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. Welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. How many of you are here for the first time today? Would you raise your hands? A couple? Not so many newcomers today. Well, I want to particularly welcome you, though, and I hope you enjoy your time here this morning and that you take away some encouragement or inspiration. Today we're having a one-day sitting. And that means that 60 of us started meditating at 5.40 this morning.

[01:08]

And with some reasonable breaks, we'll continue until dinner time. And this one-day sitting also marks the occasion of the beginning of a practice period at City Center, a six-week practice period. And practice periods are occasions when we can intensify and deepen our practice and study a little bit. So there's a theme, and there are teas and discussions, and there's a practice period class, which is on Thursday night. And... various activities. On Thursday mornings, a practice period student gives a way-seeking mind talk, telling us all how they came to practice. These are wonderful events.

[02:09]

So I'm looking forward to this practice period. And the theme that we've chosen is the six paramitas. So that's what I want to talk about today. And the word paramita, it's a Sanskrit word, means perfection. So when we talk about, for example, the perfection of wisdom, it's wisdom paramita. And another translation of paramita is going beyond. or transcending. And the Chinese character that's used for paramita means crossing over to the other shore. So the idea is that in our usual present state of mind as we begin practice, we're standing on the shore of suffering in our lives.

[03:21]

But if we do these practices in a wholehearted, devoted way and really engage with them, we have the possibility of crossing over to the shore of happiness and safety and well-being. So this is a pretty appealing prospect, isn't it? Why shouldn't we do this? So before I say any more about the paramitas, I just want to read the list to you and let you absorb it. The first paramita is generosity. And the second is morality. The third is patience. The fourth is energy.

[04:23]

The fifth is meditation. And the sixth and last one is wisdom. And each of these paramitas is a quality of an enlightened being. and also the name we give to a set of specifically designed practices that help us to engender that quality in ourselves. So it's a training or a path of practice for aspiring bodhisattvas. And a bodhisattva is someone who has taken... the bodhisattva vow to save all beings and to postpone one's own entry into nirvana or enlightenment until everyone everywhere has entered nirvana and enlightenment.

[05:39]

So it's a practice of selflessness or Getting used to the idea of holding all people, all beings equal to yourself. Often we come to Zen Center because we are on some kind of self-improvement program. We want to be a better person. or we want to have a different kind of life where we can help people and do good. And these motivations are not at all to be criticized. These are excellent motivations to begin practice, even though they're sort of centered on our own interests, our own self. doing something for ourselves or to change ourselves.

[06:42]

So when we practice the paramitas, even though they're practices directed towards supreme enlightenment, we start where we are with our actual minds and desires and delusions. We just start where we are. And these practices are designed, no matter where we begin, to move us along the path. That's their beauty. And I want to actually talk about the last one first today. I want to start by talking about wisdom because it's so important. So we can practice the Paramitas on two levels, mundane and worldly, which is where we begin. or supramundane, which means the practice of an enlightened being. And the difference is that the supramundane practice involves the perfection of wisdom, living in accord with the perfection of wisdom.

[08:00]

And we'll talk about what wisdom is in this system. So the parameters are arranged in order with the first one being thought to be the easiest. The first one is generosity. The last one is wisdom. So it could take a lifetime of practice to perfect our wisdom or not, you know. And the contents of wisdom in this training is the Buddhist concept of emptiness, which rests on, this is a Mahayana concept, but it rests on older teachings that came directly from the Buddha of impermanence, dependent arising, and no self. So we say that all things are empty.

[09:01]

And what we mean by that is that nothing has an inherent existence all by itself that's unchanging and absolute. And we say this particularly about people and about ourselves. So we say there's no self. But if I stick a pin in my finger, I'm very quickly going to notice that I have a self. And I'm sitting up here looking at you and yourselves, and you're looking at me and myself. So it would be silly to say that the self doesn't exist. But on the other hand, it's always changing. On a cellular level, I'm changing all the time. I'm aging visibly. I happen to know. And... My thought patterns change. My moods change. My mood is different than it was 10 minutes ago.

[10:04]

My thoughts are different than they were five minutes ago. I can't predict what I'm going to be feeling in the next 15 seconds. So I'm not a very absolute self, am I? And I'm sitting here and I exist because my parents existed. And because I have food to eat and there are people in the kitchen preparing my lunch. And I'm sitting here giving a Dharma talk because you're here. If you weren't here, there wouldn't be any point for me to be here. So... And I have a particular point of view that changes as I move around in the world. And maybe it even changes as the planets move around. So everything about me is always changing and unfixed.

[11:05]

And that's the sense in which there's no self. I'm completely dependent on everything else in the universe. And there's no fixed... or soul or person that we can call Rosalie. So these are the contents of the Paramita of wisdom. If we are able to realize these truths and live in accord with them, that would be called the perfection of wisdom or enlightenment. But we can't... Usually, for most of us, realize them right away when we begin practice. And so this program of the paramitas, we come here and we learn about these teachings. We read about these teachings and study them and meditate on them and habituate our minds to these truths.

[12:12]

at the same time that we're doing these perfections of generosity and morality and so forth. And the processes of working on the paramitas and studying and meditating on these truths together move us along on the path to enlightenment and wisdom. So our effort all along the way is to do our best to live in accord with these truths that we're absorbing. So now I can talk about the first paramita. I'll go back to the beginning and talk about generosity. I have a friend whose teacher asked them to take on personal koans.

[13:13]

And so she gave herself the koan, how can I be more generous? And I actually think of this person as very generous. I don't know if she became generous because of this practice or what. But it's just interesting that I see her as a generous person. So... We're different in our resources. You know, some people have a lot of material things and money, and some people don't, especially priests and nuns and monks I happen to know don't have a lot of those things. But what can we give? What can all of us give? So we can give material things, money, especially necessities, food, clothing, shelter. We can offer the Dharma and spiritual teaching and guidance. We can offer our presence in various ways.

[14:20]

Friendship, love, admiration, forgiveness, support, protection. These are things that we can give to other people. My personal practice of generosity at the moment is to be more actively present in meetings, to really be there as a person. As a shy person, I love to be a spectator, so I consider it an act of generosity to really be there and speak up and take part. We can engage in political activism. which is a gift to our communities and our culture and to individuals who benefit by the things that happen as a result of our activism. And when we do virtuous things, we can dedicate the merit of that virtue to other people.

[15:29]

So... In the morning when we chant, we dedicate the merit. There's always a dedication. And we dedicate the merit to different groups of people or bodhisattvas or whatever. And that, I think what that does for us internally is it gets it away from us, you know, so that we're not sort of... collecting a virtue bank account that we can feel good about. We take our virtue that is legitimate and that we feel good about and that we're happy about and say, I dedicate the merit of that to so-and-so, and it takes it away from us. And that's a good practice. It's a practice of selflessness. I think that the practice of generosity helps us in our relationships. I've heard sometimes that if you're really angry at someone and you just can't get over it or you resent them, that you should give them a gift.

[16:37]

And I think it would probably be pretty hard to give somebody a gift without it softening your feelings and giving you some sense of friendliness towards that person. And it trains us in various ways to reach out to other people and away from ourselves. So in the process of giving, we're considering someone else and their needs and their wants. And that still implies a separation between us and them. But as long as that separation exists, it's good that we focus some of our attention outward and connect with other people. And it trains us to let go, in this case of maybe things that we actually want. When the perfection of generosity is infused with wisdom, we know when and how much it's appropriate to give.

[17:46]

We have more of an intuitive feeling about that. Because it isn't right to just give everybody everything or to give so much that we don't have enough ourselves. It's an art and a skill. It involves skillful means to know when and what to give and to whom. And it helps us to place others on a par with ourselves, which is one of the big points of a lot of the paramitas. So we give something to someone else and we consider their wants, needs. The long-term point of practicing generosity is to cultivate compassion. And an enlightened being has both wisdom and compassion. So compassion helps us to move along the path to be an enlightened being.

[18:48]

And ultimately, we realize the emptiness of giver, receiver, and gift. So the second paramita is morality. Wow. past. I don't know if I'm going to cover all of the Paramitas today. The second Paramita is morality, and at Zen Center, that's expressed in the 16 Bodhisattva precepts. This morning, we had a full moon ceremony, as we do every month, and we all chanted those precepts together. And they're structured in a particular way.

[19:51]

So there are three precepts that are called the three pure precepts. And these are the ones that seem to me to have the most affinity with the paramitas. The three pure precepts are, I vow to avoid all evil. I vow to make every effort to live in enlightenment. And sometimes I've heard that one phrased as, I vow to do all good. And the third one is, I vow to live and be lived for the benefit of all beings. So I feel like the sense of those precepts is very similar to the Paramitas. It's very open and expansive. And what can I do? What can I do to be good and to do good? They're based on the underpinnings of the 10 grave precepts, which address the specifics of our activities and choices.

[20:56]

So the 10 grave precepts are, I vow not to kill, not to take what is not given, not to misuse sexuality, to refrain from false speech, to refrain from intoxicants, not to slander, not to praise self at the expense of others, not to be avaricious, not to harbor ill will, and not to abuse the three treasures. Those are the ten grave precepts. And when we're doing these practices, we have the support of of the three refuges, which are the other three parts of the Bodhisattva precepts. I take refuge in Buddha. I take refuge in Dharma. I take refuge in Sangha.

[21:56]

So these precepts give direction to our life and our activities, the choices we make every day. And they also provide a standard for reflection on our actions. We can look back at something we've done and say, was that in accord with the precepts? Or we can look forward and say, if I do this, will that be in accord with the precepts? So we can be guided by them. And when... Following the precepts is infused with wisdom when it comes from an enlightened point of view. It manifests as wholehearted, true compassion. So once again, we're moving along the path to wisdom and compassion and enlightenment. Then it's not just rule following.

[23:03]

It's a heartfelt... The third paramita is patience. And sometimes it's phrased as tolerance or inclusivity. And in regard to the paramitas, there are three kinds of tolerance that we try to cultivate. One is the capacity to tolerate all forms of physical suffering, mental, or I said physical, personal suffering, mental and physical suffering. The second is the capacity to tolerate harm to our bodies or ego caused by other people. And the third is to tolerate a more comprehensive vision of reality than we currently hold.

[24:19]

So some new vision that conflicts with our dearly held beliefs. Can we do that? So those are three areas that we practice with when we practice the paramita of patience. And some other practices are putting up with small cares. So an example of this would be sitting in the zendo on your cushion and resolving to sit still and not scratch your nose, even if it's itching. Or sitting still, even if you're a little uncomfortable. I would bet that there are some people in this room who are practicing that particular practice. patience right this minute that some of you would like to move and aren't doing it. Transforming anger plays a big part in the perfection of patience.

[25:26]

Anger is always going to arise. in some circumstances. I don't think we'll get to the point where it doesn't arise. But I think it's also really important not to act it out. I don't think it's ever appropriate to act it out. So we have to deal with it in some way. And one of the ways that we deal with it when we practice the Paramitas is to transform it through understanding. And an example that occurs to me about that is if I am on the freeway in a traffic jam and somebody cuts me off. I can either get mad and start honking my horn, or I might say to myself, maybe that person has a job interview for a job that's really important to him and his family.

[26:29]

And because of this traffic jam, he's running a little late. And he's really anxious about getting there on time and making a good impression. And I hope he gets there safely and on time. So if we can look into the causes and conditions, sometimes we can soften our feeling. And my sense is that that kind of story and feeling would feel much better inside my chest than getting mad and honking my horn, which wouldn't change the reality of the freeway at all anyway. It would just change how I feel inside, I think. I have a friend who said that whenever he's mad at someone and he thinks they're doing something to him intentionally, he tries to make up two other stories that fit the same evidence or facts.

[27:32]

And I think that's a really good idea both to get more insight into the actual situation, but also it stops him. And while he's making up his two stories, he's not shaking his fist at the person and getting angry. So it helps him to stop and calm down and engage in this activity, which is worthwhile in itself. When our practice of patience is infused with wisdom, we also know better when and how to respond to situations of injustice in the world. So I don't think it's ever useful to act out anger, but there are times when we shouldn't just sit and let things happen either. And with wisdom, I think we have a better intuition of what to do and when and how.

[28:36]

And also, with the perfection of wisdom, we respond just as strongly to injustice done to someone else as to injustice done to me. So again, it comes back to a practice of selflessness and holding all people equal. The fourth is energy or diligence or enthusiastic effort. Buddhist texts sometimes say that we should diligently pursue enlightenment and help people. Darlene Cohen is a wonderful Zen Center teacher who passed away over a year ago.

[29:42]

And she would tell people who wanted to be ordained that becoming a priest was like putting a post-it on your forehead that said, available. So people expect a priest to be ready to help, whether it's convenient for them or not. they should be ready and willing to give whatever is needed. But I've talked with some of her priests who run into questions about that. Sometimes we're stressed out or too tired to do something right now, or we're busy doing something else that seems equally important. Or we may feel incompetent to help. So what do we do then? And this particular practice is about energy. So I don't know much about science, but I believe that we actually are energy and the energy of the universe courses through us.

[30:54]

So I don't think it's really about going out and finding energy. I think it's about being insightful about our level of energy and knowing what interferes with our energy and our enthusiastic effort. I think one thing that can interfere is ideas of what activity is pleasant and what activity is unpleasant. An example of this would be doing the dishes at Zen Center. So if I have a dish shift at Zen Center, I don't sit and think about whether I want to go. I probably don't want to go. But I do go, and I do the dishes, and I probably have a dish partner, and we polish them off pretty quickly and enjoy ourselves and enjoy everything. the other's company while we do this and soon it's all done and we've had a nice time.

[32:00]

And compare that with my situation at home where I can do the dishes anytime I want to or not. And I usually don't want to, so they pile up in the sink and become kind of depressing. And then I put it off even longer because there are so many of them and I think it will take a long time. Finally, I have to do them, and it feels fine. There's the warm, soapy water, and I can listen to some music, and it's completely enjoyable, and they don't take very long at all, and I end up wondering why I procrastinated so long. The negative ideas that I had about it before I did it were much worse than the reality of doing dishes. So that's one thing that can sap our energy. And another thing is negative mind states. So if I'm preparing a Dharma talk, and all the time I'm doing it, there's a little voice saying to me, you don't know enough.

[33:09]

You're not a good speaker. These people already know all of this. It's going to sap my energy, and pretty soon I'll either want to fall asleep or go see what might be in the refrigerator or even clean my house, anything to get away from those dreadful voices. So that kind of discouragement takes our energy, and what we, I think, can do is... Try to call forth some courage in the situation. And treat ourselves with some compassion and respect. Tell those voices in our heads, would you talk that way to anyone else?

[34:11]

Well, then why are you talking that way to me? I don't deserve that. and try to focus on the task at hand. And when we've analyzed, I think, enough of these situations with some insight and mindfulness and can bring some wisdom to it, these hindrances can fall away, and then we'll have our energy for vigorous, useful activity. So I'm getting there. I'm almost running out of time. There's one more paramita. The fifth one is meditation. And calming and insight meditation are both prescribed as part of the practice of the paramitas. For calming meditation, we focus on our breathing or posture.

[35:14]

There's one possibility. And when we're calm and quiet, when we're sitting in meditation, we're much more able, I think, to let go of many things, to let go of the way we think things should be, to let go of our desires, to let go of our attachment to ourself. So... our meditation practice is very important and foundational to practice of the Paramitas. And so is analytic meditation, where we cultivate the awareness that everyone wants to be happy and free from suffering, just like we do. And when we... When we do this kind of meditation, which we can do while we're out and about, we don't have to be sitting on a cushion, we can go to the grocery store and think to ourselves, may the cashier be happy and safe and free from suffering.

[36:33]

And if someone... Oh, let me think. If we're afraid of someone for some reason, we can say, that person who has fears just like me, may they be happy and safe and free from suffering. So we can do this. around the world. We don't have to just be sitting on our meditation cushion. And it really softens our feelings toward people and reinforces our feeling of connection. And I think this is what the practice of meditation as part of the Paramitas is all about. It leads to a greater awareness of impermanence and depending on dependent arising, and no self.

[37:37]

So it leads to wisdom and compassion and enlightenment. So we've come full circle back to wisdom. We've explored the Paramitas in kind of an introductory way. I've really enjoyed studying and beginning to practice with the Paramitas. And it's the theme of the practice period that we're starting right now. As I said, on Thursday nights, there's going to be a class where we'll study them in greater depth. And any of you can sign up for that class if you'd like to. It's also possible still to participate in the practice period as a non-resident. If you have any interest in doing that, you can ask about it in the office this morning. So... I like these practices so much because they keep asking me what more I can do.

[38:40]

It gives me an opportunity to construct my own life, not just to react to what shows up on my doorstep, but to think about what kind of person I want to be, what kind of life I want to have, and what more I can do to move in that direction. And they help me cultivate character. And they're useful in all areas of my life so I can practice them at any time, really. There's almost no situation where I can't find some way to practice with one of the paramitas. And they give me a vision of an ideal. So I've enjoyed talking to you this morning. Let's see how we did. You know, it's exactly 11 o'clock. I'm amazed. 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.

[39:46]

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.

[40:00]

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