To remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Welcome, Great Assembly. Throughout our days together, I am repeatedly touched and uplifted by your great sincerity and devotion to our study together. Thank you so much. As I remember yesterday, we talked a little bit about chapter one of the Lotus Sutra text as we have it.

[01:13]

And in chapter one, reciting, after teaching a sutra called Innumerable Meanings, the Buddha then entered into a samadhi, a state of concentration, a state of awareness that was immovable, imperturbable, open, and gracious. And in that samadhi, which was called the place of innumerable meanings, which is the place of innumerable meetings. In that samadhi, flowers of various kinds fell upon the Buddha and the whole assembly. And the earth shook.

[02:18]

From the Buddha's forehead, between the eyes, a great beam of light was emitted. And for the remainder of the chapter, the Buddha is sitting in the samadhi. And people are astounded, astonished, inspired, enchanted, contemplating the Buddha sitting in this samadhi. And Maitreya Bodhisattva, sensing the community being in awe and wonder about what this beam of light is about, and also Maitreya himself,

[03:21]

asked Manjushri, what are all these amazing appearances about? And Manjushri explained that he's seen this before many times. For many eons, he's seen Buddhas. And when they taught, the same thing happened. The same auspicious appearances arose. And then after these auspicious appearances, these Buddhas taught the great Dharma. So Manjushri supposes that now the Buddha will teach this great, supreme, unsurpassed Dharma, that the Buddha will rain down the Dharma upon the Great Assembly. And he encourages the assembly to join palms and be present and ready to receive this teaching, this supreme teaching.

[04:37]

And then we have chapter two. So the Buddha's been in Samadhi while Manjushri and Maitreya have been talking. And while Manjushri has been explaining, all the Buddhas who have taught in the same way and have taught the same teaching, they only have one teaching and they've taught it hundreds of thousands of times. And now, here it is. And the Buddha now, in Chapter 2, calmly arose from the samadhi and starts talking. And the person in the huge assembly, he addresses one of his disciples, one of his senior disciples, Shariputra,

[05:50]

who was well-known as a disciple who had mature wisdom of all the disciples. A disciple is also called Shravaka. So in some of your translations, the word Shravaka appears. And Sariputra is a Shravaka, is a disciple. It means hearer. from the word for hearing. It means that somebody who's listening to the teaching of the Buddhas. So Buddhists, that this supreme Dharma, which is totally inconceivable, and very difficult to understand and enter, he offers, and he has realized.

[07:03]

And then he says, no Shravaka, no disciple, among all my disciples, no disciples, or Pratyekabuddhas, which are people who have similar to his disciples, but have not actually heard his teaching in their present lifetime. So these disciples and Pratyekabuddha is literally awakened by conditions, also called solitary Buddhas, rhinoceroses. These students of the Dharma They have, they cannot, they have not realized this teaching, this supreme teaching that all Buddhas give. He says that right at the beginning of the chapter. It could even say, even, it doesn't say, but it could say even the Shravakas, even the disciples and solitary Buddhas do not realize.

[08:20]

do not apprehend this teaching. So it's, in other words, no persons, no sentient beings realize this teaching. In my early days of studying the Lotus Sutra, I read this chapter, And I read this part of the chapter and I don't know, it didn't strike me so strongly. Then in 1985, we published a translation of Dogen's work at Zen Center in a book called Moon in a Dew Drop. And in that book, there's a chapter, there's a chapter, there's an essay about that's made on the second page of chapter two.

[09:25]

The name of the essay is Only a Buddha Together with a Buddha. But at the beginning of that essay, Dogen says, Buddha Dharma is not realized by a person. And when I read that, I was kind of just shocked and discouraged. So in the Lotus Sutra, Chapter 2, basically the Buddha is saying that this Buddha Dharma, this supreme Buddha Dharma, is not realized by a person. It's realized by Buddhas. And then it says, why? And then it explains that Buddhas are those who have studied with Buddhas.

[10:33]

They've studied very extensively with innumerable Buddhas. Because of that, Buddhas studying with Buddhas realizes this dharma. The name of this chapter is . And so Buddha praises skillful means and says that the Dharma is hard to understand. So the Buddha uses skillful means for persons, for living beings, to free them from suffering. But being freed from suffering by skillful means is really no different from the supreme Dharma.

[11:50]

But Buddhist says that in this chapter, teach people the supreme dharma, which includes the skillful means, they would be perplexed and confused. So I teach them skill and means so that they can be free of suffering, free of attachment, and with attachment. All the while, I'm actually teaching them the Buddhadharma, which is only one Buddhadharma. And all means are these various contents of the one Buddhadharma. But I don't tell them and show them the one Buddhadharma. As a matter of fact, I cannot show them the one Buddhadharma.

[12:58]

nobody, no person and also no Buddha alone can receive and realize the one Buddhadharma, which Buddhas teach and which is the only thing they teach, but only and provisionally appear to teach in innumerable ways appropriate to beings. And again, at the beginning of this chapter, after saying these kinds of things, the Buddha says, only a Buddha together with a Buddha can thoroughly understand the truth, the reality of all things, of all existence. Only a Buddha together with a Buddha.

[14:03]

even a Buddha can actually not realize the Supreme Dharma by herself. The conversation between Buddhas, the conversation with us as Buddhas, that conversation is the Supreme Buddha Dharma. That is the real Buddha, is the interaction between Buddhas, the interaction between us. Also in this chapter, later part of this chapter, the Buddha said, I made a vow at the beginning of my teaching that I would work all beings be equal to me. And that work has been completed.

[15:08]

The Buddha has already succeeded in helping us be equal to Buddha. Now it's our turn to realize our equality with Buddha. In my hearing Suzuki Roshi when he was alive, I often heard him say, this is the most important point. And he said it about many things. All the skillful means you could say, this is the most important point. That this is the most important point, is always true. So for me, in the Lotus Sutra, the most important point is only Buddhas together with Buddhas, or only a Buddha together with a Buddha.

[16:28]

The Chinese does not have plural markings, you have to make a special character to say all Buddhas are Buddhas. It doesn't say all Buddhas. It says only Buddha, which could be Buddhas, together with Buddha, which could be Buddhas, realizes the supreme Dharma, which is the real of all things. And then a little later in this chapter, Buddha speaks of the one great matter, the one great work, the one great affair of causes and conditions for Buddhas appearing in the world.

[17:53]

So the sixth ancestor of Zen who could not read Chinese, had somebody read to him the Lotus Sutra. And when they got to this part of the Lotus Sutra, which talks about the one great matter, the conditions of Buddha appearing in the world, when the reader got to that point, the sixth ancestor, Hui Nong, said, stop. This is the heart of the Lotus Sutra. And what is the heart? It is that in the world, for one reason, and this one reason has four parts, but each part is about helping people in relationship to realizing

[18:57]

The one great work of Buddhists is to help beings realize Buddha's wisdom. And this work, this one work in this part of the sutra, chapter two, describes four aspects of this work. First is to open living beings to Buddha's wisdom. And Buddha uses these means to open living beings to Buddha's wisdom. For example, Buddha enters samadhi, and flowers fall, and the earth and beams of light are emitted. This is a skillful means to help living beings open to Buddha's wisdom.

[20:09]

The Buddha's only concerned with the successful transmission, but the Buddha uses provisional means like sitting still and emitting great light to open we living beings to this wisdom, which is all that the Buddha is actually teaching. Except it seems the Buddha is also teaching skillful means, but they are actually none other than wisdom. So, Wishing beings to open is a condition for Buddha's appearing in the world. Then wishing to display, to demonstrate the Buddhadharma, to demonstrate to living beings Buddha's wisdom is the second causal condition for Buddha's appearing in the world.

[21:32]

wishing to demonstrate, to display it. Right now, each of us is displaying, is expressing. Is this display for the sake of Buddha's wisdom? Buddhas appear in the world to make apparent displays for the purpose of Buddha's wisdom. I'd like to hear if your displays, if your expressions are for the same purpose. Next, Buddhas wish that all beings will awaken to Buddha's wisdom. And finally, they wish to help beings enter Buddhist wisdom.

[22:38]

And they may use various skillful means, various provisional teachings to help beings awaken and to help beings enter. But all they're really doing is teaching. Buddha's wisdom. And the way they teach, the way the teaching of the wisdom works, is between we, each of us, as Buddha, meeting each of us. And skillful means are helping us be wholehearted in this face-to-face transmission. So I can see for myself, for me, this section of the is the basis of this Zen practice of face-to-face transmission.

[23:46]

Only a Buddha together with a Buddha. Some people translate, some scholars have translated that part of the sutra as Buddha. can fully understand. Some have translated it as only Buddhas among Buddhas. But I see the Buddhas among Buddhas, that among the Buddhas there is Buddhas meeting Buddhas. There is Buddha face to face with Buddha. And this face-to-face meeting, the conversation, the discussion, the interaction is the Buddha's wisdom.

[24:50]

Nobody can know or possess this teaching by themselves, including Buddhas. Buddhas cannot realize this by themselves. They always realize it together with other Buddhas. They always realize it together with us. Our job is to be Buddha in our meeting with everything. two parts of chapter two, the part about only Buddha together with Buddha, only Buddhas sharing understanding with Buddhas, only Buddhas conversing with Buddhas realizes the reality of all things, and

[26:07]

the one great work of Buddha's appearing in the world is this opening, demonstrating, awakening, and entering. Those two, for me, work very closely together. And Yeah, they're very much at the heart of being mindful of those teachings and being mindful of this together practice. And in this together practice, I feel supported. and guided in dealing with all the different skillful means, guided in how to relate to all the techniques and methods that to help people open to the teaching, to help people let go of attachment,

[27:28]

and open to the teaching. Letting go of attachment by means of skill is very helpful, but the point of it is Buddhist wisdom. In a way, it may seem, at least tentatively, that an individual, that a person, can skillful means, can understand the skillful means. The Buddha didn't say, as far as I know, no person can practice skillful means. No person knows skillful means. It seems like people who know skillful means can receive them and give them. We can have an individual personal perspective on skillful means and work with it on that personal limited means and they can work for us in that way.

[28:43]

And the Buddha did teach people that way. And they were liberated. In this chapter he said, yes I did, I admit it, but now I'm telling you that cannot be reached by you alone. At the same time, I praise all the skillful means because they are part of the conversation. And in this Great Assembly, we are using skillful means in conversation to realize the Interplay, the interaction of Buddha together with Buddha. I mean, that's what I want. And that's what I want, is for us to interact in a way to make our interaction Buddha sharing with Buddha.

[29:48]

And the sharing is the real Buddha. There is much more in Chapter 2, and also Chapter 2 has been praised, along with Chapter 16, as the heart of the Lotus Sutra. But I feel like I'd like to stop now. By the way, just before Shakyamuni Buddha introduces this teaching that together with a Buddha, just before saying that, the Buddha said to Shariputra, stop, it's enough.

[30:49]

And then he said a little more. But I kind of feel like maybe we should stop now. Enough. If the Buddha said enough, certainly I've said enough. And before moving on to the other many interesting and important parts of this chapter two, start the interaction. Let's enact and embody the interaction which is the real Buddha. And you may make an offering now to, what's the word? Commence. Commence the interaction, which is the real Buddha.

[31:58]

Sam Ridge, please make your offering. Good morning, Great Assembly. I have heard it mentioned that the word Buddha could be taken as the historical Buddha, or an awakened being, or possibly even awakening itself. And I wonder if this only a Buddha and a Buddha is maybe speaking more to the second of the three options rather than awakening itself um i wonder if possibly it's also speaking or in conversation with this third option and i wonder if i could substitute um Awakening itself with awakening itself can actualize the conversation or realize.

[33:11]

Yeah, and then I'm also thinking, well, what is an example of awakening being by itself? And if there is such a thing, I wonder if you could offer an example of that. Thank you. There have been examples of people awakening. There are examples of, I want to call it, personal awakening. And those awakenings, I might suggest, are supported by skillful means. And a history of Hakuin He had many personal awakenings. But his great awakening and his final awakening, which he, it's final in the sense that his final awakening was his practice the rest of his life.

[34:19]

His final awakening was not personal. His final awakening was teaching and being taught by others. His final awakening was sharing the Buddha Dharma with others and being taught by them and teaching them. That was his final, and that wasn't personal. So the Lotus Sutra is saying, in a way, that the Buddha taught personal awakening before the sutra. Now the Buddha is teaching an interactive, social awakening. He's teaching the awakening of the greatest song. So I think I would recognize wonderful personal awakenings. They're wonderful. And Suzuki Roshi recognized personal awakening, but he usually said after recognizing them, this is like an encouragement for youth practice.

[35:21]

Personal awakening can be very encouraging. Personal nirvanas can be very encouraging in us practicing only a Buddha together with a Buddha. Now working back to your question about which Buddha is which, there is this teaching, and one of the people who told us about this is our ancestor Dogen, in his essay, Teaching and Conferring the Precepts, or the verses on teaching and conferring the precepts, Kyoju Kaimon, in there he says there's three virtues of the three treasures. So talking about the Buddha, the first Buddha is the perfect awakening. The second Buddha is the Buddha who's teaching the Dharma to the Sangha, the historical Buddha.

[36:32]

The third Buddha is the actual effect on beings of Buddhas in conversation with them. So when we say only a Buddha and a Buddha, is it one of those three? And I would say it's all three. You would say it is the three? I would say it's all three. So it includes a historical person with a historical person. It includes that. It includes historical humans, for example, but it could be with historical dogs or historical trees. So many people can understand that Buddha was in a only a Buddha together with Buddha relationship with the tree he sat under.

[37:38]

And Buddha, the historical Buddha. But also, the Buddha was in a relationship with the tree where the tree was transformed by their relationship and Buddha was transformed by their relationship. That's also Buddha. And the other is unsurpassed complete perfect awakening. So is unsurpassed complete perfect awakening on both sides of this relationship and the relationship? I would say yes. Unsurpassed complete perfect relationship, not by itself, but in relationship. to unsurpassed, complete awakening, and interacting with each other. So I would say all three of those Buddhas, those types of Buddha, are involved in the thorough realization of the Buddhadharma.

[38:53]

And that's not a person. However, persons are completely in. and any skillful practices they're doing are completely included. So a person working on a particular personal practice with another being who's working on a personal particular practice, when that relationship is wholehearted, that realizes the supreme dharma. And there are personal awakenings, and we recognize them. And there also, as you may have heard, are personal delusions. And we relate to personal delusions with the same wisdom as we relate to personal awakening. And this way of relating to personal delusion and personal awakening, that way of relating to it is

[39:59]

realization of the Buddha Dharma. Thank you. Nobody's personal delusion comprehends the Supreme Dharma, but nobody's personal awakening does either. Awakenings were part of Hakuin's evolution, leading him to realize that the Buddha Dharma is helping others and being helped by others. Thank you, Sam. We have an offering from Rev. Shokichi. Thank you so much for this great opportunity.

[41:09]

I noted, maybe incorrect me, that you said something like Buddha teaches skillful means, which are the content of the one Buddha Dharma. Did I get that close to correct? Or I could say it slightly differently. The teaching of skillful means is the content of Buddha's awakening. That's how Buddha knows herself. The way she knows herself is the process of helping with innumerable skillful means. That might make a little change. Maybe slightly more like, that's what Buddha's wisdom is. Buddha's wisdom is teaching others and being taught by others. That interaction is Buddha's wisdom.

[42:19]

And that interaction is the understanding of the Buddha Dharma. So there's a slight difference between Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, even though they're the same thing. So the Buddha understands the Dharma and teaches the Dharma. The Buddha's wisdom is the content of the Buddha's wisdom is giving and receiving all these skillful means. That's the Buddha's awakening. And that awakening understands the way things are. So that awakening helps us understand the way the skillful means are. Does that make sense? Yes, unfortunately. Can you hear me? I can hear you well. My AirPods just gave out. Can you hear me?

[43:21]

I can still hear you. Your AirPods. I can hear you. But again, I made a slight distinction between the Dharma and that Buddha's wisdom and the Sangha. So Buddha's wisdom understands the Buddha Dharma and Buddha Dharma is understood in Buddha's wisdom and Buddha's wisdom is this interaction, giving and receiving skillful means. So my question arose from the previous wording, and this might make a difference. But I was wondering what the one Buddha way included. And I wondered, in particular, if all spiritual paths or religions would be considered skillful means.

[44:26]

Or does this one Buddha, dharma leave something out? Well, you could say, does all, but you could also say, does anything that's going on in our daily life, is there anything that's going on in our daily life that's not a skillful means? Even if it's a religious thing. So, would there be any exception to this process? Could there be anything that's offered? And the radical answer is what we're offering to each other is skillful means. Whatever we're offering to each other is the content of Buddha's wisdom.

[45:30]

Whatever we're receiving from each other is the content of Buddha's wisdom. I'm really happy to hear that. Say again? I'm really happy to hear that. And we may not see what's being offered, and we may not even intend what we're offering to be skillful means. We may think, I want to give you unskillful means. I could think that. But it really is skillful means because of the amazing teaching coming up later in the chapter, that no matter what we're offering, it's the one Buddha vehicle, if we're offering it. So also,

[46:33]

It does not depend on what other people think are skillful means. What they think are skillful means is a skillful means for us. Like if people think that what I did was or wasn't, that's a skillful means that they're giving to me. That's for me to open to. Because I want to open to Buddha's wisdom. Go ahead. I'm just wondering if provisional means is the same as skillful means. Provisional, expedient, skillful means. All different words for the same process of what we offer to people that they can see. And if they work with what they see in the way that's in accord with the way the Buddha works with what the Buddha sees, the real will be revealed.

[47:49]

Reality of the provisional means, reality of whatever's offering will be revealed by opening it, opening it, opening it. And we open it with compassion, with generosity, with being careful and patient and thorough and calm. We open it. Whatever it is can be opened. And then the Buddha Dharma the real truth of things is revealed. However, we cannot open it by ourselves. We have to open it with the person who gave it to us. We have to open it to the person who didn't give it to us. We have to do it face to face, wholeheartedly with people who are doing that with us.

[48:54]

And we need the other in order to help us open to means has been given to us now. And we have the other. And we need to enact that with our whole body and mind. And we have a whole body mind to do so. Once again, just to feel clarified, This process excludes no one. This process excludes nothing. It excludes nothing. And excluding is also included. Excluding can be a skillful means.

[49:55]

An act of compassion is included. There's not really an explosion in reality. Another offering. Thank you, Shokichi. We have an offering from Steve. Greetings from snowy Minnesota. I'm looking out this window and there's these beautiful big snowflakes falling on a cedar tree and sit this beautiful red cardinal ruby red just blood red sat sat and was like enlightened but um so I've been, um, um, peaceable assembly and, uh, violent, uh, riot.

[51:23]

And, um, The best I can come up with is that... Um... I'm involved in all of both in some way, shape, or form. Always shapes and forms. All my ancient twisted karma, I now fully evolved.

[52:50]

This is the pure and simple color of true practice, the true mind of faith, the true body of faith. This is not looking down on anybody. One time, our great ancestor Dung Shan was with one of his disciples, and they saw some birds rioting. Not a cardinal in the snow of Minnesota, but birds.

[54:19]

And the disciple said, what's this about? And Dung Shan said, this is for you. This is for you. I would say, this is your work. How are you going to? And starting with all my ancient twisted karma is appropriate. May we have another offering? Yes, we have an offering from Wilkinson. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. I've been having endless trouble with not remembering how to do things. So I'm glad to... For you. Pardon me? Having difficulty remembering things?

[55:25]

Yeah. That's for you. That's a gift to you. You know, I've been so lax about any kind of practice. I've got this gift now of a beginner's mind. Anyway, I want to thank you, everybody. But I wanted to say, one of the things that I heard in these days, there can be greedy Buddha, or I can't remember the other adjectives that might have been, but I assume any kind of famous or fame-seeking. That's right. And from today, I think I understand. That Buddhas meeting Buddhas means that it's you, it's me going to the grocery store.

[56:31]

I mean, it's anything. Any encounter that we have is Buddhas meeting Buddhas. Is that... And did you... I didn't hear all of that. Yeah. The Buddha sat under a tree, right? Yes. And... the Buddha awoke to his relationship with the tree. Oh, how wonderful. Yeah. That the tree and the Buddha were in a wholehearted conversation. Yes. So it's not just between humans that this practice is going on. It happens between all things. All things are in this conversation. And it doesn't matter if it's with a person. If that person has any knowledge of Buddhism, I mean, it doesn't have to, right, of course not. Well, I wouldn't say so much it doesn't matter.

[57:34]

I would just say no matter what, they're a good interlocutor. No matter what, they are. But what they are does matter because it's a precious opportunity. But all meetings, all meetings, precious opportunities meeting with rioters is a precious opportunity and it requires all of us to really meet them so but it doesn't matter what the person's doing or what we're doing it matters and but no matter what this is our job and it's a great job But very early on in my life, I tried to isolate myself. This was at Tassajara. And anyway, because I was so uncomfortable eating with other people. Anyway, and you told me that I wasn't going to be able to.

[58:37]

how did you see that? That wasn't, that wasn't going to work to hide. And anyway, that I couldn't avoid people. And that kind of relationship I think was maybe, or maybe I don't know how to think about that. I mean, I love trees, but I think I can't really open up more to life just by trying to limit myself to trees. Yeah. Yeah. And, And you do not limit yourself to trees. No. You don't. No. And we can't hide. We can try. No. Like children can hide right in front of us, right? That's a perfectly good way to try to hide, but just not successful. And if we isolate ourselves from people, that's the type of relationship we have. We can't get away from reality because others are us.

[59:44]

We are ourselves, and we are others. And we can't get away from that, but we can try, and that's ourselves trying to get away from reality. We can try. It's not going to work. No. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. We have an offering from Nealon. Nealon, you're muted. Hello, venerable friends. Hello, venerable friends. And I'm so happy with all of you. I was thinking that we really need to try our best to be, I'm not sure if I'm saying that right, and to be able to listen and hear.

[61:08]

and to listen and hear to everything and to open our hearts to everything. I was thinking of Muni Buddha when he first awakened and wasn't sure that he could teach. And he was pleaded with to please go and teach. And I recently read the book, One thing? Yes, please. You said open to everything? Yes. And I just wanted to add, opening to everything includes that we feel closed to some things. So if I want to be not open to something, that's another thing. Right? Right. Okay, thank you. Not that you said that that wasn't so. I just wanted to make clear that everything includes, you know, nothing.

[62:14]

And opening to everything includes feeling not open. Welcome not open also. Yes, yes. And to explore not being open. Yeah, exactly. Explore it. And what that means. Open it. Not being open is a skillful means. It's a skillful means. It's a temporary technique being closed. Open that skillful means. Like closing the monastery. You know? We're going to close the monastery now. That's a skillful means, right? Let's open the monastery that's closed. Yes. And find a new way to... Exactly. Here in Zoom world. Exactly. And to see everything as sacred. And what I was feeling when you said that the Buddha wanted each being to become equal to being a Buddha.

[63:27]

And that to see the sacredness of everything. And that our job is to empower every being to be a Buddha and to recognize that Buddhahood and to be open that everything, as Kadagiri Roshi would say, you are Buddha. And even if And what that meant is that everything is Buddha. And can we recognize that and empower those around us to be Buddha? And I just feel in these times when there's so much division, can we allow there's a sacredness and Buddhahood of each person? And I'm feeling inspired by this teaching to

[64:30]

Look at that again and keep looking. The next offering comes from Keigetsu Heather Martin. It's very sweet to be here with everyone. And I really appreciate this opportunity. And when you were talking just a little bit ago about Buddha meets a Buddha, and you said something about how much you learn from people, about how to help people realize the Buddha Dharma.

[65:32]

Is that something like what you said? It reminded me of an example from, I guess, like the part of my life that I call work. And I'd like to share it, if that's okay. So I'm a clinical dietitian and I do nutrition counseling. And a lot of my job is nutrition counseling. which a lot of other dieticians seem to not enjoy. But I really enjoy it. And it's just, it's very common, very common for a person to come in and say really ill and that their blood sugar is out of control and that they don't know what to do. It's just so overwhelming. It's too much information. And that they heard that I was an expert that could help them.

[66:38]

And I have over the years, you know, started kind of changing my response to that. I think at first when I was a dietician, I was like, oh, I have to be the expert now. It was a little bit scary. But I've noticed the response is more like, I have been studying this for a long time, and I've heard some things and seen some evidence, but this is really a partnership. And so I need you to help me turn your blood sugar around. And people often don't hear that, really. And they have a good-bad food mindset. And that's their view. There are these good and bad. Oh, by the way, the foods that I have based my life on and that brought me to this point, those are the bad foods.

[67:48]

And so I need you to help me with what the good foods are. And so... I usually say, I actually don't recommend coming at this as though there are good and bad foods. I actually just recommend that you let go of that, start to let go of that and pay attention to what you're eating and what happens to your body. So I just ask them to practice reading labels and practice paying attention to the foods that they're choosing and what goes on with when they choose what. Just pay attention and try not to worry too much about the good or bad food that you're choosing. And again, that's very difficult for people to accept. And they ask for some real specific things like, you know, I want a meal plan that's

[68:51]

you know, okay, I can pay attention, but I really need you to tell me exactly what to eat. And I want food lists. And I do give them what they asked me for. But I also kind of gently try to say, you know, this may not work and that's okay. Let's try this template. And it's just a picture. It's a picture of You might want to make your plate look like. And I say, you know, it's just a template. Then you can actually take the foods that you're familiar with and put them into the template. And then people go away and they come back for a follow-up and they say, well, the template didn't work for me because the picture. Aren't my foods. And it's like, yeah, that's right. That's right. You can, you can change the picture on the template to your foods. And it's like, but, but I can't, I can't do that.

[69:58]

They say, because my food are bad. And it's like, okay, so that, you know, let's keep turning this. Your foods aren't bad, but maybe we can change them a little bit to fit the template. And, you know, when you were saying how people change you, like I learned so much from my patients. They have so many ideas and I get all these recipes and I'm, I think it seems like what I hear from people is that they come out with their blood sugar being better. So that's what I like to say, that food's not bad, but it will raise your blood sugar. So let's talk about how we could maybe make it raise your blood sugar a little bit less. But I'm so not the expert. Doesn't make sense to me to say that because I didn't invent carbohydrates.

[71:10]

I don't have, that's just the truth of the universe and how they affect your body is just, doesn't have anything to do with me in particular. So when you were talking about that, about learning from people, I was thinking about how it's like you're willing to be with us at the turning. You're willing to do what? I think that hearing this about the Lotus Sutra, it's not that I'm the expert on carbohydrate counting techniques. I'm just willing to be together with them where they're turned and being turned and where I'm turned and being turned. That's my job. And I appreciate this scaffolding to help me when I get lost.

[72:18]

Thank you. Thank you so much. We have an offering from Brenda Biddle. I am so delighted to be here with you and studying the Lotus Sutra and to be part of this And I hope I can articulate my question. In many ways, you have been answering it already. Going back to the first day, I believe you said that the Lotus Sutra might seem hard to trust, and

[73:33]

I haven't had that experience, but what I'd like is the question of trust. And so in these relational, interactive moments of teaching, of turning and being, that we've been talking about, When a moment comes, and I think I'm saying specifically with a teacher, when a moment comes and one has the, or I should say, I have a feeling that I was not met with skillful means, then you've suggested that I think that we not turn away from that.

[74:48]

And yet the other phrase that's really resonating. May I put a point in? Yes. So When I feel that I'm not being met with skillful means, when I have that view, what I want to do is relate to my thought that this is skillful means, that that thought is skillful means. Maybe I can accept in my thought that this is not skillful means. I can accept, well, that's skillful means, what I think is skillful means. And that might help me reopen to what I think is not. But also what I think about what's being offered to me is important, is worthy of respect. And what is being offered is worthy of respect too.

[75:52]

But if I can't, if I say I can't, well, I would say I respect that. Thank you. Can I say more? Yes. Yes. Put that in the middle of what you're saying. So, the taste of the Tathagata's wisdom, the taste. So, taste is really important. And so, And sometimes we look this way and sometimes we look that way. They're choices. There are many, many, many moments of choice in life. That's all. And the taste comes with our using our imagination to imagine what's being offered.

[77:02]

So we want to taste it, smell it, touch it, hear it, see it, and think it. Our imagination with what's being offered to use all of our body and mind to meet it and talk with it. So taste is a hint that we embody the teaching. Some Buddhas, by the way, give off aromas. They give off their teaching in the form of aromas. Yes. Isn't there a reference to fragrant elephant? Thank you. Thank you. We have an offering from Janice.

[78:18]

Good morning, Rev. Good morning. Many years ago, when you first recommended that I read the Lotus Sutra, I was very engaged in the second chapter. I was very fascinated. In the translation that I have, it is called Expedient Means. rather than skillful means, which you've referred to today. My question is, given the emphasis on expedient means and the way that it's discussed, is it possible that the Lotus Sutra itself or the elements of it are in fact an expedient means? Yeah, the whole thing is expedient means. The whole sutra is skillful means. The sutra we see the sutra we can read and touch, that's all.

[79:19]

And if we take care of the text and the words wholeheartedly, we will meet the Buddha. And in that meeting, we'll realize the not skillful, we'll realize the one Buddha Dharma. which includes skillful means, but it's not, it's always the same. Whereas skillful means, each page of the Lotus Sutra is different. Each word is different. Each day of reading is different. Those are skillful means. And Buddha praises them. They're all great opportunities. But don't confuse them because with the thing that's always the same, Buddha's wisdom. Don't confuse them with that. Take care of them and discover that is always right in the middle of them.

[80:28]

And they are always right in the middle of that one Buddha vehicle. So the Lotus Sutra skillfully teaches the one Buddha vehicle. That's a skillful means, that teaching. The one Buddha vehicle is not those words. Those words don't reach it. What? They're given to us as skillful means. In Chapter 2. We have an offering from John Renwick. Hi, Vincent Rossi. So much for this intensive so far. It's been really wonderful. What I wanted to ask you about is, well, I think we haven't talked about it very much, but, you know, when there was like the Me Too generation or the people identifying, yes, I've been harmed.

[81:40]

There's also the other side of that of the yes, I did. In other words, people who have sexually harmed. and you were Abbott at a time when I harmed sexually in the Sangha. So we haven't talked about that very much, but I have with some other people. So I say that first. The second thing is, When I wanted to work with this karma, I reached out to other people in the Buddhist community who were supposedly known to have harmed. And the phone was Edo Shimano. And so I asked him, would you send me some fabric so I might make funzo from that fabric? And he said, well, why? And I said, well, I'm somebody who's sexually harmed. And he said, well, why are you telling that to me?

[82:44]

And I said, oh, there's no reason to say that, but I still would like to work on this karma. And would you be willing to send me some fabric? And again, he kept asking, well, why fabric meat? So after some time, I was working, I was making funzo of an okesa that had belonged to Philip Whelan. And the scraps that were left over, I put them in a rakasu and I brought them to his home. And the doorman brought them up to his home. Said he received it. And a little while later, maybe three or four months later, He said to his sangha, oh, I did sexually harm too. Who said that? Edo Shimano was recorded as having said that to his sangha. Wonderful. Your skillful means. Right, like I can take credit, right?

[83:46]

You were part of his waking up. Yeah. You didn't accuse him. There's someone who's very powerful and the side is always meant to be on my side. You did it. That's the way you did it. He was very powerful and you respectfully, carefully, unselfrighteously, it sounds, with him and he woke up. Yeah. So we go to something that's very powerful and we say, you know, I have some problem with you. I abuse power. I'm really sorry. And they say, why are you telling me? You should work on that. But still, you offered him this opportunity and you can offer it again. Say, I'm still abusing power.

[84:53]

Can you help me? And eventually, while they're helping you with your power, they have a chance to wake up. If you can help them wholeheartedly look at your, help you with your problems around misuse of power. You say to somebody, I'm so insincere and impatient. And they say, yeah, you should work on that. And then you walk away and then a few minutes later they say, I wonder why they told me. Like I often say when I got ordained, Suzuki Rishi said, I'm sure you won't be arrogant about getting ordained at your young age. And so I thought, he didn't say you're arrogant. He said, I'm sure you won't be arrogant getting ordained. But I never forgot. I keep looking. it keeps reminding me of my arrogance and to be aware, not that I won't be arrogant, but be aware of my arrogance because of his teaching that I won't be arrogant.

[86:06]

Oh, Edo Roshi, I have this problem and I know you don't. And he's, Then he walks away and said, well, maybe I do. So you did a good job. Congratulations. You helped the Sangha. You helped the Triple Treasure by your unselfrighteous probing of sexual misconduct together with the person who eventually acknowledged that he had a problem too, that he had harm. Thank you. You're welcome. I have a hard time hearing that without knowing how much more, if any, that I even touched it at all as a beginning, that I have anything, any hard to say. Whether it's, even though it's just a beginning, it's the pure and simple color of true practice. So it's the beginning of something good. And it will be good in the middle too.

[87:12]

And it will be good at the end. So, well. Thank you for your offering. We have an offering from Josh. Welcome, Josh. So, as I've said, I'm really appreciating the opportunity to participate in this, the opportunity that comes from this circumstances at this time and this clever technology that sometimes I don't always appreciate as much as perhaps I could. And I'm appreciating it now. And when I hand on the little thing that made the hand raising happen, then something was being said then. And since then, lots of people have said lots of things. And somewhere in that, I let go I pressed the button to raise my hand and just everyone's been saying really appreciating.

[88:21]

And when I originally raised my hand virtually, what was it? Yeah. So you were talking right at the beginning of us by the end of your talk. And when people started you to interact and you invited us to embody Buddha meeting Buddha. You didn't quite put it like that, but you said something like that. May I invite you to do that? Well, that comes right to the point of what I was saying, because I have no idea in that now. But the thought that came up in me right then was another thing that Dogen Denji said, and I can't remember in what text, but one of the texts that sometimes we chant, and it said... buddhas and not know that they are buddhas in the in the genji koan and i don't know it came into my mind in this text of something about being buddha and not knowing that i'm buddha when buddhas are truly buddhas and there's two translations when buddhas are truly buddhas they are aware but actually more says they do not think

[89:44]

quotes, I am Buddha. But another translation is, when Buddhas are truly Buddhas, they do not necessarily think, I am Buddha. They might occasionally think that. Walks up to Buddha and says, you're Buddha. They might think, oh, I'm Buddha. But they don't usually walk around thinking that they're Buddha when they're truly Buddha. They're so engaged in this face-to-face conversation that, you know, they have other things to listen to other people who might be telling them that they're Buddha. So the point is that when Buddhas are really Buddhas, what they're really involved in is this interaction. That's really what they're thinking about. They're thinking about, how can I help others learn? How can I offer it in ways that will help them? How can I learn from other people about my job?

[90:46]

That's what they're thinking about. They're really doing the work. Not so much thinking, I do the work. But they might occasionally think, hey, I'm doing the work. They might. Or maybe think, I noticed I was doing the work. Say again? I think that's something that for me happens sometimes. I might look. and realize, oh, in that encounter with that person, I was really there. Or I wasn't really there. I was so fully there that I kind of wasn't there. And just the encounter was there. And I'm not conscious of that at the time. And that retrospective appreciation is now the current opportunity to meet that. Well, here I am appreciating and practicing OK, I'm here for that now. And also, if I look back and think I didn't do it, I wasn't really there, I wasn't wholehearted, that's the current opportunity to meet that.

[91:55]

And that's as good a thing to meet as appreciation of what you did. As you talk, the thought is coming up in me that I think for me, I may find it easier to wholeheartedly meet people than I find to wholeheartedly meet, I don't know, life or circumstances. It comes up in my mind somehow you really meet another being than it is to really meet, I don't know, the washing up, whatever. Yeah, we have our areas of less difficulty. Some people are really good at washing dishes, but they're terrified of other people. Yeah. People are really good with trees, and they have problems with cats. Some people are good with dogs, and they just really are impatient with cats.

[93:00]

Some people don't like dogs and they love people. And, you know, we have all of these endless opportunities. And we're different about what we're more or less challenged by. Yeah. And our view of what's more and more is another thing to meet. Another opportunity. Could I say one little thing more? Yes, I see one thing that came up in my mind just then, because you mentioned the trees again. And earlier when you were talking about Buddha being in relationship with the tree, and I thought as well, other stories in which Buddha at the time of enlightenment is also in relationship with the morning star, and another story where Buddha's in relationship with Mara and then with the earth. So there were all these different relationships that Buddha was getting into in that breaking up to being Buddha.

[94:03]

That was just a thought I had. Thank you so much. We have an offering from Kaye. Morning, and hello to everyone. So only Buddha together with realizes the true nature of everything. I'm wondering If we're really to take that as the most precious teaching, what would that mean for how we live in community with one another?

[95:10]

Would it mean anything different for the structure, sangha, community ethics for the spirit of how we live together. If, yeah, if the most precious thing is the, you know, this, this intimate encounter with two beings, would that change anything? Does that, are you asking if that practice, a Buddha meeting with Buddha, if that practice changes things? Yeah. When I entered the San Francisco Zen Center, that was not necessarily my idea of what practice.

[96:19]

it is and kind of how practice happens. And in the kind of daily activities, it's easy for me to forget that teaching. And I wonder to really hold that teaching front and center If that would change, yeah, if that would mean that kind of sangha would look differently. The sangha looks differently every day. And the Sangha is evolving and changing all the time. And Buddha's wisdom does not operate the process of change.

[97:25]

So that's kind of a difference between Buddha's wisdom and God. Some people's idea of God is that God is actually operating the causal process. Buddha is not operating cause and effect. Buddha's wisdom understands it and the understanding of it is not something that Buddha has by herself. So this teaching is not have an understanding by themselves which is the Buddha wisdom. The Buddha wisdom is their understandings, which they all have understandings, their own viewpoints, they all have their own viewpoints, meeting and working together and sharing with other viewpoints. That's where the reality is.

[98:30]

But the reality doesn't change the nature of something. It is the reality of the thing. If it's a cloudy day, the real characteristics of a cloudy day are not changed by wisdom. Wisdom understands what a cloudy day is. It doesn't make it into a sunny day. Buddhas are not rainmakers or tornado makers. They aren't plague makers. they are in conversation with other Buddhas and that conversation liberates all beings and brings peace and harmony and plague days and healthy days and peaceful days and whatever idea I have of practice doesn't reach that.

[99:33]

However, my idea in conversation with your idea That wholehearted is the real Buddha. It's not mine. It's not yours. It's not what you think. It's not what I think. It's what you think and I think intimately dialoguing, wholeheartedly dialoguing. You're wholehearted about your view and you support me to be wholehearted in mine. I help you be wholehearted in yours. You help me be wholehearted in mine. If you have any questions about the wholeheartedness of what I'm saying, you help me look at that. You offer that. You question me. This interaction is the real Buddha. And this real Buddha deals with the Sangha changing all the time. So, for example, our Sangha has changed recently.

[100:34]

In the last year, our Sangha changed, right? Now we've got this new sutra assembly in this new form of sangha. We've never seen this before. It's new. And Buddha's wisdom is what we need to deal with this new sangha that we have now. And in both cases, the sangha will evolve. But with Buddha's wisdom, the sangha will evolve peacefully and beneficially. peacefully, respectfully, lovingly, compassionately, whether it's sunny or foggy. But we're not, you know, whether it's on Zoom or in person, whether we have masks on or not. So Buddha's wisdom does not mean we are going to wear masks or that we won't. Buddha's wisdom is understanding of masks.

[101:38]

And understanding what a mask is saves all beings. Buddhas are concerned with freeing all beings from suffering, with peace. And so are the people who have personal enlightenment. But they don't yet understand that the Buddhas have a grander scheme, a more comprehensive scheme, which is not just personal enlightenment. How are you, K? And I've heard you say this before, that Buddhadharma is not description. It doesn't necessarily tell us how to... What does it look like?

[102:43]

Did you say not descriptive? Prescriptive? Prescriptive, yeah. It's not prescriptive and it's not descriptive. It's the reality of prescriptions and the reality of descriptions. It doesn't exclude prescriptions and descriptions. it meets them and understands them and liberates them. Buddhism is the liberation of all prescriptions. And there's a lot of prescriptions going on. The Dharma meets all those prescriptions and liberates them. And if we had a break from prescriptions for a minute or a week, Buddhist Dharma would meet and understand No prescriptions. Wouldn't that be fine? Thank you.

[103:47]

Thank you, as always. We have an offering from Justin Flake. Hi, Reb. Good morning. I'm not sure. I'm sorry. Good evening. Good morning. I'm not sure I had the same question that I did when I first rose my hand. And I'm not sure I still do. I'm not sure if I do still. I'll see if it comes back to me while I'm saying that how much I am appreciating this retreat. It, uh, to approach, uh, a text like this with this flexibility and openness and pace, um, I feel like is opening doors for me.

[104:54]

And just so much of what you're saying is, uh, clear and making sense and opening what was otherwise confusing and intimidating and what felt exclusive. And I just feel, you know, just thrilled right now to be a part of it um and to be a part of it on and on and on um one of the questions the question that first arose was when um the uh young man at the beginning asked about three types of buddhas and we talked about um unsurpassed, perfect, and being one of them.

[106:01]

And I think through listening to subsequent questions and answers, that question was answered for me, but I thought I would still state it anyway, that sometimes when we refer to awakening, when we're referring to the awakening aspect of the Buddha, unsurpassed, complete, and perfect seems redundant. and confuses me because it seems that unsurpassed, complete, and perfect is the definition of awakening. And is it possible an awakening that's not unsurpassed, complete, and perfect, or is unsurpassed, complete, and perfect... skillful means is that definition skillful means um to talk about an awakening that relationship that really has no words to describe it there are a variety of awakenings some awakenings are personal the person feels that they have awakened

[107:19]

They personally feel free of suffering, fear, anxiety, greed, hate, and delusion. And they feel so grateful for that. And they think it was personal. They do not understand that there's another awakening, which is the awakening of teaching others and being taught by others. So there are different awakenings. Like Hakuen, he had many awakenings. And many of his awakenings, basically many of them were personal. And some of them, because of being personal, he fell into arrogance. But when you're being taught, you're less likely to be arrogant about it. But it's still possible. There are some surpassable awakenings.

[108:26]

There are awakenings which can be surpassed. And the constant surpassing of awakening is a great and more unsurpassable than one that isn't surpassable. Would you describe, like, you know, and putting in context for myself, like, it seems to me a personal awakening is awakening to insight about yourself or life that you didn't have before. That would be a personal one, probably. And whatever benefit that brought to me, or if I speak in general to you, you know, to one in general, tends to start to fade or have holes in it. It's not something that you can rely upon. Another one, and then that starts to fade. And I think, you know, that leads you to the fact that you start to realize that they all fade and that they don't.

[109:36]

They don't. The unsurpassed doesn't fade. It's brighter. Because it's the ongoing work of teaching and being taught. Teaching and being taught doesn't fade. It's growing. Teaching and being taught is growing. But my personal liberation fades. And there's many Zen students who suffer from depression due to their fading of their insights. their personal insights. I would count myself as one. Yeah. And, and yeah, one of, one of the things that you said at the beginning, and I think, you know, really set the tone for this whole conversation is, and, and, and you've said it many times, but it seemed to, to make more sense to me this time around where it, it landed for me was, you know, the talk that, you know, unsurpassed, completely perfect enlightenment is, is, is a conversation it's between a Buddha and a Buddha and it needs to be talked about. So that's why I'm talking.

[110:37]

So thank you very much. Thank you for your offerings. That's all we have time for today. I did want to, um, Reb, you did want to share about Senior Dharma Teacher on Sunday. Yes. On Sunday, Senior Dharma Teacher Linda Cutts is going to give a talk at about 10.15, 10 or 10.15 Pacific Standard Time. And the talk is going to be devoted to Chapter 25, of the Lotus Sutra. And it might be nice if you wanna go to the talk that you read the chapter, the amazing chapter 25 that you read it before the, might be good so you realize what she's talking about.

[111:44]

You have some experience of the text before you hear her offerings in relationship to that chapter. It's a suggestion, not required a suggestion. Thank you, Great Assembly, for uplifting my practice. May our intention... ...extend to everything... The true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Afflictions are inexhaustible. I vow to cut through. Dharma gives us. I vow to enter them. Buddha way is unsurpassable.

[112:48]

I vow to become it.

[112:51]

@Transcribed_v005
@Text_v005
@Score_88.65