four ways of guiding beings. And these four ways of guiding beings, they're not really methods. Sometimes it's thought of as four methods of guiding beings, but They have very little to do with doctrine or study. The first one is giving or generosity. We can talk a lot about Zen.

[01:33]

There are a hundred books that you can read. But basically, no matter how brilliant we are, or how well we know Buddhism or the doctrine, how we guide people is through our own actions. So underlying all of the teachings is really basic behavior. And no matter how much we know, of behavior, it doesn't mean anything.

[02:39]

And sooner or later, people will be discouraged. So sometimes we can talk about the past in two ways. One way is about just settling. When we sit Zazen, we don't have anything. Just pure being, pure existence. One with everything. And on the other hand, we cultivate our life. our life in a beneficial way. So these are two sides of our own practice.

[03:46]

But both sides are for the benefit of everyone. Sometimes we wonder, or we come up with a question, why do I sit sadhu? Or why do I practice? And we think of all the reasons that it's good for us. I feel the effects of Zazen. I've only been practicing for six months and already I feel the wonderful benefits of Zazen. But actual Zazen goes beyond personal benefits. What we do for ourselves is important. And what we do for everyone is really for ourselves.

[04:48]

So we can't always say, who is this for, or why am I doing this? When we first begin to practice, our effort is to do something for ourselves, to find out something for ourselves. But when we understand something about practice, or what we're doing, when we have a foothold, so to speak, when our practice becomes somewhat mature, then we no longer hold this idea about just doing something for herself. And when our mind opens up,

[05:55]

guide people. When our practice is mature, then without making an effort, too much of an effort, without trying, we actually are guiding people. So we should know something about how we guide people in the way. If we think, I am guiding people, that's a kind of mistake, maybe. Nevertheless, when we're just doing, We're guiding people.

[07:18]

So first, our method of guidance is generosity or giving. Not holding back. It's equated with absence of greed. or absence of the desire to get something for ourselves. And it has the feeling of doing something with an open heart, not withholding, not being mingy or stingy either with things or with service. We don't have so much problem with being attached to things.

[08:36]

Some people in Buddhism talk about non-attachment. What is the meaning of non-attachment? It means within this world, where we have to constantly let churches and pits and chimps that our heart is always open to giving away, to giving up. Instead of looking for how to hold on to this world, Bodhisattva's practice is how to constantly be giving up. the more we give up, the more comes our way.

[09:42]

Strangely enough, as we know, the more that we give up, the more comes our way. And the more that we hold on to things, or hold on to ourselves, or hang on to anything, the less secure the world becomes. The world is a very insecure place because we hang on to it. always unburdened and letting go. And this natural generosity extends to everyone. It's an attitude that if we don't have, then we need to cultivate it.

[10:48]

Well, if we don't have it, then it would feel unnatural to cultivate it. But if we don't have it, or if we have it just a little bit, we need to work on it and cultivate the attitude or habit of generosity. Not just with material things, but generosity of spirit. and freely unburdened. On our own side it's an unburdening and for someone else it's a And the second one is kind speech.

[12:02]

How we talk to people. How we make people feel when we talk to them. Dougie Inventions says that an old way of addressing people and someone is, please treasure yourself. But please treasure yourself. It makes a person feel that you care about them. Sometimes it's difficult to let people know that you care about them because we have a lot of anger.

[13:06]

Underneath our anger, animosity, or envy, or whatever, there's the attitude of treasuring yourself. And so, Bodhicitta, the mind, is to not be caught by anger or animosity, It doesn't mean that anger and animosity don't arise. Our mind is never that clean. But underneath, our mind is level. So it depends on cultivating a level feeling about all beings.

[14:13]

extend this kindness and talk with kind speech. Kind speech has the ability to turn a situation. Most of the time, when someone speaks to us, we react to the tone of voice or to the attitude. And if someone speaks to us in an angry tone of voice or an irritated tone of voice, our reaction is to come back on that same level. But if our mind is settled in level, in equanimity, we can come back from our own place and influence that person rather than being influenced We don't want to go.

[15:26]

But it's very difficult. It means that we always have to be standing our own ground. And not be swayed by craze, or by blame, or by irritation, or by someone's anger. But to always maintain a calm, steady mind. something and can come back or address with kind work, kind speech. This is one of the most difficult things in our life. When people are living very closely, we start to irritate each other. When we're not so close, you know, to certain attitudes towards others' weaknesses.

[16:49]

And it's almost inevitable, very hard, to not attack someone or chip away at someone's weakness or vulnerable place. And it takes a great act of mindful to stay on the correct level, on the level which is not attacking and maintain respect are about speech, about how to deal with correct speech.

[17:57]

So it's very important. We say body, speech, and mind. All my actions, all my ancient karmas do their actions of body, speech, and mind. So how do we maintain It's just the right word, just the right phrase, just the right intonation, which benefits yourself and others and leads people to the Dharma. Because what we say is very influential.

[18:59]

And if we feel that we're practicing Dharma, it has to be expressed in speech. everyday speech. Sometimes we get into a situation with our Dharma friends and scratch our heads. Is this, are these Buddhists? Is this the Sangha? Are these Buddhists? What's going on here? As long as we know what's happening, speech and mind will always get out of hand. But how we deal with that, how we bring it back, how we recollect our mind, that's the important thing.

[20:04]

It's just like sitting in the closet. Our mind is always wandering out, wandering on something, and we bring it back. So, in exactly the same way we practice dogma, moment after moment in our daily life by coming back to that foot. Always maintaining that equanimity. Maintaining our true ground. And this is the Bodhisattva's life practice. It means more than anything else. It's got to be more than anything else. It has to mean more than security and entertainment and interesting objects in this world. It has to mean more than fame and gain.

[21:10]

The third is beneficial action. actions about. In other words, what am I doing? Who benefits from what I'm doing? What's the reason for doing what I'm doing? I remember when, before I started to practice and became a priest. I used to pick and choose my friends according to their disposition and affinity with my interests. But after becoming a priest, I no longer, at least before that,

[22:13]

I even thought about who is a friend and who is not a friend. I think when we, if you become a priest, you no longer are in the realm of who's a friend and who's not a friend, or who you choose. You don't choose. Just everyone that comes your way is who you deal with. And your life becomes public. It's no longer, you no longer have a kind of private life. There may be some feelings that you want some privacy, but... But you no longer have a private life. Your life belongs to, somehow, it's out there.

[23:23]

and belongs to everyone. It's also good to have some private life. Haku and Genji, who did many wonderful drawings, had one drawing that he did of a perfect sunflower, Kano, sitting by the side of the brook, a rock, away from everything. And the caption under the picture says, even Bodhisattvas like to have some privacy. You know, if we worry too much about how we're benefiting everybody, that can be kind of selfish. Self-centered. We have to take care of ourselves. And that's very important.

[24:24]

If we're only taking care of everyone and not taking care of ourselves, then something's missing. Someone else has to take care of us. So our main thing, first, we have to be able to take care of ourselves. So this is our individual practice. We take care of ourselves, and we don't burden people with ourselves. That's our self-cultivation. of really helping to guide people. If we can show people or give people an example of how we really take care of ourselves, that's very helpful. And then we can also help take care of others. But mainly, it's not a matter of ourselves or others. We're just taking care of the Dharma.

[25:26]

Or we're just taking care of the Sangha. Or we're just taking care of Buddha. If we get into too much saviorism, then we can get a big ego. But nevertheless, what are our actions about? What are we doing? Why are we doing what we're doing? As I said before, when we first come to practice, it's for ourselves, which is natural and normal. But when we have maturity and understanding, our practice is just for the sake of the practice, for the sake of the Dharma, for the sake of the Sangha. If I sit down there, it helps you to sit down there.

[26:48]

And if you sit down there, it helps me to sit down there. If I'm practicing, it helps you to practice. And if you're practicing, it helps me to practice. So we share our life with each other. We share our life of practice with each other. And we can't say who's good and who's bad and who's influencing who. Altogether, we make something work. It's pretty hard to help people, to really help people. It may not be so easy. That's why, you know, we take it out of the realm of doing it for me or doing it for you.

[27:52]

I know that if we just do it, it helps me and it helps you. I remember there was a... Don't say, I'm cleaning this toilet for you. Don't say, I'm cleaning this toilet for you, or I'm cooking this food for you, or anything like that. Just cooking, just cleaning, just taking care of then our life can be pretty subtle.

[29:08]

And even though we may not know what we're doing, we know what we're doing. The fourth one is identity action. Identity action means to realize that beyond this personal self, And when we come across somebody, when we meet someone, we can identify with someone. And when we can identify with someone on a deeper level, it's myself. that we're completely the same, we can appreciate that we're all completely different.

[30:33]

And when someone comes, no matter how difficult our mood, there's always a way. So, because we can drop our own way. Identity action means that we can actually drop our identity and take on or identify with whoever comes along. Identity action means that our mind is like a mirror. It has no special idea about anything, but is receptive to whatever comes. and reflects whatever comes. This is wisdom, a great mirror, round mirror of wisdom, which can see whatever comes, just as it is, just as it really is.

[31:45]

And part of that is great equality wisdom, which sees everything the same, makes no distinction, and has a great observance of them, sees, allows for all differences, appreciates all differences, does right action based on this. This is Bodhisattva's identity action. So, when a thief comes, he can become the heart thief.

[32:53]

When a saint comes, we can be the heart of the saint. When a housewife comes, we can be the heart of the housewife. When a carpenter comes, we can be the heart of a carpenter. way, and actually comfortable. This is the basis for meeting people in the way. Generosity, kind speech, beneficial action, and identity.

[34:03]

contain the other four. So when practicing one, the other three are with their aspects. So there are actually 16 ways. Do you have any questions? And what? Yeah.

[35:57]

The two things. First one, patience. Second one is no expectation. Where we get in trouble is through our expectation. We have the expectation that someday we'll be happy. Or they will be right. Or they will change. Or that we can expect something, or we should expect something from someplace, somebody. But that may happen, but to expect it, for suffering.

[36:58]

You may have some pain because you are frustrated, but to expect something from the other side is to set yourself up for suffering. The important thing is, what we do, what we do, because When you come to downfall, when you die, there's no way you can change that. The only thing you can do is meet it. And how would you meet it? And this stands for all situations. You're welcome.

[38:04]

Part of the guidance. It's guidance in that Through identity, action, that's how we meet. And... guide each other. This is where everything meets. It's in identity, action. So, you know, we can say, Buddha is out there. And I'm here, a human being.

[39:38]

Buddhas and human beings are not two different things. This is identity. If humans and Buddhas are two different things, then it's too far out there. How can Buddha ever guide me if he's out there? And I'm just a human being. One of the important acts of faith in Soto Zen is human beings and Buddhas are not two different things. To realize that you are Buddha. So that identity, in that sense, of myself and Buddha, There's no gap. There's no chasm. There's no... Up there and down here.

[40:43]

Yeah. It's the principle. Right. Yeah. Identity action is the principle. And it forms just like in the six paramitas. to do that, to realize that principle is maybe like Bill McCarty, you know? Principle is stillness.

[41:51]

And action is movement. So, within stillness is action. And within action, everything is completely still. What do you do? That's how we relate. Yeah, the action is how we relate. And how we meet. What is real meeting? What is true meeting? That's important. What is real true meeting?

[42:56]

And when we meet, what meets? Well, better to do it and let it fall apart than not do anything at all.

[43:59]

You find out by trying. It's better to try it and get hurt. Be silly and naive. We're all that way. We all make big numbers. Join the crowd. Yes. That's right, doctor. That's a good question. You have to know what your limits are. You have to know your boundaries. I can be very generous to you, but I won't if you have my clothes.

[45:10]

You can have a lot of my time, but I won't let you have all of it, because some of it you feel here, some of it you feel there. So how we distribute ourselves is important, and how we draw our limits is important. Otherwise, we just get lost. So generosity has to be Discernment, I'm using that term, discernment, probably a better term. You can talk about love and wisdom. Love wants to be, wants to give, you know, constantly give. And it needs a little wisdom to hold it back.

[46:28]

And make it work in the right way. We have to make our life work according to circumstances. If I'm talking to people all day and all night, my wife's gonna get really mad. You know? So I may be making one person happy, but I'm making somebody else unhappy. You have to know how to discriminate. Even though you want to be completely non-discriminating, you have to know how to discriminate. How to make things work for us. So sometimes it's very kind to somebody to limit their time. If you give everything to somebody, then you get spoiled.

[47:33]

If I give my kid everything he wants, he just gets spoiled. So you have to really set strict limits. Sometimes you get real angry. But the anger is not real anger. It's not... It's not rooted anger. It's only surface anger. Don't you do that. Bad boy. It's not real anger. It's just expedient. So sometimes it's very compassionate to be angry at somebody. It's helpful. a problem. Not that you always go around with a stunning, beaming face.

[48:37]

Nobody can do that. Everything that comes up can be a myth, if you know how to use it. But when we get used by things, then And kids are like, they can do this pretty well. You know, they haven't developed their egos yet to the extent where they hang on for any length of time. One moment they're really nasty and angry and you think, God, you know, what's this kid going to grow up to be like? And then the next minute, happy and pleasant and just like that. Because it's not rooted. It's just on the surface. You know, the clouds are having that kind of configuration. But then, they're gone, you know? They're just sun rays.

[49:40]

So, you know, there's no formula. But, you should be able to use whatever comes up. As long as you're not treasuring your emotions in your heart. We really treasure our emotions. We just hang on to them in order to be alive and identify with them. This isn't the, I can't let this go, or I'll be dishonored, or I'll be, you know, what will people think of me, or what will I think of myself? And so we just and not to hold onto an idea about somebody.

[50:42]

We really get stuck here. No good. No good. More and more, you know? And then we pick out little things that reinforce our concept, our view. And then we keep making them, you know, creating more and more of an image that somebody did bad or right or wrong. the image of a person in our mind, it just keeps getting cold and reinforced. And then it's very hard to let go. It's very hard to reconcile. So this is difficult stuff. And we stop identifying with them. See? That's the hard part. We no longer identify with them. When you sit zazen, hopefully, everything falls away.

[51:43]

You don't have anything. Karma's gone. And you can see the person for what they are. You identify with them. We identify with everybody. It's a shame. You know, it's one person. We identify with everybody. Even though we irritate each other in little ways, we have feelings. and keep reinforcing it, and we no longer can identify. And that's bad news. We always have to be able to give the person a chance by letting go of our ideas.

[52:36]

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