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. I was just thinking as I was sitting upstairs waiting with Cynthia that... This is, from my point of view, the perfect audience for this talk. It's mid-morning, and I think we're all awake. I hope we're all awake. And there isn't the great variance of experience with Buddhist teachings that we have on a Saturday morning. For example, when the... The audience ranges from abbots and senior dharma teachers through people who are entering the door of this center or any Zen center for the first time.

[01:03]

So we're a committed group of people who are signed up for this sashim, which is three days of practicing really as monks and nuns. So I'm going to talk about the six perfections, which has been the theme of our practice period. The sushin is the culmination of a six-week practice period. So I hope I can do justice to all that perfection. It's a little daunting. The six perfections are... qualities of character of an enlightened bodhisattva. And there are also practices that we do, and we can do them as worldlings. We can do them as we are right now with all of our delusions and ignorance and wrong ideas.

[02:11]

We can still do these practices. or we can do them with the aspiration of a bodhisattva. And there are six of them. And in order, they are generosity or giving, ethics or morality, patience or tolerance, energy, meditation, and wisdom. And in order to use these practices to attain enlightenment they have to be infused with wisdom. But also doing each of the practices helps us along the path to wisdom. So we just begin where we are. And we may have come to Zen Center

[03:14]

with the idea that we want to be a better person or help people or be easier for our family and loved ones to get along with. And these are really excellent aspirations. These are good reasons to practice. But if we're going to actually become enlightened, we need at some point to have a thought of enlightenment. to develop bodhicitta, which is the thought of enlightenment. And bodhicitta is a desire never to harm others, or a desire always to help others, to do all good, to relieve all beings from suffering. to live for the benefit of all beings.

[04:15]

So this is a much more ultimate goal. And in order to reach a goal like this, we need to be able to see the truth, to see how we are and how the world is and how we live. exist in the world. And to do all these practices, we need to sustain and maintain this thought of enlightenment and strengthen it all the time so that it motivates us and energizes us in our practice. We manifest this thought of enlightenment when we sign up for Sushin, when we commit to spending these few days in a monastic setting.

[05:21]

And we also manifest our thought of enlightenment every time we begin a new period of Zaza. So every time we settle down on our cushion, To begin a new period of zazen, we renew our vow, our intention to save all beings from suffering. And we strengthen our thought of enlightenment. And the easiest way to develop a really strong, flourishing thought of enlightenment is in the context of Sashin, is just to follow the schedule completely and wholeheartedly without thinking. Just show up for every period of Zazen and engage in this period that we're doing right now wholeheartedly without thinking about what comes next or other things.

[06:34]

we renew our thought of enlightenment and strengthen it every time that we lose our focus in zazen and let go of our thoughts and return to our breath. So this can happen many, many, many times a day if your zazen is like mine. And the thought of enlightenment is like a muscle. So every time we use it, we strengthen it, and we can make it very strong during these three days. The first of the six perfections is generosity or giving, and I want to talk about how we can do that in this context of sushin. How can we practice generosity when we're just sitting still? and not talking to each other. We can experience our sashin as a gift that we both give and receive.

[07:47]

So we give the gift of our wholehearted presence at the sashin, and that's a gift we give to ourselves because it benefits us And it's a gift we give to each other because it supports the people we're sitting with to practice. And it's a gift we give to all beings everywhere because we sit in the belief that this practice helps us and helps us to be better in the world and therefore helps the world. We can also be generous in offering our time and energy by doing what is asked of us. So the Eno has assigned most of us some job, maybe to serve a meal or do dishes or something like that.

[08:56]

And if we accept that request and say yes to it, and wholeheartedly put our effort into doing it, we're practicing generosity. And the person who makes that request of us becomes our teacher of generosity. And we can be grateful to that person for helping us in our practice. So Sheena is also a gift that we receive. So the temple staff and the teachers have all worked together to put the sishin together to make it possible for all of us to sit, to have the space to do that, to have the food and nourishment that we need, and hopefully the Dharma nourishment as well. And the sushi can be thought of as Suzuki Roshi's gift to us.

[10:04]

We wouldn't be sitting in this room right now doing sushi if Suzuki Roshi had not come from Japan and been open to the idea of practicing with American students. So we're receiving a gift directly from Suzuki Roshi. And of course we receive each other's support. That's happening right this minute. I'm not sitting all alone in a room by myself trying to do this practice. I have all of you to support me, and you have all of us. So in that sense, we can see our sushin as a gift that we both give and receive. And I feel so grateful for that, for all of that, that it helps me to see my life as a gift, something I did nothing to deserve.

[11:19]

I don't know how or why I have it, but I have this life, and I want to make the best use of it that I can. I want to talk about how ethics or morality can be practiced during Sashin. It might not be obvious because, again, we're... We're directing our attention inwards. We're not engaging in a lot of activity. So how would ethics and morality come up? In this tradition, we express our ideas about ethics and morality in the 16 Bodhisattva precepts and also in the Bodhisattva vow. At the end of this lecture, we'll all chant together, beings are numberless, I vow to save them.

[12:28]

That's a short, pithy version of the Bodhisattva vow. And the 16 Bodhisattva precepts include the three refuges. I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And the three pure precepts, that I'll talk more about, and the ten grave precepts, which are prohibitions, such as, I vow not to kill, I vow not to steal. And those I'm not going to talk about, because it's true, we don't come up against them so much in the course of sitting Sashin. I really want to focus on the three pure precepts. So the three pure precepts come from an original teaching of the Buddha, and they're phrased something like this.

[13:31]

I vow to refrain from all evil. I vow to make every effort to live in enlightenment. I vow to live and be lived. or for the benefit of all beings. So that's a sort of traditional expression of the three pure precepts. It's probably exactly or pretty close to what we chant every month in our full moon bodhisattva ceremony. But I also want to consider a version of the three pure precepts that is in Tension Reb Anderson's book, being upright. And it's a reinterpretation that is Mahayana in origin, and it was really intended for a monastic context.

[14:36]

And it suits what I want to talk about today because this is a temporarily monastic context. So his, or not his, but this reinterpretation of the three pure precepts goes like this. I vow to embrace and sustain forms and ceremonies. I vow to embrace and sustain all good. I vow to embrace... and sustain all beings. So upholding forms and ceremonies means that we give up our habitual ways of doing something. And instead, we accord with the particular way of doing something that's asked of us by a form.

[15:44]

And these forms if you practice in a monastic setting, or if you even just come to Zen Center and do service every day, you're just bound to run into some resistance. There's going to be something about some form that we do that will conflict with your habits that you'll find uncomfortable. It's just about guaranteed for everybody. So we may object to bowing, for example. Or we may not like the idea of chanting in Japanese. Or we may have trouble observing silence. I know I am good at forgetting that I'm supposed to be silent at certain times. And... Our resistance to the forms and ceremonies shows us our habit energy in a really clear way.

[16:54]

It shows us how strongly we want to do something our way. And the strength of that habit energy. It shows us where we're stuck. So I want to give an example of my own interesting relationship with the cosmic mudra. By the way, I'm not in it at the moment, I notice. I love the cosmic mudra, and I love telling people about it when I do zazen instruction, because I think it's so beneficial and so effective. So you put your palms together like this and anchor your little fingers on your abdomen, and your thumbs just barely touch a couple of inches below your navel. And there's a little room here, a little space, so my arms aren't right up against my body.

[17:56]

And that puts my whole upper body in a good... for sitting upright in a relaxed way for a long period of time. I can be straight and my chest is open, my shoulders are down and back and relaxed. It's a wonderful mudra, a wonderful posture, and I believe in it. But when I get tired, I notice that it's actually about the first thing I want to let go of. So a minute ago, I had my hands in my lap. And especially in Dharma talks, whether I'm giving the Dharma talk or listening to it, my hands tend to end up folded in my lap. Even though I know in my head that that drags my shoulders down and is not a good thing if I'm going to be sitting all day. So what that points out to me is that I'm really attached

[19:01]

to being comfortable. And I know it's true. I love to be comfortable. Being just on the edge of sleep is my favorite way to be. And that's not so good for pursuing enlightenment. Another expression of our ethical life that we encounter during a sushi is that sometimes regrets come up about things that we've done or not done. So we may experience regret or shame or guilt about things in our past, and this can be very strong. And to some extent, I think it's good because it helps us learn from our mistakes. It helps us look at some situation in our past and conclude, I don't want to do that again. and maybe have some strong intention around not doing it again.

[20:08]

On the other hand, I think that if this happens for you during Sashin, it's not so great to dwell on your regrets and shame and guilt. Instead, just see that you've failed to live up to your intention, And then focus your attention on your intention. That's a bit of a tongue twister, isn't it? Focus your attention on your intention. And just keep meditating and bring your thought of enlightenment to it. The third perfection is patience or tolerance.

[21:12]

And as you may have noticed, Zazen and especially Sashin is a fertile, fertile field for this kind of practice. Sitting still in the midst of whatever arises is our intention. And it's challenging. things come up. First of all, we practice acceptance with the conditions of our sushin. We're assigned a seat, and we're assigned a job, and we're given a schedule, and we accept those things and practice with them. in spite of the fact that we probably feel some discomfort around some of it or find some of it inconvenient or not exactly what we want to do. So that gives us the opportunity to practice patience.

[22:17]

And in our meditation itself, we do the practice of holding all things equally. And this is an important part of the Bodhisattva path, the path of the six perfections, holding all things equally and holding all beings equally. So if I can hold you as being as important as I hold me, then I would be an enlightened being. That's a very advanced practice. And we start... along that path during our meditation by holding a pleasant sensation and an unpleasant sensation and a neutral sensation equally? Can we sit still in our practice no matter what kind of sensation is arising? And we have an opportunity usually to be patient with our own experience, which is almost certainly not going to match what we've heard about or read about or dreamt about or imagined or hoped for.

[23:43]

It's going to be just what is. It's going to be our experience. And it... It's wonderful if we can sit in some appreciation for the richness and variety of that experience and be grateful for it, knowing that this is true life bubbling up. So we cultivate tolerance in meditation by not moving and by... connecting with all these things that arise without getting too caught up in them. And each difficulty that we face increases our courage and confidence, which are qualities of character that a Bodhisattva needs to realize enlightenment. Mostly tied to the perfection of patience is the perfection of energy.

[24:59]

Once we have cultivated patience, we need energy to keep going towards enlightenment. And sometimes it's said that those first three practices are for enlightenment. not monastic people, and the last three are for monastic people. But as Suzuki Roshi said, we are not quite priest and not quite lay. We're somewhere in between. So these are good practices for all of us. Anyway, when we're working with energy, I think it's not a matter of going out and finding energy. It's a matter of protecting and conserving our energy and using it well. making the most of the energy we have, because we have lots of it. And there are several forms of laziness that we're warned against.

[26:03]

The first is procrastination. We're too busy and we'll sit later. And this can happen on earth. a momentary level, and it can happen on the level of constructing our lives and deciding what to do with our lives. So on a momentary level, we might say, I can't sit zazen right now. I have to study for my test. And in a bigger picture way, we may say, I can't... go to Zen Center for a practice period now, but maybe after my children are grown or I've retired from my career, then I'll have time to practice. So these are ways that we can procrastinate, and sometimes they seem to make a lot of sense. I heard something recently, and I can't remember who said it or who it was about,

[27:10]

But this person was quoted as saying, I usually sit for half an hour. When I'm really busy, then I sit for an hour. So I think that's a helpful attitude to have, that sitting can actually ground us for a lot of activity. And I'm also reminded of the verse on the Han, the wooden instrument that calls us all to Zazen. And it's traditional for it to have a verse written on it that goes something like this. Great is the matter of birth and death. Life is fleeting. Gone, gone. Awake, awake each one. Don't waste this life. Another form of laziness is discouragement.

[28:18]

The despondent idea that I can't do this, that it's not for me to attain enlightenment. Maybe someone else can do that. On the night of his enlightenment, Buddha was visited by Mara, the evil one. And Mara wanted to stop Buddha from getting enlightened. And so the most destructive question he could think of to ask Buddha was, who do you think you are that you can attain enlightenment? And Buddha was not dissuaded. He kept up his practice. But he was moved by this question. And he needed, at that point, to touch the earth and ask it to bear witness to his intention. And the earth shook in six ways, affirming his intention.

[29:21]

And so he went on to realize enlightenment. But he hesitated at this question, and we all have this question, can I do this? for all of us, is yes, you can do it. Another form of laziness that's very common that we all experience all the time is daydreaming. And, for example, during sasen, thinking about what you'd like to have for lunch or thinking about what you'll do next week when this practice period and sushin are over. So if we can guard against those forms of laziness, procrastination, discouragement, and distraction, we will have a lot more energy for our practice. Creating an intention to concentrate on our breath or whatever our object of meditation is.

[30:35]

for the whole period of zazen, is to put on the armor of enthusiastic effort. And this strengthens our thought of enlightenment and helps to propel us along the Bodhisattva path. I want to talk a little about the perfection of meditation. That seems appropriate, doesn't it? Just a little bit. The first step of practicing the kind of meditation recommended in the study of the perfections, shamatha, is calming meditation and following the breath and also cultivating friendliness, friendly states of mind, especially friendly states of mind towards other people and people that maybe we have some difficulty with.

[31:38]

And there's a traditional technique called equality of self and others that we can practice. It's very simple, very useful, both on and off the cushion, I think. So one should meditate as follows. All beings... equally experience suffering and happiness. I should look after them as I do myself. And then continuing, when happiness is liked by me and others equally, What is so special about me that I should strive after happiness only for myself? So you can change the wording of these phrases to suit your circumstances, to suit the person that you're thinking about when you cultivate this quality of friendliness.

[32:58]

You can apply it and send good wishes to yourself. In fact, that's the most important. Send these messages to yourself and to friends, teachers, relatives, neutral persons, strangers, and enemies. You may have to begin with... and work your way up the ladder. Broaden it so that you include all beings everywhere in your cultivation of friendly states of mind. So the goal of this kind of meditation is unselfishness, offering wishes to others, holding... others equal to yourself, selflessness, and ultimately realization of emptiness of all things and beings, of our interconnection and our similarity, how we have so much in common with other people, the same hopes and fears and desires.

[34:20]

We're all interconnected. We're all the same. So I want to conclude by talking about the perfection of wisdom, the final one. And in order to attain enlightenment, we need wisdom to infuse our practice of all the others. And the kind of wisdom that's being referred to here is the concept of emptiness, the idea that everything is empty. that we are empty, that all beings are empty, that everything is impermanent and interdependent, and that nothing has some essence or self that can be separated out from everything and everyone else. Another word for impermanence is time.

[35:26]

And it seems to me that a lot of sushin is just all about time. We've set aside the time to do this. The sushin marks the end and culmination of our six-week practice period. So that's a bigger time commitment that some of us made. We're given a schedule of... what to do and when to do it. And then on the level of each moment, we also practice with time. This wonderful little book called Each Moment is the Universe by Dainan Katagiri Roshi, who was one of our former abbots, quotes Dogen, saying that our human body, composed as it is of the four elements and the five skandhas, arises and disappears in every moment.

[36:47]

Further, he says, there are 60 moments in a finger snap. or over 6,400 million moments in a day. So we Buddhists like numbers like this, right? It's fantastical and incomprehensible, unfathomable. We have a taste for the inconceivable, you might say. When I first heard about this idea of moments and of all things arising and disappearing in a moment, I somehow got the idea, I don't know how, that there were 17 moments in a second. And that's a sort of more manageable number, if things are ever manageable. So I tried to work with this number. I sat zazen and tried to be aware of 17 changes every second.

[37:58]

And it was an interesting practice that I think helped me. But of course I couldn't keep up with it. By the time we're aware of anything, it's really past, you know? By the time we're aware of a moment, it's gone and something new and fresh. fresh, has arisen in its place. So it's clear that a moment in time cannot be apprehended. But this really helped my practice, and I want to share it with you. Somehow, the awareness of constant fresh arising made it easier for me to sit sushin, I was no longer able to give much credence to the idea of cumulative fatigue or pain. It just didn't make as much sense to me anymore knowing that my physicality was constantly changing and that with every moment

[39:16]

Things changed, and it was very possible that whatever was causing my pain or suffering right now would not be part of the configuration of the universe in the next moment that arose. So that really helped me, and I hope it helps you. So these are some of the ways in which we can practice. the Six Perfections during Sashin. If you've been following along with the class or the practice period, you'll know that there are many, many more, and hopefully you can come up with them by yourself. This is just a sampling. And I hope you find them helpful, and I hope they move you along the path to great enlightenment and saving all beings. Thank you very much.

[40:19]

Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[40:45]

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