I'm very happy to be here. I look forward to this series of talks. They will consist of an introduction to the precepts, and then each of the first five of the precepts will be taken up in turn, tonight, tomorrow night and Friday night. And then next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And each of these talks will be followed by a short break, during which time those of you who need to go may go, and then we will have a discussion, question and answer here

[01:06]

in this room. These talks are from a book tentatively titled, The Way of the Bodhisattva, which is tentatively scheduled to be published next spring. Maybe a different title, I don't know. So I will be reading much of the material. Please bear with me. Please sit comfortably. I will try to enliven the reading as well as I can. I should also add that I am speaking from a particular point of view.

[02:09]

As a teacher in the Sambhogakodan line of Soto Zen Buddhism, the Haradayasatani line, a lay stream of Zen Buddhism, so certain parts you will need to listen to with a sort of ecumenical ear, because I will be referring to a practice that is strictly lay now and then. The sixteen bodhisattva precepts form the final steps in koan study in the Haradayasatani line of Zen Buddhism. Like other precepts, they are succinct, like other koans I should say, these precepts are

[03:18]

succinct presentations of the way of the bodhisattva, the practice of doing the work of the world as an enlightened being, freed from personal suffering, all the way up, if you have, yes. Good. All Buddhist precepts can be traced to the Vinaya, or monastic rules, which formed one of the three collections of literature in earliest Buddhism. As the Mahayana tradition developed, so did the idea of morality already perfected. And though the sixteen bodhisattva precepts seem by their titles to be simply guides and vows for good behavior, in fact, each of them sets forth a facet of what essentially we really are.

[04:18]

Getting at that essence is the nature of our koan study. On our cushions in zazen and in the world. Our koan study and our koan practice. The truth experienced in koan study, including the precepts, is set forth philosophically in two great compendiums of the Mahayana, the Prajnaparamita, and the Hawaiian. The Heart Sutra, which sums up the Prajnaparamita in just a couple of pages, begins with the words, as you know, Avalokiteshvara, doing deep Prajnaparamita, clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty, transforming, suffering, and distress. Avalokiteshvara is the bodhisattva of mercy, who, by his or her very name, expresses the

[05:33]

fact that the truth not merely sets you free, but also brings you into compassion with others. Literally, the name means the one who perceives the essential self at rest. A very difficult name to translate. Kan means to see into. Jizai means free, at ease, at rest. And so, naturally, the name is open to a certain misunderstanding, which I hope can be cleared up as we go along. Kanjizai. Kanzeon is another translation of Avalokiteshvara, the one who perceives the sounds of the world.

[06:38]

Now, the one who perceives the self at rest clearly sees that all phenomena and our perceptions of them are without substance. This is the truth that liberates and transforms. The one who perceives the sounds of the world in this setting of empty infinity is totally free of self-preoccupation and so is tuned to the suffering of others. These two insightful beings, Kanjizai and Kanzeon, are the one bodhisattva of mercy. Now, the Huayen Sutras present the doctrine of interpenetration and intercontainment that I and all beings perfectly reflect and indeed are all people, animals, plants, things, and so on.

[07:50]

This theory is brought home intimately in Zen study, beginning with our examination of the Buddha's own experience on seeing the morning star. I and all beings have at this moment attained the way. You are at ease with yourself when Kanjizai sits on your cushions. You are at ease with the world when Kanzeon listens through the hairs of your ears. You are open to the song of the thrush and to the curse of the harlot like Blake, who knew intimately the interpenetration of things. I wander through each chartered street near where the chartered Thames does flow

[08:52]

and mark in every face I meet marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man, in every infant's cry of fear, in every voice, in every band, the mind-forged manacles I hear. How the chimney sweepers cry, every blackening church appalls, and the hapless soldier's sigh runs in blood down palace walls. But most through midnight streets I hear how the youthful harlot's curse blasts the newborn infant's tear and blights with plagues the marriage hearse. With each sigh of each hapless soldier, a new flow of blood runs down the walls of the White House,

[09:53]

and the equally hapless whore poisons the bride and blinds her infant. Not only is no man an island, each man, woman, animal, stone, cloud, tree is the universe itself. This is the basis of the sixteen bodhisattva precepts." I need a little interpenetration of the wire. And as Blake wrote so passionately, what a mess we have made of the precious net of interrelationships. Catch the eye of a deer in the forest, and beneath the conditioned pain imposed by centuries of despoilers, you will discern unused curiosity. Up to your old tricks are you, Johnny Human, she seems to be asking,

[11:01]

before she bounds away, knowing very well she must not risk lingering to find out. The mind-forged manacles maintain suffering and distress by confining us to fixed concepts of I and you, we and it, birth and death, being and time. When you can see that all phenomena are transparent, ephemeral, and indeed altogether void, then the thrush will sing in your heart and you can reach out to the whore. Historically, the sixteen bodhisattva precepts derive from the Brahmanet Bodhisattva Sutra, attributed to classic Indian sources, but actually probably of Chinese origin

[12:05]

sometime after Kumarajiva, who flourished in the early fifth century. The title identifies the sutra with Huayen literature, since the Brahmanet is the net of Indra, the multidimensional web of jewels, with each of them fully reflecting all others, the central Huayen metaphor. Dogen Kiganzenji used the Brahmanet Bodhisattva Sutra and its commentaries in formulating the Kyoju Kaimon, a basis for the study of the precepts in the Soto tradition since his time. The first three precepts are vows of refuge in the three treasures, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, realization, truth, and harmony.

[13:08]

The function of these vows in daily life is then set forth as the three pure precepts, to avoid evil, to practice good, and to save the many beings. Thank you. These in turn are actualized in a more detailed way in the final ten called the Ten Grave Precepts, which set forth specifically the ways the Bodhisattva maintains the vow of purity and teaches it in the world. Another book, the Isshin Kaimon, the Precepts of One Mind, attributed to Bodhidharma, is studied by Soto Zen students. This work takes up only the Ten Grave Precepts.

[14:13]

In the Rinzai school, Isshin Kaimon is the sole basis for the study of precepts as koans. The three treasures and the three pure precepts are not taken up in the Rinzai koan curriculum, though they are familiar in other contexts. The development of the sixteen Bodhisattva precepts is an integral part of the development of Mahayana Buddhism. The vows of refuge in the three treasures are virtually the same in classical and in Far Eastern Buddhism. But the three pure precepts show a change. They are derived from a gatha in the Dhammapada and other early Buddhist books. Renounce all evil, practice all good, keep your mind pure, thus all the Buddha's taught.

[15:14]

In the Mahayana, these lines underwent a change, reflecting the shift from the arhat ideal of personal purity to the Bodhisattva ideal of oneness with all beings. The last line was dropped and the third one rewritten to make the three pure precepts. Renounce all evil, practice all good, save the many beings. The ten grave precepts which then explicate these more general vows are not killing, not stealing, not misusing sex, not lying, not giving or taking drugs, not discussing faults of others, not praising yourself while abusing others, not sparing the Dharma assets, not indulging in anger,

[16:21]

and not defaming the three treasures. Classical Buddhism also used ten as a basic number for the precepts. The first five are the same, at least in the subjects of their concern. In all of Buddhism, Mahayana, Theravada, Vajrayana. And they are even found in Southeast Asian secular law. Beyond the first five, they differ completely from those in the Mahayana. Modern Theravada lists number six through ten as not eating afternoon, not watching dancing, singing, and shows, not sleeping in a high bed. Let's see. Did I read? Not adorning oneself with garlands, perfumes, and ornaments,

[17:23]

and not accepting gold and silver. I got those a little out of order. These seem to be special rules for the mendicant, while the second five for the Mahayana Buddhists seem designed generally for a layperson and monk alike. The lay follower of Theravada takes refuge in the three treasures and accepts the first five precepts, while the lay follower of Mahayana accepts all ten precepts, plus, in Soto Zen practice, the six vows. The Bodhisattva precepts are central to the Jukai ceremony, initiating Zen Buddhists into their religion and to weddings, ordinations, and funerals. However, they are studied intensively, only in private with the Roshi at the end of koan training.

[18:26]

So far as I know, they are not taken up in teishos or discussed in detail in Zen commentaries. I think the reason for this esotericism is the fear of misunderstanding. When Bodhidharma says that in self-nature there is no thought of killing, as he does in his comment on the first grave precept, this was his way of saving all beings. When Dogen Zenji says that you should forget yourself, as he does throughout his writings, this was his way of teaching openness to the peace and harmony of the universe. However, it seems that teachers worry that if such comments are baldly presented in a public way, people may take the words of Bodhidharma and Dogen Zenji

[19:30]

to mean they have license to do as they wish. In my opinion, the risk of causing arrogant, misplaced confidence lies not in publishing the words of Bodhidharma and Dogen Zenji, but in saying mistaken things when interpreting their words. See, for example, Takuan Soho Zenji's instructions to a samurai. The uplifted sword has no will of its own. It is all of emptiness. It is like a flash of lightning. The man who is about to be struck down is also of emptiness, as is the one who wields the sword. Do not get your mind stopped with the sword you raise. Forget about what you are doing and strike the enemy.

[20:32]

Do not keep your mind on the persons before you. They are all of emptiness. But beware of your mind being caught in emptiness. This is a quotation from D.T. Suzuki's Zen in Japanese Culture. Well, what do you think of that? The devil can quote scripture and Mara can quote the Abhidhamma. The fallacy of the way of the samurai is similar to the fallacy of the code of the crusader. Both distort a universal view to partisan warfare. The Catholic charity of the Holy See did not include people it called pagans. The vow of Takuan Zenji to save all beings did not encompass the one he called the enemy. Certain teachings of Zen and certain elements of its practice

[21:40]

can be abstracted and used for secular purposes. Some of them benign, such as achievement in sports. Some nefarious, such as murder for hire. The Buddha Dharma with its integration of wisdom and compassion must be taught in its fullness. Otherwise its parts can be poisoned when they are abused. It is important at the outset to understand that Bodhidharma and Dogen Zenji hold fast to the essential point of view in their comments on the precepts. This view, as Yamada Koun Roshi has said, is that everything is infinitely empty and also full of possibilities. The personal dimension of emptiness is peace

[22:42]

and the potential of peace is its unfolding as harmony among all people, creatures and things. The precepts formulate that peace showing how the absence of killing, stealing and so on is the very condition in which one saves others. Great appropriate action is one of the four wisdoms of the Buddha. Mahayana Buddhism is the middle way and with regard to the precepts the middle way is suitable action which is neither perfectionist nor hedonist. Perfectionism is the trap of literal attachment to concepts. A priest from Southeast Asia explained to us at Cocoan many years ago that his practice consisted solely of reciting his precepts,

[23:48]

hundreds and hundreds of them. To make his trip to the United States he had to receive special dispensation to handle money and to talk to women. Surely this was a case of perfectionism. Hedonism, on the other hand, is the trap of ego-indulgence which will not permit any kind of censor, overt or internal, to interfere with self-gratification. The sociopath guided only by strategy to get his or her own way is the extreme model of such a person. Certain walks of life are full of sociopaths but all of us can relate to that condition. Notice how often you manipulate other people. Where is your compassion?

[24:48]

In the study of the precepts, compassion is seen to have two aspects, benevolence and reverence. Benevolence, when stripped of its patronizing connotations, is simply our love for those who need our love. Reverence, when stripped of its passive connotations, is simply our love for those who express their love to us. The model of benevolence would be the love of parent toward child. The model of reverence would be the love of child toward parent. However, a child may feel benevolence toward parents and a parent's reverence toward children. Between husband and wife or friend and friend, these models of compassion are always in flux, sometimes mixed, sometimes exchanged.

[26:09]

Seeing compassion in this detail enables us to understand how a love as it is, the expression of deepest consciousness directed in an appropriate manner. Mumon uses the expression, the sword that kills, the sword that gives life. On the one hand, there is the love that says, don't do that. And on the other hand, there is the love that says, do as you think best. It is the same love now killing, quote, unquote, now giving life. To one friend, you may say, that's fine. To another, you may say, that won't do. The two actions involved might be precisely the same. But in your wisdom, perhaps you can discern

[27:13]

when to wield the negative and when the positive. The sword that kills, this is the ten grave precepts. With our love, we say, cut that out. But the sword that gives life, this is also the ten grave precepts. The precepts are the middle way, the single sword of the realized mind. Without this single realized mind, corruption can appear. I am thinking of a teacher from India who is currently very popular. I know nothing about him except his many books. His writings sparkle with genuine insight, and yet something is awry. There are sordid patches of anti-Semitism and sexism. Moreover, he does not seem to caution his students

[28:14]

about cause and effect in daily life. What went wrong? I think he chose a shortcut to teaching. My impression is that he underwent a genuine religious experience, but missed the vital step-by-step training which in Zen Buddhist tradition comes after realization. He missed the reinforcement which the human creature needs to make a deep experience truly intimate. One of my students taught me the Latin maxim, incorruptio optimum pessima. In corruption, the best becomes the worst. For the teacher of religious practice, the opportunity to exploit students increases

[29:14]

with his or her charisma and power of expression. Students become more and more open and trusting. The fall of such a teacher is thus a catastrophe that can bring social and psychological breakdown in the Sangha. The risk of antinomianism is not to be taken lightly. Incidentally, you may be thinking I wrote that in relation to the crisis you're going through now, but actually these early taishos were written six years ago. I had in mind somebody on the other side of the continent. The integration of the precepts taken with Zazen and Sangha practice is the way to assure bodhisattva behavior

[30:15]

whatever the circumstances. The function of emptiness, if such an expression is possible, is the creation of forms. The phenomenal world is the void precipitated as a vast dynamic system of interrelated beings. The bodhisattva personifies himself or herself as one jewel of this cosmic network, alone and independent as a star and yet interpenetrating and being interpenetrated by every other jewel. My life and yours are the unfolding realization of total aloneness and total intimacy. The self is completely autonomous yet exists only in resonance with all other selves. The bodhisattva engages in this realization

[31:19]

presenting dignity and harmony among fellow beings and the peace of the void which underlies and infuses all things. Mumon said, medicine and sickness mutually correspond. The whole universe is medicine. What is the self? I know of no koan that points more directly to the net of Indra. Unmon is engaged in the unfolding of universal realization showing the interchange of self and other as a process of universal health. To see this clearly you must come to answer Unmon's question what is the self? Do you say there's no such thing?

[32:22]

Who is saying that after all? How do you account for the individuality of your manner and the uniqueness of your face? The sixteen bodhisattva precepts bring Unmon's question into focus and give it context. Context is fundamentally not outside and the self is not bound by the skin. Here in the West our context has a special tone and color. Monastery walls do not protect us from secular influences nor does a viable social philosophy like Confucianism guide our behavior. Our very archetypes have died out. I don't dream about the president anymore and when I talk to my friends I find they don't either.

[33:25]

The great leader is a hollow man. The law of the market cannot prove itself and the nation-state mocks its own values. I believe that now more than ever it is important to find a source that is deeper than concepts and images, a place of rest and peace from which you and I can come forth with actions and words that are appropriate to circumstances. There is no such specific place, of course, yet it is everywhere. The Zen teacher Xiong-san calls it the don't-know mind. He and I and all people who write and talk about Buddhism and use Buddhist words and personages to identify that place

[34:28]

yet such presentations continually fall in upon themselves and disappear. We take our inspiration from the Diamond Sutra and other sutras in the Prajnaparamita tradition which stress the importance of not clinging to concepts, not even of Buddhahood, maybe especially of Buddhahood. Goso said, Shakyamuni and Maitreya are servants of another. I want to ask you, he continued, who is that other? After you examine yourself for an answer to this question, you might want the Buddha and his colleagues to stay around and lend a hand. Perhaps they can inspire your dreams and their words express your deepest aspirations,

[35:30]

but if they are true servants, they will vanish any time they get in the way. We need archetypes, as our dreams tell us, integrating the purity represented by the priesthood elsewhere, so I say here, represented by the priesthood here. We follow, as lay Buddhists, in the footsteps of a few great lay personages from Vimalakirti to our own Yamadaroshi who manifest and maintain the Dharmakaya, the Dharma body, in the dimension of nurturing a family. This is not easy. In a lay setting, where even the residents of a training center have close ties with conventional society, the organization of ritual and zazen

[36:33]

may not be sufficient to provide everyone with a natural way to internalize the precepts. The student may then try to set up artificial monastery walls and divide Zen practice from everyday life. In this way, Zen Buddhism becomes a kind of hobby or sideline and is made to fit the needs of the ordinary ego. The Zen Buddhist training center, in turn, becomes a sanctuary, a place of peace to which people can retreat. The true Zen Buddhist center is not like this. The true Zen Buddhist center is a source of powerful energy flowing naturally to the larger community. The 16 Bodhisattva precepts of Mahayana Buddhism are excellent upaya or skillful means

[37:36]

to generate this vitality. They are not commandments engraved in stone, but expressions of inspiration written in something more fluid than water. Comments by Bodhidharma and Dogen Zenji are studied as koans, but our everyday life is a great multifaceted koan that we resolve at every moment and yet never completely resolve. OK? Thank you very much.

[38:10]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ