I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Good morning. Can you hear in the back? Good. Well, this is an unusual morning. I have broughten, I have broughten, broughten, yeah, the devil's box here into the zendo. And we also have kid zendo this morning. I was thinking as I was sitting down, once when I was at Tassajara, we have skits like we have mid-practice period skits here, where people do skits and songs. And once I saw a really funny skit of how Sojin Roshi sits down before a lecture. It takes a long time to sit down. Did you notice that? Really long time, you have to straighten your robes and do everything very carefully.

[01:01]

It's ripe for pantomime. So I hope you don't do that. Never make fun of us. Have you had your one minute of zazen yet? You did it. Are you enlightened yet? Malcolm is. I can see, I can see that look in his eye. We had Bodhisattva ceremony this morning and so I think I want to talk a little about what a Bodhisattva is or how a Bodhisattva and how a Bodhisattva practices and sing you a couple of songs. Do you guys know what a bodhisattva is? No? Bodhisattva is an enlightened being, somebody who's fully awake, who sees everything, including seeing themselves.

[02:15]

It's also, a bodhisattva is an enlightening being, somebody who helps other people wake up. And this is actually the whole job that we have of practicing Buddhism. It's the whole point of Zazen that we do is so that we can all wake up together. So it's not, One teacher, early teacher in America, when he would come into lectures like this, he would come in and he would say, good morning, bodhisattvas, because each of us is a bodhisattva, even though you may not think so, or you may not even, you may not realize it, but you are.

[03:17]

And each of you, has the same enlightened nature as the Buddha. When the Buddha woke up, when he was enlightened about 2,500 years ago, he said, now I see that I am enlightened together with all beings, which means that all beings are Buddhas. So that's what a bodhisattva is, very briefly. What does a bodhisattva do? How do you help people wake up, and how do you wake up yourself? That's kind of the point of this song that I'm gonna sing. This song is taken from an old book, Lotus Sutra, and for those of you who want to look at it, it's chapter 20.

[04:21]

And the song is actually very literally what happens in this chapter. It's all about the bodhisattva never despise or the bodhisattva never disparage. And some of you know this song. But the story of this song is that this person who was practicing Zazen came to a place where he would never say a bad thing about anybody and never do a bad thing to anybody, which that's hard to imagine, isn't it? Did you ever say a bad thing about anybody? I don't know what that is that looked at. You've said a bad thing about him, or he said a bad thing about you. Or you're just acknowledging your mutual deluded nature.

[05:27]

So that's the Bodhisattva's practice, is never to say a bad thing about anybody, never to insult anybody. because our hero, that's the name of the song, our hero, sees that everybody that he encounters is going to be a Buddha. So how could you insult the Buddha? It would be very bad, really very inappropriate. So for that reason, Even the people who insult him and who hit him, who spit on him, who do all kinds of really yucky things, he won't ever insult them or think badly of them. This is pretty hard, don't you think?

[06:31]

What do you feel when, say you're at school and somebody insults you, what is it that you feel? Anger. Uh-huh. Why do you feel anger? Because they insulted you? Yeah. What's underneath that? What does the insult feel like? I see, we're going very deep here. Does anyone of you, when you see somebody, when somebody insults you, do you ever see them say, I'm not going to insult them because they're going to be a Buddha? No? Does any of you do that? Some of you must. Some of you have been practicing here for a very long time. This is very discouraging. Right.

[07:38]

Anyway, that's why this is a practice. It's a practice for us. Our hero in this song is our hero because he naturally does this, but for the rest of us, It's not so easy. And so we have to cultivate it so that we can come to that point. So that's the story. There's some big words in this song, like, well, not such a big word, despise, you know what that means? Yeah, it's like hate. It's like to, look down on somebody or see them as worthless or small. And there's another word, very much like that disparage, which is to kind of make somebody look small. It's like to place yourself above somebody so that you look good and they look bad.

[08:43]

I'm sure you know what that feels like. And there's some other words in this song that maybe I will, when we come to them, I'll explain them to you. So everybody's going to sing this song, OK? The chorus, anyway. Any other words? Here they are. So this was written by two friends of ours, Greg Fane, who many of you know, who lived here, and is married to Linda Galleon, and they're living down at Tassajara. And Ben Gustin, who also is at Tassajara, I think he's living around here with his wife and new baby. And this is like one of the best Buddhist songs. I don't like Buddhist songs, but my mind is changing. There's a book called the Lotus Sutra that you really ought to know about.

[09:59]

A holy book that has the power to remove all fear and doubt. And this book tells the story of a man who means the world to me, who could just as well have been a woman, except for male hegemony. So hegemony, that's one of those words. Hegemony means kind of power over somebody. So they call him the Bodhisattva Never Disparaged Or the Bodhisattva Never Despised And I'm making it my life's ambition To see the world through his pure eyes Cause he says, I will never disparage you Or keep you at arm's length Where you only see your weaknesses I only see your strengths I would never despise you or put you down in any way. Cause it's clear to me, I can plainly see, you'll be a Buddha someday.

[11:03]

Okay, now you got the idea. Now sing it with some energy, like as if you were practicing Zazen. I will never disparage you or keep you at arm's length. Where you only see your weaknesses, I only see your strengths. I would never despise you or put you down in any way. Cause it's clear to me, I can plainly see, you'll be a Buddha someday. I love you. That's a little tagline. The kids want to know, why does he say that? And I said, well, I don't know. I didn't write the song. Now Bodhisattva, never disparaging, Lived countless kalpas in the past. A kalpa is a long time. In the time of the counterfeit dharma, And he was something of an outcast, Because the monks and nuns of his time Were noted for their arrogance and vanity.

[12:07]

And these were the folks who exercised Great power and authority. But my boy never concerned himself if they treated him like a freak. He just bowed to everybody equally, and these are the words he'd speak. I will never disparage you or keep you at arm's length. Where you only see your weaknesses, I only see your strengths. I would never despise you or put you down in any way. Cause it's clear to me, I can plainly see, you'll be a Buddha someday. I love you. He never read or recited the scriptures much. He only liked to practice respect. But the monks of his nuns of his time didn't meet it like you might expect.

[13:09]

Instead they cursed him, and they reviled him, and they wished that he would go. Cause they all had self-esteem issues Like everybody else I know They beat him and pelted him with clubs and stones And they tried to drive him away But he just run off to a safe distance Then he turned around and said I will never disparage you or keep you at arm's length. Where you only see your weaknesses, I only see your strengths. I would never despise you or put you down in any way. Cause it's clear to me, I can plainly see, you'll be a Buddha someday. I love you. And so it went on for years and years He was the target of scorn and abuse Still our hero, he shed no tears Did he ever wonder what's the use?

[14:17]

Until he came to the end of his natural lifespan And he lay down fixin' to die Then he heard the holy Lotus Sutra being preached up in the sky And his life was expanded for millions of years and he's living to this day And in the pages of the Lotus Sutra you still can hear him say And you know what he said I will never disparage you or keep you at arm's length. Where you only see your weaknesses, I only see your strengths. I would never despise you or put you down in any way. Cause it's clear to me, I can plainly see, you'll be a Buddha someday. Yes, it's clear to me, I can plainly see, you'll be a Buddha someday. I love you. I love you. Excellent.

[15:25]

Well, thank you guys for singing. I think now we go to the adult portion of the show. Well, there's another song coming, though. No, you can go. No. This has got the X-rated verses, the other song. Well, thanks. I just wanted to, before I start, give you the Mudita daily news here. Mudita is the principle of sympathetic joy.

[16:37]

And so to announce that after After we have tea, we're going to have tea again, because we love tea so much. And we're going to celebrate the Dharma transmission of our two sisters, Grace Jerson, who's sitting there, and Mary Mosine. Grace is the teacher at Empty Nest Zen Do, and a whole slew of places in the Central Valley. I don't even know the names of the towns. And Mary is the teacher at Clearwater Zendo. And so we're going to celebrate their Dharma transmission, which is an auspicious occasion. And the second piece of news, I was called by one of Hoitsu Suzuki Roshi's disciples last night, Robbie Pellett, up in, he lives in Washington, and he called to say that Hoitsu has accepted a three-year term as the tanto at Eheji.

[17:43]

And he left yesterday. Yeah, this is an incredible honor. Even just thinking about it, my eyes fill with tears. It's an honor to him, to Suzuki Roshi, and actually to Sojin Roshi and to us in many ways. It's not going to be easy. That's what he was concerned about, the work. And Lori and I called Rinsawin, hoping to catch him, but he had already left. So we spoke to his wife, Chitose, and she was very excited. She also said, already missing, you know. But she was also very happy and very you know, there are so many Soto priests of his age, you know, to select him is, it's very powerful and I just also think how lucky.

[18:53]

those young monks are going to be at AHE who are going to get to practice with him very directly over the next three years because I have to say he's, to me, he's one of the most wonderful people in the world. He's one of those people when you're around him you feel this bubbling up of joy that's really contagious. And so it's not always the usual spirit at AAG. So to inject that element there, they're very lucky. And we're very lucky. So I just wanted to let you know about that. I don't know where I'm going to get with this here today. I was walking, when we were down at Ta Sahara helping Sojourn Roshi with Grace and Mary's dharma transmissions, I took a walk one afternoon with Vicky Austin, whom many of you know from San Francisco Zen Center.

[20:07]

And we were walking up the road and talking about various difficulties in our lives, difficulties with our friends, things that we saw that were challenging in the Sangha, and it was a very rich discussion. As it always is with her, we go back and forth. The verbal energy is really sparked. And she told me about a set of practices that she had taken on, and they're bodhisattva practices. They're called eight verses for training the mind by an 11th century Tibetan monk Geshe Langritanpa.

[21:10]

And they're really in the tradition of Mahayana Bodhisattva practices that really evolved a century or two before that from the teaching of the Indian monk Atisha and from Shantideva, who some of you know. And they're very much in line. It's just a little before Dogen. And so it's also in line with the kind of practices that he that he taught in the Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance and the, what is it, the Eight, I don't know, the Eight Practices of Enlightened Persons, I think it's called. This is the whole tradition of actual practices for Bodhisattvas, which means practices that Bodhisattvas are giving to us practices that we, but more importantly that we take upon ourselves, in order to develop our own bodhicitta, our own enlightened nature, so that we can help ourselves and others wake up.

[22:27]

And I wanted to talk about them. I don't think I'm going to get real far, so I may have to revisit. But I thought at least let me start by reading them to you. They're short and powerful. So these are Geshe Langritangpa's eight verses for training the mind. 1. May I always cherish all beings with the resolve to accomplish for them the highest good that is more precious than any wish-fulfilling jewel. 2. Whenever I am in the company of others, may I regard myself as inferior to all and from the depths of my heart cherish others as supreme. 3. In all my actions, may I watch my mind. And as soon as disturbing emotions arise, may I forcefully stop them at once, since they will hurt both me and others.

[23:35]

Four, when I see ill-natured persons overwhelmed by wrong deeds and pain, may I cherish them as something rare, as though I had found a treasure trove. Five, when someone out of envy does me wrong by insulting me and the like, may I accept defeat and offer the victory to them. Six, even if someone whom I have helped and in whom I have placed my hopes does great wrong by harming me, may I see them as an excellent spiritual friend. 7. In brief, directly or indirectly, may I give all help and joy to my mothers, and may I take all their harm and pain secretly upon myself. 8. May none of this ever be sullied by thoughts of the eight worldly concerns.

[24:44]

May I see all things as illusions and without attachment gain freedom from bondage. So that's, those are the verses in brief and if you'd like a copy of these, I actually have a few with me for illegal distribution. They will, what? The first song? I have the song, yes. Okay. That's copyright, Greg Fane and Ben Gustin. But these practices are designed to undermine our usual way of looking at the world and looking at ourself. The language is relatively simple. the sentiments are very easily understood and the practices are really hard to do.

[25:54]

They apply very widely when the verses talk about, for example, when I see ill-natured persons, the essence of this practice is exchanging self and other. In the commentary it says, we will never succeed unless we exchange self with others, that is reverse our present attitudes. So one of our present attitudes is that there are self and others. So when it talks about For example, when I see ill-natured persons, I am the ill-natured person. This is where I have to begin to work. And if there's somebody who I'm having difficulty with, the essence of these practices is to see that person as myself.

[27:06]

And then also to to see that person as me and think about how I would like to be related to in my difficulty. So these are Bodhisattva practices as was the practice, you can see that they're related to the song, right? To this practice of never disparaging, never despise, never insulting, practicing respect. You practice respect because everything is ourself. When we practice zazen, everything is ourself. This, in the shosan that we had last night, the question came up several times.

[28:13]

Sojourn Roshi was asked about frustrations or disappointments and falling short How do we deal with the feeling that we're not really doing zazen? The secret fear that all of us have that we're really not doing it right. And what I understood him to be saying was, you have to just, you have to take that in. You have to include that. You have to cherish that. It's not like you get rid of it so that you can accept the feeling. It's like you accept that very difficult feeling. And that's, again, why these are practices. It's not that you

[29:18]

something happens between you and another person and you feel insulted or you feel hurt, you ache inside, you feel wronged, and it's not so much that you can make that hurting go away, but to enfold it as an actual expression to try to turn, this is a continuation of the lecture I gave a couple months ago, to try to turn towards that person as perfect, just as they are. Whatever they're doing, what they're offering you, and this is the gist of these verses, what they're offering you is exactly what you need to wake up. and this is why they are bodhisattvas and this is how you take it on as a bodhisattva.

[30:28]

If there's something that's giving you a hard time, what it's also giving you is the opportunity to practice a number of very important qualities so that you can wake up. The quality of humility, the quality of patience. Humility is the antidote to pride or ambition. And we all are prey to that in certain moments. Patience is the antidote to wanting to be someplace else and wanting things to be different than how they are.

[31:29]

So these Bodhisattva practices are offering antidotes to our difficult emotions. The embedded in these practices and in the tradition is there are several principles. One I think that's probably fairly familiar to you. Some of you, have any of you been involved in Pema Chodron's series of classes while she was, she comes out here every year and she's been teaching Shantideva, God to Bodhisattva's way of life, which is the same kinds of practices, right, as these verses that I recited.

[32:33]

So, embedded in these practices is, and in the idea of exchanging self and other, is what's known in Tibetan tradition as tonglen. Tonglen means sending and receiving or accepting. Usually it's actually, it kind of works the other way around, at least to begin. We accept our afflictions. We accept what's painful in ourselves and we take in what's painful in those that we're close to. We take in what's painful in the world. We take it in fully. We breathe it in, even though it's scary and toxic. We breathe it in for the sake of others and then we breathe out refreshment, ease.

[33:42]

This is the way actually Trungpa Rinpoche describes it. The practice of straightforward. It is an actual sitting meditation practice. You give away your happiness, your pleasure, anything that feels good. All of that goes out with the out-breath. And as you breathe in, you breathe in any resentments and problems, anything that feels bad. The whole point is to remove territoriality altogether. He says, usually you'd like to hold on to your goodness. You'd like to make a fence around yourself and put everything bad outside it. Foreigners, your neighbors, or what have you. You don't want them to come in. You don't even want your neighbors to walk their dogs on your property because they might make a mess on your lawn.

[34:48]

So it's removing this territoriality. I think this, of course, is completely resonant with the practice that we do, with the practice of Zazen. There's no territory in Zazen. In Zazen, there's no me. We're sitting and it's really, and this is how we practice it, we practice it generally in this room, sitting next to each other. And after practicing for a while, there comes a time when In moments, at least, we can't really draw that line of territory between me and, say, Marty. You're not even thinking of individuals. You're not thinking of yourself as an individual. You're not thinking of other beings in this room as individuals. large essence and energy sitting zazen.

[35:53]

This is the dissolution of territoriality. And in that sense you don't have to do, you can do tonglen as a practice, but in that sense tonglen, this practice of receiving and accepting, is just rolled up into this one thing that we call Zazen. And the Zazen is like, people often ask, what is Shikantaza? So one way of looking, there's a million explanations. There's a whole, there are books on it. But one way of looking at Shikantaza is completely accepting Everything that comes up on your breath, with your posture, in your mind, completely accepting it and completely letting it go.

[36:55]

Not holding on to it, not using it as an object of meditation or object of thought. But when you receive it, you receive it warm, with a warm belly and heart. And then you let it go fully with your complete best wishes, with your love to go. So that's, I think this is all on the same page as these verses. But some of us are a little hard-headed and we need it broken down and spelled out for us into practices so that when we're out there in the world, or when we're actually talking to each other, we have some idea of how to get along. The other element, and this will be the last thing I talk about before I sing this song, the other element is, again, in the same tradition, what Chögyam Trungpa calls

[38:10]

drive all blames into one. And this is also implied by these eight verses, to give away victory, to accept defeat, to, what's the language, to, may I take all their harm and pain secretly upon myself. So to drive all blame, all blames into one, what Trungpa Rinpoche says, the reason you have to do that is because you've been cherishing yourself so much. And I know about this. Not from you, from me. Although sometimes you may say that you don't like yourself. Even then, in your heart of hearts, you know that you like yourself so much that you're willing to throw everybody else down the drain, down the gutter.

[39:18]

You're willing to do that. You are really willing to let somebody else sacrifice his life, give himself away for you. And who are you, anyway? This is a good question. Who are you? As I said, the language is relatively simple, and the doing of it is hard. The doing of it is the doing of cultivation. It's the doing of zazen, but it's also the cultivation of this in every relationship that we have, in our relationship to people, in relationship to doors, to our clothes, anything that we are liable to see as an object. Not to treat it as an object, but actually to treat it as a precious part of ourself in just the way that we would like to be treated.

[40:23]

And to drive all blames into one means to Accept the fault if something is wrong in a relationship to question yourself. If there's something that you see you can fix, fix it. But if there's something that you think is wrong with your partner or the other friend, accept the fault of that. This is a radical practice. And we could argue about, well, there really are things wrong in the world. And there are things wrong in the world. And if you can do something about them, please do. But where you don't know what to do, just accept that in yourself. consider where the shortcoming is and vow to wake up.

[41:28]

And the very acceptance of that shortcoming is a small waking up. So I was listening to one of my favorite gospel groups, earlier this week, the Staples Singers. Didn't we hear of them? Really, really cool. Just the most beautiful harmonies and very soulful old songs. And Pop Staples was singing this song, Nobody's Fault But Mine. And I thought, well, this is very Buddhist, except it talks about soul and talks about Bible and talks about all this stuff. So I actually rewrote it. And if you don't like it, it's nobody's fault but mine. So I'm going to sing it to you, and then maybe a few minutes for questions. And this has also got a chorus.

[42:36]

Nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. If I can't see my own true face, nobody's fault but mine. That's the chorus. Nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. If I can't see my own true face, nobody's fault but mine. I got trouble in mind. I got trouble in mind. If I blame another and deny myself, nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. If I can't see my old true face, nobody's fault but mine. Well, I know right from wrong.

[44:17]

I know right from wrong. But if I don't know about cause and effect, nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. If I can't see my own true face, nobody's fault but mine. Well, patience is the key. Patience is the key. If I can accept my life, it's nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. If I can see my own true face, nobody's fault but mine.

[45:19]

Once more, nobody's fault but mine. Nobody's fault but mine. If I can't see my old true face, nobody's fault but mine. Yeah. Well, thank you. I think a few minutes for questions and then we should have tea and then we should have tea. Lois and then Dean. You spoke about giving back, letting it go with fullness after you've taken it in. It sounded like that was the right practice. I wonder if you could give some suggestions about how to give it back, how to let it go. Sometimes my experience is it becomes undifferentiated so that

[46:23]

I think you have to start really simply. I don't actually know how, say, Pema does the instruction, but you begin on your breath. And I'm not advising that you do this in zazen. Set aside some time and do this, but begin just giving out what goodness you have This one, this kind of practice also calls on us not to be stingy. not to have a mind of scarcity. It's like, if I give this away, then am I going to get it back? You just give away. So do it with things that are easy. And you learn that as a reflex, as a practice. And so don't start on by taking on, say, genocide in Darfur.

[47:48]

It's too big. We can't encompass it. Just take a little in. Take a little to say, okay, this is all, you know, it's just like eating. You know, you have this beautiful meal in front of you. You know, it's so, you know, really incredibly prepared, lovingly prepared food. Our desire mind wants to eat it all at once, but you have to eat it one bite at a time, right? And if you really eat it one bite at a time and you really chew it, you don't actually need that much. So I think that's the approach. Dean? I was sitting inside in the community room listening and felt compelled to come ask.

[48:51]

A couple times you said something about see the other person as your own self see how we want to be related to, and then treat them just like we would want to be treated. I find I get myself into some problems that way, because I've got this idea that this is how I, or I think this is how I would want to be treated, so I treat them like that, and I end up causing some problems, and I don't want to not do, and I know it's my fault. And I end up causing you know, problems, and I don't wanna not act, but I don't wanna cause problems. I think this is, the difficulty there, for me, anyway, is that I'm working with, I'm still working from a narrow idea of self. So you have to, again, you have to go slowly.

[49:55]

And when you're seeing other as yourself, it's yourself as a bodhisattva, not your, yeah, really big, not yourself as diluted Dean or diluted Alan. So you have to go very carefully and slowly and mindfully. Does that make sense? there is no Dean that's right no Dean that moment when you had your instrument in front of you Thank you.

[50:56]

Well, that's a practice, too. You know, I've been...I'm not... There's ways in which I'm very intimate with this instrument and voice and ways in which I'm still really learning and working with my limitations, but I have been doing it for 44 years. So there's an intimacy that develops just as, and I feel the same way about Zazen. It's like, sat down this morning, it's like I really The first period of Zazen this morning, I really wished the bell wouldn't ring. I just wished it would go on forever. It's not because anything great or marvelous was happening, just it was very easeful. Linda. The teachings that you were telling about this morning struck me as dangerous and easily misunderstood. For instance, I am inferior to others.

[52:02]

It's all my fault. If somebody is abusing you, you should just love them. Please comment. These are Bodhisattva practices. These are from the largest possible area of being. In the relative world we still have to make some decisions, but the question, the practice question, is how do you hold these as principles? You know, it's like we're not coming from that. We feel we're not coming from that unlimited place, and so we're protecting. So really the question is always, what am I protecting? I sort of get it. If I were going to tell you what I did appreciate about it, then in that level I would be affirming what you taught. But I don't feel this answer really spoke to what I was trying to ask.

[53:10]

That is, how are you going to be careful in speaking these things so people don't get further deluded? I feel like I'm speaking them here in a context where we have a common practice and we have a community in which to try it out. And if we're functioning in a wholesome way as a community, then we can we can protect each other because there is no, in that sense there is no Linda and Alan either. So I think we have to take these risks and one set of risks may be, this is the Mahayana Bodhisattva set of risks and it's not telling you to do this in all situations but it's asking you how do you hold this

[54:22]

as a principle that's wholesome and helpful. If it's not helpful, don't do it. If you feel it's causing harm to you or if my propagation of these teachings plants a seed of delusion in you or in anybody, then I'm really sorry and actually it's my fault. And I don't mean that as a joke. I thought about this a lot and I'm a doubt type. You know, I have probably the same sets of questions generally. When I hear you talk, I have the same sets of questions that you do. And my antidote to that is faith, practice of faith or faith in practice, which is not a blind faith, but it's just like step by step saying, how does this work? And I have to say, how does this work? Because I know

[55:25]

that doing the opposite of these practices has not been working in my life. So it's risky. One more and then I think we have to stop Courtney. on, it's actually an empowering thing. It's not a victim thing if you really go at it fully, because you're basically saying, what am I going to do? Not, what are they doing wrong? So even if you're in a situation that might seem like this is an abuser and I'm being abused, nevertheless, the only thing I can do is check myself and ask, why am I in this? What's happening? So it's actually an empowering thing. It's like the story of you're in a boat, and another boat's coming this way, and you're yelling, get out of the way, here I come.

[56:27]

You should imagine no one's in the boat. That same kind of a thing. So who could you blame? Right. So it's actually empowering. It's not making you small and weak. That's what I think. I just want to say the word fault has a lot of connotations. Responsibility. Yeah. And I think that's true, you know, even in the Christian root of that song, it's not, the whole text of the song is about, well, I have to take responsibility. It's like Suzuki says, you know, you be the boss of you. This is what we're trying to foster here. Well, we have to stop because it's getting late, but thank you very much.

[57:29]

Remember this, Paul? You've done this before. Being R numberless.

[57:41]

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