This podcast is offered by San Francisco's Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening, everyone. It's a joy and honor to be with you all again and change my view so I can see you all better. And as I usually have been doing recently, inviting anyone who... is able to, to join us visually by turning on your camera if that's something that you're able to do and open to do. It's really beautiful to see Sangha manifesting in this way and feel that sense of connection. So if it works for you, great. And if it doesn't, that's also fine. So thank you so much. And also let me know if my sound is problematic and I will try to adjust it. Thank you for being

[01:29]

And I want to begin with two related quotes. And one is from a very old Dharma text. It's the Bodhisattva Bhumishaskara. And this is a text which is a kind of a subsection of a larger 14th century compendium of Mahayana Buddhist doctrines. And it contains the following quote. Ordinary beings live according to their karma, being their karmic habitual tendencies. according to vow. And then the second quote is an echo of and a brief commentary on this original expression by the contemporary teacher, Shohako Gamora. And it's from his wonderful book, Living by Vow, which if you haven't read it, I would highly recommend it. And here's what Shohako Gamora has to say. In Mahayama Buddhism, vow is essential for all bodhisattvas. In fact, part of the definition of a bodhisattva is a person who lives by a vow instead of karma.

[02:35]

Karma means habits, preferences, or a ready-made system of values. As we grow up, we learn a system of values from the culture around us, which we use to evaluate the will and choose actions. This is karma and living by karma. In contrast, a bodhisattva lives by a vow. A vow is like a magnet or a compass that shows us the direction toward the Buddha. There are two kinds of vows. General vows, taken by all bodhisattvas, and particular vows, through each person. Each bodhisattva makes specific vows unique to his or her or their personality and capabilities. The four bodhisattva vows are general vows that should be taken by all Mayan practitioners. We must live by these vows. This is our direction. Our sitting practice should also be based on these vows.

[03:36]

So what does it mean to live by vow rather than karma? We're told that a bodhisattva is someone who aspires to live by vow rather than karma. A bodhisattva, for those who might be familiar, refers to anyone who has generated bodhicitta. which is a spontaneous wish and a compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood, full awakening, for the benefit of all sentient beings. A bodhisattva is also someone who vows to live in accord with reality, to live a true life, to help others. If you're a Zen practitioner, it's very likely that you are a bodhisattva. Sometimes as I think of it, a bodhisattva in training. At least I feel I'm a bodhisattva in training. It's like there is some calling within you, perhaps mysterious, perhaps not fully formed, that is compelling you to seek a path of liberation from suffering.

[04:47]

Not just for your sake, but for the sake of all beings. And maybe this calling has brought you to this talk tonight, to hear the Dharma, or to practice Zen, or maybe even to take up the study of the Buddha Dharma. According to our Zen ancestors, to study Buddha Dharma, or the Buddha way, is to study the self. And to study the self, is to study our karma, our ordinary way of being, our karma as ordinary beings. So as Dharma practitioners, we are being asked to study karma. And the first step on the path of liberation is to look at and understand the workings of our particular karma. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the concept of karma, if you haven't been joining for the least last number of weeks, it's

[05:53]

In its traditional Buddhist form, rather than its current colloquial understanding, karma is the intentional actions of body, speech, and mind. And the imprints those actions leave in our minds. So the things we say, do, think, and the imprints in our minds left by them determine how we are going to understand the world we live in. and, as a consequence, how we're going to act in the future. So karma tells us that there is a relationship between what we do and how we feel that results from the intention behind our actions. This means karmic actions have a moral dimension, with intention thus being crucial. And when we act in thought or word or deed, impelled by attachment, aversion, or indifference, by the three poisons, as they're called in Buddhism, a greed, hate, and delusion, we are living by karma.

[07:12]

We are bound, chained to physical and emotional and mental tendencies that are, in turn, the product of previous events. we find ourselves called in the cyclical nature of life in samsara, of which the links of suffering seem to be beginningless. You kind of think of it as we're indentured to the past, unable to escape the pool of conditioned habit patterns. And so we're not agents or actors in our life, but we're re-actors. Constantly forced by external circumstances, perhaps, or the internal turnings to construct ourselves in ways that we might come to regret. Now, none of us escapes love karma.

[08:15]

And we need, each of us, need to find a way to come to terms with it. Skillfully working with it, rather than against it. Our relation with ourselves, with others, and with the world, it's complex. In part because a lot of the karmic habitations we engaged in were inherited or absorbed from others around us, such as our parents and society. And as Okamura also points out, as we grow up, we learn a system of values from the culture around us. which we use to evaluate the world and choose actions. So there's a kind of cultural social karma, which is part of our conditioning. There's any number of socially joined and held ways of seeing and relating to the world and to others around us.

[09:17]

And which, you know, they'll vary. They're going to vary depending on the social environments and the conditions we grew up in. and on which we actually depend on. So there are expectations that we pick up. We learn what we're supposed to value, what we're expected to want, supposed to look for in terms of satisfaction and meaning. How much of what you think you're supposed to be doing or how you're supposed to be is not actually something that you came up with for yourself, but was actually something you inherited from others, and you're just kind of living out their particular karmic view of how the world is. So we bind each other in this way. We limit and imprison each other in this way with our karmic views. So we can think of all these jointly co-created and shared communal habits, patterns, as collective karma.

[10:25]

or worldly karma. So the worldly kinds of karma, socially and culturally held habits. And there is personal karma, our personal habits of mind, of action and reaction. And a lot of these are shaped by previous conditioning. Because it's impossible to be totally free of our conditioning. I don't think it's possible as humans to be totally free of our conditioning, right? As animals, you will. The question becomes one of, how can we be free within our conditioning? To become aware of it, to see how we are a part of this, and how we can transform it. So essentially we can think of karma as an underlying force that moves the world.

[11:29]

In other words, the world we live in is a consequence of all of our karma, all of our intentions and actions to a degree that is unfathomable to us. Each of us contributes to the world of karma because We always have a choice regarding how we will act and respond. We may not be cognizant of that choice, but the choice is always there to step out of karma. So the question becomes one of the, you know, of what kind of world do we want to choose? What kind of world do we want to choose to envision and create? So if you start with a vision or an intention that's informed by self-grasping or greed, hate, and delusion, then you're contributing to a world full of these kinds of afflictions.

[12:40]

You're just replicating them. But if you start with a vision or an intention for, say, the well-being and happiness of all, then you've already contributed to bettering the world and changing yourself for the better. Just from that very intention. So rather than being tossed about by karmic hindrances, instead we can aim to take more and more control, if you will, of our life through the cultivation of beneficial actions of body, speech, and mind. At San Francisco Examiner, we often chant the Ehe Koso Hotsugano, which is our ancestor Ehe Dogan's words for arousing the vow to practice.

[13:50]

That's one way it's translated, that title. Words for arousing the vow to practice. It includes the following stanza. Although our past evil karma, and sometimes I'd switch evil to harmless and unwholesome because it makes more sense to me, Although our past unharmful, unwholesome karma has greatly accumulated, indeed being the cause and condition of obstacles in practicing the way, may all Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way be compassionate to us and free us from karmic effects, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance. And then further on, near the end of the sutra, it says this. Finally explore the father's reaches of these causes and conditions, as this practice is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha. Confessing and repenting in this way, one never fails to receive profound help from all Buddhas and ancestors.

[14:53]

So where do we begin in addressing our conditioning and removing obstacles so we can practice the way without hindrance? In my mind, to practice with karma, we first need to acknowledge karma. But in a certain sense, we don't need to do this alone. We can actually call on all the Buddhists and ancestors who came before us to help us to acknowledge, to study, make amends for, and eventually absolve your karma. And I could say more about how we rely on the Buddhists and ancestors with absolving our karma, but I know that Shuso, Roger, the head student, is wanting to speak a little bit more about that next week. So I'm going to leave it to him to have that particular joy in sharing his thoughts on that. But the Shantideva, the 8th century Indian Buddhist monk and scholar, he said, one law serves to summarize the whole of the great vehicle, meaning the whole of Mahayana Buddhist teachings.

[16:19]

The protection of all beings is accomplished through the examination of one's own mistakes. That's a pretty big statement. One law serves to summarize the whole of Mahayana Buddhist teachings. The protection of all beings is accomplished through the examination of one's own mistakes. And this kind of honest self-reflection, if we do it thoroughly, can help to motivate us and inspire us to continue finding our way in practice. And oftentimes, we have a tendency to kind of step away. or back away from looking at our mistakes and our faults. And instead, we kind of, you know, if we do something wrong, we kind of lead with, you could say, a string of justifications or stories or excuses for why we did it or why we can't do something.

[17:23]

I appreciate here at Sensitive, this is practice that whenever we make a mistake in some way, and a common one, of course, is like hitting the wrong balancers, you know, or ones that many people may not admit to so much here is absolutely leaving dirty dishes in the sink on a personal day, right? Ooh, me? Right? But we can just step forward and simply bow and apologize for our errors, our mistakes, without making a lot of excuses. And it's also part of the Mayan addition when when entering into relationship with Dharma practice, in particular with the Bodhisattva vow, to acknowledge not only the impossibility of completing the vow, fulfilling our mission to save all beings, the impossibility and also of acknowledging all our current mistakes, but to also acknowledge our previous mistakes, our previous ways that we have been, that have been

[18:33]

you could say, unwholesome, ways that we've been selfish in life, this way that we're trying to, you know, be in recovery, recovery from self-clinging, right? And this is why every morning we chant during service, the following, right after service, right after meditation, we chant all my ancient twisted karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusions. born through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow. Avow meaning I now fully acknowledge and I accept my mistakes, my numerous errors. I confess. I did it, I made a mistake, and I'm very sorry. So being conscious of ourselves and being

[19:35]

concerned about the effect that our behaviors and actions come on others is essential to our life in community. Whether or not you live within a temple, or you live in the wider community, or you live in the community of all beings, the community of the world, how it is in relation to the world. So it's helpful to begin our practice of resolving our ancient twisted karma, by first devouring, and then studying it, and understanding the roots of it, the various causes and conditions for its arising in our life. And with that foundation, then we can repent and make amends, and subsequently make clear vows for how to live with more mindfulness, more awareness, and skillfulness going forward.

[20:41]

And this is the way in which the Buddhas and ancestors practice with their own karma. This is both the practice of our Dharma ancestors, as well as a way in which we ourselves become Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, and Dharma ancestors. And the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas Donaman says to come after us, we practice this same way. Ordinary beings live according to their pharma, being their karmic habitual tendencies, while Dorisata lives according to vow. So how can we learn to live instead of through karma, with the power of vow, to turn our minds and our energy with a vow. What is it that will compel us to leave behind our karmic habitual tendencies and choose a path of liberation?

[21:51]

How do we live as bodhisattvas? How do we live by vow? And what exactly is vow? says that a vow is like a magnet or a compass that shows us direction toward the Buddha. Buddha means one who is obeyed. So how can, so a vow can help us turn toward clarity, turn toward seeing things clearly, to be awake. When we live from karma, From habit, we're not awake. We're living blindly. We're living out of ignorance. And laos can help us turn, to turn the flow of our kumma, to turn our habits to something better, to make better choices, to make beneficial choices over and over again, to turn toward what is clear and true.

[23:02]

what is harmonious and libertarian. The Sanskrit word commonly used for vow in Buddhism is pranidhana, which means surrender, devote, or be supported by. And it can also be translated as vow, commitment, or dedication. And one contemporary Dictionary defined vow as a solemn promise or pledge, especially one made in a spiritual context, dedicating oneself to an act, service, or way of life. So there is a sense of, in this, surrendering one's personal agenda in devotion to or service of a greater purpose or a universal truth. to let ourselves be supported by a calling that's larger than us.

[24:09]

Bokumara writes that there are two kinds of vows, general vows taken by all bodhisattvas, and particular vows for each person. Each bodhisattva makes specific vows unique to his or her or their personality and capabilities. Now, if you've been around Buddhism for very long, you know, even a couple of weeks, you'll see that there are a lot of vows. And some are very detailed, like the Theravada and Lunaya. And while others address our ethics and intentions, you could say in a more general way, such as the precepts. And in some traditions, one form becomes a Buddhist by taking the refuge vow. I take refuge in Buddha and Sangha. And of course, there are the the bodhisattva vows of the Mahayana tradition, which includes them, which I'll say more about shortly. But I think it's important to begin with identifying what is your own lifestyle or driving intention.

[25:19]

When you look inside and ask yourself, what is my ultimate concern? Another way to put it is, What is your deepest wish? Suzuki Roshi framed it to know your innermost request, your deepest intention or your sense of purpose, the most important thing for you to realize or manifest in your life. So vow acts like a conduit for our life energy. And if we don't have a clear underlying purpose for our life, our life energy can be kind of scattered or can be kind of subject to being furthered away. And vows prevent us from reaching the end of our life and looking back with the question, what happened? How did I end up here?

[26:24]

What was that all about? Karma is the habit energy of our conditioning. But a vow, a true vow, whether that's public or personal, it's a compass that helps us to turn in the right direction. So as Dharma practitioners, we use our vows as kind of a GPS system, a way to navigate and stay on the path toward realizing our deepest intention. And we may not know where We're ultimately headed. If we'll get there. But, you know, if you take a vow, your vows tell you what direction to keep moving in. In living our lives based on vow, we can continuously shift the direction of our karma towards Buddha way.

[27:25]

There is no one way. There's just the way. but being awake, the Buddha way. Always in the direction of being awake, spoken in compassion, compassionate. Following one's vows in every moment, living in a vow, can be seen as the path itself. Now, if you've... May bows earlier in your life. We've been talking about rebirth recently and the karma class, perhaps in our past life. And for whatever reasons, we can't remember it. We can look within ourselves and ask ourselves, what is it that I seem to be working toward? Even if I'm not aware of it.

[28:28]

What challenges? or my life presenting to me that is somehow calling me forth in a way that asks me to go beyond my limited idea of who I am and what I'm on this earth this time to manifest. So your aspirations may not be ones you're fully aware of, but something in your life keeps pulling you in a particular direction. pointing you to where there is suffering. So that you can begin to recognize where there is suffering, there is liberation. The path of suffering is also the path to liberation. So what are you drawn to that's outside your immediate frame of reference? I was thinking about my own experience a vow, about the times in my life that I've taken a vow, and particularly when I've taken a vow that has been, say, transformative.

[29:36]

And I think in all those instances, it was like I was taking a vow that I was ready for, that I had been working on for maybe a long time, even if I didn't necessarily know that I was working on it. But then when it time to finally take that vow, it was as if I had already somehow laid the groundwork. The act of actually finally taking the vow somehow then empowered me to step more fully into what I had already started to live out of. So I think we should know that There's a work that leads up to taking vow, whether we are fully aware of that or not. So maybe that's what vow comes out of.

[30:40]

That's how we know what our vow could be, should be, what will be skillful. There's something that is calling us to step out of our karma and into vow. And if we're quiet enough, or tuned enough, and we listen deeply enough, we can hear the clear voice and see the light of thou in the midst of our karmic obscurations. Personally speaking, I recall having a deep wish or intention from a young age to live a life of service. However, for many years, decades actually, I wasn't clear exactly what shape I wanted my life of service to take. So after college, I tried working with not-for-profit organizations.

[31:43]

That would be service, adjusting HIV and AIDS, healthcare, education, international service. But In time, I realized the nature of the work itself didn't seem to touch a deeper valve for who and how I wanted to be. For what I wanted my life and way of being to be of service to. And it wasn't until I had started Zen Practice that I began to taste a greater possibility for the orientation to my life. of my life. And then, you know, I took, you know, the Bodhisattva precepts as a practitioner. I said, I want to start the Bodhisattva path. However, it wasn't until I actually became a resident of Zen Zenit that I realized that ordaining as a Zen priest and committing publicly to pouring myself into serving the Dharma and the Sangha

[32:55]

through that particular archetype, a public archetype, that I felt I finally had touched my heart's deepest vow in calling. Now, vow kind of transcends the realm of our personal likes and dislikes. It has a broader, larger frame. And there are personal vows informed by personal goals. For example, maybe I want to stop surfing social media so much because I want to spend more time on more rewarding activities. So sometimes a vow can be about renouncing something, letting go or stopping something in your life, something that's not skillful, it's not helpful, something that's not leading to freedom. Is there something in your life of that nature that you want to stop or let go of?

[34:03]

Because you know it will direct you to its freedom. And sometimes the vow is to pick something up, to strengthen something, you know, maybe, you know, stretch a particular habit that we know leads to skillfulness, that leads to liberation, to freedom. Like making a vow to begin a meditation practice. Or meditating every day. And maybe that means getting up 30 minutes earlier each morning. Or spending less time in the evening with Netflix. And some people are of the opinion that making vows restricts or negates our freedom. However, the freedom to be bound by desire, to be led here and there by the dictates of body and mind, is not freedom at all, at least in my perspective.

[35:07]

To me, it feels more like an object's submission to mere preference and mood or habit or even circumstance. On the other hand, bodhisattvas, on their way to enlightenment, Refuse to succumb to the sway of karma, the habit. Bodhisattvas are guided by vows. The intentional adoption of guidelines that align us with the Dharma and advance our, you want to call it spiritual cultivation. To live by vows, to decide for ourselves what thoughts we will entertain, what words we will speak, and what deeds we will perform. That's true freedom. So we make it that. We state it intentionally. And then what? Maybe we keep it.

[36:09]

Maybe we don't. Maybe there's a lot of resistance. A lot of having an eye. A lot of second-guessing ourselves. And that needs to be wielded gently, at least by most of us. Otherwise, we have this tendency to use vow as a way to punish ourselves, to reify a sense of a separate self through self-judgment. Oh, I broke my vow. I'm a terrible person. I'm the worst practitioner in the world. That's just selfing. That's just the ego running amok again. That's karmic conditioning. There's different ways to approach it then, different ways to tap into the effort to give some shape and to acknowledge our aspirations and to let them give some shape to our lives. But if we look at vows as the end of the mission, as the end goal or the result, and not in how we live them, then we're missing something that's pretty fundamental.

[37:22]

Vow is in the living effort. There's no end to vow. There's no end to vowing. A vow is timeless. It's for all time. It's beyond time. And there are many vows in Zen Buddhism to help us counteract our ancient twisted karma. Okamura mentions the four Bodhisattva vows. They're also known as the four immeasurable or the universal vows, which we'll chant at the end of our talk. And now we chant regularly in practice. And he says the four vows, the four Bodhisattva vows are general vows that are to be taken by all Mariana Buddhist practitioners. We must live by these vows. So they're expressing a direction. They're really encapsulating a path.

[38:26]

the Mayama path, and the Bodhisattva way of practicing together to help support and realize universal liberation is to express and actualize our caring for all beings. Paradoxically, the style in Sattu Zayad practices start, you could say, with the highest fast, as well as the highest form of meditation, Zaza, just sitting in and as. choice-less awareness, right? So we begin with these inconceivable vows to save or free all beings, to cut through all delusions, to enter all the gateways of truth or true truth, and to realize the Buddha way. Inconceivable, inaccomplishable, right? And the ultimate level vow may seem like some fairy tale or fantasy, but how we actually carry that out is connected to our very practical everyday vows.

[39:39]

Both levels kind of arrive together. The ultimate vow is to free all living beings, to awaken together with all beings, to be willing to just be ourselves, sitting here on our cushions. Or in our chairs or wheelchairs. To see everything arising together. To see how in various ways we support each other. We don't support each other. Or we get all tangled up in our karma. It's just that here we are. Together. Maybe another word for vow is willingness. And this includes our dedication and intention to practice together. To be upright together. And it allows something to happen within which we are all connected. This mutual endeavor.

[40:41]

Nakamura also says that our sitting practice should be based on these four Bodhisattva vows. One of the most powerful embodied vows, a form of vow is Zazen. Sahasin, both a physical and a mental manifestation of the vow. The vow to not turn away from the world of karma and samsara. To remain steadfastly present and still and compassionate in the face of sometimes overwhelming conditioning. Sahasin gives us access to mind, to our conditioned mind. to see into the nature of our thoughts and our habit patterns, to see what's going on, to see what it is we're creating, to see how much all we are as a self are these whirling thought, habit pattern creations, this flow of thoughts and emotions, this flow of karma constantly spinning, constantly moving through us.

[41:49]

Thoughts arise and they pass away. They arise and they pass away. And maybe, just maybe, between, in between these are moments of stillness, of silence, of just space, of just awareness. Who am I when there are no thoughts or impulses? When I'm not reacting to something, or not wanting something, not... disliking something, not having an opinion or wanting something to be different? Who am I when I'm not worried? When I don't have anything to do but just be? Who am I when no one else is looking or having a reaction to me? And who is the one who's asking? Who am I? So then there are their personal vows in the form of the precepts.

[42:54]

Whether you are on the path to fully take the precepts or not, they are all the same, you know, in the same way, a good place to look for guidance, to study for a wholesome direction in your life. So the precepts, they're considered practice vows. We practice them through our actions of body, speech, and mind. And there's an understanding and acknowledgement when we take the precepts, that we're going to break the precepts. That we're not going to live them perfectly just because we took these vows in public. All right? So we tender with ourselves. We forgive ourselves because, you know, we realize that our karma and our habits are deep. Our desires are strong. Our greed and delusion is endless. This isn't an excuse, but it simply acknowledges that The power of human nature, human conditioning, it's tremendous.

[43:57]

And the power of vow is that, nevertheless, we will return. It will bring us back. Kind of like that magnet that Okuma Roshi was talking about. So it keeps pulling us, pulling at us, showing us the direction. So even when we are stringing from vow, it holds us. It can hold us. And I think this is true of any vow. It can bring us back on the path, back into harmony with ourselves, with each other, with the universe. Because there's also, there's a faith, there's traps that we can be held by our quest for truth. Be held by our vows. Be held by what we have stated to ourselves is most important. ourselves, for you. And we can shift the direction of our karma, of our habits.

[44:59]

And so, true thou, true thou helps us, helps pull us into our life, into our fullness of being. And a vow can show the direction to Buddha, to that which is, to that which is always awake. You are Buddha. So a true vow helps you return to your true self, to live your true life. And there's a way that, yes, there's a way that vow can bind us. But a true vow, in that binding, liberates us. Because it's helping us to live a way that is most true. A way we want to live. Because we all want to live a true life. Is that true for you? So in closing, I would encourage you to continually ask yourself, am I living by vow or am I living by karma?

[46:10]

And as we continue our study of the Buddha Dharma, the self and karma, let us decide if we want to live, if we wish to live in servitude, the karma, or to walk the path of liberation. So, thank you very much. I apologize for coming over in little bits. I appreciate your kind attention. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge, and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[47:04]

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