Good morning. Today I'm going to talk about the second prajnaparamita, the second of the six, which is about proper conduct, how to conduct ourselves as a practitioner of the Dharma in a way that brings forth prajna, or wisdom. So, the precepts are the modes of conduct, but the precepts are observed from different points of view, a dualistic way of observing them.

[01:13]

non-dualistic way of observing them. But I don't want to talk about the ten precepts one by one, or the sixteen precepts one by one. I want to get down to the essence of what precepts are about, what our conduct should be, what is the foundation of our conduct, so that if we understand and practice the essence of precepts, then the particular precepts will have more meaning, and we don't have to be caught by them. As we know, precepts are not chains to bind us. but ways of freeing us.

[02:24]

So we say precepts are our own inmost request, not something imposed on us. So how do we look at that? Of course, the precepts are a structure, and structures are important, because without structures, we don't have any boundary. So boundary is very important. We can't find our freedom without boundary. We may think that if we have no boundary, then we have ultimate freedom, but actually it's not so. When we know where we are, then we can have some freedom. I think about this once in a while when I take my dog for a walk at night, and we're walking down the street, and he's on a leash.

[03:30]

I don't like putting him on a leash, but there he is, he got on the leash as we're walking down the street. So sometimes I'll just walk out of the middle of the street because I want to go catty-corner. And as soon as he gets, when we're walking down the street, he knows exactly where he's going. because he had the limitation of the sidewalk. But when we go out in the middle of the street, he's like, going this way, we're going that. Where are we going? Where are we going? So, he knows where his freedom lies. It's nice to talk about this on a day when we have the Bodhisattva ceremony. It's actually quite appropriate to talk about this kind of precept when we have the bodhisattva ceremony, because in this ceremony, which we just did, we acknowledge our karma and we renew our vows, renew our intention to practice.

[04:37]

We honor all the bodhisattvas of our own mind. Buddhism bodhisattvas of our own mind, and renew our intention to practice. So we have to keep renewing this all the time. This is very important. Sometimes we feel that the bodhisattva ceremony is a little ... all that bowing and Who are we bowing to anyway, you know? Who are all these deities that we're bowing to, can you hear me? So, the Buddhas, the ancient Buddhas, and Shakyamuni and all the ancestors, and all the bodhisattvas which represent wisdom and compassion and practice of our own mind.

[05:42]

All this resides within our own mind and represents the various... Each one represents some aspect. So Avalokiteshvara, as we all know, represents our compassionate mind. So, I want to present the precepts by commenting on Vaikhan Eno, the Six Ancestors poem, which summarizes his talk on prajna, or wisdom. And so he's talking about the expression of wisdom as compassion and the essence of precepts as compassion.

[06:47]

If we actually practice true compassion and wisdom, wisdom and prajna are not two things. Wisdom and compassion are not two things. One thing, one is the essence and the other is the expression, like the lamp and its light. Samadhi is the lamp and prajna is the light. And the expression of that light is compassion. So every once in a while I comment on this poem. I probably commented on it not too long ago. But we can't hear something enough. I have to say, we cannot hear something enough.

[07:52]

He starts out by saying, one who is a master which includes both men and women. One who is a master of the Buddha Dharma and has realized their essence of mind may be likened to the bright sun in an empty sky. So this is the essence of compassion with the basis of prajna. The master of the Buddha dharma is like the sun in the endless sky, empty sky. So empty sky is the whole dharma realm. The whole dharma realm is the empty sky. And the sun Buddha is Vairochana.

[08:58]

Vairochana is likened to the sun, because this is where the light comes from. And this light shines everywhere in all directions. So this master of the dharma is like Vairochana, and like a glass, a round glass, there's only one side. So if you turn the glass around, there's only one side. No matter which side you're looking at, it's the same. So this is expressing compassion in all directions without hindrance. This is called enlightened practice, Bodhisattva practice. It was very interesting when we had Blanche's, Blanche Hartman's 80th birthday party at Zen Center a couple days ago.

[10:08]

They sang this song, which I don't know all the words to it, but, I'm gonna shine my light. It's kind of corny, you know, but it's wonderful. It's a wonderful Buddhist song. This is the Bodhisattva's song. So, this is basic practice of anyone who is practicing the dharma. Anyone can be a master of the dharma. or mistress of the Dharma. I don't like to use that word because it has other connotations. That also has connotations, yes. So we have to think of a different word.

[11:08]

But, you know, if you look directly at the sun, you go blind. You can't really look directly, so this light is reflected off the moon. So when we want to look at the light of the sun, we look at the moon, because the moon is reflecting the sun's light. So the light of the moon is called enlightenment. Moonlight is the term that's used to express enlightenment, the light of the moon, but it's really the light of the sun. But we don't look directly at it. So if we want to know what sunlight is like, we look at the moon. And if we want to know what emptiness is like, we can't look directly at emptiness except by looking at form. Because form is the reflection of emptiness. So all forms are the reflection of emptiness.

[12:22]

So if we want to study emptiness, we study it through form. And how do we study it through form? Compassionately, by acting compassionately with all forms, respecting all forms for what they are, really trying to understand what all forms really are. The forms that we're most interested in are people, and then there's the vegetable forms, the animal forms, but all things being connected as one piece, we can enter into the dharma through any piece. the gateless gate, the most special place to enter. If you want to enter through washing dishes, you can enter the Dharma Prajna through washing dishes. You can empty it.

[13:24]

You can enter the Dharma through sweeping the floor. You can enter the Dharma through interaction with other people and with observing your own shortcomings with compassion. So, the reflection leads to the source. So then he says, such a one teaches nothing but the dharma for realizing our self-nature, which is their purpose for being in this world and to make people aware of erroneous views. So we say sometimes like, what is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of my life?

[14:24]

We're always searching for the purpose of our life. Well, this is the purpose of your life. Here it is. No problem. You don't have to worry about it anymore. Such a one teaches nothing but the Dharma for realizing self-nature. So, when we enter into practice, we leave behind our erroneous views about what our life is about. We realize that it's what our life purpose is. When you take your vows and you sow your rock through and do your ordination, you realize what the purpose of your life is. When you become ordained as a priest, you leave behind a certain aspect of life, of your old life, and enter into the purpose of this life, is to help other beings realize the Dharma. reality, and also yourself, even though you don't realize it completely yourself.

[15:30]

You know where you're going, which is nowhere particular, except that you stay on the path, because otherwise the field is too big. So such a person teaches nothing but the Dharma, for realizing our self-nature, our essence of mind, Buddha nature, which is the purpose for being in this world. We say a Buddhist has a purpose for being in this world, that's their only purpose, and then when they've done their thing, they go away, they disappear, disintegrate. So we can hardly classify realization of the Dharma into sudden and gradual. In his time, back on Eno's time, the sudden school and the gradual school had some competition, so this is a little bit political.

[16:45]

because the followers of Enao advocated the sudden school, sudden enlightenment, and they propagandized the other side as being the gradual school. But in Buddhism, in Zen, this controversy between sudden and gradual has always been there. But actually it's reconciled because it's both sudden and gradual. No problem. But he says in the sutra, which people don't usually say, some will attain enlightenment more quickly than others. No problem. Don't worry about this sudden and gradual thing. Because some people are very bright and get it right away. It's not a matter of being bright. Some people are attuned. They may be stupid, but they're attuned.

[17:49]

And that attunement allows them to get it right very quickly. And some people aren't attuned, they have to work real hard, even though they're bright. As a matter of fact, being bright can be a hindrance. brain is too smart because we try to explain it to ourselves, and when we try to explain its problem we get tangled up in concepts. So then this is a sentence that I don't like so much, it should be stated in a different way, this way of realizing the essence of mind is above the comprehension of the ignorant. It's not a good statement, because what it does is puts the adept on an elite level. It's only for the elite, not the ignorant, but actually it's also for the ignorant.

[18:52]

But ignorant means not paying attention. It's for those who are paying attention and not for those who are not paying attention, is what I would think. As a matter of fact, I would reword it and say, the way of realizing the essence of mind is for those who have an affinity for this kind of practice. So this way of realizing is for those who have an affinity for this way of realizing, rather than talking about the ignorant. put together and translated in various ways. Actually, this is my re-translation of this poem, which I like better than the other ones. So he says, we may explain it in 10,000 ways, but all those explanations may be traced back to one principle.

[19:55]

But he doesn't say what that one principle is. I would say, practice is enlightenment. because he's talking about explaining it in all these different ways, but it all comes down to practice, which goes beyond practice and enlightenment, which goes beyond explanations, all explanations. what he's talking about is how this way of doing, this practice is beyond delusion and enlightenment and beyond argument. in order to illuminate the dark dwelling place of the afflictions, we should constantly set up the light of wisdom, which is prajna.

[21:09]

So, how do we set up the light of wisdom? Prajna arises when, so, if we go back to the master of the dharma is like the sun, Well, the way the sun is obscured is when the clouds are going by. On a cloudy day, you don't see the sun. So how do we lift the clouds so that prajna, which is the expression of the source, the wisdom of the source, arises? It's always there, like the sun is always there. But we say the sun is not out. But the sun is out, it's just that the clouds are covering it. So how do we lift the clouds so that this sun can shine forth? So that's a big problem. That's called practice. And the essence of that practice is, for us, Zazen.

[22:16]

Zazen is the non-discriminating mind, allowing its freedom within this limitation of the pretzel position. Pretzel position means the most confined position, you know, this is the most confined position with the greatest freedom, total freedom. But we don't always experience that. Until we allow our non-discriminating mind to arise, then it's torture. This is a fine line. It can be either torture or it can be total freedom. So this is great learning for great teachers in Zazen.

[23:20]

When discriminating mind arises, we fall into suffering. A non-discriminating mind, when the clouds are gone, a non-discriminating mind is no longer taking over, and it's total freedom. So we get to choose. We don't think we're choosing, but we're actually choosing to not be attached to whatever arises, but allowing everything to arise. so that we're not dominated by anything, and we can see the oneness of all the distinctions, and the distinctions of this oneness. So this is being compassionate to ourself. When we experience this compassion for ourselves, then we can extend that to everyone.

[24:27]

very important to find our own compassion and get off our blaming of ourselves. When we stop blaming ourselves, it's easier to stop blaming others because of our projections. We don't like to accept our shortcomings, so we project them onto somebody else and look for the problem out there. called the blaming. When we stop blaming and look at our own shortcomings and have really a relax and accept that, we can have compassion for ourselves, true compassion, which extends to everyone. I can see they have the same problem that I do, and I can feel sympathy for them. I can identify with that. It's hard to understand how people can torture other people, cutting off compassion, cutting off identifying with the other.

[25:41]

But in some way, torturing someone frees us in some way from our own pain, but it actually causes us more pain psychologically, subliminally, which we don't understand. So he says, erroneous views keep us in defilement, while right views remove us from it. When we are in a position to let go of both of them, then our mind is pure. So when we can let go of right views and wrong views, in other words, right and wrong, it's not that there's no right and wrong, but we get caught by right and wrong. right and wrong are two sides of just this. Because we get caught with right and wrong, we don't see just this. We don't see things as they really are, because we only see them through the lens of right or the lens of wrong.

[26:50]

There's nothing wrong with right and wrong. But When we fall into this dualistic way of thinking, then we can't see things in a complete way, and we're caught by one side or the other. So no matter how righteous we are, we're caught by righteousness. But I can't say that's bad, it's just that it obscures reality, ultimate reality. There is a reality to right and a reality to wrong. But it's not ultimate reality. It's one-sided reality. And we're always fighting the battles of one-sided reality. And as long as we keep doing that, my side is right, your side is wrong.

[27:51]

An eye for an eye. for an eye, for an eye, for an eye. As someone said, I think it was Gandhi, pretty soon there'd be no more eyes left. Tooth for a tooth, pretty soon there'd be no more teeth left. Somebody has to stop. Just stop it. Just stop the right and wrong. Stop the good and the bad. And just be there. And ultimate reality. This is what Zazen is, stopping right and wrong, good and bad, just stop it all, even though it arises, just don't get caught by it. So right views, erroneous views keep us in defilement, while right views remove us from it. But when we are in a position to let go of both of them,

[28:54]

our mind is then pure. So purity means non-duality, basically, in Buddhism. I'm talking about pure this and pure that, but pure activity is activity which is freed from right and wrong, good and bad, which also has its problems, because we also have to pay attention to what's right and wrong and good and bad. This is the duality of non-duality. If you fall into purity, thinking that you're rising above impurity, that's also wrong, because pure purity is not the opposite of impurity. Pure right is not the opposite of wrong. Purity has to include everything that's impure.

[30:02]

And pure rightness has to include everything that's wrong. Pure wrongness has to include everything that's right. I know that that's mind-boggling. Bodhi, which means enlightenment, is imminent in our essence of mind. In other words, Bodhi or enlightenment is right there within our essence of mind. It's not something we can get. It's not a thing to get. It's something to allow to come forth because it's our inherent nature. And to attempt to look for it elsewhere is erroneous. So, don't go somewhere. Just stay where you are, the hardest place to be, where you are. And don't look for something. Just sit down there.

[31:04]

And practice compassion in all of your activities. Then enlightenment comes forth. So, with an impure mind, I'm sorry, within our impure mind, the pure mind is to be found. And once our mind is set right, we are free from defilements, evil karma, and karmic retribution. So, in other words, instead of trying to get rid of all the impurity, just find the pure mind within the impure mind. This is prajna. This is the essence of prajna. This is called there are various ways to express it. Nirvana is found within samsara. Basically that's what he's talking about.

[32:08]

You don't remove all the samsara in order to find nirvana. In the history of religious practice the Christian fathers in the desert and the old Jews and the Buddhists and the Hindus, the holy men that you find in India, searching for purity, nirvana, by isolating themselves from samsara. of getting as far away from the world as possible in order to mortify the flesh, in order to release the spirit. But that's just dualistic practice, you're simply replacing one thing with another.

[33:12]

The practice of prajna is to find the purity within the impure. In other words, impure actually just means this world, just means this world. This is the world of impurity, of course it's getting more and more impure all the time. We're creating more impurity out of that, but that's where we have to find our purity and our release, and our enlightenment is right there, without escaping from it, to transform what is It's like compost, right? We think garbage stinks, and it does, you know? But it's valuable. We plow it under, and this is where the lotus grows.

[34:20]

The lotus grows in the muck. Without the muck, you don't get a lotus. So the muck is important. You tend to want to, you know, get that thing out of, get the problems away from you. But right there is where we have to find it. So, Bodhi is imminent in our essence of mind. An attempt to look for it elsewhere is erroneous. Within our impure mind, a pure mind is to be found. And once our mind is set right, we are free from defilements, evil karma, and karmic retribution. If we are treading the path of enlightenment, or Bodhi, we need not be worried by stumbling blocks. Provided we keep a constant eye on our own faults, we will not go astray from the right path. So we should look at our hindrances, pay attention to our hindrances, but not be worried by our stumbling blocks, because every stumbling block, so to speak, is an opportunity.

[35:24]

This is what we have to work with. This is our path. It's the path of stumbling blocks. You come to one problem, and then you go into that problem. And then you meet another problem, and you go into another problem. Our life is one problem after another. Just one problem after another. But problems are good. They're neither good nor bad. Sorry. Problems are just problems. If we have a life which is based on practice, and we really take that seriously, then problems are all welcome. All problems are welcome. This is like leaving the ordinary way of doing things. Sometimes people will come and they'll say, well, I haven't been able to come to practice because I've had all these problems that I've had to deal with. And I think, well, those are your practice. You don't have to stay away because you have these problems.

[36:28]

Because of your problems, this should help you to deepen your practice. So it's an opportunity. Otherwise, life is just a burden. Why should our life be a burden? Our problems, dealing with our problems, are what regenerates us and keeps us alive and vital. So provided we keep, they say, since every species of life has its own way of salvation, they will not interfere with or be antagonistic to one another, ideally. Dogen has this comment saying, everything has its own way of salvation and dharmas don't interfere with each other. That's true, ideally, but when we don't pay attention to that, then everything is interfering with everything else.

[37:33]

You're in my way, you know, all this is in my way. Animals have their way of salvation, plants have their way of salvation, human beings have their way of salvation. And when we look at the way animals treat each other, they do treat each other much better than we treat each other, as we know. Even though we see, oh geez, you know, that cat is eating that mouse, And we say, you know, it's so awful. Well, good heavens, you know, compared to what we do to each other. Anyway, I remember Suzuki Roshi talking about this. At Tassajara, somebody came and said, you know, when I was coming up the road, I saw this cat or some animal eating a mouse. And should I have chased the cat away? so that the mouse would be okay? That's our tendency. But he said, well, maybe not.

[38:35]

Maybe the mouse is a little bodhisattva saying, oh, it's okay, leave me alone. I'm dealing with this practice. This is my practice, and I know how to deal with it, so you don't have to interfere with me. But it may be okay to do that as well. That's up to you if you want to chase the cat away from the mouth. But cats catch mice, and they play with them, and they torture them, and that's animal behavior. We can interfere with it or not, but whether we do or not, it's always going to be going on. But as humans, we have different standards, and we try to manipulate our consciousness, manipulate our behavior to conform to our attitude of compassion.

[39:35]

So this is the one thing that humans have, is this, that we're always developing is compassion, which raises above, I don't know about above, but makes us a distinct species. So, he says, provided we keep, Therefore, if we leave our own path and seek some other way of salvation, we will not find it. And if we plot on until death overtakes us, we shall only find regret in the end. If you wish to find the true way, right action will lead you to it directly, but if you do not make effort in the way, you will grow up in the dark and never find it. So, you have to really make an effort. Effort is also one of the six paramitas. One who treads the path in earnest sees not the faults of the world." This is the hardest thing to swallow.

[40:42]

Of all? One who treads the path sees not the faults of the world. If we find fault with others, we ourselves are in the wrong. When others are in the wrong, we should ignore it. I don't know about ignore. When others are in the wrong, we should ignore it, for it is wrong for us to find fault. By letting go of the habit, I put that in, of finding fault, we cut off a source of defilement. There is fault. We recognize when people are at fault and when we are at fault. Usually we recognize when others are at fault. Not so often when we're at fault. But I think we have to understand this as one piece. and not in this particular so much, but more as an attitude, an attitude of fault-finding and dwelling on fault-finding.

[41:48]

You know, if we don't know how to forgive, and if we don't know, if we keep hanging on to our resentments and our anger, then we're binding ourself. This is actually more for ourselves, because the more we find fault, the more we bind up ourself. And so in order to have freedom, we should not be dominated by anger, ill will, even clinging to or attachment to finding faults with others, because we also have potentiality for faults that we see in everybody else. Whatever anybody else does, we also have the potentiality for that. So to be able to identify and see ourselves in others brings out the compassion for those who are at fault.

[42:57]

So we need to have compassion for someone who does outrageous things. You know, there was a controversy in Buddhism long ago. Does Dhyācāntika have Buddha nature? Dhyācāntika is someone in Buddhism who has no Buddha nature. And there was a controversy. There are some people who have no Buddha nature. You know, does Hitler have Buddha nature? He could argue that, maybe he doesn't, but then they found in a sutra, the Nirvana Sutra, it said all sentient beings without exception have Buddha nature. Dogen revised it to say all beings are Buddha nature, without exception. So the easy way out is to say, well there are people who just don't have Buddha nature, so we don't have to have compassion for them.

[44:06]

But actually, the tough sell is that we really have to have compassion for all beings. It's not that people are not at fault, it's that we have to try to understand how things happen. Why do we act the way we do? So instead of focusing on the fault, we should focus on the cause, why things happen the way they do, why people act the way they do. I think that's more what he's pointing to. Why are all these people in jail? Well, we know why most of them are in jail, because life's unfair. There really is no justice. there is just this. Basically, there is just this, but we want justice.

[45:13]

We want everything to come out right, which is wonderful. We have to find the justice in our own mind, even when things are unjust. So we have to rise to a higher level of understanding and acceptance of things. So, he says, by letting go of the habit of fault-finding, we cut off a source of defilement. And when neither hatred nor love disturb our mind, serenely we sleep." So, hate and love are also dualities. Those who intend to be the teachers of others should themselves be skilled in the various expedients which lead others to enlightenment. So, I apologize for my behavior as a teacher, but I cannot actually live up to that completely.

[46:25]

So when the disciple is free from all doubts, it indicates that their essence of mind has been found and prajna arises. The pure land of Buddha is in this world within which enlightenment is to be sought. To seek enlightenment by separating from this world is as absurd as to search for the horns of a rabbit or the lips of a fish. No, the lips of a chicken. Right views are called transcendental. Erroneous views are called worldly. But when all views, right or erroneous, are let go of, then the essence of Bodhi appears. I want to talk about that a little bit. Right views are called transcendental. In other words, right view is all things are emptiness. Erroneous views are worldly, like the world of form.

[47:30]

But when one doesn't fall into either form or emptiness, then the essence of bodhi appears. So we say beyond form and emptiness. The road is beyond form and emptiness, a wonderful world beyond form and emptiness. So this stanza, is for the sudden school, even though he doesn't make a distinction between sudden and gradual. It is also called the big ship of dharma for sailing across the ocean of existence. So, you know, the Heart Sutra has the mantra, gathe gathe bhaya gathe parasamgate bodhisvaha, to take one across the ocean of existence from this shore to the other shore.

[48:33]

But actually the ship extends to both shores, so you can walk freely back and forth. And when we are living in this way, We're already on the other shore. There's no place to go. So kalpa after kalpa, a person may be under delusion, but once enlightened, it takes but a moment to realize Buddhahood. That's what he means by sudden enlightenment, when everything falls into place at once. instead of going from A to B, learning this and then you learn that step-by-step practice. Step-by-step practice is not Zen practice. That's why we swim around in this world of practice for 20 years before we have realization, without learning anything.

[49:41]

But we absorb the practice through our pores. we also observe it through our mind, but observing it through our pores means through over and over practicing, that's how we get it. And that's what the Dogon means by, to study the Buddha Dharma is to study the self, and to study the self is to forget the self. Study means to do something over and over and over, it doesn't mean reading books, although reading books are important. So this is what I think, this is how we practice precepts. Basically, through compassionate action and the duality of non-duality, and the non-duality of duality, by not falling into one side or the other of any duality, and only being, it's called the middle way.

[50:46]

Nagarjuna's middle way. between no birth, no death, no right and no wrong, no good and no bad, although birth and death exist, right and wrong exist, good and bad exist. So how do we find the precept which is the non-dual precept, the pure precept within each action? That's how we practice precepts, within every occasion that comes up. And the key is compassionate action. If we think compassionate action, then we will have access to the precept without practicing them one by one. I have a little note that I wrote to myself once.

[51:48]

sometimes people find fault with the practice instead of looking at themselves. How can I do this, rather than there's something wrong with the practice? Shiso said that when she gave her talk, she said, looked at my own faults rather than looking what's wrong with the practice, trying to find out what's wrong with the practice. I always look at what my own shortcomings might be and how I can come up to the practice. I think that's a wonderful thing to say, because that's the way I always felt myself. Maybe that's why I think it's a wonderful thing to say. So Buddha always obstructs our practice. I'm sorry, but I don't have time for questions.

[52:56]

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