Is this loud enough? Plenty loud. Too loud. Too loud? Too loud. Oh. I thought we were only so simple. How about that? How about best? What's the matter with best? You know, hi. Haven't seen you in a long time. I originally didn't want to have this lectern. Because I just wanted to just be with you, actually, which would have been a much, I

[01:02]

think, pleasanter way to spend the next 40 minutes or so. But I ended up wanting to actually tell you something. So I need the lectern to remember what it was I wanted to say, which couldn't have been that important, because if it were important enough, I'm sure I would have remembered what it was. Nothing really, I suppose, should be so important that you need to have a lectern and a piece of paper to tell you, because I think what we all fundamentally want, anyway, is a feeling of connectedness and intimacy.

[02:06]

So it seems to me having a piece of paper with a lectern is just one step slightly removed, although now that I've told you everything, maybe it need not be that way. Oh, and also, oh, this is great. So also, I also wanted to tell, I started wanting to tell you something, because this morning, after service, it was time to do Soji, and then after Soji, it was time to go to the Zen to do Oryoki, and I had my okesa off, and I was almost ready to go home, because I wanted to think a little bit about what I was going to say today, and I didn't think that the time I would have had after the breakfast and before lecture would be enough time.

[03:12]

So I was kind of, you know, stepping out the door, I was on my way out the door, and then I thought to myself, I thought, what's the priority here? And I thought, well, I thought the priority was to be with everybody, you know, in the Zen Do eating Oryoki, that's the schedule, and besides, I really like the people who live here a lot, I think they're really wonderful people, sincere and stuff, and they'd be in the Zen Do, and we'd all have breakfast together. And when I got there, my impression was that there were maybe not enough people in the

[04:20]

Zen Do that I would have thought were going to be in the Zen Do of us there, and I was, it made me sad, actually. So that's when I thought I was going to give a talk about telling you something, because the first thing that I wanted to say was, well, come on, you know, it's part of being in a Sangha to actually move from one thing to the next to the next as one body, and we have this agreement that on Saturday morning we would go like that, which we usually do in the morning anyway, sit two periods of Zazen and then do service, and then clump and then clump, kind of clump all together, and on Saturday we agree that we'll clump a little longer in the morning. So I wanted to remind people that that is actually an important part of our schedule

[05:25]

for lots of different reasons, not the least of which is that orioke is actually kind of a profound practice in and of itself for two reasons that I want to talk about right now. One is, is because the way we become intimate with our lives is actually through the detail of our life, and the way we are first, the way we have to connect intimately with life first is with our own life, which is what a lot of people just kind of skip over. They think that what's going to happen is they're going to have some intimate relationship first, forgetting, of course, that the most intimate relationship one ever has in one's entire life is with oneself, and if you don't appreciate and acknowledge that relationship, if you kind of skip right over that one and just try to go to another one right away, it's often quite bouncy for lots of different reasons.

[06:29]

So anyway, orioke is a very good way to be intimate first, starting with your own life, in the details of the form that we're given to practice with. That was one reason. There was another one. Oh well. That's Mary, isn't it? Did you hear that, Mary? That's Mary. Or Mary, as the kids may be. See, that's a joke I have with myself. Oh well. So, first we have to kind of establish this intimacy with ourselves.

[07:34]

Which is not to say grabbing onto ourself, because grabbing onto what we think of as ourself is actually the cause for suffering, which is a natural, it's a natural thing. The mind makes this kind of sense of self and other, so it's not really a problem, and in the conventional world we can say that that self is very useful. It's the one that makes, you know, poems and airplane rides and reservations and sewing and, you know, tech businesses and videos and the rest of it. It's a very useful one, but when we grab onto that one and think and give it more of a reality than it actually has, like thinking it's independent of everything else, that it's unchanging, ultimate, can live its life all by itself without depending on

[08:38]

anything else, and we hold to those beliefs, this is the cause of suffering. This is what the teaching is from Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha. And I think three quarters of what we learn about in Buddhism is to resolve that particular kind, that's the most important one, that duality of sense of self and other as being separate and real in that way. And, as I've been studying, see, the thing is if I move it, as I've been studying about resolving dualities, I've been studying the middle way. Is this okay still? No? I moved it, huh? Well, just a second. I'll put it on in a minute.

[09:42]

You can't hear me now, right? Oh, it's not turning? Okay. Wait, don't let me forget what I'm talking about, though. Oh, is that okay? Is that better? Is that better? You can hear me? Yes? Hello? Testing, testing. One, two, three. Oh, that's good. I've been studying the middle way because we're going to have this intensive, which is going to be about the middle way. And, you know, when you study something, or like when you're pregnant, everybody is pregnant, whole world, when you have a dog, everybody has dogs, and so when you buy a certain kind of car, everybody has that kind of car. So, as I'm studying about the middle way, everything that we teach, every single teaching in Buddhism has to do with the middle way, which actually I think is true. It's in the Vimalakirti Sutra, it's in the Genjo Koan, the first four lines, it's in the Sandokai, obviously, it's in the Hokyo Zomai, it's in the most important, you know,

[10:43]

so-called highest koans in Rinzai practice, or the Goi koans, and it's all about the relationship of ultimate and relative, or emptiness and form. And I'm sure if I sat here for a minute I could think of a dozen more koans and Suzuki Roshi, my favorite Suzuki Roshi chapter in the books, in my beginner's mind, is the one on attachment, non-attachment, that's also about the middle way, it's terrific. Oh, I haven't even begun my talk yet. So, my talk actually, let me start my talk first, I'll get back to that. My talk actually is going to be about right speech, because I've been talking about right speech the last two times that I talked, and I just want to review a teeny amount

[11:44]

because it really, really is important in terms of Sangha, in terms of everybody's life, not just Sangha, we could talk about it in terms of the wider Sangha, so that includes everybody. But the reason I'm talking about it is because I was talking to Dana after we happened to meet in the hall, and she mentioned to me that I had left something very important out and I agreed with her, so I want to mention it. But before I mention it, I'm going to mention the four traditional right speech items. Do you all know why right speech is so important? I gave two talks about it, so I feel like I don't exactly have to go over that territory again. But maybe if I tell you about them, you'll understand why yourselves, and I won't have to. So, first of all, right speech is basically going toward everybody's awakening, toward wholesome activity. And speech that is so-called wrong speech... Why so-called? Who is that? That was category. Going toward unwholesome stuff is wrong speech, speech that leads toward delusion, speech

[12:53]

that leads toward pain and suffering. So, obviously, the first thing not to do is to tell lies. Don't tell lies, that's clear. And usually when we tell a lie, it's because we want to enhance our own image of our own self, which is a really stupid thing to do, because in Buddhism what we want to do is study the self we really are, which in that case would be someone who lies about who they really are. Right? Which, if you did that, if you were actually awake to the person who told lies about who they really were, that would actually be awake, wouldn't it then? And that's our way. It doesn't make... We're not supposed to be people who don't tell lies necessarily, that would be a more health... See, that's what happens when you're trying to tell somebody something. I'm going too fast. But it's important, it's actually important to try to catch yourself when you're telling

[13:59]

yourself a lie or when you're telling somebody else something about yourself that's untrue, and it's a good idea to know why. It's helpful. The second one is talking... Divided... Making divisions. Talking about yourself or the Sangha or somebody in the Sangha in a way that divides people. I think this was originally... Is this right? Does anybody know this? This originally was one of the things that you were tossed out of the Sangha for, right? Dividing the Sangha, right? Now, this is on the same level as killing. You know, this is serious. We're talking about something serious here. Because the fundamental ignorance is about how we're connected. So, if you're all the time talking about how we're, you know, to... What? Disconnect? What? No, you're probably helpful.

[15:00]

It's about... Disconnection is about making polarities. It's exactly not to do. It's exactly what not to do. And it hurts people, mostly yourself, ultimately yourself more than the people you're talking against. And the other two are idle chatter, which just is a distraction and a waste of time. Just to... Because you're not wanting to face whatever it is about yourself that you're uncomfortable with. And the other one is harsh speech, which goes with, you know, dividing the Sangha. Just basically allow... Listen to it this way. Allowing yourself to not see the good in other people is harsh speech. Because there is, really, in everybody something that is worth upholding. So what you do is you're just lazy. You know, you just go right away to the thing that you think has hurt you, usually. You know, and you talk...

[16:02]

You make somebody a bad person. We all do that. We've done that. And the way we do that is if we get hurt. And it kind of... Instead of just staying with the hurt, you know... Instead of just staying with the hurt, we have to just vomit it out. We do. We just dump it so that we don't feel the hurt. I'm not really hurt. It's really that the other person is such a jerk, you know. It's too bad that we do that, but we do. Okay. Now, the other one... Oh, so the other one is humor. You have to be careful about making humor at the expense of another person. Not a good thing. And the one I left out that Dana reminded me of is timing. Sometimes what we do is when we get excited or... I do anyway. Sometimes when I have a lot of energy and I'm sure that I'm right about something and I've had this wonderful insight and I can't wait to share it with somebody.

[17:04]

I'm sorry to say, and embarrassing to me, it usually is something about the other person. You know, that if I really told them something about themselves that was... you know, that they would fix, it would help them in some way. That in itself is really not a good thing to do and I err in that a lot. Less than I used to, but still I do. But the thing of it is, even if it's accurate, you know, even if it's accurate, you have to be really careful when you tell somebody something. They may not want to hear it at all. And as a matter of fact, they may not be ready to hear it. And it's a disservice if you do it at the wrong time. Dana, was there another time thing that you were thinking about that I... Is that okay? No? Anyway, so this is a bunch about wrong speech and...

[18:08]

not only did I start my speech... I mean, my talk late. Now I don't even have time to give you the part that was going to be the most interesting to me. All right. Oh, and then the other thing that the staff asked me to talk about was not taking what isn't given. And this one... Oh, could you do this? Could you close your eyes? Put your heads down so that nobody really looks. Nobody look. Everybody really put your head down. Nobody look. This is a private thing. Now, everybody put their hand up by your head. Okay, just one hand. One hand. Okay, now I'm going to ask you a question. Now, nobody is going to see your answer but me, and I won't tell anybody, okay? But I'm going to tell everybody what the percent is, okay? Now, people who have difficulty taking what isn't given, okay? Very quietly, so your neighbor doesn't hear. Raise your hand. Okay, put your hands down.

[19:15]

Okay, now that was a lot of people, okay? That was a lot of people. That was really a lot of people. But it wasn't everybody. Everybody does not have trouble with this precept. A lot of people do, but not everybody. I have trouble with this precept, so I was amazed when I actually met somebody who it never occurred to them to take what wasn't given. I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. Oh, did I? Okay, close your eyes. Close your eyes. Put your heads down. Put your heads down. Put your hand up by your head. Put your, oh, put your head down. Put your hands up to your head so that you don't, you know, nobody hears anything. Okay, now, how many people, don't open your eyes, okay? How many people take what they're not given? Raise your hand. All right, put your hand down.

[20:20]

Yeah, that's a lot of people. So, a lot of us have trouble with this precept. And sometimes we have trouble with it because we don't feel that we're mostly, I mean, actually I don't know for everybody else, but sometimes for me, I used to think that if I didn't, I wouldn't get what I thought I needed. So this is very deep and very fundamental. It's kind of, it begins happening when you're really a child and then you kind of enter this mode. You don't think people hear you in the first place. You don't even sometimes know how to get your need out in the second place. And in the third place, it's just easier to take it anyway. Don't take what isn't given. Don't steal. Is that clear?

[21:22]

Okay. Anyway, it's really difficult. So I feel like it's not something that we need to hide among ourselves. It's an embarrassing thing. Oftentimes it's a habit. And it goes all through the precepts, all the way from taking somebody's time when they really don't want to give it to you, not even noticing that they're on their way because your need is so great that you just stop them and want. Misusing sexuality is the same thing, taking something from someone who they may not be offering it, on and on and on. This is such a fundamental precept. And in some sense, the reason why it's so deep from an ultimate point of view is because, again, the only way that we can take what isn't given is if we think that there's something out there that's not yours. And from the ultimate point of view, that's not the case,

[22:24]

that we're not ultimately separate from whatever it is that we think is other. And in fact, the way to work with this in the conventional way, the first thing to do is acknowledge that we do that. That's the first thing. And the second thing to do is to notice that when you do take it, how bad we feel. And the third thing to do is to notice, when you notice how bad you feel, notice that when you feel that way, you can't meditate. And I just don't mean on the cushion. I mean in the rest of your life, that feeling of badness when you take what isn't given is a bump in your consciousness for a long time after you've taken whatever it is that wasn't given to you. It's difficult to settle the mind when underneath it there's this dis-ease, this disquieting sense because you just did something you know is wrong. But the way to work with it in a conventional way is,

[23:32]

after you've noticed all that stuff, the next step is try not to take whatever it is that you want. Try to actually not take it. And then the next thing to do is to turn it just a little bit more. Just flip it to the other side and actually give. Practice the paramita of generosity, the paramita of giving. So whenever you feel like you're coming from a place of lack, which is what taking is about, when you feel like you're coming from a place of lack, just turn it over on its head and feel like, which is actually the case, that there is an abundance, that you have an abundance, you have an endless wellspring of love and you can give, and give and give and give and you'll never run out. And if you want to read about this, you can read about it in this new sutra that was just discovered recently.

[24:34]

It's called, the sutra, the name of the sutra is called Bodhisattva Hugs First Sutra. So notice if you're having, you know, some kind of relationship with somebody or not or whatever it is and you're wondering whether they're going to hug you, you know, they're going to actually make contact with you in some way that will satisfy your need to be, you know, loved, cared for or whatever, you're feeling that way that you feel you need that, go ahead and hug somebody because in fact what we really want is not to be loved, we want to love. That's what we really want. We want to feel the feeling, what it feels like to love something. So anyway, that's very good practice. So when you think of taking what isn't yours, you can just dump the whole thing over on its head

[25:39]

and practice giving instead. And from the ultimate point of view, from the ultimate point of view, the way you can work on it is to watch the dependent, you can watch dependent co-arising, how everything arises together, that there really isn't anything separate from you in the first place. You can watch it that way or you can watch it from the point of view of consciousness, that consciousness and the object of consciousness arise together. They're completely dependent on one another. There is no such thing as consciousness without its object. We're that closely connected. In that way there is no self and there is no other and in that same way there's no inherent self and in that same way, just like we did this morning during Oryoki and if you were there you would have gotten this teaching. There is no, how does it go?

[26:42]

The emptiness of giver, receiver and gift. So that's the ultimate way to work on this very mundane thing about not stealing and I am now halfway through my talk and I haven't gotten to the part that I really wanted to sing this song actually. So I'll tell you about how this song fits in with the second half of my talk which I'm not going to give. But anyway, this whole thing is based on, again, separation of self and other and the way the self arises is through grasping. Grasping, desire and attachment. So if you notice grasping, desire and attachment you are noticing the self, how the self is functioning, how the self arises and you are also noticing the pain, the physical pain what it feels like to be contracted.

[27:44]

Because that's what it feels like, you know. God, I can't believe it. I'm going too fast. I don't like giving a talk. It's because I want to tell you something. Not a good way to start. So that is the nature of the self, this grasping after things. So here's the song. I used to use this song as a mantra. It's a very good song, Tia's as a mantra. Sweet dreams are made of these

[28:53]

Who has a mind to disagree? Travel the world and the seven seas Everybody's looking for something So, basically everything in Buddhism basically says in the Xin Xin Ming it says it there too and it's also about the middle way Don't seek anything.

[29:56]

Don't act from a place of self-centered concern, self-centeredness. Undercut that whole way of being in the world. Sweet dreams are made of these Who has a mind to disagree? Travel the world and the seven seas Everybody's looking for something It doesn't work. Just here in this moment is enough. www.mooji.org

[31:06]

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