This video is a simple part of a true practice of the true mind of faith, of the true body and of the King. Again, I wish to acknowledge the container that arises in this great assembly together with the forms and ceremonies which this great assembly is practicing.

[01:12]

It creates a container. container for the practice of the bodhisattvas, the joyful practice of bodhisattvas is embraced and sustained by all of us practicing these forms and ceremonies. which I praise this great assembly for doing so, so wholeheartedly. You have maintained these forms and ceremonies and they have embraced and sustained you. And together this great container has been created for practice of great compassion. In this container I wish to apologize that I have not given sufficient acknowledgement and appreciation of the practice of loving-kindness.

[02:28]

Loving-kindness in Pali is called metta, in Sanskrit maitri. Loving-kindness is a close companion to great compassion. Great loving kindness and great compassion are partners. In the Mahayana we put more emphasis on compassion, but I have not put enough appreciation to loving kindness. Without loving kindness our practice of compassion will be somewhat obstructed. Over the years, as Zen students had interactions with the Southeast Asian traditions where the metta practice of loving-kindness is more salient, they

[03:36]

they sometimes would ask me, is it all right to practice loving-kindness in the zendo, the Zen meditation hall? And I think from the beginning I said, yes. It's okay in this room to wish that all beings will be happy and free of suffering, at peace and at ease. It's a wonderful practice. It's a settling practice. It's a concentration practice. And then we can practice great compassion more fully with the aid of this loving kindness. So I'm sorry I didn't emphasize it as much as would have been good. Please feel supported to constantly think of the welfare of others and wish them well, wish them peace, wish them freedom from anxiety and stress, wish all those good things for them.

[04:54]

It's possible all the time, every moment, along with practicing great compassion. So I would say also I want to bring up an elaboration of the container, to look at the container as also like a cocoon. A cocoon in which we go through transformation. In which we, like some other animals in a cocoon, where we melt and resolve ourselves into a dew. Where we turn into fluid, available

[06:02]

living being, so that we can drop off body and mind. There is an expression in Zen called, in Japanese, nyu-shin, which means soft, pliable, relaxed mind. It echoes with a part of the Lotus Sutra, chapter 16, where the Buddha is speaking about practicing in this container, the container of all beings, where you're practicing all virtue with all beings, and where your mind is

[07:06]

Yushin, soft and flexible, harmonious with all beings, upright and honest. With a mind like that, we will see the Buddha right now, face to face, teaching us the Lotus Sutra. This is like becoming soft and open with a mind like an infant, able to accept great compassion, which is omnipresent. It's omnipresent, but sometimes we get so busy that we're not available. And it's offering itself to us. It's observing us. It's listening to us. And we're actually calling to it. But if we get too busy, we forget we're calling to it. And when it stands before us, we're looking someplace else.

[08:14]

So here we are, in the container, like in a canyon, in a cavern, excavating for our mind, This Sangha and all beings practice great compassion. And one of the ways we practice it is by being tender and respectful and gentle with every living being. Another way we practice it, and that way of being is like the ninth practice of Samantabhadra, to give tender, gentle, respectful care to all beings, to accommodate, to accord with all beings.

[09:50]

That's the ninth practice. But that ninth practice is approached through homage, paying homage to great compassion, praising great compassion, making offerings to great compassion, being of service to great compassion, learning to remember that every action is paying homage to great compassion. Every action is in praise of Buddha's great compassion, of the Buddha mind seal. Every action is in praise of that. Raising the right hand in praise of the Buddha mind seal of great compassion.

[10:55]

Lowering the left hand is in praise is an offering, is in service. And in this cauldron, in this container, in this cocoon, together, we become what we pay homage to. If we pay homage to Great Compassion, we become it. If we make offerings to it, we become it. If we are in service of it, we become it. In many Zen stories it says, so-and-so Zen teacher served so-and-so Zen teacher. And then so-and-so Zen teacher became so-and-so Zen teacher by serving so-and-so Zen teacher.

[12:05]

And in the Mahayana Sutras, the bodhisattvas serve, serve Buddhas, make offerings to Buddhas. for very extensively, in each moment and again and again. Their lives were lives of service to the Buddhas, lives of offerings to the Buddhas. And they became Buddhas through a life of homage, praise and service. They were then able to accommodate and accord with all beings. And then the fourth practice of Samantabhadra

[13:11]

is to reveal and disclose our lack of faith and practice before the Buddhas. So part of being in this cocoon of the Bodhisattva way is making these joyful offerings and homages and services to the Buddhas, to the teachers, to the Sangha and the Buddha and the Dharma. But another part of it is to notice and acknowledge that we have forgotten sometimes, that we are wasting our time, even that we intentionally withhold kindness and service to great compassion. The fourth practice is to acknowledge that and be embarrassed about it and be reformed by revealing and disclosing our lack of homage to great compassion.

[14:24]

to acknowledge, to reveal and disclose the shortcomings in our service before the Buddhas melts away the root of those transgressions, of those distractions, of those wastes of time. This transformation occurs in the canyon of the sangha with the forms and ceremonies which you have been contributing to creating. In the morning service we formally acknowledge all the transgressions of body, speech and mind.

[15:42]

But then throughout the day we may notice various little, or not so little, but many, many little moments where we're not taking care of the forms and ceremonies wholeheartedly. not being generous with our karma, not being tender with our thoughts, our gestures, and our speech. We may notice a little bit here and there, a little bit of not being present with our actions. Oh, I acknowledge that. Oh, that's kind of embarrassing. I wasn't attentive. Srigarishi said to me one time, he said, that doksan, meeting with the teacher, is to reveal yourself. He didn't say revealing shortcomings, but if there were shortcomings, you have them to reveal, to disclose.

[16:53]

This is the meeting with the teacher, and this is a service to the teacher, is to reveal yourself. That's an offering to the Buddhist. Here's who I am. And as I often mention, over the years, after I was in the position of sitting in the teacher's seat, people come into the doksan room and they sometimes present kind of a perfect Zen student. A brilliant Zen student. A Zen student that they imagine anyone would really appreciate. But some of those times I get very sleepy. Over the years I get sleepy faster and faster.

[18:01]

But when someone comes in and shows their human limitations, I don't get sleepy. I feel grateful and happy for them that they can be honest and show themselves. And sometimes, many, many times, people come in and they reveal and disclose themselves. Yes? And what they reveal and disclose is that they wish to present a face that will look really lovely and brilliant and good. But that isn't presenting necessarily a good face. That's just being honest. Honest and upright. And then I can praise that. This is the practice, is to show who you are. Who you are is your real gift when you meet. But again, when you notice that you wish to do something to get the teacher's approval or appreciation, when you notice you're doing something to get it,

[19:11]

If you reveal that, that can be done without trying to get any approval, just showing yourself. Now that you've heard me talk, you might know that if you reveal and disclose your lack of faith, you will get my approval. So it makes it more difficult for you to not be sneaking. If I just tell him how bad I am, he'll just think I'm great. Maybe you can trick me. There are some people in this room who are really good at confession and repentance. Over the years they've never presented themselves well. They never presented themselves as somebody who's doing great. They always tell me about their shortcomings.

[20:14]

And they're not trying to get any approval, but I really do appreciate that honesty and uprightness, including I uprightly acknowledge that I don't sit upright. I'm so sorry. I have really slouched posture. I'm so sorry. And my speech is also slouching. And my mind is slouching. And I'm not trying to get any approval. And I'm trying to get approval. This is what's going on, this kind of thing is going on in this container of great compassion. I see you looking at that bodhisattva. Yeah. Pardon? I just hope my eyes just kind of wander.

[21:16]

Are you looking at the Bodhisattva? I mean, they wandered over to the Bodhisattva. I thought, he's looking at the Bodhisattva and saying, oh, what a beautiful Bodhisattva. But no, his mind was just wandering. It's true. Yeah, well, thank you. Again, this is what's going on in the cocoon of great compassion. This revealing, I have these aspirations, I have these aspirations, and I have these aspirations to make offerings to all Buddhas, but I have these shortcomings. And then I would say, and you have a practice of acknowledging the shortcomings. This acknowledging of the shortcomings in the practice of what we aspire to is the pure and simple color of true practice.

[22:21]

Of course, the aspiration is also the pure and simple color of true practice, along with revealing and disclosing any shortcomings. And when we do reveal those shortcomings, we receive the Buddha's help and guidance inconceivably, and we melt into great compassion. And great compassion is born through us. It's manifested through us practicing that way. The bell rings and we go into the container and we pay attention and we honestly offer ourselves and reveal ourselves when we're not honest.

[23:31]

And also in this container of practice, in this container of great compassion, there is the practice of questioning and being questioned. And again, as I said before, one of the things we can offer to the Buddhas is to question the Buddhas. That's one of the most wonderful offerings to great compassion is to question it. Who are you? What are you? What is the Dharma? And also, do you have any questions of me?

[24:42]

Is there anything about me you wish to question? And some people, again, have heard about questioning and they come to meet, but they don't have one. However, they reveal that they don't have one. And that's a gift. And some people have questions But they have some reservation about asking them because they know the answer already. Or they think that they might look not very intelligent if they ask the question. Again, we need this mind of an infant to ask questions without worrying about whether we look smart or not.

[25:52]

In many Mahayana sutras, the bodhisattvas ask questions, and the Buddha points out that the person asking the question knows the answer. They're asking the question for the Great Assembly. Because no one else is asking it, so he said, I think it would be good if somebody asked this question. I think that would be helpful to people, so I'll ask it. And I may look like a beginner if I do. or even I might look like a not very intelligent beginner. But I want to ask that question for all beings. And I also want to ask that question to please the Buddha, because the Buddha likes me to ask questions like that. I've asked that question of the Buddha before in other assemblies, and it always pleased the Buddha to be asked that. So I'll ask it again to please the Buddha and to show other people that Asking questions of Buddhists is pleasing to them.

[27:08]

I've also had the experience in communities where teachings are being given for example, by me, and people questioned the teaching, and then later the person who questions was told by other people that it was disrespectful for them to ask a question about what I taught, of what I offered. And I say, no, I didn't feel disrespectful at all. I need you to question. So please keep questioning. For me, it's not disrespectful to be questioned. For example, is what you just said true? The questioning stirs the cauldron.

[28:17]

helps it become one practice. All our individual practices drop away and we enter into the one practice of great compassion. But we do need some questioning and being questioned. I need to question myself. Others need to question me. I need to question the Buddhas. And I need to question the Sangha. And also ask if I may ask a question. Gently, tenderly questioning each other. and we need a container for it. As I often mention, I do not go into grocery stores and go up to the customers and say, may I ask you a question?

[29:28]

Or the employees. Well, actually, I do sometimes go up to the employees and I say, are you an employee... And then if they say yes, I say, where's the toothpaste? Yeah. But I almost never ask the customers a question. But I might ask them if I can ask a question. May I ask you a question? That one I think I could ask. And then they say, yeah. And I say, do you know what row the vegan alternative is? Or, do you know which row the steaks are in? I'm afraid of that row. Whatever, anyway. We can carefully, I guess, question, but we need to create a container, a container of respect and gentleness for the question, like we have here.

[30:42]

For example, is it page 29? Yes, it is. So thank you for coming into the container, into the cauldron, into the cocoon, and listening and questioning. Maybe tomorrow, when we come into the cocoon, we could have some questions might be offered to help all beings and please the Buddhas.

[31:52]

Thank you.

[32:00]

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