Inhale. Exhale. Exhale. Inhale. I'm not very well read in the Buddha's teachings, but I just want to say that I don't remember Shakyamuni Buddha ever thanking the community members for practicing. But I knew this elderly gentleman in my youth.

[02:12]

His name was Shunryu Suzuki, and he used to thank the community members at the end of a day of practice. He would say, thank you very much. And I say that to you on his behalf. Thank you very much for practicing today. Thank you for taking care of your body and mind, and taking care of your friends today. Thank you for bringing flowers for the altars, Carolyn. Thank you, Carolyn. And not only for bringing them, but arranging them so beautifully.

[03:14]

Even though you enjoyed it, thank you very much. Thank you, Eileen, for helping to organize the day, as usual, and for bringing various... Did you bring some things for us to eat? You brought some cookies? And thank you for eating the cookies. You're welcome. Thank you to Robin and Yaron and Charlie for doing construction, emergency construction work. And Breck. And Breck. I wonder why you are so sawdusty. He told me that you guys finished the work, he didn't mention himself. And house painters. And house painters, yeah. And thank you, house painters and house scrubbers.

[04:24]

And also we have with us today Helena Pell, who shares a great responsibility for making this place available for us to practice in. She said to me some time ago, if you had a place outside Zen Center that you could use to practice, would you use it? And I said yes, so then she got this place for us to use. Do you know Helena Pell? This is Helena Pell behind you there. So she, somehow she did something and we have this place to practice. And she's continued to support all these years, six or seven years, to support along with your support. She's been supporting this place for us to practice in.

[05:30]

And I'd like to do a ceremony when we take away the scaffolding and so on, a ceremony to thank her. If you don't feel ready to make every action a body, speech and mind for the sake of all beings, I say to you, thanks for telling me you're not ready. You're welcome to practice, with the great Bodhisattvas, even if you have some resistance to being totally devoted to everybody. And I encourage you not to take on a practice that's too advanced for you.

[06:34]

If you feel like it's too advanced to be totally devoted to certain beings, I say, be honest and patient with yourself. It's not good to try practices too advanced. And practicing making every action an offering to all beings is not the same as thinking that everything you do is helping everybody, just that you want to. I think it's not so far away. And I noticed that the way, the posture, or the attitude that Dogen has towards Buddhas, and the attitude he has towards the Lotus Sutra,

[07:36]

and the attitude he has towards enlightenment, and the attitude he has towards the Universe, is the same. In other words, he encourages the attitude of being devoted to the Buddhas, being devoted to the Lotus Sutra, being devoted to Zazen, being devoted to face-to-face transmission, being devoted to the entire Universe, praising the Universe, the entire Universe, the way you praise the Buddhas, the way you praise Zazen,

[08:39]

and make every action, including when you're sitting, make your sitting worshiping an act of devotion to the entire Universe. Make your sitting a praise of the sitting of the Buddhas. Make your sitting a gift to the sitting of the Buddhas. Make your sitting a gift to all beings. And make all these gifts without expecting anything. And of course, even though you don't expect anything, if you ever didn't, you still get something immediately. And I don't ask you to like what you get,

[09:44]

and I don't ask you to dislike what you get, I ask you to love what you get. I ask you to love what is given to you. I ask you to see the merit in what is given to you. And another way to love what is given to you is to study yourself. Always study yourself. No matter who comes, study yourself. Take care of yourself. Study yourself. Then you can be a better servant to whoever comes.

[10:45]

If we skip over studying ourself, that undermines our service to the Universe. So the Buddhas are supporting us to study ourselves so we can help the Buddhas help all beings. All beings are supporting us to study ourself, to study our karmic cause and effect, moment by moment. And being grounded in that, we can serve all beings and be open to their wondrous feedback, which takes all these challenging forms. Homage to the Buddhas.

[11:54]

Homage to the Lotus Sutra. Homage to devotion to all beings. Homage to the teaching of cause and effect. Homage to deep faith in cause and effect. Homage to meeting face to face with Buddha. Homage to being playful about this whole great path. Thank you. Is there any feedback you'd like to offer the community? Yes? Question. You covered it last week too, but I don't recall. When you say cause and effect, but not the term mystic.

[12:56]

Yes? When you say not the term mystic, does that mean it's not preordained, it's not dated? Yeah, kind of. As I mentioned to some people, I just recently read that book called Madame Flaubert. And at the end of the book, Monsieur Flaubert says, and Flaubert said the one grand thing of his lifetime. He said, to blame his fate. As in creating your destiny?

[14:02]

Yeah. When you blame, you're stuck in a destiny. So the classic example that I would offer you is the karmic cause and effect in what Buddha called the twelve links of dependent co-arising. One place in that link, so there's twelve links, right? Ignorance, karmic formations, karmic consciousness, psychophysicality, six sense fields, six sense doors, sense contact, feeling, craving, clinging, existence, birth, aging,

[15:04]

old age, sickness, lamentation, grief, misery, death. This is the way the entire mass of ill arises. But then he says it in a reverse order. With the ceasing of this, there's a ceasing of that. So, if those conditions were deterministic, there would be no possibility of a spiritual life. In most of our imaginations, I would imagine it doesn't make sense to have craving without feeling. If you imagine not having any feeling, not having any sensation,

[16:06]

that craving wouldn't make much sense. So, craving arises dependent on feeling. Feeling is a necessary condition for craving, but it's not sufficient. If it were sufficient, then whenever we had a feeling, we'd have to have craving, so there would be no end to suffering. But it's possible to have a feeling, and if we learn to have feelings wholeheartedly, although that feeling can be a condition for clinging, for craving, it doesn't necessarily lead to what it necessitates, or to what needs it. So, craving depends on feeling, but not deterministically.

[17:08]

This is the Buddha's teaching, that we are under the influence of karmic consciousness, but not under perfect control. Because of dependent co-arising, there's a possibility of freedom. Because of dependent co-arising, all the conditions of karmic consciousness are insubstantial, including dependent co-arising is insubstantial. But if we don't study dependent co-arising, we'll substantiate it. And if we substantiate it, we'll blame it. And if we blame it, it will be our fate. So, when there's no blame, that's a good start. We have to love, not blame.

[18:14]

If we can love, there can be liberation. If we blame, we'll get stuck. Not really, not really, it's just that blaming, you're stuck. Not really stuck, it's just because of blaming, you're stuck. But even that's not deterministic. But when you're stuck, you're blaming. Oscar? Is karmic consciousness the expression of karma through an individual sentient being? Is karmic consciousness the expression of karma? Yes, it's kind of a synonym. Karmic consciousness is a consciousness whose structure is an intention,

[19:15]

a karmic intention. And what we mean by karmic consciousness is a consciousness that depends on ignorance. In other words, you're ignoring something in order to make up this story about what's going on in your life. So, karmic consciousness is a consciousness which a sentient being has as a result of the workings of karma. As a result of the workings of ignorance and the workings of karma. And all sentient beings, including bodhisattvas, just have karmic consciousness. Boundless and unclear, with no fundamental to rely on. But that's good that there's no fundamental to rely on, even though karmic consciousness is always looking for a fundamental to rely on. That's part of what karmic consciousness is about,

[20:21]

is ignoring that there's no fundamental to rely on. And if you think there's a fundamental, then you have something to blame. We need to love karmic consciousness, and we've got a karmic consciousness to love. Wherever you are, you've got karmic consciousness to love. And if you can love this karmic consciousness wholeheartedly, it can be liberated. Karen? I heard you say something that I didn't understand a while ago about the relationship between the body and its well-thought-out karma. Yeah. That's a nice way to put it. A body is well-thought-out karma. What is it? Yeah.

[21:21]

A body's karma is so well-thought-out that it manifests a body. And in fact, in order to get a body, you kind of have to enter karmic consciousness. You can't get a body without a little bit of distortion. But some beings willfully, by their vows, they willfully distort consciousness in order to be born. And some other beings unconsciously distort awareness and get born. But they don't do it for the sake of all beings. So this body does not belong to me, and it does not belong to others. It is generated by intention.

[22:26]

And well-thought-out intention. Intention enough developed to manifest a body. But now, if we pay attention to that, it's possible for the process to be liberated. And usually as part of liberating the process, there's meditation on how the process comes into bondage and distortion and stress. We kind of have to live half-heartedly to be born into a body. But some beings willingly live half-heartedly in order to be born into a body where they then can live wholeheartedly

[23:30]

and show other beings how to live wholeheartedly. And then show other beings how to live half-heartedly in order to get a body to help other beings live wholeheartedly. I think this might be somewhat related to the teaching that matter is extremely concentrated form of energy. Is any kind of looking outward a form of blame? I think any kind of looking outward without also looking inward would make you susceptible to blame. So, usually we're looking outward and forgetting about looking inward to see what is looking outward.

[24:30]

Usually there's an activity of looking outward and seeing something out there. That's part of the deal, that's okay. The problem is we have a bad habit of not looking back at the activity of looking out. So it's okay to look out as long as you're also looking back. It's okay to look at others as long as you're also studying yourself. But if you just look at others, again, that's kind of getting to blame. But if you look at yourself, you realize you're responsible too for the situation. Because you got the activity here of seeing the thing that's being blamed. When you start looking back, then there's not going to be blame. Oh, I shouldn't say start. When you're well into looking back, there's not going to be blame out there. Like Confucius says, when you see somebody doing something good, copy him.

[25:36]

When you see somebody doing something unskillful, look at yourself. So, I think there Confucius is very close to the Buddha. Whenever you see somebody's got problems, look at yourself. And whenever you see somebody doing something good, kind of look at yourself to see if you're doing the good thing. Always study yourself, always study yourself. That's your job. But part of what you can do is see others. So, don't pretend you don't, but watch how you do. Watch the activity, the wonderful activity of seeing a universe. Watch the activity. Now, don't just look at the universe. Watch the activity of looking at the universe, of seeing a universe, of imagining a universe.

[26:39]

In other words, be responsible for what's going on here. Sarah? You were talking about conceit at the beginning of the day. You used the word conceit, and I was also thinking of its opposite, which might be shame, like pride versus shame. I'm wondering if it's possible to think of those as actually distractions from really seeing what is happening. So, if you happen to see any pride or conceit or shame, don't forget to look at yourself while you're studying those things, even if those things are about you. For me to be aware of my pride or my shame, that's an object I'm aware of. So, people are aware, or not, of their pride and their shame,

[27:42]

or the date, or the light. So, now, also complement that, supplement that with awareness, study of the self, while the activity of knowing these things. Balance it. So, you're looking at causality. You're looking at causality, right. Then you're looking at causality. Of course, you can't see it, because you're looking at yourself, but you actually are studying causality in this way. And we will understand causality in this way, by studying what we can see and how we're seeing. By studying our seeing and what is seen, in the relationship there, we will come to understand causality. And understanding causality is important, so we should study ourself. Yes? So, is that sufficient condition to elicit confidence without pride,

[28:52]

that looking backward that you just described? I'm telling you that in the current understanding of Buddhadharma, there's no sufficient conditions. There's only necessary conditions. No sufficient conditions. Including what I just said, isn't a sufficient truth. So, is looking backward a necessary condition? It's a necessary condition. Yes. Looking back is a necessary condition for liberation. Looking back at the necessary condition for craving and so on, is a necessary condition for freedom from craving and so on. But it's not sufficient. It's not sufficient. Not even the practice isn't deterministic either. The wonderful practice isn't deterministic either. It might not work. It might be outmoded.

[29:58]

Maybe we should make a new Buddhism. Do you think there's a sense of surrender in the practice at that point? I think so, yes. I've never heard that term used. But surrender is not a sufficient condition. It's a necessary condition. So now you don't have to say you never heard it anymore, unless you forget. Surrender is almost a synonym for welcome. It's necessary, but I'm not saying it's necessary and sufficient. At least not... Now I'm not saying it. You may force me to say it. I may be willing to change my story. Is that the basis of confidence right there?

[31:01]

What's the basis of confidence? That it's necessary, but not sufficient. That's the basis of confidence in the Buddha way. Just a minute, Oscar. Yes, David? This morning you were speaking of parallel paths, the priesthood and the laity. And you said the priesthood had a five-year training. In my particular little training program, it has a five-year training. It's very formal for five years. And I think that must help the priests greatly in their formation. Now, for our lay people, how is it laid out for us?

[32:06]

What do you recommend? What can we do to most avail ourselves? Well, one of the characteristics of the priest thing is that it's formal and also it's kind of the same for everybody. Which is one of the reasons why some people don't want to do it because they can't adjust to the simplicity of the form. So, like Linda Ruth Cutts is now offering a year-long training which several people in this room are participating in, which has a certain structure, right? A certain form which is being offered to non-residential practitioners. Most of them are non-residential, right? All of them. So it's a form for non-residential people. But each of you could also have your own understanding with your teacher

[33:11]

about what the form of your practice is. You could make a contract about what you're going to do for a year or something, or three months or whatever. But since you don't live in a situation that has a set form already, you probably need to make it up with your teacher. So, Linda Ruth offered this thing for a year, which is a form for non-residential people to agree on for that year. There's probably some variation, I guess. Is there? Lots of variation. But each person is making, I think, a specific contract or commitment for that year. You could commit to come to Noah Boad once a month. That could be a form. Many people come to Noah Boad regularly, but they don't commit to it. But you could commit to it.

[34:15]

You could say, I'm going to do it these times, and if I don't do it, I'll do such and such. And I'll call and say, I'm not going to. You make a contract, a commitment, a form. What's the form for? The form is to test to see if you're not apprehending anything. Before you have a form, you might think, hey, I'm not apprehending anything. After you have a form, you say, now I'm trying to avoid this form now. I'm apprehending this form. I'm thinking this form is this, not that. And I'm actually really apprehending it. And then there's receiving the Bodhisattva precepts. So, like, some people are waiting to receive the Bodhisattva precepts, for some reason. And I'm not pressuring you to receive them, for some reason.

[35:21]

But I'm going to do something kind of outrageous right now, because I'm going to turn to Fred Meroth and say, you've been waiting to receive the Bodhisattva precepts for some reason. Right? And now your hands are kind of shaky, right? So now his hands are kind of shaky, so it would be kind of hard for him to sow the Raksha. Do you understand? His hands are shaky. And it's hard to sow that Raksha, even when your hands are not very shaky, right? But I kind of feel, Fred, like maybe you should now pretty soon ask to receive the precepts and start sowing that Raksha with your shaky hand. And somebody may have to hold your hand so you can do it, but I think maybe it's time for you to do it. I think that's not, you know, you're 80 years old. So I think it would be good for you to do this,

[36:32]

even though you're honest. There's a sign up there, which reminded me. Yeah, right, there's a sign up there, which reminded you. So I kind of feel like, you know, we'll help you do this, Fred. You don't have to worry about shaky hand or anything. Not to say you were, but you can sow this Raksha and you can receive these precepts, even though you're not completely perfect yet. I'll keep that in mind. Yeah. And I'm not pressuring him, I'm just sort of, I want him to know that I support him to do this, to engage this form called the ceremony of staying at home with Elena and being devoted to the whole world along with her

[37:34]

and receiving the Bodhisattva precepts. I encourage you to do that and offer you my support, but also I offer you the support of all the people here and all the people at Green Gulch. To help you do this. Thank you. You're welcome. And I do not understand that he has made a commitment yet, but he's considering it. Maybe he just did. Well, I didn't hear him ask for the precepts, so he's going to have to actually ask for them. That's the form. That's what everybody else had to do. That's what he has to do. Everybody else, he's going to have to sew. Maybe just one stitch. I don't know how many stitches you're going to do, but you're going to sew. Just like everybody else. In your own way. Maybe you'll be the first Raksi with one stitch in it.

[38:37]

Just here, there's a point. The simplest Raksu of all time. Yes, Roberta? I don't want to give you whiplash, but I'm wondering, I don't quite understand the difference between conditions being necessary but not sufficient. You said conditions are not sufficient? Yes. It's necessary in order to be a human bodhisattva, it's necessary to have a human body, but it's not sufficient. Oh, I see. Okay, so having... And it's necessary to have karmic consciousness in order to have... in order to have, actually, craving. Oh, lucky us, we get challenges.

[39:43]

Yeah, lucky us, we have challenges, right. We have a lot of challenges, we're so lucky. It would be kind of boring otherwise. And we... It would be boring... Even so, it's still boring. We even get... With all our challenges, we still have a challenge called boredom on top of all the other ones. When you're not full of greed and hate anymore, then boredom comes. Maybe you just go for a ride on the carnival. When you're not riding on that anymore, when there's no more entertainments, then the big, bad boredom might come to visit you. Thank you very much. And... Oh, and there's a...

[40:45]

If you're interested in having a workday on October 24th, let's try to... Maybe you could let Eileen know if you'd like to participate in a workday. And it could be like... Two kinds of workdays. One kind of workday is work all day. Another kind of workday would be sit the first half and work the second half. It would be a Saturday. So if you'd like to do something like that, maybe let Eileen know, see if there's interest in that. Does that make sense? Is that enough? Is that necessary? Is that necessary? Dharma gates are inexhaustible.

[42:04]

I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. If anybody wants to give me a ride to Marananda, I'm yours.

[42:32]

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