Receiving Buddhist precepts and studying Buddhist precepts and focusing on Buddhist precepts, the word precept for me keeps turning and twisting and I see it in different contexts. I remember when my daughter was learning language, when she would first start becoming aware of a word, she would specialize in learning that word for some period of time, and it was amazing to see how she could see that word almost everywhere.

[01:11]

Like when she was learning the word dog, we'd be riding in the car and And there would be a dog in the street and she would say, dog. And then a little bit later she would say, dog. And I would look around and I couldn't see the dog. And then maybe I would see, oh, there was a dog inside somebody else's car or looking out of a window of a house or in a pattern on somebody's shirt or in the corner of a newspaper clipping, or... It really was there, but I couldn't see it. But she, with her young eye concentrating on dog, could see it everywhere.

[02:20]

One time we were also in a car, and I think we were in a car, Anyway, we were near a window, either of a car or a house. But I think it was a car, actually. And I think the car was stopped. And she said, ,, which at that time she was learning the word airplane. And is the Chinese word for airplane. It means winged machine. So she said, feiji, and I looked, and I could not see any feijis anywhere, couldn't see any airplanes in the sky. And I said, where? And she pointed, and I looked, and I said, where? And she pointed, and there in the vast open sky, I saw the tiniest little dot. And it was a feiji.

[03:28]

So now that I tell you this story, I think when we're studying the precepts, can you see the precepts all over the place? Can you see them here and there throughout the day? And so now the word precept jumps out at me too when I'm reading or listening. When I read the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, I saw the word precept and it was used when the ghost of Christmas present was showing him around And it said that the ghost of Christmas present taught Scrooge his precept.

[04:41]

And his precept was that in every refuge of misery, he would enter and sprinkle or bestow blessings. That was the precept that he taught Scrooge. And recently I was reading about the trainers of Greek athletes, and the trainers would teach the athletes the precept of running or the precept of wrestling. I think, so again, the word precept sort of shifts for me in many ways. It's what partly means a teaching. And if you look it up in the dictionary, in most dictionaries, the first meaning you'll find, the first definition you'll find is that a precept is a teaching. Or sometimes it says to be a rule or regulation about conduct.

[05:50]

The etymology for precept, also the word that usually is found is teaching, a teaching. And the etymology is pre, which means before, and sept, which means to take. It's something you take before. It's something given before you go running, before you go blessing, before you try to practice the way of the Buddhas, you receive Buddha's teachings to open the door to the practice. And the word which we have trouble with, a lot of us in

[06:54]

in practice is words like rule or regulation. And how to work with this word, rule or regulation, is also an aspect of understanding these teachings. When asked what have all the Buddhas taught, the answer is they all have taught precepts, these precepts of avoiding evil, practicing good, and benefiting or saving beings In other words, they all have taught.

[08:02]

In other words, they regularly have taught. It's their regular way is to teach these precepts. Once these teachings are given, they have taught other things too. But they all have taught these precepts. And these precepts are taken before But also these precepts are taken before Buddha. First there's the precepts, then there's Buddha. Of course, then Buddha gives the precepts, and then there's Buddha. So it's a cycle. But in a sense, the precepts are first. In general, the Buddhas of three times and ten directions give these teachings.

[09:05]

In general they share this vow of avoiding evil, practicing good and benefiting beings. The early way of saying that in the Dhammapada was avoid evil, practice good and purify or clarify the mind For the bodhisattvas, benefiting beings is working to benefit beings, working to save beings is the way of clarifying the mind. So teaching is a way to clarify the mind. In the text which we read before, at the beginning of the precept class, after the section on going for refuge in the Triple Treasure, Dogen says something like, in going for refuge in the Triple Treasure of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, one acquires

[10:31]

the great precepts of all Buddhas. In going for refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, one acquires the great precepts of all Buddhas. Buddha is your teacher and no other way. And Buddha is your teacher and not one of another way. Not one of another way. And after we read that in class the other night, and actually read it before, but last week I pointed to that place, not one of another way, and some people felt that, some impact of that phrase. they felt the phrase and then they interpreted it, the phrase, and then they had a response to their interpretation, which some of them told me about.

[11:42]

And I think this is very important. How we interpret this, or not so much how we interpret it, but that we're aware of our interpretation of that phrase is very important. as these people told me, because if you interpret it one way, you may feel reservation about going for refuge. And one way of interpreting it was one person said that he felt that he didn't want to be receiving the precepts and wearing the Buddhist robe to be like an identification card or a membership card. Didn't want to make it into that. Or another way to put it is she didn't want receiving the precepts and going for refuge to be like falling into a category

[12:48]

And I think this is actually a concern that followers of the Buddha way have, not wanting to fall into a category, looking for the way that doesn't fall into categories. So part of the dynamic here is that going for refuge in the Buddha is to go towards and to return to that which doesn't fall into categories. And yet, the mind can interpret that in such a way that we fall into a category. And if we hear, and since we have that capacity of making that path which is intended to be free of falling into any category, our mind can then turn that into something like another category.

[14:05]

Especially when we hear the phrase, no other way, not another way. Then we feel justified in thinking that that's been proposed. But it's not so much that that's being proposed, but that that expression gives our mind a chance to do what it can do, called thinking in that way. That's why we first practice repentance or confession before we receive the refuges, because we know, if I go for refuge, probably my mind, I got to watch out, probably my mind will make this refuge-taking into another kind of category. My mind will say that this activity of returning to the Triple Treasure is something I can get a hold of. So I should confess that at the beginning. I should confess that I have a tendency to interpret things in such a way that they fall into categories, or I put them in categories.

[15:21]

So if the teaching is saying I should put things in categories, then I don't want that teaching. But the teaching is not saying that. What does no other way mean? Why say it then? Why not say, Buddha is your teacher and whatever, man. Why not say Buddha's your teacher and everything's your teacher? Or everything's Buddha? Why is he saying that? Everything's your teacher, everything's Buddha. There's no other way. You can't get away from Buddha. Now, most people do try to get away from Buddha, and the refuges are to go back, to stop running away from that which you can't get away from.

[16:25]

To stop running away from the fact that there's no other way. To receive the teaching that there's no other way. There's no other way. There's no other way like getting into this category or that category. There's no category. There's only one category. You don't have a choice of getting into this category or another category. There's no other way. No matter what you're doing there's no other way. And again, if I say that, the mind then interprets that and makes that no other way, again into a category, and reifies and substantiates that, and then again, there you go.

[17:47]

So if you keep admitting that the mind keeps trying to get a hold of this expression and keep noticing how it does that, That's also part of there's no other way. You must keep admitting what you're doing. There's no other way. There's no other way. All the Buddhas have taught, and that means everything is teaching, that there's no other way than admitting what you're doing. And admitting what you're doing means you have a mind which is constantly categorizing. It never stops. And there is a possibility, if you don't run away from that fact, of being free from that. This possibility of not falling into categories even while you're generating them non-stop. In other words, you can be a person who doesn't want to fall into categories and therefore falls into categories

[18:49]

and is therefore free by admission of those tendencies, free of those tendencies. By full expression, by full admission of this tendency of mind, we are freed from it. Now, I don't know if your minds are in a mood for words, but there's a word, refuge.

[20:05]

And I think I've mentioned to you before that refuge means refuge, refuge in Latin. And fuge means to fly. Fuge means flight. and flight has a number of meanings but one is to escape and the other is to fly or literally flight means to move through a medium to move through a medium and the medium can be is often the Earth's atmosphere, which we call air. So flight is often to move through the air, but flight is actually to move through a medium. Its root is P-L- EU, which means to flow.

[21:13]

It's to flow through a medium. Air is one of them. Another one that you can fly through or that there can be flight through is through water. Someone just wrote me a card saying, did you know that penguins flew through the water? You can also fly through your breath. There's flight through breath. And there's also flight through mind. And there's flight through space. Refuge is to fly, is the return flight, is the return flight home through breath, through mind, through space, through air, through water, through mud. whatever medium you find yourself in, you use that medium and you practice the return flight through that medium.

[22:20]

And the significance or the merit of this return flight to Buddha comes through the full expression of this flying, of this effort of movement through mind, of movement through breath. But not just that. It comes through this expression and through the response to that expression.

[23:33]

And not only through that expression and the response to that expression, But it comes through the fact that the expression and the response of that expression cross. In Western tradition, the cross is usually like this. But the Chinese character for this cross is like this. More like an X than the Christian cross. But there's this crossing. There's an intersection between full expression of returning and a response to that. This is another, what do you call it, possible way of seeing what this means to know not another way.

[25:12]

Not another way means don't save some of your life to use later. Use it all right now. and use it all right now in a way that you can use it all right now forever. And the way of using it all right now is the way you can do it consistently forever. this full expression but not just full expression like what you do but also full expression which includes part of full expression is to watch and listen we have we have always the ability while we're expressing ourselves to simultaneously be aware of the expression to watch our expression to listen to our expression and in watching our expression

[26:32]

and listening to our expression, we can also listen and watch for the response, which happens exactly at the same time. The merit, the virtue of refuge occurs in this watching our effort, watching our expression, and witnessing the response. In that watching what we bring and what is given, the merit is realized. It's not to take refuge And then after that's over, after you've taken refuge, then to see the response, then to see the merit. It's in the simultaneity and in the thoroughness of your expression.

[27:41]

The simultaneity and the spontaneity is manifested. There's no other way. There's not another way. There's not another way. And this way of full expression, which is immediately, with no mediation, responded to and met, this way spontaneously transcends itself and can't be in any category. This is called studying yourself inside out. watching your own expression to the limit and realize that in that fullness you are complemented, you are met.

[29:02]

Someone said to me that he was making an effort but felt unmet. And I think a lot of people feel that, that they make an effort but they feel unmet. They feel unmet by other human beings or they feel unmet by the Buddhas. But I said to this person, you know, I don't know what I said, but anyway, something like, don't depend on them. to meet you don't blame them for not meeting you if you fully express yourself you will be met and the tough side of it is if you don't fully express yourself

[30:31]

you will not realize that you're met. The Buddhas do not meet somebody we're not. They meet us, exactly us, and we must be exactly ourselves. because they extend their compassion to us freely and without limit, we are able to attain Buddhahood and let go of the attainment. I hear this again and again, I'm not met. Maybe somebody even says to me that they're trying to meet me and I'm not meeting them or they don't feel met by me. But if someone says, I'm not met, that expression on top of all the other expressions that this person's made does tend to

[31:50]

stimulate me and I do respond. Now, if they say, I just said I'm not met or I don't feel met and I still don't feel met, I might say, well, Are you really fully expressing yourself? And the intensity of this, I'm not met, might get stronger. But I propose that when it reaches its fullness, the person will feel met. And it's not like the other doesn't change in that fullness. But the full expression will feel met in the full expression.

[32:55]

Someone else said, in speaking of these relationships, there's not enough time, there's not enough continuity. There's not another way. There's not another way which gives you more time and more continuity. Your full expression creates the time and creates the continuity. within the limits of our life, within situations where we're supposed to be silent, there's an opportunity for full expression.

[34:05]

So what I'm proposing is you look in the Buddha's face or you look in anyone's face and you express yourself that when you feel, when you understand, when you realize the crossing of the ways of the Buddha you're looking at and your way, that it's there that you understand what we mean by refuge. If you can easily, in a relaxed and effortless way, express yourself fully, fine. If you have to scream and pound the floor, that's what you have to do.

[35:41]

And you get a response. You always get a response at the fullness of your expression. Taking refuge must be done completely. There's not another way. Of course there is another way, but there's not another way where you'll be met. And the meaning of refuge, the merit of refuge, is not just in you doing your best. It's doing your best and the fact that when you do your best, you're met. It's in this concert that refuge lives. It's not a solo. It's a duet. This is called studying yourself inside out.

[36:51]

Someone else said to me that she feels like she's putting out balloons. You know, sending out balloons. That her expressions are like these balloons she sends out through the day. And she said she feels like she hides behind them. But I felt like there's a turning point there. Or the balloons you produce, the expressions you produce, can be something you hide behind or something that reveals you. The funny thing is we're sitting there putting out these balloons and people are watching us all day long, popping these balloons out there. Oh, here's a red one, a blue one, a yellow one. We're putting these balloons out. That's what they see. That's how they see us. And we feel like we're hiding behind it. We're totally revealing ourselves and we feel like we're hiding ourselves. We're revealing somebody who's hiding.

[38:05]

The people can see. This balloon says hiding all over it. This balloon says hiding, afraid, resistant, angry, happy, lazy, ambivalent. We just put these balloons out all day long. And people go, wow, look at that one. Ooh, look at that one. Oh, look at that one. look what she's doing now look what he's doing now part of full expression is to realize that no matter what we do we reveal ourselves and by full expression you realize that whatever you do you're completely revealing yourself And that awareness, again, completes or contributes toward the complete feeling of your expression. So to turn from using your expression to hide to realize that your expression reveals you, that turning comes in the

[39:18]

in the thoroughness of and the completion of your expression. And in that, when you feel that you're revealed, you will see that you're recognized. You realize everybody's looking at you. Oh my God, they see me. Part of full expression also is to try to see others. That's who we are. We try to see each other because we know they want to be seen. That's part of who we are. That's part of full expression. And the fact that we want to see the Buddhas, that we want to see the precepts, and that we express that, is another aspect of why they come to meet us. But it's not just when we're saying Buddha that they come to meet, or Dharma that they come to meet. They come to meet

[40:21]

when we thoroughly say, feiji. To tell you the truth, when I looked up in the sky and saw that little dot, that was, you know, it doesn't get any better than that. You don't get met more than that. And that's getting met by the entire blue sky. With your daughter, with the English language, with the airplane, with all sentient beings, with the Buddhas, with the wonder of being alive. There's no limits to what it means to say, and not another way, and not of another way, Buddha is your teacher.

[41:44]

There's no limit to the interpretations. There's eight million interpretations in the naked city alone. This is one interpretation, and there's no other interpretation. So, on behalf of the lineage of full expression and full recognition, I invite you to practice full expression.

[42:57]

And I invite one who expresses himself fully to tell me if they feel unmet. I'd like to see that. I have not yet seen it. What I have seen is the promised land of where full expression is met with full recognition. I've heard stories of where partial expression is met with little or no recognition. I've heard those stories too. They appear and disappear, and they're misery. And the, what is it, the ghost of Christmas present goes into those realms of misery and sprinkles them with the blessing of the teaching which says,

[44:15]

There's no other way than this one. So fully express yourself here and you will be met, or you are met. I'd like to read you a poem about this. And the name of this poem is Wind Over. And there, that word spins too. Wind over Here's the name, I think, of a falcon. And I hear winds all over the falcon. Winds all over the falcon. And the falcon winds over the wind. But the wind also winds over the falcon. It's kind of one of these things about You know?

[45:19]

The falcon's doing its thing and the wind meets the falcon and this thing happens. And you know what they call it? Flight. And in the full expression of flight, it's a return flight. So here's how it goes. Or here's how I read it. I caught this morning... Morning's minion. You know what minion means? Darling. The darling of the morning. It's morning. Are you this morning's darling? I caught this morning's minion. Kingdom of Daylight's Dolphine.

[46:23]

You know what Dolphine means? It's the heir apparent. The heir apparent of the Kingdom of Daylight. Are you the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Daylight? Who is if you're not? I caught this morning morning's minion, kingdom of daylight's dolphin, dappled dawn-drawn falcon, in her riding of the rolling level underneath her steady air, and striding high there, how he rung upon the rain of wimpling wing in her ecstasy. Then off, off forth on swing as a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow bend.

[47:25]

The hurl and the gliding rebuff the big wind. My heart in hiding stirred for a bird. The achieve of the mastery of the thing. Brute beauty and valor and act, O air pride plume here buckle. And the fire that breaks from thee, then a billion times lovelier, More dangerous, oh my chevalier. No wonder of it, sheer plod makes plow down stillian shine, and blue bleak embers, oh my dear, fall, gall themselves, and gash gold vermilion.

[48:45]

So it's up to us. The achieve of, the mastery of the thing, as you move through the medium of your mind, step by step, the achieve of and the mastery of that step the brute beauty and valor and act. Tonight I will talk about how this full expression is the first pure precept of avoiding evil.

[50:08]

Good comes in infinite forms, but I propose to you that avoiding evil has only one form. There's no other way. Avoiding evil is full expression. is full expression and watching that full expression and listening to that full expression and watching for where you're met and listening to where you're met. This is where evil is impossible. This is where nothing can hold and everything is liberated. It's up to us to study ourselves inside out

[51:24]

May I

[51:52]

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