January 27th, 1994, Serial No. 00221

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mgm
this the says mg doe games
and instructions

ha
i read a piece of that last night just as the last at the last meeting just as we were are ending and a little bit of a rush ah the discussion of the parable the same as parable about the burning house and
talking about for one vehicle teaching and that in for us
ah the farm that we practice the one vehicle teaching and the principal form the kind of roof form is sasa
and i stuck in describes his of course that's the form as the root form that we practice on the cushion and then we are
practice all the myriad other forms as we rise from our cushions
ah the one vehicle teaching it south of course is that ah oui
fast the one vehicle teaching
and ah
it is a
a radical and a joyful and a wonderful teaching and incredibly hard to understand
it just has very little if anything to do
with our
normal reasoning processes and so there's just all of this dialogue and that lotus sutra about the difficulty that the our hearts and partake of buddhas are having through this teacher which is so wonderful and they're so glad to have it and it's so
so very hard to understand
so that's we know about that
now i want to really encourage people to ask questions i thought it was it was some good questions that were asked last night last week that were helpful and one never needs to feel at one is asking
stupid questions because in the context of this really ah non reasonable teaching there's no such thing as a stupid question so anything that you have that you're wondering about his is a good wonder
so i'm
don't hold back

and i we're going to talk about to very beautiful parables for me there are there seven powerful somebody else or there are more than seven but usually it said that there seven parables in the lotus sutra and
so tonight i wanted to go through to of what i think i'm really very beautiful ones chapter four
the leaf and understanding and then the child of magic herbs
so on
belief and understanding sometimes that chapter heading is translated as
a face and disturbed discernment and as the sutra goes on ah there's a lot of talk about ah believe and discern believe and discern
so that becomes quite a major instruction

so the belief part
ah now rom raise this question
that all this but this this sutra and the grandeur of it on the bodhisattvas and the buddhist and all seems as if it's out there and other
and are great difficulty is acknowledging our buddha nature that we don't we don't trust and we don't have faith
in that
that it lies within us and so we grabbed we have an instinct to grab because we don't trust
and ah
back gets us ah i guess us into a lot of difficulty
so
our tendency is to want to get something out there rather than to really have confidence in this perfect background suzuki roshi is talking about when we are in touch with the perfect background we enjoy our lives and we don't fear losing them
that's a wonderful line does to keep in mind as the week goes by in know to really try and keep in touch with our that sense of the perfect background with this suggests describing
ah
somebody else said that unenlightened people are simply those who refuse to admit their enlightened

it's one of those things like the or and shin min
sat right the the third ancestors sir trevor
faith in mind yeah yeah the way is perfectly simple just pick and choose
get really boiled down it's all very simple a certain way
ah

right so
i just read france page eighty four which you have copied
we've moved from the the last chapter vi the
okay at that time the wise and long lived some booty
and to others in view of the unprecedented dharma that they had heard from the buddha in which the world honored one had conferred upon sherry putra of prophecy of our terrorism yeah somebody displayed the thought that this was something rare and danced for joy
then they rose from their seats adjusted their garments bared their right shoulders knelt to the ground and they're right knees single mindedly joined palms inclined their bodies and veneration looked up at the august countenance and address the buddhist saying we who were at
the head of the sanga all of us advanced in years who told ourselves that we had already attained nirvana and could be charged with nothing further made no effort to seek on your terrorism yeah somebody
the time is now long since the world honored one of old began preaching the man preaching the dharma all this time we sitting in our seats our bodies tired were mindful merely of emptiness sign listeners and deviousness
and in the bodhisattva dharmas sport supernatural penetrations the cleansing of buddha realms and the perfection of beings our hearts took no pleasure what is the reason the world honored one had caused us to leave the three spheres and made us able to bear direct witness to nirvana
furthermore we are now well advanced in years and when the buddha instructed bodhisattvas and on your celiac sambo d this did not arouse arouse in us the least thought of desired
now however since the buddha's own presence we have heard the prophecy of anti-terrorism yeah somebody conferred on voice hearers and our hearts are very glad having gained something they have not had before for do we did not think that now suddenly we should be able to hear how to rare dharma profoundly we rejoice
joyce having received this great good advantage and they'll calculable precious treasure and sought by us of itself has come into our possession
ah so he went back to joy again
the old man who have fun practice restraint and restraint and restraint ah and had no more desire to arouse the i've been surprised and again it's a difference between the terrified and and the mahayana the terror vodden
has the this reasonableness and restraint was a lot of talk ah and the caravan tradition about our detachment and on
maintaining distance and letting go of afflictions and that's part of our practice on but the mahayana is has the as a kite has a very different ah emphasis of including everything
including everything and finding the balance so they're two different styles
ah a practicing the way
ah so everybody is very ecstatic now because sherry putra has received the prophecy off on enlightenment now ah another good question was asked by an last week the difference between the pay
prophecy of enlightenment and
being enlightened
ah
so if you're told by somebody that you have absolute confidence in that you will be enlightened of course your heart leaps and and undoubtedly your life has changed but if you're told that you are right now a buddha
that's that's dangerous stuff
now you could
i'm really get inflated on that so they ah the prophecy leaves room for the effort
ah and somebody else said the prophecy is like being accepted into the university of your choice
ah you're very pleased you know you put all the effort into making me applications and and then the letter comes and says you're in
so you're then you're already to make on
to throw yourself into the effort
yeah there was a story and tricycle some issues back on the controversy of talkers and there was one school that but for the these vector reincarnations of previous long as
it's just a fact of life and then there are some people who felt that perhaps having a a small child given all this attention and a saying that he or he or she is this
the incarnation
it's kind of quite naturally they fall into it kind of their socialized into that position and so i thought about it for a and later what you you just brought up it's like you for all given that prophecy or encouragement in fact we can manifested in some ah
way number
here's a real it was great for entering chance rather than cause i think typically look at these are these stories of tibetan lamas is just they just some magical stuff and the a kid knows what objects they owned previous lives and and old adam there does
the next generation but the the question of this the social media social
socialization i think plays a big part in it be kind of down places where the magic of it restaurant over sit down
yes i do something to and that's a good example and it's kind of the stuff of cellphone prophecy
haha
with another line s
education new home teacher used the children as find that sounded performance as right yeah
yeah yeah another good example out

so again the topic of joy is brought up
and down
ah if we have time to do a writing which we may not but it would be nice to do on on joy ah what what is joy in our lives i was talking to someone today about it and to called recall the store
sorry
as a man i know at the aid center who
ah was a stunt photographer and hollywood
and on very dashing man who loved adventure and was very agile himself and i just took pictures of always stance and and had to be very smooth and his camera operation and nineteen sixty three he was hit by
by an hour by a drunk driver on as crossing the street and on just smashed up his body smashed up his body and down months subtraction and then on some years later
or i'm not sure at that time or later or what he acquired aids through a blood transfusion
so in all a person who has encountered that much of what we might call bad luck has ah
it could be embittered
and he's not in any way and i haven't me he's he's restrained and doesn't he talks factually about his life but tom doesn't ah explain in our events
i were in a little writing group and dumb in one of the groups and i keep i kept looking and looking am wondering how it was that he is able to live for his keys very sick now with aids and
and and in in constant pain from all these injuries and he lives with he thinks he has fourteen cats now he just takes all a stray cats in the neighborhood and give some homes
so and in one of the writing groups he talked about how after the end of some long hospitalization when he was just are able in his hospital bed to begin to focus on the world
the only thing he could see out his window was a kind of dusty courtyard and the were sparrows that were playing in the dust
and he felt such joy
ah he felt such joy that
ever since that time on
ah he's just felt glad to live
so
it's it's a nice story about joy because it's a good story also we we have a tendency to think that joy is so big and technique college
ah enjoy has so many different manifestations
ah and sometimes it's there we don't notice when we hardly notice
so
it's important and the sutra keeps encouraging us to be in touch with our joy

ah
and for some reason i've written a little quote from dog and here in this page that relates to this
when are we dogan rights when are we available to the teaching
begin in buddhist presence but i'm sorry
being in buddhist presence the disciples here and are joyful
when we are ready when we are ready to hear is not up to us
so a being in buddhist presence the disciples are joyful joy has some perhaps some
role in our receptivity to the teaching maybe something think about
does it to think the choice again
all right now that is that's a very good question with which to begin this parable of belief and understanding is joy a gift or destroy belong to us that's that's a nice way of thinking about this powerful
ah so i chose for some reason to
ah
use the verse of think a pair of a rather than the crowds also in the text in between that i'm skipping on this more and more talk about the world honored one being they to target her the thus come one
one
as the sutra goes on on there are always a number of buddha's and they're in different combinations and the meanings of their appearances are different but there's more and more ah emphasis on the presence just just the presence our food of that its
togheter and on the
and on the buddha's presence in our world i'm here and now
rather than on the many worlds that are ah in the cosmos
so now i'd like to begin to read on page ninety
this caravan
this day we
now so this is the mako market maha cassiopeia is telling this powder and maha chapeau of course is our ancestor he was the first ah
on teacher to be enlightened by buddha he was the one who are when buddha asked the question of who he was the one that when when buddha held up a flower nobody quite knew what to do and that he stepped up and took the flowers he'd smile and that was the first transmission
that and in the context of joy that that's a nice transmission story
so makkah maha mojacar shopper is saying this day we haven't heard the buddhist spoken teacher dance for joy that we have gained something we never had before
for the buddha says that voice hearers sometimes called strava cause she'll be able to become buddhas for one vehicle and a cluster of unexcelled gems and sought by us has come into our possession of it's own accord for example suppose that a boy young and knowing nothing for
shaking his father and running away arrived far off in another land then went about through several countries for more than fifty years his father tormented by grief sought him in all four directions then when weary with the search he settled into city where he built himself a house in which he amused himself
with the objects of the five desires the house was great and rich having much gold and silver giant clam shell and agate pearl and by duryea elephants and horses cattle and sheep hand carts and pelicans carriages and chariots workmen to tend the fields and many dependent
people the profits that flowed out and in extended to other countries as well merchants and traders were everywhere there was no place without them multitudes in the thousands of myriads of millions surrounded him and deference and by kings he was constantly loved and cherished
assembled ministers and powerful clans and like all revered and valued him for this reason those who came and went where numerous such were his power and wealth having such power but being of advanced and decrepit age he was all more grief stricken in recalling grief stricken in recalling his son
mourn and night he thought when my time to die was about to arrive my stupid son left me now more than fifty years since i treasure house houses and everything in them what shall i do with them
at that time the poor some in quest of food and clothing was going from metropolis to metropolis from kingdom to kingdom now getting something now not hungry week and emaciated as he was he developed scabs and his body's eventually in his passage he reached the city in which his father dwelt and
going about for hire at length arrived at his father's house at that time the great man within his gateway had erected a great july tenth
where he was seated in a lion throne surrounded by the tendons and attended by various persons among them with those who reckon the quantity of gold silver and gems of the goods given out and taken in recorded them in ledgers the poor son seeing his father rich and power
powerful stern and majestic thought
this is a king or the equal of a chain in his consternation he wondered why he had come thither repeatedly he thought if i stay long i may be driven a course to work
when he had the had had these thoughts he ran off in haste inquiring about poor villages for he wished to go to one to work for hire the great man at this time seated in his lion throne and seeing his son and the distance silently recognized him accordingly he commanded messages to overtake him and bring him back
the poor son cried out in alarm and sore distraction falling to the ground if these men have seized me it must be that i am going to be killed of what use of food and clothing if they bring me to this the great man knew his son to be foolish and mean he will not believe my words he will not believe
leave this is his father accordingly resorting to an expedient device he sent other men squint eyed and crouched over persons of no imposing appearance and told them you might talk to him saying we will hire you to clear away dung and other filth giving you a double wage the poor son hearing the
this followed him them joyfully and at their request cleared away down and filth and clean the rooms and apartments the great man through his window constantly saw his son and was mindful at the sun being foolish and inferior enjoyed doing menial work thereupon the great man putting on torn and
filthy garments and taking in hand and dung shovel went with sons workplace and there by resort to an expedient device approaching him and talking to him he caused him to work with diligence
i have already increased your wage and anointed your feet with oil your food and drink suffice in your bedding is thick and warm he spoke to him sternly you must work hard he also use gentle words you are like my son
the great man being wise eventually permitting permitted him to enter and leave throughout twenty years having charge of the great man's household affairs he showed him his gold and silver
his pearls and fatica the income and expenditure of his various things making him responsible for them all yet the sun still lived outside the gate welling in a grass hut and thinking of his own poor state i have none of these things
the father knowing that this his sons thought were at last broad and great and wishing to give him his treasure straight away assembled his king his kin the king and his ministers the street trick years and householders and in this great multitudes said this is my son
cincy for since he forsook me and went away fifty years have passed since i saw my son come back it has already been twenty years formerly in such and such a city i lost a son going in search of him at length i came to this place everything i have my houses and my vassals
i make over entirely to him to do with as he pleases
the son who still had in mind his former poverty and his lowly ambitions and who now and his father's presence was the great recipient of precious gems as well as of houses apartments and all manner of treasures was overjoyed having something having gained something he had never had before

actually that's the this translation this this verse is a little bit different from the pros and in the sense that time it personalizes the father the buddha figure for ah
so let's just a difference there are two copies of the whole at lotus sutra here in the section of the new library books so if you want to
ah
read through some of it and have some continuity as as that chance
ah so let's go through this
think about a little
a father and the sun and one can think about the way that we somehow start out life ah as children being hall
and and dumb fall out of wholeness
one way or another ah leave
ah the way this story makes sense to me isn't terms of fun the inner teacher and our development
thinking about those themes
ah
in this very personalized version of father is some
really feels despite all the wealth really feels bereft at the absence of his son
ah no buddhist not supposed to be attached to him
ah
but there's a certain way in which a buddha needs us to manifest
going back to the three bodies of buddha the dharma kaja
potential body in this sample the kayak the
on
the expressive body and the near monica the foreign body
now if this just the perfection of buddha
there's no activity
so this the some way in which the the father longs for the sun
even before the sun ah has any notion that his left house

ah and then the sun comes our and sees the grand palace on and he is terribly frightened
it's also a story about our resistance ah
there are
i think most of us have had a moments in our practice where we have on
really been frightened
and the first time i went to
san francisco zen center i was gonna sit a one day sitting which we didn't do than me i'm at first and the white ways and i went to that big cavernous room and as and though and sad and have breakfast and then suddenly i thought i was gonna pass
out
just really thought i was gonna pass out and ran out of the sandown to lay in the floor and ah tai i recovered enough to drive home
it's never happened since and down
ah i think i was terrified
no one senses that something big ah is going on and it's it some not comforting
so the son wants to leave
and he goes away
but he doesn't get very far
you know you get a real taste of practice you really see something
and it's hard to leave
well talks about his first says sheen and getting a certain way through it and and being extremely uncomfortable and thinking well you know why am i bothering about this and walking out and then for
finding them from he was just just preoccupied with having walked out that if there was no way he could leave it he had come back
ah
so ah the sun comes back even though his frightened and then the teaching of the skillful means ah the father sees exactly where the sun is
and since men squint eyed and crouched over
who's some commentators say of surface because some in on the skillful means
the bodhisattvas know how to appear and exactly the ah
shape that will be acceptable to the person to whom they are bearing a message
ah and so the sun does this very menial work which is exactly the kind of work he needs to do
the kind of slogging that we have to do when we begin practice ah the very persistent and dow work of being mindful and watching and falling and watching had fallen the watching fallen
ah
and there's some i think the pros account says the time he shoveled down for many decades and then he was on and then the father sees that he's advanced enough so the father himself can make a disguised appearance
ah
and encourages him offers him a little reward
ah reminds him of the rewards that have been given
ah and encourages him to work hard
now this story is faith and understanding belief and discernment and dumb
ah when when i discussed this at some other point with a group somebody said well it's not a story about faith because the sun is just doing what he's been told to do
so why is it a story about faith
ah
which is a point of view that's not invalid
ah
the sun is also
he's also entirely committed to what he's doing he never has a thought of leaving
he just does each day what he's been appointed to do
and just does it
and
it's some that this just doing what you need to do
just coming just coming to the zendo just sitting just doing it is the way it's as a like faith is a kind of muscle
and the just doing it is is strengthening of faith muscle

and her father sees this and encourages
a typically understand so much of the locals for instance of one seems to me it's her type of parent child
generally evil
conflict too close
dreams
hmm i
the sort of fathers
he's heard of different
the father had a much better yeah
yeah yeah yeah
that's right

so
the father gave gradually gives him more responsible jobs
yet the sun still lived outside dwelling in a grass hut and thinking of his own poor state i have none of these things so ah this is kind of the middle this is this is mature practice stage
ah that there is no kind of this no inflation
i was no thought of reward
and there is on ah
a real acceptance of poverty
poverty being
ah you know when you pour your naughtiness in a in a condition of controlling things
ah you're just poor and you're taking what's coming
but but it is like you have you had your joy and peace noisy be something
no
that's right yeah yes
like the simplicity know of spirit
beautiful people
yeah i remember when i was younger with is over some
catholic religious religiously for a while and my my most favorite memory is
peeling vegetables with the a pioneer of cook who i was most attractive to spiritually
yes she did very little to say she was soviet union of a spirit was
gorgeous and then there was nothing there
yeah him
sarwan booking a grasshopper
yeah she had no eagle the know have literally changed it's i was the youngest one acre in this school she has been a helper so so happy you know to think of the oldest was
this gave me he ha ha ha the said you

ha and so then fifty years passed and this time his son as a hundred and the father as we don't know how all
and arm of the father is the ceremony of the father ah identifying
making the identification with the sun
ah the identity of father and son the faith of the father
passed on completely to the son who is overjoyed

i'll rejoin because he something before
so you have a goal yet he was always his son yes yeah
ah
but tenders of is is all alone he is practicing with faith he said he he's just doing what he is totally committed to what you doing so he's practicing faith but were busy practicing discernment
before his five trends or recent
ah well i would say i am maybe people have other takes them as that the that the work the various jobs that he is doing or in first first the kind of of low level dung slinging and then the more administrative aspects
would be the discernment work that he's gradually understanding what the kingdom is about by hands hands on work
ah
so i thought about was looking around what jeff what other people and couple of other people said about faith
ah
faith a mental state generated by first hand encounter with mystery
one way of thinking about it
ah now the father's house being so ah mysteriously grand from the point of view of the sun and then the son's hands on encounter with that estate
good

an
category roshi
talks about the lotus sutra
ah
and actually the passage that he's going to refer to here in the lotus sutra is not one that we just read it's a later chapter which ah i'm not going to on
read about but tom there's a late chapter that's devoted holy to avalokiteshvara
the first paragraph of the lotus sutra mentioned the reason why avalokiteshvara is named compassion avalokiteshvara means to see the world and to be seen by the world
if i see with compassion than all of you because you are are already seen by a compassionate being will see me as a compassionate being
there is true reality or communication between the world and human beings
at that time there is nothing to separate are analyzed like paper and fire there is oneness which is called compassion
true reality which is going on between the world and avalokiteshvara is very compassionate supporting helping sustaining upholding the world
according to general buddhism is called dharma or the truth the meaning of dharma is to support

it's quite a long while so i don't think
ah

the passage from the lotus sutra goes on to say the buddha answered the in bodhisattva infinite thought good son if they'd be countless hundred thousand myriad counties of living beings suffering from
but their cries and all of them will be delivered we don't believe it if we believe it we call upon the bodhisattvas name but nothing seems to change suffering is still suffering suffering is still with us so we don't believe it and then we decide that the sutra lies because we always see the world
in terms of our concept of the world but it is true there is no other way to be delivered from human suffering
if you see the world
so all this is a matter of the development of faith that categories talking about here too if you see the world very deeply than you can hear the sound of the world
the sound of the world is something you are always looking for but you cannot actually find it through your experience so finally that is suffering
it is a very direct cause of suffering so finally you say please
please make me simple please make me free the moment that you call saying please was called apple akita's far
there is no subject who is calling and there is no object you are calling

when you sit down in zazen you don't know why
if you think about it you come up with many reasons but the reasons don't hit the mark exactly now his art experience with one vehicle
you cannot ignore the reasons you have fought off because they are part of the truth but not the complete true what you want is just to be present right in the middle of true reality
where you and zazen exactly merged nothing else to sit zazen is to call upon something and to sit zazen is exactly the something you are calling upon
you sit exactly in the middle of something you are always looking for and calling upon
we don't know what it is but it is always there
if you sit down you feel something you taste it by virtue of deeply seeing the world of hearing the sound of the world immediately we manifest ourselves with wholeheartedness this is the meaning of with all their mind
you know the bodhisattvas and and the sutra ah turned to buddha with all and mind
whoever we are whatever reason we have to decide to sit down immediately we can sit with our whole mind our whole heart even for a moment that's pretty good very naturally all we can do is constantly returned to the source of zazen which means as and based on casting off bot
the and mind this is the point we are always seeking this is called faith

is it seems to me as i as i read
all this stuff that
what it's saying is that
it's it's there all the time it's a question of your being open enough to receive it and so in it it's it's strikingly similar to the christian concept of grace at least the way thomas merton talks about it that
it's a gift in the sense that it comes to you but it comes to you only when you're open
god speaks only the people who are quiet
something like that and so it's both
yeah
yeah
yeah actually the next parable is going to really illustrate facts
ah the stairs to yeah

i'm
so coming back to again coming back to discernment
two kinds of meanings
ah one is that it's a virtue that enables us to respond quickly and accurately and creatively the situation
he cast through when you sifted in you discern
ah
and then the second is not trusting our own judgment putting ourselves in a situation of rule
so those and a enter in a certain way they're they're almost in conflict and yet there were different sides of him
ah
and discernment is his son has a quality that's beyond reason
so the sun has put him in south into a situation beyond his own role he's just entered ah the practice situation
completely know and we say that town when a person begins to practice they are ah they enter the realm of intention and they lived by vow or intention rather than the meandering of
of desire
so in this way the sun has been willing to do that

and then of course it's also true in the course of on practice development that
what if at first seems like enormously hard work on little by little becomes very easy

check complete photography
that's always your brows that's how i feel i'm trying to figure out the difference between faith and discernment and still win
you just talked about discernment and and it sounded like things
yeah
well i don't think they are separable i don't yeah that the
when when the sun puts himself
in the position of doing is appointed
thanks cleaning up the show stoppers on does faith but then you also made it into
henderson you're standing teacher small does portraits from
well can we think of some examples in our own lives of how ah long histories how faith
and ah
discernment
well have worked harder question but in cleaning up shirt it often doesn't go into the prophet and to the
don't to the to a tool or the container the era signed in and three how to skillful means roughly
work to them
he do the job properly you can't just rely on
on on on the instruction
the things are always so discernment is this is always necessary and refinements or else just for become slavishly devoted to a routine that often as is very inefficient
and the sky god doesn't get anywhere him
intimate stories really funny story gets his faith and sisters
worms
he has stayed to keep searching
he answers a sound
create that these tasks and simple answer is console to eat
yeah
yeah the sun doesn't seem to have much on
much conscious dilemma even when he runs away he's brought back
yeah
he won't say your question once again
do you want to state have quite the isn't a question
well as getting it's that's getting clearer mean i think is where said was helpful in terms of differences between

i didn't have to say up that for me it's very odd to have a of
yeah right a practice it feels so much with letting go to have a pair of of it so level with focus on well
well that is the indian that's that's just the way indians talk about spiritual life yes and it is it's right and it's it's very difficult it is it's not our style and specially when in addition to wealth there are hundreds and thousands of beautiful women
that that augment your stature yeah try right we just
ah
it's very interesting
five instances
in cursing that
is this of said
getting very excited about how to enter something that's them
and i can see the metaphor very clearly yeah yeah yeah
my heart is yes
what

well these questions continue on in the next
san francisco next
yeah and the next careful of medicinal herbs ah the face a situation is it's it's some a similar kind of problem

so chapter five at that time the world on at one for claim to maha kali dasa and the great disciple good good sasha has well stated the thus come once real merits truly it is as he has said
the the best come one also has in calpe incalculable limitless how much that would have it is of merit if you were to tell him off if you were to tell of them for incalculable millions of cup as you could not finish kashyap and know that the thus come one is king of the dharmas
he has anything to say it has never been he sets forth all dharmas by resort to wisdom and practical expedients without exception the dharma he's dharmas he preaches all reached the ground of all knowledge thus come one sees and those that to which all dharmas ten and that to which they are reduced
he also knows was the profound thoughts of all living beings can do penetrating them without obstruction
furthermore with respect to the dharmas he is perfectly clear demonstrating all manner of wisdom to the beings
kashyap would consider the grasses trees shrubs and forests as well as a medicinal herbs in there several varieties and they're different names and colors and the mountains and rivers the dales and bales of a thousand million fold world produce a thick cloud spray
eds out covering the whole thousand million fold world and raining down on every part of an equally at the same time it's infusions reaching everywhere the grass and trees shrubs and forests and a medicinal herbs whether of small roots stocks branches and leaves
or a middle-sized root stocks branches and leaves or of large root stocks branches and leaves also all trees great and small with our high intermediate or low all received some of it everything rained on by the cloud in keeping with its nature gains in size and it's blas
adams the fruit and fruit spread out and blue that produced by the same earth moistened by the same rain yet the grasses and trees
their differences
kashyap and know that the best come one is also like this he appears in the world as the great cloud rises but the sound of his great voice he pervades the world with it's god's it's men it's as as just as the great cloud cover's the lands of the million thousand million fold world
in the midst of a great multitude he proclaims these words i the thus come one worthy of offerings of right and universal knowledge whose clarity and conduct or perfect well gone understanding the world the unexcelled worthy the regulator of men and women of stature the teacher
of gods and people the buddha the world honored one those who have not yet crossed over i unable to cross now these what i'm going to say is in fact the for vows
those who i have not yet crossed over i unable to cross those who do not yet understand i cause to understand those not it yet
not yet at ease i put in their ease those not yet in nirvana i unable to attain nirvana
for this age and for later ages i know things as they are i'm the one who knows all the one who sees all one who knows the path the one who opens up the path the one who preaches the path
you multitude of god's people and assures should all come here in order to listen to the dharma
at the same time numberless thousands of myriads of millions of kinds of living beings come before the dark buddha and here the dharma
the thus come one at this time observes these beings their keenness or dullness their exertion or laxity and in accord with what they can bear preaches the dharma to them and an incalculable variety of modes each causing them to rejoice and enabling them speedily to gain
good advantage these beings having heard this dharma in the present age or track tranquil and are later born in a good place they enjoyed pleasure consonant with the path and are also also enabled again to hear the dharma when they have heard the dharma they are separated from obstacles and in the midst of the dharmas in keeping with
our powers gradually contrived to enter upon the path
just as the great cloud rains down on all grasses and trees shrubs and forests and medicinal herbs and just as they all in accord with their nature and kind derive the full benefit of the moisture each gaining and growth just so is the dharma preached by the thus come one of a say
single mark and a single flavor namely the mark of deliverance the mark of enchantment the mark of extinction haven't completely at knowledge of all modes whenever these beings who hear the dharma of the great one
other great thus come one if they hold it read it recite it and act according to his preaching than the merit they gain but thereby shall be unknown and unnoticed even by themselves what is the reason
only the thus come one knows these beings their kinds their reasons their substance their nature what things they think back on what things they think ahead to what things they cultivate how they think that how they think it has how they practice by resort to what dharmas they think back by resort to what
dharma as they think ahead by resort to what dorm as they practice what dharma they gain and by resort to what dharma they gain it the living beings well on the variety of grounds only the thus come one sees them for what they are and understand them clearly without obstruction
and those grasses and trees shrubs and forest and medicinal herbs do not know themselves whether their nature is superior intermediate or inferior but the thus come one knows this dharma of a single mark and the single flavor namely the mark of deliverance the mark of disenchantment the mark of ics
attention the mark of ultimate nirvana of quiet eternally quiescent nirvana finally reducing itself to emptiness the buddha knowing this observes the heart's desire of each of the beings and guides them protectively
for this reason he does not immediately preached to them the knowledge of all modes all of this all of you cut shopper are very rare and that you are able to know that thus come one preaches the dharma in accord with what is for to peculiarly appropriate and that you
we're able to believe and accept this what is the reason the buddha's the world honored ones preaching of the dharma in accord with what is peculiarly appropriate is difficult to understand and difficult to know

so
ah
it's a very intimate story
all of the ah all of the beings and the my new tie of their development
being
intimately fostered by this great clown and in this this some
ha
very tender and pervasive relationship now there is some there's some sam's about
god knowing everything
ah wish i'd thought of phone ringing one of them
ah you know that that the great comfort that that we imagine that town on
well we abandoned narrow ourselves so much and down and feel often so bewildered and lonely and cut off and isolated
and the comfort of this teaching that
there is some great cloud-like knowledge on that all the time knows what's going on with us
now the end of the last couple of lines of the a major coup on girl we don't usually see a translation of that that's the
our chant ah that's that's some praising kanzi on our abelow petesch far our compassion
the to last lines of it go something like and every small mind wave that comes up is part of the big mind
it's the same idea
so when a selma is saying that it seems like the story off the sun and the father that it's it's the father's story ah in a certain way this
it seems to me that this it's nice that this is the very next story that there's a kind of of fun most a correction but it's it's a different if that it's a different balance it's it's this more and some more even
ah relationship
could just look ahead symbolically more like a father son
down in sean
that's right it's really important hearing all these some ah all his talk about the world honored one
is very important to keep translating that into one's in our teacher
the time
who was the meaning behind a come
it's it's the completely present one you knows this the one that's just exactly here hasn't come hasn't gone that
this one whether they choose close to
do either thus come
thus come this gone
it's it's it's the it's it's such this is just nothing but
ah now that's always gods for you say it
someone else wants to gets the translation for to talk to you know the the of the of to calcutta is not clear i don't remember what said about it but fucked others know ah
ah their speculations but
this is not that doesn't have one is that the their trip to target her yeah yeah
sort of these on different aspects through
thus have on road one
the different facets for as for camera kind of emphasizing that by using that name or vs similar yeah yeah yeah that that this that the to togheter becomes more and more of a teacher as they as the sutra goes on that at first the boot is all have those
this shack and moaning and them as the whole array of the other named buddha's on
and then it is tom it simplify some somewhat as it as it becomes more focused on them to pack it

so there's a lot in this little
story
ah it's a very nice this this very ah
compassionate aspect
ah it's also a nice corrective for those of us who tend to ah want to compare practices who tend to feel that to everyone else has a better practice in line
ah
now let's saw
ah
the story is addressing them that can there's no possibility that the conveyed comparisons about practice
never know what's going on and we ourselves don't know where are practices
an
moscow on that's right that's right that's right only the thus come one come knows you know
how we don't know
and it's a very nice story about healing
ah development
and healing and the really mysterious
qualities of our development and healing i was in a chinese restaurant a couple of nights ago and my fortune said ah watch out for what you want you might get it
know i'm dumb aren't our tendency to want to make prescriptions for ourselves
ah
can't quite do that
you don't really know what's going on
and our tendency to think what the needs of other people are i read this and then i also had lunch with a friend of mine who's a therapist who's trying who's studying to pass the on mfc see exam
and she's also a buddhist and on she was talking about how horrible it is to have to learn the dsm three the diagnostics mental health diagnostic manual i mean how can you ah be involved with the story and then think
about diagnosing
know such a such a tiny little kind of stamp that town with put on the very mysterious
healing developing process
ah
and the time not be arrogant

ah
does it strike ring any bells for anyone else the story
i was just listening to a take the other day that christine of rock addition is his surgery spiritual only make so much so understandable whose what we were addicted to really really searching for spirit that
you know like know where you know it's comes in i would have things outside of ourselves but really it's you know your own inner their serjeant she spoke so eloquently and eight
manhattan the it just makes you look at
oh
addiction and alcoholism and addiction addiction much different light you know you know look at the person is some not such a good way
this is a spiritual search yeah and misdirected in a spiritual serves as the no time yeah hence the something act and

each person has the room no submarines
when served these people over
in a wind with so some wealthy and i have it for you know and their suffering is what they think their joins

on
sometimes feel as a slow i'm drifting along
i could build or less than that there is some pants
hey
a very luminous buddha stay very external to me but note what you just think it's great cloud just spend some some some knowledge that will support me the on just relax
and then of course or were instructed to kill the buddha but not so on i don't want to
should ever have levels its own
as far as i'm concerned if i can the buddha
very solid pursuit
now not adequate to the task and so
sitting here when it's of to do the words the the dharma and the people who are the i'm sitting this room
but then i think we could be music can than the dharma could be use it
an user could be on an example of what i if i just practice i to crew
so there's always a outside before ones
but
we were
if you that no one has to create the miss than hang onto that mouth
we've caught them before before one can
i suppose have some kind of kind of overwhelming
revelation that it indeed the buddha does reside with him
what sort of going from lonely lonely state to you
some something be on the south and haven't
i possess where have worried her teachers because they seem to the time
what we
if we can see that in them that means that we can have the to i'm drifting now
have you covered many topics
yeah that in the what can a teacher is inspiring as as a kind of of model
on the other hand on the student makes the teacher and the teacher makes the students as as always saying is if this gets this process of of fun on the dharma wanting to manifest in the in a relationship and through a relationship and through a situation
one that gets wiped up
i'm rambling in response to your ramblings
ah dogan wrote a little poem five line poem about the lotus sutra
ah
which is on a subject of inner and outer
the lotus sutra when you grasp the heart of this sutra
even the voices of selling and buying in the marketplace expound the dharma
he
when you grasp the heart of this sutra
and buying in the marketplace expound the dharma
maybe he didn't like all the riches either
i do
know if after you've taken this class and somebody asks you well what's the lotus sutra about
if you can remember this little pond so
hoots
ah and another reflection

another reflection on on the the scale
ah the enormity of the sutra ah for me is and suzuki roshi chapter about bowing
ah

after zazen we bowed the floor nine times this is our zendo lotus sutra event by bowing we are giving up ourselves to give up ourselves mean to means to give up our dualistic ideas so when we bow
wow were not the shrove because we're not the voice hearers where the bodhisattvas for giving up our dualistic ideas so there is no difference between zaza and practice and bowing usually to bow means to pay our respects to something which is more worthy of respect and ourselves but when you bowed boo
uda you should have no idea of buddha you just become one with buddha the one vehicle kitchen

you are already buddha himself when you become one with buddha one with everything that exists you find the true meaning of being when you forget all your dualistic ideas everything becomes your teacher and everything and beak the object of worship when every
a thing exists within your a big mind all dualistic relationships drop away seen as the lotus sutra is is our big mind sutra it's all about big mind
there is no distinction between heaven and earth man and woman teacher and disciple sometimes a man bows to a woman sometimes a woman bows to a man sometimes a disciple bows to the master sometimes the master bows to the cycle a master who cannot bow to his disciple cannot bow to boot
a
sometimes the master and disciples bow together to buddha sometimes we may bow to cats dogs
in your big mind everything has the same value everything is buddha himself
you see something or hear a sound and there you have everything just as it is
in your practice you should accept everything as it is given to each thing the same respect given to a buddha
here there is buddhahood than buddha bows to buddha and you bow to yourself this is the true bow
troy
quite a nice
where's the big miners no male or female but the small loan or those some men good as the man whose father and son ah
use illicit on the much more difficult with belief yeah mine isn't yeah there are these cultural impediments the wealth the gender later on i don't forget to it next week but but there's a very smart little
girls ah an eight year old little girl who who are receives the enlightenment prediction but she has to turn into a man like that before she gets enlightened
so now makes the urged of here
what we can always was killed buddha yeah now you may put a killer that's that some of these things are all
ah
well i think that's enough for tonight
yeah we can begin the next time we'll see chapter about the and universal prediction of food said
ah
and i think would people be interested in hearing somebody who has some talk for some of the period who is some practices lotus sutra practice that is the source of the a chance that the interesting
here too much answer
ah soka gakkai is is based on the lotus sutra and their practice is a great deal of chanting both have a name novel pneumonia hao wang j kill and to the sixteenth of the twenty-first chapters which has very
on powerful and significant meaning and ah are not easy to read and down
i certainly don't want to expound upon them but dumb perhaps visitors can what was the one
the group can talk about from ah it's in there it's it's some now i'm not going to actually not going to read it and understood summarize it
no it's not one of those but next class as the last class so i don't know quite what will get flu and what good want we're not going to get through everything
i do hope that if you have
if this engages you that you do take out one of the books some time and just try in a moderate way reading through the whole sutra
okay
to signify