So, that's better. So this is Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, fourth day of our Sashin, and I've been talking about the Heart Sutra. I will continue to do that today. We haven't gotten past the skandhas, which is very good. It is very good. We should continue talking about the skandhas forever. before we get to the rest of it, because, you know, the opening statements are what the sutra is about, and the rest is commentary. So, we'll see where we get to. So that'll bring us up to date.

[01:07]

As you may remember, in the preamble to the Sutra, this little story, drama, the introduction gives us the place and the time and the circumstances on which the sutra is introduced. So we start with when Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing or coursing in the Deep Prajnaparamita. That's where our sutra starts, but there's the introduction which is when Shakyamuni, or I guess it was Shakyamuni, was coursing in, he was in a samadhi called Deep Splendor.

[02:20]

I like to call it Self-fulfilling Splendor. which is actually our Jiju-Yu-Zamae, which we're all familiar with, aren't we? Jiju-Yu-Zamae is self-fulfilling Samadhi, which is presented by Dogen in the What's that classical? Bhandowa. So he's saying Shariputra is present and Avalokiteshvara is present, and Avalokiteshvara is asked by the Buddha to say something to My mind is to Shariputra.

[03:26]

Shariputra is requesting of the Buddha. Shariputra was Buddha's main disciple in Abhidhamma wisdom, the wisdom of analysis. And so he's asking the Buddha to explain, how do you practice the Prajnaparamita? And Shakyamuni says to, in his Samadhi, he says to Avalokiteshvara, would you please explain this sutra, or this, not sutra, would you please explain this practice of practicing the Prajnaparamita to Subhuti, to Sariputra. And then the sutra begins with, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajnaparamita, perceived that all five skandhas in their own being are empty,

[04:44]

and was saved from all suffering. And then we talked about what the meaning of skandhas is. So skandhas, of course, are five characteristics which comprise basically what a human being is. and when forms, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. These are the five characteristics which comprise what we call the self. So the self is a kind of confection of these five characteristics. And since there's no permanent self, we have a big problem. because we think that we are a permanent self.

[05:48]

Not permanent, but we like to believe that we are a permanent self even though we know we're not. So that's our problem. As everything is flowing, and because we cannot have what we want permanently, And because we have what we don't want permanently, and we're not with the people that we like to be with, and we are with the people we don't like to be with, and all of our cherished advances in our society are suddenly smashed and taken away, we suffer. So how do we get out of suffering? That's the Buddhist statement. All I teach is how you get out of suffering.

[06:51]

Life is suffering. And, of course, the Four Noble Truths tell us that there's a reason, and that there's a reason, and the reason is because of what we want too much. We want what we can't have. And we have what we don't want. That's the basic cause of suffering. It's called desire. But desire is also what we need. Everything exists because of its opposite. And that's what the sutra is also telling us. That everything exists because of its opposite. And trying to understand that boggles our mind. Yesterday, I said at the end of Mary's talk, that in order to be free of something, we have to be one with it.

[08:02]

In order to be free of our pain in our legs, we have to become one with the pain. As long as we want to escape, we create suffering. Pain is pain. Suffering is suffering. Pain is pain. And the desire to want to be free of it causes suffering. It's that subtle. Very subtle. So it's a big, life itself is where the koan is. All the koans are about this. And our practice is the practice of what Dogen calls genjo koan. Our life as it proceeds from zazen into our daily life

[09:11]

with every moment of which is the koan. People say, you Soto Zen people don't study the koans, which is not accurate. We do study those koans, the collections. But what's right in front of us, moment by moment, is our koan. And practice is called realizingness. If we don't realize this, we say, well, what is this boring practice? And people come up and they say, you know, the other day, the last day of, the day before Shina, I was wondering, why am I here? What am I doing? Why am I doing all this? Well, yeah, if you don't realize that what's in front of you is koan, your koan, there's nothing there. I'm just sitting here bored. It is boring if you're not connected.

[10:13]

If you're connected, it's not boring. If you're connected to your posture and to maintaining your posture for 40 minutes, it's not boring. It's only boring when your mind is wandering and you're thinking about things. So let me go on here and on. Excuse me for going on and on. So Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajnaparamita. So Avalokita, what is he practicing? He's practicing the balance of The balance of wisdom and compassion. Wisdom is the parent and compassion is the child. Compassion is the practice of wisdom.

[11:20]

Wisdom is the parent of the child. There's a wonderful quote. The Blue Mountain is the parent of the White Cloud. The White Cloud is the child of the Blue Mountain. All day long, they depend on each other without being dependent on each other. Suzuki Hiroshi uses that in one of his talks. I think that's a quote of Isan. The blue mountain is the parent of the white cloud.

[12:24]

The white cloud is the child of the blue mountain. All day long they depend on each other without being dependent on each other. This is the practice of Prajnaparamita, the balance of wisdom and compassion. Wisdom is the parent, compassion is the child. So this is Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva practicing Prajnaparamita, deeply coursing in the Prajnaparamita, which is the perfect embodiment of the conditioned and the unconditioned. So the unconditioned, that which has no special characteristics, is not influenced by anything.

[13:29]

It's called emptiness. Kaa Tanahashi, in his new book on hardship, he calls it boundlessness, which is okay, boundlessness. It's a new way of thinking about it. One way of thinking about it. But I'm used to emptiness and all my understanding is bound up with the term emptiness. So I use the old term emptiness. Emptiness and form. So form is the cloud. emptiness is the blue mountain. All day long, they interact with each other, but the cloud is the cloud, and the form is the form, and the cloud is the mountain, mountain is the cloud, but the mountain is the mountain, and the cloud is the cloud.

[14:33]

Then he perceived that all five skandhas in their own being are empty. So own being is important, as you know. Five skandhas form, all forms, the body, feelings about the body, good and bad and different, like, dislike and so forth. Perceptions, that which sees things as they seem to be. It's how we actually find our way, feel our way, you know, in the world, like little insects, you know, with our feelers, perceptors, right? And our perceptors are so limited. We try to sink our way into the world of reality with our feelers, eyes, ears, nose, tongue,

[15:42]

body, and then there's consciousness, which evaluates everything, and is aware, awareness. So these five all work together, and we call them me, Joe, Ken, you know, Alexandra, five skandhas, called And each one of these confections, like a cake, has a name. That's a very limited way of thinking about ourselves. So consciousness puts it all together and calls it myself. And for a moment, it's not that it's not yourself. It's not that I'm not myself. I am myself, and I'm not myself. If you say, I am myself, that's neither true nor false.

[16:51]

If I say I'm not myself, that's neither true nor false. We like to fall into one side or the other, which is called duality. Discrimination. If the only way to understand ourselves is through non-discrimination, If you want to release yourself from pain, from suffering, enter into the pain. Because when you become one with, then there's no opposite. It's only through opposition, I don't say only, it's through opposition that we create suffering. Through like and dislike. We say, it's said, our teachers always say, when you sit in Zazen, there's no good or bad, there's no right or wrong, there's no like or dislike.

[17:53]

You let go of all those and you become one with whatever is present. That's release from suffering. if it's done correctly. But it's really hard, because we are attached to our suffering. We think, I don't want to have suffering. But it's so difficult, because we want to escape from it, which is natural. I do, too. We all want to escape from suffering. But when we run away, it doesn't help because that creates more suffering. You can escape, you know, and it won't cause suffering. It'll be freedom. That's great. But what we're talking about is how we create the suffering in ourselves for ourselves and for others.

[18:56]

But basically how we create our own suffering. Circumstances are what they are and how we meet circumstances depends on, or our freedom depends on how we relate to circumstances. So if we're always unhappy, why is that? Well, because this happened and that happened, and this guy's no good, and blah, blah, blah. It's here, how we relate to circumstances, good or bad. How do you relate to, what's happening in the world, in the country, or your eviction, or your job being lost, or how do you relate to being out on the street in a tent? How do you maintain

[20:04]

Your equanimity. Equanimity means all things are equal. That's a Western term. All things being equal. Great. That's Western realization. All things being equal. I will do this or that. But all things being equal is really hard. Because what we really always see is the inequality, without seeing the equality, without paying attention to the equality. That's what we practice. We practice in order to realize the equality within the inequality, and the inequality within the equality. If we don't include the other side, we're always in delusion. Yes includes no.

[21:06]

No includes yes. Does the dog have the Buddha nature? It's not about the dog. It's about yes and no. The monk asked Joshu, does the dog have the Buddha nature? And Joshu said, no. Wu. The Japanese say mu. Then he asked another. And another monk asked him, or maybe it was the same monk later, but there's a difference. Some people say one or the other. Another monk asked, does the dog have a boon? And he said, of course. Well, which is it, yes or no? Come on, Joshu, is it yes or no? Whatever he says is okay, because his no includes yes, and his yes includes no. We always see things from one side to the other. We want the right answer.

[22:07]

We want an answer now. Okay, yes, or okay, no. The reality is in between. It's in between the cracks. Fuzzy logic is a product, I think, of the dharma. We want certainty. But certainty is not one-sided. So the world just keeps going around and around and around in the same confusion. So when practicing Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply, practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita, or coursing is Kansa, perceived that all five skandhas in their own being are empty of their own being.

[23:15]

Separateness, basically, and was saved from all suffering. So, not to fall into extremes of existence and non-existence. Are we alive or dead? Well, we're alive, and sometime we'll be dead. But actually, we're both alive and dead at the same time. That's how you escape from the suffering of the problem of birth and death. Because we think, now I'm alive and then I'll be dead. That is one level of birth and death. But according to the Dharma, There's only continuation. Where did I come from? Well, my mom, you know, I was born from my mom at a certain time, and that was the beginning. But the beginning is way back. There is no beginning.

[24:19]

And then I will die, and that'll be the end. But how can there be an end to anything? How can it be an end to anything that's alive? We say alive and dead, but alive's not the opposite of dead. You can think of it in that way, of course. That's one way to think, but birth and death are the two sides of life. The past is irrevocable. It's all gone. It's history. Everything we're doing right now is a history. It's hard to keep up with the present. Because as soon as we experience it, it's gone. So how we stay in the present is a kind of practice of staying in the present. Because the future doesn't exist.

[25:23]

It's just an idea. I say this over and over, and I hope it doesn't bore you. So, to live in the present is difficult, but we do it all the time. It's just that we're not aware. That's the only place we do. But, you know, we also live in the past, but we live in the past present. We live in the future present, or the present future, or the present past, whatever you want to call it, because it's a memory. And there are the signs of the past, you know, the Parthenon, you know, relics, a lot of relics of the past that are in the present. But it's all in the present, all of it.

[26:25]

So here's how Avalokiteshvara talks to or explains to Sariputra. Oh, Sariputra, here's my answer to your question. Form does not differ from emptiness, or you could say vastness. or boundless. Form does not differ from emptiness. Emptiness does not differ from form. Of course, we say this ad nauseum, right? But what do we understand? That which is form is emptiness, and that which is emptiness, form. The same is true of our feelings. Our feelings don't differ from emptiness. Our perceptions don't differ from emptiness, our mental formations don't differ from emptiness, and consciousness doesn't differ from emptiness.

[27:38]

The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness as is form. So, what is emptiness? There are 18 designations about what is emptiness in Buddhist parlance. The emptiness, you could say, has no special characteristics. All characteristics, all special characteristics are the expression of emptiness. This is how emptiness expresses itself as form, forms. So if you want to study emptiness, if you want to see emptiness with your bare eyes, just look at Amasalu. She's a perfect example of a form as an expression of emptiness.

[28:44]

So when we say, when Dogen says stuff like, And Suzuki Roshi also says, when we address somebody, we address them as Buddha nature. No matter how good or bad somebody is, or right or wrong somebody is, they're an expression of Buddha nature. Has nothing to do with good and bad, right and wrong, like and dislike, want and not want. It's Buddha nature, it's emptiness. Emptiness is another name of Buddha nature, that's all. I mean, it's not all, but it's all enough. So that's how we express ourselves. So when Suzuki Roshi talked to us, he was talking to our Buddha nature. And so we always felt addressed. We always felt addressed. that he could look deeply into us without trying, you know, just ordinary activity like, you know, people do when they're talking over the table or drinking their coffee.

[29:55]

But it was nothing special. Because it's nothing special, very special. We just say special because it's so unusual for somebody to address us as Buddha nature. as emptiness. So emptiness actually means totality, means fullness. Everything means its opposite in emptiness. Well, in emptiness there are, I don't want to say what there are because I don't know. Nobody knows. But it's our understanding, the way we express ourselves in a non-dual way. So emptiness is non-duality, is another way of saying that. Non-discrimination, because discrimination means division.

[30:59]

Everything is discriminated, and we live in a world of discrimination. It has nothing to do with, well, discrimination simply means to separate and put things into various positions with each other and interactions and transformations. It's a world of transformations. It's a world of discrimination. So, there's discrimination based on the way things really are, and there's discrimination based on prejudice. That's different. It's not different, but it's a different thing. Discrimination of non-discrimination, it's called. Meaning, you know, when we talk about discrimination, we say, the sutras say you shouldn't discriminate, but you have to discriminate. This is a world of discrimination, so we have to live in it and know how to discriminate in the world of discrimination, which we live.

[32:06]

But we also have to understand the non-discriminating side of discrimination. And there's a wisdom of discernment and a wisdom of equality. It seems like that. So the wisdom of discernment or discrimination doesn't mean I am wise to be able to discern between this and that. It seems like it's a more inclusive thing that while I can discern or while I am discerning this and that, the other side The wisdom of equality is... Well, okay. The wisdom of discernment, true discernment, is to discriminate with wisdom. Not attaching to... To see things as they are.

[33:10]

This is what Kuroshi used to say, as it is. Things as it is. Things is plural. and as it is is singular. This is because things they are and as it is. So they and it, right, is a kind of logically non-sequitur. But that's, we have to use discriminating words to talk about non-discrimination. And so we do it that way. Does the dog have the Buddha nature? Yes and no. So that's what makes it the koan, is that using discriminating words to express the non-discrimination. That's why koans are difficult. Maybe as a parent of their children,

[34:12]

I think that's taking it too literally. Yeah, too literal. Ideally, ideally, the parent is this wise, you know, non-discriminating And the children are all growing up saying, oh, everything you say is wonderful, you know, and I'm learning all this stuff from you. But they don't do that, right? The parents are screaming at the kids and the kids are, you know, running away from their parents. But ideally, I mean, not ideally, but metaphorically, right? And the same, this also goes for teacher and student. The teacher's the wise one and knows everything, you know, and behaves well. And the student, you know, is, yes, sir, yes, sir, just tell me what to do, right?

[35:33]

That's ideal. But that's the stereotype. And it's the example, right? So it's just an example. It's an example of form and emptiness. So we should pay attention to emptiness as forms. We're form beings, but we're also emptiness beings. And emptiness is form, and form is emptiness. Nevertheless, emptiness is emptiness, form is form. Teacher is teacher, student is student. But sometimes the student is teacher, right? So otherwise, the teacher would be omniscient and the student would be subservient, right? So there has to be, because the teacher is fallible and because the student is infallible, no, because the student is also fallible, the two fallibles

[36:35]

practicing, but one has this position and the other has that position. And they have to honor each other's position at the same time. And Suzuki Roshi in his wonderful talk said, when two imperfect people really make an effort to work together, something great happens. So just for fun, I'm going to present to you the 18 emptinesses. The 18 shunyatas. Shunyata is a word that's translated as emptiness or vastness or whatever.

[37:37]

But it's the positive negative. If you say emptiness is just negative, that's not right. If you say it's just positive, that's not right either. It's the positive negative. It's the emptiness from which this, the progenitor, it's Buddha nature, So this is Soke-an Sasaki, who was in New York for a long time, way back there in the 30s, and a great teacher. So he says, the 18 shunyataas, or emptinesses, is a stiff lecture. I have been teaching for six years in New York, that's 1936, and this is the first time I am speaking about them.

[38:43]

These emptinesses are explained by Shakyamuni Buddha in the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra. In this sutra, the Buddha said to his disciple Shariputra, O Shariputra, if you wish to stay within the 18 shunyatas, practice Prajnaparamita. Emptiness, which is the keystone of Buddhism, is the conclusion of this sutra. In it, the Buddha was said to have practiced Prajnaparamita for eight years, and now we have 600 volumes of what happened. The 600 volumes are the Prajnaparamita sutras. The Heart Sutra is a little condensation of all the stuff in the Prajnaparamita. Right, so Prajnaparamita is a vast, body of work, 25,000 lines and so forth, which we used to study in the old days, but doesn't seem to come up anymore. So I hope you will understand this lecture.

[39:47]

It is really only for an audience that is expert in Buddhism, like you guys, like us. So the 18 shunyatas are as follows. Inside is empty. Outside is empty. Inside and outside are empty. Emptiness is empty. The great elements are empty. Reality is empty. Creative purpose is empty. Purposelessness is empty. The conclusion is empty. The beginningless is empty. Undoing phenomena is empty. Your own nature is empty. All existence is empty. One's own appearance is empty. The ungraspable is empty. Nonexistence is empty. Existence is empty. Nonexistence is empty.

[40:50]

He says that twice, but I think that's a literal mistake. So I put it together as nonexisting existence is empty. That's a negative negative, right? Something like that. And then he goes on to explain each one, the meaning of each one. But that's too much for us. I just wanted to expose us to that, shunyatas. So then, I'm not going to prolong all this too long, but I will just say that. Okay, then he says, oh, Shariputra, all dharmas. So now he's going to talk about the dharmas. dharmas are the constituents of our psycho-physical existence.

[42:06]

Physical, meaning body, and psycho, meaning our mental characteristics. We talked about this before a little bit. The skandhas are like categories. The category of form, the category of feelings, the category of perceptions, the category of mental formations, of which there are 52, Mark. And then the category of consciousness, of which there are in the Mahayana are eight. And then the dharmas are the constituents or the breakdown of those categories, the particulars, which I don't want to go into right now. So I just want to mention that. So Shariputra, all dharmas also are marked with emptiness.

[43:19]

This is one of the problems that the Mahayana had with the so-called Hinayana. Hinayana is a term that was used way back where the Mahayana was criticized. The Hinayana monks were being narrow-minded, so to speak. And the Hinayana accused the Mahayana of not being Buddhists at all. Nobody mentions that. You are not a Buddhist unless you are a, the Sangha, and it exists today in certain places, the Sangha is simply the monks, the monastic monks. that a lot of monastics in various places in the world feel that only the monastic monks are the Sangha, not the lay people.

[44:26]

Mahayana includes lay people as well. So there is a place for lay people in the so-called Hinayana, but Hinayana is not a school. There's no Hinayana school. It's an attitude. It can exist in the Mahayana. It can exist in any school of Buddhism. But basically, we associate it with the elders of the past. But it's a dead subject. But we use it to differentiate certain attitudes, not any particular school of Buddhism. So, do you have any questions of James? I'm a little puzzled by the fact that Avalokiteshvara is the Bodhisattva of compassion.

[45:30]

Yes. And Shariputra is the expert on Ati-yama. Well, because this is where the Heart Sutra is called the second turning of the wheel. The first turning of the wheel was Buddha's Four Noble Truths and the condition co-production, basically. This is the second turning of the wheel in which non-duality

[46:35]

became the principal theme. And so Abhidhamma is not necessarily focused on non-duality. And also, various other practices which... Abhidhamma practice, although is Occam's razor. You know about Occam's razor? It's like cutting to the chase, eliminating anything that's not valid, real, right? It's like real examination into the truth. But the monks were basically, not altogether, but basically focused on their own salvation. And the Mahayana was more compassionate in including not just the monks, but the lay people as well.

[47:52]

And the goals were different. The goal of the Bodhisattva, this is where the Bodhisattva became more prominent, the goal of the Bodhisattva was not to chase after nirvana. but to spread their teaching out to help other people before they would practice any form of self-salvation. Helping other people to reach salvation. In other words, you know, the ship is sinking and the captain stays on board. So you make sure everybody else is saved before you abandon the ship. or maybe you go down with the ship. That's the Bodhisattva ideal. So, that's where that kind of split occurred. So, all the Mahayana

[48:59]

literature and focus became, don't abandon the ship, but save the crew and the passengers before you save yourself. So that's what the Hinayana means, means save yourself. And that's what your practice is. It doesn't mean that people didn't help others. I mean, you know, it's not blinders, but that was the focus. And it still is for some, but we don't criticize people like, you know, who cares, right? If that's the way you want to go, go that way. At least that's my feeling. I mean, you know, so we don't see, Now, it just seems that I think that those Hinayana and Mahayana are more merged than they were in those old days.

[50:12]

And it's not a matter of controversy really, but if you want to talk about the development of Buddhism, you have to look at that. Yeah, but it's kind of a metaphor for the old paradigm. Yes. Linda. I'm thinking of this as like a koan verse. Let's see how it comes out. The 19th kind of emptiness. 18th. Huh? 18th. 19th. Okay. Oh, the 19th emptiness. Yeah, okay. I see. than the first, says, a great teacher speaks words of truth and destroys it all by saying, emptiness is the parent and compassion is the child.

[51:22]

And enjoy your cookie while you can. I enjoy the cookie very much. Okay, we'll put it on the list. We'll put it on the list and we'll call it your cookie. Your koan. Linda's koan. I'm really serious about the parent and child or Buddha nature as progenitor. That seems to me, as soon as you say that, the world becomes a big mess. Becomes a what? A big mess, a big problem. Yeah, well, that's why it is. Why else do you think it is? Yes, and it includes the mess. It's not good. And it's not bad. And it's not right. And it's not wrong. It just is. Good and bad, right and wrong, like and dislike are human attributes.

[52:34]

Some people think war is terrible. Some people think war is great. Some people think, we think all kinds of things. And we think of fairness and unfairness. That's human judgment. My point, compassion is apparent. Yes. Parent is the child. Child is the parent. Child is the parent of the father, of the parent. Child is the parent of the parent. Parent is the parent of the child. Yes, thank you. I think... What? It's getting late. We must empty this formal thing here.

[53:46]

I just do what I'm told.

[53:49]

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