Wednesday Lecture

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SF-01019
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Work week: work practice, SFZC Mission Statement, two forms of Buddha's teaching: texts, etc, and common sense. Up to us to find satisfying relationship to Buddhist teaching, "Wisdom of Buddha" sutra - mind-only school, middle-way school is 'no mind, no buddha', three characteristics of phenomena, imputational, other-dependent, thoroughly established, Bodhidharma.

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i'm relaxed so that that will help me to do the same
and welcome your hands who were faced with
hi nina burleigh
what i days
i understood my assignment was to talk about and ah work so i'm gonna do that tonight and i've found in my ears of life at zen if this is one of the more difficult topics to discuss together and
and it's because i think it has something to do with
the buddhist teaching and that's what i want to start with
we humans are innately endowed with an ability to be confused
and
sometimes when we talk about work it's very hard to see what that has to do with another word that we call practice
so here it green gulch we've actually put these two words together if you notice there's or practice so i think part of the effort there was to of hopefully do away with any confusion that there are two things
we've been created work practice apprentices
my own invention as a matter of fact so
but i also know from my unexperienced that it's possible and it does happen that eyes he work and practice as two things
so the for i talk about were or practice i want to offer you some teachers from the buddha

i was thinking about pre-auction it seems that within this boundary of land flatland
there are many methods for us given to us whether we're conscious of they're not for sterling the buddha's teaching
and i had this idea that it might interest you to hear the mission statement of the san francisco zen center
i why wire we hear what's our purpose and people thought about this about thirty years ago and they said something
and some of us have heard this statement that they take many of you haven't risen so
here it is
the purpose of the san francisco zen center that includes green gulch farm tassajara and city centre
is to embody express and to make accessible the wisdom and compassion of the buddha
the purpose of the san francisco zen center is to embody express and to make accessible the wisdom and compassion of the buddha
the ideals are based on the example of the buddha and guided by the teachings of the soto school as conveyed to us by our founder sean use of hiroshi and other buddhist teachers
our intention is to express the non duality of practice and awakening through the practice of zen and the sixteen bodies are for precepts
san francisco zen center acknowledges and values equally the expression of practice informal setting and in daily life
thus we affirm both lay and monastic practice as expression of the bodies thoughtful way
so am i think what you'll find here at at green gulch is an effort to
make available accessible to you the buddhist teaching through our use of this land and these buildings and each other
so there are a lot of ways that you already know and even those who have only been here for a day will have experienced some of our methods of i conveying the buddha's teaching
now we talked to each other like i'm doing now
ah we sit silently together
we have together
we shared tools and supplies and food
and
we also
express ourselves through this kind of uncharitable movement that each of us makes throughout the day movements that you may think of as work or as play or as rest

now to understand the instructions about how to make use of these methods we actually looked directly at the teachings of the buddha themselves and these can come in basically two forms for us one form are the techs the sutras the buddha's words
and you can find those in a bookstore and in the library
and the other form is our own common sense and our own reasoning

when the buddha was alive in fact in the last few weeks of his life he said to his own living disciples were following thing
you may think that the word of the teacher is a thing of the past now that we have no more teacher
but you should not regarded as so the dharma and the discipline to talk and described to you by me are your teacher after i'm gone
you must be lice unto yourselves
so in other words it's really up to each of us to find a satisfactory relationship to the buddha's teaching to ourselves and to one another
and i think you all know that's the big assignment and it's probably one that will go on for the rescue your lives
and for the lives of all those who come to live here after us
and i think most of us here in tend to follow the example of those who came before us you know the months with a beautiful names
like
scenario suzuki
duggan's energy
tours on real car
not arjuna
i'm bob holly
president tom
shakyamuni buddha
so i wanted to begin talking with you tonight by sharing with use some teams from the buddhist sutras
hum
and this particular text which i've chosen to talk about is one that i'm studying nows my teacher from anderson along with the other priests and priest trainees
and i can say pretty confidently that are none of us understand this text
ah but we're trying and part of my reason for bringing this cute and night is that i happened to know upon by my experience that trying to teach something is the best way to learn it so i'm ah forgive me but i'm going to use you tonight to help me proper try to learn this material
so the text i brought his
rather beautiful book
call the wisdom of buddha the sunday normal hamas
and
this is the kind of basic text for one of the two major philosophical schools that are the underpinnings for what we're doing here for the zen school
this text is the foundation for the mind only school
and the other major school is called the middle way
and the heart sutra is an example of the middleweight teachings no eyes no ears no no no time no body no mind
this is mind only
so these two schools together a balanced one another one is affirmation mind owning the other is negation know mind
in fact there are two helpful phrases that i learned some years ago to distinguish the flavor of these two teachings
and because you'll find in your studies here that these teachers will come at you at various times and it may sort of surprise you because they're coming from a different angle
so in the one phrase is that when the babies are crying
this very mind is buddha
and the babies or cry you say to them this very mind is put up
that's the mind only school
when the baby's stop crying you say to them no mind no board
this is the middle high school
you see that
this very mind is put an affirmation this very mind the one that's crying has put up his border crime
all babies not crying anymore
no my noble nagesh
so the two of these together our
what's called skilling means depending on the state of mind of the be
and it's kind of like that press
his mind
has a way of us on
and this very mine is good

so

so to try this
please be patient with me and
please don't worry also if you don't understand any of this and also don't worry if you think you do
home and either way to a it'll all be over so some simple
okay i actually brought some ah devices to help you could help me
so i'm going to reach you a few paragraphs from one of the central park from central chapters of this text and to give you a flavour of the sutras which somebody may not have read yeah sutra
and also i've picked this particular chapter because it's the core
understanding on which this entire school is based so this is maybe for some of your first brush with this teaching and
and that's not sad
to your good fortune because this has actually happens to be the path to enlightenment as says before
i'm
i also want to dimension and concerning this mind only the idea of mind only
that what is this school is pointing to his some helpful explanation about
the mechanistic
activity of consciousness know is pointing directly at the source of your confusion and in this case my conclusion is what i'm pointing to it's my noodle
and of i've off i've actually taught my daughter sabrina and on when she's yelling about another cookie sabrina the problem is not the cookie it's in your noodle
so she's learned this now so where's the problem sabrina it's in my noodle i said yeah that's right and she said so that means i have to drop it right and then it doesn't have enough and i said yeah and trust she thinks about a shirt it's very short time and issues i can't
have we are one we are one
i can't eat it
so
so this is all about our noodles and how we come to believe what is true and what is not true
about reality so called reality and are you all have your own personal version of reality that you carry around with you all the time
and so this is this is an effort to help you to unpack
that process that you're going through the moment by moment
so this this chapter which is chapter six are the questions of grenache color
and he's a great body suffer
and he's talking to the buddha he's asking questions in front of the assembly of monks and he says to the buddha
bhagavan said
nice name of the buddha bhagavan when you say body suffers are wise with respect to the character of phenomenon
stay with me when you say body suffers or wise with respect to the character of phenomena just how our body suffers wise with respect to the character of phenomenon
so this is the question is asking the buddha how is it good body suffers or wise with respect the character of
phenomena or what's a phenomenon well a phenomenon i hear you ask a phenomenon is an occurrence a circumstance for a fact that is perceptible by the senses
so that's just about all right but you see what you hear what you taste what you feel if you think
so all that input those it a phenomenal you can put anything in their ex he calls you name it
it also says under the definition of phenomena a marvel i think that's really close to what the buddha hasn't mind it's a marvel
the sound the site the sense that tastes the touch it's a marvel
okay so i also want to suggest to you right off the bat here that we also considered
that as aspiring bodhisattva us that we wholeheartedly strive
to be wise with respect to the character of phenomena
moment afternoon

so i also wanted to mention my appreciation of in this translation that use of the word respect
being wise with respect to the character come up because i think this is the another day clue
how is it to be wise and with respect for for not
what's probably against her to with respect
look again
so here it is
the bottom man replies that's the buddha the bhagavan replies to the police suffer gonna rob
cannot draw you are involved in asking this in order to benefit many leads to bring happiness too many beans out of sympathy for the world and for the sake of the welfare benefit and happiness of many beings including cars and human
this your intention and questioning the to togheter that's the buddha about i don't mean i just passed the buddha
about any subject is good it is good therefore cannot grow listen well and i will describe for you how body suffers are wise with respect to the character of phenomenon
grenache are up there are three characteristics this is all i'm asking you to mount why try to three characteristics of phenomenon and what are these three
they are the imputation of character of not
it's an eye
for amputation the imputation of character for none of that's one character of all phenomena
they are the other dependent
other dependent character of all phenomena
and the thoroughly established character of all phenomena
you know that
t thoroughly established of
grenache are
so now he's going to explain with these three are
out what is the imputation on character of phenomena
it is that which is imputed as a name or symbol in terms of the own being from remember or attributes of phenomenon in order to subsequently thereafter designate any
ye convention whatsoever you are free to say whatever you like about the sound of the bird i don't like birds
i love
you have perfect freedom to impute anything on phenomena gosh you know
no one is gonna stop you
now back to our very own english dictionary about imputation it says this that which is imputed and imputed because they gave it his input put it on e put it had is imputed as a name for a symbol
derives from a latin word that is meant to settle and account like a banker
to either charge with a debit or to credit i like it or i don't like it i love it i hated impute it's your opinion your your opinion
your very own personal opinion about whatever you like are free
so this is the basic system we implore for praising and blame
month after month like it i don't like i'm not sure if i like it or not
does the three possibilities
so as i said i alone attribute impute
characteristics on finance it's private his personal business your personal business
so whether it's the site of a truck for the sound of a bird or the smell of arose
the touches my own face
the taste of salt in my soup
i get to say
i like it or i don't like
and no one can argue with me
or u s agnostic
fisher says this is one characteristic of all nominal i
imputed right so first again
case
the next one is what the buddha cause the other dependent characteristic of all phenomena you got one of 'em now here's the other month now the other characteristic is this
grenache or up what is the other dependent character phenomenon it is simply
the dependent origination of phenomenon it is like this because this exists therefore that arises because this is produced that is produced it ranges from due to the condition of ignorance compositional factors arise
up to in this way the whole great assemblage of suffering arises
okay so this is what we all know as dependent core ryzen
we taught call it dependent horizon they call it other dependent that is the same idea that this i'm going to use the example of this piece of what
paper
piece of paper i say
and it's mighty papers
at that okay so this free of my amputations how did was get here
this is a famous tick nahan example how did this get here can you name some ways as got here for me your mother my mother has a son
a reuters dot you read for shakyamuni buddha her scissors locked loggers
bleach clouds her chopsticks or
and heterodox chopsticks and interested in a public workers jesus christ for percent criminals and lovers have oil afghanistan nuclear war an attempt
the oxygen
seizures are molly
so you gotta you gotta this is true of every phenomena you to say how it appeared it's a magical trick
it's a trick of a parents
and we go on this amazing this wonder what are they a marvel
he's paper and big eyepiece baber living of him
what kind of
a little course and our treatment of marvel's and campbell on here a cavalier
my
manchester
okay so
so this is another characteristic of off and on all phenomena have this characteristic of being a marvelous arises from multiple causes and conditions unnamed tie em you know endless big bang and before the big bang big bang before the big bang
brought us together each of us and this white square
okay to that's the second characteristic grenache or out what is the thoroughly established character
the phenomenon
it is the such miss of phenomena
through diligence and through proper mental application thousand body suffers establish realization and cultivate realization of the thoroughly established character thus it is what establishes all the stages up to unsurpassed complete
perfect enlightenment
and this is a characteristic of all phenomena
it's not good news
you already you're already right in touch with
complete perfectly all you have to do is see the trick this happening in your noodle
hey
gonna throw for example of the imputation of characters should be viewed as being like the defects
have clouded vision
an extensive defects of car division
in the eyes of a person with clouded vision
vinokourov for example the other dependent characters should be viewed as being like the a period appearance of the manifestations so you're looking through this at this rate you have a defect which is imputations
and you're looking at this through that and what do you see
you see the other dependent should be viewed as being like the appearance of the manifestations of clouded vision in that very personally
manifestations which appear as a net of hairs are as insects or sesame seeds or as blue or yellow or red or as white conversations
that's so that's how they appear when you look through
cloud divisions guanaco for example the thoroughly established character should be viewed as being like the unerring objective reference the natural objective reference of the eyes when that person's eyes have become pure and free of the effects of clouded vision
okay
so one one last piece here

guernica independence dependence upon names
connected with signs the imputation of character is known depends on names this is about words words
words to word
woot
i looked up the word
it can't it is connected all words convey meaning
so i'm
talking at you and my words are conveying meaning i don't know what meaning as contain as much as yours but my words are my effort to convey meaning meaning the word meaning comes from an old english word to mom
the

independence upon names that are connected with signs the imputation of character is known as language thoughts concepts words sentences paragraphs novels
haggis nunes
the imputation of character is known independence upon strongly at hearing to the other dependent character
as been
the amputation or character the other dependent character is not so we glue them together
we do
we think we do think that the imputation or
what we think is identical is the same as
what there is
to think about
that's the little problem with our noodles
by strongly adhering to the other dependent character as be the imputation of character the other dependent character is not
independence upon the absence
of strong adherents
to the other dependent character as being the imputation or character
the thoroughly established character is not have you read that weren't yes and dependence upon the absence of strong adherents you unglue these to your imputations what your opinions your ideas your thoughts and just once
what if such as
independence upon the absence of strong adherence to the other defendant character as being the imputation of character the thoroughly established character is not
no
purchase
yeah no
okay so
okay so then you know address at all that i thought well now you get that right i think you do i believe that it's my invitation on here
and think it's not that harm however i also know that i've heard this many times and it's like you know
i don't have a pocket i've got my realizations in they don't hold
i know this so that's why we have to strive
to respect
to be wise with respect to phnom we have to make a great effort
to see how we are mistaking
just what is for our our ideas our notions our feelings oh my god i'm having a feeling must be true
and have a request to the
can
he
so
ha ha this a good sense i mean really we don't have any pockets to store realizations and in particular the realization that we are already and have always been right in the middle of perfect trio
that the whole universe and in this case
this case the whole universe is entirely personal
just this person
miraculous appearance justice person

ah unfortunately she must be stripped of her confusions and her delusions
about the true meaning of words
emperor wu to bodhidharma what is the highest meaning of the holy true's holy truths like those perfect wisdom
what is the highest meaning of the holy truce vast emptiness
nothing holy
and called who are you facing me
don't know
don't know
how does he know he doesn't know
he's wise with respect to phenomenon as how he knows he doesn't
the emperor didn't understand so bodhi dharma which means the truth of awakening sat in a cave for nine years
where do you think that case my feet
the have said your question
i'm almost done momma said
yeah evidence for was it
your noodle the of the globe theatre is this amendment
so i want to also read from suzuki roshi is wonderful new book which i know some of you've already had some from by ed
to your head
so dogan is talking about it refers to a story about the first ancestry in china bodhi dharma and his students his success with the second ancestor titusville eka bodhidharma tells fr if you want to enter our practice cut yourself off from outward objects and stop your emotional and thinking
activity within
when you become like a brick or a stone wall you will enter the way
hey
for echo this was very difficult practice as you can imagine and he tried very hard until he finally thought that he understood what forty time and match and then eka tolbert polytunnel that there was no break no gap in his practice never any cessation of practice
and bodhi dharma says then your question who are you who does constant practice
episode because i know myself very well it is difficult to say who i am
and bodhi dharma said that's right you are my disciples
do you understand
his man
know my question to follow them
once your question no had a vicious oil amputation or current
the if you know because his just and customers that definition of a thought
that the imputation all included of but this might be something you said and i just missed the structure of it but that imputation all included like conventional language in conventional like the conceptual things that were agree upon not as yeah i own likes and dislikes her feelings are you know
constructive opinions but just like we will reveal his wife is your invitations which are in language that is conventional i mean you heard it from your mom right you didn't make it up but they're not like a collective thing to call this way is not an amputation
now you call it wife yeah i see that's not why does off-white well so is mine anti
that's what i yeah i'm doing that the freedom you have to impute whatever you like using english which is the convention on any object in this room and we argue over those right and we have a different ways of the same way up yeah right now we have different opinions so i this is my my question is
that i thought the computational was not just colored by the individual on that it employs sad yes yeah i said yeah yeah you're a senior day i said yes it does as a english is is okay session included within the hesitation or because you don't have any language that is conventionally create a her okay that you didn't make it up i sure to
no
mean you may make up words you know and then tell people what they mean but that still you're using conventional right language so that's included in if you only talk in the garbage no one can understand and take two and to determinants international district thank you yeah
there's up again
access
but last
i just or your loss
in the three characteristics and with in relation to work practice
that was my a exposition of work as a phenomena with berkeley
hmm
work as an imputation on an assemblage could you please find out what work you did today and show it to me
it's probably more like books prison
probably more like this huge assemblage of emotions expanse is sensations you know and you said yeah i work from five to seven
what's the word and i was really bored
when you are bored with this
a reward or even one second
inhale exhale
exhale completely into the emptiness zucker she said exhale completely into your desk and then take a breath
come back to life
who
and
a choice
so we have to study these things so as not our nature to be so free for so a happy or whatever as you may have noticed about all of us here we don't just walk around kind of appreciating marvelling at phenomenon
are you could
which question you about what you were taking perhaps
but you know from trying that to that will last you actually have to have an insight about reality and you know people study these books for thousands of years with great effort
echo study being a brick for years he practiced with brick practice now
a mind like a law
that's pretty tough if you work in the kitchen all day with a mind like a wall you know don't tell me you didn't practice
but the
profession
as
also need to be like water and and fluid and because of you if you like a break in your richard and any idea in your favor
he will try it try it for an hour having a mind like a wall just see if you can imagine what that would be
and then see what your relationship to fluid it is when your mind when the mind is stable and quiet
like a tree how have i like a tree next to a apart
like the role of living and she is okay you like tree if you like a tree it's okay
the walls out of trees to is made out a way so as okay if you needed to be alive that's no problem but it's the idea is don't move
yeah
see if you can not help and see what happens what do you see when you're not busy running around chasing those insects and those flushed brushing those hairs away whatever you're doing this compulsive
but
we near when one is working

why would you still working
well that's my like a while we're just working for him i have no problems so don't we do get along
i don't know maybe some people have a good hang that you've been in touch our for what
well but even for
you know
maybe it's because if i'm not in work as a chance of cutting something
but
well you know if there are two things if you if you think there are two things work and practice or mind like a wall
and my hand
going like this was a piece of wood
i am separated the two
yeah when i don't see that this product
my like a wall body like fish
has only when i started to put my opinions about yeah imputation on yeah right or when you get lost i mean a lot of times i think we just lost in space you know we don't if you said hey you
he just kind of awesome some little rivulets of the river you know it's not a fault it's our nature to wander off and woods it's actually very sweet and on the story of the point of the pickles zero she said that was his favorite story gpg ominous or your some input from the boy is from the monastery and his
to get pickles and for dinner and he goes to the pickle store and as he's going there he's the season's surface moisture and he starts makes the circus poster oh really
and all sunday here's the hon to dinner
i run runs and this whereas the pickles whereas the pickles and guy gives them the pickles and he runs out and then it comes back he is where's my app where's my ad and the guy says it's on your head
the
so you know we get any get lost we don't we don't know where we are we don't kind of claim the place where we are
and it's sweet it's not of it's not evil for bad or mean that's that's calling ourselves names as this
judging ourselves imputation there's no one to judge you
a judge is dead
no judge but we we get caught in that way of thinking
he believe those awful voices that come into our minds how are not good enough with are not doing that
this is all about liberation it's about helping ourselves to up
relax

in my middle years i have grown rather fond of the way
when the spirit moves me i leave my solitary hut and go and see the things that only i can see
i follow the stream to the source and i sit and watch the place where the clouds pile up
or perhaps by chance i meet a woodsman and we laugh and sing with never thought of going home

that's what fact