The architecture of the Buddhist path has just been enacted by all of us in this room. Individually and as a group, we entered this hall, offered various things to the Buddhas and ancestors, light, incense, flowers. We then prostrated ourselves to the enlightened ones and the ancestors, made confession of our ancient, our beginningless greed, hate and delusion, and then we paid homage.

[01:17]

We aligned ourselves with the lineage of ancestors, the lineage of Buddhas, the lineage of Bodhisattvas and successive generations of Zen ancestors. We then gave rise to the universal aspiration of the enlightening beings and we then took refuge in the triple treasure of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. After all that, we then recited and received the three pure precepts and the ten great precepts. Then, I perhaps impolitely asked you if even after acquiring complete perfect enlightenment

[02:31]

you would observe these precepts. Well, all these activities have been done by all Buddhas. All Buddhas have done what you have done tonight innumerable times. You have done what all Buddhas have done. All Buddhas have made offerings, prostrated themselves, confessed their karma, paid homage to Buddhas, made great aspirational vows, taken refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, received the precepts and then sat.

[03:35]

Congratulations. Congratulations. You have manifested in this room tonight the authentic Buddha path. You have done it yourself with your own body and you have aided others to do it with their body and they have helped you and you have allowed them to help you and they have allowed you to help them. This mutual assistance is also a characteristic of the Buddha way. Could this be the golden age of Zen? The gate to the ocean of Zen, the doorway to the practice of Zen Buddhism is to receive

[05:01]

Buddha's precepts and in order to receive Buddha's precepts we must take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The practice of Zen is simply unswerving, unshakable, total devotion to sitting still and listening to silence. And in our main practice lineage coming down from the Zen teacher, the Buddhist master Heihei Dogen, he says, total devotion to sitting is negotiation of the way. But he also said that entry into this practice can only be done by those who receive Buddha,

[06:14]

Dharma and Sangha, who take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. I must honestly say that when I first became interested in the practice of just sitting I had no idea of taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. If I had been told beforehand that this was required I probably never would have started to sit. But after I fell in love with sitting I was told that to do true sitting, to do the authentic sitting of the Buddha ancestors, we must return to and depend upon the triple treasure. Dogen Zenji wrote a little essay about this which I'll read a little bit to you now.

[07:18]

Would you like to hear this little essay? It's called, in Japanese, Kie Bupo So Ho, Kie Bupo So Ho, to return to and rely on Buddha, Dharma, Sangha treasure. In the 100th, Dogen Zenji says, in the 120th question of the Chanyuan Jingwei, Chanyuan Jingwei is a monastic instruction book written in the Sung Dynasty, China, which Dogen Zenji used to model his own monasteries. In there it says, do you venerate the three treasures or not?

[08:24]

And Dogen Zenji says, this clearly demonstrates that reverent veneration of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is the essence of the correct transmission of the Buddhas and ancestors in both India and China. Without taking refuge in the triple treasure it is impossible to reverently venerate the Buddhas, the Dharma and the Sangha. Without reverently venerating them it is impossible to take refuge in them. The merit of having taken refuge in the triple treasure inevitably appears when there is spiritual communion between trainee and Buddha.

[09:30]

Those who experience communion inevitably take refuge whether they find themselves existing as celestial or human beings, hell dwellers, hungry ghosts or animals. As a result, the merit that is accumulated thereby inevitably increases through various stages of existence, leading ultimately to the highest supreme enlightenment. Even though we may be led astray by bad friends or devils, with the result that we stop doing good and lose hope of realizing enlightenment, still the merit of having previously taken refuge in the three treasures will continue to increase and eventually we will resume doing good, ultimately realizing enlightenment.

[10:35]

This is an English translation formed into one paragraph, just one paragraph. In this paragraph there is a lot, and not only that, but there are several more paragraphs in this fascicle. Do you venerate the three treasures or not? Do you or not? You do? Let me ask you again. You can answer if you want to. This can be kind of a talk show. Do you venerate the three treasures or not? Well, you already did it.

[11:53]

Everybody did it tonight. You did it. When you came in here and you paid homage and you did your bows and everything, that was veneration of the triple treasure. You did it. So you could all say yes if you want to. And then he says, Dogen Zenji says, that this question shows, now how he knows it shows is because he's enlightened. He says, this question shows that veneration, by the way, the character for veneration is a character which also can be translated as respect. Respect for the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha is the essence of the correct transmission of the Buddha and ancestors. This is being said, again, by the person who taught just sitting.

[12:58]

And then he says, without taking refuge in the Buddha, in the triple treasure, it is impossible to respect them. So, it's saying, well, I think it's saying, tonight you did pay respect, but your paying of respect was not completed until you took refuge. And, as he says later, the word refuge, the Chinese expression for refuge, qi ye, is made from two characters. The first character means, qi, means to return. The second character means to rely or depend. So, and also the English word refuge has those two meanings, right?

[14:07]

The etymological meaning of refuge is re-fuge, fuge means to fly away, like in centrifugal, to fly away from the center. Re-fuge means to fly back. So, refuge, part of the meaning of refuge, the etymology of refuge is to fly back, to go home to Buddha, to return to the Dharma, to return to the community, to fly back to them. The other side of refuge in English is also the same as the Chinese, means to be sheltered or protected or depend on perfect enlightenment, to depend on the teaching and the truth, and to depend on the community of enlightening beings. He also says that the first part that I'm saying means to return, he says that part

[15:11]

means to throw oneself into, to throw into. Like a child throwing himself or herself into the arms of her parents. So to fully respect Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is not just to appreciate them and adore them, but it's also to go back to them, to realize that they're not something other than yourself, that they're your true home. Now, reverently venerating, reverently respecting the triple treasure is not possible without

[16:13]

taking refuge, and also the merit of having taken refuge in the triple treasure inevitably appears when there is spiritual communion between Buddha and trainee. This expression, spiritual communion, another translation of it which is very clumsy, but I'll just throw it at you, if you'll excuse me, is spiritual correspondence and permutation of the way. We have the, in the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, it says,

[17:26]

the meaning is not in the words, yet it responds to the inquiring impulse, or it responds to the arrival of energy. The expression inquiring impulse or arrival of energy means the capacities of the practitioner. When you bowed tonight, when you put your hands together, when sounds come out of your throat, this is an expression of your capacity. Each of us has our own capacity. Which we have expressed and are expressing right now, moment by moment, our capacity is being expressed. I may wish my capacity was greater, more elegant, more brilliant, or less so, but whatever my capacity is, it responds to that.

[18:35]

This is the spiritual correspondence. There are no Buddhas by themselves. Buddhas are only a response to living beings, and they respond to the living beings. They respond to our capacity. They respond to the arrival of our life energy. But the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi also says that inquiry and response come up together. This is a spiritual communion. And spiritual communions are not like ordinary conversations. Spiritual communions are things that, it's

[19:45]

when the conversation happens simultaneously. The response of Buddha is not something that's going to happen after this moment. Right now you're all sitting here, making an effort to sit up straight, instead of doing something else with your body. But if you do something else with your body, no matter what you do, the moment you do it, Buddha responds to you. But since Buddha responds to you simultaneously with your activity, you cannot see Buddha's response. Not only that, but you cannot see the arrival of your life and the meeting of it by Buddha. This is a dance that's happening beyond hearing and seeing. And Buddha responds differently to our activity, according to the difference of our activity.

[20:52]

If you go like this, Buddha goes like that. If you go like this, Buddha goes like that. When I go like this, see this? There is immediate response there. Do you see the immediate response? When I go like this, there's an immediate response. Here's another translation. Do you revere and respect Buddhadharma, Sangha, or not? It is evident that the authentic transmission of Buddhas and ancestors in India and China

[21:57]

is reverence for Buddhadharma, Sangha. Unless you convert to them, you have no reverence. Unless you revere them, you have no conversion. Conversion is another translation of taking refuge. The merit of conversion, the merit of taking refuge in Buddhadharma, Sangha, is surely accomplished when there is spiritual correspondence and permutation of the way. Whether you are a being in heaven, a hungry ghost, a beast in hell, once you have spiritual correspondence and permutation of the way, there is surely conversion, there is surely taking refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha. And then he also says that once you have taken refuge in Buddhadharma, Sangha, even from

[23:11]

that time on, the merit of taking refuge will continuously increase until you attain complete perfect enlightenment. And while it's increasing, if you should happen to slip, if you should happen to be led astray by bad friends or devils. As I mentioned some time ago, bad friends are people who weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know, well, an adult from between a hundred and three or four hundred pounds. You know, full-size adults, bad people, they can lead us astray. But also there's devils, and devils are small. Devils are small enough so that you can have thousands of them right around your ear, and they say various things to you, like, how could taking refuge in Buddhadharma, Sangha, possibly do any good? Or how could it protect me from

[24:17]

all the stupid things which I might do and have been doing since the last time I took refuge? That little voice, that little devil, can live right inside your ear. A lot of stories like that, a lot of little devils. These little devils plus regular people that also tell you the same thing which I just said, or other stories, they can lead us astray and we can get in trouble. However, if you have taken refuge in the past, it will eventually overcome this and cause still the attainment of complete perfect enlightenment. If you've done it once, it will keep increasing and finally overcome all of our slips. Now if you do it twice, it doubles the power. And so on, three times, four times, the more you

[25:22]

do it, the more it increases. How can you do it? In the first place. You do it in the first place because of this communion between your activity and Buddha. When you say, I take refuge in Buddha, at that time you are in communication with Buddha. That utterance has come out of a communication between your voice and Buddha. Buddha is immediately drawn and appears simultaneously with, I take refuge in Buddha. It's not like I'm over here and Buddha's over there. It's like my voice and Buddha meet. That's what I hear Dogen Zen Ji saying. And the question is, is that credible? And I would say if you say no or if you say

[26:23]

yes, either way, the point is whether or not you take refuge. Because if you take refuge, it is credible. Taking refuge in the triple treasure means, first of all, to come with pure faith. Taking refuge in the triple treasure means, first of all, to come with pure faith. I don't know everybody in this room really well, but I know quite a few people in this room quite well, including I know myself pretty well. And it is amazing to me that people

[27:25]

like me, and like some of you, come into this room and take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. In other words, that we could be, that we could be so childlike. So simple, so innocent, as to come in here and say that. That's pure faith, to be able to do that. Now, whether it is during the Buddha's lifetime or after it, people should place their hands together with lowered heads and recite the following. From now until we realize Buddhahood, we take refuge in the Buddha, we take refuge in the

[28:31]

Dharma, we take refuge in the Sangha, we take refuge in the Buddha as the most venerable human being, the greatest teacher. We take refuge in the Dharma as the most venerable teaching because it is free of desire. We take refuge in the community, the Sangha, the most venerable community of all. We have taken refuge in the Buddha, we have taken refuge in the Dharma, we have taken refuge in the community. We do it this way just as Dogen Zenji said to do it 700 years ago, and he said to do it 700 years ago the way they said to do it 2,500 years ago. When we put our hands together and say that, we are not only met simultaneously with the Buddhas, but we are doing exactly the same thing that all Buddhas have done.

[29:35]

Of course, they said it in other languages. Buddham saranam gacchami. Dharmam saranam gacchami. Sangham saranam gacchami. Many languages, namo kye butsu, namo kye ho, namo kye so. Many languages, but the same spiritual activity. All beings, ten directions, three times are joined. This is inconceivable liberation of the mind of all beings, of the mind of all beings to the infinite past and infinite future. To be able to take refuge with this spirit is because of your desire for enlightenment.

[30:38]

Oh, it's up here on my wrist. There's a tradition in Zen of when you come to worship the Buddha, you take your watch off. So I try to practice that, so when I came here to worship Buddha, I took my watch off and put it in my sleeve. Then when I gave a talk, there's a tradition of not talking too long, so I took it out of my sleeve and put it on my wrist, but I forgot. Anyway, as I said earlier, when I came to sit in Zazen, first of all, I loved it because it seemed real, and later I found out the importance of taking refuge in the Dharma, the Buddha and the Sangha. And now I'm more and more realizing that this

[31:57]

taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha really helps us do the right thing and really practice Zazen in the correct and authentic fashion, and really helps us enter into the great house of Zen, and helps us be able to receive Buddha's precepts, and that every time we take refuge, the Buddha comes to meet us simultaneously with that activity, and this sustaining activity protects us forever. However, it's still good to do it more and more. Don't rely on the one time you did it. This Saturday, we're going to have an initiation ceremony, a lay initiation ceremony for people

[33:04]

and they will, in that ceremony, again go through this process of invoking the presence of the Buddhas and ancestors through their alignment, through their homage paying, through their prostrations. They will, again, purify their body and mind through confession and through water purification. They will receive, will receive the Buddha and will take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. They will do it in front of everyone and they will be asked, will you do this? Will you continue this refuge taking even after attaining Buddhahood? And they will say yes. And then they will receive the three pure precepts and again they will be asked, will you continue to do this even after attaining perfect enlightenment? And they will say yes. And they will be, then they will also receive the ten great precepts and they will be asked

[34:06]

again, will you continue to do this? And they will say yes. And they will get a new name, a new and glorious name, a name that no one could believe that they deserve, but which they do deserve because Buddha delivered it to them because they were reached out and said, I go home to Buddha. And Buddha says, yes, you did and here's your name. And with the new name they receive new clothing, they receive Buddha's clothing and they receive Buddha's pedigree. And then they go on to fall on their face, probably eating too many cookies at the reception. And they go back to the Zen dome and have trouble sitting up straight and still. But eventually, eventually, hail Jesus. Eventually, hail Buddha.

[35:13]

They will attain complete perfect enlightenment. Now, I didn't make that up. I'm just saying what the other people said. But you know, somehow, not up here, but deep down inside of every cell of my body, I believe what I just said. And so do you.

[35:48]

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