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. Happy daylight saving time. This is a good one. An extra hour of sleep. I hope you feel well from it. I do. So I'm going to tell some stories today. Some of them are kind of Zen lore. They've been around a while. Many of you have heard them before, but I find them really good and very helpful teaching. First one is about a Zen teacher by the name of Birdnest Roshi. And Birdnest Roshi was famous for sitting hours and hours of meditation up in a tree. When asked by a monk the secret of Buddhist practice, Birdnest yelled down, Do good, avoid evil, and purify the mind.

[01:02]

The monk said, well, that's easy. Even a child of three can understand that. Bird Nest replied, yes, a child of three can understand it. But a person of 80 years may not be able to do it. So I think this is the challenge that all of us have as practitioners of the Buddha's teaching. You know, where, when, and for whom. does the practice of the Buddha's way appear? Three-year-olds, 80-year-olds, 25-year-olds, 60-year-olds? Master Dogen, founder of Soto Zen tradition in Japan, says that it will happen here, meaning all places. It will happen now, meaning all time. And it will happen to you, meaning all beings. So this is the one precept as an ultimate truth. With nothing outside of that truth.

[02:04]

The great ocean of reality itself. First principle. Cause and effect. Path and goal. Self and other. As one and the same thing. Right now. Right now. The cause of this is that which came before. The cause of that. will be how I meet this and how I behave right now. The one precept in and as the present moment. Just this is it. So this truth is reflected in the words that the Buddha said at the time of his own enlightenment. I and all beings on earth attain enlightenment at the same time. This is what he saw and this is what he wishes for all of us. And yet within this great ocean of reality, differences do appear as if by magic.

[03:08]

Whales and sea turtles and great white sharks. Among humans, they also appear as differences. Differences in our point of view, in our opinions, and in the way we think things ought to be done. So this is the second principle known as the relative truth. The truth about our relationships, our relatives, and how we take care of one another. And also about the things that we touch and see and hear, taste and smell, and especially the things that we think. This truth, the relative truth, is the one that we humans must, by all means, take very seriously. The relative truth is what? tells us in words, such as I'm telling you right now, about the potential that we have within this lifetime. To open, demonstrate, realize, and enter the practice of the Buddha way, as it says in the Lotus Sutra.

[04:14]

A practice itself that begins with words. Words like compassion and kindness, generosity, patience, effort, honesty. concentration, and wisdom. Words that can show us how to take care of ourselves and how to take care of each other throughout the day and throughout our entire lives as we swim along together in the one great ocean of reality. But this is Buddha's world that we're swimming in, walking in and flying through. Whether we notice it or not, Buddha notices us. Awareness itself, the great ocean itself, and the Buddha wishes for us as its offspring, the best possible journey to awakening, which is the best possible journey there is. From here to there and back again for the sake of all life.

[05:16]

So this morning, I'm going to talk about the guidance system for ocean travel that has been sent forward to us by our ancestors. A guidance system that is based on a vow. That Buddha's own vow to awaken for the sake of all beings. A vow that gives life to this community. And ultimately, perhaps will be of benefit to all beings in this world. So the first thing I want to talk about is the origin of this vow. You know, called the Bodhisattva vow. Who's the one that made it first and what happened next? The story of the Bodhisattva vow appears in the Pali Canon, in the Kudaka Nikaya, and it's a story that took place a long, long time ago, long before the Buddha was born. And you can also find this story in a book by Shohaka Okamura Rashi called Living by Vow.

[06:19]

The first time I'd heard this story was when I read that book a few years back, and I was kind of surprised that I hadn't heard it before. So you too may be surprised by how it ends. Countless eons ago, in a city called Amaravati, there lived a Brahmin named Sumedha, a son of good family. When Sumedha was still quite young, his parents died, and the minister of state, who was the steward of the family's property, showed Sumedha the wealth accumulated for seven generations that he now had inherited from his parents. The family treasury was filled with gold and silver, gems, pearls, and other valuables. When Sumedha saw the treasure, he thought, after amassing all of this wealth, none of my ancestors were able to take even one penny with him when they passed away. Can't it be right that I should seek to take my wealth with me to the end of my days?

[07:21]

And then he told the minister of state that he would give all of this wealth to the poor. and leave home to become a spiritual seeker. He saw how a life of transmigrating within samsara, the cycle of birth, sickness, aging, and death, was suffering, and he wanted to find the path of deliverance that would lead to nirvana, to extinction. No more rebirth. No more suffering. So he left home and entered a forest in the Himalayas to practice as a hermit. Because he was a person of great integrity, he attained superhuman knowledge and supernatural powers. One day, Deepankara Buddha appeared in the world and began to teach. He taught in a town nearby where Sumedha was living in his secluded hermitage. To prepare for the Buddha's arrival, the people of the town began to fix the road which had flooded and to decorate it with flowers.

[08:23]

Sumedha, through his power, knew of the Buddha's visit and flew to the town offering to help with preparations. The people were so excited because they knew Sumedha could fix the road with his supernatural powers and time for Deepangara Buddha's arrival. But Sumedha, although he could have easily used his powers to repair the road, wanted to do so with his own bare hands. So he started to carry the soil. Unfortunately, Deepankara Buddha and his assembly arrived before his work was complete. Sumedha did not want the Buddha to walk through the mud, so he loosened his matted hair, lay down on the ground, and with outstretched hands, asked the Buddha to walk on him. A dramatic enactment of his deep desire to take refuge in the triple treasure. So this is a practice we do to this very day right here in this endo. We lay on the ground with five parts of our bodies, our knees, our arms, our head, and we place our hands with our palms up as if to accept the Buddha's own bare feet on our own bare hands, just as Sumedha did long, long ago.

[09:39]

And in this way, we too express our great respect and gratitude to the Buddha as we gently lift his entire body up and over our heads and then gently down again. While lying there in the mud, Sumedha looked up at Deepankara Buddha and he thought to himself, if I wanted, I could now enter the Buddhist Sangha and by practicing meditation, free myself from deluded human desire and become an Arhat. And then at death, I would at once attain nirvana and cease to be reborn. But then he thought, this would be a selfish course to pursue, for thus I should benefit myself alone. I want to help all beings, as Deepankara Buddha is doing now. I am determined. And then he made a vow. I vow to attain what Deepankara Buddha has attained, Anyuttara Samyaksambodhi, the complete perfect enlightenment of a Buddha, for the benefit of all beings.

[10:48]

When Deepankara Buddha saw Sumedha lying in the mud, he understood that the young man had vowed to become a Buddha. And he told his assembly that in the distant future, Sumedha would become a Buddha named Shakyamuni. Hearing this prediction, Sumedha was overjoyed, believing that his vow would be realized. And thus, Sumedha became a bodhisattva, meaning a Buddha to be, vowing to remain in samsara until all beings have been saved. So this vow, the bodhisattva vow, is the true heart of our human life, whether we know it or not, and whether we ever say it or not. There's still some part of our minds that turn toward the thought of enlightenment, the bodhicitta. And I think there's some part of our bodies that turn toward the images of the Buddha, of an awakened one, such as those that are sitting and standing on our altars here in this hall.

[11:51]

toward the possibility of becoming awakened ourselves. And so we bow, like Sumedha, again and again. This turning toward the thought of enlightenment is a type of wisdom, the wisdom of hearing or of perceiving something that's so profound and so good that we want it for ourselves. And this is natural for us, to want something that's so wonderful as enlightenment itself. For ourselves, of course. And yet, even as we recognize that our own wish to be enlightened falls way short of Sumedha's vow to awaken for the benefit of others, still, it's our good fortune there really is no other choice than to start from where we are right now. And most often, if not always, we will find that we are starting from selfishness. Due to what the Buddha called the four defiled ways of thinking, which are blocking our view of Buddhahood.

[12:57]

In the mind-only teachings, these four are called the klistamamas, or the defiled thinking. The first one is ignorance, which, along with desire, the Buddha taught as the cause of human suffering. Next is belief in a separate self. Third is conceit about that self, either as the best or the worst in the world. And the fourth is love for that self above all others. This is our basic inborn narcissism. And yet right there is our first opportunity for a taste of liberation. By studying the self that we believe that we are, and then by telling the truth about what we see, I see that I am selfish. In that recognition... and acknowledgement, the Bodhisattva vow and the precepts suddenly appear, beginning with what I believe to be the most important precept of them all.

[14:00]

A disciple of Buddha does not lie, not to oneself, not to others, and that very truth will set us free. Telling the truth, followed by repentance and confession, are intimately connected to the Bodhisattva vow, There are two sides of one practice, and that's because our vow of saving all beings is endless, and therefore we will never complete it. Our awareness of incompleteness is itself a repentance, as in, I am so sorry, I just can't finish the job. The very thing the Buddha said at the time he could no longer stay in his painful human body. I'm so sorry, but I have to go. I think you've all seen the Enso that Zen masters draw as a demonstration both of their unique personalities, but also of the understanding of this universal truth of incompleteness, you know, a circle that will never be closed, never finished.

[15:07]

This truth is the same for all who undertake the bodhisattva vow and practice. And ironically, it's the name that Zen Center has chosen for its retirement center. where those of us who couldn't finish the job will soon be going, thereby making way for the generation to follow. And we wish you the very best. Along with knowing that our task is unachievable, it is also important to reflect honestly on our own personal limitations as part of entry into a life devoted to thou. And such reflection sets up the resonance between the enormous task and our effort as individuals. The big mind and the small mind finding their way to harmony. Shantideva, who's an 8th century Indian Buddhist monk and scholar and a follower of the middle way philosophy with its primary focus on the emptiness teachings.

[16:10]

He said that one law serves to summarize the whole of the Mahayana. The protection of all beings is accomplished through examination of one's own mistakes. The protection of all beings is accomplished through examination of one's own mistakes. And again from the Pali Canon, one of the Jataka tales, those are the stories about Sumedha, the Bodhisattva, as he went from lifetime to lifetime until at last he became our own Buddha, Shakyamuni. So this story takes place near the beginning of his search for truth, in which he too underwent a very close kind of self-examination. At one time, the Bodhisattva Sumedha incarnated as a king named Suprabhasas. One day he asked his elephant trainer to bring his great white elephant for him to ride, but the trainer tells him that the elephant had escaped into the jungle.

[17:17]

but that he would soon return because he was well-trained. The king did not believe him. He became furious, yelling at the trainer and telling him to leave. The next morning, the elephant returned, and the trainer said to the king, You see, your majesty, the training was good. We have conquered his old, wild ways. And the king then said, Though I am a king holding great power over others, I have as yet failed to conquer what is closest, myself. I was unable to control my own anger. This will not do. So this kind of honest self-evaluation helps to motivate us and to inspire us to continue finding our way. It took the king a lot of courage to face himself and to be honest about what he saw. I think oftentimes we back away from looking at our mistakes And instead, we lead with a string of justifications or excuses, such as one of my favorites.

[18:21]

In my defense, it's your fault. Remember that one? Which is why I've always appreciated our practice at the Zen Center, that when one of us misses a bell or is late for a meeting, we simply bow and apologize. I'm sorry to be late. Without bringing in a lot of extraneous details. Some years ago, our priest group was meeting regularly and studying Dogen's Shobo Genzo. There's 90 fascicles. We'd read one every week, and it took us a couple of years to finish them. And our teacher had us each writing four-line poem for each fascicle that we'd then read to the group. So one morning, I had not read the fascicle, and I had no poem, and I was feeling a little desperate as I went out the door. to go to class, and then suddenly it came to me. My four-line poem was, No Excuses. I think it's also part of the Mahayana tradition when entering into relationship with Dharma practice and particularly with the Bodhisattva vow to repent not only the impossibility of completing our mission and our current transgression, but also our previous way of living.

[19:43]

which is just what we chant every morning following service, at the beginning of service, following Zazen. All my ancient twisted karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, born through body, speech, and mind, I now fully about. It's all mine. Repentance has some interesting historical meanings. In Greek, the word for repent is translated as something like to think differently or to change your mind or change your conduct. And in Hebrew, the idea of repentance is represented by two verbs. One of them is returning and the other is feeling sorrow. And in terms of the Bible, this refers primarily to a conversion from self-love and self-assertion to obedient trust and commitment. To God. And for us Buddhists.

[20:46]

It's very nearly the same. The same intention. But rather than turning our trust. And commitment toward God. We turn ourselves. Toward a way of life dedicated. To the welfare of all beings. And thereby becoming stewards. Of the creator's creations itself. It's also interesting to me to note. That among the elements of existence. Which are called dharmas. With a small d. which were utilized in the early Buddhist teachings of purification, which are still very important to our understanding of Buddhist teaching, there are only two elements out of 75 that are listed that are considered to be wholesome. One of them is a feeling of shame at having done something wrong. And the other is the fear of consequences for wrongdoing, what others will think of us. Also known as a sense of shame and a dread of blame. To our modern ears, this sounds pretty strict and too critical, maybe, you know, like a kind of unhealthy psychological condition, shamefulness.

[21:52]

And yet being conscious of our errors and being concerned about the effect that our behavior has on others is essential to living a life together in community, you know, to say nothing of the world. I had a conversation with Reverend Angel Kyoto Williams the other day about this very question of the word shame, and she suggested a better word is remorse, feeling remorse. Remorse comes from the root to chew over again, to taste it again, morsel, and to reconsider how considerate we have been toward one another, the very reason we're practicing in the first place, to live for the benefit of others. So I found another good reference from a commentary on the Pali Canon that has to do with its imperative of living together in harmony, what the Buddha called the Sangha treasure. This is from a commentary by Bhikkhu Thanasaro to a sutta called Instructions to Rahula.

[22:57]

Rahula was the Buddha's song given at Mango Grove. Throughout ancient cultures, the terminology of music was used to describe the moral quality of people and actions, discordant intervals or poorly tuned instruments were metaphors for doing evil, a violation of the first pure precept. Harmonious intervals and well-tuned instruments, metaphors for doing good, the second pure precept. So in Pali, the term sama, meaning even, describes an instrument that is tuned in perfect pitch. The term samana referred to a monk, also derives from this word sama or evenness, referring to the greatly admired characteristics of the monastics who are developing in themselves the quality of being in tune with what is proper and what is good. So continuing just for a moment with these musical metaphors, there's another teaching from the Pali Canon in which the Buddha reminds Sona Kalavisa, who has been overexerting himself in practice,

[24:09]

that the sound of the lute is appealing only if the strings are neither too taut or too lax, but evenly tuned. This image has, I think, special relevance to the Buddhist teaching of the Middle Way, which avoids the extremes. So the last reflection that I want to share with you today is about the thoughts I had in the beginning this morning. And those being that there is truly only one precept, The one and all inclusive precept as an ultimate truth. With nothing outside of that truth. The great ocean of reality itself. First principle. And the great ocean of reality, the path and the goal, the self and the other are one and the same thing. Arising together right now. The cause of this present moment is that which came before. And the cause of that which comes after. is this and how I behave right now.

[25:11]

Just this. And yet the Buddha taught two truths, the ultimate truth and the relative truth. From the point of view of the ultimate truth, reality isn't broken up into parts at all. And none of those parts could possibly act separately from one another, as we seem to imagine. The self is not separate from the world, from altering, Ultimate reality, each part depends on the whole and all the other parts, and in turn, the whole depends on them, like waves in the ocean. This truth is also called the non-dual nature of reality. The truth that the Buddha suddenly knew as he gazed at the morning star and as the star gazed back at him. The one great precept for us humans is most intimate in the silence and stillness of our meditation practice, when, as Suzuki Roshi says, your small self becomes even smaller and your big self takes over.

[26:17]

Big self as one precept does not kill or steal, sexualize or lie, intoxicate, slander, brag, hoard, hate, or disparage the three treasures. From the ultimate point of view, there is no killing. As Dogen teaches in his essay on the Bodhisattva precepts, life is not killed. From the point of view of the relative truth, small self has taken control once again. As we're faced by a multitude of appearances and whether they are working together for our benefit or not. When in harmony, that's very nice for us. And when discordant, not so nice. And so we kill. Steal. lie, and so on. When we study the Bodhisattva vow as our own, we do so from the side of these two truths. From the side of the ultimate truth, where there is no killing, and from the side of the relative truth, where there are seeming choices to be made about killing and stealing, sexualizing, lying, and intoxicating.

[27:29]

There are seeming choices to be made about slandering, bragging, hoarding, hating. and disparaging the three treasures. In the relative world, the small self is not so small, and the world on the outside is closing in. Because we are charter members of both of these realms of truth, the ultimate realm and the relative realm, there are two sets of Bodhisattva precepts, one set assigned to each. For the realm of ultimate truth, there is the silence and stillness of completeness. And in completeness, there is no thought of killing, no thought of stealing, no other to hate or to crave. Whether we notice it or not, when we are sitting in an upright posture, the self and the world around the self, like green turtles on the open waves, are naturally at ease within the all-inclusive ocean of reality. The one great precept of no self and no other, just this and all its vastness, is it.

[28:31]

When we get up from sitting and begin moving about, there will often be a shift in our perception from the ultimate truth to the limited truth and to the unending demands of self-concern. In the realm of the relative truth, the Buddha has given us a list of prohibitory precepts to illuminate the pathway of practice through the human world, a pathway of don'ts. Don't kill. Don't steal. Don't sexualize. Don't lie. Don't intoxicate yourself or others. By honoring the pathway of practice in the realm of our relationships, we return seamlessly from the oneness of the ultimate truth into the light of the everyday world, the realm of uniqueness and difference where nothing is hidden and all tasks must be carefully done. By following the practice of restraint, we arrive at the second set of precepts, the precepts of do, also called the clear mind precepts.

[29:38]

Do cultivate and encourage all life. Do honor the gift that has not yet been given to you. Do remain faithful in your relationships. Communicate the truth, dispel delusions, and create wisdom out of ignorance. Do extol the virtues of others, give freely of yourself, dwell in equanimity, and respect the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. So with these do's and don'ts in mind, we will be quite busy following in the footsteps of the Buddha. Right foot, left foot. Right foot, left foot. And as we walk, bring joy to humankind, including each and every one of us. May it be so. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[30:50]

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