enlightened. And one of the I don't know if conditions is the right word but one of the conditions is that when we're enlightened all things are enlightened. So in a sense because we already are enlightened we can practice. But because we're working toward enlightenment that means all beings are working toward enlightenment and vice versa. It's a real recognition of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all beings. Yes. So to approach that

[32:41]

with a certain humility before another person who in fact who has even a fellow being who has that's another style. Some of us who live in the building frequently feel like we're panhandling sometimes. I notice that aspect for me of looking at homeless people and wondering if I'll always have a home. It wouldn't be nice. The I can't remember right now

[33:47]

probably this root of the Sanskrit word whatever it is that we translate into English as to save means literally to ferry a cross or to take a cross on a raft. Often the Bodhisattva the metaphor uses a ferryman on a raft who takes beings from one side of the river to the other side and often the other shore is a metaphor for enlightenment. So if you think of that metaphor as helping beings cross from one side to the other from the shore of ignorance to the shore of enlightenment it's basically supporting wholesome activity wholesome roots supporting others to awaken. There's the other aspect of it that we can't sort of take beings

[34:48]

like eggs and crack them and awaken them that they've got to work it out for themselves. But the way we interact with people we can let our intention be one from coming from the wholesome side of things. I'm not saying this very clearly. I think it's also important that a lot of times we think of giving only in terms of the times we're asked to give and that actually the giving that we do is kind of a constant with the other ways that you talk about giving and so when I go through the streets and I just feel like all this stuff is coming at me what I try to remember is not just giving people crap about whatever I do but they're related to me

[35:48]

so directly that if I give them a quarter or don't give them a quarter it's just like it's so unmute in this sort of realm of things that we're actually related to what I do and I don't mean that I should not consider which one I choose but that we're both doing it you know there's like there's a relationship there and so just to keep myself from bringing up things like guilt and pride seems to make the whole thing a lot easier or real rather than you know trying to do something which I think is a possibility which makes the whole situation difficult it's not really whether you give them a quarter or not but whether it will make a difference and that whether it will make a difference just has to be forgotten and whatever you do has to be achieved Well I think in a sense when you try to do something

[36:49]

that's going to be important to make a difference or when you're proud or guilty about what you do then that's doing it from the point of view of duality of seeing yourself separate from that other person or that other thing and that you know when it's something that arises spontaneously you know here's a quarter or here's a smile or whatever that's coming from the point of view of no separation I also give money when I haven't been able to and don't when I don't have it or I'm not able to but sometimes a number of men were sitting together on the ground and I was passing by and they asked me for money and I said I'm sorry I don't have any I'm going to like to leave and acknowledge that when any person

[37:49]

in your life is in prison it's not a fact that the money was not the issue at all if I gave them more embarrassment and money by dealing with me it seems to me that fundamentally there's nothing to be ashamed you don't owe anything ownership and owning and having something is just a physiological conception in reality you don't have anything to give giving and having are just conceptions what we give can be a curse of impractice to the real meaning the real practice which is giving up ego if you help somebody if you give something doesn't feel good that's good for your ego it seems

[38:51]

to me that there is only one giving giving your ego thank you may our intentions be

[39:08]

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