I am proud to taste the truth of the Dharmas first. Good morning. This morning we just had a ceremony commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha's Parinirvana. Parinirvana is the term used to indicate the Buddha's complete completion. Buddha's completion as a human being. Nirvana is not so easy to talk about exactly what Nirvana means.

[01:13]

But Nirvana, you can say, is the absence of karma. No more karma. No more beginnings and endings. no more conditioned existence. As soon as there's a little movement, there's conditioned existence. As soon as things fall out of balance, there is life, as we know it. So, You know, the Chinese describe it as the upright and the inclined. The upright is complete stillness, complete nothing moving.

[02:23]

And then when there's inclination, then there's activity. So, for Buddha, no more activity. No more, no longer subject to the rules of conditioned existence. just totally one with the universe. People say extinction, but extinction is not right. Extinction is a nihilistic term. It's more like total... no more barrier to totality.

[03:33]

preconditioned existence. This is Buddha's parinirvana, the great nirvana of crossing over. So we say, well, this is the date that Buddha died. But actually, they say the 15th of February. I'm always skeptical of dates. In most Buddhist traditions, they have the Buddha's parinirvana, Buddha's birthday, and Buddha's enlightenment all at the same time. They celebrate it all at the same time, rather than having three distinct ceremonies. But from our tradition, we have three distinct ceremonies, distinct observances. So, in honor of this occasion, I want to talk about Buddha's last words.

[04:49]

And there are many versions of the Buddha's last words. There are actually two Nirvana Sutras. One is the Theravada Nirvana Sutra, Parinirvana Sutra, and then there's the Mahayana Parinirvana Sutra. And the version that I'm going to talk about is from the Mahayana Parinirvana Sutra. We've studied this before, many years ago. It's called the Eight Awarenesses of the Enlightened Person. There are eight points which Buddha spoke according to this sutra. The night before he went, became Parinirvana. And called the Eight Points. Dogen, interestingly enough,

[05:53]

made a commentary on these eight points the night before his parinirvana. So this is Dogen commenting on Shakyamuni's eight points, which they both commented on or taught as their last teaching. So they're called the eight awarenesses, depending on how you translate them, of the enlightened person. And I'll read you the eight first.

[07:04]

The first one is having few desires. The second one is knowing how to be satisfied. The third one is enjoying serenity and tranquility. The fourth is exerting diligent effort. The fifth, not forgetting right thought. And the sixth, practicing samadhi. The seventh is cultivating wisdom, and the eighth is avoiding idle talk. There are many lists of programs like this in Buddhism. The Eightfold Path, the Six Paramitas, the Ten Paramitas, and so forth. Buddhists like numbers. I remember when I I first started to study Buddhism, and I kept running across these lists, long lists of numbers.

[08:12]

The first thing is, and then the second thing is, how systematic. But in these eight awarenesses, each one contains all the others. study one of these awarenesses, all the other eight are contained in it. So these are the eight awarenesses of the enlightened person according to the Parinirvana Brief Admonition Sutra. All Buddhas are, this is what Dogen says, All Buddhas are enlightened persons. Those things which the enlightened persons are aware of are called the eight awarenesses of the enlightened person.

[09:18]

To become aware of this dharma is the cause for nirvana. Our master, Shakyamuni Buddha, taught this dharma on the last night before entering parinirvana. So the first one is having few desires. Not seeking too much among the objects of the five desires, which are not yet obtained, is called having few desires. This is Shakyamuni's admonition. And then Dogen's comment says, the Buddha says, You monks, I'll say you students. You students should know that because those who have many desires search for fame and profit, there is much suffering. Those who have few desires look around less and desire little.

[10:24]

Therefore, they have no worry of this sort. You should practice if only to have few desires. In other words, if nothing else, you should practice this. Needless to say, having few desires produces many merits. Those who have few desires do not have to flatter in order to ingratiate themselves with others. Also, they withstand temptations from the various sense organs. One who practices having few desires has neither worry nor fear, for the mind is peaceful. whatever that person comes into contact with finds that it is enough and never lacks anything. Having few desires, one is in nirvana. This is called having few desires. So this is the first one and probably the most important. If you can attribute one as more important than the other.

[11:28]

He said, having few desires is nirvana. That's pretty simple. It's probably the most difficult thing to do. But strangely enough, he doesn't say, not having desire. He says, having few desires. So this is very reasonable. Often in Buddhism, you read You should have cut off desire at the root. But actually, it's very hard to cut off desire. And why should one cut off desire? Because desire, what is desire anyway? It's the motivation. Pure desire is the motivation for life.

[12:29]

So when we talk about desire, you have to remember that it's not that you shouldn't have any desire, but desire is very innocent and is very susceptible and very open to persuasion and easily is pulled around and captivated. So, in practice, one doesn't get rid of desire, but one turns desire energy into practice energy. This is why effort is so important. Because we have this energy. When you have big energy, you have big desire. And people that have big desire make good Zen students.

[13:37]

If you don't have big desire, you probably won't be a very good Zen student. Because this is the motivating force which keeps us going, drives our life. So, to, you know, our desire gets us into all kinds of trouble. We get caught, you know, and we experiment as we get, as we grow up. And then at some point we start, we have so much suffering that we're looking for a way to deal with it. As you know, the second noble truth is the cause of suffering is desire.

[14:41]

That the main cause of all of our problems is, according to Shakyamuni Buddha, desire. And desire is the main cause of suffering. And the way out of suffering is practice. It may work and it may not. But there is a way. There is a way out. And that's to practice. All the practices. This is how you transform desire into There's nothing... Desire is not bad. It's not good or bad.

[15:42]

Desire is just desire. And it's something that we have to... I don't want to say control, you know. But it's like a horse. A horse in a carriage. And you're sitting up there with the reins. And if you let the horse go wherever the horse wants to go, pretty soon you have a problem. The horse goes out of control. So one has to have some... be able to rein in the horse and control the horse and go where... make the horse go where you want to go. And it's not easy. Because we like to identify with the horse.

[16:50]

Somehow we have to separate the horse from the driver. And the driver has to take control of the horse. And direct it. So, we all struggle with this. This is our big struggle. Our life's work, actually. If we have too much control, then we squelch our life. And if we don't have any control, we end up as a wreck. So, how do you find that the right the right amount of control and without stifling your life. This is called the art of life, the art of living. So it's something that we're always working with.

[17:58]

You know, there are And the five hindrances are called sense desire, ill will, swath and porpor, which is restlessness and worry, which is the opposite, called worry and flurry, actually, and skeptical doubt. These are all things that stop us. that hinder us from actually living our life in nirvana. These are the impediments to nirvana. So, given this is the most difficult thing to deal with in our life,

[19:15]

This is what Shakyamuni Buddha attacked, I don't want to say attacked, but took on, to find the root of our suffering and how to deal with it. That's what the practice is about. So, we study suffering. What is suffering? What is the root of suffering? And how do we deal with it? What practice is it? There are five desires, five main desires. Wealth, desire for wealth. The desire for fame. the desire for food, the desire for sex, and the desire for sleep. The second one is knowing how to be satisfied.

[20:40]

These two actually go, complement each other. Knowing how to be satisfied is knowing how to live without greed. Knowing how to have just enough. You know, the orioke bowl that we eat with, the Buddha bowl, the first one, is actually the begging bowl. When we eat in Zendo, we have three bowls. First one is the Buddha bowl, which is the begging bowl. And then we have two other bowls, which are for our pleasure. Pleasure food. The first bowl is just for the basic food. And it's Oreo. just enough. It holds just enough.

[21:42]

And it's also called Buddha's head. So knowing how to be satisfied, knowing how much to take of those things which one already has, is called knowing how to be satisfied. The Buddha says, You monks should contemplate, or you students should contemplate knowing how to be satisfied if you wish to be liberated from suffering. The dharma of knowing how to be satisfied is the realm of riches, comfort, peace, and tranquility. Those who know how to be satisfied are happy and comfortable even when sleeping on the ground. Those who do not know how to be satisfied are not satisfied even when dwelling in a heavenly palace. Those who do not know how to be satisfied are poor even though they are wealthy, while those who know how to be satisfied are wealthy even though they have little.

[22:52]

Those who do not know how to be satisfied and are always tempted by the five desires are consoled, I think it's pitied actually, by those who know how to be satisfied. This is called knowing how to be satisfied. It's so hard to be satisfied in our consumer society, you know, very difficult, because there's so much to have, just so much to have, that it's impossible to be satisfied, and we keep feeding each other are holding up to each other so many wonderful things to have. And we're always going after the next new thing, you know. Information is the biggest, I think information is probably one of the biggest temptations.

[23:53]

To need to know so much. So we have computers to help us. We have extra brains. to collect the information for us. We have this brain, then we have the computer brains, you know, information, calculations, and so forth. And we think that we need all this. Even I have a computer now. For the fun of it. But it's interesting. We think we have to have so much information. And of course our world keeps getting more and more complex. And we think we have to have better clothes, better cars.

[24:55]

It's really nice to be able to use something all the way up. Up all the way, you know. I always feel funny, you know, when we throw away so much stuff before it's completely used up. Terrible waste. But it's not so much the waste as it is our state of mind. Because material things will always find their way to where they belong, essentially. The state of mind that we have, which wastes and which needs so much, is what's so harmful. So it's nice to be able to see how little you can live on, rather than how much. I think it's much more challenging and interesting.

[26:02]

satisfying to see how little you can do with, rather than how much. People are just going the other way, trying to see how much they can have and how much they can collect, as if that's the way to satisfaction. But it's stimulating dissatisfaction all the time. I'm always interested much more in people who have very little and yet know how to be happy. And actually this is, we all know this anyways, it's a well-known fact, but it's hard to keep up with that, hard to maintain

[27:08]

a life of being satisfied with what we have. So to be happy or satisfied with whatever you have, wherever you are, is the ultimate goal, actually, of life. whether we know it or not. We'll know this at your last moment, whether or not this is true. Then the third one is called enjoying serenity and tranquility.

[28:11]

The Buddha says, being apart from all disturbances and dwelling alone in a quiet place is called enjoying serenity and tranquility. And Dogen says, the Buddha says, if you students seek joy and peace in the serenity and tranquility of non-doing, you should keep away from disturbances and dwell alone in a quiet place. Those who dwell in quiet places are praised and respected by Sakrandhra, chief of the gods, and by celestial beings. Therefore, casting away attachment to yourself and others, dwell alone in a quiet place and contemplate the cause of suffering. Those who desire the company of other people suffer from their relationship with them. Just as a tree will be broken and die when many birds roost in it, The bondage of worldly involvement will drown you in suffering, just as an old elephant drowns in the mud because he is unable to get out by himself.

[29:25]

To liberate oneself from complicated involvements is called detachment. But this is kind of interesting. It looks anti-social. It seems to me. Dogen, of course, was a monastic. and later in his life he became even less social. But there are different ways of looking at this and understanding it. But first I want to talk about serenity and tranquility. Serenity The root of serenity is to like sunset. It comes from the feeling of as the sun goes down and everything quiets down.

[30:28]

In Africa this is probably so. But in our modern life things don't calm down at sunset very much. normal conditions, when the sun goes down, things quiet down and there's a transition and it's a very serene feeling. And that's where the word serenity comes from. That peaceful time when the sky and the earth are very quiet. And tranquility comes from the sea. When the sea is very calm, it's called tranquil. So, these two qualities, serenity and tranquility, are like our states of mind when there's no disturbance.

[31:42]

But, you know, true tranquility and true serenity doesn't depend on the absence of disturbance. Serenity and tranquility have to be states of mind or states of being, actually. So to dwell alone, you know, doesn't necessarily mean to remove yourself. It means to find that inner place that is unmoved in the midst of disturbance. That's the true tranquility and peacefulness. This is what we have to cultivate or find in ourselves.

[32:47]

He says, if you seek joy and peace in the serenity and tranquility of non-doing. Non-doing is the term wu-wei in Chinese. It means letting Buddha nature do. Non-doing means non-egotistical activity. in the midst of non-doing, to seek joy and peace in the serenity and tranquility of non-doing. Keep away from disturbances and dwell alone in a quiet place. To dwell alone in a quiet place is where we should be all the time, no matter what's going on, no matter what we're doing. It's the inner

[33:52]

tranquility of our life, of our practice, the inner balance, the actual fearlessness that is at the base of our life. dwell alone in a quiet place and contemplate the cause of suffering. This is the place that's alone in a calm way. When you sit Zazen, you don't contemplate the cause of suffering. Zazen is not contemplation. It's sitting in the midst of non-suffering.

[34:54]

So how you practice satsang all the time is to stay here in the midst of serenity and tranquility, no matter what's happening. That's satsang. And you study the cause of suffering when you sit sasheen. It can be either nirvana or suffering. And you can find nirvana in the midst of suffering. You can't find nirvana when you when you try to get rid of all your suffering. It has to be right in the middle of it.

[36:02]

As long as we're in the realm of movement, there's suffering. Movement equals suffering. It also equals pleasure. Of course. But pleasure equals suffering. They're really two sides of the same thing. And one is the cause of the other. Pleasure is the cause of suffering. Suffering is the cause of pleasure. When suffering is gone, we have pleasure. And when pleasure is gone, we have suffering. bring each other about. So we have to taste them both and find our place in the middle, at the center of things, without being turned around by either pleasure or suffering. Then the fourth one is exerting meticulous effort.

[37:21]

Meticulous is not quite so good. Diligent is better. Diligent effort. Meticulous is a little too fine. Buddha says, exerting oneself diligently and unceasingly in various beneficial practices is called diligent effort. Be precise, not careless, proceed forward and don't regress. That's what Buddha said. And Dogen says, the Buddha says, if you students exert diligent effort, nothing will be difficult to accomplish. Therefore, you should make an effort to practice carefully. For when water flows constantly against a big rock, even a small amount of water will eventually dig out a large hole. But if one who practices becomes lax, it will be impossible to accomplish anything.

[38:23]

It is like trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. If you stop rubbing before the wood gets hot, you can't start a fire. This is what is meant by diligent effort. Pure effort, actually. Pure effort means to do something for the sake of doing something, not to do something you know, for the sake of yourself, or self-building, or self-aggrandizement, or getting something. You know, sometimes we say you should practice for the sake of others, but that's still egotistical. So, there's still some, it's still not pure effort. It's good to practice for the sake of others.

[39:29]

That's better than practicing just for the sake of yourself. When we first come to practice, we're just practicing for the sake of ourself. And then, after practicing for a while, we understand something about selflessness. And so, we practice for the sake of others. But that's still just the other side. And when we have real maturity, then we just practice for the sake of practice. Just pure effort. It's not for me and it's not for you. It's just pure effort for practice. And it benefits me and it benefits you. So, the main thing is just to take care of the practice. And the practice will take care of me, and it will take care of you. This is a non-dualistic activity, leading to nirvana.

[40:41]

So, There are two qualities. One is not giving up too soon, as Dogen says, you know, not being discouraged, but just continuing, whether it's easy or difficult. And the other is not holding back. Well, I'll give 75% of my effort and I'll keep 25%. That doesn't work. That means you're only 75% here, present. If you give 99%, that's good enough. Then you're 99% present. So, holding back, is just keeping ourselves down.

[41:52]

It's just suppressing ourselves. It's just not actualizing ourselves completely. The purpose of practice is to actualize yourself totally. And if you hold back, you're not actualized. You're only partly there. So, pure effort is to use yourself up on each moment. then you will induce energy. If you hold back energy, then you only get so much. You get what you pay for. If you pay 75%, then you only get 75%, or maybe 60%. And why don't I have enough energy? And your energy is stale. A lot of stale energy.

[42:54]

When you give, when you empty out completely, then you leave room for being completely filled. That's called fulfillment. So, I recommend it. Giving yourself, whatever you're doing, totally. The fifth one, not forgetting right thought. That's the second of the Eightfold Path. A lot of these actually appear in the Eightfold Path. Buddha says, this is also called maintaining right thought. Maintaining, protecting the Dharma and not losing it, means right thought, or not forgetting right thought. And Buddha says, Dogen says, the Buddha says, if you students seek both a good teacher and good protection and support, nothing is better than not forgetting right thought.

[44:02]

For those who do not forget right thought, the robber-like multitude of deluding passions cannot break in. For this reason, you should always keep right thought in your mind and regulate it well For if you lose this thought, all sorts of merits and virtues will also be lost. If the power of this thought is strong and firm, then even though you mingle with the robber-like five desires, you will not be injured. Just as if you go into battle dressed in armor, you will not fear the enemy. This is the meaning of not forgetting right thought. Well, you can think of it as armor. I like to think of innocence as armor. Or rather, I like to think of innocence as being the great protection rather than armor. But that's hard. Right thought is, you know, what leads us.

[45:09]

We have to have some leading some way to be led. And right thought means maintaining the Dharma. If you're always thinking about how to maintain the Dharma in whatever you do, then you won't get lost. And you'll know right from wrong. And you won't be so tempted, I think. And even if you're tempted, you won't give in. And even if you give in, you'll be able to get back on, because you know, oh, right thought. You come back. So when you fall off, you come back. Some people think, if I fall off, that's the end. But it's not. When you fall off, you run, hop back on. You always hop back on. Don't get discouraged because you fall off.

[46:13]

We're always falling off. We're always breaking the precepts. We're always finding ourselves where we don't want to be, thinking thoughts we don't want to think. Being taken over by things that we don't want to be thinking about. The mind is always wandering. pulling it back, pulling it back, just like the horses. So, right thought is a kind of mindfulness. The practice of right thought is mindfulness practice. To always be aware of, is this dharma or not? What is this? What's going on here? What am I doing? What am I doing? It's a big, major koan. It's the koan of right thought.

[47:16]

What am I doing? What am I thinking? What is this thought about? Where? Then the sixth one is called practice. Buddha says dwelling in the Dharma undisturbed is what is called Samadhi. The Buddha says when you students unify your minds, unify your minds, the mind is in Samadhi. Since the mind is in Samadhi, you know the characteristics of the creation and destruction of the various phenomena in the world. For this reason, you should constantly practice with diligence and cultivate all kinds of samadhi. When you gain samadhi, the mind is not scattered, just as those who protect themselves from floods guard the levee. This is also true for practice. For the sake of the water of wisdom, then, cultivate samadhi well and do not let it leak out.

[48:22]

This is called samadhi. Do not let it leak. Do not leak out. So samadhi and wisdom are the two sides of meditation practice, samatha and vipassana. Basically, samatha is samadhi. Samadhi is collecting the mind, keeping the mind unified, body and mind unified, so that there's no gap between body, mind, and activity. It's all one piece. This is Samadhi. Samadhi has various, you know, aspects and there are various kinds of Samadhi. But Samadhi that we practice is called Zamai-o-Zamai, the Samadhi of Samadhis or

[49:24]

samadhis, which includes all of the samadhis. And it's the samadhi of zazen, which is called jijuyu samadhi, the self-actualizing or self-joyous samadhi, which includes not just ourself, but the samadhi of everyone. And I said that right wisdom flows out of samadhi. the sixth ancestor says prajna and samadhi dhyana and prajna samadhi is the basis and wisdom is like a lamp and its light the lamp is samadhi and the light is prajna so when one samadhi is like

[50:58]

the condition for allowing Prajna to come forth. But they're not two different things. Samadhi and Prajna are not two different things, but they're two aspects of the same thing. So we talk about them as one is Samadhi and Prajna. So Samadhi is collecting the mind And so there's no leaking or gap anywhere. And then prajna arises naturally as our true state of mind, our true unconditioned mind. And the seventh one is cultivating wisdom. So the Buddha says wisdom is aroused by hearing, reflecting, practicing, and realizing.

[52:11]

And the Buddha says, when you students have wisdom, you are without greed. So this comes right back to the beginning again. with the absence of greed also produces wisdom. Always reflect upon yourselves. Do not lose this wisdom. In this way, you can thus attain liberation in my dharma. One who does not is neither a follower of the way nor a lay person, nor is there any other name for that person. Dogen likes to be very uptight here. True wisdom is a stout boat which crosses the sea of old age, sickness and death. It is also a great bright torch in pitch black ignorance, a good medicine for all sick people, a sharp axe which fells the tree of delusion. Therefore, by means of this wisdom, which is heard, reflected upon and practiced, you will increase your merit.

[53:18]

When one has the illumination of wisdom, even though one's eyes are merely physical eyes, One is a clear-seeing person. This is what is meant by wisdom. He says, Arise by hearing. In other words, to listen to the Dharma is the beginning of wisdom. To know yourself, of course, is true wisdom. But to hear the Dharma is the beginning of wisdom. And reflecting on it, practicing it, and realizing it. So these are four aspects. But there are also four wisdoms which we should be aware of. And the four wisdoms of non-duality. Not true wisdom in Buddhism is to realize non-duality. The non-dual aspect of our dualistic life.

[54:19]

It's important to keep our mind clear so that it reflects without bias. This is fundamental wisdom. Not collecting knowledge. That's pranya, not prajna. Knowledge is important, but This wisdom is not the wisdom of knowing. It's the wisdom of not knowing. It's the wisdom of clarity. The wisdom of no thought, which reflects everything just as it is. To see everything as it is, completely, without bias, is enlightenment. But usually, when we think and reflect and see and interact, We're doing it in a biased way because of desire.

[55:30]

When there's no desire, no bias, no partiality, just clearly seeing. No knowledge. Just clearly letting seeing see. This is mirror aspect of our mind. And then we see things clearly, reflected as they are. I don't know if we've ever done that. And the second one is to be able to see everything the same, the same quality of Buddha nature in all things. to realize that everything is the same. And then the third one is to realize that everything is different.

[56:35]

That each thing, each dharma, each person, each speck of dust is unique and complete in itself. unique quality, to appreciate the unique quality of each thing. And then to be able to put that into action, from this understanding into action in our daily lives is the fourth one. So Samadhi as it's like. So, the last one is avoiding idle talk. Buddha says, having realization and being free from discrimination is what is called avoiding idle talk.

[57:48]

To totally know the true form of all things is the same as being without idle talk. Dogen says, the Buddha says, when you students engage in various kinds of idle talk, your minds are disturbed. Although you have left home and become home leavers, you are still not liberated. Therefore, you must quickly abandon mind disturbing idle talk. If you would like to attain the joy of the extinction of delusion, idle talk. This is what avoiding idle talk means. So, you know, he says to be free from discrimination. Most of our talk is full of discrimination, full of partiality, full of ego, full of views.

[58:52]

When there are no views, no problem. You can have a view, but you should say, this is my view at this moment. Not, this is the truth. If your speech is non-discriminating, then even the most casual talk is not idle speech. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't just speak casually. That's not what it's saying. It means that all of our talk is discriminating, impartial, and full of views. And how often, how much do we know what we're talking about?

[59:58]

So this is, of course, in connection with Dharma. Someone who's practicing Dharma in this way should be free from idle talk, idle chatter, and be circumspect in what we say, how we respond, and We all make these mistakes. It doesn't mean don't be social. We should be social, talk to each other. You know, there are four precepts which are critical of idle talk. Don't lie is idle talk in this sense. Don't discuss the faults of others.

[61:08]

Don't boast by raising yourself up. Don't raise yourself up by boasting and putting others down. And don't abuse the three treasures. Don't make nasty remarks about the three treasures. So, these are the eight awarenesses of an enlightened person leading to nirvana. And we don't have time for discussion. Greg is holding the beater there. Jesus, the Father, number one.

[62:12]

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