This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good afternoon. So, welcome to the next class this summer. which is a class on the Vimalakirti Sutra. Something that's very dear to my heart and I hope certainly one of my intentions in this class is to share my appreciation for this teaching. I've read it and studied it off and on for a mighty long time. I discovered there are five English translations, and I own them all.

[01:00]

Oh my gosh. How did that happen? Besides, I have too many books. But I love it. I love the Vimalakita Sutra. I love its approach to the Dharma, its freshness, humor. So I hope to share some of that with you. Yes. I'm going to get to that. I'm going to talk about the different translations, actually. This is part of my intention this afternoon. And then I also want to say that, well, we're taking attendance because this is part of the ongoing Zen Center School. And this summer I'm actually teaching from the curriculum, so... Vimalakirti Sutra is on curriculum. It's one of the things that is suggested we teach and study.

[02:02]

Very important to the Zen school. We'll get into that. So, having said that, of course, we must also acknowledge it's summer and, you know, none of these, well, the classes are going to build on each other because Because we're going to just go through the sutra from one end to the other in the course of the class. But every class I teach, I try to make a standalone event. So if you come to this one and you don't come to the next one and you do come to the third one, that's totally fine. Totally fine. And I anticipate... I haven't figured it out yet. It's going to be three or four. We'll see how we do. I feel like there's plenty of time, and then we get to the end of an hour, and I'm like, oh my gosh, we barely got into this. So we'll see. We'll see. I was actually thinking to cover chapters 1 through 4 today, but maybe that's too ambitious.

[03:09]

So I think three or four classes. So another reason why I'm motivated... interested in teaching the Vimalakirti Sutra this year is, of course, the Vimalakirti Puppet Show, which is coming to Tassajara in the end of July, actually, August 1st. Now, I don't want to, actually, I don't want to get my own hopes to, you know, all kinds of things could happen between now and August 1st. We live in a world of impermanence, but I have contacted Patricia Sullivan, Laura Burgess, Coop Lyrics, and this troupe of players who came together a long time ago and created the Vimalakirti puppet show and built the puppets.

[04:18]

They've been doing it for fun. It's the sort of thing they enjoy doing together for a long time. In fact, reading the translators forward to this most recent translation of the Vimalakirti Sutra by John McRae, He says, modern readers are very interested in the scene in which a goddess upstages the staji shravaka or Hinayana monk, Shariputra. In a dramatization of the Vimalakirti story that I saw in San Francisco in the summer of 2000, in which life-size puppets were used to represent the dramatist personae, Okay, this is a spoiler alert, so plug your ears now if you like.

[05:25]

The highlight of the performance came when the goddess transforms the bodies of herself and Sariputra into their contrasting genders, depicted by a quick change of the puppet's heads. How about that? So, that's the preview. Yeah. I don't know. They're all on board. We've got housing for them. They're looking forward to coming to Tassajara and putting on the show. So, I thought, well, if we're going to have the Vimalakirti puppet show, it'd be great if, you know, some people had a little understanding of it, the Dharma of it, teaching of the Vimalakirti Sutra, why it's so important in the Zen school, and... You know, maybe they can share with their friends when they're at the puppet show or before or after. Exactly, you know about that? That's what's happening there.

[06:26]

Because he's studying the sutra. Okay. What else? Vimalakirti. His name is Unstained Glory. The title of the sutra also is Vimalakir Vimadeca, which means the teaching of the bodhisattva unstained glory. Actually, the word bodhisattva is just understood. Anyway, teaching of Vimalakir. And, yeah, I mentioned some of why it's important to design school. Most famously, the Vimalakirti Sutra is a presentation of the non-dual dharma. In the Heart Sutra, we chant, form is emptiness and emptiness is form.

[07:32]

But in the Vimalakirti Sutra, it's enacted. There's various miracles. There's a lot of miracles. Then there's Vimalakirti's impeccable discourse where he makes all of Buddha's disciples look like slowpokes. He makes them look like, ah, they're just really not practicing so well. All Buddha's most famous disciples. He just cuts them down one after another. Mostly with the teaching of reconciliation of dichotomies. the two truths, the middle way that was expounded in Madhyamaka Buddhism and Nagarjuna, this fourfold logic, reconciliation of dichotomies. And thank you. By the way, I meant to say, let's put up hands, let's talk, let's discuss.

[08:34]

I like it that way. Please. When was this sutra written? I'm glad you asked that. Oh, I meant to look up the word. Terminus ad quen. Q-U-E-N. No? Oh. But anyway, I don't know what that means in Latin, but the best guess of most likely it couldn't have been written past this date was around 100, the year 100 of the Common Era. Now... This is a good segue. Thank you. Let's see. I can say a little bit more about why it's important, but... No, it's okay. It was written while Mahayana Buddhism was in sort of? Yes. Yes. So, if we're going to talk about the Vimalakirti Sutra, we're going to talk about Mahayana Buddhism.

[09:40]

Who here can tell me what is Mahayana Buddhism? Valerian's turn. Well, I guess it's hard to define, but at some point, I think the starting was maybe like 200 BC. There were different ideas, traditions emerging in Buddhist history, like criticizing the the older school, the Theravada school. And in this kind of starting, what you said, the Madhyamaka, is one tradition that's very important, and the later ones, your Bacchara, two schools. And in this context, there were created lots of the Mahayana Sutras. Yeah, so some were quite early, and then around twice, and then... Later on, there were later sutras.

[10:45]

What does Mahayana mean? Oh, it's a great vehicle. The big ship? Great vehicle. And they called the Theravada school the Hinayana, the lesser vehicle. Yes. Because from that point... They include all beings. Yes. It's a put-down. Kind of. Like in the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks were the Bolsheviks. Those people over there, they're the Mensheviks. Wait, we don't want to be the Mensheviks. No. And I don't think the Hinianos want to be Hiniana either. So we usually say Terebotten, the school of the elders, when we're talking about... the tradition of Buddhism, which still exists, that came from the Pali teachings, the Pali canon, and South Asia and Southeast Asia.

[11:49]

And the Mahayana, that's what it says around that time. Actually, there's a great book about the birth of the Mahayana called A Few Good Men by Jean Nathier. Or she says, you know, and lots of people say this, actually, they're practicing side by side in India, in like North India. There's a very wonderful time for a ferment of Buddhist practice and teaching. And in the same monastery, you would find people practicing so-called vinyana, so-called mahayana, you know, and it's just very fruitful, actually. And then Mahayana kind of branched off. And as Buddhism actually slowly died away in its birthplace in India, became subsumed more or less by Hinduism, the Mahayana spread to so-called Northern Buddhism along the Silk Road, actually.

[13:06]

Gadara, Sagdhya, Kothan, China, Japan, Korea. And this is where the Mahayana teaching spread, where the Pali Canon and Janayana, Theravadan, spread south in Sri Lanka and across to Southeast Asia. Yes? Are the origins in Mahayana now non-controversial? Well, non-controversial. Yeah, the origins are kind of controversial in that nobody's going to really be able to nail it down because there isn't that good of record keeping. We only know that these teachings evolved in North India around the time before and around the

[14:10]

turn of the millennium, the time of Christ, and then onwards. So, yeah, the Bhimala Kirti Sutra, probably around 100 kalamira, because the first translation in Chinese didn't happen too much longer after that. Now, because, as I said, the sutra, or rather, you know, the Mahayana, spread away from India, but in India itself began to become not so popular. So there are no extant versions in Sanskrit of the Vimalakirti anymore. There's a few bits and pieces here and there that can be found quoted elsewhere in Sanskrit. but original Sanskrit does not exist.

[15:12]

So what we have are many good translations in Chinese, Tibetan, Sagdian, and Kothanese. These still exist. So regarding the rise of the Mahayana, and whether it's controversial or not. Mr. Lamott. Okay, so five translations. I think in order, again, Lamott, and this is translated from the Tibetan, and actually... translated from French to English by Sarah Boyne. So this was translated Tibetan to French to English.

[16:13]

An amazing, really scholarly, tome. If you really want to study the Vimalakirti in depth, it's important. And this is a treasure. Our library, our Tazahara library, contains many treasures. This is one of them. If you find a copy for sale, you should buy it without delay and then sell it to me. No, just kidding. You guys, I said I own all five. Translations. This is the same book that was photocopied by my Dharma brother, Alan Sanaki. So this is... That's actually Sojan Weizmann. It says there, Sojan's Chop. He photocopied Sojan's copy and then made me a copy of the copy. Isn't that sweet? What a great gift. Gift to the Dharma. And then we have Charles Look translated from the Chinese of Kumara Jiva.

[17:28]

Not a popular translation, actually. kind of dismissed these days. Diminished. Sorry. Sorry, Charles. I mean, the merit of his practice translating the Vimo Kirti Sutra is amazing. But these days we have better English translations. Almost everybody agrees. And then I don't know if I had these in order or not. But I do. Who was dad? Robert Thurman. translated from Tibetan, of course, because our German practices in Tibetan tradition. And then Burton Watson, also considered a very good translation from the Chinese of Kumarajiba. And then John McRae, looking for the EDK, stands for... What does it stand for?

[18:32]

What does it stand for? Bukyo Dendo Kyokai. A charitable organization in Japan that is dedicated to disseminating the Dharma. Yes? FYI, Robert Thurman has a wonderful YouTube series of lectures on the Vimalik Victory Suit that are totally entertaining. Oh my gosh. You have heard. Well, no. I don't know about that. But yeah, I should check it out sometime because that is a person who really loves the Vimokhi of the Sutra for sure. So I imagine they are very entertaining. And he's a great speaker. And actually, this is the translation that I'm using to study and teach this class. I've been... looking at the other ones, but Robert Thurman's translation, I find the most readable, the most enjoyable, and the best at containing the Dharma, the Sitra.

[19:40]

So, that's the one I refer to. That's the one I'm going to be using in this class. And if you want to have a copy for your own, the nice people at Kinko's tell me they'd be willing to print and collect Kind of like this, you know, a plastic cover with a comb binding for $17.91. Now, I'm sorry, I'd love to give you all one, but I don't have that kind of budget. But if you want to buy one, I can have Kinko's print them, and we can sell them to you. Like what you have? Well, it's not the Le Mans. Oh. Robert, but I mean with the plastic binding. Okay, yeah. plastic cover and a comb binding and print it on this kind of paper. 8.5 by 11. Yeah. Is that legitimate? Is it legitimate? Yeah, isn't that like violating copyright laws?

[20:41]

It's like printing the gospel of Mark. It's a scripture. No, I don't think so. Yeah. Many translations in Chinese in particular because the Vimalakirti Sutra and when Buddhism came to China, the Chinese you know, were savvy consumers of the Dharma. They were able to pick and choose, and they had a very good connection with the Vimalakirti Sutra, because Vimalakirti is a lay person, okay, he's not a monk, because he embodies a great virtue, a virtuous conduct, and he's a businessman, actually.

[21:53]

The English character is a businessman. And he's wealthy. And he has a family. Even though he's celibate. He has a family. And he practices in the world. So that resonated really well with Chinese cultural values, Confucianism. I don't want to try to disrupt what... I know you want to get to the chapters, but I noticed him picking up hands, but opening the heart of the cosmos. Yes. He does not really... He says, this is not necessarily one of his favorite supers, because somehow it tends to put down people like Arapatians. And he doesn't agree with that. What do you think about that? Well... It's the comic effect. I am going to talk about that.

[22:55]

And yes, Shariputra is a total puss. Pardon my language. He's a fall guy. He's a... Oh my gosh, a clown. Shariputra gets clowned over and over again in the Vimal Kirti Sutra. So yeah, it is definitely... It sort of puts down... Theravadan. He doesn't think, you know, it should be accepted. I don't, you know, I don't think, from what I understood. Yeah. You see? Yeah. But, at the same time, there are places in the Nima Lekipti where, unlike... How did this guy get here? Oh, my God. you know, I just had to bring it along. Unlike the Lotus Sutra, which preaches the Ekayana, the one vehicle, this is the way, the path, that subsumes all the other paths.

[23:58]

Vimalakirti Sutra says, actually, for some people, this is the right path. That's in there, actually. But, make no mistake, it definitely puts down, as does the Lotus Sutra, definitely This is, you know, kind of Mahayana, Mahayanist propaganda, if you will. Yeah. It's a bit, it's parts of it. Parts of the Lotus, parts of the Vimalagyari are kind of propagandistic. No mistake about it. Okay. What else do I want to say about the popularity in East Asia and the various translations? Maybe nothing. The class is almost halfway over. Oh my gosh. So, this is how it goes. So, what is a Buddha field and why does it need purifying? Chapter 1. Purification of the Buddha field.

[25:05]

So, like a lot of other sutras, it starts out by saying who all was there. Actually, like a lot of sutras, it says, thus have I heard at one time. That's kind of standard. Thus have I heard. Actually, before it says that, it says reverence to all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arya Shravakas, and Pratyaka Buddhas in the past, the present, and the future. Maybe this is kind of by way of apology. Before Before it moves on to making fun of Arya Shravakas, it's paying homage to them. Reverence to all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arya Shravakas, and Pratyeka Buddhas in the past, the present, and the future. And those in the Mahayana, well, Buddhas, we know about Buddhas, but the Bodhisattvas, Arya Shravakas, or Arhats, and Pratyeka Buddhas, those are considered the three paths, like it talks about in the Lotus Sutra,

[26:13]

So it's paying homage to all of them. And then the Lord Buddha was in residence in the garden of Amrapali in the city of Vaishali. So Vaishali. So this takes place in the town of Vaishali in India. And that's where Vimalakirki lived. Was there an historical person actually that existed named Vimalakirki? Nobody knows. Nobody knows. But this is his story. So it starts out with the Buddha preaching. And the Buddha's preaching, that means there's going to be a lot of bodhisattvas. There were 32,000 great spiritual heroes who were universally acclaimed. They were dedicated to the... These are all the people who were there. And then it goes on to name them. la [...] this is just like the Lotus Sutra or the Avatamsaka Sutra even worse lists and lists and lists of all the Bodhisattvas who were there who was there so this is pretty typical for Mahayana Sutras everybody who was there to listen to the Buddha's discourse and it's funny to read this list of Bodhisattvas it's just like in this translation they're all in Sanskrit and you know you can kind of like Kuta Nimi

[27:43]

And then, you know, like two-thirds of the way down the list, Avalokiteshvara. Oh, that one. You've been there. Maitreya. Oh, I've heard of them. That's kind of cool. They were there too. Madhuri is very important in this sutra. Oh, and then I want to talk about the miracles in the Vimalakirti Sutra. So, I did mention miracles, right? There's a lot of miracles happen in the Vimalakirti Sutra. And they're for teaching. They're various teaching devices. it's enjoyable to read about them and they're very poetic how they teach very similar to the Lotus Sutra and because the Vimalajita Sutra is all about the non-dual Dharma the reconciliation of dichotomies

[29:10]

seeing the absolute in the relative and the relative in the absolute. One of the trainings that's kind of necessary is it said when we practice the paramitas, the six paramitas, which I will name them because they're in here, but the third paramita, kshanti, is usually translated as patience or forbearance. And one of the traditional trainings in forbearance in Buddhism is forbearance of the inconceivable. Being patient with the inconceivable. Some puzzled looks. Is that what forbearance means, patience?

[30:14]

Forbearance means patience, yes. Enduring something. So, yeah, why would it be important to endure the inconceivable? Because it is inconceivable. Yeah. Things you cannot understand. Yeah. Death, software, etc. And the nature of reality. There used to be this TV show, I will definitely date myself now, a science show that was hosted by a great scientist and a spokesperson for science named Carl Sagan, an astronomer. But here I heard of Carl Sagan. And the show was called... Cosmos. Cosmos.

[31:14]

That's right. And people like to make fun of Carl Sagan. They would imitate Carl Sagan. But they did what? When they were imitating Carl Sagan, they would say, billions and billions and billions. Right? I think scientists, physicists, come up against practicing... forbearance of the inconceivable, actually. When you think about the nature of reality, it's kind of scary. It's kind of scary to really contemplate the nature of reality. I heard a story about a physicist, someone studying particle physics, who sort of really began to get... a mental grasp of the tenuous nature of what we call matter, started going around his lab wearing big fluffy slippers. The whole world started to feel very tenuous to him.

[32:20]

It was not exactly knowing where he was. It can affect you this way. But it's important, actually, to practice... forbearance of the inconceivable if we really want to see reality if we want to see the world as it is it's difficult our brains are wired to make things understandable and predictable which reality is kind of at odds so these miracles are like a teaching device for that and the avatamsaka sutra which uh Kodo's busy chanting is like that as well. I think in one of our worshipful announcements, I said that if you chant the Avatamsaka Sutra, it will rewire your neural circuitry. It will help you practice patience with the inconceivable, the mutually unhindered interpenetration of all space and time.

[33:31]

So, the first chapter is Purification of the Buddha field. Buddha field, yeah, I wasn't kidding. Pasar is a Buddha field, for sure. It's a place of practice. Budak setra in the Sanskrit. In the famous, much beloved koan in the Book of Serenity where the Buddha and Indra are walking along with the assembly and The Buddha says, this would be a good place to build a sanctuary. That's how Thomas Cleary translates it. Actually, the word is Buddha Ksetra. This would be a good place to have a Buddha field. And then Indra plugs it with grass, puts it down on the ground and says, the sanctuary is built. A Buddha field is any place where people are practicing. And it can be any place. It can be pure or impure.

[34:34]

So, chapter one is called The Purification of the Buddha Field. The bodhisattvas who were there, there's a lot of other people there too. Typical of Mahayana Sutras, it's not just bodhisattvas, but there's also You know, devas, nagas, yakshas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, maharagas, and the fourfold community. Bishus, bishunis, laymen, and laywomen. That's monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, the fourfold assembly. And all those other beings are like cosmic beings or sort of half-human, half-animal, various non-human entities. We were also interested in what the Buddha had preached. They were all there. Of the bodhisattvas, and I had marked this bit in the first chapter because this is, above all, a Mahayana Sutra.

[35:43]

They had crossed the terrifying abyss of the bad migrations. That is, unfortunate rebirths. The wheel of samsara. And yet, they assumed reincarnation voluntarily in all migrations for the sake of disciplining living beings. So, there you have it. That's what bodhisattvas do, right there, in a nutshell. That's what bodhisattvas do. They have their enlightenment, but they don't stick with their enlightenment as they set up as kind of in opposition, arhats or pratika buddhas. I'm enlightened now. Cool. Later. Talk to you later. I'm alright, Jack. I'm enlightened. Or, you know, I'm free from suffering. Enlightened or not, but, you know, I'm not suffering anymore, so I'm good. Actually, and the sutra gets into this, bodhisattvas believe that their enlightenment, because of what enlightenment is, what enlightenment enacted in your life means, cannot possibly be separate from others' enlightenment.

[36:51]

It actually goes at odds with the understanding of what the Mahayana understanding of what enlightenment is. So therefore... they assume reincarnation voluntarily for the sake of disciplining living beings. That's a very good, succinct explanation of what a bodhisattva is and does. And I wanted to say also about the... history of Mahayana, reading Monsieur Lamotte, I got this explanation which I just love, which is what the Buddhist tradition, what the Mahayana tradition has to say about

[37:57]

the rise of the Mahayana and where the Mahayana Sutras come from. This is not scholarly. This is the story. In a couple of paragraphs. I've never seen it so succinctly expressed. So, I'd like to read it to you. It's wonderful. The date of the Vimalakirti, all the events related in the Vimalakirti Sutra would have taken place at the time of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Well, of course, he's there. in the 6th and 5th centuries before our era. But this is only a question of a literary fiction derived from an old Buddhist tradition. The Buddhist tradition. Immediately after his enlightenment, the Buddha Shakyamuni went to the Deer Park in Varanasi and for the first time caused the turning of the wheel of the law. He taught the Shravakas, his immediate disciples, the Four Noble Truths and the Tripitaka. A few years later, in the course of a second, even third turning of the wheel of the law, Shakyamuni gathered in Shravasti or Vaishali, chosen assemblies of Shravakas and Bodhisattvas, taught them the Mahayana and expounded to them the voluminous Vaipulyasutras, of which the Vimalakuti Sutra is one.

[39:14]

In general, the Shravakas, who would have been incapable of understanding it, got no wind of this teaching, but it was noted by the gods. After the death of the Buddha, the Shravakas, under the leadership of Mahakasyapa, gathered in Rajagra and there compiled the Hinayana scriptures, the Tripitaka. Concurrently, the great Bodhisattvas, assisted by Ananda, reached Mount Vimalasvabhava and there they compiled the Mahayana Sutras. Only the Hinayana's Tripitaka was immediately expounded to men and women. The Mahayana Sutras, entrusted to the safekeeping of the great bodhisattvas, were stored in hiding places among the Devas, Nagas, or Gandharvas, mythical beings. The majority of these Mahayana Sutras, such as the Prajnaparamita and the Avatamsaka, existed in three versions, a long version consisting of an infinite quantity of gatha, a medium-length version numbering about 50 myriad gatha, and a short version in 100,000 gatha.

[40:18]

500 years after the Buddha's nirvana, when the good law was gradually declining and the Buddha's work threatened, the Mahayana sutras began to spread in the world. The Bodhisattva Nagarjuna discovered in the Naga's palace seven precious coffers filled with Mahayana sutras. In 90 days, he recited them and lurked by heart the short versions of 100,000 gata. At a later date, the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu was to repeat this feat. Nagarjuna and his emulators propagated the Mahayana Sutras, but in order to adapt themselves to listeners with weak faculties, they limited themselves to summarizing or condensing the 100,000 gatha version. Blessed is that the Prajnaparamita was first known in China through a Tao Xing Pin in 8,000 gatha. That's the perfection of wisdom in 8,000 lines, which is well known to us. Then through a Kuang Zong Jing in 25,000 gathas, again, perfection of wisdom in 25,000 lines, also translated into English, the avatamsaka the Chinese only ever had in a version in 36,000 gatha, translated by Buddhabhadra, in a version in 40,000 gatha, put into Chinese by Shikshananda.

[41:32]

However, according to the information supplied by the Indian Jina Gupta, about 560, there was an existence in Kothan, to be more precise, Kargalik, a collection of 12 Mahayana Sutras, each one consisting of 100,000 gatha. Whoa! No more. Where did they go? Nobody knows. The Indian tradition's sole aim is to attribute the Mahayana Sutras, which developed in the course of time, with an antiquity equal to that of the Hinayana Tripitaka, going back directly to Shakyamuni's time. Historically speaking, this tradition is valueless and supplies no exact information on the date of Mayayana Sutras in general or the Vimalakirti in particular. There you have it. I just thought that was a really great story. Excuse me if I lost your interest. I've often heard that, but I've never heard it so succinctly put.

[42:36]

Of course, somebody or somebodies wrote best guess around the year 100 in the Kalaniyar but nobody knows okay back to the Buddha feud first thing happens all these bodhisattvas they homage to the Buddha and then each approached the Buddha bowed at his feet circumambulated him clockwise seven times and laid down a precious parasol in offering and withdrew to one side. As soon as all these precious parasols had been laid down, suddenly, by the miraculous power of the Lord, they were transformed into a single precious canopy, so great that it formed a covering for this entire billion-world galaxy.

[43:40]

I can almost hear Carl Sagan. So, it's one canopy. All these separate parasols merge into one canopy. The surface of the entire billion-world galaxy was reflected in the interior of the great precious canopy, where the total content of this galaxy could be seen. Limitless mansions of suns, moons, and stellar bodies... the realms of the devas, nagas, etc., etc., etc., Mount Sumeru, Mount Hindari, etc., etc., etc., great oceans, rivers, bays, torrents, etc., etc., the voices of all the Buddhas in the ten directions, the sounds reverberating in the space beneath the great precious canopy. You get the picture. It's much longer. It goes on and on. The whole universe, all these separate parasols, come together to make one giant canopy. in which is reflected everything that exists.

[44:41]

What's that like? Well, it's the one and the many and the many and the one, right? It makes one giant canopy. It's like your zazen. That's what it's like. It's the precious mirror samadhi. What is a canopy? Oh, a canopy is like an awning. So instead of having a separate parasol, where can you find a canopy? In the bathhouse. In the bathhouse, there's a bigger canopy. It's just like covering. The top of the jungle is called a jungle canopy, right? Anything that provides shade. Anything that's like a big shady thing. But it's... It's only a cover. Yeah. So at first there was just these individual parasols and they all made them as an offering one by one.

[45:51]

All the individual parasols became one giant canopy. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in two drops on the grass or even in one drop of water. as our guy, Dogenzenji. Remember that? It's the same feeling. Yeah. That's your Zazen. So these miracles, of which this is just one of many, they sort of help us to relax our limited views. Then, all the monks, all the followers of Buddha, ask him about what is Bodhisattva's purification of the Buddha field. He says, a Buddha field of Bodhisattvas is a field of living beings.

[46:59]

A Bodhisattva embraces a Buddha field to the same extent that he causes the development of living beings. And then he goes on about... This is one example of which the entire sutra is full of examples. Why this is a popular sutra. Because it has the teaching of sunyata, emptiness, with positivity, as a positive thing. And this is a very... important sutra for the popularity of the Mahayana. Mahayana is for everybody. That's why it's called the Great Vehicle. So not only monks and nuns, but all kinds of lay people for this reason. Dimalakirti himself is a lay person. And it goes on to say, Bodhisattva's Buddha field is a field of generosity.

[48:07]

When she attains enlightenment, living beings give away all their possessions, will be born in this Buddha field. A bodhisattva's Buddha field is a field of morality, is a field of tolerance, is a field of effort, is a field of meditation, is a field of wisdom. Sound familiar? These are the six paramitas, the six tusks on Samatabhadra's elephant, This is how bodhisattvas practice. So it gets into right real early. Chapter 1. This is how bodhisattvas practice. Bodhisattva's Buddha field consists of the four immeasurables. When she attains enlightenment, living beings who live by love, compassion, joy, and impartiality will be born in her Buddha field. Bodhisattva's Buddha field is skill and liberative technique. It's bhupaya. It's the title of Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra.

[49:10]

So all these things, basic Bodhisattva teachings, basic Mahayana teachings, bringing these forth. And then, magically influenced by the Buddha, the Venerable Shariputra had this thought. Okay, I want to point out, it says there very early on, Shariputra is going to say something dumb. But he was magically influenced by the Buddha. So, you know, Shariputra is the foremost of the Buddha's disciples and foremost in wisdom in the Theravadan teaching of the Buddhas. And there was actually, these were historically living people, you know, part of the Buddha's assembly, part of his disciples, which they're in here, actually. We charge through the first four chapters.

[50:13]

The... Subuti and people like that. Subuti and people like that. The ten, actually. To be precise, Shariputra, Magalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Subuti, Purna, Katyayana, Aniruddha, Upali, Rahula, and Ananda. And a host of others. But Shariputra, yeah, I just want to point out the very first time Shariputra says something dumb, he's magically influenced by the Buddha. You know, the origin of the word scapegoat is like in a village or a community, a small tribe. If there were sins in the tribe or the community, they would put all their sins onto a goat. and chase it out of the village. But the scapegoat could also be a person. Usually we use the expression that way. He's a scapegoat. It's all his fault. But often, interestingly, a scapegoat, historically, could be a village elder or a shaman or a wise person who voluntarily says, I'll be the scapegoat.

[51:33]

You can blame me. I'll take it on. Or not even, doesn't even say that, but just does it. Which is kind of interesting when you think about the story of Jesus of Nazareth, for example. They just take it on. What? Hakuin. Hakuin, yeah. Hakuin, when... Say it. Um... There was a young woman who had an illegitimate child, and playing the Hakuna's father, and so he raised it as his own. So maybe Shariputra's being a willing saint. In any event, he was magically influenced by the Buddha, and he says, if the Buddha field is pure, only to the extent that the mind of the Bodhisattva is pure, then when Shakyamuni Buddha was engaged in the career of the Bodhisattva, his mind must have been impure. Otherwise, how could this Buddha field appear to be so impure? Then, so he was just thinking that.

[52:37]

He didn't say it out loud. But the Buddha, knowing telepathically the thought of the venerable Shariputra, said to him, What do you think, Shariputra? Is it because the sun and moon are impure that those blind from birth do not see them? Shariputra said, No, Lord, it is not so. It is not the fault of the Tathagata, Shariputra. The Buddha field of the Tathagata is pure, but you do not see it. And then the next miracle that happens is, Shariputra says to the Brahma Shikin, As for me, O Brahma, I see this great earth with its highs and lows, its thorns, its precipices, its peaks and its abysses, as if it were entirely filled with ordure. That means manure. The Brahma Shikin replies, The fact that you see such a Buddha field as this, as if it were so impure, is a sure sign that there are highs and lows in your mind, and that your positive thought in regard to the Buddha Gnosis is not pure either. Thereupon, the Lord touched the ground of this billion world galactic universe with his big toe.

[53:46]

With his toe. Like that. He touches the ground. And what happens? Suddenly, it was transformed into a huge mass of precious jewels, a magnificent array of many hundreds of thousands of clusters of precious gems, until it resembled the universe of the Tathagata Ratna-vyuha. The Buddha said, Shariputra, this Buddha field is always thus pure, but the Tathagata makes it appear to be spoiled by many faults in order to bring about the maturity of inferior living beings. So, you know, This whole thing can be considered an experience for me. Yes. Yes. And this is also our experience. Actually. You know. Pasarra is the worst place in the world. I hate it. Why did I come here?

[54:47]

You know. This is terrible. These people are stupid. You know. We can have a day like that. Or you can have like. This is amazing. I love being here. This is great. You know. It's just. You're mine. Just. There's only the ground of reality. How do you see it? How do you practice with it? Then the Lord withdrew his miraculous... This is one of my favorite parts. And I've got to stop. Oh my gosh. Then the Lord withdrew his miraculous power and at once the Buddha field was restored to its usual appearance. Then both men and gods who subscribed to the disciple vehicle, in other words, the Shravakayana, the lesser vehicle, fought Alas, all constructed things are impermanent. They're like, aww. Because they don't get it. Do you see the humor there? When he withdraws his big toe and it goes back to looking the way it normally does. And they're like, aww, too bad.

[55:49]

But they missed the point. They missed the point. It's the same Buddha field. Whether it's impure or pure is up to you. It's up to our practice. Oh my gosh. I'm pretty talked out. We only got to chapter one. I'm so sorry. So I want to know, I appreciated the questions that did happen. I want to know your feedback. I would like this class to be interesting to those of you who came. And if anybody wants to, I think it's a little spendy. And we do have copies of the Vimalikirki in the library. But if you want to own one, that you can mark up like I'm doing with mine. I can have Kinko's trencher one, and you just write your name right there. Thank you very much. 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.

[56:53]

For more information, Visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[56:58]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_91.91