Giving

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good morning my morning

seems like ah
if people heard that i was giving the talk so rebellion for down and habits
now it's this the time to get have found vincent
the mountains and rivers and the summer and enjoy this season while we haven't spent as thing
so ah
yeah actually
i think it was two weeks ago and three weeks ago when i gave a talk i spoke about ah some of my experience in a rome had a buddhist keswick dialogue to i attended and in the context of that talk i read a short passage from dabian and a cup
full of people came up to me afterwards and and asked about that and it was on the so it was on the matter of giving
ah it was from a body such as for bracing dharmas but i subbed you shall go
and ah
it's it's
where having a part of the song away on mountain river sixteen ha and this is this first line is really applicable it says give flowers blooming on the distant mountains to the togheter so that's what they did they just started out so they can give the flowers different buddy
ah to all the buddhas here awkward you
turn down to school address movement people
thank you elsa seventy petersburg yeah so give flowers blooming on the distant mountains to the togheter offer treasures accumulated in our past lives to living beings we offer ourselves to ourselves and we offer others to others
so i wanted to
speak to this to this ah
notion of what suzuki roshi cause ah
donna prajna power meter
ah one of the six
parliament is the first of the six parliament as the bodhisattva ah practices ah practices that body suffers
enact
when they have awakened and practices by which we become awakened
and suzuki roshi speech to this very beautifully i read this quite a while ah and
chapter said my beginner's mind of god giving
which seems perhaps also appropriate in this context that i've been thinking about of buddhist christian dialogue ah
so he says every existence in nature every existence in human in the human world every cultural work that we create is something which was given or is being given to us relatively speaking
so ah
often what we experience in our lives is ah
this isn't the nature of of duca is we experience a sense that
something is lacking for something is missing
ah and what he's trying to awaken us to and dogan is also ah is that everything that we have
has been given to us
our life
ha ha clothing our shelter
ha and it's constantly being given it's unfolding moment by moment
ah and but then he frames the other side of it he says but as everything is originally one we are in actuality
giving out everything
moment by moment we are creating something and this is the joy of our life
it's joy ah but we recognize that we're completely in this circle of giving
that we are being given
all that we have and all that we are and we we are being given it and we have been given it
and that we are also constantly give him we have that capacity we have the capacity to be in this in this entire circle of existence to give and to receive

this i which is creating and always giving out something is not the small i it is the big guy
debt
the big self something even though you do not realize the oneness of this big i with everything when you give something you feel good because at that time you feel at one with what you are given
this is why it feels better to give than to take
then he talks about the the context of the of donna has one of the power meters
let him explain and then i want to come back to
this circle of giving and taking
we have a saying donna probably a power meter
donna means to give
prajna his wisdom
empire meta means to cross over or to reach the other shore
her life can be seen as crossing as the crow as a crossing of a river
the goal of our lives effort is to reach the other shore nirvana
prashant part meta
the true wisdom of life
is that in each step of the way the other shore is actually reached
this is one of the radical aspects of ah not just not of suzuki roshi teaching because he was really in the stream of my on teaching ah
but in earlier buddhism
there was a strong sense that
we're standing on this shore
and the objective of practice was to get to the other shore
in the unpacking of that in mahayana buddhism has evolved was
we're already on that other sure if only we can see it
and that is so the parameters are there six tara this in subsystems there's ten ah done apart meta
generosity are giving ah
sila ethics morality
the shanty patience which is one i've talked about i think of fission frequently because ah i'm an impatient person and that practice i need to do varia effort
ah which goes along it's paired with patients very closely
ghana which is the same word it's jonah
broadly speaking his meditation and it's it's the word from which zen derives so jonah in sanskrit
and then that got ah
in chinese that came over to chinese as charm and from chinese to japanese ah we have the word in
and then the six party to his project meta wisdom
but in
in actuality wisdom is the key that unlocks all of these parameters that make them practices that are
awakened practices in awakening practices which is why suzuki roshi expressed as they said donna project for me to each of these parameters if not thoroughly saturated in price you know
ha run the risk of
being dualistic
so donna
with that prajna can be
charity or just
do gooding doing good
ah but dualistic it's a framed in the context of
me and you
whereas in the context of of when it's infused are suffused with prajna
it's us
it's that we're all in this together
so donna power meter
to reach the other shore with each step of the crossing
he is the true is the way of true living
but as i to come back to this giving and receiving
ah
has spoken of this before
ah
and i paid too often come back to
a story that
that are you reading a book called the gift by lewis hyde ah the wonderful book about the
spiritual practice of giving
but also looking at it through and the anthropological lands and through a psychological lens ah
and in that he did is to passengers someone to read you ah
the first one is he describes having dinner
a restaurant in rural france
he says the patrons sit at a long communal table
and each finds before his or her plate
a modest bottle of wine
before the meal begins
a person will pour the wine not into his own glass but into the glass of his neighbor
and his neighbor will return the gesture filling the first man's empty glass looking at paul's that would when you did it in in spain
was your wine
ua filling the first man's empty glass in an economic sense nothing has happened
in other words
in an economic sense i can put my wine you can pour your wine it's you know there's no quantitative
difference in that
at least in terms of by
ah what loose hybrids but society has appeared were there was none before
so it's to do that is to bring forth the relational
dimension of giving and receiving which is a deeply embedded in the in japanese culture you know you you always poor t for the person across from you when you allow your teeth up to be poured into
so this gift
and giving
is actualized as it remained in circulation
we see this in in the buddhist tradition ha if you go to southeast asia
monks and nuns will go on arms round every morning early morning it's it's quite wonderful people will come out of their houses and no have food and or set up a little table and the months line up and they were laid off some of the food into into each bowl
ah and
then are they move from house to house so this bowl
that they carry it is
emptiness
and yet ha
this emptiness is filled so that to monk or nun can live and once they've eaten
then the food is transformed into action
and that action is
ah unfolds to
starve
and so the circle continues
it's giving and receiving
there's a really beautiful passage from from blue side ha we talked about this motion he says between the time or gift comes to us
and the time we pass it along
that was also receive something
and in one form or another whether to transformed or not we give it
on
between time gift comes to us and the time we pass it all along we suffer gratitude
it's a really it's an interesting expression tourists know what you think about me to discussion we suffer gratitude gratitude arises
ha
and passing a long gift
is the act of gratitude that completes the labor
so i think is is very this is deeply embedded in our in our buddhist traditions
ah it's embedded in in indesign tradition ah although we may not be so completely aware of it
but ah
i just in this journey to rome i spent a lot of time with the the
the buddhist from the japanese tradition that were there were all from the aside from me all from the shin buddhist tradition
a from black jodo shinshu church had enough you if you're familiar with that there's ah there's two temples quite close are
one an oregon i think and one up on
bancroft mature durrant ah and those are branches of the largest
kind of largest buddhist sect in in japan and their practice is
ah chanting the name checking
the name of amida buddha
ah and the meaning of this chanting is quite complex it's ah
gratitude
his refuge
it's surrender
and it's offering
ah it's it's any and all of those ah but it's recognizing that
one is small and the buddha's universe his is fast so this is what the to kiyoshi is speaking of as the big i
and also i think in there chanting and we have this embedded in in ours if we listen ah we listen to our
in our services we have made their mirrored
of this practice pervade everywhere we're making a request
and i was i was speaking to someone here a couple of days ago
ah and
we're talking about
his practice here and in other ha other settings and he was talking about how he's been pushed to
ask for help
so to be willing
to ask for help i think this is an element of of what ah we see in this chin buddhist tradition and when we're asking for the marriage to pervade all existence that existence includes us
so we're asking for help
had the same time has the other side needs to be present which is we are offering ourselves so this comes up
in that festival of donuts are we offer we offer ourselves to ourselves
can we offer others to others
so we're asking
ah can i be myself can i be by true self my better self by big self
and the example of our practice and i think all of us have had moments of experiencing this ah is just
gratitude for being here
looking around noticing people who are practicing with great sincerity and with commitment
and their commitment
commitments of our teachers of our sisters and brothers encourages encourages us
so they're offering of themselves to themselves allows us
in some inexpressible way to be ourselves

so in this in this chapter
suzuki brings it home
since of us she brings it home to
our city which is ah he almost invariably does this when we sit in the cross legged posture
we resume our fundamental activity of creativity
and then suggesting is that this is a very subtle chapter i really advise you to read it ah since perhaps there are perhaps three kind of creation
all of this is in the context of giving it's awesome the context of receiving ah the first the first form of creation is to be aware of ourselves after we finish zaza
ah so when we sit he says when we sit we are nothing we don't even we do not even realize what we are we just sit but when we stand up we are there that is the first step of creation so too
to stand up is to ha
resume
our conscious life
to prepare to resume our activities
ah our everyday activities
and to step out of that formless place of zazen which is which is kind of the
it's the place where creativity itself takes shape it's allowing when we take that posture we're allowing ourselves
to be worked upon
and we're allowing ourselves to be shaped and we're also shaping
but once we step forward once we set our feet on the ground again and stand up then we are resuming a life where ego place apart
and there's nothing wrong with that
says so that's the first epic creation ah when you were there everything else is there
everything is created all at once
when we emerged from nothing and others or merge when we will revert emerged from that ah place of zazen
when everything emerges from nothing we see it all as a fresh new creation
so everything is new again
and i'm sure many of us have had this experience ah
we begin again which is actually
the intimate process of of zaza beginning again and again
starting over and over
we slip away into this emptiness and then we have a thought
a sensation comes up in our body are we ever thought about
you know what's for lunch or what am i can do later today and then we mindfully turned ourselves back into that openness we don't we don't follow that thought so are we emerged from nothing and we see it all as
the second kind of creation is when you act or produce something like food or t so this is maybe this is the creation the act of sustenance and psych one swiss once we stand up
then we have to figure out or what do we need in order to continue just on the most basic level so we need to food
you may need a drink ah if it's harder if it's if it's very warm need to take off suppose if it's called we need to put on some clothes
so that's the second content creation
the third kind of creation is to create something within yourself
such as education or culture or art or some system for your society
so this is where we turn
we turned to the relational dimension of existence have it means relating to ourselves
it also read means relating to others in our community and in our world so to create some system for your society that's part of what we're here to do
not too
melt into
ah the bliss of zaza
not to stand up and stay here i am
not just to feed myself
and go to the bathroom
but also
to benefit whole beings which is
of course active giving
he says so there are three kinds of creation but if you forget the first the most important one the other two will be like children who have lost their parents their creation will mean nothing so we have to recognize that we are here
and the way we recognize that we're here is are not taking it for granted it's emerging fresh
from our practice over and over again
usually everybody forgets about zazen
everyone forgets about god
ah they worked very hard in the second and third kind of creation but god does not help the activity
this is in
this is very interesting how can we to hear were searching has to say that this how's it possible for him to help when he does not realize who he is
in the is this is getting perilously close to theology and ethernet
ah ah he never that's why we have somebody problems in this world
when we forget the fundamental source of are creating are like children who do not know what to do when they lose their parents that's interesting that's the second he ends up parents before with that notion of losing their parents and then he adds this one
ha
if you understand down a project power meta you will understand how it is that we create so many problems for ourselves
kanan says of course to lend us to create a problem it's great problems
if we did not appear in this world our parents would have no difficulty with us
and
just by appearing we create problems for them
this is all right
everything create some problems
but usually people think that when they die everything is over the problems disappear
but your destiny create problems too
this is this is a sideline driving are thinking i was reading something the last week you know ah
okay in classical buddhism the
ah the objective is to leave the world needs a wheel rather
not to be reborn
ha and the bodhisattva ideal ah hit my honor buddhism is to remain in this cycle of rebirth until
everybody is a week but somebody was pointing out in what i was reading that was the idea of classical buddhism and the idea of atheism very close you know if you're an atheist you believe
when you're dead
you're dead it's over so good you solved the problem you've left the wheel

i can see this really resonates with you
i thought it was interesting
ah but you know our practice is
it's shaped towards
helping everyone be free
so whether there is a
whether there is life after life
when there is nothing after life
ha no one has
he convincingly resolve this question yet
i think
someone on chest sojourn roshi about rebirth and his your answer was a why don't remember
know so maybe so maybe not
but

but it's really a rebirth
here each moment how we live what we give
to those around us and what we are
grateful to receive

when i'd give us an instruction
ha
when i talk about the the nature of mind in doesn't
usually what i say is that mind is
receptive
receptive and not active
so
you know you're looking but you're not see ups are you seen what you're not looking
you're hearing but you're not listening
ah thoughts arise because we've got this thought secrete in oregon ah presumably in our head ah
and
we recognize them were receptive to them but we don't then take them and move on to create a story
answer this total receptivity which is just ah
to me it's the ground for creativity
so if i'm thinking about something i'm quite willing to
sit down cross legged and face the wall
and not think about it
has the most
useful way
that i can allow
that i can allow things that go out creativity to emerge and i don't worry about it because i know that
i will presumably anyway take that first step creative activity at when the bell rings i will stand up
and when that happens
some other process and take place that is working with all that has been hooking along quietly bubbling solely under the surface

so i think i i'd like to close with

just to remind as the distance
both very easy it's the easiest and most natural thing to sit down
and also that were hard headed
until we need to sit down the dogan says
the mind of a sentient being is hard to change
that's like the a factor you know ah we begin to transform the mind thinking beings by offering new material things
and so we resolved to transform them until they all contain the way
from the beginning we should always practice offering
many courses his paragraphs from this is where i'm in the stop
but there are times when our mind turns things
and there is giving
in which things turn her mind
so we have little time left for questions comments
ah peter
oh suffering great
i keep turn is over
it's very risky
how does one eric
for one knows
one response
i see it occurred to me i've never and and record much about
the incredibly sensitive regions problem
you
somebody says sometimes manifest is you were drawers from after use house after rate
because they will censor
and air
gratitude is heightened awareness of a revision iceberg
but will be ready to give at any moment
well it's a good question
it is i think that the pivot for me as on that word suffer
ha which i think is
very wonderfully chosen
because it
it has an an envelope of implication for us
but it rude i think the meaning if i'm remembering my latin somebody can correct me is it means to allow
right here
ah but to use it
there's also some sense that is unbelievable children right allow the little children to come
so it's our to me in yeah and then the meeting with us
luckily have this right right
now i've been reading i've been reading the gospels lately and reading another translation it's king james version that's a suffered for little children and this decision is a stripped all the magic out of the language but it's a lot easier traditional
do you have
is there something you would say in response where pyjamas doesn't does an the room
well
when i heard that were supper
suffered reddit
no uncertain terms when receive something and when needed senses is a revolution
move into a powerful relationship somebody else or some other people and how do i respond to that and napkin and with them
you see we have that sense without knowing how to respond and i have to suffer or allow yourself to respond and the time placement
the desert interest in the sense of
i mean i can hold a sense of what i'm in relationship how to write response about knowing what to do
is it
my response to your user yes the everything is enough room
this is like a matter of initially the book suit
with the president who is soup
delights and giving up
that's you that's your whole crew practice is to give up and offer yourself in florida who thought everything really think about it that way you know exactly what to do
i think in that in that cultural setting that ted peters is speaking about ah
dummy there's something there is a splendi somewhat obsessive sense of obligation so you have a closet full of already wrapped gifts because you know when somebody gives you something you're going to be obligated to give something back which it does not contradict the relational dimension
but it's not necessarily donna pyramid than a private party down it's transaction yes so my response
they expect several separate levels and like just suggested is how the experience of day
so when when receives see stuff like experience that of only
so that the media small i was immediately
the debt in a small gift so that the too small and do not need so that the exchanges okay that's why is no longer energetic that the big guy is going to experience the actual games that was received
and that actual guess is going to become transformed in some way so that the visual that damage turn the gift of gratitude elsewhere will know that when and to home that the what the when will
rise at all of rise actually and that in the interim the person has to suffer to suffer deadness of the gratitude
yeah that i think that's really good i think that on
this is where also the other part meters fit in because what it calls for many ways as the parmi to of patience you have to wait for that give to cook inside you had transform
and this is what we're doing maths sitting down every day and so you'll have to you there may be some suffering because you have to when you may have to endure something but you're doing it for the sake of letting it ripen oh there's a wonderful expression of reach when we do this and came across because of
looking at a media but letting letting it ripen and ah then be passed on in as an appropriate response
a wonderful expression or maybe this is the place to to end i was reading about them shin buddhism and
came across
the riper the rice
the lower bows his head
thank you very much