I don't know if you heard anything about what I said in the back. Originally, it's all my ancient evil karma committed by me. But people didn't like the word evil. In Buddhism, somehow people don't like to use the word evil, even though evil, there is such a thing, which cannot be denied. But, so they use the word twisted karma because it is kind of, you know, like, has that feeling of entanglements. But I like the word tangled better because tangled means tied up with, kind of like caught in a web. caught in the entanglements from so long ago that you don't even remember what the entanglements are.

[01:12]

So to say entanglements It means the sticky stuff that we get caught in through our volitional actions, which causes so much pain and suffering. And so this leads me into what I wanted to talk about today, which was the four vows, the four bodhisattva vows. On Monday morning, Eric talked about the koan of saving all sentient beings. When we hear this vow, we think, well, how am I going to save all sentient beings?

[02:18]

That's an impossible request. But we say it over and over again, and it's the centerpiece of the bodhisattva vows. So how can we deal with this? And so rightly he says it's a kind of koan. So I thought I would address it today. This bodhisattva vow, I vow to save all sentient beings. As I've said before, the Four Bodhisattva Vows are a reply to the Four Noble Truths. So Buddha's Four Noble Truths are really at the center of Buddhist practice.

[03:22]

And there are various ways to talk about and to deal with the Four Noble Truths. And in all of Buddhist literature and practice, they're hidden within each practice and each doctrine. in some way. So, originally, Buddhist monks were practicing for their own salvation. Not all Buddhist monks, but typically the arhat was practicing for his own salvation. And the bodhisattva reaction to this practicing for one's own salvation was to not enter nirvana or to postpone your own deliverance until all sentient beings are delivered or saved.

[04:37]

So the question comes up, saved from what? What does it mean to be saved? So this response of the Bodhisattva to the Four Noble Truths is to postpone salvation, personal salvation, until everyone has been saved. And saved from what? So the first noble truth is sentient beings are prone to suffering, subject to suffering, or dissatisfaction, or whatever you want to call it. And so the response is, well, I'll save them from delusion and suffering.

[05:41]

So the Bodhisattva vow is to save all sentient beings from the realm of suffering and confusion, the confused mind and the suffering body-mind. And then the second truth is that there's a reason that they're suffering, that we all have this problem. And the reason is too much desire, too much craving, too much wanting things to be the way they're not, and not wanting them to be the way they are. Basically, we can't accept the fact of our life the way it is. And that's the cause of suffering. But we say delusion.

[06:48]

The Bodhisattva response is delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. That's what we say. but originally it's desires. We say delusions because we don't like to use the term desires in that sense, you know, because we may not think that our desires are so bad, but desire is the root of, really the root of the problem. And delusion, of course, is a, A term that we like, we like to use the word delusion because it also covers desires. There are two aspects to the Four Noble Truths.

[07:54]

The first two state the problem. And the second two deal with the cure. So sentient beings are subject to suffering and the cause is desire or too much desire, too much not being able to be where we are and wanting to be where we're not. And the third one is that there is a way to deal with it. Some people say to escape. I don't particularly like the word escape, but I'd rather use the term deal with, face it, or what do we do about it? There is something that we can do about it. That's the third truth. And the Bodhisattva response is

[09:00]

I vow to enter all the Dharma gates, which means to study the various ways of the Dharma in all of its facets. And the fourth truth is that the way is the Eightfold Path. It could also be the ten paramitas or six paramitas. It could be any eightfold path. It means eightfold path specifically, but it also means the various practices. So, our response, the Bodhisattva response is I vow to become the Buddha way. That's the way we say it.

[10:02]

I vow to become the Buddha way. But it could also be I vow to follow the way of the Eightfold Path. So the four bodhisattva vows are the bodhisattva's response to the four noble truths. But what does it mean to save all sentient beings? That's the question. So there are various ways to look at this question. If we think about it, It looks like an impossible task. What do you mean, save all sentient beings?

[11:04]

I don't even know everybody. I don't even know the people on my own block. So how am I going to save all sentient beings? So, saving all sentient beings does not mean that I'm going to save all sentient beings. It means that my intention is that I have an intention to save beings from suffering. That's my intention. But it doesn't necessarily mean that it's my accomplishment. So intention and accomplishment are not necessarily the same. There's one person that we can deal with successfully, maybe.

[12:07]

That's this one, right? Maybe we can deal with this one. But the intention is there. The vow is the intention to save all sentient beings. If everyone had that intention, then sentient beings would all be saved. So to take this vow and really have this intention Actually, all sentient beings are saved. That's another koan. Sentient beings are already saved. The Diamond Sutra says, I think it's the Diamond Sutra, says, even though there are no sentient beings to save, we must save them anyway. Even though there are no sentient beings to save, we must work for the salvation of all sentient beings.

[13:22]

So, the sixth patriarch, sixth ancestor, Master Huineng, when asked this question, I gave a response which I've talked about many times. And I'll read what he says, or at least I'll read this particular translation of what he says. Or I'll read this particular translation of what people think he said. So he's been talking about various things and then he says, learned audience, he always talks to his audience this way, he says, learned audience, having repented of our transgressions, we will take the following four all-embracing vows.

[14:42]

We vow to deliver an infinite number of sentient beings of our own mind. We vow to get rid of the innumerable defilements in our own mind. We vow to learn the countless systems in Dharma of our essence of mind. And we vow to attain the supreme Buddhahood of our essence of mind. This is another little way of very nice way of translating the four vows. He says, we vow to deliver an infinite number of sentient beings. But what does that mean? It does not mean that I am going to deliver them. And who are these sentient beings within our mind? They are the delusive mind, the deceitful mind, the evil mind, and such like minds.

[15:48]

All these are sentient beings. Each of us has to deliver ourself by means of our own essence of mind. Then the deliverance is genuine. Now, what does it mean to deliver oneself by one's own essence of mind? It means the deliverance of the ignorant, the delusive, and the vexatious beings within our own mind by means of right views. With the aid of right views and pragya wisdom, the barriers raised by these ignorant and delusive beings may be broken down, so that each of us is in a position to deliver ourself by our own efforts. Let the fallacious be delivered by rightness, the deluded by enlightenment, the ignorant by wisdom, and the malevolent by benevolence. Such is genuine deliverance. So the sentient beings within our own mind, of which he names a few, these are the dharmas, the various unwholesome dharmas.

[17:06]

In Buddha dharma, the three marks of our existence are no self, impermanence, and suffering in the midst of nirvana. No self means that there are only dharmas, skandhas and dharmas. The five skandhas, forms, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness, but there's no inherent being to be found in these five skandhas. And the skandhas are, within the skandhas are the many dharmas. So the being is a collection of dharmas.

[18:18]

So what is saved? Sentient beings, there's actually no sentient being to be saved. And yet, at the same time, there are sentient beings to be saved. This is our big koan. Even though there are no sentient beings, the no sentient beings are sentient beings. And the sentient beings are no sentient beings. So what there is to save is the sentient beings of our own mind. The delusive mind, the avaricious mind, et cetera, et cetera. through the arising of prajna, those sentient beings are saved.

[19:35]

Saved means kill or saved means change? Saved what? Saved means to dismantle them completely? Or saved means like to kill them? Or saved means to preserve them or to tame them? It's to see through them. To save is to see through and then act accordingly. So, repentance, Sixth Patriarch says, repentance means to acknowledge when something, a problem, to acknowledge a dharma, to acknowledge a fault. And when you acknowledge that, you turn around and go the other way.

[20:39]

That's repentance. It means to acknowledge and turn without being judgmental. This is why in Buddhist meditation, you just watch the dharmas as they arise. When a dharma arises, you just acknowledge it. And without creating a judgment, you know that this is This dharma is wholesome, this dharma is unwholesome. And when an unwholesome dharma arises, you turn and go the other way. Let go of it. That sounds easy, but we're all caught in this web of ancient tangled karma. So the dharmas are not easy to let go of.

[21:45]

Being saved is always in the present. Being saved is always in the present? Yes. I think that in Christianity being saved is in the future. Possibly, yeah. And that being saved has something to do with being Buddha in the present. Yeah, I think there's a difference. I don't want to go into what the difference is because I'm not sure exactly what the differences are. But yes, it's to be, I see what you're saying, not saved for some future time. Although in Buddhism there is that because of the idea of rebirth. Karma, you keep creating this karma which through our volitional actions keeps repeating itself and building on itself until the root is eliminated.

[22:55]

It just keeps rolling along. So we're caught by our feelings and emotions And thoughts, you know, we have revenge and all kinds of emotions like that that keep us trapped, right? And so we can't find our freedom. And so we keep creating more and more karma on the basis of something that we did once. And because we can't let go of that feeling or emotion, we just keep doing the same stuff over and over again. So not only is it habit energy, but it's creative energy based on wrong actions. When we can't admit that we did something wrong, then we keep creating the same mistakes over and over again.

[23:57]

And if we can't say, I made a mistake, then we're doomed to keep creating the same mistakes over and over again. So that's why repentance is important because it gives you the opportunity to let go of your attachments. So attachment to discrimination is what people are caught by. Attachment to discriminating mind. So for a Buddhist practice, a Zen student, the most important thing is to continually be giving up, letting go of unwholesome dharmas. that enter the mind and keep returning back to zero, returning to neutral.

[25:05]

This is zazen. In zazen, ideally, you're letting go of everything and returning to neutral. And then starting again from zero. But because we keep hanging on, Even though we sit zazen every day, we still are caught by our karma. We're still caught by infatuations and we can't let go of them. It's the hardest thing, the hardest thing about practice. So then the Sixth Patriarch says, as to the vow, we vow to get rid of the innumerable evil passions in the mind, It refers to the substitution of our unreliable and elusive thinking faculty by the prajna wisdom of our essence of mind.

[26:08]

In other words, wisdom takes the place of desire. The cause of our suffering is desire, but you can't get rid of desire. Well, and I've talked about this before, desire is fire, and the fires are burning away, but to keep them controlled is to keep things warm. And then when they get out of hand, things burn up. So how to keep the fire controlled so that it works for you and for everyone instead of burning things up. So desire is called desire when there's not much control.

[27:24]

But it's called way-seeking mind when one puts their effort into practice. So desire is turned, instead of toward objects of desire, it's turned toward practice. and then one desires the Dharma, one desires to practice, then it's not really considered desire in the same way. So when we talk about desire as being detrimental or the cause of suffering, it means the desire which is in vain, which does not quench our thirst, but quenches it enough so that we continually want more. And then we can never get enough of what we want, and so forth.

[28:29]

And then we want to hang on to what we have, which we can't do. and we want to push away what we don't want, what we don't like, and so forth, and then the whole ball of wax just keeps repeating itself and building. So, what he's saying is, let go of desire for things that you can't, that are not really satisfying, and turn desire toward the Dharma, toward practice. and then prajna will arise and take the place of desire. So he says, as to the vow, we vow to get rid of the innumerable evil passions in the mind. It refers to the substitution of our unreliable and elusive thinking faculty and feelings and emotions. by the prajna wisdom of our essence of mind.

[29:36]

So, this is to save our head from burning up. Buddha had a famous sermon, I think it was maybe his first sermon, the fire sermon. He said, everybody's head is on fire, burning up. and you need to find a way to cool it off. As to the vow, we vow to learn the countless systems of dharmas, that's the third one. It may be remarked that there will be no true learning until we have seen face to face our essence of mind. and until we conform to the orthodox dharma on all occasions. Yes, the true learning is not through our books, but as we know, it's through our practice.

[30:44]

So even though we vow to learn the countless systems of dharma, the dharma gates, we really won't understand the dharma gates until we really touch our essence of mind, and then all the Dharma gates will be well understood. Usually, we don't encourage people to practice, I mean, excuse me, to study until they've practiced. It's okay to study. People come to practice through study usually, but we don't encourage your studying. We encourage your sitting. Then after you've been sitting for a while and get some feeling for zazen, then you open a book and things become clear. Study verifies your practice.

[31:47]

So then he says, as to the fourth vow, the vow we vow to learn countless systems of dharmas, which means the Eightfold Path, it may be remarked that there will be no true learning. Oh, I'm sorry, I read that. The fourth one is, as to the vow we vow to attain supreme Buddhahood, I wish to point out that when we are able to bend our mind to follow the true dharma on all occasions, and when prajna always arises in our mind so that we can hold aloof from enlightenment as well as from ignorance, and do away with truth as well as falsehood, then we may consider ourselves as having realized the Buddha nature, or in other words, as having attained Buddhahood. So I very much appreciate this, the way this is stated. He doesn't say when you attain enlightenment. He says when you go beyond enlightenment and delusion, go beyond truth and falsehood, the non-duality of reality is what he's talking about.

[33:12]

Enlightenment is important. Delusion is also important. Truth is important. Falsehood is also important. But going beyond them is the most important. We get caught in the web of truth and falsehood. and we get caught in the web of ignorance and enlightenment, or delusion and enlightenment, which are actually hindrances to foundation, to salvation, to our freedom. But first we have to study to acknowledge enlightenment, to acknowledge truth, and embody them before we can go beyond them.

[34:29]

So this vow, it's really the vow to work for the salvation of all sentient beings. You could say, I vow to work for the salvation of all sentient beings. That could be the vow. But it's a little bit long and not as radical It's better to have the radical vow, I vow to save all sentient beings, because it gives us a little more of a problem. And it's also not unattainable. We may think it's unattainable, but it's not unattainable. So, this, but we do say, you know, we changed, again, the vow to, I vow to awaken with all sentient beings.

[36:11]

That's what we say now, here. Now, awaken with takes away the seemingly egotistical aspect of I am going to do something for you. But, so that's nice. I vow to awaken, means that altogether we will awaken. And when Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, was awakened, he said, I am awakened with all sentient beings. Not just I alone am awakened, but I am awakened with everyone. This is the Mahayana interpretation. So to say, I vow to awaken with all of you is very nice. So we retain this way of saying the vow.

[37:12]

I vow to awaken with all sentient beings. And salvation is awakening. That's the So that fits quite well. So we changed that in Zen Center to Awakening, and then Zen Center changed back to Saving, and we stayed with Awakening. But we say it both ways. When we do the Bodhisattva ceremony, we say Saving, and when we do it ordinarily after lecture, we say Awakening. But so either way is okay. And I think we should be able to say things, the same statement in various ways without contradicting ourselves or feeling that we're contradicting ourselves.

[38:14]

Because there is no definitive way of saying something. There are only various ways depending on how you're feeling about it and how you see the meaning. Do you have any questions? Ross? When we meet on wholesome dharmas in our mind, you suggest we meet them, acknowledge them, and then turn around.

[39:27]

What should we do with wholesome dharmas? Acknowledge them, and there's no need to turn around. Because wholesome dharmas are beneficial. But at the same time, we shouldn't be attached to anything. It's important to cultivate wholesome dharmas. and not cultivate unwholesome dharmas. But at the same time, we can't hold on to either one. So, you know, in Zazen, when we sit in Zazen,

[40:33]

everything comes up. Wholesome dharmas come up, unwholesome dharmas come up. But we don't attach to either one of them. We just let things come and go. But in our daily life, we have to pay more attention because we're actually taking up certain dharmas. We have to respond to life in the world. So this is entering the realm of duality. We have to enter the realm of duality and play in it without being caught by it, without being turned around by it. So discernment is necessary. Discrimination is necessary. but it's discrimination on the basis of non-discrimination. So while non-discriminating mind is not attaching to anything, at the same time, one has to make decisions all the time about where to go, what to do, how to respond.

[41:52]

So this is to free our mind. To stay with wholesome dharmas is to free the mind. But at the same time, we can't be attached to something good any more than we can be attached to something bad. Amy, did you? I didn't raise my hand. Oh, OK. My experience of reading the Dharma is, as you say, it verifies my practice sometimes. And it inspires me once, it doesn't. Other times, it confuses me so much that the only thing to do is let go and try to understand it, since it doesn't. And given that this is the case,

[43:00]

That's good, but your confusion is valuable. Out of confusion comes clarity. So just because you hit a wall when you're studying doesn't mean you should stop studying. You should make some effort to penetrate through that wall, but maybe you can't. So you back off and then you let it go, and then later you come back and, oh yeah, you find your way through. So main thing is to just be patient. You know, study means is to, there are many impenetrable, seemingly impenetrable aspects of Buddhist study. And so you will quickly come up against something that you can't comprehend. So let go of it and go and study something easier.

[44:12]

It depends on your personality, but there's nothing wrong with just letting that go and studying something easier. Study the stuff that you can digest well. And then later, you can study something, go back to it. Because it's like different pieces. Buddhist study is like different aspects of one whole thing. And when you start to understand these things over here, then this becomes more apparent and you see where it fits in. But if you try to study that without studying these other things first, it's like you can't get it. So be patient with yourself and study the easy things and gradually go on to the more difficult things. My question was more the written dharma little d versus studying the self.

[45:18]

Well the written d, written dharma is with a big D. It's the truth, but you have to find that truth in yourself. Until you find that truth in yourself, it's little d. And then it becomes big D. So, it's valuable. It's someone else's experience. You know, so we share experience. That's how we share experience through literature, is you can, you know, communicate with the mind of somebody that lived 1,000 years ago, and their experience and their understanding, it's wonderful. And then you see how it adds, you know, the additive quality of, and the building blocks of Dharma.

[46:20]

But, of course, it can't substitute for your own practice. It enhances your practice. Most of the Buddhists that we read, are they people who have sort of The literature is mostly anonymous, but I think most of the Buddhist literature was written by monks living in the world, but I don't know what you mean by the world. Everybody's living in the world. Some people live remote from the larger society. More as renunciates. Yeah, renunciate. Well, up until about 1850, all Buddhist monks were renunciates.

[47:26]

And they're the people that wrote, but mostly that put down the literature in writing. It's true. Rondi? Yes. So getting back to the koan of Monday, isn't the Zen practitioner in the algebra class In the algebra class? Yeah, in the summer school. This is part of the Monday talk, but we'll have to tell you more later. I see, I see where you are. This is my reference. Is it not true that the question was

[48:37]

Am I correct, Eric? Correct me if I'm wrong. Here I am in the world and I'm teaching algebra at Summer School at Berkeley High. What does this have to do with saving all beings? Yeah. Well, you know, you can look at it from various angles, but When you are teaching a class of various, ruly and unruly, various levels of intelligence and ignorance, various levels of fidgetiness and settledness and so forth. How do you approach that and that situation with the mind of enlightenment?

[49:53]

It's not, you know, we say, well, I'm going to save all those, how am I going to save all those kids out there? Right? You can't do that. You have to, how do I approach them with this mind? And with what mind will they be approached with? I've had various teachers, you know, when I was growing up. And I went to summer school one time. And I had this teacher that taught, I think it was world something, history or social studies. And this teacher was so dynamic and wonderful, and every kid in the class was totally turned on. And they couldn't wait to get to the school. And they couldn't wait to, you know, their enthusiasm was overwhelming. And it was just because of the way he presented things. So when we look for, you know, look at children and the faults they have, it's really like,

[51:06]

Not what can we do with them, but what can I do with myself to awaken them? I think that that's where the burden lies, is how can I make my mind clear enough so that I do not see them as the enemy or as unruly or bad or blah blah, but how can I get into the, if I don't see into my own heart, how can I see into theirs? Yeah. Yes.

[51:48]

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