I've been talking about precepts lately. It wasn't really my intention, but somehow I fell into it. But it's a very good subject for us, the 10 Clear Mind Precepts. And I've already talked about four of them. Today, I want to talk about the first precept, which is not to kill, not to willfully take life. I think willfully is important here because this is a precept about compassion. It's really not about killing or not killing.

[01:02]

It's about how to be compassionate, how to identify with others, and to realize that everything, all manifestations of life want to live. And even though all manifestations of life want to live, they all end up dying. So this is our paradox of life. So we say, do not kill, but nurture or to cherish all life. That's the positive aspect.

[02:03]

The negative aspect is don't willfully take life. The positive aspect is cherish all life, to really appreciate life and to honor life and to nourish life. and to see all aspects of life in a sacred way. So, killing and not killing are both transgressions of the precept. We say, don't kill. If you kill, that's a transgression of the precepts. But both killing and non-killing are transgressions of the precept. So I'll explain what I mean.

[03:11]

Nagarjuna, the ancestor Nagarjuna, in around the first century or so, made clear Buddha's teaching of the two truths. Two truths and three aspects. Two truths are, the first truth is the truth of absolute reality. And the second truth is the truth of relative life. Life of what we usually call our life. The life of interaction and manifestation of different forms. But in the absolute realm, it's the realm of no special thing.

[04:20]

No thing. Nothing. We talked about nothingness the other day. It means no special thingness. It's called nothingness for short. No special thingness. It's the dharmakaya, the absolute realm where there's no good or bad, right or wrong, or any polarity. All the opposites are reconciled. And the relative realm is the realm of opposites, of duality. So the absolute realm and the relative realm are these two aspects of our life, the two truths. If you say nothing exists, that's absolute truth. If you say yes, everything

[05:22]

there are things and they interact with each other and there are people and animals and birds and so forth. That's also true on a relative level. So the two truths, the absolute truth and the relative truth, if you only stick to one or the other, you only have half-truths. So the middle way, Madhyamaka, is the reconciliation of these two truths, the absolute and the relative, nirvana and samsara. Nirvana is the absolute truth. Samsara is the undulation of life as we experience it. And middle way is to take into consideration the undulation of life as well as the absolute that it's based on and find our way without leaning to one side or the other, without being caught by one side or the other.

[06:36]

This is what we call our life. And within that life, There is no thing that is at rest. Nirvana is at rest. Samsara is in motion. So this moving life, this undulation, this wiggling, is how the dharmakaya expresses itself. We say the upright and the inclined. The upright is like stillness, motionless, and when it leans,

[07:44]

things are set into motion. Then we have movement and interaction and all things spring up on each moment. The whole universe springs up at once on each moment. So there's this thing called life and its two aspects are birth and death. I don't like to say that life is the opposite of death. Birth is the opposite of death. Birth is the opposite of dying. Birthing and dying are two aspects of this thing called life. But we usually think of death as the end of life.

[08:47]

But birth is a process. This continual becoming is our life. Continual becoming is actually birth. Birthing, birthing, birthing, birthing. And dying, dying, dying, dying. It's a continuous process. So this whole continuous process altogether, which includes birthing, birthing, birthing, dying, dying, dying, is the process of what we call life. Life cannot be killed. This is the absolute meaning of don't kill. Life cannot be killed, even though there is birth and death. So in the absolute sense, nothing can be killed. In the relative sense, everything is being born and dying moment by moment.

[09:56]

So to say don't kill is impossible. To say that there is killing is also impossible. But yet, at the same time, on the relative level of samsara, there is don't kill, don't take life. All these manifestations want to continue their existence. So, out of compassion, because we know that we also want to continue our existence, like everything else, We are very careful of how we take care of this existence, all of these existing manifestations.

[11:04]

So this is middle way. How do we follow the precept of not to kill? When everything is being devoured by everything, and we are also participating in the devouring. Everything is eating everything else. If you open your ears, you hear this great chomping sound of the universe. It's called the music of the spheres. In ancient days, musicians, their ideal was to capture the music of the spheres. You know, the Chinese say, the creek, listen to the sound of the creek is Buddha's song.

[12:16]

mountains, rivers, brooks, and walls, tiles, and fences are all chanting the name of Buddha. Buddha has an infinite number of names and an infinite number of sounds and songs and harmonious relationships. We have a chant that says, we pay homage to the three treasures and are thankful for this food, the work of many beings and the suffering of other forms of life. But there's another way of saying it is the offering of other forms of life. And we say, well, those forms of life are not really offering themselves to me.

[13:22]

I'm taking them, right? Yes and no. Yes and no. When we look at rice and wheat and apples and pears, these plants are producing their offspring, hoping that some of them will become plants like they are and continue their lineage. But they produce so many, you know, that it allows other forms of life to sustain themselves on their seeds. And through their effort, So this is a kind of generosity.

[14:25]

The life of the world is actually very generous. Otherwise there would be no interaction, no interactivity. The world sustains itself through its creations. Everything is sharing with everything else, except for human beings. Not only human beings, but we share, but we also hoard and deprive others when we could actually be sustaining them. So nature is cruel, but it's also generous. Animals prey on each other. Birds prey on each other. Fish... Buddha calls this life on earth the law of the fishes.

[15:37]

The law of the fishes is the big fish eat the little fish, the littler fish, the littler fish eat the littler fish, the littler fish eat the littler fish. Down the line. That's the law of the fishes and somewhat the law of the universe. But is it bad that fish eat each other? Is it bad that birds eat each other? I remember when Suzuki Roshi was at Tassajara, someone asked him a question, said, well, when I was coming in on the road, there was a some kind of animal, eating a mouse. And I didn't know what to do about that. Should I have stopped the animal from eating the mouse? And Suzuki Roshi said, well, that would have been okay, probably, but on the other hand, the mouse may be saying, you know, I'm a little Bodhisattva, and I'm working out my destiny.

[16:52]

Please leave me alone to work out my destiny. Supposing you weren't around. When I think of all the mice being eaten, that I'm not around, I can't save them. But, you know, life is continually transforming itself through this offering of its forms to other forms. This is one big being that's continually transforming itself. So this is called emptiness, the interdependent quality of the universe. That's the meaning. of emptiness according to Nagarjuna.

[17:54]

The interdependent sometimes is taking and sometimes is offering. So how do we live in this kind of setup? we're never the same moment to moment and you know like there are all these little creatures living in our eyebrows and our eyelashes that there's so many of them we can't even count them but we don't see them we're constantly you know everything is interacting in the National Geographic there was a wonderful article on hippopotami hippopotamuses in this pond. It's this kind of isolated pond where there are just a number of creatures who are interactive with each other.

[19:09]

And there's some little fish in the pond that manicure the hippopotamuses' toenails. And some of them that you know, clean their fur and they're under their armpits. And, you know, it's like this symbiotic relationship, which is unbelievable, actually. So, everything lives off of everything else and yet contributes. If we only live That's called leeching, right, off of other things. But we have to be able to contribute as well. So how do we contribute to this flowering, flowing of life? I remember the era of the flower children who believed in go with the flow.

[20:20]

That's exactly what flower means. Actually, I don't want to say this, but I was thinking, I was sitting here just during breakfast, and I was thinking, what is the meaning, what is the etymology of flower? It's flow, but it also has to do with menstruation. That's actually the basic meaning. And that's just an interesting aside. But if you think deeply about it, flowers have multiple meanings for women who identify with flowers in a way that I think men just don't quite identify with in the same way. But it means flourishing.

[21:22]

It also means flowing. And it means, you know, cleansing. And it also means nourishing. So we have these two aspects. One is taking in, which is nourishment, and the other is letting go, which is cleansing. And this is called flowing. So the best way for us to take care of ourselves is to be careful of our intake and allow everything to flow easily. So relax. and be careful of how we interact with everything around us, because everything is actually a manifestation of ourself. So, there's killing and not killing, but there is non-killing, maybe.

[22:31]

To not kill, to not take life, is to transgress the precept Because we have to give life the opportunity to transform. We have to be able to take as well as to give. There's this saying, it's better to give than to receive, right? But I think it's equal. It's correct to give and it's correct to receive. If we can't receive, then we stop the flow. So how do we just remain open? This is actually the principle of Zazen. Not clinging and not averting. To just let everything flow. This is called being connected to the universe.

[23:38]

So Zazen is to be connected to the universe, to just let the universe flow through you and to flow with the universe. to appreciate what we use, to appreciate what we eat, to appreciate the life that is being offered to us. Whether it's being offered by the particular thing that we're eating is one thing. Even though it may not be, it's still, it's offered, it's an offering of the universe.

[24:41]

Dogen says, if your practice is genuine, the universe will sustain you. So what does it mean that your practice, if your practice is genuine? It means if your practice is genuine, then you will be interacting with everything in the correct way. And how can you lose? Because the universe is self-sustaining. So, you know, money is an interesting aspect of life. Money is life because money allows life, human life, to flow. We've made an agreement, the human race has made an agreement that money is like blood.

[25:46]

in a certain sense. It's the bloodline of exchange. And when it flows throughout the whole culture, then the body is healthy. When it gets deposited in large sums over here and small, when there's a huge accumulation over here, and a dry riverbed over there, then society gets sick. So it's very important how it flows and how it circulates through the whole culture. And as you can see, society is quite ill because Not only money doesn't flow, but goods don't flow.

[26:48]

Generosity doesn't flow. At the basis, generosity is pinched. And it's through fear. Anyone that needs so much at the expense of so many must be awfully fearful of their security. So I feel sorry for them rather than angry at them. It would be nice if I could say something to them, but they won't listen. Fear of deprivation means that you have to have all the power and security that's would help other people. So it's, you know, Dogen says, when you went to the cook, he says, when you cook the meal, you should account for every grain of rice.

[28:30]

Don't leave. I don't think, you know, just because there's a few grains of rice that you can toss them out. Every grain of rice should be accounted for. If you really look at a grain of rice, especially brown rice, And when you cook brown rice, if you cook it not too long, it becomes kind of puffy and has some squeezable quality, like a little puffed up thing, like a little insect or something. And then you can see it becomes transparent before it turns brown. It becomes transparent and you can see the little green core inside of it. If you cook brown rice to that

[29:37]

exactly the right moment. Just don't overcook it. Then that quality is there. And each piece is, each grain is totally alive. You can just feel the life of it. When it's cooked a little too much, then it turns brown and looks dead. It's still good. But there is that point at which it's just plump. and juicy and a little green in there. And this is bringing out the maximum life within the seed. And then we're eating this high quality life that's being offered. And so then we feel the life of the rice.

[30:43]

So the life of the rice becomes our life. That's why in Asian countries, people really respect rice. I remember not too long ago, well, if you go to Japan, there are all these different qualities of rice. If you go to the market, there are just all different kinds of qualities of rice. And the Americans wanted to import rice to Japan, which sounds like a decent idea, except that when rice is your lifeblood and you know, It's like the thing that you know so well and then taking some substitute from some other place that doesn't understand rice the way you understand it becomes a very tricky proposition.

[31:58]

So another aspect is how to be sensitive to other cultures and the way they sustain life. We've ruined so many cultures that had so many wonderful ways of sustaining life that we don't understand. And we're still doing it. So this is a big subject, this precept of not taking, not killing. Don't kill. Don't kill the Buddha seed. Don't kill life. Let the Buddha seed grow. That's what Dogen says.

[33:08]

nourish life, but understand how it works. Do you have any questions? Eric? Since you're talking about food, you know, for the reason that looking at maybe the origins or sources of certain kinds of things, you see that there's something in that, or you think you see there's something in that which is contributing to this blocking up of the flow that you were talking about. But I'm wondering how one can approach that Well, you know, I mean, like for myself, you know, when I look at non-organic food I get very uptight and it kind of bothers me because

[34:38]

Well, see, there are two things. When you look at the origin of Suzuki Roshi's attitude, a monk is supposed to just eat what's given, right? So a monk does not prepare their own food. They simply depend on the offerings of others for their sustenance. So there's an old saying, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. That was when they had horses. But it still stands. In other words, you take what's given. But it's also okay not to eat something that's given. But mostly, you know, the monk eats what's given. So rather than worry about their health, they're more concerned about their attitude. So that's kind of the origin of his

[35:57]

way of looking at it, okay? But that doesn't mean that it's the best way to eat. It's just that, you know, eat what's given. And because that's your life. That's your vow. But for other people, most other people, who are may also have that attitude, but also the attitude of like, how do we bring up our children? You know, they don't get sick. How do you bring, you know, how do you not get ill? And how do you maintain healthy life for everybody? These things are important. So to avoid poisons, I think it's, you know, good idea. You should read the labels. Definitely read the labels and avoid those things. And the more people avoid those things, the less popular they'll be. I mean, the less, you know, the more people that avoid them, the less people will buy them.

[37:02]

So, which doesn't mean that they won't keep coming on because chemical chemistry is, you know, in. And it's just going to continue to dominate our lives, permeate our lives. So, yes, avoid them by all means, you know, and be selective and be discriminating. This is called proper discrimination. Even though Suzuki Roshi was saying, well, non-discrimination is just to eat whatever is put in front of you, right? Well, that is proper discrimination according to, or proper non-discrimination according to his purpose of not discriminating, taking what's given. But on the other hand, there's also proper discrimination, which is don't, you know, select what's right for the benefit of yourself and others.

[38:05]

So both is true, depending on what the basis is. Oh, I had a question. I had a question. You did. Yeah, I was going to say, there's a lot of killing going on by the US government now in my name and with my tax dollars. So how do we deal with that? And how do we... I find myself... being identified with the United States government, benefiting from certain policies of the United States government, and totally tangled up with the United States government, obviously. So, how do we deal with that killing at that kind of level?

[39:07]

Well, I don't agree with any of the policies of the government. I do pay taxes, but this always goes on. It's not just like something's happening now. It's just that now it's brought to the, you know, your awareness. But this is always going on, all the time. People are, you know, being killed either up front or surreptitiously, you know, ever since I can remember. And every once in a while, you know, it comes to the forefront and then it recedes in the background, but in the background it's going on exactly the same way. So, you know, vote, write letters, you know, express yourself. If you feel that strongly, express yourself.

[40:09]

Just say to the congressmen, people, exactly what you said to me. That way, at least you're expressing yourself. You know, you can't go in there and tear down the government, but you can... Everybody that expresses themselves adds a drop to the river. So don't think that your voice doesn't count, because it does. Anne? Well, there's actually kind of a connection between the two questions that has to do with where you put your priorities. And food is important and to a certain extent you want to make choices based on what's healthy over what's not and so forth, but not to the point where you're so obsessed with it that you spend your whole day shopping as if you were kind of a hunter-gatherer

[41:16]

I mean, there are people who are so obsessed with healthy food that their entire life revolves around it. And then you've lost the sense of proportion. You have no time to be writing letters or protesting or getting involved in something that may be more important. And so it's a question of having a sense of proportion in your life. And I think that was also one of Suzuki-rochi. You can't get attached. Well, that was part of what he was saying. And you can't also impose them on other people or become so wrapped up in it. That's true. You need to decide what's really important in your life. Where do you allocate your time? And be sure that you're spending enough time with other people as well. On the other hand, if you limit your intake, to certain area of things, you already know what's what.

[42:19]

You know that there's a certain amount of foods that you eat that you know about. And that's what sustains you. And there's enough variety, and all that. But the one thing I didn't talk about was killing people. I didn't talk about that. But just a minute, Ellen, but that's an important part of killing or not killing. And we should try very hard not to kill each other, you know, which goes for all kinds of... You know, I had some problem with the death penalty because So I get so outraged. I would really get outraged at people that do drive-by shootings. And my reaction is, if I caught that person, I'd kill him. But that's some kind of emotional logic.

[43:30]

But I don't think we should kill people. doing away with the death penalty I think is right because killing people is killing people and it doesn't killing people because they kill people doesn't solve the problem so we should just do everything we can to stop killing but killing will go on because this is the world This is actually the hell realm. There are six worlds. The human realm, the animal realm, the fighting demon realm, the heavenly realm, the animal realm, and the hell realm. And they all are right here. So if I say this is the hell realm, it's not only the hell realm.

[44:33]

But this is it. But for a lot of people, that's all it is. So we should put all our effort into helping to save the world, even though the world can't be saved. So you may think, well, if the world can't be saved, why should we put our effort into saving the world? But you can't be attached to the results of your effort. You simply make the effort because that's what sustains you and because that's what you believe is correct. It's not like because you make your effort to save the world that the world will be saved. The world is already saved. All you have to do is act it out. Alan? Well, in the meal chains, Maybe they don't know how it comes to us.

[45:38]

Or, San Francisco would say, we should know how it comes to us. It doesn't actually tell you what to do about it. It kind of leaves it on each of us. We have to do this work of investigation to know how our food came to us. And then we have to decide what to eat and how to make our choices. And I think that that's That's also more generally applicable, that, you know, we have this life and we should know how it comes to us. And so that work of investigation, you know, how does the life that we have, the good quality of life that we have, how does it come to us? What part of it is the suffering of other beings? What part does the offering of other beings? ethical choices arise from there.

[46:40]

You know, they're ethical choices that we make as individuals, hopefully ethical choices that we discuss and talk about, but without that investigation of knowing how it comes to us, we're kind of flying blind. You know, we don't realize, say, how all day of our life depends upon Sutra also says innumerable labors brought us this food. But yes, when we really use what comes to us well and appreciate it, it looks like things come from here and come to here and then they go to there. But when something comes to us from here and we honor it and appreciate it and use it well, there's something that reverberates back to where it came from, even though that's not generally seen.

[47:51]

So it's like a circle that goes both, or a flow that goes both ways. Normally birth is seen as a happy event and death is seen as a sad event. And I find it very difficult to see death any other way. Well, when you come into the world, you cry. It may be a happy event for somebody. And when you leave the world, you cry. And when you're in the middle of the world, But it's also a happy event when you're born. It's also a happy event when you die. For somebody. When learning how to die is learning how to live.

[48:58]

This is exactly what our practice is about is learning how to die, really. Because in learning how to die, you're learning how to live. So it's really the same thing. How do you live? What's coming in the next moment? You have no idea. You think you know. You think, well, after this, there'll be a bell, and I'll get up, and I'll do three bows, and I'll walk out the door, and then you'll walk out. Maybe. We think so, but that may not happen. So, we just have to be open to whatever's next. That's a happy event. If you really are open and let go of everything and just walk into the next event. That's all we can do. We can give ourselves all kinds of, you know,

[50:01]

rationale about what's next. If you sit in zazen, you know, and your legs are painful, and then you try to think of everything you can to deal with it, but none of them work. It's just pain. Nothing you can do about it except open yourself. This is the secret of our life. There's nothing you can do about it but open yourself. So people say, well, I would like to come to realization. That's it. That's the end.

[50:51]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ