Today we're going to start on page 11. Page 11? Oh. Page 11? Page... 11? Okay. And... Last time... we looked at the introduction, and the introduction, of course, covered some of this material. And so, but the page, these are four fairly short sections called chapters, I didn't really like sections. So they're rather succinct, and I would like to be able to do more than one in an evening, You never know, we may not get past the first page.

[01:01]

So chapter one is called The Primacy of Faith in Buddhism. And he talks about traditional Buddhist literature, being filled with references to a primacy of faith. Traditional Buddhist literature is filled with references to a primacy of faith in religious life. Nagarjuna's encyclopedic Tājur-dhūlān, or Treatise on the Perfection of Great Wisdom, for which he is often called the patriarch or ancestor of eight schools, expresses the primacy of faith as follows. Of course, Nagarjuna, you know, Kansa in his commentary on the Heart Sutra, refers to Nagarjuna's teaching as the

[02:07]

Shakyamuni Buddha of course was the first, and Nagarjuna more or less established the Madhyamaka school of the Mahayana whose influence of course Mahayana Buddhists follow. So most Mahayana practices or philosophy comes from Nagarjuna. That's why he's considered such an important ancestor. And he's the ancestor of eight schools of Buddhism. There are 12 presently existing major schools of Buddhism. So in the lineage, in various schools lineages, Nagarjuna is always present.

[03:19]

And he wrote this treatise on the perfection of wisdom. So he's pretty much responsible for popularizing the Prajnaparamita literature, which the Heart Sutra is one succinct expression. So Nagarjuna's encyclopedia, encyclopedic, Tājagdhūlūn, or Treatise on the Perfection of Great Wisdom, for which he is often called the patriarch of eight schools, expresses the primacy of faith as follows, in the great sea of Buddha's teaching, faith is that by which one can enter, So faith and wisdom are two most important aspects. Faith is the entrance and wisdom is the sustaining quality of enlightenment.

[04:26]

So this statement appears in Nagarjuna's explanation of the words evam maya srutam, which is thus I have heard or thus have I heard, thus I have heard, which appears at the beginning of all Buddhist sutras. This is usually attributed to Ananda because Ananda of course listened. Ananda was Buddha's cousin and was The legend has it that Ananda absorbed all of the Buddha's words, or as much as he had heard, and then when they had the first council of Buddha's disciples, they asked Ananda to repeat what he heard. And he said, thus I have heard, and then he repeated all the sutras, which were memorized but not written down until 400 years later.

[05:42]

This statement appears in Nagarjuna's explanation of the words, Thus have I heard, which appears at the beginning of all Buddha Sutras. So Nagarjuna continues, If one has a pure faith, then one can enter the Buddha's teachings. If one does not have faith, one is not able to enter the Buddha's teachings. Those who do not have faith in Buddha say, Not thus. This is the work of disbelief. Those who believe say, Thus. So, since faith is the condition for entering the sea of Buddhist teachings, it is said that faith is primary in the Buddhist religion. M. Saigusa, a renowned Japanese expert on the Dao Juzugun, comments on the passages cited here as follows. In Nagarjuna, salvation is the function of wisdom. Whereas faith is the entrance, nothing more than that.

[06:55]

So, we have the entrance and the function. So, this is also true in other passages in the Dāgat-cid-du-lun. This means that Nagarjuna's position is basically philosophical while discussing religion. That is to say, although faith is that by which one can enter the Buddha's dharma, as the indispensable necessary condition, I think that is should be as, it is not the sufficient condition for Buddha's life. So in other words, faith is, according to this understanding of Nagarjuna, faith is a means of entry but it's not sustaining, whereas wisdom is sustaining. So he's presenting this as one view, Nagarjuna's philosophical view. Thus, according to Saigusa, although faith is primary in the sense of being the entrance to the gate of Buddhist teachings, final salvation is ultimately a function of wisdom.

[08:11]

However, In other Buddhist texts, a more radical primacy is attributed to faith. For instance, in the Huayen Jing, or Flower Adornment Scripture, which I talked about last time, which is the basic text of the Huayen School of Buddhism, a famous passage explicitly declares the primacy of faith. Faith is the origin of the way, and the mother of all merit. and the author and the mother of all merit. It causes all the roots of goodness to grow. It extinguishes all doubts. It reveals the peerless way and makes it grow. In the Hua En Ching, the Bodhisattva must pass through 52 stages of development, beginning with the 10 faiths and proceeding to the 10 abodes, 10 conducts, 10 returnings, 10 stages, Equal enlightenment and finally marvelous enlightenment.

[09:16]

The Hawaiian school, which developed pretty early, I can't remember what span, but it was pretty early after maybe 6th, 7th century, 7th or 8th, maybe the spanning 2 or 3 centuries. They did everything in tens, they expressed everything in tens. Somehow, it seems like the decimal became popular at that time, but they systematized all the teachings into sections of ten, so there's ten this and ten that and so forth. So we have the 10 faiths, which is the first part, the 10 abodes, the 10 conducts, the 10 returnings, the 10 stages of equal enlightenment, and finally the marvelous enlightenment.

[10:21]

This scheme of 52 stages is often interpreted by Hawaiian scholars to represent the four aspects of Buddhist religious salvation, which is faith, understanding, practice, and enlightenment. Those four. Faith, understanding, practice, and enlightenment. However, the basic principles of Huayen Buddhism are interpenetration and non-obstruction. You could say interpermeation. Either way. In other words, all dharmas are present in every other dharma. That's called inner penetration or inner permeation. It is characterized by what's called the net of indra, where it's like a net with jewels at each intersection and each jewel reflects all the other jewels and infinitive

[11:31]

So everything is reflected in everything else. So it's called one in all and all in one. So this is radical pratītyasamutpāda or interconnected arising. Everything arises on each moment together with everything else and supported by everything else and nothing interferes with each other. However, the basic principles of Huayen Buddhism are inner penetration, or inner permeation, and non-obstruction among all phenomena. Every Dharma contains every other Dharma, past, present and future alike. Consequently, all 52 stages of a bodhisattva's career interpenetrate without obstruction, so that the first stage of initial faith contains all the stages, including the 52nd stage of marvelous enlightenment.

[12:41]

Thus, in Huayen Buddhism, faith is not only the origin of the way, but it's culmination as well. So it's really the beginning and the end. It's like Suzuki Roshi's Beginner's Mind. If we understand ... when we understand Beginner's Mind, this is what he's talking about. We think, well, beginner's mind, you know, we begin something, but in the beginning is the end. In other words, when you sit sadhana, it's the same as the beginning as in the end. There's no progress. There's some progress, but it's not progress from one thing to another. understanding deepens.

[13:47]

So thus in Hawaiian Buddhism faith is not only the origin of the way but it's culmination as well. It is both the alpha and omega of the bodhisattva's career. Therefore the Hawaiian school claims a much more radical primacy of faith than does since faith is not only the necessary condition but also the sufficient condition for salvation. That is, for Huayen, salvation is a function of faith, since understanding, practice and enlightenment are themselves included in the act of faith as its true contents. So understanding, practice and enlightenment and faith are the four characteristics, right? So all four of them are included. Yes? Are beginner's mind and salvation the same thing? Yes. Yeah. Same thing. Except that salvation is salvation, beginner's mind is beginner's mind.

[14:54]

I think there was somebody, was that you, somebody behind you? Oh, okay, that was you, okay. of salvation as the end. And I think in the context of practice, we actually think of salvation as an action, rather than as a goal. It's a really different way. In a spiritual sense, it's a very different way of looking at it. It's very different. It allows us to take responsibility for what we do. It's every step of the way, instead of at some distant point. What are the ten stages? Well, I have to go through those ten in order to explain that.

[16:05]

Well, those are the nine and ten. was the 9th and 10th, the 10 stages, and those two are the 9th and the 10th. But the problem is, I think that would take too long to deal with. I would like to express the 10 of them, the 10 stages actually, so I'll save that for another time, okay? I would like to do that. And in this book, Returning to Silence, this book, Returning to Silence, has a quite long talk on faith. And he talks about the 10 stages of faith, 10 characteristics of faith. in that book, when he's talking about faith.

[17:11]

And if we have time, or at the right appropriate time, we can look at that. Of course, he does it in his own way, he talks about it. But I think it would be important to express that. Could you explain what Buddhist salvation is? Yeah, salvation from suffering and confusion and ignorance. You know, there are the three inverted views which are mistaken views, right? So that's ignorance, thinking that what's impermanent is permanent, and what is self, what is not self is self, and what is not suffering is suffering.

[18:16]

So basically, salvation from inverted views of this sort, so that we can understand, get ourselves out of the world of suffering. you know, stop from creating the conditions which create suffering. Well, I know you can't speak for Ed Brown, but I'm remembering And I remember Ed saying to me very firmly, there is no salvation. So, what do you mean?

[19:18]

You have to talk to Ed. That was 1971. We've come a long way. a few months ago or a year ago, we published that poem, Nothing Will Save You, The Beatles Will Not Save You, etc. Yeah, you can only save yourself. Fatsang, Fatsang was the third patriarch of the Hawaiian school and probably the most, he's the one that really brought together all the teachings of the Hawaiian school and is most famous. So, Fatsang, the third patriarch of the Hawaiian school, describes the central role of faith in Buddhism in his record of mind's journey in the Dharma realm of Huayen.

[20:29]

He says, for those who wish to now enter the unobstructed Dharma realm, it is essential first to arouse a resolute faith. Why is it so? Because faith is the primary foundation for all kinds of practices. All practices arise from faith. Therefore, faith is listed first and has made the departure point." So then he continues, "...if resolute faith is absent, even if there is much understanding, it is only confused thinking. Why is that so? Because understanding without faith does not advance to practice, and confused thinking is not understanding." So, in order to have correct understanding, it's important to practice these four practices of faith, understanding, practice and enlightenment.

[21:35]

merely intellection without practice doesn't really, sometimes it includes faith, but it's a cold observation. So, It's important to have a cool observation, but it's also important to have a warm face. So, face is what warms up our understanding. In other words, you know, lizards tend to move when it gets warm. When it gets cold they're kind of dormant, right? But the warmth, the sun comes out, So faith is like the sun, actually. It stimulates light, stimulates illumination.

[22:47]

So the balance of coolness and heat is important. Observation is like samadhi and vipassana. vipassana and samatha and vipassana. Samatha is like samadhi, which is connection. It provides the warmth. And prajna or samatha is like observation, the cool, looking at something in a cool way. So both are necessary. And they're not separate. Where there's prajna, I mean, where there's samadhi, there's prajna. Where there's prajna, there's samadhi. Where there's faith, there's understanding. And where there's understanding, there's faith. But understanding without faith is something missing. And faith without understanding is something missing.

[23:53]

Yeah? When we say faith, is there a thought that goes along with it? Well, you're always thinking, aren't you? I don't want to assign a special thought to faith. Charlie? How does bodhicitta fit into this discussion? Well, bodhicitta is the aspiration. for Bodhi, Bodhi Chitta, Bodhi mind. Bodhi Chitta is Bodhi mind. Chitta is mind, Bodhi is aspiration. So, of course, that's pure faith. Bodhi Chitta is pure faith. But it's the will strength to practice.

[24:58]

Yeah. Without Bodhi Chitta, It's not complete practice, because it doesn't have any ... bodhicitta is what gives it heart. But it's not the faith they're talking about here. Why not? Well, I don't know. Because they use the word faith, they don't say bodhicitta. Yeah, well, you know, each term is used for a certain purpose. A whole bunch of terms that can be used. But if we keep adding all these other terms, we digress from the term we're using. I don't want to answer too many more questions, because I want to continue, unless it's a really important question. OK. Are you applying to ask unimportant questions? We don't have time for unimportant questions. So, here, Fatsang explains the basic reason for the primacy of faith in Wayan Buddhism.

[26:16]

It is because all practices arise from faith. Faith advances to practice, which in turn produces true understanding and enlightenment. So, faith advances to practice. faith comes up through practice. Practice and faith inter-are, which in turn produces true understanding and enlightenment. In Buddhism, all religious practices including samadhi, concentration, karuna, compassion, and dana, which is generosity, arise out of faith as its natural functions. So all these functions, samadhi, compassion and generosity arise out of faith, which are the functions of faith, the natural functions. Fatsang emphasizes that without faith one remains at the level of intellectual discourse, which leads to confused thinking, and never advances to the levels of practice, understanding and enlightenment.

[27:30]

He therefore identifies the act of arousing a resolute faith as the true point of departure in the career of a bodhisattva. Again, however, faith is not only the point of departure, it also sustains the bodhisattva in the bodhisattva's vows, acts, and practices in the intermediate stages before finally attaining the 52nd stage of marvelous enlightenment, which Fatsang concedes is the perfection of faith. So that's why faith is the beginning and faith is also the end. Faith is the instigation but it's also the perfection. So through the 52 stages which are intermediary between the first stage and the last stage, faith is the sustaining factor of all the intermediary stages and it finds its perfection in the last stage. So this is why faith is consistent with enlightenment.

[28:38]

Faith is enlightenment. Enlightenment is faith. The most important Buddhist text addressing the problem of faith is undoubtedly the Ta-Cheng-Chir-Shin-Lum, or Treatise on Awakening Mahayana Faith, which we talked about. I talked about that last time. This key work has served as a basic text not only for the Hawaiian school, but for virtually the entire East Asian tradition, Mahayana Buddhism, including the various Chan, Korean San, Japanese Zen, or meditation sects. Chan, of course, is Chinese and San is Korean and Zen is Japanese, the same practice of meditation. The basic theme of this treatise is, as implied by the title, is how to arouse a resolute faith and how to perfect this faith through different practices in order to attain perfect enlightenment. The primacy of faith is declared in the invocation in which the author explains his reasons for composing the work.

[29:42]

So this is the reason that the author of the Awakening of Faith gives. I declare that there is a truth which can arouse the root of Mahayana faith. Therefore, I must explain it because I wish to cause sentient beings to eliminate doubts and forsake wrong attachments and in order to awaken in them right Mahayana faith so that the buddhacy does not perish." You know, when we have a Bodhisattva ceremony and the doshi reads the One Mind Precepts. It says, Do not kill and let the Buddha seed grow. That very likely is connected with that statement, but I'm not sure.

[30:43]

So, later he'll talk about the Tathagatagarbha. Tathagatagarbha is a Yogacara term which means the womb of Buddha nature and which contains the embryo or seed of Buddha nature in each person. So he says, what is right Mahayana faith? What is that? In the earliest Buddhist texts The idea of faith was conveyed by three terms. It was conveyed by the ancient Sanskrit word śrādhā, which is composed of the verbal root śrāt, to be trustful, steadfast, confident, or to have conviction, and dhā, to support, uphold, and sustain. Thus the Buddhist term śrādhā denotes the act of sustaining confidence.

[31:52]

remaining steadfast or supporting trust in the sense of abiding firmly. And so we certainly use that meaning in our practice. As a matter of fact, we always say this is the main thing in practice, to have these qualities. So, to convey the sense, Buddhist faith and sraddha is compared to a huge mountain, a solid wall, or an immovable boulder. It's called zazen. Composure, calm, abiding, practice. And practice period is called calmly abiding or peaceful abiding. peacefully abiding, like a mountain. So in addition to shraddha, early Buddhist texts also used the Sanskrit terms prasada and adhimukti to convey the idea of faith.

[33:06]

Whereas shraddha is translated into classical Chinese as xin, which is the way we usually pronounce it. Xin is faith, or sometimes wenxin, faith by listening. Prasada is translated as qingxin, faith by purification. And adimukta is qiexin, faith with understanding. The word prasada is composed of the Sanskrit prefix pra- and the verbal root sad- to sink down or to sit or to settle. Thus, prasada also implies being firmly rooted. The dictionary meaning of prasada is to grow clear and bright or to become placid and tranquil. When all these meanings are taken together, The term prasada can be defined as being firmly seated in a state of clearness and tranquility.

[34:08]

This interpretation of prasada is supported by its Chinese translation as qingxin, faith by purification. The Sanskrit word adhimukta is composed of the prefix adi and the verb muk, to liberate, to release, or to be free. As a whole, the word adhimukta means trust or confidence. When these meanings are combined, one may take adhimukta to indicate abiding with confidence in a state of freedom, which is the goal of Buddhism, one of the goals of Buddhism. In the final analysis, the Buddhist notion of faith as conveyed by the terms shraddha, prasaddha, and adhimukti includes the connotations of practice and enlightenment in the sense of abiding firmly with resolute conviction in a state of clearness, tranquility, and freedom.

[35:16]

if you read Suzuki Roshi's talks, they're mostly variants on this understanding. Finally, the primacy of faith operated in the Buddhist soteriological system raises the important issue of the relation between faith and understanding. the relation between faith and understanding was of course one of the most famous controversies of Western medieval theology. So now he talks a bit about the comparison between some of the medieval Christian philosophers and Buddhist understanding and how they overlap but how they actually are not the same. what is the same and what is not the same. So, do you want to hear that? Okay.

[36:24]

So, finally, the primacy of faith operated in the Buddhist soteriological system raises the important issue of the relation between faith and understanding. The relation between faith and understanding was, of course, one of the most famous controversies of Western medieval theology. St. Augustine established a tradition based on the primacy of faith, often summarized in the well-known axiom of enselm, credo ut intelligam. I believe in order to understand. In the Augustinian tradition, Christianity is described as faith-seeking understanding, so that philosophy is the handmaiden of theology. Augustine's primacy of faith over understanding is very clearly stated when he writes, faith precedes reason. It cleanses the heart that it may bear the light of greater reason. Therefore, it is reasonably said by the Prophet, unless you believe, you will not understand.

[37:40]

In discerning these two, he means that we may be able to understand that which we believe. For Augustine then, one cannot understand unless one first awakens faith. However, there is nonetheless a profound interaction between faith and understanding in Augustine's system. This is seen by Augustine's famous definition of faith as thinking with assent, wherein assent represents the affective and volitional aspect of faith. Augustine explains this cooperation of faith and understanding in one of his sermons. From one aspect, he is right when he says, may I understand in order to believe, And I am right when I say what the Prophet, believe in order that you may understand. So these are two opposite ways. We both speak the truth and agree. Therefore, understanding in order that you may believe, believe in order that you may understand.

[38:46]

Briefly, I explain how we can accept each other's opinion without controversy. Believe God's word in order that you may understand. So, this inseparability between faith and understanding described by Augustine at once calls to mind the Huayen and the Chan system of round, sudden faith, an understanding developed by Chinul, Korea's great 12th century monk. According to Chinul's system, faith must precede the levels of understanding, practice, and enlightenment, as stated by the Huayen scheme of 52 stages. Faith and understanding are still regarded as inseparable by qinu, so even though one precedes the other, they're really inseparable. Once right faith is born, it should necessarily be accompanied by understanding. Yongming Yanshu says, faith without understanding enhances ignorance, and understanding without faith enhances distortion of view.

[39:51]

that only when faith and understanding are combined can one enter enlightenment. Well, this is kind of what I was explaining before. Yes? When you are reading belief, is that volitional? Belief, you know, is that a volitional...? Well, belief, yeah. Belief is volitional. That's right. Yeah, because this is the Christian expression. We're not talking about Buddhism here. If you have your copy, you'll see that these two are the excerpts. It's interesting, yeah, from the Augustine one, it talks about belief, but Chino doesn't talk about belief, doesn't mention that.

[41:12]

I think that's one of the differences. It must be pointed out, however, that for Chinul, as well as Augustine, the type of understanding established by faith is not only an intellectual understanding but also a kind of inward illumination. I think that's a really important point, inward illumination, because both Christian and Buddhists talk about inward illumination. And faith, I think, is the ignition point for illumination. Augustine's faith is a divine illumination, reflecting a theory of knowledge derived from Neoplatonism. Christ, God's incarnated word, is said to illumine the mind in the light of faith, purifying the heart so that it can bear the light of reason, greater reason.

[42:19]

Similarly, Chino regards the understanding involved in an act of faith as what he terms panjo, or inward illumination, whereby one awakens to true mind. Because what is enlightenment but illumination? Yet, there are important differences between Chino's theory of illumination by faith and Augustine's. For Augustine, illumination means seeing eternal truths—blessedness, goodness, virtue, etc.—in the light of greater reason, while recognizing the source of that light as from God, as well as seeing in the world the reflections of these divine ideas according to which it was made. the light of faith does not give us an immediate knowledge of God according to Augustine. In contrast, Chino's enlightenment by faith does not involve a theistic system, nor does it involve a theory of eternal ideas, but instead the means to realize directly the nature of our own true mind.

[43:28]

The structure of Chino's system of enlightenment by faith will be developed in the following chapter. Timing's pretty good. Go on. Does anyone have a question? Alan. Well, you know, the very strong and very well developed devotional systems that can't be ignored in the history of Buddhism.

[45:09]

And I feel like he uses his philosophical analysis to kind of cut them away. But the bottom line of what I'm saying is, I'm not convinced that there aren't belief whatever it is that we call Buddhism. Well, there are. Matter of fact, he talks about the Pure Land School without denigration. Well, I don't feel that he talks about it without denigration. When we get there, you'll see. Well, I've got there. But you didn't get there with me. As we're getting there, And the groundwork that you're laying is that there are no belief systems in Buddhism.

[46:13]

And I just think that's a modernistic view of Buddhism. Well, whether it's a modernistic view or not, although Buddhism is basically a Without belief systems, there are lots of belief systems. So I guess my question is, how do we include them? Who's we? Us in this room. Who's not including them? Who's not including them? Well, I feel like the effort that Pretending they're not, I mean they're not substantial, they're not substantial.

[47:19]

But what belief systems are you talking about? I'm essentially talking about the various devotional aspects of, that do distinguish between, do distinguish outside power. Like what? Well, if you'd listened closely, you'd have heard me say that in the end, self-power and other-power are not different. I said that last time. I think there's some contention. There is some convention, yes, there is a convention, a shallow convention, about self-power and other-power, which people tend to fall into one side or the other on.

[48:22]

But the higher understanding is that self and other are not two. Which is exactly what I said, those very words, last time. I didn't say convention, I said contention. Well, the people argue about various things, you know. I've never heard anybody here argue like that. Well, I'm going to leave it. Okay. Because, and I think this is an ongoing, it's an ongoing question that I have about how this emerges. One thing we have to understand is that this practice is a devotional practice. Yeah, I agree. totally devotional. That's what faith is. It's a devotion to practice. I think the core of my critique here is that I feel like no matter what Park says, he is subtly undermining that.

[49:28]

I don't think he really believes that, and I think that he undercuts it in ways that make him uncomfortable. I don't think you do, but I think he does. You can be uncomfortable. I know, I'm just kind of having a study. You know, I'm not joking anyway, see? Yeah, I don't feel uncomfortable. I feel that he's examining things. I think he's making a fair examination. That's what I think. He's making a fair examination and he's somewhat objective and somewhat subjective. And I think he's, you know, He has a subjective side and an objective side, and I think that they're pretty well balanced, because whenever he talks subjectively, he also presents the other side objectively. So I think he's presenting things in a very balanced way. That's my feeling about it. So if you come across something, let me know as we go. Is the sun made part of enlightenment?

[50:30]

Is he enlightened? Yeah. You have to ask him. I should, I'm evaluating his enlightenment? No, I'm just curious, it may sound a little bit like a stupid question, but can you achieve faith through scholarship and investigation? Because that seems to be what... I don't, you know, I don't know what Sung Bae's entire life is like, so I have no way of knowing that. But from this expression of his life, do you think he's a person who has faith, understanding, I think that from the way he speaks, he's speaking from the standpoint of faith. I think he has faith in what he's talking about. I think he totally has faith in what he's talking about, and I think he's talking about it from the standpoint of someone who understands Zen practice. So I don't know what his Zen practice has been, but I don't think he's talking about it just from an intellectual point of view.

[51:41]

I think he's talking about it from some experience, because just because he's a scholar doesn't mean that he doesn't have understanding, because he has never practiced or whatever. He does say he was or is a monk. That's right. As reflected in this passage, we see this tendency in the West to hear the word faith as being a mental and something that you actually take on and could be sort of a false face. But in the Buddhist interpretation, it's very much more in the realm of an experience. It's pointing to the experience, and in the experience of faith, Whether it's the beginning or the end, the experience is similar. So, I find it helpful to hear it in that context, because we have a tendency to always hear it in the beginning.

[52:43]

Well, that's right, because he's presenting Buddha's faith as essence and function, rather than belief in. Right. So, that's his main point. So when he's talking about pure land school, pure land school has this belief in, whereas Zen school has essence function. So he's making that difference, he's not making a value judgment, he's saying, this is the difference. Yes, and he also expresses that. So here's where he talks about the main thing, the main subject, doctrinal faith, patriarchal faith and doctrinal faith.

[53:45]

So in Buddhism the first step in achieving right practice and right enlightenment is to arouse right faith. So what is right faith? Here's the big question. In the previous chapter, it was suggested that right faith means abiding firmly with resolute conviction in a state of clearness, tranquility, and freedom. That was his definition. However, at this point, we must distinguish between two radically different kinds of Buddhist faith. Patriarchal faith, which Chinese Tzu-shin, and doctrinal faith, Chao-shin. Whereas doctrinal faith is the commitment that I can become Buddha, patriarchal faith is the affirmation that I am already Buddha. Therefore, patriarchal faith is not to be regarded as a preliminary to enlightenment, as in doctrinal faith. but as equivalent to enlightenment itself. To arouse patriarchal faith is to become instantly enlightened.

[54:52]

In his direct explanation of true mind, Chino clearly distinguishes between patriarchal faith and doctrinal faith." So someone asks the question, or else, you know, in these, a lot of the these treatises at that time were questions and answers, where the answerer actually brought out the question himself, which is a hypothetical question. But one way or another, question, what is the difference between faith in the patriarchal and doctrinal teachings? And the answer, there are many differences. encourage people to have faith in the principle of cause and effect. Principle of cause and effect means, if I do this, that will happen. If I practice Buddhism, eventually I can become Buddha, or eventually I will ... so cause is the practice and effect is the result.

[56:00]

In our practice, we don't practice cause and effect. That's why people scratch their heads. Those who look for the Buddha as an effect of practice have faith that the practice of the six paramitas over three kalpas is its primary cause. and bodhi, or wisdom, and nirvana are its suitable effect. So if you practice the six paramitas over three lifetimes, wisdom and nirvana will be the effect. Patriarchal effect, patriarchal, this is actually what Suzuki Roshi calls gaining idea. That's what gaining idea means. Last week I think you used the word ancestral. I used the word ancestral, yeah, maybe better, okay, I'll use the word ancestral.

[57:05]

So this is, no gaining idea means don't sit down thinking I will now become, if I sit zazen I will become Buddha. Sitting zazen to have some effect or zazen to have zazen for the cause of some effect is called shuzen, not zazen. It's a shoe fit? No. It means doing something for some other reason. So when we said zazen, then Dogi says, no. But nobody, very few, understand zazen as zazen. Most people think of zazen as some means to an end. But practice is not a means to an end. Practice is a means to practice. Well, practice is an end in itself, right?

[58:08]

It's a beginning and an end in itself. The beginning and the end. Okay, but I mean, as opposed to a means to an end, it is its own... It is its own reason. Yeah, it's its own reason. Well both, as far as ultimate understanding or ultimate expression, it's misguided according to our understanding, it's misguided. because one is already Buddha, one doesn't have to do something to become Buddha. So Suzuki says, we sit Zazen to express ourselves. What he meant was to express our Buddha nature.

[59:09]

We sit Zazen as an expression of Buddha nature, not as a means to attain Buddhism. But self and other practice are both expressions, aren't they? Self and other practice? You wouldn't say other practice is not an expression, but self practice is. Well, we're getting mixed up. Yeah, what's the difference between ancestral and doctrinal? He just said what the difference was. The difference is that in doctrinal, I am I'm doing something to become Buddha, whereas in ancestral faith I practice because I am Buddha, as Buddha. This is Buddha's practice. Well, because ultimately there's no self or other.

[60:28]

We're talking about ultimately. The practices are different, the approaches are different, but ultimately there's no self or other. Yes. See that again? Between... Yeah, there is a difference. Yeah, definitely a difference. Way back to the back. I was thinking about how Siddhguruji came to practice, and my understanding is that in the temple system, the sons inherit the temple of the father. And here in the West, people naturally have a meaning idea of wanting to get something.

[61:30]

And it's a very different paradigm that we found ourselves in. And thinking about self-power and other power that, is it accurate to say that here in the West, there's this sense of other power, of this realization on Buddha, or we get something out of it. while immature and gating idea, it's also okay given the circumstances of our life here in the West? Well, I don't know, it's a complicated question you bring forth. But to get something doesn't mean necessarily to get something, it means that we feel that there's myself and then there's the other. there's a gap between myself and the other power, so I'm asking the other power, you know, I'm submitting to this other power, right?

[62:36]

So, I'm not sure what you mean by the West, by ...? Well, here, I'll speak for myself. I have this idea of coming to practice, making a decision to do something for a calmness of mind, to meet people, whatever. There's more of a choice versus a system where people kind of just inherit the practice. But in both systems, whether one inherits a family temple or adopts a foreign practice borrowed from our parents' practice, ultimately we have a realization that instead of getting something out there, or what we were born into out there, we actually We're okay as we are. The gap is closed, but until that time, it's gonna be that, which is encouraging us not to cling to our attention.

[63:41]

Is that? He was encouraging us to not fall into the patterns a lot of the patterns of the Japanese. He wanted us to have really pure practice. And that's why, although he introduced this style to us, he didn't introduce anything else. And because he didn't want us to get caught in that whole cultural thing. So, because he saw us as not knowing anything and which is the best that's the beginner's mind, right? We just have pure faith and because we didn't know anything. So, you know when you see somebody sitting zazen or sitting sasheen for the first time They don't know what it is and they're struggling and it goes on and on and this is purest practice, you know, because they don't know anything.

[64:50]

They're just discovering what they're doing moment by moment, you know, with total naive mind and it's wonderful, you know, and the more you know, the more jaded you get. a kind of pure beginner's mind practice, which actually is the way you should end up. You should end up with that same kind of purity as you started with. So that's why the beginning naïve practice, as it goes through all these stages, that's initial enlightenment. And then final enlightenment is where you return to that stage of hopefully you never left it, but it accompanies you through all of your practice, and it's a sustaining quality through all of your practice. Sometimes you're discouraged, sometimes you don't know what you're doing, sometimes you're elated, sometimes, you know, but you just continue, and that's faith carrying you through all those aspects of practice, and finally becomes your final realization.

[66:08]

Well, Ross brings up a good point, and I just wanted to respond to it from my own perspective, being brought up as a Catholic and practicing Buddhism for a long time. I would say that my faith was there before I knew about Buddhism. So it wasn't a question of I'm going to discover faith in Buddhism. It wasn't a question of I'm going to discover faith in Christianity. You know, faith doesn't have, or my experience of faith doesn't have any of that on it at all. And it was a matter for me of feeling that through Buddhism I could express my faith most naturally. Oh yeah, absolutely. It's not dependent on, you know, some religious idea.

[67:27]

Religion is just a container for our activity. We should be careful not to get too wrapped up in it. Okay, so the answer is there are many differences. The doctrinal teachings encourage people to have faith in the principle of cause and effect. Those who look for the Buddha as an effect of practice have faith that the practice of the six paramitas, as an example, over three kalpas is its primary cause, and bodhi, wisdom, and nirvana are a suitable effect. Ancestral faith is not the same, as above, because ancestors do not depend upon any principle of cause and effect in the conditioned world. It only stresses that there be faith that everyone is originally Buddha, that all people intrinsically possess the perfect Buddha nature, and that the marvelous essence of nirvana is perfectly complete in everyone.

[68:50]

Hence, there is no need to search anywhere else, because since the beginning, those have been complete in oneself. So according to Chindu, realization of Buddhahood, in the case of doctrinal faith, depends on a gradual process of cause and effect. However, in the case of ancestral faith, there is no cause and effect process of gradual cultivation. One simply affirms that oneself is originally Buddha. Therefore, ancestral faith results in sudden enlightenment. Actually, Qinu derived his notion of ancestral faith from Li Dengxuan, 646 to 740, a Chinese Huayan scholar who was a contemporary of Fatzang. Li Dengxuan's great contribution was his emphasis on the primacy of faith. His purpose was to stress the practicable aspects of Huayan.

[69:51]

For Lip Tung Xuan, faith was the form in which enlightenment became available or accessible, and was thus the door to Buddhahood. Moreover, he transformed the traditional meaning of Buddhist faith as a commitment to the possibility of becoming Buddha through gradual cultivation into the revolutionary idea that faith is the affirmation that one is already Buddha. Li Tung Xuan states his position while discussing the doctrine of ten faiths in the Hawaiian system of 52 stages. He says, if anyone in the stage of the ten levels of faith does not believe that his own body is the same as the Buddha body and that there is no distinction between the causal state of gradual practice and effect enlightenment, then he has not realized the perfection of faith supported by wisdom. So in the preface of the Hwam Non Choryo, which is a summary of Lee Tung Xuan's commentary of the Hawaiian Sutra, Chinu quotes a similar passage by Lee describing the initial awakening of faith in the first of the ten levels of faith outlined by Huayen.

[71:14]

According to Lee, with the initial awakening of faith, the Bodhisattva has three realizations. One, the Bodhisattva is awakened to the fact that the body and mind are originally the Dharmadhatu. In other words, we say the whole universe is the true human body. The whole Dharmadhatu means the Dharma realm or the Mahayana, it means whatever, the all-inclusive universe. So the first realization is that he or she is awakened to the fact that this body and mind are originally the Dharmadhatu. Two, he or she is awakened to the truth that this body and mind and even originally the Buddha of immovable wisdom, and three, he or she is awakened to the truth that the marvelous wisdom of discriminating right and wrong is none other than Manjushri.

[72:27]

At the initial stage of faith, one is awakened to the above three truths." Well, you know, we usually think that Manjushri is non-discriminating the Buddha body of wisdom. So he's saying that these three bodies actually include discrimination. In other words, later he will talk about the three bodies of Buddha in a very good way, actually, that allows us to understand this better. So the radical nature of Lee's conception of faith should now be apparent. As soon as one's faith is aroused, one has the sudden realization that one's own body and mind are the Buddha, the wisdom of Manjushri and the Dharmadhatu. One's own body and mind are the Buddha and the wisdom of Manjushri and the Dharmadhatu, the Huayen Dharma realm of unobstructed inner penetration.

[73:39]

This is the faith that Chino adopted in his own system and named ancestral faith. the affirmation that, I am Buddha. So, you know, in the Hawaiian system, a total interdependent arising, which is radical praticca samuppada, if you say, look at a house, you say, well, what is the house? And you point, how would you point to the house and say, this is a house? You could point to the house and say, this is the house, but then you could point to the ridge pole and you say, this is the house, even though you're just saying this is the ridge pole. But the ridge pole of the house is the whole house, even though it's just a part of the house. Even though it's a part of the house, it's the whole house. You take out the ridge pole and the house falls apart.

[74:41]

Or you could say that the studs are the whole house. But if you take out, or you say the studs are just the studs, but the studs are the whole house. So all the parts are, they don't, all the part, each part contains all the other parts. And if you take one important part, one structural part out, the whole house is affected. So, in the same way that the human body, our body-mind is the whole universe, but we see it as just this one body-mind. Regarding that affirmation of I am Buddha, I think that you've taught me Perhaps if I had to say a word to love, the best word would be just this.

[75:48]

Just this? Yeah. I mean, I can't imagine you would ever sometimes say to yourself, I am Buddha. I could hear you maybe saying just this. The only way I could say, I am Buddha, is to also say, you are Buddha. OK. And partly it is because it can be It's confusing to see that phrase, it sounds almost like a mantra, and I don't think that's the intention. It's not a mantra, it's simply... It's just something about the mental function of clarity. Well, clarity, yeah, but it's simply a fact. You could construe this in a way that, you know, anything can have a ... any thing that you say also has a kind of counterfeit to it that looks like the thing but it's not.

[77:00]

So, you know, you can say, well, I am Buddha and, you know, raise myself above everybody, that's the counterfeit. When I say, I am Buddha, it means that everything is Buddha. So there's nothing special about this person as being Buddha. It's just ordinary mind. Our service is not doctrinal, is it? What isn't? Our service. We're not trying to gain something through our service. Although, there is an aspect of giving away merit, but we just spread merit throughout the universe indiscriminately. No, there's nothing ... This could be construed as, you know, what we pray is ... but that's just kind of verbiage.

[78:09]

Although, there's nothing wrong with praying, but we're not praying to something. Prayer in Buddhism, I would say, is simply to express appreciation no matter what's happening. Well, it's before you hold on, in other words, it's like a prayer wheel. A prayer wheel turns, this is my interpretation, a prayer wheel turns and induces something but doesn't hold anything, it just passes something on.

[79:14]

So, the prayer goes in and it passes the circle and it goes up. So, in a sense the prayer wheel is kind of like a momentum.

[79:23]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ