see how far I get. This is kind of a work or thinking in progress or in process. And I've talked about some of these issues before from different angles. But in our Dharma group, we're beginning to work through the ten great precepts. thinking about where that comes from. we receive a paper, it's called, it's a lineage paper for Kechi Nyaku, which I think literally means bloodline.

[01:45]

And on, in the text at the bottom of the page, Sojin wrote in his own hand that when he received is passed down through all of the ancestors, down to each one of us. And it flows both ways. It flows back up to the Buddha, and back up to all beings, and then back down to us. So, the precepts are tremendously important. And almost all of the ceremonies that we have demarking transitions in our life,

[02:47]

terminations, birth, death, transmissions, marriages, are in one way or another precept ceremonies. They're pretty close. They resemble each other very basically. And in each of these ceremonies, the precepts, the guidelines for the way we live and the way we practice are passed to us. So, today I wanted to talk about the second grave precept, which is the precept of not stealing, and the principle of taking complete responsibility in my life, in our lives, and being both self-reliant and I think as Dali has been talking about and underscoring in her talks and her discussions, also being mutually reliant, drawing strength from the community so that we can be self-reliant and take complete responsibility.

[04:09]

So this is kind of exploration. The precept that we take here is court is not given. And then there are two older commentaries that bear on that. One that we chant, we all chant that precept, and then the doshi, who's leading service, reads Dogen's commentary upon that precept, which is, the self and objects are such, two yet one. the gate of liberation stands open. There's another gloss on it that Bodhidharma repeatedly wrote that I think we used to chant. I'm familiar with it. It's someplace in my body, so I feel like I've done it somewhere. And it says, self-nature is subtle and mysterious in the realm of the unattainable Dharma

[05:14]

Self-nature is subtle and mysterious in the realm of the unattainable Dharma. Not having thoughts of being is called the precept of non-stealing." So, in reading over some of the materials that I had on this precept, I'm not trying to preempt any of the discussion, but I think that this precept is personal enough so that represent Buddhists, which I don't really do very effectively, I can represent a Buddhist, or an attempted Buddhist.

[07:06]

And I get called upon, in this case, I get called upon to represent a perspective on something that I don't feel I have a very deep grasp on. are much more into this and much more knowledgeable than I am. So they're always asking questions or sending things to me instead of studying. And then the third thing, which is even more out there, was that in two weeks Thank you for that vote of confidence.

[08:16]

So World Bank, we're not so confident. I'm not so confident in them either. In the National Monetary Fund. I've been saying it, I actually don't, this is no slight to Dolly, but I realize going to Rome, I figure it's not like going to Cleveland. So I'm taking two extra days to look around, two days of meetings, and then two days of seeing some Rome. I've always wanted, I've always wished that Zen was Italian. It is in Italy. responsibility.

[09:22]

And I don't, you know, it's like the shusa says, this responsibility is too great for me. And yet, I sort of have to take the speed. And so I've been studying a lot, reading a lot of material that my friends this seems like the time.

[10:24]

So I'm studying this stuff, but actually, for my 50 years of life, I have successfully avoided or attempted to avoid reading and really thinking about it in detail, so I'm trying to do that. And I'm not, my brain is kind of aching with this stuff, but I'm national finance, what I'm trying to develop out of this is what is a Buddhist perspective on the relationship among peoples and nations in the world? How do we have a principled communication relationship that's not exploited? And how do I also remain open to, and mostly what I've been hearing from people is a critique, a very sharp critique of these huge institutions that affect, the World Bank probably affects directly the lives of more people in the world than any single institution.

[11:45]

Because they're the second largest financial institution, and all of the money that they loan goes to third and fourth world countries, really developing, supposedly developing, according to what their definition of development is, nations. But how do I remain open to the part, there actually is a good intention going on there as well. And I'm sure that there are good and well-meaning people for the bank that are trying to understand, I mean their mission is, their stated mission is the alleviation of poverty. And so how do I, I just need to learn and listen a lot. So this also ties in with

[12:48]

I think what's been going on for me for a while, which is a sort of personal examination of my privilege, privilege that I was born into by virtue of class and education and race and the ways in which I may be at times blind or in denial or in complicity with negative impact that I might have on the world. So, to come back to this precept, Dogen's commentary on the precept is that the self and objects are such, two yet one. The gate of liberation stands open. relationship that Ross brought up in his Monday morning talk a couple of weeks ago where he talked about his relations to the way he feels responsible for taking care of the things around him and the way we can learn by taking care of the things around us, taking care of the people around us.

[14:21]

things around us. And if we are really truly attentive to this deep and inseparable interconnectedness and interdependence among our various selves, our constructive selves, other people and other things around us, there could be no stealing. There could be nothing that was called stealing because in the realm of the Dharma, actually everything belongs to us and we belong to everything. So what could possibly be stolen or appropriated? Now there's several ways that we can render this precept. The most literal form is not stealing, not stealing anything, however small it might be.

[15:30]

And that's spoken of again and again in many of the early texts. We can find small ways that, we can look at small ways that we steal in our lives Reb tells a story of severe, again and again, there are severe negative results from very minor, what seems like minor acts of theft. They are recounted in these old texts. In one collection, the Source Mirror collection, Reb recounts a story. Tao Ming, a monk in Sui province, borrowed a bundle of kindling that belonged to the Sangha.

[16:39]

He used it to heat water to wash his feet. And he forgot, he just forgot to return the kindling. And then, not soon after, he died. Chuang Tzu, a monk who lived in the same dormitory, Afterwards, he saw Tao Ming in a dream and mysteriously had a conversation with him. And Tao Ming related to him that after he died, his feet burned for a year. So, there are many literal ways their results, that we need to connect to the actions themselves and understand what the implications are.

[17:42]

In the relative world of form that we live in, it's the world in which we work, in which we pay money, we eat food, we brush our teeth, stealing is an ever-present We do it all the time in very small ways, and I feel like the practice of Zen, to go back to the preceptual gate that's mentioned in the lineage paper, that the practice of Zen is to bring this to awareness. And it comes out again, it comes in small ways, it comes in small ways, it may be coming in small ways right now, right here, Even in Zazen, we steal time from ourselves.

[18:47]

We come with an intention to sit, sit upright, pay attention to our breath and posture, and all of us, I suspect, it must be very unusual that I include myself entirely, spend, wait, steal time sort of carelessly drifting about in various kinds of thoughts and speculations, some of them urgent, some of them quite mundane like what's for dinner or who's driving by. And we steal time from that pure intention of just sitting tend to. At another level, I really like the way we recite the precept here at Berkley Zen Center, that the vow we take is not to take what is not given.

[20:00]

That has a wider implication, a deeper implication than just the literal meaning. from not stealing. I think it really encourages us to look at how we live. In our meal chant, we say, innumerable labors brought us this food, made me know how it comes to us. We should know how our food comes to us. We should understand what labors went into everything that we handle or do. And we should understand, and this is where it moves out, I think, into a political and social realm, that the labors that support my lifestyle and

[21:13]

the kind of comfort that I may crave or have are not always compensated at the same level of comfort or reciprocity that is offered to me. In other words, part of the way I live is based on the exploitation of others. And this is... What do I allow for the sake of comfort? What do I allow to be taken from the planet? That is not necessarily offered. Some things are ripped from the insides of the planet. Some things are stripped off the surface.

[22:15]

These things did not ask to be offerings. Although, again, in the ultimate sense, there's nothing to be stolen. Everything is given. But, where is my sense of, what's my sense of responsibility to this? What's my sense of responsibility, and I've talked about this before, to to people who are working in mines, or in refineries, or in countries where there are natural resources that we depend on every day to drive, or to work our computers, or to drink our cup of coffee, any of these things. And how rigorously am I willing to examine my wants I think this connects very deeply to the reading and preparation that we're doing with this meeting in Rome.

[23:19]

And, you know, I'm sure that within this community we have various opinions and thoughts about And I'm trying to look at these in myself, the deep habits of individualism, the kind of discipline of dualistic thinking that I've grown up with, conditioning, and the constant force of media persuasion that is always trying to separate out these thoughts and these things that I call life from something else that I might call Zen practice.

[24:24]

And what we learn here, as we said, is there's actually nothing outside of Zen practice. There's nothing outside else. When we study the Buddha's description, his discovery of dependent origination, it can come down to, because there is this, there is that. These things, these conditions, the conditions of our life relate to the conditions of other people's lives. And conversely, it's true. So, in A.K. Roshi's book, he has a couple of quotations from Gandhi that I think should be Gandhi wrote in the 1940s. We're not always aware of our real needs, and most of us improperly multiply our wants and thus unconsciously make thieves of ourselves.

[25:36]

If we devote some thought to this subject, we shall find that we can get rid of quite a number of our wants. One who follows the observance of non-stealing will bring about a progressive reduction of his own wants. Much of the distressing poverty in this world has arisen out of the breaches of the principle of non-stealing." So I think here is where the precept turns towards action, and that action is the manifestation of another dharma principle that we study and we talk about. That would be dana paramita, the perfection of giving or generosity, one of the six perfections. And this is clearly, this is articulated by Thich Nhat Hanh in another good book that

[26:39]

He writes, Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving-kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering and the suffering of other species on earth." So that's the way he turns the precept of not stealing into It's a principle of generosity, and it's simultaneously a principle of renunciation.

[27:55]

You know, the Buddha path is not necessarily a path of... it's the middle way. It's not a path of extreme austerities or hardships, but it is a path of renunciation. who were seen as practitioners in the steadiest way were monks and nuns. And their path of renunciation was very clearly marked out to them in a whole series of rules. I think Dalai talked about this two weeks ago. For us, as a fundamentally lay community, and in that, even though I wear a robe, I include myself because I live in this twilight zone, but mostly I live as a householder. I have family, I have children, I have a job.

[29:00]

I'm not a monk. I haven't renounced everything. So renunciation is a very tricky question for us. How do we live a life that's proper? a life that's non-exploitative. And, you know, again, Akinroshi quotes Gandhi, and Gandhi's perspective was very strong, very challenging. And I'll just read this to you, and we can leave the challenge sort of hanging for discussion. Gandhi wrote again in the 40s, In India we have got 3 million people, and there are probably many more than that now, 3 million people who have to be satisfied with one meal a day, and that meal consisting of a chapati containing no fat in it and a pinch of salt.

[30:02]

You and I have no right to anything that we have until these 3 million are clothed and fed better. You and I, who ought to know better, must adjust our wants and even undergo voluntary starvation in order that they may be nursed, fed, and clothed. So, what's being urged in that is that not that we get rid of our needs, but that we adjust our wants. We do have needs. There are things that are requisite, that are basic, that all beings have a right to. But to the extent that our wants, that they shape and control the ability of other people to meet their needs, then we have a real problem, a real gap in our understanding of interrelationship.

[31:17]

And so we come back to the Bodhisattva vow to save all sentient beings, or to awaken all sentient beings. And this means each of us taking responsibility for our own and everyone's well-being and liberation. how we accomplish this vow. We do it here. We have an opportunity to do it by sitting and by living on the exact spot where our own zazen and where the practice of sangha or community meet. That we, the Buddha,

[32:25]

urges us to be self-reliant. The Bodhisattva vow is incumbent upon each of us, and yet the form in which we do this is a communal one. So, while we need to be self-reliant, we're not there's no necessity to be private or completely cut off as individuals in our taking care of our surroundings. I think that the great gift that we have is to be able to share this with our Dharma family, in an immediate sense, and with the whole family of humankind and other species in the larger sense who are also sangha.

[33:32]

But most immediately we can talk about it here because we're pursuing a kind of similar path. There's also another side she was remembering a conversation or advice from a Tibetan teacher, Jagad Tulku, to a man named Jarvis Masters, who is a friend of Melody Irmachal, and somebody who some of us correspond with. He's on death row in San Quen. He's a practicing Buddhist. Some of you may have seen his book, Finding Freedom.

[34:34]

And Jagad Tulku, told him when he met him. racism, all kinds of discrimination that are both personal and also sometimes structural.

[35:41]

And it just means that we take primary responsibility for ourselves and try to see how to heal ourselves. And by healing ourselves, we begin to see a way that we can offer something back to people, even to the people who are oppressing us. But I think we have to begin by looking at our own relationship to ourselves and to our society. One thing Laurie was talking about last night was for practical advice. And we sort of went around a number of times, like, well, what's practical? What does that mean?

[36:43]

And I think that our sitting here and our discussion and dialogue and being in community and working together is a reflection of us taking personal responsibility. I feel like I do this with really deep faith, that by learning to become self-reliant, learning to see even the unpleasant and ugly things about the circumstances of my life, that I begin to manifest some control over my own desires, over my wants, and in some way that can enable others to take responsibility. That communicates to them a way of not stealing, a way of living morally, even if they don't think I'm doing it.

[37:47]

It raises the question. They may not be convinced about me, but it can still raise the question for each of them. how you might want to live, how I might want to live, live morally, and to live in liberation. We make this vow, to save all sentient beings, and it will take a very long time. I'm sure it will take more time than I have in my life, or than you have in your life, but it seems like what we must Thank you for your talk. Thank you for your courage and willingness to get out there.

[38:54]

And I love the image of a man or woman on the Zoffer sitting with George Wilkinson. My friend, some of you have met Sulat Sivaraksa. He was here. He's a Thai social philosopher, a Buddhist social philosopher. And he was invited to the first of these big gatherings that they had in February. And afterwards, Sulat said, Wilkinson wants meditation instruction. And he said, I think you should write to him. instruction, that's the easiest thing for me to do. I know how to do that. I don't know about the, you know, I don't know about multi-national debt and transfer of finances, but I do know how to use the Auslan instruction.

[40:02]

But you do know that the perfection of data is actually the mission statement of the World Bank. That's right. missed the mark. That in a world with over a billion people living on a dollar or day or less, I'm able to meet their basic human needs. Wolfensohn knows that, and he has been reaching out, he has been open to that conversation. Yeah, I think that's my understanding. Even from talking to the people at 50 Years Enough, they all feel that there's really not a problem about that, but they're also completely, they're in such a different place and they have such a different view of, you know, the world and what they think about that their willingness winds up being acted out in a very kind of business level and often not successful.

[41:32]

But I think it's, I don't think it's their lack of willingness in most cases, I think it's just their lack of, you know, seeing There are people caught in a system, and they only know how to do things in the way that they know how to do things. And each of us lives that way. We have a different system, maybe. We have a lot of different systems here in this room. And people from different classes, different levels of privilege. And what we're committed to, I think, is being free from any system of thought and seeing through all these systems of thought and recognizing these are just ideas and not being pushed around by our feelings or being locked into ideas. And I don't think that they're in any different situation except they're in a pretty heavy-duty system that has a lot of very immediate effect on people.

[42:40]

It seems to me that core of your practice, Mary, that's relevant to both the World Bank and to each individual, is to restate the precept of not stealing into the thought of non-gaming. And if the World Bank could express its mission and engage all of its allies in a non-gaming attitude, there would be a great deal more success, not only in what they're doing, but in their approach to what their objectives are. And I think that part of the obstruction to their effectiveness is that when they engage others in the business of dispersing funds, all of those people are engaging attitude. Even in the process of generosity. is that the people, they're in this business, they give money to so-called disadvantaged people.

[44:01]

The disadvantaged people themselves have zero say in what those funds are used for. And so it's not a participatory or responsive situation. I don't know. But there's no chance of working it out so long as what you have are people who've got a lot of money. Well, you know, we also permit certain ideas of gaining. I mean, basically what we're saying is there are needs. So we're saying, we think it's okay for you to have gaining ideas up to the point where your needs are met. And that's somewhat arbitrary. And it's always going to be subject to perspective of whoever's making the decision.

[45:04]

Right. Right. But so long as, you know, if there's a fuller dialogue, then I just, I believe in that more honest exchange. as hopefully, it's not going to take away the contradictions, there's some really deep contradictions, but at least I believe in people having a voice. I don't want to open that particular case.

[46:20]

I think we can leave that statement there. I don't disagree with it. And I would just encourage people, if you want... And what's offered back? Connectedness.

[47:33]

Gratitude and appreciation also. One more. Yes, I wanted to make my comment about this meeting that you're going to. And that is, I believe there already are some other models. Like it's, I think it's very positive that the World Bank is engaging in this kind of dialogue, but there are models in the third world. I think it's the Guinea. Guinea Bank. Yeah, Guinea Bank, where there are, what, small, my understanding is there's small groups of people who receive like seed loans and they start small businesses and this multiplies and there have been tremendous successes that have very powerful meaning to the people who have engaged in this and I think there are even some models that are operating

[48:41]

But I don't think we're talking about reinventing the wheel, because I think there are some successes that can be identified and can be multiplied. Anne, let me just have to say that the World Bank recently moved $3 billion to BASIC. Thank you. And I would encourage you to talk with me. I'm still collecting input and thoughts. And also to remind us not to get, and me too, not to get too caught up in the drama of high finance, but to look at our immediate involvement and our immediate

[49:53]

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