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. It's an amazing day. I had this experience coming in here that is all too common these days. I drive my daughter to school sometimes, and there's this one exit that I managed to pass, which is the one that goes to her school. So just now I walked past the altar and headed for my seat. My daughter says, what's wrong with you? How do you do that? It's not hard at all. The enlightened one, seeing how the world arises, rejects the idea of non-being.

[01:07]

And seeing how the world perishes, rejects the idea of being. Therefore, in her wisdom, she sees no persons. And in her compassion, she vows to save them. Seeing how the world arises, the enlightened one rejects the idea of non-being. Seeing how the world perishes, rejects the idea of being. Therefore, in her wisdom, she sees no persons, and in her compassion, she vows to save them. So these are the two major elements of the Buddhist teaching. Wisdom, and compassion. And they have been compared to the two wings of a bird. And each wing must be equally strong if the bird is going to fly.

[02:10]

So this is what I want to talk about today. Wisdom and compassion. And when I was thinking about birds, I remembered this amazing thing that I saw many years ago now when I was living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. in a cabin. And I heard this loud noise out behind my house, loud bird noise. So I went out to see what was going on. This was in the spring. And there on the edge of a nest was this pudgy bird. And all around it were these adult birds who were screeching at it, you know. And I don't speak bird, but I'm pretty sure I know what they were yelling, you know. Jump, jump, jump. You can do it. So I don't know if it was fear of its parents or courage, but finally this bird, with its wings flatly and as hard as they could, jumped.

[03:22]

It kind of fell, really. And... and then landed on a branch just a little bit below where he'd been. So I think we really like to see people, birds, fly. Our friends and our family members, those of us, those of our friends who've been hurt, we love it as they begin to fly. And yet I think we also all know that As each one of us approaches that moment, whether it's flying into life or flying into death, we have to take that step by ourselves. But I was thinking that still it's not a bad idea to get some instruction before we do it or to watch our elders to see how it's done. So that's basically what the Buddha did. He gave us some instruction. on how to jump into our life, how to jump into our death.

[04:29]

The Buddhist teaching, they're pretty much the same thing. It's all about jumping. So not so long after leaving Wyoming, I moved into the San Francisco Zen Center and started to attend morning service. And at that time, I don't think we're doing it anymore, but the... One of the sutras that we used to chant, I think it was once a week, was the Diamond Sutra. Do we chant the Diamond Sutra? No. Yeah. But anyway, this was kind of a peculiar sutra in many ways. And one of the ways it was peculiar is the way we chanted it. So once a week, the little extra book, the little black book, was passed out with the Diamond Sutra in it. And we would each take a copy, and then after the head chanter introduced the Diamond Sutra, the Vajra Chetika Prajnaparamita Sutra, we'd pick up our book, and then we'd open it at random and start to read.

[05:39]

So imagine if all of you were doing that. It was kind of a wonderful sound. So... Here's what I turn to now. And yet Subuti, those sons and daughters of good family who will take up these very sutras and will bear them in mind, recite and study them, they will be humbled. Well humbled will they be. And why? The impure deeds which these beings have done in their former lives and which are liable to lead them into states of woe, in this very life they will... By means of that humiliation, annul those impure deeds of their former lives, and they will reach the enlightenment of a Buddha. Well, that's good news. So anyway, it was like that. And after a while, I started to long to actually read the whole thing. So what I decided to do was, instead of starting anywhere, I would start at page one, And then next week, page two, and so on.

[06:43]

So after a while, I had read the whole sutra. But that didn't help. It was still way beyond my understanding. So about 15 years after that, when I had been given permission to teach, I thought, actually it was at Linda Ruth's suggestion, that I teach the class on the Diamond Sutra. And... So I said, oh, OK, you know, Linda Ruth, our leader here at Green Gulch right now, has been one of those adult birds that's been chirping at me for many years, you know, jump, jump, teach the Diamond Sutra. So I said I would. And it wasn't too long into my studies of the Diamond Sutra that I began to realize that this may have been a terrible mistake. Because after reading the various commentaries and koans and so on that refer to the Diamond Sutra, I was even more confused than ever.

[07:49]

So what I did was to call my dear friend Gil Fonsdale, who some of you may know, a wonderful teacher, who at that time was studying Buddhism academically at Stanford University. So I called Gil and I said, Gil, you know, what am I going to do? I need to know which is the most accurate and useful commentary on the Diamond Sutra. You know, the class was a week or so away. I was in a panic. And Gil said, being a good Zen friend, he said, well, you could read what Hanshan had to say in the 16th century or in the modern era, what Master Hua or Edward Kansa, Guy Nuland said, He said, I actually have a paper that I've written on the Diamond Sutra. And he said, but the most important commentary is the one that you're going to give. He said, what is it that you think about this teaching? So I have always been deeply grateful to Gil for turning me back onto myself, my own understanding.

[08:59]

What do you have to say? So it's not that I didn't read the commentaries. I did. I went back over them again, and I began writing some thoughts. And I don't know how it went. The class went by, but I found a little card in the back of the sutra this morning thanking me for the class. And I thought, well, okay. Sweet. Encouraging. like those adult birds. So when a monk asked Master Tozan, how do I find my true self? Tozan replied, ask the messenger within. Then the monk said, but I'm asking him now. And Tozan responded, well, what does he say?

[10:01]

So the two things that I want to talk about today, the first one is compassion. Compassion for myself as well as for others. Is the messenger within? Who is that? Is she speaking right now? Or is she listening right now? Is he listening right now? And if we're not, what is it that's blocking our way, holding us back? And then the second thing I'm going to talk about is this wondrous teaching of the Diamond Sutra. Vajra Chetika Prajnaparamita. And hopefully at some point in this lecture these two lines will cross. The two wings of the bird. In her wisdom she sees no persons. That's the Diamond Sutra. And in her compassion she vows to save them. That's the messenger within, working for the benefit of all beings.

[11:10]

So on one side, there seems to be something, and on the other side, there seems to be nothing. Now you see it, and now you don't. To me, this is what makes Zen a lot of fun. Don't you think? And just when you think you've gotten a hold of something... the frog jumps into the pond. Kerplop. It's a famous poem by Master Basho about this tension between our actual experience of life and what we have to say about it. That's how I was feeling about commenting on the Diamond Sutra. It's like, the Diamond Sutra seems to me the closest I... image came was like jumping into icy water on a hot summer day. What can you say about that? The meaning is not in the words, it's in the experience itself. Whether it's a baby bird taking flight or the feeling of cold water or reading the sutra, it's the experience and not so much what we have to say about it.

[12:26]

And all of us know how to have experience. We just mostly don't know what to say. And what we say, unfortunately, is often wrong. So first of all, I want to talk about this messenger within that Master Tozan has referred to in his conversation with the young monk. And I have this idea that this young monk is not so happy with himself or with his practice. And like many of us at various times in our own lives, or even in various times during the day, we feel as though something is missing, something that's really big and really important. You know, something like this idea we might have of being a happy person, or for this monk, of being a happy Buddha. A very big idea.

[13:29]

So what he's really saying to the teacher is, you know, I want to be Buddha. And clearly he feels that he's not there. There's a lack. Now he might imagine that Tozan is a Buddha. He probably does, which is why he went to see him. But that's not going to help the monk, because that Buddha will always be outside of himself and inside of someone else. What's interesting is that this monk has already gone a long way in his search for awakening and peace. He has taken on the robes of a mendicant. He lives very simply. He's quite a bit less to worry about than probably most of you. He doesn't have to worry about his receding hairline because he has no hair. And he doesn't have to worry about...

[14:34]

his household or his family, his possessions, because he doesn't have any. He's given most of that up. But when you do something like, you know, reduce your needs in the material world, funny thing happens, your anxiety in the spiritual world grows large. So he's worried about his ethical and his compassionate life, the two wings of the bird. He's worried about being a very, very good person. And there's a gap. I think all of us know how it feels when we try to be good or even when we try not to be bad. It's the well-known burden of virtue. And to that burden, we add, those of us who practice the Buddha way,

[15:35]

what are called the six perfections of the bodhisattva. Six perfections of the bodhisattva. A bodhisattva is an enlightening being, and it's the religious ideal of Mahayana Buddhism. There's a bodhisattva standing behind me there, and there's another one on the altar. They're the embodiment of these wonderful... that we imagine and we experience among ourselves as humans in our best, best, very best of times. I like to think of a bodhisattva, you know, sort of like Glenda the Good, you know, in the original version of The Wizard of Oz. You know, she's happy. She gets to ride around in this pink bubble. And when evil approaches, she smiles and simply waves her hand, saying to the old witch, be gone, you have no power here.

[16:44]

Evil. So that's bodhisattva. Now, many of us in this room have taken these vows, these bodhisattva vows. You know, we vow to be generous and to be ethical, to be energetic, patient, tranquil, and wise. So you can see why this monk might be in pain. Ah, not yet. Not there yet. But rather than deepening his despair by saying something like, well, you just have to try harder, you know, Tozan kindly turns him back onto himself. And he says, you know, the location and the locator of what you seek is within you. The messenger within.

[17:52]

Who is that? The messenger within is on your side. He has your best interests at heart. And I really believe that the messenger within is compassion itself. And that it arises from true self, that wondrous nature of life and all that is. Miraculous being itself. And out of that arises this messenger with the good news. So if I imagine it's in me, well, that's not quite right. Or if I think, well, it's in you, that's definitely going to confuse me. And if I think it's something in between us, like some glue, then that feels off as well.

[18:54]

It has to be everything it wants. All of this arising together is our wondrous life. Reality itself, moment after moment, fresh, non-repeating universe. Do you see it? Do you see it? Yeah? Everybody see it? Anybody not see it? Oh, come on. Thank you, an honest person. So, you know, what's interesting about reality is that it includes this idea that we don't see it. That's the funny part. It includes the idea that we don't hear it, we don't get it, and that The real it is somewhere else. That's where all the good stuff is. And we are not invited. It's kind of weird. But that's part of reality. We can think like that.

[19:56]

Nothing to stop us. Except the Buddha. He's galloping toward us, right, as I speak. I'll save you. So the good news is that these are just ideas that we have. They're very thin. They're not made of much. Have you noticed how your ideas are kind of transient? The sound of a backfiring car, and it wipes your mind completely. What was I thinking? We're very... We're fragile in our thinking, and at the same time, we know there's a potency there. Our ideas can change the world for good and for ill, especially when we stick to them. So this idea that we're separate or that we don't see it or we don't get it is just an idea, but it's not a very good idea.

[21:08]

In fact, it's so not good that it's actually bad. And it's so bad that it's actually the cause of our suffering. It's what the Buddha called the second noble truth. The first noble truth, there is suffering. The second noble truth, the cause of your suffering is the desires that you have that arise out of your ignorance. And what is it that you're ignoring? You are ignoring that you are not separate from reality. You are not inside and reality is outside. Desire arising from the ignorance of non-separation. We do belong here. We are the wondrous life, moment by moment, arising fresh and new. the tricky part really isn't so much seeing that because you do see it you see it all the time the tricky part is giving it a proper name that's where we fall out of the tree so this is what this verse from case one of the book of serenity is all about the unique breeze of reality do you see it

[22:37]

Continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. The unique breeze of reality. Do you see it? Continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. And then there's a final line to this verse. but nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. Manjushri is this bodhisattva of wisdom sitting there on the altar. Nothing can be done about his leaking. So I'll tell you what he did. The world-honored one ascended the seat, like on that altar, The Buddha ascended the seat.

[23:39]

And Manjishri, gesturing, said, behold, the dharma of the king of the dharma is thus. I think he was pointing at the Buddha. Then the Buddha got down from the seat. That's the story. So Manjushri was pointing at something separate, something outside of not only himself, Manjushri, but of everyone else. So where do you point to point to Buddha? You can't stop. So Manjushri, in this story, represents those errors that we make in our daily lives. No matter how hard we try or no matter how good we get, there's a stain on our effort.

[24:46]

And a stain comes from our belief, as we peer through the veil of language, that the world is divided into isolated and self-existent pieces. Examples are nations, religions, gender, class, race. And then you could go on and on. All the names we have for things. Isolated and self-existing. This is the error we make. Through language. The veil of language. Very important. This is about language. Diamond Sutra is talking about how we think. But this reality, this creation itself, is beyond our conceptual grasp.

[25:48]

You cannot get a hold, I cannot get a hold, even close to what's happening right now. The best I can do is remember that I'm supposed to keep talking. That's why I brought these papers, in case I forget. Like walking by the altar. What are these people doing here? So we can stand in awe of the world, you know, and we can chirp encouragements to one another. You know, that's nice. But I think too often we allow this naming to shield us from the swirl of events and creation. It's kind of terrifying, creation.

[26:52]

Talk about the terrible god. I think they had the right idea. So I think that the Diamond Citra is the great gift that's going to save us all. It's too bad we're not reading it anymore. I could be wrong. But I think it's going to save us. It's going to save the monk. And it's going to save everything. Bye and bye. And here's my brief commentary on how that's going to happen. The Diamond Sutra is addressed to those sincere practitioners of the Buddha's teaching who have found comfort in the practice of meditation, who have faith in the Buddha, who believe in the teaching, and who are devoted to the community. And out of that faith and comfort, belief and devotion, they have created a raft to carry themselves across the ever-changing ocean.

[28:04]

of reality, the awesome and transient swirl. Well, I think that sounds pretty good, myself, actually. And I have been trying to build such a raft for many, many years. It doesn't leak. However, as one of my Zen teachers once said to me, This is not about what you're going to get. This is about what you're going to lose. I think he likes scaring people. Especially young girls. Gulp. The full name of the Diamond Sutra is the Diamond Cutter Wisdom Beyond Wisdom Sutra. The Diamond Cutter. Vajra Chetika. Vajra is Diamond Chetika Cutter. And right in there is the clue to what the sutra is all about.

[29:06]

What the Diamond Sutra is cutting is the hardest substance in the universe. Views. Wrong views. Wrong views are any ideas that we have that split reality into isolated parts. such as me in my raft and the ocean of reality that I'm being protected from over there. That's an object. Me in my raft is a subject. The ocean of reality is the object. And the protection is my idea that there's something in between. A raft. The separation of ourselves from any aspect of the world is a fantasy. It's a trick of perception, which we combine with these very bad ideas.

[30:11]

You know, ideas like, I'm not very smart. Nobody really likes me. The best part of my life is already over. I'm getting old. Oh, my God. Look at my skin. Things are happening. I want it to stop. And so on, and so on, and so on. So this endless and painful way of thinking is what the Buddha called samsara, or endless circling. The woe is me is caused by this way of thinking. So at the beginning of the text of the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha is sitting upright among his students on a lovely day when the elder Sabuti approaches and asks the Buddha this question. How then, O Lord, should a son or daughter of good family who have set out in the Bodhisattva vehicle stand?

[31:21]

How progress and how control their thoughts? You know, like all of us, he wants to build a really good raft. So the Buddha replies, someone who is set out in the vehicle of the Bodhisattva should produce a thought in this manner. As many beings as there are in the universe of beings, comprehended under the term beings. This is B-E-I-N-G, by the way. I know it sounds like beings. Beans, beings as no beings. Just to do that as a skit. Okay, as many beings as there are in the universe of beings, comprehended under the term beings, all those I must lead to nirvana, to perfect comfort and peace, into that realm of nirvana which leaves nothing behind. Okay, so this is the Bodhisattva vow.

[32:25]

Nothing unusual there, this response from the Buddha. We take this vow, I vow to save all beings, beings. We're going to chant it later together. I hope I haven't ruined that for you. Okay. So, and then the Buddha goes on to say, and yet, although innumerable beings have been thus led to nirvana, no being at all has been led to nirvana. Curious? And why? If in a bodhisattva, the notion of a being should take place, he or she would not be called a bodhi being. And why? He or she is not to be called a bodhi being in whom the notion of a self or of a being should take place, or the notion of a living soul or of a person. Beings, beings, Subhuti, the Buddha has taught that they are all no beings.

[33:29]

Therefore, he has spoken about beings. That language is okay, but that's all it is. Beings, beings as no beings, no separate, isolated, existent things whatsoever, anywhere, anytime, anyhow. It's just the way we talk. We talk like that. My car. My car. wishful thinking. My house, my family, my dog, my life. Never get a hold of it. Never. Just out of our grasp. Old frog. An old pond. Frog jumps in. Kerplunk. Just when you think you're going to get it, frog jumps away. So what the Buddha is saying sounds somewhat radical, and in fact it is radical.

[34:39]

He is using language as a cutting tool for breaking through these diamonds of wrong views. And he does it one after the other throughout the entire text. First it's beings, and then he takes on freedom, wisdom, harmony, Buddha. shatters each one, one after the other. No, no, no, no. So, what happens to the reader of this sutra is that they're placed at the fulcrum. If you imagine a teeter-totter, the fulcrum, I had to look this up, this is the fulcrum. The fulcrum is the point of view of the reader of this text, and on either side, is placed on one side initially a presence there is something a being a buddha a person and then on the other side no being there's an absence no buddha no person so this is a method it's a technique because we the reader hate this

[36:04]

We hate these contradictory views. We like to have one side or the other. Well, is it or isn't it? Which are you? Which of these two choices are you? You can't be a Republican and a Democrat, right? Duh. We don't allow it. It's hard for our brains to allow the two things. Simultaneously. So what happens is, in the frustration that we experience in reading this text, is the mind itself has this opportunity to see its own mechanism, a mechanism of thinking itself. It can actually pop into view. How you create the world pops into view. That's how I'm doing it. I'm picking sides. I'm leaving out the other half. I'm, you know.

[37:06]

So in that experience of seeing your own mind at work is a tremendously liberative experience. It can free you. And that's what this sutra is all about. Freeing you from dualistic thoughts. From taking sides. From right and wrong. Good and evil. Is and isn't. You and me. They're just words. And they're okay, but that's all they are. Just the chirpings of the birds. If this surgery that takes place in the diamond surgery cuts too deep, then it's possible that the reader becomes a nihilist. Well, okay, then there's nothing. And that's a sickness. Nothing is on the side of absence.

[38:12]

On the other hand, if the surgery isn't deep enough, then the reader continues to dream. Dream of freedom. Dream of freedom that has no texture and no odor, no taste. You know, the bird never jumps. Perhaps it never even gets out of the egg. So there's a danger here. But that's, you know, that's life. It's dangerous. That's why we came here. It's how we came here. Reb calls this text tough love. So by knowing what is real and what is not, we can then appreciate and use our words wisely and in the best possible way. We can use words to encourage baby birds and to encourage baby children. Like, good job.

[39:14]

Way to go. Nice to see you. I'm sorry. Sometimes we just talk too much. So I'm going to close with the final lines of the Diamond Sutra. as stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp, a mock show, dew drops or a bubble, as a dream, a lightning flash or a cloud. So should one view what is conditioned. Thus spoke the Lord. Enraptured the elder Subuti, the monks and the nuns, the laymen and the laywomen, and the bodhisattvas, and the whole world rejoiced in the Lord's teaching. Thank you very much.

[40:15]

Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[40:43]

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