So we're in the last week or so of the practice commitment period. We've been looking at the Vimalakirti Sutra. The chapters that were highlighted and selected for us to focus on, we've talked about sometimes a couple times. I want to go to one of the other chapters tonight. It wasn't designed for the Baptist material, but not without it anymore. And this is about a feast, a fragrant feast. So there is this, you see, we're talking about yesterday about various Buddha worlds. We are in the Buddha world of the Saha world, the world of endurance.

[01:10]

Maybe you all can recognize that there's a lot to endure in this world. But there are many Buddha worlds, the Malkiti Sutras, in many world systems, Flower of the Sutras, that in each atom there are many Buddhas, many Buddhist studies from each of them. And this chapter 10 focuses on a, well, to what seems to us, a strange Buddha world. This is a world, okay, I'll try and say it more, Sarvaganda Sudanda, that's the name of this Buddha world, far away. And This is a wonderful Buddha world. The trees there emit a fragrance that far surpasses all the fragrances, human and divine, of all the Buddha worlds in the same directions.

[02:21]

In that universe, all the houses, the avenues, the parks, and the palaces are made of various perfumes. and the fragrance of the food eaten by the bodhisattvas there pervades immeasurable universes. So this is a world of fragrances, a world of wonderful smells. And as the story goes in the Mahakirti Sutra, The bodhisattvas in this world see that, but none of them want to ask about it. In this translation it says they're restrained by the spiritual powers of Manjushri, the great bodhisattva of wisdom and darshan. The translation says they don't ask about it in deference to Manjushri.

[03:29]

At any rate, Mahakirti, without rising from his couch, magically emanated an incarnation bodhisattva. So this is something you may not have heard of, but in various suttas, various buddhas emanate, produce incarnation bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas who are magical incarnations. And there's a sutra where there are many Shakyamuni Buddhas who are magical incarnations of our Shakyamuni Buddha who lived 2,500 years ago more or less in what's now northeast India. So from another point of view, all Bodhisattvas are incarnational Bodhisattvas. From the emptiness teaching, of course, There's no such thing as a Bodhisattva, and no such thing as a thing.

[04:32]

But anyway, in the Narmala Kirti Sutta, in the assembly of all these beings of Bodhisattvas, in the Narmala Kirti Sutta, there's this incarnation called Sattva. This incarnation bodhisattva shows all of the bodhisattvas in this wonderful oil and fragrance. And the Malakirti asks the Buddha of that world, who in some versions is Samantabhadra, to give the remains of their meal, their leftovers. to feed the Bodhisattvas and all the beings in Varanasiya's room, which is a room smaller than this one, and yet filled with tens of thousands of Bodhisattvas and disciples through a magical display that happens earlier in the text.

[05:35]

So basically, Well, if he is asking for the leftovers of this world to feed his assembly. So we're going to be having a three day series session next weekend. It's the first multiple multiple day sitting. Where we've had since. Oh, how soon in 2019? So we are regathering. John Whitman. But one of the things that happens in the sashimi is that the tenso is just for the evening meal, which is not considered a real meal. It's a medicine meal. It's not because the early monks were not supposed to eat afternoon. So when they had to feed people in China, it was colder and they didn't want to go without their food.

[06:40]

even meal, they had what was called yak seki, which means reticent stone. And actually originally in China what they would do was they would eat up stones and they would put them in their robes by their bellies to warm their bellies at the time of the evening meal. But in The Japanese and traditionally in our tradition, we do have an even meal, but it's not, there's no chance in its smaller meal. But the second bowl of the two bowls in the evening meal, and as Atenzo might provide for us during the three-day sit-in, is often made of leftovers in school and put together. When I was at Atenzo City Center, my favorite thing was to make the glue, just to put together the leftovers from the previous meals and to make the school overs.

[07:44]

grains, vegetables, and whatever. Anyway, so basically, Himalaya Pirti is asking this Buddha from this world of fragrance, well, can we please have your leftovers? They smell so good. I want to make a rule out of them. So it is, and so it was. And the incarnation Bodhisattva when we flew down from this modern world and provided the leftovers so that the Malkyrie gold is done so. Maybe it's Malkyrie itself, it doesn't always make the gruel for the Bodhisattvas in this house. Anyway, the Buddha in that world of fragrance, And all of the Bodhisattvas in that world of fragrance were very interested in seeing the Malakirti and Shakyamuni coming to Allah with endurance because they were impressed by this incarnation of Bodhisattva that the Malakirti sent.

[08:57]

So one thing the Buddha there did was to warn Bodhisattvas from his favorite world. Sarvagandha, Sugandha. So in one of them, please, when you go down to see Shakyamuni Buddha and the other beings of Bodhisattvas in that world, please, please, Maybe you can hide your chives. Just don't show off your full splendor, he said to all these Bodhisattvas. And also, please, do not conceive ideas of contempt for an aversion for that universe, our universe, the Sahara world.

[10:02]

Why? Because the Buddha field is a field of of pure great space. But the Lord Buddha is that in order to develop the Shakyamuni Buddha, in order to develop living beings, please do not reveal all at once the pure realm of the Buddha. That's what Buddhists do. They don't reveal at once how wonderful Buddha is. It would be kind of shocking. And he tells these Bodhisattvas from this fragrance world, please don't hold the disciples, the Bodhisattvas, and the Malchites' world in contempt because they're so, they're so limited compared to the Bodhisattvas of the fragrance world. So he also says, Do not compare, venerable ones, your own wisdom and merits with the wisdom and merits of the Tathagata, of Shakyamuni Buddha.

[11:19]

Don't compare, and don't compare yourself to the Bodhisattvas and disciples there. And that reminded me of the song that Alan Sanaki sang when he was here a couple Sundays ago. our hero about the Bodhisattva strong Lotus Sutra, who says, never disparage, never disrupt. It's called the Bodhisattva never disparage and never despise because even though this fellow monks at this time in the Lotus Sutra, were kind of, well, maybe a little corrupt, or they were vain, or they were arrogant. But he didn't despise them, because he knew they would become Buddhists. Anyway, it's kind of like that. These great Bodhisattvas from this very famous world were advised to please don't compare yourselves, don't compare your Buddha to what you see in the Sangha world.

[12:27]

It was, and it's also revealed that in the World Sabha Gyanasa Gyanana, where these Bodhisattvas of Buddhism come in, that Bodhisattvas are disciplined only by means of perfumes, only by means of fragrance. All of the teachings are done with fragrance. There are no Dharma talks. In those sutras or texts to study, they learn about the wonders of awakening by receiving teachings through references. There's a, when I was studying in Japan, there was a place where they make incense. So, you know, maybe some of you have seen that incense.

[13:32]

They have a big building in Kyoto where they produce these fragrances. And one time, actually with a fellow English teacher from the university I was teaching at who had been in Japan for a long time and knew Japanese portion of things very well, invited me to join him in It was kind of like a tea ceremony, but it was a fragrance ceremony. It was the most elegant thing I've ever seen. Some of you may have heard me talk about this before. So it's in a tatami room, like in a tea room, maybe half the size of this room. And there were all these, we were the only men there. The sexy was a woman, and the other participants were women. And some of them were very fancy kimonos embroidered.

[14:33]

And some of them were just regular Japanese street clothes. But, well, street clothes. And the way it works is that there's an incenser with the color of the action. There's a medium incenser. And each person takes the incenser It's not. We exhale to the side so it won't blow all of the incense, the ashes out of it. But you have this, you have this snuff. And then everybody has that and it's past you now. And then there's a second and third incense that are past you now. And one has to It's again, one has to identify which instance of the second group of two or three is the same as the first or third which. So these two probably not these who did this, but just amazing. It's just, I, it's just, it's not trained to appreciate instances so well, but anyway,

[15:48]

And then once they decided, which was the, I forget if it was two or three second instances, the same as the first, they responded, and this was amazing, by writing a haiku describing the The incense that was the same, except these were based on classical haiku that they studied, and they had to write it down and count it. So it was this amazing, elegant event. I mean, the most elegant thing that I will ever see. All based on fragrances. Anyway, but that's not in this text of the sutra, but I just, you know, was reminded of that. So, so again, these, these, these, these Bodhisattvas, are coming and visiting from our character and seeing the Bodhisattvas from our world, disciples,

[17:05]

And they asked the Maha Kirti, how the Buddha Shakyamuni teaches the Dharma. Because that Buddha teaches by just making fragrances available. The Maha Kirti replied, good people, these living beings here are hard to discipline. Therefore, Shakyamuni teaches them with discourses appropriate for the disciplining of the wild and uncivilized. So this is what we're doing. This is how it works in our Shaha world. We have to give discourses. Some of you think these books are too long, but these are all for the point, for the purpose of helping to clarify and discipline and purify your heart and lungs so that you can help do that for others. Anyway, that's what it says in the sutra. So, and following that up, the Bodhisattva said, this is established by the greatness of the Buddha Shakyamuni.

[18:19]

It is marvelous how concealing the miraculous, his miraculous power, he civilizes the wild living beings, Thor and Ethereum. And the Bodhisattvas have settled And it would feel that such intense hardships must have inconsistently great compassion chasing the other side of us. Like all of us who live in the Sahara world, it's so difficult. It really is. I could start to talk about all the difficulties of this world we're in, but I don't want to bring it down. You all know all of it anyway. But this is a wonderful place to be at Bodhisattva, even though from the point of view of the fragrance Bodhisattvas, it's kind of wild and removed. But we have the opportunity to pacify and discipline and clarify and support our own weak parts and others in this world.

[19:31]

So it's really a great opportunity to do that. Yeah. So, you know, this is an important teaching of the Wankerji Sutra. And I'm not going to... My intention anyway for the three-day sitting is not to focus on particular parts of the text of the Sutra, nor on the reference to some of the witches to talk about. How do we apply all these Strange teachings to our own minds in this difficult world. United States of America or wherever we are in the world. So how do we do this with great compassion? Another story I've told is that there are Bodhisattvas from many other worlds who are lined up just waiting to be born in this world at the start. Because they know this is where they can do their most good, where they can help beings the most.

[20:40]

So, you know, to me this implies that we can oppose harmful systems or events happening in our world without hating or despising personally those who espouse these thoughtful policies. We can oppose white supremacist, terrorist policies and systems without hating the politicians who are talking about personally hating those people. We don't need to. We can oppose the difficulties of the world without falling into personal hatred. Even people who are causing great harm are just very seriously deluded.

[21:44]

So I don't know if we said in the research what we do to help them see the possibilities of beauty and wonder and kindness in the world. It's a big job. Anyway, that's our job. And, you know, just as in this Sravakanta Siddhartha world, beings are awakened by fragrance. When we consider all of the myriad Buddha fields, we should hear that in other Buddha fields, other phenomena are used to teach. So in some Buddha fields, beings are awakened by illuminated by music. That happens in our world, too. Some of them are awakened by clouds, some by poetry, human haiku, some by birds. In some Buddha worlds, beings are awakened by mountains, or rivers, or fish, or trees, anywhere.

[22:52]

So we tend to think of teachings in one formative way. The whole world, all the flowers. So you could just go back in the garden behind me and simply see flowers. That can teach also. Anyway, I'll close by reading the eight qualities of bodhisattvas that help them to reach pure moving fields. So it says the bodhisattvas resolve to themselves, I must benefit all living beings without seeking even the slightest benefit for myself. I must bear all the miseries of all living beings and give all my accumulated roots or version to all living beings. I must have no resentment towards any living being.

[23:57]

I must rejoice in all bodily sufferings as if they were the teacher. I must not neglect any teaching, whether or not I have heard them before. I must control my mind without coveting the gains of others and without taking pride in the gains of my own. I must examine my own faults and not blame others for their faults. I must take pleasure in being consciously aware and awake and must truly undertake all virtues. So those are the eight qualities of bodhisattvas, the practices of bodhisattvas that help them to reach to other fields. So maybe that's enough. and talking about the sutra for tonight.

[24:59]

But any questions or comments or responses? Just feel free. Ah, hi Kyoshin. This is the question, those eight qualities of the Bodhisattva, are those from the Mahatma Kirti Sutra? It's in the Mahatma Kirti Sutra, towards the end, which I was reading during this translation. At the end of chapter 10, there wasn't. Including not to find fault with others. Some of them are like some of our precepts. And not to blame others. and to, you know, look at our own shortcomings and sample news. This is all part of, you know, another way all of these are, whatever event is available, it's awesome. So, in our world, we could say we are

[26:00]

some plot and awakened by seducing folks and so forth. But really, it's just something, just seeing a new presence, saving ourselves. Other questions or comments? Ben. Ben, hi, welcome. Good to see you again. I'm really struck by this contrast between our world of sense, a world of native sense, right? It's not just been teaching or something. It's a world composed of sense. Well, all the beings and all the bodhisattvas and all the trees are, they emit and I guess they're also composed of ravens. I don't know if I understand it. Right. And the wild and uncivilized world of discourse and language. And So I have a dog who's 15 and a half.

[27:06]

And she's a sweetie. She can't hear anything. Her eyesight is starting to fade. She walks very, very slowly. But she smells everything. And I take her on walks every morning for two blocks. And it takes us half an hour. It's sort of like walking meditation. I get frustrated because I live in a world of language where I have to teach class and I have to get emails and I'm worried about the text that I have to send. But then I always try to remember that for her, her world really is a world of sense and a world of smells. And I'm wondering... What that world is like. So it was a world without the divisions that language and discourse tries to impose upon women.

[28:07]

The sons are all going to mingle into each other. Well, she'll stop and smell some places, and there's some places she really likes. She'll pass by other places. A animal neurobiologist wrote this book about canine brains. And so the dogs, not only can they recognize all the scents, but they can, she said, they can smell time. So they can smell like how long ago the scent was put down. And they can smell space. So they can smell like how fast They can smell as they're getting closer to where the scent is. So I guess a little of the scent really would get us to really rethink how we perceive things. And if you're lucky enough to live with a dog, you're also in a world where those dogs are inhabiting that in a very significant way.

[29:15]

Well, thank you very much. We have a puppy who's to be a year old in a month or two birthday and so i i've learned to when i take her on walks go slowly and let her smell the things first But, and she gets exercise other times, but she stops as she, yeah. So, thank you. I didn't know that . Other comments, responses? A lot of the wonderful talk is about how she learns from birds. So, you know, they're all, you know, as you were talking, though, you know, in our language, in our verbal discourse, we separate the subject from the object.

[30:23]

I wonder, do dogs think of sounds as something out there or as part of just their own language? Anyway, we don't know. Gershon, do you want to say anything else about how birds teach? Some birds, like vultures, for example, find their food by smell. So I don't know about all birds, but I was actually thinking, I've been reading Richard Steinem, and I don't know if it's not about... crazy Nobel laureate physicist and rapporteur. Can you hear her, Patrick? Please speak up. Anyway, he was interested in mind reading, so he went to a mind reading performance and talked to the mind reader and found out from the mind reader that he actually

[31:31]

did it by smell, which is a little complicated to explain, and I won't go into it, but what I was thinking about was that, so he decided he would investigate whether he could smell things, and his experiments, I guess, showed him that if he tried, if he really did put his mind to it and pay more attention, he could train himself to do a lot of things by himself. The way blind people do a lot of things by hearing and touch. So after you did this talk, I have actually been thinking about it. I think we should all think about whether we can do more with this sense we have, which I think we underappreciate. So maybe that's one of the lessons in there, appreciating something more. You know, we are so dependent on our eyes.

[32:33]

When I had hearing loss, I realized how dependent I was on my eyes and ears, but not my nose. Thank you. Other comments or responses, questions? And people who train particular senses, so chefs. Yes. Have a highly developed sense of taste, for example. And I think a lot of it comes from smell, too. Yes, it comes from smell. The head chef at Elizabethania, whose name I forget, but... Athens. Athens, yeah, had cancer and recovered, but totally lost his entire sense of smell.

[33:42]

And... couldn't taste a single thing. And so he just put himself through his own sort of boot camp and re-taught himself how to taste, which is pretty remarkable. I don't know what that would be like to rely professionally on a particular sense and then suddenly have that taken away from you. And to be well known in your field for that. It reminds me of Lou Richmond, a senior teacher at San Francisco and he had a stroke and he was actually in a coma for, I forget, about 10 months or something, and he recovered, but he didn't have a lot of cognitive abilities. He couldn't, I forget, he discussed this earlier in the class about Maybe he actually used language, and he regained his covenant abilities by saying it's us.

[34:49]

It slowed him down. And so he ended up, he was able to have concert pianos, so he turned to one more and one more. Anyway, the brain is a strange thing, and our various senses, how we perceive the world, it's part of what the Denali-Kercher-Sinter emphasizes, is that our sense of the world, our perception of the world is not what we think it is. It's... Any other questions or comments? I just got a comment that I think we can learn from people who have lost their sense or don't have a sense. I think that we don't attend enough.

[35:53]

Well, it makes me think of the phrase differently abled, which we can't use as a politically correct thing, but I think it really is. You know, when someone steps outside the margin of what is sort of, you know, normative, they do different things. Yeah. And each of those guys has their own special gifts instead. So we all have different... skill sets, to put it that way, and perception as well. Some people can paint, some people make music, some people are coaching, some people can identify different birds. So the particulars of how we perceive the world are interesting and different.

[36:55]

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