I vow to face the truth that has words. Good evening. So we're doing this chapter called Chief in Goodness, which follows, happens to be the next chapter, after the one we did last week. We did purifying practice last week with all those verses. So this is Book 12, Chief in Goodness. And I just wanted to make a few, say a few things about the sutra before beginning here. So I think I want to mention the first week that, so I'm repeating a little bit, but because it's so important that this story of the Buddha becoming enlightened under the tree

[01:26]

and beginning to teach in awakened beings is sort of magnified to the level of archetype by this and other Mahayana sutras so that you get the impression that what's being said here is that this is not a story, not even of a person exactly, but it's a sort of metaphor or archetype describing the nature of impermanence itself and the nature of reality itself. So that One of the things that happens in this sutra, one of the sections of the sutra, is about the ten stages of the Bodhisattva, because the Buddha is the sort of, what would we say, the quiescent aspect of reality. that is totally ineffective. The Buddha does not affect anything or produce anything.

[02:30]

And sort of out of the Buddha emanates an active aspect which is called in the sutra, enlightened beings, bodhisattvas. And there's a very much of a mixed up between, you know, which is which. And a lot of times they'll say, there's this Buddhist named such-and-so, and these enlightened beings named such-and-so, and it's the same name. They'll give the same name to indicate that. And there's even one passage where it says, the Buddhist and enlightened beings are the same being, or something like that. I forget what it says exactly. Anyway, it's quite mixed up. And this sutra is talking about the career fleshing out. How does this active aspect emanate from this quiescence of reality and what are the stages it goes through until it returns to a state of quiescence? Presumably a kind of activity that's happening constantly on each atom in the universe.

[03:33]

This is happening in each flash of instant of time. This process is happening. So the sutra in its many teachings that it gives. In the form of the sutra, after the initial beginning, remember I said that the first couple hundred pages are setting the stage for the Buddha to begin to teach, and then the chapter on the Four Noble Truths is the first teaching, and then many other teachings are given. And then after that we come into this lengthy phase in which The way it works is the Buddha, while still sitting on the seat of enlightenment, at the same time is transfigured to another locale in some heaven or other, there's several ones, goes to that heaven and the chief of that heaven appears and welcomes him and prepares a throne for him and he sits down on the throne and then that chief recites a bunch of verses telling about how in the past other Buddhas were here therefore creating roots of goodness that enable this moment to occur.

[04:35]

Then after that, many enlightening beings come to that place and deliver a bunch of eulogies to the Buddha. And usually the eulogies are giving teachings about emptiness and mind-only philosophy and totality philosophy that I talked about last time. Then when all that's over, one of the bodhisattvas stands up and gives a teaching about sometimes one part of the sutra, it's the ten stages of the bodhisattva. another time it's the ten practices, another time it's the ten dedications, another time it's the ten powers, these lists of ten which are to show how it is that the bodhisattvas act, what the stages are that they go through in order to achieve the full range of activity. And I think there's a kind of a sense here of a vision of reality in which the active aspect of reality is moving toward a kind of sense of ultimate closure and perfection.

[05:38]

So it's actually a wonderful, the Mayana vision I think is very inspiring because it sort of tells you that on a cosmic level and beyond what we humans can see in terms of our own ability to envision reality, beyond this there's a deeper, more inclusive level in which this thing is going on these stages, and this inevitably is going on in this way toward completion, even though we can't necessarily fathom it, you know, with our eye of practice yet. But once we embark on this, we will be able to see this. That's the kind of sense of it. So it's a very grand, beautiful kind of vision, and a big part of the career, and in this chapter, the reason I'm saying all this is because in this chapter, Chief and Goodness, which is named for the Bodhisattva called Chief-in-Goodness, who speaks this chapter. This is a statement. The Chief-in-Goodness talks about how the Bodhisattvas do all this, how they pass through these various stages and do this.

[06:52]

And one really important stage of it is thought of enlightenment, the production of the thought of enlightenment. Now, did I go into that here? Did I talk about the thought of enlightenment? I did. Because I'm getting mixed up. I'm giving a class also in Green Gulch. Anyway, the producing, there are many things that happen in the bodhisattva's career. And the final thing is when the bodhisattva, the last stage is called coronation, when the bodhisattva becomes you know, enthroned as a king of dharma or queen of dharma as a result of this whole process. But toward the beginning, there's one very important event that occurs in this career, and that's what it's called, bodhisattva career. In this career, one important event that occurs is when the bodhisattva suddenly is produced in the bodhisattva, this thing called bodhicitta.

[07:54]

Citta means thought, and bodhi means awakening. So the thought of awakening suddenly comes up and transforms the life of the bodhisattva. So the bodhisattva spends some preliminary time developing such a thought, working toward it, and then it sort of comes up, and then from that moment on, The bodhisattva never turns back, and it's an endless lifetime after lifetime of all this activity, but totally that activity is all produced by the power of this thought of enlightenment. In the Diamond Sutra, there's a very famous passage that supposedly was the one that the Sixth Patriarch heard and was awakened by. which is, you should produce a thought unsupported by sounds, unsupported by sight objects, unsupported by touchables and so on. Produce a thought unsupported anywhere.

[08:57]

And hearing this, this ancestor became awakened and went to the monastery. And this thought that's unsupported anywhere is bodhichitta. Because It arises, everything that we think and do is connected to side objects, in other words, clinging and grasping. Our perception our whole life is based on a mistaken approach to reality of clinging and grasping at objects which are in fact never there. awakening or whatever you want to call it, awareness of emptiness and so on, is unsupported thought. It's a thought that spontaneously rises up in the heart and motivates us from then on, despite the fact that we may have all the other kinds of things going on in our life.

[10:04]

Suddenly we're inspired to make this the centerpiece of our life, this practice and this sort of effort So, chief in goodness here begins by praising this bodhicitta, talking about it a lot. I thought all things would be subject to some causes, so it seemingly would have some kind of structure, maybe not supported directly by another thought or idea and all that, but it wouldn't be necessarily independent of Not that it's independent or outside of causality, but it is causality itself. It's not that it's outside of causality, but it's causality itself manifesting. It's like if our thinking is pulling here and there at the web of causality.

[11:10]

Bodhicitta is like the entire net shakes once. So it's not like it's outside the net, but it's different from when we're plucking an object in this corner, in this nexus of the net, and plucking in an object in that nexus of the net, and plucking in an object in all these objects which aren't really there, but suddenly when the whole net shakes, it's seeing that there are no objects. Without us doing anything? Yeah. So, if that makes sense. And I'm not entirely satisfied with that myself, but that's the best I can do. For now. Yeah, because it's never the case that something appears out of nowhere, you know, and is uncaused, or is outside the net of causality. And the other thing about this bodhicitta is that it's... Why, I don't know exactly, but maybe because, exactly, bodhicitta is the whole net of causality shaking once, it appears as not only the thought of awakening, but also

[12:31]

the thought of awakening with and for all beings, like our first vow that we take. So this kind of compassion and zeal, almost fanatical zeal, to work for the benefit of beings, to the point that the sutra has these amazing passages, like there's a section I was reading the other day on giving. which delineates dozens of kinds of giving that the Bodhisattva practices. It talks about how they will cut off their arms and legs. If people need some arms and legs, they'll give them their arms and legs and pluck out their heart and liver and kidneys and hand them over to the Bodhisattva, such is the fanatic zeal of the Bodhisattva to give gifts to others and help others. So the Avatamsaka Sutra has this emphasis on working for the wheel of beings and helping beings. I think it's important that as Zen students we're reading this sutra and reminding ourselves about this commitment which is part of Zen practice because I think, in a way, when Zen teachers in the Zen tradition talks about bodhicitta, it doesn't emphasize so much

[14:02]

seeking enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. It more stresses the former part, you know, seeking enlightenment, having the mind to seek enlightenment. It doesn't so much stress the latter part. And there's a famous story, I forget who, which teacher it is, but someone asks the teacher, what is Buddhist compassion? And the teacher responds, drink a cup of tea and go. This is the answer to the meaning of Buddhist compassion. Drink a cup of tea and go. So this is a really profound sense of what compassion is in terms of Buddhism. Being present, thoroughly turning your life as you find it, period, and moving on. is compassion.

[15:07]

Compassion goes much deeper than what looks like compassion from the outside, helping somebody across the street. That looks like compassion, and drinking a cup of tea may not look like compassion, but actually, thoroughly drinking a cup of tea is the most fundamental kind of compassion. So I guess my own personal feeling is that I definitely believe in the Zen style of compassion as being the most fundamental, but I guess I feel as if we may be missing something if we don't read a sutra like this and get this other side. So maybe we don't take it literally as Zen students, and maybe we have a somewhat different feeling about it, but I think it's really important for us to be affected by and moved by these kinds of expressions. So I think, probably in the ages gone by,

[16:10]

The people who went to Zen monasteries had already studied this literature and had this feeling. And then it was good for them to go to a Zen monastery and hear somebody say, drink a cup of tea and go. That was just what they needed to hear, and that really grounded them. Because actually, I think that over the generations in China, the Buddhists did a lot of kooky things, I think, based on this kind of sutra. Because I think they did sometimes cut off their arms. They actually did that, I think. And I don't think that's that great a thing. So I feel like, you know, why I'm interested in reading these sutras, these Mahayana sutras, and teaching them is because I think that we can use a little bit of that, especially in this present moment in history when I think we have a great social responsibility as practitioners to do something. And we could, you know, you could read the Zen texts and you could easily walk inside of your Zen center or monastery and close the door behind you and think that since we're all drinking tea together, what more do we have to do?

[17:19]

So anyway, just a little pep talk here. So, do you have any questions or comments or anything so far about the sutra, last week's reading or what I've said or what you've been thinking? The compassionate act of drinking a cup of tea, does that flow from the doctrine of totality? Absolutely, yeah. Exactly, yeah. Because it's not compassionate if you drink tea dualistically. Yeah, that's right. Really drinking a cup of tea. On a simple level, if causality is true, and if every wholesome act has powerful effects,

[18:30]

The act of seeing reality whole is a powerful act that has effects that one can't exactly measure. And the act of helping somebody, what looks like helping somebody, and it is not in accord with reality, with wholesome dharmas, can also be not a truly helpful act. Okay, well, if there's no other questions, we can take a look at this section here. Yeah? I do, it's really about the... I can't remember when we talked about it at the first meeting. I can't remember. But it is so long, you know, it's so extensive. Yeah. Did you cover, I mean, is there any idea about how this came to be?

[19:32]

It developed, I mean, it's not the work of the same. Yeah. Well, nobody knows exactly. Their scholarship differs, but the story that I like is, that I believe, you know, it seems most likely, is that this was put together in China. probably was not Indian text, put together in China using some translations of certain key Indian sutras, putting those Indian sutras together and adding a whole bunch of stuff to it over a period of time. may be the Chinese idea of Indian.

[20:38]

Well, that's what I think it is. I mean, the Chinese, I think, when they got into it, sort of, you know, got into the Indian mode and out-Indianed the Indians. Yeah, I do. I think so. Just like you see some Western Zen students who will out-Japanese the Japanese, who go to Japanese monasteries and become more Japanese than the Japanese. That was definitely not the dominant mode of Chinese approach to religion and spirituality. just as I'm sure that our American mode of religion and spirituality will not be to be Japanese style. And yet, you find individual Americans who will really take to that and become very Japanese-like. So I think the same thing, my feeling is the same thing is true here, that you found that happening with certain Chinese people that got into it. A certain aspect of Chinese character came out that wouldn't have otherwise. Anyway, there is speculation that there was an original Sanskrit text, but pretty much all of the Mahayana Sutras have lots of accretions, and it's very confusing as to who.

[21:55]

And it seemed like they were very free. When they copied the text and handed it down, they would often make their own improvements. I mean, at a certain point it certainly became canonical. But while it was being developed, there was a lot of freedom. And there are several versions of the text. This is probably the most read one, but there are several others. Remember, in the last chapter, when the teaching began originally, Manjushri was doing the teaching. Here, in Book 12, Manjushri having explained the great virtues of the unpolluted, undistorted, pure activity, which is what we read last time, these different verses, wanted to bring out the virtues of the aspiration for enlightenment, bodhichitta. So he asked the Enlightened Being, Chief in Goodness,

[22:57]

He said to Chief in Goodness, Now I have, for the sake of the enlightening beings, explained the purifying practices cultivated by Buddhas in the past. Benevolent one, you too in this assembly should expound supreme virtues of practical application. Then Chief in Goodness responded in verse, When an enlightening being first determines on the way, vowing to seek and realize Buddha's enlightenment, the virtues therein are boundless, immeasurable, beyond compare." Then he goes through the entire practice of the Bodhisattva up to the realization of Buddhahood and then talks about the virtues of Buddhahood.

[24:06]

So it begins, surprisingly, with faith. Faith is the basis of the path, the mother of virtues, nourishing and growing all good ways, cutting away the net of doubt, freeing from the torrent of passion, revealing the unsurpassed road of ultimate peace. When faith is undefiled, the mind is pure. Obliterating pride, it is the root of reverence and the foremost wealth in the treasury of religion, being a pure hand to receive the practices." So faith is creating a pure hand to receive the practices. It's kind of a nice image. Faith is generous. The mind is not begrudging. Faith can joyfully enter the Buddhist teaching. Faith can increase knowledge and virtue. Faith can assure arrival and enlightenment. It goes on and on about faith. But of course, faith in what?

[25:16]

Faith in nothing. Faith as basically faith in causality, faith in the emptiness of all being, the emptiness of everything and the interconnectedness of everything. So it's not faith in something like faith in the Buddha or faith in this or faith in that. And it says, it goes on, faith has no attachment to objects. This is unsupported in the same sense in which bodhicitta is unsupported. Faith has no attachment to objects. So there's no object of faith. It's not that you have faith in the Buddha or faith in causality as an object. Or faith in nothing as an object. Right. That's right. I'm wondering if one could ever begin to understand that faith unless one already had it. Yes, probably not. Probably not. Because you would always be, because of the way we think, you would always be

[26:20]

positing an object. And I think one never understands it in the way that we understand something by saying that's what it is. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And yet we know it, or know of it, the way that one has a feeling. You know, there's such a thing, for instance, as a tremendous feeling of certainty, right, about this. Certainty about what? I don't know. But certainty. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, it's not, I don't think you could possibly, I mean, if you write about that for the rest of the book, I don't think you could actually ever say anything. No, right, that's right. I think that's true. Yeah, that's why they say, you know, you have to They say it's like a deaf and dumb person waking up from a dream. You know it's so, but you can't tell anybody.

[27:25]

You can't speak, you know, you can't say anything. So, not that it's mysterious, I don't mean to, you know, indicate that it's some kind of mystery or something. It's very ordinary, but it doesn't, just is the kind of a thing that doesn't yield to the ordinary explanations. To use that, you want to sort of confirm, you know, died to get there. Yeah, I know what you mean. In a sense, you could say we read this entire sutra of 2,000 pages and it didn't say anything. Yeah, that's right. But even so, So this is encouraging us, even though it's not telling us anything, it's saying how great this is, right? This faith can go beyond the pathways of demons and reveal the unsurpassed road of liberation.

[28:28]

Faith is the unspoiled seed of virtue. Faith can grow the seed of enlightenment. Faith can increase supreme knowledge. Faith can reveal all Buddhas. Therefore, I'll explain in steps, practicing in accord. And then he goes on to explain this wonderful way of, like, if you do this, then that'll happen, and once that happens, then that happens, and that happens when that happens, and that happens when that happens. So he starts and says, so he begins with faith. Then, if one always faithfully serves the honorable teaching, then one will tirelessly listen to the Buddha's teaching. If one hears the Buddha's teaching without tiring of it, one's faith in the teaching is inconceivable. If one always faithfully serves the pure community, then one's faith will never regress. If one's faith never regresses, one's power of faith is unshakable. So these are all stages of faith, and serving the Buddha produces more faith.

[29:36]

If nothing can shake one's power of faith, then one gains purity, clarity, and sharpness of sense. If one has purity, clarity, and sharpness of sense, one can avoid bad associates. So, it's very important. Don't hang around with bad associates. Once you have faith in this, you better get rid of all your friends who tell you it's stupid and want you to do other things. Don't hang around with them. because you already have purity, clarity, and sharpness of sense, you realize you don't want to do that anymore, so you stop. If one can avoid bad associates, then one can approach good associates. If one can be with good associates, then one can cultivate great goodness. So this means, you know, there's all these lists of things that you can cultivate that are good things, which will, you know, energy, compassion, patience, giving, etc., etc.

[30:39]

So this is like the pure precepts. The first pure precept is to avoid bad, avoid creating troublesome conditions in your life. And the second pure precept is once you did that, and you've sort of warded off all the temptations to make trouble, and you're not making as much trouble in your life, then you should turn around and try to find good things to cultivate. So that's the first. Avoid all evil, do all good to pure precepts. Then, if one can cultivate great goodness, one can perfect great causal power. This means the ability to, through ritual and other kinds of activity, to create roots of goodness and good karma. Then if you do that, you can attain supremely certain understanding. So in order to achieve supremely certain understanding, you actually have to do causal activity in this way, bowing and all that.

[31:46]

Then if you attain supremely certain understanding, you will be protected by the Buddhas. If one is protected by the Buddhas, then one can arouse the thought of enlightenment. So it's because one is protected by the Buddhas that the thought of enlightenment comes into the heart unsupported. By anything. Because by definition, the Buddhas are not supports, you know. They're the opposite of supports. They're unsupported. Could you say something about, like what Dogen says about the thought of enlightenment as actually when you're sitting on the cushion way back prior to all these other stages, right? Yeah, well that's an important thing, you know. I mean, Dogen is very radical, you know. Dogen affects a great reinterpretation of all this stuff, you know. Not that he denies it this way, but he flips it, and he says, all these stages, they're all included, each stage is included in all the other stages.

[32:53]

And of course he says, all the stages are included in each moment of Zazen. So he says things like that. So for Dogen, this is all, this is too tempting, you know, we read something like this and we start running around, you know, believing that, yeah, a checklist, right, a little checklist. So, you know, and, you know, the spirit of the sutra is obviously, I mean, people did do those things, you know, but if you really get into the spirit of the sutra, you see that it's way beyond that, you know, accumulation of lists of things in a karmic realm. It's sort of, this is taking place somewhere else, right? And over there, where this is taking place, after all, don't forget, I don't know how much I went into this before, but this sutra is not taking place on the space-time continuum. All this stuff on and on and on about a beam of light going to this world system and beyond and beyond, it's obviously saying this is not taking place in space that you know about.

[33:56]

And it's not taking place in time that you know about. So if it's not taking place in the space and time that we know about, what does it mean when it says there are ten stages and you do this one first and that one second? Well, it doesn't mean what it would seem to mean from the space-time. And Dogen emphasizes that side. He says, well, let's get serious here. take a look at what this is really saying. So, is that speaking to what your question is? Yeah, and again, like you just said, it's not talking about what we can, what our normal way of looking at things are, then it's sort of, you can't really explain it. No. And this chapter ends with something, I think it's this chapter. It ends after saying all of this amazing stuff. Yeah, after, you know, 30 pages of explaining all this, it says, at the end. The doors of liberation of the enlightening beings cannot be revealed by any similes." This is after thirty pages of similes. "...cannot be revealed by any similes, but I have, with these metaphors, said something of their free power."

[35:01]

In other words, I realize that I really haven't told you anything. and that this doesn't really describe anything, but I just wanted to give you the feeling, you know, give you an idea, get you psyched up, you know, and encourage you in your activities. So I said all this stuff, but I'm not kidding myself, you know what I mean, that I'm saying anything in particular. Yeah, so. I was struck by your simile of the deaf and blind person waking up from a dream and being able to communicate that. Yeah. this is an experience that is at a very deep level, but it also transcends the space-time continuum. Yeah. So it's not something one could will. No. No, it's not. Although it's... Yeah, no, you're absolutely right, but I don't want to... Although one uses one's intellect. Yeah, one uses everything, yeah.

[36:06]

Yes, I don't want to make it seem as if one can't communicate this, in the sense that, as if all efforts to say anything or do anything about it, to communicate to others, are totally useless. No. It's only true that you can't communicate it in the sense that you can't communicate it the way other things can be communicated. You can't say, oh, let me explain to you. For instance, you can say, realistically, you can say to somebody, let me explain to you how to get to Green Gulch." And you can say that to somebody, and they will actually arrive there later. Right? Maybe. So, I mean, that's a reasonable thing, to say to somebody, I will now tell you how to get to Green Gulch, and you can hopefully, I mean, it's possible that they will arrive there. Whereas if you say to someone, I will now tell you how to get enlightened, they may not arrive there that quickly as they would get to Green College, so that you can't explain it in that way.

[37:09]

And yet, if we couldn't communicate it and work on it, there wouldn't be Buddhist practice, right? But you can't sort of say what it's like after you've gotten there. Well, no. You could say that. Is that what the sutra is sort of doing? Yeah, but it's trying to indicate that, and I think it's trying to work on our psyches in some way. But when we try to grasp it with our ordinary intellectual way, probably we make either an overestimation or an underestimation of what the sutra is talking about. Probably we don't quite hit the mark. You see what I mean? I thought when we chanted last week we got pretty close. Yeah, yeah. That's true. You're right. I thought it was very like a yeshiva.

[38:10]

Yeshiva? The chanting was? Do you know that in Jerusalem, speaking of yeshivas, do you know that in Jerusalem there's a yeshiva there where they're studying the ancient laws, the priest class are studying the ancient laws of the rituals that are performed. When the temple is restored, they're actually studying this. The temple hasn't existed for 2,000 years, but they think that God is going to restore it at any minute. So they're actually devoting themselves to the study of the rituals that will occur when the sky opens up and the new temple is sort of lowered down to the mosque of Omar. Let's not talk about it. Maybe we should tell Merit about the third book, Sudhana, and all that.

[39:19]

The last book in the sutra explains Were you in that class? Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's why I Took a class from Norman. I found out how this whole thing comes out But there's this way seekers name is Sudhana he's very has the benefit of talking to a lot of different people, each of which has a practice. And he manages, in one lifetime, to enter... Tushita Heaven? Maitreya's Tower. No, but it's the other one. It's not Maitreya. It's... The Mount of Others? No, no. The Cosmic Buddha's Tower. Bhairava Chandra's Tower.

[40:24]

Bhairava Chandra's Tower. Yeah, Maitreya is the boss there. But he has a different name. And it explains a lot of experiences, mainly in terms of jewels and flashing lights. Yeah, in the Sudhana, in the final book, a section of the sutra, Sudhana visits fifty-three teachers, and those teachers are, each one is esoterically associated with all these various things, lists of ten things. So there'll be the first ten teachers are associated with the first ten stages, and the second ten teachers are associated with the ten powers, all of which is laid out in this sutra. So it's a very kind of architectural design, the way that the thing is structured. But anyway, yeah, there's this cosmic thing that happens at the end where Sudhana, at the ultimate, penultimate chapter of the sutra, goes into Bhairavacana's tower. And in Bhairavacana's tower, it is the vision of totality, where in this tower there are all these, he sees, you know,

[41:28]

on each atom, all these scenes taking place simultaneously, everywhere at once, and each one reflecting all the others, and so on. I can't even remember. It's really amazing. Anyway, so back to this section here. Causal power protected by the Buddha, then one arouses the will for enlightenment. Then one can diligently cultivate the virtues of Buddhahood. and then it goes on. So that's sort of a bunch of stages up to the production of the bodhicittas. First of all, faith, and then sort of development of faith to unshakable faith, then development of clarity and therefore getting rid of bad associates, approaching good associates, producing then good dharmas, then producing causal power, then understanding, then with understanding comes the Buddhist protection, and then with the Buddhist protection comes bodhichitta.

[42:39]

Then you're really on your way. So then, if you can diligently cultivate, if you can arouse bodhichitta, then you can diligently cultivate the virtues of Buddhahood. And if you can do that... So faith is way back before bodhichitta. Faith is the basis. Yeah, right. Faith is the basis. but it's circular. I mean, faith is also the end, too, right? Faith is also the end, and it's also the beginning, because this kind of faith that it's talking about, obviously one doesn't start with that. See, it's interesting, because in a way, of course, we do. We already know that. And in a way, this whole business is going around in a circle, right? We're always coming back to faith again, and going through again. It's more like a spiral. Yeah, it's more like a spiral. Yeah, exactly. It's kind of like an ever-ascending spiral. So anyway, it goes on.

[43:49]

cultivate the virtues of Buddhahood, then you can be born in the family of the enlightened. That's what's enacted in the ordination ceremonies, right? You get reborn. It's born again, Buddhism, right? You get a lineage paper that tells you, now I'm born into this new family, and so forth. So then you get born in the family of the enlightened. When you do that, you can practice skillful, liberative techniques. If you can develop skill and means of liberation well, then you can reach purity of the faithful mind. If one gains purity of the faithful mind, then one can increase supreme will. If one can increase supreme will, then one can always practice the transcendent ways. the paramitas. If one always practices the transcendent ways, then one can fulfill the great vehicle. If one can fulfill the great vehicle, then one can give offerings to Buddha in the right way. Anyway, I don't want to read all of this to you, but it goes on here, a long time, through

[45:04]

Achieving, you know, liberating beings, mastering boundless teachings, unshakable compassion, not making any errors or becoming conceited, benefiting all beings, being invincible, defeating all demons, and so on. Then, when you go through all of this and achieve this sort of ultimate Buddhahood, then it tells you about how you can now work for the benefit of beings. And it tells you about all the different approaches that are done here.

[46:08]

The suffering of all worldly beings is deep and wide and boundless like the sea. Enlightening beings, sharing their tasks, can tolerate it all to cause them to benefit and gain peace and happiness. So this is a deep thing. The Enlightened Beings can tolerate this boundless suffering that seems so overwhelming. Sometimes it's hard to read the newspaper. But the Enlightened Beings can take it all in to cause them to benefit and gain peace and happiness. If any do not know the way to emancipation and do not seek liberation to leave turmoil behind, enlightened beings show them relinquishment of nation and wealth, satisfaction in detachment and peace of mind. If the home is a place of bondage by attachments in order to cause sentient beings to all escape trouble, they show home leaving and attainment of liberation without craving for any pleasures.

[47:27]

So depending on the kind of suffering that beings have, the enlightened beings will show different kinds of ways out of that. Some become grandees, city chiefs. Some become merchants, caravan leaders. Some become physicians and scientists. Some become kings and ministers. Some become great trees in the plains. See, so like a great tree in the rainforest might be actually a reincarnated Bodhisattva who's there to benefit beings. Some become medicine or jewel mines, some become pearls that fulfill all wishes, and some show the right path to sentient beings. If they see a world that just came into being, where the creatures don't yet have the tools for livelihood, enlightening beings become craftsmen and teach them various skills." So this is the Chinese guys were probably thinking of, like these great Chinese culture heroes, you know.

[48:30]

who first invented pottery, you know, the Chinese, all these greats. These probably were all, you see, these were all actually bodhisattvas who at the beginning of the culture could get things started, figure out how to do pottery and how to make paper and how to invent the alphabet. You know, I'm sure that the inventor of the Tibetan alphabet is a bodhisattva. They explain, you know, he's a bodhisattva. Things like that. They do not make anything that will oppress or afflict living beings. They only explain things that will be of benefit to the world. Various fields of knowledge, such as incantational arts and medicine, medicinal herbs and all contained therein, they can explain. Some become non-Buddhist mendicants. Some practice asceticism alone in the forest. Some go naked without any clothes, being teachers and leaders of such groups, even in the nudist colony. Some show various practices of wrong livelihood. Isn't that interesting? Practicing incorrect principles as supreme. I wonder why they do that. Some manifest the postures of brahman ascetics becoming leaders of such groups.

[49:36]

See? Yeah, it's great. So, like, no doubt, like Jerry Falwell is probably a bodhisattva, see? Reborn to teach us something. Right. He's there showing us, you know, what not to do or something. Some expose themselves to heat and fire and sun. Some practice cults imitating animals. Some put on filthy clothing and worship fire. In order to transform such cultists, they become their teachers. Some make a show of visiting shrines of various deities. Some make a show of entering the water of the Ganges River. Some eat roots and fruits, and so on. Sentient beings are deluded and accept false teachings. Sticking to wrong views, they suffer many pains. For them, are expediently taught wonderful principles to cause them to understand the genuine truth. The Four Noble Truths may be explained in local magical language.

[50:46]

Or the Four Noble Truths may be told in skillful, esoteric language. Or the Four Truths may be spoken in direct human speech. Or the Four Truths may be told in the language of divine mystery. The Four Truths are explained through analysis of words. The Four Truths are explained through ascertainment of principles. The Four Truths are explained skillfully refuting others. The Four Truths are explained undisturbed by outsiders. The Four Truths may be explained in several languages, or they may be explained in all languages. Anyway, then, yeah. You know, I guess what bothers me about this is that it really seems very far removed from, well, I don't know about the time thing, but what really brings to me anyway, true about the teaching is that Buddha's saying, I'm not, I don't hold anything back.

[51:48]

I don't have any esoteric teachings. I'm telling you everything I can tell you. It's all, all the cards are on the table. And what I can't explain, I have to say I can't explain because I don't have it. But it just seems you start getting, you know, really into into reading things. Yes. No, I know. That's why I don't recommend that we... No, I know. Yes. That's why I don't recommend that we become Avatamsaka Sutra cultists. I recommend that we read this sutra and then we forget it. And we go do Zazen and wash the floor. Because we are practicing the Zen path because it's very practical. and very simple. But I'm saying, now, here we are, spending a few weeks in the Avatamska Sutra, and we should plunge in and totally see nothing but the Avatamska Sutra. Then, soon enough, it'll be over. We'll close the book and forget it. I tend to forget entirely about it until next October, when I'm going to read the final volume for twelve weeks.

[52:56]

In one way, it sounds like these bodhisattvas are all going out and being a bunch of clowns. Maybe there's some merit in those false practices that is hidden by the clownishness or craziness of it. Yeah, exactly. What this kind of thing says to me is, practically speaking, if I see somebody standing on their head on the street, instead of saying to myself, what a jerk, standing on their head on the street, how come they're not in a zendo, I have to say to myself now, probably a bodhisattva, you know, standing on the street or what they have to teach me by doing that, but probably there's something, you know. So that's really, you know what I mean? In other words, this is saying, everything that you see going on around you is a manifestation of this teaching.

[53:58]

That's what it's saying. Well, it's an interesting way of instilling tolerance for things. Yeah, that's what I'm, yeah. Even appreciation. Even more than tolerance, even appreciation and gratitude for these things. But anyway, I know what you mean. Believe me. When this twelve weeks is over, I usually breathe a sigh of relief. Escaped again. It's a wonderful way to appreciate simplicity. you know, the Messiah, and then silence, right? I really like the silence. Anyway, if you think this is far out, I want to just get to one more part here. After this, the next thing that happens is the Buddha emanates a light, and then there's several pages of all the different lights that are emanated by the Buddha, and what all these different lights do.

[55:03]

Then after that, the Buddhas enter into concentrations. And this is a really interesting part, I felt. Entering right concentration in the eye organ. This is incredible. When you think about this, it's really amazing. It's a treatise on perception. Entering right concentration in the eye organ, emerging from concentration in the field of form, showing the inconceivability of the nature of form. Entering right concentration in the field of form and emerging from concentration in the eye without disturbing the mind, explaining the eye is birthless and has no origin, by nature empty, null and doing nothing. entering right concentration in the ear faculty, and emerging from concentration in the field of sound, distinguishing the sounds of all languages, unknowable to gods and men, entering right concentration in the field of sound, emerging from concentration in the ear, the mind undisturbed, explaining the ear is birthless and has no origin, by nature empty, null, and doing nothing."

[56:26]

And it goes through the same formula for the other senses. So, concentration where you sort of jump in at the organ and come up in the object, understanding both of these are void, and then going back the reverse and going through all the senses. So this was obviously a meditation exercise. Without disturbing the mind. Right, without stirring. In other words, that means without anywhere... So this is talking about an actual physical exercise, a trance exercise, a purifying perception, so that What happens to us with perception ordinarily, it doesn't happen, which is we no longer define objects and grasp them. This is a pretty deep thing, talking about the intimacy of perception itself and how to work with it. Then it goes into this amazing page, which begins with, after it goes through all that, it says, Entering Right Concentration in the Body of the Youth,

[57:29]

emerging from concentration in the body of an adult, entering right concentration in the body of an adult, emerging from concentration in the body of one aged, entering right concentration in the body of one aged, emerging from concentration in the body of a devout woman, entering right concentration in the body of a devout woman, emerging from concentration in the body of a devout man, entering right concentration in the body of a devout man, emerging from concentration in the body of a nun, entering right concentration in the body of a nun, emerging from concentration in the body of a monk, entering right concentration in the body of a monk, emerging from concentration in the body of a learner or non-learner, and so on, going through celestial beings, Buddhas, dragons, yaksas, ghosts, hairpores, entering concentration in a hairpore, coming out of concentration in a hairpore, on a hair tip, in an atom, entering concentration in an atom, entering concentration in diamond ground, crystal tree, and so on, all this really weird stuff.

[58:46]

Anyway, it goes on like that. It's the kind of stuff I love. So many other things happen, and then it's the end. It ends like this. It's hard to find one with faith in this teaching. Yeah, that's what we're talking about. It's hard to find one with faith in this teaching. If any diligently cultivate pure virtues by the power of past cause they can believe. So, you get it? Like, if you work on, so you think, this is really hard, I can't have faith in this, this is too much. So it says, well, but if you cultivate positive virtues and work on good dharmas,

[59:52]

you will uncover your previous roots of goodness in past lives where you actually have already had faith in this, and that will come up, and then you'll be able to have faith. Among the creatures of all worlds are few who want to seek the vehicle of Buddhist followers. Those who seek solitary enlightenment are even fewer, and those who aim for great vehicle are very hard to find. The Mahayana. but striving for the great vehicle is easy compared to the greater difficulty of believing this teaching." So I thought that was kind of interesting because it's saying that this is not the Mahayana. This teaching is actually like tantrayana kind of teaching. And Zen, sometimes they say that Zen and Vajrayana are the same kind of thing, a little bit different from the Mahayana in that they're talking about the transformation of this world as it is, seeing that it's actually the world of enlightenment.

[60:57]

This is a characteristic of the teaching of totality and of the tantrayana and of Zen, sometimes they say that. So this sutra actually distinguishes itself here from the Mahayana, even though it's usually classified as a Mahayana sutra. Even more difficult it is to retain, recite, and explain it for others, to practice according to the teaching and truly understand it. To hold a galaxy in one's head without moving for one eon is not to be considered difficult compared to believing this teaching. So yeah, we are right. It's hard. It must be hard. Wait a minute. How could you do it without believing in the teaching? How could you hold a galaxy in your head? To pick up ten Buddha lands in the hand and stand in space through an eon is not to be considered hard compared to believing this teaching. If one provides comforts for an eon, we're going to get a lot of... It's hard. It's hard, but it's really good.

[61:59]

And we are definitely... That's why I'm doing it, really, is because I need the merit. Then it concludes, when the Enlightened Being, Chief in Goodness, had spoken these verses, The worlds in the Ten Directions quaked in six ways. The palace of demons was shrouded. The realms of ill ceased. The Buddhas of the Ten Directions appeared before him, and each patted him on the head with his right hand and praised him, saying, Excellent! You incisively explained this teaching, and we all accordingly rejoice." And that's the end of Book Twelve. The world, yeah. It didn't explain the six ways. Sometimes they do though. Yeah, sometimes they explain how the world shakes. I forget what it is, how it goes now. But they explain, you know, it shakes up and down or something. Okay, so shall we do our chanting service?

[63:03]

And we're going to begin reading on page 276 in the handout that you had from before. Yeah, the Four Noble Truths. And in the great enlightening beings, we choose for ecstasy enlightening beings.

[65:07]

Children of Buddhas, the holy truth of suffering in this world, endurance, is sometimes called wrongdoing or oppression or change or clinging to objects or accumulation or thorn stabbing or dependence on the senses or deceit or the palace of cancer or ignorant action. The holy truth of the cause of the accumulation of suffering in this world of doings may be called bondage, or disintegration, or attachment to goods, or false consciousness, or pursuit of involvement, or conviction, or the web, or fancified conceptualizing, or following, or rife activities. The holy truth of the extinction of suffering in this world endurance may be called non-contention, or freedom from defilement, or tranquility in dispassion, or signlessness, or deathlessness, or absence of inherent nature, or absence of hindrance, or extinction, or essential reality, or abiding in one's own essence. The holy truth of the path to the extinction of suffering in this world and the world to come. One vehicle of progress towards serenity, or guidance, or ultimate freedom from discrimination, or equanimity, or putting down the burden, or having no object of pursuit, or following the intent of the saint, or the practice of sages, or some treasury.

[66:20]

In this world there are four quadrillion such names to express the four holy truths in accord with the mentalities of sentient beings to cause them all to be harmonized and pacified. What in this world is called the holy truth of suffering is in that world secret teaching called the sense of striving and seeking or not being emancipated, or the root of bondage, or doing what shouldn't be done, or contending and struggling in all manner of situations, or total lack of power to analyze or be. all the holy truth, the information of suffering is never a secret teaching. Call it birth and death, or habitual attachment, or burning, or continuous revolving, or corrupt senses, or continuing existences, or evil behavior, or emotional attachment, or source of illness, or categorization. What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is, in that world's secret teaching, also called the ultimate truth or emancipation or praiseworthy or peace or the place of good to enter, facility or singleness or faultlessness or freedom from greed or resolution.

[67:29]

What is called the holy truth of the path to extinction of suffering is, in that world, secret teaching, also called bold generalship, or superior action, or transcendence, or having skill and means, or impartial eye, or detachment from extremes, or comprehensive understanding, or inclusion, or supreme eye, or contemplating the four truths. In the world of secret teaching there are four quadrillion such names to explain the four holy truths to cause sentient beings to be harmonized and pacified according to their mentalities. What is in this world endurance called the holy truth of suffering is in the world abundance also called fear, or individual morality, or disgusting, or what should be worked on, or change, or ensnaring enemy, or deceptive usurper, or hard-worked work with, or false discrimination, or possessor of power. What is called the holy truth of the accumulation of suffering is, in that world abundance, called corruption, or ignorance, or great enemy, or sharp blade, or taste of destruction, or revenge, or not one's own thing, or bad guidance, or increasing darkness, or ruining goodness.

[68:33]

What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is in that world abundance called great meaning or benefit or goal of goals or infinity or what should be seen or detachment from discrimination or supreme pacification or constant equanimity or worthy of living together or non-fabrication. What is called the holy truth or the path to the extinction of suffering is, in that world, abundance, called able to burn up, or the highest class, or certitude, or unbreakable, or profound techniques, or emancipation, or not mean, or base, or mastery, or essence of liberation, or capable of setting free. In that world, abundance, there are four billion such names to explain the four holy truths to cause sentient beings to be harmonized and pacified according to their mentalities. What is in this world endurance, called the holy truth of suffering, is in the world undefiled, also called regret, relation, or dwelling within walls, untruth, or living at home, or abode of deluded attachment, or false views, are innumerable. What is called the holy truth of the accumulation of suffering is in the world undefiled, also called no real thing, or only having words, or not pure, or place of birth, or grasping, or baseness, or increase, or heavy burden, or producer, or roughness.

[69:47]

What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is in the world undefiled, also called incomparable, or thoroughly cleared, or removal of defilement, or harmony, or independence, or extinction of confusion, or most excellent, or the ultimate, or breaking the seal. What is called the holy truth of the path to the extinction of suffering is, in that world, undefiled, called something indestructible, or the part of appropriate means, or the basis of liberation, the reality of basic nature, or the blameless, or the most pure, or the boundary of all existences, or maintaining what is received, complete, or producing the ultimate, or pure discernment. In the world of defile there are four quadrillion such names to explain the four truths, to cause all sentient beings to be harmonized and pacified according to their mentalities. What is in this world of ignorance called the holy truth of suffering is in the world a rich pleasure, also called a place of emotional attachment, or roots of danger and harm, or the sectors of the ocean of existence, or made by accumulation, or discriminating senses,

[70:49]

or origination, or destruction, or hindrance, or basis of sword blades, or made of sets. What is called the holy truth of the accumulation of suffering is in the world rich pleasure called detestable, or names, or endless, or different sets, or not to be loved, or able to grab and bite, or crude things, or emotional attachment, or receptacle, or stirring. What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is in that world rich pleasure called end of continuation, or revelation, or no label, or nothing to practice, or no object of vision, or non-doing, or extinction, or already burnt out, casting off the heavy burden or purged. What is called the holy truth or the path to extinction of suffering is, in that world, rich pleasure, called serene action or emancipating action, or diligent practice and experience, or gone to tranquility, or infinite life, or comprehensive knowledge, or the ultimate path, or difficult to practice, or reaching the other shore, or invincible. In the world of rich pleasure, there are four quadrillion such names to explain the four holy truths to cause all sentient beings to be harmonized and pacified according to their mentalities.

[71:53]

What is in this world endurance called the holy truth of suffering is in the world inclusion, also called able to plunder and usurp, or not a good friend, or full of fear, or various fancies, or the nature of hell, or untruth, or the burden of covetousness, or roots of deep gravity, or changing of moods, or fundamental vanity. What is called the holy truth of the accumulation of suffering is called, in that world, inclusion, greedy attachment, or wrong accomplishment, or the evil of excess, or nothing that can be explained, or nothing that can be apprehended, or continuously revolving in circles. What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is, in the world, inclusion, called non-aggression, or beyond speech, or formlessness, or enjoyable, or stability, or supreme wonder, or freedom from folly, or extinction, or detachment from evil, or escape. What is called the holy truth of the path to extinction of suffering is, in the world of inclusion, called beyond words or non-contention, teaching and guidance, or good dedication, or great skill, or a variety of techniques, or space-like, or serene action, or supreme knowledge, or our ability to understand truth.

[72:56]

In the world of inclusion, there are four or five billion such names to explain the four holy truths, to cause sentient beings to harmonize and pacify according to their mentality. What is in this world endurance, called the holy truth of suffering, is in the world beneficial, also called the heavy burden, or instability, or like a robber, or aging in death, or maid of craving, or transmigration, or fatigue, or bad condition, or growth of the sharp leg, What is called the holy truth of the accumulation of suffering is in the world beneficial, called decay, or confusion, or regression, or powerlessness, or loss, or opposition, or disharmony, or doing, or grasping, or wishing.

[73:56]

What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is in the world beneficial, also called escape from prison, or real truth, or freedom from troubles, or protection, or detachment from guilt, or be a fundamental or abandoned cause or non-starting or non-continuation. What is called the holy truth or the path to the extinction of suffering is in that world beneficial. Also called arriving at non-existence or the seal of the totality or the treasury of meditation or attainment of light or the non-regressive state or ability to put an end to being or the wide great road or ability to attain or having peace and security or non-routinized faculties. In this world beautified are such names to explain the four holy truths that cause sentient beings to be harmonized and pacified according to their vitality. What is in this world endurance, called the holy truth of suffering, is in the world rarified, also called dangerous desires, or a place of bondage, or a misguided action, a risk of sensitivity, a shamelessness, or a brooding greed, or an ever-flowing liver, a constant disintegration, or of the nature of torch fire, of full stress and anxiety.

[75:02]

What is called the holy truth of the accumulation of suffering is in that world called broad ground, or tendency, or distance from wisdom, or obstruction, or fear, or laxity, or taking in, or attachment, or ignorance of being master of the house, or continuous bonds. What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is in that world also called fulfillment, or immortality, or selflessness, or absence of inherent nature, or end of discrimination, or avoidance of happiness, or infinitude, or cutting off transmigration, or cutting off compulsive intellectivity, or renouncing duality. What is called the holy truth and the path to extinction of suffering is in that world also called great mind, or ocean of explanation, or analyzing meaning, or the way of harmony, or freedom from attachment, or breaking the continuum, or the broad highway, or the basics of spirituality, or pure methods, or supreme insight. In that world there are four quadrillion such names to explain the four holy truths, because sentient beings can be harmonized and pacified according to their mentalities. What is, in this world called nirvana, called the holy truth of suffering, is in the world joy, also called continuously revolving or birth, a loss of benefit, or the ritual attachment, or the heavy load, or discrimination, or inward danger, or gathering, or wrong abode, or of the nature of misery and affliction.

[76:19]

What is called the holy truth of the accumulation of suffering is in that world also called the ground, or conveniences, or wrong timing, or untruth, or nonsense, or decadence, or departure from morality, or afflictions, or narrow views, or accumulation of disquietment. What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is in that world called destroying despondency, or not indulging, or truth or equality, or purity, or freedom from sickness, or undistorted, or formless, or free, or birthless. What is called the holy truth or the path to extinction of suffering is in that world called entering the supreme realm, cutting off accumulation, or transcending comparison, or vast nature, or end of discrimination, the path to spiritual power, or multitude of appropriate techniques, the practice of right mindfulness, or the ever-quiet road, or embrace of liberation, In that world, Jaya, there are four quadrillion such names to explain the four holy truths, cause beings to be harmonized and pacified according to their mentality. What is, in this world of endurance, called the holy truth of suffering, is in the world dorable, also called decaying form, or like a broken vessel, or the product of ego, or the devaluing of various tendencies, or numerous routines, or the gait of the multitude of ills, or that which was abandoned, or flavorlessness, or coming and going.

[78:14]

What is called the holy truth of the accumulation of suffering, is in that world productivity, or the poison of anger, or deliberation, or sensation, or selfishness, or mixed poison, or empty names, or opposition, or imitation, or astonishment. What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is that where no accumulation, or indestructible, or wonder medicine, or interruptible, or non-attachment, or admissible, or vast as the spirit of awakening, or freedom from addiction, or absence of obsession. What is called the holy truth of the path to extinction of suffering is in that world called peaceful action, or detachment from creating, or ultimate reality, or intrinsic truth, or the essential ultimate, or manifestation of purity, or concentration, or heading for liberation, or salvation, or supreme action. In that world, door of hope, there are four quadrillion such names that are expressed in four holy truths, and cause sentient beings to be harmonized and classified according to their mentalities. What is, in this world, endurance, all the holy truth, or suffering, is in the world a shaking sound, also of incongruousness, or the mundane, or the dwelling place, or conceit, or the nature, or habitual attachment, or the torrent, or the enjoyable, or hypocrisy, or the evanescent, or difficult to control.

[79:25]

What is called the holy truth is the accumulation of self-image in that world, or all that which must be controlled, or mental tendencies, or that which binds, or arising of any thought, extending to the future, or combination, or discrimination, or the gateway, or blown by the wind, or concealment. What is called the holy truth of the extinction of suffering is in that world called unreliance, or ungraspable, or eternal, or freedom from conflict, or small, or great, or pure, or inexhaustible, or broad, or priceless. What is called the holy truth of the path to the extinction of suffering is in that world called the ultimate accomplishment, or ability to destroy the enemy, or a seal of knowledge, or ability to enter the essence, or unopposable, or limitless meaning, or able to enter knowledge, or the path of harmony, or eternal imperturbability, or the highest truth. In that world-shaking sound, there are four quadrillion sentient beings who claim to be moral Jews who cause sentient beings to be harmonized and pacified according to their mentalities. Just as in this world endurance there are four quadrillion names to express the four whole truths, so in all the worlds to the east, hundreds of thousands of billions, countlessly, innumerably, boundlessly, incomparably, incalculably, unspeakably, inconceivably, immeasurably, inexplicably many worlds, in each there are equal number of names to express the four whole truths, because ascension being there to all be harmonized and classified according to their mentalities.

[80:47]

And just as this is so in the world so easy, so it is with all the infinite worlds of the ten directions. Amen.

[81:54]

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