I am very sorry. So, this evening, I want to look at the path of compassion as found in the Brahmanet Sutra, which is actually the text in the Mahayana Chinese tradition of the Bodhisattva precepts. And in it, in the text, the Brahmanet Sutra, they say that the precepts are like a brilliant lamp. And they say that ethics are like a light, which actually are going to help us to illuminate our own life. And that actually the precepts are like a liberating factor. And so at the time of the Buddha, the monks had 250 precepts and the nun about 348 and the lay people 5 or 10.

[01:12]

And then as a text of the Pali Canon were translated in China and they came and there was different translation between the 2nd century to the 5th century. Then in 440, 480, then they started to develop, to create the Brahmanate Sutra. And the Brahmanate Sutra has 10 major precepts and 48 minor precepts. And what is interesting about these precepts that were created by the Chinese tradition is that first you can take them yourself. if there are no teachers there to give them to you. And also that they can be applied both to lay people and to monastics. So in a way, the democratic precept, the egalitarian precept.

[02:16]

And why one can know that actually they are a Chinese text, it's because again and again in the text, It talks about filial piety. And this is never found in the Pali canon. But this is always found in the Chinese canon, in the Chinese culture, because of the Confucian thought about filial piety. So the Buddhists, it was very important for the Buddhists to show that they had... filial piety, otherwise they would really not fit in well with the Chinese. And so these precepts were created as a mean to adapt ethics to the Chinese need, to the Chinese people need. And why I was interested in translating this text was in order to see, I mean, this is what the Chinese people felt they needed in the fifth century.

[03:22]

In China, and it had kind of continued to this day, but I am wondering, what about us? What would be the precept, the Bodhisattva precept we could create for our modern times? And so personally, I'm not saying that we need to apply totally rigorously the Bodhisattva precept as they found in the Brahmanet Sutra, but they could be maybe... kind of like an inspiration for us to find what would be our precept for our modern time now. And so these bodhisattva precept, they went into Japan and they became the precept of the Tendai monk until they were superseded by the esoteric precept. Then Dogen, in the 13th century, he took the... 58 Bodhisattva precepts, and then he reduced them. And that's why now, in the Soto Zen tradition, you have the 16 great Bodhisattva precepts, which are constituted of the 10 major precepts from the Brahmanet Sutra, plus with the three refugees, and then the three fundamental precepts.

[04:41]

So what is interesting for me, why I call the talk the path of compassion, is that with the Bodhisattva precept, it's clear that the precepts are about compassion, are about awakening, are about altruism. So it's not so much about rule and regulation as a means to inspire us in our life. How can we cultivate compassion? How can we cultivate the path to awakening, to liberation, also considering others? And so in Korea, why I'm familiar with this precept is that in Korea, when I was a nun for 10 years, then we would recite the precept once a month. And then at the beginning, I did not understand what I was taking because I did not know the language very well. And then over time, as I kind of heard that once a month, my Korean got better. Then I started to understand what they were about.

[05:46]

And then I started to see that actually they were the reason for the way things worked in the monastery, that they created an environment that the people followed, the monks and the nuns followed in the monastery. For example, I noticed that my teacher, Master Cousin, whenever we went in the field and he would see a cow, he would pack the cow. And he would say something sotto voce. And so I could never hear it. I wondered, what is he doing? Because he always did it. Until I realized it was on the Bodhisattva precept. One of the precepts is whenever you meet an animal, sotto voce, you have to wish for them to be awakened. And that's what he was doing. But another thing...

[06:47]

that I found in Korea, which was very interesting, was what I would call a ritual of forgiveness. So in a Korean monastery, ordinary, if you make a mistake, the only thing you need to do is to go to somebody a little superior in the hierarchy, and you bow three times, you say, I made a mistake, and this is it. Forever after. And what was interesting is when we had a few monks, Western monks and nuns in Korea, and then Master Kuzan would say, you made a mistake about this or that. And us, the Westerner, we would say, oh, but really, you know, this happened and that happened, and I had this reason and this. And I could see Master Kuzan was sitting there thinking, why don't they just bow three times and we get this over? And I also had this experience with him that once we were traveling together in America and somebody asked him a little kind of a difficult question.

[07:59]

This man asked Master Cousin, do you think it would be better for me to become a Catholic priest or a Zen monk? What was Master going to say? So he told him, of course, that it would be better to become a Zen monk. And he was... It sounded to me a little dogmatic. So then we kind of got into a little of an argument. And then I felt bad. I thought, oh, I have had an argument with my teacher. This is really a mistake. So I put on my robe, and I went to Master Cousin, and I said about three times, I said, I made a mistake. And then he said, I made one too. And to me, what was interesting about this ritual of forgiveness was is that really, it was forgiveness. Because I feel in the West, we forgive, but we don't forget. You know, and we'll kind of serve it later in a roundabout way.

[09:00]

But there, I could see it in action, it really was forgotten. And it was very much the idea that if you see your mistake, you have the intention not to do it again. So what I like to do now is to go through a few of the precepts. And the first one is the one from which the ritual of forgiveness comes from. And it says, because the way it works is that you have a title and then you have kind of certain kind of a suggestion of how to apply that precept, how to look at it. So this one, refrain from being angry and treat well someone who asks for forgiveness. And then it says, it is a duty of the Bodhisattva to be kind and not quarrelsome and compassionate. So then if you abuse living creature or, and this is an interesting one, if you vent your anger on an inanimate object who has not kicked the car or a computer.

[10:12]

And this was... 1,500 years ago. Maybe then they kicked cart or something else. But to me, what the precepts show us is that at one level, human nature don't change very much. You know, you kind of work with very similar things. And so if someone comes to beg forgiveness and your anger is unappeased, then this is a serious offense. Then the first one, the first major one, which you must be familiar with, it's refrain from taking life, meaning do not cause harm. But then, this is the way he talks about it. Do not perform the act yourself. Do not cause someone else to do it. Do not do it in a roundabout way. Do not create the causes and conditions for it to happen.

[11:15]

nor develop a means to do it. So then this is not just about, I don't kill anything, I don't cause harm. It's kind of really looking, do I do it in a roundabout way? Because often that's what we do. Especially when we gossip. When we gossip, we do this in a very roundabout way. You said, you heard, he said this about you. Really? He said this about me. How can he say this about me? Really? And you kind of, you know, you kind of propagate. This kind of really, in a way, the precept, to me, what I find interesting is that it helps you to look behind, behind even the intention, and it also looks at the causes and the effect of our action. So it's not kind of saying, you know, always kind of be afraid of what you do, no. But to really look, to be aware, what do I do? How do I do it? And what is the end result? Then you have refrain from telling lies.

[12:19]

And then you have the same thing. Don't perform the act, cause someone to do it, do it in a roundabout way, create the causes and conditions, develop a means to, and then on top of it, don't convey the impression that you saw something you did not see, or that you did not see something that you saw through physical gestures or mental intention. That gets subtle. This is really kind of, you know, I personally, I feel it is present about awareness. Be aware about how do we speak? How do we convey information? Or how do we not convey information? And so to kind of really look at the whole, even the gesture, and even looking at the intention before what we do. And you have refrained from praising yourself and slandering others.

[13:22]

And then it says, it is a duty of the Bodhisattva to take on oneself the slander directed toward others. That's a tough one, isn't it? I mean, generally you don't like to take any slander anyway, of any kind, blame, we don't want blame. And here it is asking us, to take the blame for someone else. And I feel for us, it's even to entertain the idea. I think it's kind of starting the path. To kind of, you know, could I consider doing something like that? Instead of saying, blame, I don't want it. Oh, it's terrible. I have a friend. He works in a drug addict recovery center. And sometimes people get a little stressed there. And then sometimes they say, You did this. And then the other one said, I did not do it. Who did it then?

[14:23]

And then my friend, he said, I did it. He did not do it. But he says he did it. And then it brings the stress down. And then they can look at it in a different way. Or transfer, another one, transfer whatever is unpleasant to oneself. I mean, again, we don't want things which are unpleasant. On top of it to take somebody else, unpleasantness. No way, you know. But I think this precept is to kind of, you know, make it a little wider, the way we feel about ourselves, the way we feel about others. And the last one is give whatever is good to others. And so in a way saying to not keep what is good for ourselves, just for our own needs. selfish interests, but also to share what is good with others. And so in a way, that's what it's kind of asking us to kind of go a little.

[15:27]

To me, this one is about going beyond our limits, kind of bringing a little from self-centeredness to really go a little to other-centeredness. Then you have refrain from reviling others in order to spare oneself. So it says, do not be miserly. Give whatever is requested, even if a few words of advice. But I think it's interesting, this one, that often we put people down, so we won't have to do something for them. And I think this is a little what might happen in San Francisco. There are a lot of homeless people and a lot of begging people. And often we see somebody who begs and we say, well, they're going to use it to drink alcohol or to buy drugs and anyway, and then we don't give anything. And it's kind of saying to look beyond that, to really kind of look at the humanity of the person.

[16:28]

And recently I read a book which I found so wonderful about this wisdom, about this compassion called the soloist. and some might have used the film also came out, but the book is about this journalist who sees this fellow playing the violin in the street, a homeless person, and who decides to strike a friendship and really help him where he can help him, but not force him to change. And I thought that was really what this precept is talking about, giving really of one's time, of attention, of awareness to another person. Then another one, care well for those who are sick. And then they say, care and provide for the sick as if the person was a Buddha himself. So in a way, to see every person who is here as if the Buddha was here.

[17:30]

And so to really open our heart. and to really try to help that person. And I think why it's so important is because, in a way, when we are ill, not only is it painful, but we feel very isolated. We very feel alone in our pain. Nobody is going to have my headache for me or my sciatica for me. And so I think it's very important when we see somebody in pain to realize this is so isolated. and then to have compassion, to reach out, try to help them. Then you have another one, save the lives of living creatures and let loose those who are about to be killed. And this one created this amazing thing in China, that then the animals would be given to the temple to die. So then in the 18th century, 19th century, I read a kind of a report from somebody who went to visit Chinese temples then, and they would have an enclosure for the cows, and we are going to kind of, you know, old age in the monastery, then the one with the fish in the water, then the birds and things like this, and so in a way, each temple became like a little zoo, or kind of, you know, aged animal, because of this present.

[18:57]

because of this precept. But then this precept also made it actually kind of created a marketing opportunity. Because it says, let loose the animals who are going to be killed. And so you have now, and still to this day in China, this practice of going to the market, buying live animals, and releasing them. Then the guy who sells them cuts them again, sells them again to the Buddhist, and off we go. I mean, sometimes this precept can have a kind of economic impact. Then the last one I wanted to mention. Refrain from getting angry. Do not strike others. Do not take revenge. Do not repay anger with anger or blow by blow. Do not beat or scold your servants.

[19:57]

I mean, nowadays, we don't have servants, but there is a service industry. So if somebody calls to sell you double glazing for the hundredth time, are you kind and compassionate on the floor? Or if you have the problem with the internet, and you finally, after 10 minutes, manage to reach somebody who is going to help you, are you calm and compassionate? I think this precept is about that. And it says, we must not abandon the compassionate mind. And so to me, these precepts are about aspiration. They're not about expectation. Because we, in the... The monastic, we used to recite them once a month because it's an aspiration to try to be wise and compassionate, but it's not that we're kind of always checking ourselves.

[21:04]

How much did I respect the precept today? But we aspire to them and at the same time we'll make mistakes. And in the lay people, they used to take them once a year as a man to remind themselves of what would be important in their life. to cultivate wisdom, to cultivate compassion, so not to get lost, not to lose this aspiration. And that's what the precepts to me are very much about, not about rule and regulation, but more as lifting our spirit up, reminding ourselves of a larger vista, that we're not doing only the meditation for ourselves, but also to benefit all other beings. And so now I'd like to just speak a little about compassion. And to see that compassion is natural. It's an innate response to suffering. So at that level, it is relatively easy to have the feeling that if somebody is ill, generally we feel compassion for that suffering, for that person.

[22:13]

But I think that's not enough. We need also to recognize the equality of life and suffering. That when I suffer, it is the same when someone else suffers. It's painful, it is isolating. But not only that, we need to be available to the suffering of others. And I would say one of the main obstacles to compassion is a busy mind. is the mind will start to go in a tunnel vision. I am busy. I am so busy. I'm so, [...] so busy. And then somebody might be suffering. I'm sorry. Maybe in three days, two o'clock, maybe I could do something, but not now. I'm busy. I'm busy. And so in a way, to look, what is the obstacle to compassion? And I would say the busyness is one of the main obstacles. And so in a way, to see compassion as a practice. That it helps us to open out to the other, to the world, to go beyond our self-centeredness, our selfishness.

[23:21]

And the Buddha, in the Pali Canon, he said that compassion was an antidote to cruelty. Because in a way, when we are cruel, generally we go into abstraction. One thing we do when we do meditation, which is interesting, it's ruminating. You sit in meditation. You're supposed to just sit there, be aware, without grasping, without rejecting, or watch the breath. And after two, three minutes, what happens? Suddenly, you feel, oh, a month ago, he said this. She said this. And that was so painful. How could he do this? How could she say this? I would not have said it. How could he? How could that? And then it feels very painful. And then generally you bypass the present and you plot revenge for the future, which is very compassionate.

[24:21]

He's going to say this, I'll say that, and I'll get that. That's not very compassionate. And often to see when we go into abstraction in that way, we actually can be quite mean. And so in a way to kind of combat, to compassion, come back to the equality in suffering, will dissolve the abstraction, will dissolve the cruelty, and then we can really open the heart to the person. So I would say the wisdom and the compassion are the parts of meditation and vice versa. So that I would say there is these two things going together, the cultivation and the effect. You cultivate the meditation, and one of the effect, is to remove the obstacle to our compassion arising. And then we cultivate compassion and the same thing happen. So that I think we can do the two together. I think meditation will help us to develop more compassion.

[25:26]

And also cultivating compassion in action will help us to develop more compassion. So to see that meditation is not a part... away from the world, but that it helps us to have a more creative and wise, compassionate response. Then there is to finish, to just look at compassion in terms of awakening. Many years ago, I was doing a research on Buddhism and women for a book. And then my question, one of my regular questions was, what about wisdom and compassion? How to practice that? how to experience that. And so one of the first nuns I met in Korea, and she had really practiced her whole life, and she was one of the great nuns in Korea, and I said, what about compassion? He said, compassion, forget it. Until you awaken, don't even think about it.

[26:28]

So I thought, that's one way to look at it. Then, I met another nun, and that nun, She was known because she created all by herself an all-women's home for all nuns and all women without family. And so I went to see her and I said, how come you're doing this? And she said, well, first, I wanted to be a nun to awaken, to help everybody. So first, I went to do meditation. But then as I was meditating... And it was kind of taking time. I thought if they have to wait until I am awakened, they might have to wait for a really long time. So then she preferred to practice compassion at the same time as meditating toward awakening. And so I think in a way it's for us to see what is the way for us to go. But I thought the second method was a little more realistic myself.

[27:29]

And so I'd like to finish with an example of what I would call creative wise compassion. And this is a story about a monk in Thailand. And when he was young, he was a terrible young man because he used to get all the young girls into troubles. And every time he got one girl into trouble, his family had to give a cow to the other family. And so after a few cows going like this, they thought, we have to do something with this young man. So they decided he would become a monk because at least he would be, you know, away from girls. But they did not think he would do much because he really seemed such a hopeless case. But he became a monk and he became a very good monk. Really, really good monk. And then after 20 years of being a really good monk, he wanted to go back to his place, to his village, in order to serve them.

[28:32]

So when they first saw him, they said, wow, he's that bad boy, and he's a monk now. Let's see how he is. They were not so sure he would have really changed. But he was good, he was good. But what he saw is that they were very poor. They were even poorer than when he left 20 years before. And he said, what can I do for them? Just to teach them the Dharma? Well, I can do this, but I'm not sure it's going to help them in terms of that they're so poor. So I must do something to help because of the poverty. And so he looked at the village. He looked, what is the problem? And he saw that the problem was that they had no way to take their produce to the town. And he thought, what they need is a little mini truck, a really inexpensive mini truck. So I am going to do it. So he went to an engineer school for, I don't know, a few months just to kind of get the basics.

[29:35]

Then he came back, bought the different parts, and in his temple, in Thai temple, he made the little truck. And the other monk said, this is weird. Vongshan are not supposed to build little trash in their temple. But it really helped the villagers. That's what I wanted to say today. So we have just a little time left. Are there any questions or comments? The first precept about Yiddish ritual, I think I've... interesting as all it took. Because a while ago here, I didn't treat some of my soccer members so well. Okay. And so the Jordan, the Tonto, he came to me and he said, hey Trevor, some folks need to say something to you. So what's that for me? And I said, oh, okay. This won't be fun, but I'll do it.

[30:36]

That's what we do, right? So I went to this meeting with these two soccer members, Jordan, and they told me what I did to her family. and how that impacted them. And I told them, not bad, I felt bad. And basically, we had this conversation, and at the end, they forgave me, and I learned a lot about myself, and maybe they learned something too, and we changed the refuges, and started to be there. Now, if they had come to me and told me what happened, and I just said I needed to say about three times, then they might have forgiven me, Well, you see, I think it's within the system.

[31:37]

Generally, you don't wait for somebody to come to tell you you made a mistake there. Ah, ooh. that they were so angry at me. I didn't know that I heard them. No, no. No, it's true that if you make a mistake, then they tell you, you know, you must go and bounce three times. Once I was told that, go and bounce three times. I think it's within the system. You see, I think I'm not saying that we need to do this here. But I think, in a way, each set up as to create, in a way, their own ritual of forgiveness. Because the Buddha, at the time of the Buddha, actually what he created was more what you did. The Buddha, when they did the three-month retreat, towards the end of the retreat, you were supposed to have several rituals of forgiveness where everybody said their fault. And also other people told you your fault.

[32:40]

So you had the two, as you did. But it was done in a climate which was not aggressive nor defensive. It was just saying, oh, yes, I did this. And then somebody said to somebody, oh, you did that. Oh, yes, I did this. And it was kind of in a way to build up harmony because they were all living together. So, no, I think what we were doing was more in line with the way it was done at the time of the Buddha in the Pali Canon. But for the Korean, I think because they're not so much... I would say it's not so democratic. It's not so egalitarian. It's also not so psychological that that's the way it works for them. And it is true that if the person has very strong impulses, then it is not going to really address strong impulses. That's true, because I have seen it that way. No, no, it's a good point. Yeah, but again, I think...

[34:09]

This is a Western way. This is a very Western way to look at it. I mean, the Koreans are getting more and more modern, so they might kind of start to speak in that way possibly too. No. No, no, it's not. Because you see, it's a different culture. It's a different way to look at it. I think for our culture, this actually was... the right way to go about it, was following the spirit of the Bodhisattva precept, but in a modern context. Yes? Thank you very much for your talk. I was very taken with the Ramanism sort of rigorous expedition of the precept of not taking life, no loopholes. And I wondered, does it have anything to say? in particular about a vegetarian diet.

[35:11]

Oh, yes. Oh, yes, very strongly. I mean, it has a lot to say about vegetarianism. It also has a lot to say about alcohol. And it's very interesting. Alcohol, a major precept, is to sell it. And the minor precept is to drink it oneself. And with the vegetarianism, it's, yes, this is a big no-no. And that's why the temple in China, were totally vegetarian, but even without eggs. And yeah, you did not have eggs. And for many years now, it's changing. You did not have milk either. And then on top of it, you did not have garlic or onion, all these things. But no, once or twice, you have the precept for not eating meat. And that's where in China and in Korea, you really have a total vegetarian diet without eggs. Yeah, because no, no, this is a very strong one. There is a very strong one and it is there several times.

[36:12]

No, I think this is one thing that we have to be conscious, that when we live in a country, then actually the country... I mean, in a way, the country, the government, organized it so that it keeps us safe. And in order to keep our safety, often we kind of, you know, are doing some other things to other people who might want to attack us or whatever. And so as long as we're part of a country. any country which has a military, which has a police, then, yes, we're paying the taxes to protect the country, to protect ourselves. So in a way, our own protection sometimes involves kind of attacking others, which personally I would not agree with in general.

[38:07]

But then it's kind of very difficult. It's kind of like the nation state works that way. And so it's kind of like for us to, I mean, some people don't pay the taxes which belongs to, goes to the army or go to that. Some people do that. And also some people go to jail for that. So I think it's, again, in terms of the ethics, is in the condition in my life, how much can I adhere to ethics? Because in the Protestant precept, they say even you, of course, should not make. things to kill. You should not make implements which will help to kill people. But not only that, you should not become an ambassador or an envoy of a country because often you will be involved in talking about war. And you might be engaged in war. So it's really kind of, I mean, the whole thing is very much about homelessness and trying to be as homeless as we can.

[39:16]

And at the same time, in order for us to survive, I mean, it's kind of like, you know, where our lives stop and then somebody else's life is. It's kind of like very tricky. And so personally, I would follow Gandhi advice, which said that in a way, our life will... end up killing even microbes, et cetera, et cetera. So what we try to do is to cause the least harm. And having to accept that we will cause some harm, but trying to cause the least harm that we can within our condition, within our circumstances. No, no, no, this is a big challenge. Yes. I mean, the one who did it, the one who did it is Thich Nhat Hanh. Thich Nhat Hanh has, I think it's a 16 mindfulness precept, if I am not wrong. 14, 14, okay, so 14.

[40:20]

And then he really goes into, it's very modern. And personally, I've also with groups, I have tried that with groups to say, what do you think would be modern ethics? And so a lot of the time it's about a lot of things which come about ecology and about things like this. But I think, to me, that's what is interesting, to have a group of people and to discuss what would be the ethics that I would take on. What is the ethics that would help the community, that would help the world? Mm-hmm. me a modern piece. I would say, you know, most of the things in the Brahmajala which are about compassion, I think they're totally applicable. I mean, some are too Chinese. But then what I would add, I would add a thing about ecology, I would add a thing about nuclear, I would add a thing, one of the things I would add would add about mine, mine, mine, mine which...

[41:33]

kind of explode to make even more pain on people. Not only you kill them, but you kill them in the most terrible way you can. So I would kind of, you know, try to do some, have a precept. But it's in there. It's in there with not having implements to kill. You might say not having to implement to kill even more nastily than... So things like that, I would, that's what I would look at. It's called The Path of Compassion. And yeah, it's available. It's available. I mean, this is not the only translation. Master Chantua has done a translation, but it's in two volumes. My translation is just a little volume, so it's kind of easier to kind of look at. So... Thank you.

[42:26]

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