Good afternoon. This morning I talked on the verse of, we call in Japanese, Hichibutsu Kaige. Hichibutsu. Kai, ge. Shichi, butsu, tsufu. Kai, ge. Ge is vast. Kai is precious. Shichi, butsu, seven Buddha. And two is common or general.

[01:06]

That means the precept of all the seven Buddhas. That is the name of this verse in China and Japan. I'm not sure in Pali tradition they have certain name for this verse or not. But anyway, this morning I talked on one interrogation of this birth of a common or general priesthood of seven Buddhas. And the point of that interpretation is first two is about good and bad. First two lines, not doing of evil and doing of good, is one set of teaching for lay people And the third line, purify your own mind, is going beyond good and bad.

[02:18]

That is the point. and on which the so-called Buddhist philosophy from early Buddhism, observant Buddhism, and Mahayana Buddhism developed to explain the kind of a contradiction between good and bad and beyond good and bad. That is how I, you know, what I studied through my Buddhist study of early Buddhism, Abhidharma Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Dogen's teaching. But recently I found a possibility of another interpretation of this verse of the Seven Buddhas general precept. And I have not yet clearly understood the difference, but I try to talk about it.

[03:26]

So please be confused. Now I am confused. So please share confusion with me. That is, you know, the first two lines and the third line are not kind of two sets of teachings, but these three are simply one set of teachings, one teaching, one very simple and more practical teaching. in the very first and second verse in Dhammapada. It says, what we are today comes from our thought of yesterday. And our present thought build our life of tomorrow.

[04:29]

Our life is the creation of our mind. If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that blows the cart. And number two, What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. Our life is a creation of our mind. If a man speaks or acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his own shadow. So here, what we are today came from yesterday's thought.

[05:58]

And if our mind is pure, our life becomes joyful. If our mind is impure, our mind becomes painful. This is really simple. So it's not a matter of, you know, in the interpretation I talked this morning, purifying our mind means going beyond good and bad. that discrimination or dichotomy of good and bad is itself defilement or impure. But here there is a pure mind and impure mind. And pure mind makes our life joyful, and impure mind makes our life painful or suffering.

[07:04]

So here there's a kind of a dichotomy within the mind, pure mind and impure mind. And purify our mind means we should become free from impure mind. Then we can do good things. Otherwise we do evil things and we create suffering. Do you see the difference? So purify your mind means we should become free from impure mind. This is another, I think, possibility of interpreting this tsukai-ge. The same kind of teaching can be found in another sutta in Satparinikarya.

[08:10]

Recently, since September, I have been talking about right speech in Buddhist teachings. And there is a teaching of good and bad in one of the sutta from the Middle Length Discourse. Middle Length Discourse is in Pali, Majjhima Nikaya. And this is sutta number nine. And the title of the sutta is Right View. And I introduced this on one Sunday Dharma talk, so people who are there already know. But this teaching, actually this teaching was taught by, not Shakyamuni, but by Shari Putra, somehow.

[09:15]

So the speaker is Shari Putra. And this sutra is about Right View, one of the Eightfold Noble Paths. This is the sutra, the distinction between good and bad, or wholesome and unwholesome. And it introduces ten wholesome karma and ten unwholesome karma. Let me read. When friends, a noble disciple, understands the unwholesome and the root of the unwholesome, this unwholesome is a translation of, I think, Aksara. And the wholesome, and the root of the wholesome, this wholesome is the translation of kusara.

[10:19]

Kusara is good, and aksara is the negation of good, so good and bad. In that way, he is one of right view, whose view is straight, who has perfect confidence, in the dharma and has arrived at this true dharma. And fat, friends, is the unwholesome or evil. Fat is the root of the unwholesome. Fat is the wholesome. Fat is the root of the wholesome. So he's discussing wholesome or good action and unwholesome or evil action and the root of each. Killing living beings is unwholesome.

[11:21]

Taking what is not given is unwholesome. Misconduct in sensual pleasure is unwholesome. False speech is unwholesome, malicious speech is unwholesome, harsh speech is unwholesome, gossip is unwholesome, covetousness is unwholesome, ill will is unwholesome. wrong view is unwholesome. This is called the wholesome. This is a kind of definition of good and bad, or evil and good and evil in early Buddhist teaching. And these ten, this is unwholesome, so-called karma. are the karma or actions made by three actions by our body, speech and mind.

[12:32]

And the first three are killing living beings and taking what is not given and misconduct in sensual pleasure are the unwholesome karma made by our body. And next four, false speech, malicious speech, harsh speech, and gossip is an unwholesome karma made by our speech. And last three, covetousness, ill will, and wrong view. I think these three are the same as greed, hatred, and ignorance. So three-positive mind actually. That twisted or unwholesome karma made by our thought or mind.

[13:35]

So those are ten unwholesome or evil actions made our body, speech, and mind. And next it says, And fat is the root of the unwholesome. Greed is a root of the unwholesome. Hate is a root of the unwholesome. Delusion is a root of the unwholesome. This is called the root of the unwholesome. To me, it's kind of strange. The last three of ten unwholesome actions and the root of the unwholesome are the same thing, at least to me. Probably this means that within the ten unwholesome karma, maybe this is kind of a concrete thought come up and produce in our mind, a particular thought.

[14:43]

And the root of unwholesome or three-positive mind are the root of the unwholesome much deeper that create our unwholesome or evil action through our body, speech, and thought. So anyway, the root of evil is three-positive mind. And next Sariputta says about wholesome karma. And what is the wholesome? He said, abstention from killing living beings is wholesome. Abstention from taking what is not given is wholesome. Abstention from misconduct in sensual pleasure is wholesome.

[15:47]

Abstention from false speech is wholesome. Abstention from malicious speech is wholesome. Abstention from harsh speech is wholesome. Abstention from gossip is wholesome. Unconsciousness is wholesome. Non-ill will is wholesome. Right view is wholesome. This is called wholesome. So wholesome actions or karma is simply a negation of unwholesome. And fat is a root of the wholesome. Non-greed is a root of the wholesome. Non-hate is a root of the wholesome. And non-delusion is a root of the wholesome. This is called the root of the wholesome. So wholesome and unwholesome are good and evil.

[16:53]

The root of good karma and evil karma is three poisonous minds and being free from three poisonous minds. these activities, good and bad, evil activity, and our mind are one thing, and this is the root or cause of wholesome or unwholesome karmas. Then he says, when a noble disciple has thus understood the unwholesome and the root of the unwholesome, the wholesome and the root of the unwholesome, I'm sorry, the root of the wholesome. He entirely abandoned the underlying tendency to lust. Underlying tendency means deeper so-called karmic consciousness, deeper consciousness.

[18:04]

And he abolishes the underlying tendency to aversion. He extirpates the underlying tendency to the view and conceit, I am, the self or ego. And by abandoning ignorance and arousing true knowledge, He, here and now, makes an end of suffering. So if we become free from impure mind, that is three-positive mind, and we do things based on pure mind, a wholesome mind, then we can do good things, then we can end the suffering. That's it.

[19:15]

It's really simple. There's nothing, you know, there are such kind of philosophical things of, you know, good and bad dichotomy and going beyond good and bad and dichotomy between samsara and nirvana. But if our mind is purified and we are free from three-poisonous mind, our suffering ends. And if we cannot and we are being moved by our three-pointed mind and doing ego-centered way, then our life becomes suffering. That's all. Very logically, very much simpler. Of course, practically it's not easy. This is, I think, another possible interpretation of the verse of the Seven Buddhas' Precept, please. The underlying tendency of our deep unconsciousness was aversion, and was there a lot of need for that?

[20:22]

Let's see. Not this one. through the underlying tendency to aversion, he abolished the underlying tendency to aversion. He extirpated E-X-P-I-R-P-A-T-E. Extapate. The underlying tendency to the view and conceit I am. So this is a wrong view. So three underlying tendencies, that is, the underlying tendency to lust, L-E-S-T, and underlying tendency to aversion, and underlying tendency to the view and the conceit I am.

[21:45]

So again, this is three poses of mind. Greed, anger or hatred, and ignorance. So greed, anger, and hatred, three-poisonous mind is cause of evil deed. So if we purify our mind and become free from three-poisonous mind, we can do good things and our life become free from suffering. So it's very simple. teaching and I'm not sure which is the original meaning of the verse of Srimpadas. Probably this one might be the original meaning. If we practice and become free from the three poisonous minds, you know, we

[22:53]

end the suffering. Otherwise, our life becomes suffering. So please keep in mind two possible interpretations of this one first, and I'm not sure yet What is the influence when we read and study and interpret Dogen's teaching? Which is closer to Dogen? I'm not sure yet. But the interpretation I talked this morning is much more kind of philosophical and that Hakonese could be explained in the development of Buddhist philosophy.

[23:58]

Okay, then now I start to read the text. The 31st chapter of Shōbō Genzō, Shōaku Maksa, was not doing of any evil. I found three English translations of this chapter, but somehow I didn't want to use those three, so I tried to make my own translation. And so, and Johnson helped me to edit a little bit. I asked her to just make a collection of spelling and grammatical mistakes.

[25:03]

So this is not yet a good translation. This is a pretty rough translation. So if you have any suggestion to improve expression and readability, please give me any suggestions. First of all, I don't like evil and good. Is there any better word or not? And I also don't like not doing and doing for maksa and bugyo. maksa, especially the word maksa, not doing evil, is not doing, or maksa is kind of a very strong, powerful word, but not doing, English word not doing is not so powerful. So I need a better word for not doing and doing.

[26:12]

Anyway, Let me read the first page. I use this version, both Japanese and English translation. If you have English only version, it's two paragraphs. Not doing of any evil, doing of all good deeds. purification of one's own mind. This is the teaching of all Buddhas. This teaching as the general precept of the ancestors from the seven Buddhas has been authentically transmitted from former Buddhas to later Buddhas, and later Buddhas have received its transmission from former Buddhas.

[27:20]

It is not only of the seven Buddhas. It is the teaching of all Buddhas. We should strive to study this principle. These Dharma utterances of the seven Buddhas always sound like Dharma utterances of the seven Buddhas. What has been transmitted and being received from one to another is just penetration to the real situation at this place. This already is the teaching of all Buddhas. It is the teaching, practice, and verification of billions of Buddhas. This is an introduction of this entire chapter. So, first Dogen said this teaching in this verse of the general or common precept of seven Buddhas is what has been transmitted from Buddha to Buddha.

[28:48]

And this means Buddha has been living in this way. So obviously Dogen is saying that this is not admonition from Buddhas to deluded human beings like us and saying you should not do this or do that. But this is the way of life for the awakened one, the awakened people to the reality of all beings. And it is not only of the seven Buddhas. It is a teaching of all Buddhas, even though this is in China and Japan called the verse of general precept of seven Buddhas. But Dōben said this is not only for seven Buddhas, but all Buddhas.

[29:52]

All Buddhas is a translation of Shobutsu. That is part of the final line, the teaching of all Buddhas. So here he thinks this teaching, not doing evil and doing good and purify your mind, is the teaching of all Buddhas. So this is the Buddhist teaching. This is the essence of Buddhist teaching, which has been transmitted from Buddha to Buddha. We should strive to study this principle. So, he said, this verse is very important. These dharma utterances of the seven Buddhas always sound like dharma utterances of the seven Buddhas.

[30:57]

This dharma utterance in the translation of Ho Do And this can be read as a ho and do, dharma and the way. Do is way. But this way can also read as to utter or speak. So one interpretation is the dharma and the way of seven Buddhas. And dharma is teaching, and the way is a practice in that case. But I interpret this as utterance of words of seven Buddhas that refer to this verse.

[32:04]

That means all seven, not only seven, but all Buddhas are teaching this teaching, pointed or expressed by this verse. So this is a teaching of all Buddhas without any exception. And what has been transmitted and being received from one to another is just penetration to the real situation at this place. I think I need to explain this, the real situation at this place. This is a kind of unusual expression. The original expression Dōgenzen uses is Kori.

[33:19]

Kori no tsū shōsoku. NO, TSU, SHO, SOKU. KO means this, and DI is within. NO is of, and TSU is penetration, to penetrate. And SHO, SOKU is like a getter. data or information or news and information and news is about how things are what is happening what is the situation or condition of this place calling within this

[34:34]

And Kori is kind of a Zen expression, kind of a pair with Nari. Nari is that, this and that. And Kori means this present actual particular place. It's not somewhere else. This Kori and Nari is also used as a Ji and Ri, particular conventional reality in which we are actually living. And Nari is something alternate or absolute. So I translate this Shōsoku as the real situation, the things really happening, and Kōri means this concrete life in which we are living within and without ourselves.

[35:43]

That means things happening within our mind, within our body, and using the word in which we are living. So this actual life of human beings. So the way of actual life, reality of our life. So this means that has been transmitted and being received from one to another. is nothing other than the reality of our own life. So, in that sense, there's nothing to be transmitted. You know, Divashibutsu Daiyosho transmits the dharma to the Shikibutsu Daiyosho and it continues until this age for

[36:45]

including seven Buddhas, almost 19 generations. But there's nothing to be really, you know, transmit. But some of this dharma that has been transmitted is the way we are, the actual reality of our life. So actually we don't receive anything. So in one commentary on Dogen Showa Kumakusa, it said, Vipassi Buddha transmits to Vipassi Buddha, and Sikhi Buddha transmits to Sikhi Buddha. So there's nothing like, you know, fixed stuff which can be transmitted one to another. In China, after Bodhidharma, actually the legend was made after the six ancestors.

[38:00]

As a symbol or evidence of the Dharma transmission, the robes or okesa or the bowels are transmitted. And of course, you know, Dori's Oryoki and Okesa robe are important. That is a symbol of the Dharma. But the actual thing that has been transmitted is our own life. So by awakening to the reality of ourselves and living, expressing our own reality of life, we transmit the dharma. So there's nothing physical or external that has been given from my teacher.

[39:06]

So I transmit nothing but this dharma and the way I live my life. And this teaching of the seven Buddha's precepts is, according to Dogen here, is that thing that has been transmitted. So this not doing evil and doing good and purifying one's mind, purification of one's mind, is the thing, or not the thing, but the reality that has been transmitted from Buddha to Buddha. This already is the teaching of all Buddhas. It is the teaching, practice, and verification of billions of Buddhas. So he said, this is not, in the verse it says, this is the teaching of all Buddhas.

[40:10]

But Phat Thoggen is saying here is not only teaching, but it also, this is the practice of all Buddhas. And this is the verification of all Buddhas. This teaching, practice and verification is kyo, Gyo and Sho. Kyo, Gyo, Sho, teaching, practice, and verification. Another possible translation of Sho is enlightenment.

[41:11]

as a kind of a process of our practice, as an expression, mong shi shu shou. More is to hear or listen, see is to think. Shū is practice, same as shū-gyo, as a compound. And shō is the same shō. So about teaching, you know, we hear the teaching, And when we hear, listen to some teaching, we think about it. And if we think the teaching might be true or might work to me, we try to put the teaching into practice.

[42:33]

And through practice, we found that teaching is really true. That is a means of verification. This literal meaning of this word show is verification or proof or evidence. That means we hear the teachings and think about it, and we think that might be true. But through our practice, we understand, we know it's really true. So our practice is evidence of the teaching is true. But usually when we use this kind of expression, we think practice is cause and show or enlightenment is result.

[43:44]

After many years of practice, we found that teaching was true. That is a verification. But when Bogen Zen said, practice and enlightenment are one, that means the evidence of the truth of the teaching is within practice. We don't need to wait until we found it is true. That is the point of Dogen's teaching of practice and enlightenment are one. That is shu, sho, ichi, nyo. One reality. Shu and sho are one reality. It's not a matter of this is a cause and this is a result. So within our practice, the evidence that teaching is true is already there.

[44:53]

That is Togen Zenji's basic teaching. And here he said this teaching of the seven Buddhas' general precept is what all Buddhas are doing teaching, and have been practicing and have been purifying. So this verse is not a request from the Buddhas to us, but this is the way all the Buddhas have been living, have been practicing, have been teaching. and have been very fine. So as a Buddha student and as a Bodhisattva who take vow to live like Buddha, we need to follow this way of life. Please. When you said here that there is an evolution of millions of Buddhas, and that millions execute everything, everything, everything, to generate that all being,

[46:09]

all practitioners, all bodhisattvas, in the largest range, all beings are Buddhas, in a sense. If we don't misunderstand it, Okay, next section. Next, he starts to discuss about not doing of any evil. This section discussion about not doing of any evil is the main part of this chapter. So this is the longest section. Let me read a few paragraphs. In regard to the all evils which we are discussing now, among good nature, evil nature, and indeterminate nature,

[47:36]

there is evil nature. Its nature is just non-arising. The nature of goodness, the nature of indeterminate, and so on, are also non-arising, are without defiled leakage, and are the true form of all beings. At the same time, at each concrete place of these three natures, there are innumerable kind of beings in all evils. There are sameness and difference between evils in this world and evils in other worlds. There are sameness and difference between former times and later times. There are sameness and difference between evils in the realms of heavenly beings and evils in the realm of human beings.

[48:50]

How much greater is the difference between what are mentioned as evil deeds, good deeds, and indeterminate deeds within the Buddha Way and within the secular world? Good and evil are time. Time is neither good nor evil. Good or evil are beings. The beings are neither good nor evil. When the beings are in equality, evil is in equality. When the beings are in equality, good is in equality. This being so, when we study the Supreme Answer Possible to Awakening , when we hear the teachings, do practice, and verify the result, it is profound, far-reaching, and wondrous.

[50:05]

We hear of this supreme awakening, sometimes following a teacher and sometimes following the sutras. At the beginning, it sounds like, do not do any evil. If we don't hear, do not do any evil, it is not the true dharma of Buddhas. it must be a suggestion of demons. We should know that that which says, do not do any evil, is the true dharma of Buddhas. This saying, do not do any evil, is not set up in this way through fabrication of ordinary human beings. When we hear the awakening in the form of verbal teaching, we hear in this way.

[51:08]

If we hear this way, that is the utterance of supreme awakening using words. Since this is already the utterance of awakening, these words are themselves awakening. Upon hearing of the utterance of the Supreme Awakening being turned by this utterance, we wish not to do any evil and keep practicing not to do any evil. When any evil is going on not to be done, The strength of practice is immediately manifested. This manifestation shows itself in an amount equal to the entire earth, the entire world, all times and all beings. The measurement of the amount is not doing.

[52:14]

Maybe this is enough for now. This is Dogen's interpretation. I hope you understand. I'm sorry, but I don't. So this is just my thought. What I'm going to talk is what I think when I read these writings. I don't think, or I'm not sure at least, what I read and what he wrote is the same or not. First sentence is easy. In regard to all evils which we are discussing now, so now he discusses about shoakumaksa, not doing of any evil, and said evil, or ak, is one of the three natures.

[53:32]

This is three natures, or sansho, three nature is a kind of a so-called dharma numbers. In any of the Buddhist teachings, there are a set of numbers, like a threefold pure precept, four noble truths, six paramitas, to make the teaching easy to memorize. I think Indian people list up those things. And this free nature is about... about good and bad or evil and neutral. We call it Zen Shou.

[54:33]

show is essential like a busho buddha nature so good nature or nature of goodness and action is bad or evil same show and muki means neither good nor bad that means neutral so there are three major in terms of uh morality or ethics or our karma, good karma, evil karma or bad karma, and neutral. Neutral means it doesn't bring about either painful or joyful result. It's neutral. Good action brings about a joyful result, and bad action or evil action brings about a painful result.

[55:51]

That is the law or principle of causation of karma. And next sentence, its nature is just non-arising. This is questionable. The word for non-arising, Dogen uses, must show. shown to be born to arise. So, literally, non-arising, of course, means nothing arise, nothing perish, that kind of idea of emptiness.

[56:54]

But many commentators on Showa Kumakusa, I think instead of this show arising, same word with nature, you know, the difference is only this is there or not. So many people view this as, instead of non-arising, no safe nature, no fixed nature. So I think that's more clear, more understandable. Even though there are three different natures in terms of morality or ethics, good, bad, or evil, and are neutral, basically, or fundamentally, those natures have no fixed nature.

[57:59]

That means empty. Good, bad, and neutral is not fixed. It's empty. And so not only evil nature, or aksho, also the nature of goodness and nature of indeterminate, zensho and mukisho, are, and so on, are also without fixed nature. So it's not fixed, nothing is fixed. And without the filed leakage, the filed leakage is a uro, translation for uro. Law is to leak or leakage, and this refers to our delusion or delusive desire which leaks from our mind.

[59:43]

And uro, uro means there is a leakage. That means our activity in order to fulfill our desire is called uro. And our activity without desire, selfish desire, is called muro. And our activity of uro is a cause of transmigration within samsara. And our activity without leakage is the practice toward nirvana. That is a basic usage of this expression, uro and muro.

[60:47]

Uro and muro. Uro is a nature or activity, actions, in order to fulfill our desire, our ego-centered desire. And muro is our activities without ego-centered desire. And uro is a cause of transmigration within samsara. If we do something, either good or bad, good or bad, you know, we transmigrate within six realms from hell to heaven. The cause of this transmigration is called uro, the leak from our mind. And there's no such link as Muro.

[61:54]

And that activity allows us to become free from the transmigration from suffering and allows us to enter Nirvana. That is the usage of these two expressions. And Dogen Zenji says all those three natures, good, evil, and neutral, are muro. That is, without defiled leakage. That means that is taking place within nirvana. This is strange. is because good and bad activity is a kind of a cause of transmigration. There can't be muro or nirvana, but he said this is muro.

[62:57]

And are the true form of all beings. This true form is translation of this soul. True form, this soul is reality of all beings. This soul is an elevation of shoko, this soul. The true form of all beings, all dharmas. So basically he's saying good, bad, and evil, active nature is a reality of all beings. common understanding of true form is the reality only Buddhists together with Buddhists can see, can awaken to. And because our deluded human beings like us cannot see the reality or jissho of all beings, we create, you know, good and evil karma.

[64:17]

That is the cause of samsara. That is the basic usage of this expression of shoho jissho. So only Buddha can see that is so or true form. But he said, good, evil, and neutral nature, all of them are without linkage. But they are themselves reality of all beings. This is really against a common understanding of the new stage of these words in common Buddhist teachings. So basically here he said, including evil, good and neutral, they are all within the reality of all beings and empty.

[65:19]

and free from any defilement. I think this is a dangerous statement. That means nothing is, there's nothing so-called delusion or deluded mind. Everything is reality itself, including evil. and even evil is free from our delusion or delusive desire and its reality itself. That he is always in and yet, or here he said, at the same time, At each concrete place of these three natures, there are innumerable kinds of beings.

[66:25]

This being is the translation of Dharma, India's dharmas. So, as a fundamental or ultimate reality, all good, evil and neutral are reality itself. And yet within those three natures as a concrete reality, that is the meaning of each concrete place. This concrete place is same with the expression Dogen used as Kogi, this place, this place. That means as an alternate reality, there is no such distinction between good, evil and neutral. They are all reality. And within our concrete day-to-day lives, there are many different situations and different beings.

[67:27]

And that also means good and evil and neutral are empty. There is no such fixed nature. That means it's different in its situation or condition or time and places. That is what he is saying in the next sentence. All evils is a translation of sho-aku. So this evils is plural, or sho-aku is plural. In all evils, there are sameness and difference between evils in this world and evils in other world. This world and other world means, this world is called a Saha world, the world of patience. and other world, there are many other world according to Buddhist cosmology.

[68:38]

So the good thing and bad thing or the standard of good and bad in this world and in other world might be different, might be same, might be different. So there must be difference and sameness. And there are sameness and difference between former times and later times. You know, in ancient times and this present day, this moment, this day, these days, there are standard of good and bad. Even the same action can be considered to be good in the ancient times and yet now it can be considered to be bad or evil. or mistaken. So good and bad is not really fixed. There are thinness and difference between evils in the realms of heavenly beings and evils in the realm of human beings.

[69:47]

There are within the six realms, the realms of heaven or hell, our realm of hungry ghosts, animals, ashura or fighting spirit, human beings, and heavenly beings. In each realm, the standard to measure good and bad or evil. can be different. So there's no such fixed yardstick to judge certain action is always bad or always good. Good and bad is really depending upon situation and condition. And even in one and same situation and condition, one action can be good for certain people and can be harmful to another people. So it's really difficult to make judgment whether one action is good or evil.

[70:56]

The definition of good and bad or evil in Buddhism is very simple and clear. Any actions that increase pain or suffering is evil. And any actions which reduce pain and suffering is good. but one action might influence in opposite way to other different people or different beings. So to make judgment whether one particular action is good or evil or bad is really difficult because the nature of good and bad is not fixed. So, good and bad should be determined within the, how can I say, the sequence of cause and result, and not only one sequence of cause and result.

[72:14]

But there are many different or almost numerous sequences of cause and result. So we must be really careful. But we usually see only one sequence. For example, when we do some kind of exercise, like jogging, we think jogging is a good exercise to become healthy. So as our expectation, as a result of exercise of jogging, we become healthy. So this is cause and result. And we think jogging is a good thing. But if we jog every day without considering our actual physical condition, jogging even not heavy but just a little running can cause heart attack.

[73:27]

Or if we jog carelessly, we may be hit by a car. since unexpected things happened, we doubt the principle of cause and result, because we only see the result of this action should become healthy. But there is another sequence. If we walk or run carelessly on the street, we're not to be hit by anything. that exercise can cause sickness. So we sometimes have doubt against about the principle of cause and result. But beyond our expectation, all different sequences of cause and result are really working.

[74:37]

So our, you know, judgment of good and bad can be very different from our way of thinking or our expectation. And that is because good and bad, or evil, is without fixed self-nature. And how much greater is the difference between what are mentioned as evil deeds, good deeds, and indeterminate deeds within the Buddha way and within the secular world? So here he said the difference between Buddha way and secular world are much, much greater than the difference between human world and heavenly world or so on. because the direction is different.

[75:46]

In the so-called secular world or secular dharma, to fulfill our desire is the direction we want, the result we want to get. But in Buddha way, to be free from our self-centered desire is the direction. So, something which allow, help us to become free from our selfish desire is good thing. But in the secular world, something which fulfills our desire is a good thing. So the standard of good and evil can be really opposite between Buddha Dharma and worldly Dharma. So he said, good and evil are time.

[76:53]

Depending upon the time and condition, certain thing or certain action can be good or bad. And yet time itself is neither good nor evil. good or evil are beings. This being is also dharma. And the dharmas are neither good nor evil. So good and evil is a kind of a judgment we make toward certain things and certain time. And when the beings are in equality, evil is inequality. When the beings are in equality, good is inequality.

[77:56]

I have to... talk on this equality, I think more than one hour. So let me talk this tomorrow morning. This is really important, what this equality means. I think we have ten more minutes. Well, I think this is a good place to stop. So any question? No question? Please. Sometimes when we set these sort of expectations of loving awareness, and you mentioned expectations with java as opposed to...

[78:59]

So I suppose there is a correlation in practice Yeah, even if our practice of the Zen, if we do practice it with our expectation to become a healthy, better, wise person, then according to Dogen, that is defilement. And his teaching was, just sit. That means sit without any expectation. But he said, the thing is itself awakening. Sitting is sitting and letting go of any expectation, any thought, is itself awakening.

[80:06]

Awakening from our karmic consciousness. That means we do nothing based on our karmic, based on any thought from our karmic consciousness. And then we practice zazen in that way, we are free from our karma. At least while we are sitting facing the wall and letting go, we are free, we don't do any We don't take any action based on our karma, our desire. We let go of everything. And that is, according to the Dogen, liberation. And also, just sitting and letting go is itself awakening and pranayama. And Dogen Zenji is not doing or makusa in this way by letting go and do nothing based on our personal desire or expectation.

[81:22]

That is not doing means. So the expression not doing does not mean prohibition of doing something. But not doing is our attitude of just letting go of our, you know, any whatever thought come up from our conscious, our karmic consciousness. That is the way we become one while we awaken to the reality of all beings before separation between self and others, or self and object. Okay, please. Can you just speak a little bit more? You just mentioned being freed from self-centered desires and worldly versus dharma.

[82:25]

Well, in our common human activities, we are we have motivation and we think we can get some good result. That is expectation. Without this, you know, expectation or kind of a goal, it's really difficult to find any motivation to do anything. or we think that is not clever, or we think that is stupid to do something without any expectation of good result. And according to Dogen, that is worldly dharma. That means our actual way of life.

[83:30]

And Buddha way is to do things without any expectation. Just do it. So these two are really opposite. But in Vendoa, Gogen said, there's no Buddha Dharma within worldly Dharma. And it's clear that we should know that there's no worldly dharma within buddha-dharma. That means within buddha-dharma there's no such separation between buddha-dharma and worldly dharma. But within worldly dharma, buddha-dharma and to do things without expectation is nonsense. That's the difference between Buddhadharma and Vajradharma. But Buddhadharma includes Vajradharma.

[84:32]

You have something to say? I'm trying to formulate my questions. One question is, would you talk some more about Lapisakha? You said, not doing as much learnings. Good translation, but could you tell us some more about what that word is? Is it used in Japanese? Well, Mark is not or never sized to make or to do, so Mark not doing really literal translation, so the meaning is okay, but it doesn't have much power. Marksa is kind of a very unusual expression in common Japanese, so it has very strong power. And Dogen Zenji discuss about maksa later in this writing, so I will discuss more about maksa. I'm wondering whether it had that power when he first used it, or whether it has that power now because of the way he used it.

[85:44]

Because not doing might just need a few hundred years. Well, I think it becomes powerful because of Dogen Zenji's interpretation, Dogen Zenji's usage of this word. Otherwise, you know, the original translation of the Pali verse, it simply means don't do it or never do it. or kind of a, you know, request, you should not do it, you shouldn't do it. But Dogen Benji used this maksa, don't drink, as a noun. Not doing, yeah. That means do nothing, like surrender.

[86:48]

To me, this is the same as opening the hand of thought. Do nothing, let go of thought. We do take any action based on my idea and my expectation. That is maksa. Is it really the same as movie? Yes. Non-doing? Non-doing. Non-artificial, man-made action. but we are moved by the reality of all beings. We become really a part of this reality of all beings, this movement. So our action in that sense is not by our personal activity. Dogen Zen describes our Zazen, he says, we show the Buddha mudra in three karmas, that means body, speech, and mind. And showing Buddha mudra means mudra is like a signature or a stamp that certifies, you know, this thing belongs to Buddha.

[88:07]

not belong to Shohak. So this mudra is like a logo in this culture. This means when we show this Buddha mudra, Buddha's logo, this action belongs to Buddha, not belongs to Shohak. That's the meaning of showing Buddha mudra through three actions or three karmas, body, speech and thought. That means we do nothing through our body, mind and thought. Body, speech and thought. Actually, in other words, we do nothing. So this practice belongs to Buddha, not belongs to Shohak. And when we wear the robe or when we receive the robe, is that that saying, I understand?

[89:12]

Yeah. This orchestra is, you know, because this is abandoned rugs, made of abandoned rugs and get together. This means no self-nature and empty and being free from any desire. No one says, this is mine. Actually, if we say, this is my role, then we are against the teaching of Okesa. So this orkessa is called daishai getappuku. Getappuku means a robe of revelation. And musou fukudenge. Musou means no form. So if we think this is a uniform of Buddhist priest or monk, then we are against the teaching or idea of orkessa. Because this is not uniform in one form, right?

[90:16]

But this should be no form. So this orchestra is a symbol of Buddha. This means the person who is wearing, put on this hokesa belongs to Buddha, not belong to our person, person of so-called ego. And yet often we don't understand that. And we act in opposite way and say, this is mine. There's OK. Thank you.

[91:07]

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