This afternoon we will have a lay ordination. Not hearing. Not hearing. I'm talking. Keep talking. Power on. You should be working. That's what I said. You should be working. OK. Louder. Louder. That's pretty good. OK. I remember sitting here. I see. having this problem and then when the microphone went on he said, you think you're listening to my voice but actually you're listening to electricity.

[01:14]

So this afternoon we're having a lamination for Six people that I'm ordaining, two people that Alan is ordaining, and two people that Grace is ordaining, who are her students in practice here. So I want to talk a little bit about what is ordination, what we're talking about, what we're doing, and about the precepts. precepts, 16 Bodhisattva precepts, which are central to this ordination ceremony.

[02:17]

In our particular lineage We have priest ordination and lay ordination. Lay ordination means to be ordained into the Sangha as a householder, so-called, so-called householder. And priest ordination is Tokugawa means ordination in Japanese, and Zaikei means lay ordination, and Shukkei means priest ordination. But leaving home and staying home are often mixed.

[03:30]

So, historically, Leaving home doesn't always mean going away somewhere. And a householder doesn't necessarily mean being in one place. What binds them together is how do you leave home without leaving home. Wherever we are, this is our home, whether it's in your house or someplace else. So I don't want to get into that conversation about what is the difference. Priests wear a traditional robe and carry a lineage and make sure that the lineage is of our school.

[04:34]

is carried down from generation to generation. So a priest has that responsibility and also the responsibility of making sure that practice continues. So a priest is a kind of visible person who attracts all the criticism and is happy to do so. So, when we have an ordination, each person sells a robe, whether it's a full robe or a, which is called a kesa, which is a small robe.

[05:37]

Most of you, of course, know what I'm talking about. But I know there are people who don't. So I'm talking to people who don't. And I'm talking to people who do as if they don't. So the Roxhill is a small robe. Some people think, well, it's a token robe. It's not a token robe. It's the real thing. But it's small, to be worn. Whenever you're... whatever you want. But most of the time we practice Nizendo. Sometimes people think, oh, is that your bib? You people wear bibs? Because sometimes you see the food on it. You're supposed to be very careful. So, in the history of Buddhism, 2500 year history, there have been many styles of precepts.

[06:57]

And when Buddhism came to Japan, even before our teacher Dogen Zenji, The precepts, which were like 250 or 350, were reduced to 16. And 16 precepts is what we use today. There are major precepts and minor precepts. So basically, we take the major precepts. When we give ordination, we give the major precepts, which are 16. All the rest are called minor precepts and they exist in various categories of seriousness. So the minor precepts are more local, where the major precepts are universal for all Buddhas,

[08:08]

Minor precepts are for... every society or country will create a minor precept according to what's needed for that society. So we haven't really created a minor precept yet in America. Suzuki Roshi said someday, little by little, you will create your own minor precepts. Minor not meaning that serious, but rules to help us, not rules to chain us. So precepts are actually rules to guide us and help us. to practice. That's the purpose of precepts.

[09:14]

I'll explain each one, actually. But precepts are, as Suzuki Roshi says, our own inner request. It's not some rules to bind us. And when we realize that they actually come from ourself, we can appreciate them. The first three precepts are to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. You say take refuge. You can also say, to return to. So what does it mean to take refuge in Buddha?

[10:15]

It means to take refuge in our own Buddha nature. Each one of us has Buddha nature or is an expression of Buddha nature. So the first precept is to take, to return to your own true nature, specifically. That precept covers everything. All the rest is commentary. So in other words, act from your own big mind. If we are always acting from our own big mind, this is to take refuge in Buddha. Not to take refuge in our small mind. or our ego mind, or our sub-centered mind, but our Buddha mind, our Buddha nature, which goes beyond mind. We use the word mind to mean nature of us.

[11:17]

So, to settle into our Buddha nature, and to act out of our Buddha nature, so that our small mind has a basis. So I would say to be centered on our Buddha nature rather than to be centered on our ego nature or self-serving nature. So then there's to take refuge in the Dharma. Take refuge or take refuge in the way of liberation. To take refuge in the way of freedom. And to take refuge in Sangha means to take refuge or to return, not to return, but to take refuge in those people that we practice with.

[12:24]

But in a narrow sense it means the people who are around you. and the people of the Sangha, but it also means to identify with humanity as a whole. Because all beings support us, and we support all beings, even though that's impossible. And then you might say, well, but that's impossible. Yes. To practice Buddhism totally is impossible, but we vow to do it. So that's our vow. So there are many impossible things that we vow to do, but if the Dharma isn't beyond our ability, then it doesn't mean much.

[13:29]

So, God is always drawing us out beyond what we think is our capability. And you vow to say, I think it's my turn. Well, turn it just a teeny bit lower and then we won't get that whistling piece. I don't think it's you, I think it's them. That's right. So, we have the vow to save all beings. Is that baffling? Can you hear me still? We have the vow to save all beings, which is a curse. If you think about it logically, it's impossible. But if you don't think about it logically, you can do it.

[14:31]

Logic always stops us. That's the problem with government as well. Logic always stops us. If you listen to your advisors, you're lost. So this is our vow to save all sentient beings. It's our intention. It's not like, I'm going to do this. This is actually going to work. No, this is our intention. So we have this impossible intention. So without the impossible intention, you never get beyond yourself. And we stay in a certain limbo. So we're always making that effort. And the place to start, of course, is with yourself. How do I save myself? When we work on saving ourself, then all beings are also saved.

[15:44]

What does save mean? What is salvation in Buddhism? needs to realize to be enlightened and really have enlightenment about what is delusion. To save ourselves from the realm of suffering and delusion. That's salvation. To save all beings from the realm of suffering and confusion. So those are the three And it's a kind of triangle. So triangle is very strong. Triangle is like sadhana. When you sit in sadhana with your legs crossed, your seat is like a triangle. And you can experience a lot of things without being pushed over.

[16:58]

You can accept everything without being pushed over. So this triangular base is very strong. what we call the Ten Co-Divine Precepts. So, and the Three Pure Precepts. Three Pure Precepts are, you know, the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha is a large category. And then there's another category called the Three Pure Precepts.

[17:59]

pure meaning, non-dualistic, even though they're expressed in a dualistic way. So the first one is not to be caught by evil. Not to express evil in your life. And also, we say, I vow to refrain from all action that stems from ignorance. We express this in various ways. Ignorance here meaning, sometimes it's called evil, sometimes it's called ignorance. Ignorance is pretty good because evil has a lot of connotations and it's hard to understand. Evil, I think one of the characteristics of evil are taking delight in the suffering of others. I think that's evil. And I vow to make every effort to reveal Beginner's Mind.

[19:10]

That's basically means to do what is beneficial for everyone. So the first one is to not do things which are not beneficial and to do things which are beneficial. But to reveal beginner's mind is a very nice way to say that because beginner's mind is the end of practice. It's the culmination of our realization and it's called beginner's mind. And then we say, I vow to live for the benefit of all beings. In other words, the Bodhisattva turns over their life to the benefit of all beings, and not just to selfish, giving up selfish ways of acting and devoting your life to helping others.

[20:24]

When you devote your life to helping others, You are helped. The best way to help yourself is to help others. But you shouldn't neglect taking care of yourself. If you don't take care of yourself, then others have to take care of you. It's not so good. But eventually, we have to give ourselves over to letting others help us. So then there are the ten what are usually called prohibitory precepts, but we call them the clear mind precepts because there are two sides to precepts. One is prohibitory, which means don't, [...] don't. And the other side is encouraging precepts. The precepts of encouragement, which are do, [...] do.

[21:28]

In the past, we only received the prohibitory precepts. But under some influences, I have expanded it to both sides. It takes a little longer to say it. But I think that's more complete. So I'm going to read the prohibitory precepts and the encouragement precepts, which are altogether clear-mind precepts. So the first one, of course, is I resolve not to kill. First of all, I want to say that there are various levels of precepts. There's the literal level. There's the emptiness level. And in between is the Bodhisattva level. But right now, But you should know that those three levels are how we study precepts.

[22:38]

When we say precepts of emptiness, it means if the precept is, I resolve not to kill, on a maximum level, there is no such thing as killing. But you shouldn't stay there, because that gives you license to kill. So we have to understand that on the literal level, that's the foundation. But whenever we meet a situation, life precepts is how you act in every situation, given the absolute level and the literal level. When you embody that understanding, then when you meet a situation, both of those aspects are present in your actions, in your decisions.

[23:48]

So you are always acting out of reality, not just partiality or by will. And so I resolve not to kill. means the intention to kill something. You know, we cannot help but kill something. Everything we do is killing something. So then we categorize. Well, let's see, what are the things that we won't kill? And what are the things that we will kill? So we have these categories. And the things that we won't kill The things that we will kill are things that we don't know about. Maybe we won't kill animals. Maybe we won't kill fish. Maybe we won't kill... What it means, the precept means, don't kill intentionally. Don't intentionally take life that you don't need to take.

[24:51]

Don't kill for sport. Don't kill to gain advantage. Selfishness. But you cannot help killing. As I said, when you do this, you're killing something that you can't see. Inside of our lilacs, you have millions of little critters. They're always cleaning us up. Yeah. And so when you go like this, everything is eating everything else. that's devouring something is devouring something. Buddha called it the law of the fishes. The big fish eat the little fish, eat the little fish, eat the little fish. So this is a big subject and that's as far as I want to go with it.

[26:00]

So I resolve not to kill is the prohibitory precept. Even though you cannot help killing, you vow not to do it. So this is impossible, he said. But it's also possible. So the positive side is cherish all life. So how do you not kill and cherish all life? This is why when we have a meal, have a respect for the things that we're killing. Or, we call it transforming. When we eat, we transform life. So, as Gyurji used to say, we eat the noodle, or we eat whatever, and when we eat, whatever we're eating becomes transformed as we chew it.

[27:08]

And when it loses its form, it releases its energy. So, and then this energy continues to live. This energy is continuing to live, even though its form is changing. So this is the way things work. So we express gratitude for the food that we eat, for allowing us to change its nature, So how do we express gratitude or carefulness in how we change the nature of things? That's what's important. So the second precept is, I resolve not to steal, not to take what's not given actually.

[28:17]

And then there's this kind of koan, but to honor the gift not yet given. So, everything is a gift. You know, for a monk, a monk has three robes and a bowl. The one who's actually left home has three robes and a bowl and does not hunt for food, but has a bowl. Because of their virtue, people will put something in it. If they have no virtue, nobody will put anything in it. There are stories about that. So, the gift, you know, everything is a gift. Staying alive is a gift. So, if the monk takes something, then it's called stealing, actually. So, the whole thing, their whole life depends on whether or not they have a good practice.

[29:24]

So I resolve not to misuse sexuality. That's a big prejudice for the monk. It's like, don't have sex, period. And it's an offense to do that. For lay people, it's like, and so we have our, we have expressed it in such a way as do it in a way that is beneficial. And so the positive side is remain faithful in relationships. So we always encourage people to remain faithful in their relationships. So the fourth one is to resolve not to fib or not to lie, but to communicate the truth.

[30:28]

That's a kind of no-brainer. Number five, I resolve not to sell and use the wine's drugs of delusion. So, archaically, it's don't sell liquor. But for us, it's don't sell or use any kind of intoxicants. We have to be careful about precepts. Precepts are guidelines. They're not rules. You may transgress the precepts. Breaking the precept means that you've totally disregarded it and without compunction. If you transgress the precept with remorse, you're not breaking the precept.

[31:40]

Remorse means to realize that that's not what you really want to do and to get back on the path. That's not breaking the precept. So we're always falling off. So precepts are impossible to keep literally and perfectly. It may seem simple, but it's not, because we're breaking them all the time. Not breaking, but solving off and then getting back on. But if you think, well, it's not breaking the precepts, isn't it? That's not right either. in any way as an excuse. So the positive side is to polish clarity. So the reason for not having intoxicants is that even though it may seem like clarity, it's not true clarity.

[32:48]

True clarity is the norm. You may want to see something in an extravagant something and you feel like, you know, this is it. But actually, it's not. You may, by taking some kind of dope, to have real insight, great insight, which is okay. But if you follow that path, it's not okay. It's not a path. You may have an opening, which gives you an insight, but then the curtains close. So don't get your nose caught.

[33:53]

The next three actually are about how you interact with others. So the sixth one is, I resolve not to dwell or discuss the mistakes of others. Dwell on or discuss the mistakes of others. You know, everybody's making mistakes all the time. And to dwell on people's mistakes is a kind of diversion from your own way of doing things. So it leads to a kind of ignorance to always be talking about others and their mistakes and their problems and so forth. And it creates a split between you and others. So the positive side is to create wisdom from ignorance. You can use the same energy that you use to dwell on or discuss people's mistakes

[35:05]

as to look at your own problems. I remember that Shakyamuni used to say, when he walked through Tassajara, he said, I don't look to the left or the right. I don't look around. I just go my way. Looking around means, oh, it's not so good. That one's not doing so well. Just go straight for yourself. That helps everybody. So, the seventh one is I resolve not to praise myself and downgrade others. So, praising myself and downgrade. If we want to raise ourselves up, the best way to do that is to put everybody else down. Then you don't have to go anywhere. So, but the positive side is to maintain modesty putting others first. So modesty is to... It's not a word that we use a lot these days, actually.

[36:16]

We promote, do your thing, you know? Get your ego out there. But promoting modesty is very important. It's like knowing nearly who you are. And to put others first is really important. To know how to open the door for others. To serve others. When everybody is serving everybody else, then that's called harmony. If everybody in the world was serving everybody else, there'd be no problem. So, number eight, I resolve not to withhold spiritual or material aid.

[37:17]

In our practice, we don't divide spiritual from material. People talk about a spiritual practice. Yes, it's a spiritual practice, but it's not a spiritual practice as separate from mundane practice. Mundane practice for us is spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is mundane practice. Ordinary activity is spiritual practice for us. It's not some special way to do something spiritually. There's no spiritual thing that is divorced from our actual ordinary life. So the positive side is to share our understanding and giving freely of ourselves. Number nine is to resolve not to harbor ill will or anger. You notice it's a harbor meaning to protect your ill will, to nurture ill will.

[38:24]

We do get angry. We have all kinds of emotions and feelings that come up. That's normal. But whatever it is that we harbor, harbors us. Whatever it is that we can't hold us, is actually catching hold of us. So, in order to find our freedom, we have to let go of being caught by anger. So, the antidote is to dwell in equanimity. And the last one is, resolve not to abuse your treasures. In respecting the Buddha, unfolding the Dharma, and nourishing the Sangha. That's all you have to do. In order to not abuse the three treasures, all you have to do is respect the Buddha, unfolding the Dharma, and nourishing the Sangha.

[39:26]

So, I have a little note that I wrote here some time ago. Within the Buddha dharma, all practitioners of the Buddha way are on the same path, the same dharma, the same realization, the same practice. So the faults of others will not be discussed.

[39:54]

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