I vow to take the truth of the Jataka's words. Good morning. I was having a talk with a friend of mine recently, a friend who's practiced for a long time. and has a very deep connection. And she was saying that these ceremonies give her some difficulty. And she's not really sure just how to meet them. Should we do a bodhisattva, a repentance and renewal ceremony on a Saturday morning when there are so many new people? And what are these ceremonies about?

[01:04]

So we are always stuck in this practice with the problem of form. No matter what we do, we have the problem of form. And even if, like Tony Packer, we say, no form, no Buddha, no Buddhism, no teacher, no students, still there's a problem with form. So how do we meet these ceremonies and how do we meet the formal language of the sutras? Do we withdraw or do we try to approach and make experiments in how we integrate? So we've been having some classes. We're in the midst of one now that Alan and I are doing. Frank gave a class on early Buddhism. And Alan and I are doing the ancestors, Chinese ancestors, and the Indian Mahayana background, Goanna Dogon.

[02:13]

And so these classes, as well as the Monday night group, give us a chance of working with this. And it was my job in two lectures, in two classes to do the Mahayana background and I sort of touched on the Lotus Sutra and felt very incomplete with it. So it seemed a good possibility today, particularly after this Bodhisattva ceremony, to come back to the Lotus Sutra and talk more about it. The Lotus Sutra When we eat our meals, we chant homage to the Mahayana Siddharma Pundarika Sutra, which is the Lotus Sutra.

[03:21]

It's the one sutra in our kind of home literary that we actually mention. And it is said to have been preached by Buddha on the night of his Parinirvana, and by some it's said to be the pinnacle of the Mahayana sutras. And it's also a sutra that's not too difficult to connect with. It's not so long. And there are stories in it and parables and metaphors that give us a chance to connect with our own imaginations and our own experience. So I'd like to Just take us through a few parts of it. It's said that the fundamental message of the Lotus Sutra is that everybody becomes a Buddha by accumulation of practices.

[04:29]

Now this does not necessarily mean in one lifetime. That's a mistake that we small-minded westerners can think. but our accumulative experience will lead us into complete perfect enlightenment. In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha gives this prediction that everybody will be enlightened. And we also learn in the Lotus Sutra, as well as some others, that The Buddhas have been preaching this new enormous teaching since the beginning of time everywhere and in all places and continue to preach it all the time. So there's a kind of shift from what the historical Buddha said before he died and these great Mahayana crowds of Buddhas

[05:39]

So it's an incredible message that we are all we need to be right now. That our fundamental Buddha nature is intact. We were talking about this a while ago and somebody said, well, you know, what's our problem? Why don't we just take the good news? And then the other side of the problem is Dogen's question. If everything is fine and complete and sufficient as it is, then why do we need to practice? So we have this kind of two-way business, the completeness and the wholeness, and then our the wholeness of our faith, our belief because somehow we know that this is so and on the other hand we have to work and work and work at understanding it and bringing our lives into alignment with it.

[06:52]

So I would like to read a passage in the very beginning of the sutra about Buddha's Samadhi. What happens when a Buddha goes into Samadhi? We all could write an account of it, and this is a kind of approved account of what happens. First of all, the first two or three pages, the sutra begins with, thus I have heard, because even though this wasn't, the old sutras were memorized by Ananda, and Ananda would speak them, thus I have heard, and the new sutras, the Mahayana sutras, it's not entirely clear where they came from, but they still begin the same way. And the first few pages are the assemblage of enormous throngs of everybody from the highest to the lowest realms. And when the audience had been established and when there's a teaching, it can't be a teaching with nobody listening.

[08:06]

We say the teacher makes the student and the students make the teacher. So the teaching of Buddhism is always an interactive event. At that time, the World Honored One, surrounded, worshipped, revered, honored and extolled by the four groups, preached for the sake of all the Bodhisattvas, the Great Vehicle Sutra called Innumerable Meanings. The law by which Bodhisattvas are instructed, in which the Buddhas watch over and keep in mind. Having preached this sutra, the Buddha sat cross-legged, and entered the contemplation termed the Station of Innumerable Meanings in which his body and mind were motionless. At this time the sky rained Mandarava, Maha Mandarava, Manjuksha and Maha Manjuksha flowers over the Buddha and the whole assembly while the universal Buddha world shook in six waves.

[09:11]

Then in the congregation bhikshus, bhikshinis, upasakas, upasikas, gods, dragons, yakshas, human and non-human beings as well as minor kings and the holy wheel-rolling kings. All of this assembly obtaining that which had never been before with joy and folded hands and with one mind looked up to the Buddha. And then the Buddha sent forth from the circle of white hair between his eyebrows a ray of light which illuminated 18,000 worlds in the eastern quarter. So that there was nowhere it did not reach. Downward to the Vichigel and upward to the Akanchisha Heaven. In this world, we're seeing in those lands all their living creatures in the six states of existence. Likewise, we're seeing the Buddhas existing and present in those lands.

[10:15]

And there could be heard the sutra laws those Buddhas were preaching. and there could be seen the bhikshus and the bhikshusinis who had practiced and attained the way and further was seen the bodhisattva mahasattva who walked the bodhisattva way from various causes with various discernments in faith and with various appearances. And so here's the great world what Suzuki Roshi calls our perfect background of No obstruction. The Buddha is seen and is seen by everybody, everywhere. Luis Gomez talks about Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. We've heard a lot about Bodhisattvas in the ceremony we just did.

[11:19]

If one knows both dreams and awakening, one deserves to be called Buddha. One who is able to remain free from the dreams while speaking in the midst of dreams is called a Bodhisattva. If one knows both dreams and awakening, one deserves to be called Buddha. One who is able to remain free from dreams while speaking in the midst of dreams is called a Bodhisattva. You know, we said the vows. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are endless. So on. The Bodhisattva vows. Those are dream vows. We know as we speak them that we are dreaming. And it is our intention, we speak them. We set our intention in order to be awake in the midst of our dreaming.

[12:25]

So our job, when we've got this enormous background, this kind of, extraordinary background is how we go from extraordinary to ordinary, and then back from ordinary to extraordinary. How we keep making this whole loop. Now, Joko Beck is very good at the ordinary. And I get her newsletter. Perhaps other people get her newsletter. And I just I got it just after I decided I was asked to give this talk and I thought I'd talk about the Lotus Sutra and it came right in. This little talk by Joko is called The Misunderstanding and it's all about this perfect background and our positions. Let's look at a scene. I live in a large area.

[13:38]

Beneath this area, but invisible, is a structure made of openness and compassion, which feeds my space through countless tiny ducts. I'm not even aware of these openings, but I do feel the vitality and serenity fed to me through them. However, being ignorant over time, I allow these openings to become clogged by the dirt and angry debris of my days. As the ducts become blocked, my confusion and distress grow. No longer nourished by big mind, I frantically seek around me for what seems to be lacking, love and peace, so on. Depending on how my search goes for these particular things, I feel happy This situation is indeed odd. Unaware that what I seek is already the natural base of my life, and that all I need to do is unblock the ducts, I mistakenly think my neediness and nervousness can be remedied by external factors, not realizing that the others on whom I pin my hopes suffer from the same disease as myself and have little to offer anyone.

[14:56]

Spending my life in what has to be a futile search, I am bound to suffer because I look in the desert for relief from my thirst and fail to comprehend that the spring of light runs within me. A desperate situation. In order to find a way out of the desert, I must see where the problem and its solution lie. Any therapy that tries to adjust the seeming problem, that is, my difficulties and sorrows, which I think are caused by others, can only give temporary relief. In fact, only I can solve this problem. First, I need to understand it. Second, I must do the practice dictated by my understanding. Yes, a guide who understands the problem can assist, but only I can do the work. Only understanding can give lasting motivation for ongoing practice.

[16:01]

So how do we gain understanding? Always by maintaining awareness of mind and body. Practice can at times be baffling, exasperating and discouraging, and ultimately freeing. Our ego seeks peace and relief now. What is truly needed as a foundation for our effort is clear understanding of what needs to be done and why. Then all can proceed. Do you understand what the problem is? That was pretty clear. And now I'd like to return to the Lotus Sutra for another look at the problem from a different point of view.

[17:16]

There are a couple of stories in the Lotus Sutra that are on this theme of belief and understanding or faith and discernment. knowing that everything is there and not believing it. And we talked about the story a number of times of the son who was strayed from his father's house and was lost and was recalled by his father and gradually discovered who he was, his royal nature. So I don't want to talk more about that today, but read another story that's on the same theme. World Honored One, it is as if some man... World Honored One, it is as if some man goes to an intimate friend's house, gets drunk and falls asleep.

[18:35]

Meanwhile, his friend, having to go forth on official duty, ties a priceless jewel within the garment as a present, and departs. The man, being drunk and asleep, knows nothing of it. On arising, he travels onward until he reaches some other country, where for food and clothing he expends much labor and effort, and undergoes extremely hard, great hardship, and is contempt even if he can just obtain a little bit. Later his friend happens to meet him and speaks thus. Tut, sir, how is it that you have come to this for the sake of food and clothing? Wishing you to be in comfort and able to satisfy all your five senses, I formally, in such a year and month and on such a day, tied a priceless jewel within your garments. Now, as of old, it is present there. And you, in ignorance, are slaving and worrying to keep yourself alive.

[19:38]

How very stupid. Go you now and exchange that jewel for what you need and do whatever you will, free from poverty and shortage. The Buddha is also like this. When he was a Bodhisattva, he taught us how to conceive the idea of perfect wisdom, but we soon forgot, neither knowing nor perceiving. and so on. So, this jewel, this jewel that is sewn into our clothing, what is this jewel? You know, Joka says, only understanding can give us lasting motivation for practice. We need to keep our awareness of that jewel So how do we gain understanding? Always by maintaining awareness of mind and body. So our jewel is our awareness, our zazen.

[20:44]

Buddha was preaching the sutra, the one great vehicle of innumerable meanings. In our practice, that's zazen. It's the one vehicle of innumerable meanings. So again and again we have always the opportunity, as the Buddhist teaching is always, has always, will always be available at every moment. So we always have the opportunity of coming back to our awareness, to our breathing, and to our body, and to our zazen. And how does this, and this return, this fidelity to our practice is our vehicle of understanding.

[21:52]

We were reading the way our understanding grows, the way our understanding gets muscle little by little. In the last class, Alan wrote out the first lines of the Chin Chin Ming, a long poem that was written by third ancestors. The great way is not difficult for those who don't pick and choose. When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. So I think that we find that when we do practice and when we have become accustomed to practicing, that indeed something happens to our worldly neediness, that the, I want, I need, I hate, I love, become a little less insistent, not so loud.

[23:14]

And that it's possible for those voices to arise and be heard, and move off while we have much more capacity to just hang in there. And as we are able increasingly to hang in there as the voices come and be and go, as we can wait, that gives us a way of meeting the situation in a larger way. Mel talks a lot about turning and being turned. So instead of moving just by the abrupt sharpness of our desire, we can wait, and turn, and be turned, and confirm, and be confirmed. And that's the way that our understanding grows and strengthens. And then going back again to the faith element, to the hidden jewel, you know, it's not just a jewel gets sewn in, but that jewel is sewn in and is some activity.

[24:46]

That jewel actually is doing its jewel work. So I wanted to read one more passage. which has to do with how this jewel, the activity of the jewel. This is Buddha instructing a Bodhisattva whose name is Medicine King. Medicine King, it is like a man extremely thirsty and in need of water, who searches for it by digging in a table land. So long as he sees the dry earth, he knows that the water is still far off. Continuing his labor unceasingly, He in time sees earth moist and gradually reaches the mire. Then he makes up his mind knowing that water is at hand. Bodhisattvas are like this. If they have not heard or understood or been able to observe this law flower sutra, you may know that they are still far from perfect enlightenment.

[25:54]

But if they hear, understand, ponder and observe it, you may assuredly know that they are near perfect enlightenment. Wherefore? Because the perfect enlightenment of every Bodhisattva belongs to this Sutra. This Sutra brings out the fuller meaning of the tactful or partial method in order to reveal Truth. The treasury of this Law Flower Sutra is so deep and strong, so hidden and far away, that no human being has been able to reach it. Now, the Buddha has revealed it for instructing and perfecting Bodhisattvas. Medicine King, if there be any good son or good daughter who after the extinction of the Tathagata desires to preach this Law Flower Sutra to the four groups, how should she preach it? That good son or good daughter entering into the abode of the Tathagata, the Tathagata is a name for the eternal Buddha, one just come, just gone, eternally present.

[27:03]

That good son or good daughter entering into the abode of the Tathagata, wearing the robe of the Tathagata and sitting on the throne of the Tathagata, should then widely proclaim this sutra to all beings. The abode of the Tathagata is the great compassionate heart within all living beings. The robe of the Tathagata is the gentle and forbearing heart. The throne of the Tathagata is the voidness of all laws. Established in these then, with unflagging mind to Bodhisattvas and all people, he will preach this Law Flower Sutra. Medicine King, I, Buddha, though dwelling in another realm, will send spirit messengers to gather together hearers of the law for that preacher, and also send spirit

[28:05]

bhikshus and bhikshinis, and male and female lay devotees to hear the preaching of the law. All these spirit people hearing the law shall unceasingly receive it in faith and obey it. And if the preacher of the law takes up his abode in a secluded place, then I will abundantly send gods, dragons, spirits, assurers, and others to hear her preach. Though I am in a different domain, I will from time to time cause the preacher of the law to see me. And if she forgets any detail of this sutra, I will return and tell her that she may be in perfect possession of it. The abode of the Tathagata is the great compassionate heart within all living beings. The robe of the Tathagata is the gentle and forbearing heart. The throne of the Tathagata is the voidness of all laws.

[29:09]

A while back there were some movies about Tibet. It was a film festival. about Tibet at the University Theater. And there was one movie, beautiful one, called Song of Tibet. And it was about a Tibetan family who had escaped some years ago and resettled in Montreal. And they had made their way and were living a comfortable middle class life, though very immersed in Montreal Tibetan culture and they barbecued in their back lawn and they had prayer flags strung all across. And the mother, probably was about my age, her dream was to have one visit with her sister who was still in Tibet. Finally that dream was actualized and it was possible to get the sister a visa and to get money to bring her to Tibet.

[30:35]

And I'm telling this story now because this story for me illustrates this abode of the Tathagata feeling. So this woman came and long black braids and a wonderful Tibetan dress and a little bag over her shoulder with everything she needed and was greeted by her family in Montreal. And she had known that when the plane came down over Montreal at night and all those lights But that was nirvana. I've never seen anything like that. That surely was nirvana. And then going through the stores in the... Montreal is full of underground subway stores.

[31:40]

Going through all those stores was nirvana. You could buy anything. And she kept this kind of wonderful openness as well, as you can see from her face, the warmth and the feeling. She stayed another, she prolonged the visit in Montreal because the Dalai Lama was supposed to come to Ottawa and did. And so she stayed until she could see him. And then she went back. And the family, asked her, gave her many gifts to take back with her and she refused them all. She went back just with a little bag over her shoulder which she covered. Which seems to me a kind of a model for us living in this world.

[32:42]

take the enlightenment and leave the materialism. I'd like to read one other passage, a different one, and come back again to this problem or opportunity that we have of how we meet these spirits that the Sutra talks about. How we greet the Buddha's words when the Buddha says that whenever a son or daughter preaches this one vehicle Sutra that Buddha will be there. How do we keep our ears open? And how do we keep our hearts open? And how do we know what's going on?

[33:49]

So I wanted to read a little poem. It's a little story, I guess, written by a friend of mine, Anita Burrows. How they meet. How they meet spirits. If I speak of a meeting between us, I do not refer to that moment in November 17 years ago when I drove with Richard to the coast of Port-au-Prince and saw you in your black shawl among the kelp beds the wicker basket in your hand, stopping and searching among the rocks, gathering muscles. What you were to me then, and why I remember you, I'm not sure.

[34:52]

Only that I thought of you, 70, 80, alone in that steely wind, and wondered what your life had been, and how you'd come there, since the road was steep and far from town. I do not refer to that time, but to something that happens now in my life at this moment. As though in the midst of it all, you'd found me, come to visit me. Or as though, in fact, you were the one who sat waiting for me against a white stone wall eyes closed, hands folded in your lap, as easily as I might wait for you here in this house in Northern California. Dad, I would say. Mother, I would say.

[35:55]

But I'm still not clear, I don't understand why it seems easier to suffer dreams than it is to awaken. Hmm. Why it's easier to suffer dreams than to awaken. Why we need so much form and so much discipline to do something that we... that apparently seems easy for everything else. Well, if we can do it without form, that's fine. You know, who does? We just need that reminder. How do we get the reminding? You know, he gives us an instruction and people are told, come in the door, make a little bow, put your hands this way, you know, every single body motion prescribed. Ridiculous.

[37:30]

And it keeps you awake. We're just in a kind of ridiculous situation. Maybe someone else has a response to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. Children certainly do. We've got a wonderful example of someone who's about 18 months. Often seems to be an exemplar of complete perfect enlightenment. However, you know, she's totally at the mercy of circumstances.

[38:34]

So we can't go on that way. How do we let circumstances, how do we suffer heat and cold and still keep our balance with that same kind of openness and freshness? Hopefully with our feet not glued on.

[40:10]

loving people very, very much and very much being with people and also not caring. Yeah. Yeah, well that's the great compassionate heart of the Tathagata and the abode and also the throne, understanding the voidness of all laws. Yeah, the form it took for her was her kids arguing over her, basically her deathbed.

[41:48]

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