Good afternoon. This morning I talked on the last two sentences on page one, and now I continue from the beginning of page two in this English-only version. Let me read a few paragraphs. This being so, when we study the supreme unsurpassable true awakening, that is, Amitabha Samyak Sambodhi, when we hear the teachings, do practice, and verify the result, It is profound, far-reaching, and wondrous. We hear of this supreme awakening, sometimes following a teacher, and sometimes following the sutras.

[01:12]

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 teachings, we hear in this way. 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.

[02:22]

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 being 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. In the case of such a person at such a time, even though dwelling in and coming and going where evil deeds can be done, facing the conditions in which evil deeds can be done, and interacting with companions who may do evil deeds.

[03:37]

No evil deeds are ever done, because the power of not doing is manifested. Evil deeds do not express themselves as evil deeds, and evil deeds have no fixed devices. There is a principle of once upholding and once letting go. At this very moment, we can understand the principle that evil deeds do not invade people, and the principle that people do not destroy evil deeds. Maybe this is enough. The first paragraph of this section, that is a kind of an introduction, or the... How can I say?

[04:59]

Dogen Zenji points out from which position he discusses about good and evil. I'm sorry, in this case, not doing evil. said his position is awakening our Anuttara Samyaksa body. That means everything is completely equal. I wrote, you know, We are living within the network of interdependent origination, and within a space we are connected with everything. And, as Dogen said in Uji or Being and Time, this network of interdependent origination is moving.

[06:13]

And from the very beginning until the end of this time, this is one time or one moment. Within this one moment, you know, time looks to us who are inside, looks, you know, time is flowing from past through present to the future. But this present moment is the gateway or entrance of this time which doesn't move. That is only one moment from the very beginning of the time of Big Bang until the end of this world. This is really one moment. We kind of divide the time. because it is convenient for us to measure one day, one second, one hour, one day, one week, one month, one year, and so on.

[07:26]

That is a kind of man-made separation. But time itself has no such separation. So time doesn't really move. But to us who is changing because of impermanence, to understand the change, it's kind of convenient to use the idea of time flowing in order to understand the degree of changes. So we count our age, you know, one year, two years, three years old. And now I'm fifty-seven. That means I don't have much time left. Now the time I spent is larger than the time I may live. We don't know, but that's how we measure our life. That's impermanence.

[08:29]

But actually this one entire space is just one space. There's no such division between this place and that place. We use such separation or division because it's convenient to understand where I am, where I am, and where they are. All that kind of, you know, separation, is made up within our mind. But as a reality, this space is just one space. And this network of interdependent origination is one entire network. And entire time and space is just one thing. And each one of us is out of this time and space.

[09:38]

This is how, you know, and within time we have connection. Each and everything has connection or relationship as a cause and result. Cause and result. And within the space, we have a connection with others as conditions and recompense or reward. We receive support and help, and we also offer support and help to other beings. This is how this network is maintained. And that's what Dogen Zenji said. That means total function or total dynamic work.

[10:40]

That is Kathagiri's expression. And according to the Lotus Sutra, that is how, that is so-called Buddha's darshan or Buddha's insight of the reality of all beings. And an individual person like us, we cannot see this totality, because we are inside. As a person walking, coming and going within the mountain, we cannot see the true mountain, the true face of the mountain. Because we need to take certain position, we cannot see this totality as something like objective. So we need a kind of a faith that this totality, this total function is our body.

[11:50]

That is what, you know, once Zenji said. in his poem, following Sushi's poem. Sushi said, because he is in the mountains, he cannot see the true face of mountains. But, once he said, a person who is coming and going within mountains, the mountain is the person's body. So it's not a matter of a person can see the true face of Mount Rue or not. But the important point is, this entire mountain, this is a mountain, is his body. So we should live with such an attitude, to live together with all beings within time and space. And Dogen Zenjin also composed a poem following Banshee's poem. And he said, the person in the mountain should be a person who loves the mountains.

[12:57]

And the person is coming and going within the mountains. And mountain is his body. But he said, the mountain is not the self. There is no such thing as self. Anyway, so, you know, that is why we, you know, when we, for example, doing morning service, not only morning, but doing service, and we chant something, and we recite echo or dedication to dedicate the merit of this practice to certain people, And not only the people who is named within echo, we say, you know, jihō-sanshī-shihū-shī-sombu-sa-mokko-sa-mokko-ja-hora-mi.

[13:59]

That is, all Buddhas in ten directions and three times. Ten directions means this entire space, and three times means this entire time. And all the Buddhas, mean all the Buddhas within this time and space. And Shishunbosa Mokosa is a Bodhisattvas who are practicing within forever, within this time and space. And Prajnaparamita, Mokkohoja Holomi, is the way to see, not way, but wisdom, to see this entirety of Shunyata. interdependent ordination of Shunyata. And as he mentioned, you know, this reality of all beings in the introduction of Fushiku Hanpo.

[15:01]

Fushiku Hanpo is a description of how to use Oryōgi, how to receive food. Eating can be also the practice of awakening this reality of total function or total dynamic work. And we express our gratitude to this network of interdependent origination. And actually that is Buddha. And practice with that attitude or practice of expressing the awakening, this reality, is Buddha's practice. So that is why, you know, for example, Sakyong said, our practice is good for nothing. It's not good for something. If we say this is good, that means good for me, basically, or good for us.

[16:09]

But if it is good for this entire function, we can say it's good for nothing. And that's OK. So, you know, this is the reality of all beings and also this awakening to this reality is another Samyak-sambodhi. To see entire, everything really equal. That equal is toho, or the equality or the sameness in Samyak-sambodhi. Samyak is true equality or sameness. or identity. So, this total function, total, our entire network, is so-called Anuttara Samyaksa Bodhi.

[17:13]

And, next, he discussed how we study and practice regarding good and bad, within this total function or total dynamic work of interdependent origination. He said, this being so, this being so means we are living as part of this entire network. When we study the supreme unsurpassable to awakening, That is Anattara Samyaki's body. When we hear the teachings, we hear the teachings about this reality, and when we hear the teachings and we feel it might be true, or it can be helpful for me, we try to put that teaching into practice.

[18:24]

we verify the result. That means, through our practice, we really find this teaching is true. That is verification. So, teaching, practice and verification is a kind of process of our practice. And not only as that all beings are actually practicing this teaching, practice and verification. And in doing so, it is profound, far-reaching and wondrous. It's really profound for, as a kind of, as an individual, one person within this, you know, boundless network, to, you know, this is just an illustration.

[19:30]

This is not true. This is not a real reality. So, if we, you know, copy this, you know, poor illustration, and think this is a reality, that's really totally delusion. We cannot see such a thing, and there's no such, you know, boundary. This circle is really an illusion. There is no such circle. It's really boundless. So for us, this reality of total network is really profound. Far reaching means we cannot really reach. And it's wondrous. That means we cannot really grasp using our logical discriminating thinking or using words and concepts.

[20:38]

That's what wondrous means. Wondrous is a translation of myoo, profound and far-reaching and wondrous. This Nyo is a translation of, you know, the name, the complete name of the Lotus Sutra is Sadharma. Sadharma Kundalika Sutra. Kundalika is a lotus flower. And sadharma is sometimes translated as a myoho. Sad is myo, and dharma is ho.

[21:42]

So, you know, myoho renryo kyo is the name of the sutra in Japanese. And another translation of this sadharma is shobo. Shobo. Shobo in shobo genzo. True dharma. And myoho is the same. Two different translations of the same Sanskrit word, sadharma. And this sad is the same as sa in samyaksa body. So, this true and wondrous is the same meaning. It's really true, but we cannot grasp. And another meaning of this nyo is excellent. It's excellent, and wondrous means beyond human grasping. It cannot be something man-made.

[22:49]

So, we need faith, you know, because we cannot see this entire network. We need faith or trust to the teaching, in this case Dogen's writing, or what the Lotus Sutra said, or what Shakyamuni taught. You know, though their teaching is profound and far-reaching and wondrous, so we need trust or faith in their teaching. And yet, you know, we can practice it, and we can verify the truth. even though through our practice, through our life experience.

[23:56]

So it's really wondrous. It's ungraspable with our discriminating mind, but we can, from the bottom of our existence, we can experience that truth. So this is not simply, you know, something we have to believe. even though we cannot experience whether it's true or not. And when we study the teachings and practice and verification, when we go through that process, we hear of this supreme awakening. sometimes following a teacher, and sometimes following a sutra. Or sometimes we see that reality by seeing, you know, the change of the color of the leaves on the tree changing, and also the leaves fall down, or the...

[25:15]

flower blooms, actually, not only through teacher's teaching or teaching through written scriptures, but each and everything actually really expressing this reality, if we have our eyes to see it, and if we have ears to hear that teaching. That is the first document when he said, The sound of a valley stream is expounding Dharma, and the colors of mountains are Buddha's body, or Buddha's appearance. But the important point in this writing is, when we hear that reality of total dynamic function, or total network, at the beginning, it sounds like, do not do any evil.

[26:32]

This is shoak maksa. And here I translate as imperative. When we hear the teaching of this total function, To us, it sounds like we should not do any evil. And evil means, you know, because we are supported and assisted and helped by all beings, you know, if we really see and hear that, teaching or reality, it's really not possible to harm others, injure others, because self and others are within one network.

[27:39]

So, injure others means injure ourselves. So, evil means to harm something, harm ourselves or harm others. And if we awaken to this reality, you know, it's very natural to try not to harm. If possible, try to help and support, assist others in order to keep this network kind of in a healthy condition. That is, I think, first thing we hear. But, you know, in our education in this modern society, we don't hear that kind of teaching. You know, we hear that, you know, this, for example, you know, this world or this planet is a position of human beings.

[28:43]

And we can use any of the things on this earth to make us satisfied, happier, and make our life more convenient and rich. And in doing so, we harm all, not all, but many, living beings, not only living beings, many beings on this planet. And because we are a very tiny part of this network of interdependent origination on this planet, if nature is destroyed to a certain degree, we have to die. So, you know, to work hard in order to satisfy our desire and make our life more and more convenient and rich, you know, actually we are killing ourselves.

[29:56]

That is, I think, a very basic fundamental delusion we have, and yet somehow You know, we live in that way. When I was a high school student, that was in the late 60s. You know, Vietnam War was going on. And the Cold War between, you know, USA or capitalist countries and communist countries were going on. And we had a fear of nuclear war. And also because of the development of economy, especially in Japan, you know, the nature was really destroyed. And until I was...

[31:01]

I think seven or eight years old, we could swim in the river in our town. But after that, you know, our school teacher told us not to swim there. It's dangerous. It's poison. Because, you know, some factory was built, you know, by the river. And, you know, I was grown up in a small town between Kyoto and Osaka named Ibaraki. And the town, the population of that town was, I think, when I was five or six, I just really started to live there. 15,000 or so.

[32:04]

It's a kind of a smallest requirement to become a city. And yet when I graduate, I finish high school, so about within 10, 15 years, the population become, let's see, 30 miles, 300,000. You know, between Kyoto and Osaka, you know, during when I was a kid, you know, they built a highway and a Shinkansen or bullet train. And almost all the rice paddy was destroyed, and factories and housing built. So, when I was a child, we could see the rice paddy all over, and woods by the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

[33:20]

All those things are destroyed. And only, you know, paved streets. You know, that was the condition when I was a teenager. So I felt, you know, it seems, you know, human civilization is destroying nature. And that was true, I think. But people thought this is development. Development means getting better. And I think some people still think so. And our school education in Japan was, to me, like a factory to I thought the entire Japanese society is one huge money-making machine, and schools are the factories to produce the parts of that machine.

[34:34]

And I couldn't find any meaning to study in that way, so I quit. I could study. I often escaped from classroom and went to library and read any books on philosophy, Asian literature. So I didn't want to go to college or university. So I wanted to drop out from that kind of lifestyle. Anyway, that's why I started to practice again. Anyway, when we live in such a condition, we feel something strange, something not healthy.

[35:44]

So, we try to find a healthier way of life. and try to search the way. And in my case, studying and practicing Buddhism became my way of life, to live according to this reality. So, When I was a teenager, I heard from Japanese society that this is strange, this is not healthy, this is not the right way of life. This message, I think, is a message from this entire network of interdependent origination, I think.

[36:45]

And that is, in a sense, do not do any evil, the message from this Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi and telling me do not do any evil. And I try not to. That is my practice, actually. Try not to harm others, and harm this nature, and harm or destroy this network. I think it's our practice. And, if we don't hear, do not do any evil, it is not the true Dharma of Buddha. If we study some teaching, and the teaching doesn't sound, don't do any evil, then, according to Dogen, that's not Buddha's teaching. If that is Buddha's teaching, it sounds to us as, do not do any evil.

[37:57]

And it must be us. So if it doesn't sound, do not do any evil, It must be a suggestion of demons. So, Dogen is very clear about this. So, what he's saying is, you know, that good and bad, or good and evil, is not a dichotomy. but not to any evil, is a kind of a teaching or a message from this, how can I say, reality beyond dichotomy, beyond discrimination. I really like this teaching of Dogen. We should know that that fixed phase, do not do any evil, anything harmful, is the true Dharma of Buddhas.

[39:03]

This phase, do not do any evil, is not set up in this way through fabrication of ordinary human beings. So this doesn't mean this is not a man-made kind of a regulation or morality, but this is a, how can I say, message from this entire reality in which we are being born, living and dying. So this teaching of not doing evil is not man-made regulation or rules. Based on the discrimination, this is good, this is evil. So you should do good and you should not do evil. but don't do evil is a message from Absolute Reality.

[40:10]

When we hear the awakening in the form of verbal teaching, so when we express this total function using words, it sounds like not doing any evil. If we hear this way, that is the utterance of Supreme Awakening using words. So if someone, like Buddha, or like Buddhist teachers or other people say in this way, don't be harmful to anyone. That is verbal expression of this awakening to this total reality.

[41:20]

So, we don't need to say this is so-called religion called Buddhism. But any teacher's teaching which says, give this message, don't be harmful to this entire network of interdependent origination, is the verbal expression of this awakening. Since this is already the utterance of Awakening, these words are themselves Awakening. These words, in this case, Sovak Maksa, is the word of Awakening, that expresses the Awakening, of Supreme Awakening, because this word, this phrase, not doing any evil or Sovak Maksa,

[42:25]

is itself awakening. This is the expression of ultimate supreme awakening. The message from this total function. And upon hearing, in our practice, Upon hearing of the utterance of the Supreme Awakening, like this saying, Soak Maksa, and being turned, or being led by this utterance, being led by this utterance, not be harmful, and we wish not to do any evil, we bow to not to do anything harmful. And keep practicing not to do any evil.

[43:29]

So we try to practice not to do anything harmful to both ourselves and others. That is our practice. That is our vow. And when any evil is going on not being done, the strength of practice is immediately manifested. So, when our practice matured and going on not being done, It's not because of our willpower or our self-effort, but naturally evil or harmful thing is not being done. That is the time when the strength of practice is manifested.

[44:41]

This manifested is Genjo in Genjo Koan. So, for example, in the case of Buddha, even though Buddha doesn't make effort not to do anything harmful, but because of the awakening, deep awakening of this reality, You know, for Buddha, you know, naturally, evil is not doing. Shoak is naturally maksa. It's not that evil action exists, but for, you know, much other people like Buddha, evil is not doing, or shoak is maksa. I mean, there's no meaning, no meaning to do such a thing, to do a harmful thing.

[45:47]

For the people who are really mature and who are really deeply awakened to this reality, evil is not doing. You know, when we become mature, you know, For example, when we are teenagers, we do so many stupid things. But some of them are really harmful to ourselves and also to others. But when we become mature a little bit, we see how stupid we are. And we don't understand why we did such a thing. But somehow we did. And, you know, human beings and Buddhas are the same, I think, same, you know, a teenager and a little bit matured person. You know, we don't understand why we did such a stupid, foolish, you know, thing.

[46:54]

But we do the same thing, actually, as human beings. If we see that we are doing from Buddha's point of view. I think Buddha don't understand why human beings do such stupid things. But sometimes we do so seriously. And sometimes we think that is good. That is, you know, in human view, and Buddha's insight, the difference between human view and Buddha's darshan or insight. So, this manifestation of shugyo-riki, or strength of practice, is, you know, become mature.

[48:00]

Then, this manifestation shows itself in an amount equal to the entire earth, the entire world, all times and all beings. This is a translation of Jin. Entire Earth is Jin-Chi. Chi is Earth. Jin-Kai. Kai is world or universe or cosmos. Kai. Jin-Chi, Jin-Kai, and Jin-Ji. Entire time or in this translation, all times. And Jin-Po. ho or po.

[49:03]

So, this jin is the word Dogen Zenji and Uchiyama Roshi used when they used the expression jin issai jiko. Jin issai jiko. means this entire network throughout time and space. This is, in another expression, the Universal Self. This is ji, sai, jiko. So we are really, really a tiny, tiny part of this entirety, still because everything is connected. This entirety is the Self, from one side. And from another side, there's no such thing as jiko, or Self.

[50:08]

This is only just a collection of myriad dharmas. And Self is just one of the myriad dharmas. So only this network exists. There's no such thing as self or shohaku. So we see the reality from two sides. So there's no self and this entire network is the self. That is the two sides. And from you know, the side of this entire reality, you know, there's no such thing as evil or good. This is just one entire function or movement. But from our point of view, you know, there's something we should do and something we should not do. And Dogen Zenji talks always from both sides at the same time.

[51:20]

That is the reason his writing is full of contradiction and paradox and nonsense. Almost nonsense. Trust. So that means the strength of our practice is manifest as a whole time and space. And the measurement of the amount is not doing. So, here Dogen Zenji is not doing in the meaning of completely different from used to not do, but is not doing. is something like a hishiryō. You know, when he discussed about our zazen, he used the expression hishiryō, fushiryō, and hishiryō.

[52:36]

And my translation is thinking, not thinking, and beyond thinking. And, in this sentence, Gogenzen used this expression, makusa, as like a fushiryō, I mean, a hishiryō, beyond thinking. The reality beyond our thinking or not thinking. But thinking and not thinking are included. Even thinking and not thinking are taking place within, beyond thinking. So, I hope I can find some better English expression for this. Not doing is not strong enough.

[53:39]

So if you have some idea, please give me. So this not doing or maksa is same as musa. And Musa is another expression used in Zen. And another word is Mu-i. Mu-i, Musa, Baksa have the same meaning. Nothing man-made. And opposition of this expression is Zosa.

[54:47]

Zosa is the word I translate as fabrication. Fabrication and non-fabrication. Next. In the case of such a person, at such a time, even though dwelling in and coming and going where evil deeds can be done, facing the conditions in which evil deeds can be done, and interacting with companions who may do evil deeds, No evil deeds are ever done, because the power of not doing is manifested.

[55:56]

As, you know, the expression, such a person and such a time, is Shoto-in-moji and Shoto-in-mo-nin. I think you know this expression, inmo. Inmo, nin and inmoji. Sho, to, inmo. Nin and inmoji. Sho is same as two. Sho is sho-bo, two dharma. To means to hit. That means precisely. Precisely or the very person of inmo.

[57:05]

Inmo means nothing. Inmo is something like a how or a fact. So this word, this expression, inmo, is used in Zen literature to show the reality beyond any definition. And Dogen Zenji wrote a chapter of Shobo Genzo titled Inmo, and he quoted a koan or expression by Ungo Doyo, That is, if, then, or if, if, then, when you wish to attain the matter of yinmo, or yinmoji, then you are the person of yinmo.

[58:13]

And you are already a person of the yin-mo. Why do you worry about the matter of yin-mo? That means we are already living within this entire total function. And our special is to attain it. And even though we are already within there, why do you want to get it? if you are already in there. That is the meaning of inmo. So, at the very person of inmo, and at the very time of inmo, so this is a very important expression. That means we are really awakening to the reality we are living within the total entire network of interdependent origination.

[59:24]

If we really awaken to that reality at that time. That is what Dogen is talking here. So this is not, how can I say, a usual common thing in the society. So we must be a little careful. At the very moment we really awaken to that reality. That is the meaning. Even though dwelling in and coming and going fear evil deeds can be done, that means we, as our... because we are bodhisattvas, you know, as a... to fulfill, to practice bodhisattva vows, we vow not to enter nirvana.

[60:31]

We vow not to cross the river and enter nirvana, but we vow to stay in samsara, to help and work with all beings. That is bodhisattva vow. So, you know, many Zen masters, like Nansen or Isan, said, when I die, I will be born as a water buffalo at the farmer's house, underneath the temple or monastery or the mountains. That means, their vow is to be born as a water buffalo. realm of animal within six realms to work in the muddy water. So, as a bodhisattva, our vow should not be to be born in the heaven, but our vow should be born in the

[61:41]

or kind of a difficult places, because that is a place people who need help are there. That means bodhisattva needs to be in practice and work where any kind of evil can be done. So it's kind of a dangerous place. But that should be the place where Bodhisattva needs to work. So, dwelling in and coming and going fear evil deeds can be done. Actually, wherever we are in this world, evil deeds can be done. all over this world now, evil deeds have been doing. Facing the conditions in which evil deeds can be done, and interacting with companions who may do evil deeds, no evil deeds are ever done, because the power of not doing is manifested.

[63:06]

You know, when a bodhisattva really awakens to this reality and try to live together with all beings and try not to be harmful but to be helpful to all beings. And we cannot avoid that kind of a situation. We cannot and also we should not. But that doesn't mean we have to do evil things. We can live without doing evil things, even living in such a condition. Of course, even though we have such a vow, still we make so many mistakes, and we injure or harm others, and also harm ourselves.

[64:21]

But, as a part of our practice, when we did such a thing, a harmful thing to ourselves and others, you know, we need to do repentance. and try to return to that direction. Evil deeds do not express themselves as evil deeds. It means evil deeds are not necessarily evil. evil or harmful thing, often we lose the sight of the reality, but we only think, my emotion, my feeling, my personal feeling, my personal benefit, my personal goal, or those things.

[65:25]

When we lose sight of this entire reality, we make mistakes, or we harm others. But we don't necessarily need to act in that way. So, whenever we have a kind of a desire, or a... what is the word... urge? What is the word? Urge. Within ourselves, I want to do this, even though this is harmful. It might be harmful. As, you know, there is a verse of repentance, that if you want to practice repentance, you should sit upright and be mindful of the reality of all beings. Then, the... What is the word?

[66:28]

I forget the word. Anyway, that evil deeds, like evil karma, I think, evil karma, it will be melt down, melt away, like the snow in the sunlight. So, our sitting practice is, in a sense, being mindful of the reality of all beings, and also this is a form of repentance. allow us to calm down and we can see that we don't need to really necessarily to do such a thing. That is a really important thing, to be calmed down. So, evil beings have no fixed devices. It means even, you know, for example, a sword can be a device to do evil things, to kill something.

[67:56]

But there's a famous saying, you know, a sword can take a life and also can give a life. That means, You know, sometimes Manjushri has a sword. This sword is a sword to cut off delusions or delusive desires. So, a sword is not necessarily a device of doing evil or anything else. You know, can... Oh, for example, A car, driving a car, can be a device to do evil, and also can be a device to do something good. So, there's no fixed thing which is really evil, depending upon how we use it.

[69:01]

or many medicines can be poison. And some poison can be medicine. So, depending upon whether we have wisdom or not. So, there is a principle of once upholding and once letting go. This upholding or grasping and letting go, is a kind of a common method of teaching in Zen. Sometimes, you know, the teacher teach his student, you know, saying, you should not do this, do that, do that. You know, always kind of, you know, grasping the student. And sometimes the teacher let go of the student and do the student as they want. is grasping and letting go.

[70:05]

It's used as a method of teaching and also an expression of dharma. For example, Dogen said, you should do in this way or that way. Like, how do you saw Ryoki? And another time, he said, nothing is fixed. You can do in whatever way you wish. Or we can say, you know, we should sit Dazen as much as possible. But another time we can say, don't worry about sitting. Dazen is not a form. So there are always two sides. And we have to find the best. And here I think Dogen's saying about good and bad or evil is the same. Sometimes we have to really, you know, grasp ourselves not to do evil.

[71:14]

And sometimes we can let go and yet we don't need to do evil. So there are many different conditions and situations. And at this very moment, That means, when we awaken to that reality of entire network, and practice as a person of that network, that is in another expression, Bögen, Zen-Juice, as a... What is the English translation? Ten Direction World is itself true human body. So our true body is this Ten Direction World. Then we live in that way.

[72:19]

That is at this moment mean. This very moment. We can understand the principle that evil deeds do not invade people. And the principle that people do not destroy evil deeds, that means a person and evil deeds is not like a... how can I say... I think it means we don't need to fight against evil. Somehow, when we awaken to that reality, evil deeds naturally become not doing. But often we try to fight against ourselves when we want to do something evil. But that is a human kind of effort. And that, of course, that is important in our daily lives.

[73:21]

But when we really awaken to that reality of interdependent origination, You know, we don't need to fight against ourselves or fight against others, but somehow, naturally, all evil becomes not doing. I think that is what this means. After this, he is... going to discuss about practice with this attitude. So, I stop here today and continue tomorrow. Any questions? Please. I still don't understand this phrase, when any evil is going on, not being done.

[74:31]

Can you say anything more about that? I understood what you said at the time you said it. It just didn't seem like it. I mean, I don't understand. When any evil is going on not being done. Continuing not to be done. going on, yeah, continue or keep not being done. That means not... continue means continuously. Not only at one moment, but continuously. Not because of our personal effort, but naturally become not being done. For example, you know, after Shakyamuni became Buddha, I don't think he's fighting against his evil nature, and always, you know, conquer

[75:55]

that evil part of his mind, or he had to purify his mind, but naturally, because of his awakening, his deeds become helpful to others. That's... I think that's what it means. Evil deed is not being done naturally, not because of his fighting against evil. Does it make sense? So, the statement, we don't need to fight against evil, because not only does evil come naturally when awakening happens, It doesn't feel exactly like it probably is because there's this one awakening that happens in there.

[76:58]

Now, I understand theoretically that awakening is here already, but in practical terms, since it's, at least frequently, not noticeable. How does this affect me not needing to fight against evil? Well, I think as far as we are fighting against evil, part of fighting against evil is evil. So it's not like made away by the light of the sun or wisdom. So as far as we are fighting against evil, evil continues, I think. So that instead of... So, until we, all human beings, really awaken to that reality, we are living together within a network of interdependent origination, I think evil never ceases to be.

[78:14]

Then we try to fight against evil. And this fight against evil based on our idea of what is good and what is evil. And my idea of evil and their idea of evil are different. Almost always. And people fighting against USA don't think they are evil. But at least American government think they are evil. And actually, they think the U.S. government is evil. So if we live with that attitude, the fighting has no end, until either side is really eliminated. Please. I think so. Yes.

[79:16]

Yes. Causes and conditions. Yes. Within time and space, things happening, everything is connected as a cause and conditions and result. So we have to, in order to see this interconnectedness, we have to see what is the real cause of this twisted karma. The real cause. That is, I think, that is really more difficult than fighting against the people who, I think, are evil.

[80:23]

Because it's painful to us. We have to see the evilness of ourselves, or sickness of ourselves. So, it's not an easy way, fighting against the enemy that we think is evil. feel, you know, kind of make us feel good. You know, we are good people because we are fighting against those people. That is a really dangerous thing. OK. Please. You may have just answered this, but so But because I have some ideas about Buddhism, I think that the evil is greed, hate, and self-delusion. And I understand that even fighting against that is a problem.

[81:31]

Now you said, I think you said, see the real cause. Uchiyama Roshi said, you know, our three poisonous minds are the source or cause of evil deeds, evil actions. But they themselves are not so evil. They are like our babies. So if we take good care of the three poisonous minds, you know, they can be quiet. But once, you know, we ignore them, or hit them, or abuse them, they become powerful, like a crying baby. So, what we have to do is to fight against three poisonous minds and eliminate them, but to be a friend, or to be even a parent of our three poisonous minds.

[82:39]

And ours and others as well, to some extent. I think so. We live in a society that encourages the babies to just be bigger babies. We are the babies. Yes, right. We encourage all of us to be really, really baby-like. Yeah. And I think, in my case, sitting facing the wall is a kind of taking care of a baby, to me. I mean, we can... at least I can see, you know, the baby crying and try to... try not to harm that or beat it. OK? OK. Thank you.

[83:34]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ