Good morning. I want to talk this morning about view. View and delight. Right view is the first step on the Noble Eightfold Path. The two wisdom steps are right view and right intention. And then there are the ethical steps, right action and right livelihood and right stage. And then there are the meditation steps, right effort and concentration and mindfulness. So the first step is this right view. When I was a teenager, And in college, I was very interested in point of view.

[01:04]

And I liked to read, and I devoured novels. And what was interesting, what was very interesting in novels was point of view, the different points of view. And in the midst of all this, one day a calendar came across my field of vision, and there was a Zen saying in it that really entered my mind. And this Zen saying, which I've forgotten the source of, but I'm sure it's one of the early ancestors, is a very famous one. The ordinary person, little understanding, thinks that a mountain is a mountain and trees are trees. person of some understanding understands that a mountain is not a mountain and trees are not trees and the sage knows that a mountain is a mountain and trees are trees.

[02:18]

So you have these different points of view and of course it's not They're not stages. We don't graduate from one to the next to the next. But we, all the time, move around between these points of view. The other day, I saw a toddler playing peekaboo. You know, it is very engaging to play peekaboo with a person who is just beginning to understand about point of view. Now it's here, and now it's gone. And the amazing excitement of that just draws us in. And, you know, we begin our paths very early.

[03:21]

That toddler already has learned some important things about what suffering is and what the causes of suffering are. She's learned that it's awful to be hungry and it's terrible to be fearful and that if there's a bottle at the right time and a trusted person at the right time, that suffering is eased. And then, When she begins to play peek-a-boo, she's beginning to understand that the causes of suffering are not all external, that there's something internal about the way we see the world. And it becomes a kind of game. And so she plays peek-a-boo over and over again, as we all do, even as we grow up. So, I recently bought a new book, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Middle Length Sutras.

[04:42]

And I was very pleased to see that the first sutra in this book is called The Root of All Things. And I suspect that this sutra is where the Zen saying about the mountains and the trees and so on, these three different ways of looking at the world, I think that this sutra may be the source of that saying. So I'll read a little of it. It begins as all Suttas do. Thus I have heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Utkata, at the root of a royal Sala tree. And he addressed the Bhikkhus thus. Bhikkhus, venerable sir, they said. The Blessed One said this. Bhikkhus, I shall teach you a discourse on the root of all things.

[05:44]

Listen and attend closely to what I say. Yes, venerable sir," the bhikkhu said. And then the blessed one went on. Here bhikkhus, an untaught, ordinary person, who has no regard for noble ones and is unskilled and undisciplined in their dharma, who has no regard for true men and is unskilled and disciplined in their dharma, perceives earth as earth, Having perceived earth as earth, he conceives himself as earth. He conceives himself apart from earth. He conceives earth to be mine. He delights in earth. Why is this? Because he is not fully understood, I say. And then this goes on, the same kind of paragraph repeats itself. He perceives water as water. And so on. He conceives water to be mine.

[06:47]

He delights in water. Why is that? Because he is not fully understood. And then the four elements. And then all of the categories of what we sense up to the category of nirvana. He perceives nirvana as nirvana. Having perceived nirvana as nirvana, he conceives himself as nirvana. He conceives himself apart from nirvana. He conceives nirvana to be mine. He delights in nirvana. And why is that? Because he has not fully understood it, I say. So, that's the first stage of where we are continually bringing ourselves forth and making up the world. The self-habit is the lens through which we see.

[07:49]

And this is the world that we are mostly in. This is the point of view in which we're mostly engaged. And it's the point of view of suffering. And we see it all the time. And one of the benefits of sitting is that we can change the point of view. We can move through different points of view. When Robert Thurman taught the Vimalakirti Sutra, he also, he used the Zen saying, The ordinary person sees mountains as mountains. The person of some understanding doesn't. And the wise person sees mountains as mountains.

[08:54]

He used that frame of perception as a kind of basis of what the teaching is trying to do. How we are always trying to move towards right view and extend our imaginations. As I was sitting in Mel's office, there was a little scrap of paper, quotation on it. It said, in Zazen, this one body is the whole world. In Zazen, this one body is the whole world. So, we are remembering that our views are very, very limited. And on each breath, we are making the effort and also have the opportunity of knowing what the view is and letting go of it.

[09:59]

And sometimes the views are very pronounced. It's very clear what they are. And so we let them go. And other times, particularly as we settle down during a day of long sitting, the views get quieter and they're not as crass and obvious, but there's something in the background, there's a kind of a quieter view in the background that has to do more with the ground, the basic ground of our suffering. Sometimes it's a kind of pervasive anxiety or irritation or confusion, the three roots, greed, hate and delusion. They're just kind of down there at base level. So take an in-breath and an out-breath.

[11:07]

What is it? Sometimes I experience that background anger irritation as if I were a hawk and the hawk is flying around and there's some kind of irritation and you're just looking for a place to land where that irritation can find body and cause and reason and you can... And then you have that little moment of connection. Ah, that feels good, that's it. And then you're caught up. Or the kind of pervasive anxiety. For me, it's often tinged with some guilt. There must be a reason for this anxiety. I should do this, this, this, this. And then again, it's that moment of connecting and you're off. And then just the feeling of plain confusion.

[12:10]

You breathe in, you breathe out. What is the body-mind mood? So, very often we're in that, those levels of either obvious habit suffering or less obvious kind of body, mind, mood suffering that is seeking an object. And so it's comforting to find the objects and we do and then we're batted around again in this world of suffering. But little by little We do practice and we're reminded again and again of what Right View is.

[13:14]

I think there's a Heart Sutra class going on now that Ross is teaching and we chant the Heart Sutra twice a day. The Heart Sutra is the basis of Right View. No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. all the teachings are there, all the experience is there and it's already moved along. And so we practice and we're reminded again and again that the views that we have are just moving along. And This is the place of the middle view, the view of the disciple in higher training. A bhikkhu who is in higher training, whose mind has not yet reached the goal, and who is still aspiring to the supreme security from bondage, directly knows the earth as earth.

[14:37]

Having directly known earth as earth, he should not conceive himself as earth, should not conceive himself apart from earth, should not conceive earth to be mine, should not delight in the earth. Why is that? So that he may fully understand it, as I say. And then it repeats all the paragraphs. He directly knows nirvana as nirvana. Having directly known nirvana as nirvana, he should not conceive of himself as nirvana, or apart from it. He should not conceive nirvana to be mine, should not delight in nirvana. And why is that? So that he may fully understand it, I say. So, seeing things as they are and not seeing, not relating to things from the point of view of our attachments. The teaching is

[15:42]

Our Zen teaching is full of this. Dogen says, to carry yourself forth is delusion. To allow the myriad things to realize themselves is enlightenment. So we are no longer taking the light in the construction of the world that we've made. And this happens little by little. And it's a really confusing process. That's why a tree does not look like a tree. And a mountain does not look like a mountain. It's not, things are not what we thought. And so the toddler sees, and then she doesn't see. And this is when we really begin to understand profoundly this seeing and not seeing.

[16:47]

And being able to step back and allow things to just be themselves. So as we sit zazen, we're making right effort And we're not pursuing some kind of zazen goal, nor are we being lazy. But we're really trying just to let this mind, whatever comes up, be there, notice it, and move along. And it's confusing. Sometimes we get into a state, a life stage, where I've been practicing, someone was talking about this the other day, said, I've been practicing a couple of years, and the people around me don't practice much, but I sit by myself and tune in here from time to time and keep it going.

[17:56]

But something's happening. And the things I used to like, I don't like so much. And I'm not sure of where I'm going. And I don't know what's going on. So this stage of confusion we have to recognize is a result of pretty dedicated practice. that we've been doing the work and slowly the rug is being pulled out from beneath our feet, the rug of self-havoc. And we're not sure anymore where we are or what we're doing or what we delight in. We've been practicing long enough, and it's wonderful the way the inner teacher arranges our experiences so that what comes to us, we're ready to tolerate.

[19:04]

That the confusion that comes to us, we can stay with because we have the grounding. So, being able to tolerate confusion. and be grounded in the midst of it is hallmark of mature practice. And still things are mixed. Motives are mixed. I was talking to somebody else who's vaguely trying to live through a difficult and sticky personal experience and remembered this story in the Lotus Sutra of the burning house. A father has a large house and his children are in it and the house catches fire. And he says to the children, get out, the house is catching fire, get out.

[20:06]

But they're too busy playing with their toys to get out. And he can't get their attention, get out. So finally he devises three wonderful toys. a donkey cart and a horse cart and the most beautiful book cart. And he says, come here, I have something to show you, look. And they see these toys and they come out of the burning house. And this is a story, of course, about skillful means. that the three toys are the three Dharma vehicles, the Pracheka Buddha, our practice which is our, just the practice that we have from our own experience. You don't have to be a Buddhist to have a pretty enlightened point of view. And there are some of us who are just kind of wise because we've lived

[21:10]

And that's one way of getting out of the burning house. And then there is the whole Theravadan way, with the maps and the rules and the wonderful instructions, kind of charting out where we need to go, being very mindful in our practices and mindful in our intentions and working with ourselves really skillfully. That's another way of getting out of the burning house. And then finally, this beautiful white book with the ribbons in its harness, and that's the one vehicle teaching. That's the Mahayana, this very moment. What is it? Which is another way. and perhaps, in some ways, the most difficult way of getting out of the burning house.

[22:13]

So we have all these different ways of getting out, just coming back to one's breath in the present moment, again and again. In Zazen, this one body is the whole world, that one vehicle teaching. GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BUDDHISVAHA So they're the different ways of getting out of the burning house and they are, and Buddha makes them attractive because we don't often have the wisdom just to step out. We have to have our delight engaged, our ambition engaged a little bit and have some goals. So this is the confusing part. where the house, where the tree doesn't seem like the tree.

[23:17]

And this is the level where the view is in a way no view of intimacy. Being very intimate breath by breath. There is a Zen dialogue where the master says, where are you going, sir? And the disciple says, he's a very sophisticated disciple, I shall continue my foot travels along the road. And the master says, what is called foot travel? And the disciple says, I don't know, which is a good answer. And the master says, not knowing is the most intimate. So again, coming back to this confusing place, the intimacy of not knowing.

[24:24]

You know, I forgot my watch. What time? Well, I won't go into this, but I hope some of you saw the movie Microcosmos, which is just a movie about intimacy, where intimacy changes all the views that we have. And you see a bug, a skeeter bug, pushing a drop of water with its little leg, and you see this enormous drop of water actually giving way to the pressure. It's wonderful. So, if we can sit with that kind of intimacy, we're doing well. And I would like, let me see.

[25:28]

Okay, and then the third stage is the, and at this stage is exemplified by about six different arhats in different levels of development, but roughly speaking it is this. A bhikkhu who is an arhant, with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge, directly knows Earth as Earth, this direct, intimate knowledge. Having directly known Earth as Earth, he does not conceive Earth himself as Earth or apart from Earth and so on. He does not conceive Earth to be mine. He does not delight in Earth. And why is that? Because he has fully understood.

[26:31]

And so, in each of these final stages, the Arhant and then the Tathagata, is able to have what last week was called completely appropriate response. That is, sees things just as they are, does not delight in what comes because there is no more residue of self, of attached view to delight in. and so is completely liberated stage after stage. And then finally we get to the developed Tathagata.

[27:38]

He directly knows water as water, nirvana as nirvana, and so on. Therefore bhikkhus, through the complete destruction, fading away, cessation, giving up and relinquishing of cravings, the Tathagata has awakened to supreme full enlightenment, I say." So the Tathagata is seeing things just as they are. That is what the Blessed One said, but those bhikkhus did not delight in the Blessed One's words. It's a hard teaching. It's a very hard teaching. And that there's not delight, that there's no more delight, there's no more delight that arises from any kind of self-attachment does not mean that there is no joy. I'd like to read a beautiful poem that I found in the New Yorker in a great issue which is devoted to Indian fiction.

[28:41]

And this poem is called The Mamed Dancing Men by Chitra Divakaruna, Indian poet. And this poem is about this very subtle, beautiful margin between giving up delight and joy. And completely seeing things as they are. There's no trace aspect of seeing things as they are. So, this, the Mamed Dancing Man, and it's after Francesco Clemente's Indian Miniature No. 3. You've probably seen the small Indian paintings that are like little universes of people and gardens and mountains and palaces whole little worlds. So she has been looking at one of these and the figures in them are maimed dancing men.

[29:51]

I'm going to read it twice. There is joy in the intimate curve of the remembered elbow, in the invisible pointed angle of the toe. That is why we have no eyelids. Why we will always stare at the horizon till day burns into blue night ash. Our porcelain bodies cannot know pain. Our ink hair cannot thin into grayness. See how we prance across the floor, the eternal magenta tiles you dreamed into being. See how we polish them with our calm breath. See how we smile. Who says we miss our absent limbs? We know they are with us, like stars in the blind day.

[30:55]

Like the palace minarets the traveler in a painting never sees because they are behind the mountain. Like the flute notes balancing light as dust on the dark air of this banquet hall after we have gone. So when delight goes and when attachment goes And this is why we sit seshin, because we get little tastes of this view as we settle down and as the zazen hours go by and as we get grounded. We get grounded in the procession of views and the recognition of their continuing passage

[32:06]

We get grounded and very often elephants are described as how to experience grounding. Elephant footprints, the largest footprints in the jungle. Or there's a story about an elephant decides on a hot day that She is going to go and bathe in the river and imagines the delight of sprinkling the cool water on herself and wading in, relaxing and refreshing. And she goes into the river and she does. She completely enjoys it. And a little rabbit is sitting around watching and the rabbit thinks, well, I'll do the same thing too. And the rabbit goes in and is just washed away by the river. So, how we find our grounding in this place of non-attachment.

[33:13]

And I'd just like to end with a very nice quote from Catherine Thanos. In a Sesshin talk she gave, and she says, if you're right here, exactly, noticing your mind's movements. If you are like an elephant, grounded in body, touching bottom with each step, enlightenment is not someplace else. Well, like I said, it's not, you know, we don't graduate from the first to the second to the third grade.

[34:18]

And if we didn't have the confusion, what would we have? Confusion. You know, after a certain point, Confusion comes as a kind of a blessing. If we're grounded, it comes as a blessing. Olga? I don't understand. Intimacy is not knowing. If you're intimate with someone, you never know them? I don't understand. Well, if you're intimate with somebody, yeah, you don't know them. The thing is that when we live with people, we think we do know them. And that's where all the relationship trouble resides. So when we can remember that we are very close to someone and we don't know them, and when we can appreciate that space, that we are so close to them and that we are still strangers,

[35:33]

Right, right. Well, you know, you've asked a question that just opens the door to the whole teaching and the whole eightfold path and all the lists and so on. I guess the short answer is hoping that one can continually be skillful. It's just a balancing act all the time, all the time. There's no rule or recipe, but you try something. And, you know, you say, I'm going to come today and I'm really going to sit a good session, and I'm not going to indulge in daydreaming, and I'm going to keep my back straight. Blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. And that's a terrific way to start. And that's really the best way to start. And then after a few periods, it's sort of worn out. And by the end of the afternoon, it's kind of completely worn out. You know?

[37:07]

And all you can do is breathe the next breath. So then you're in another strategy. You know, you have to make another strategy. Well, maybe now I can really be intimate. Since nothing else is working, maybe I can just breathe one breath at a time. And so on. A tree doesn't seem like a tree. No, I think that's a very good practice in that point of view, a very good not self or emptying out the self practice. You're working at it. You know, you're reminding yourself that, I am one sixth billionth of the population of the world.

[38:18]

Or, I am made up of earth, fire, air, water, the four elements. You know, those are all wonderful practices that you're working with, but not me. Does that answer you? Is that what you're talking about? understanding that you're not... That's right. That you're not... I'm not just this bag of bones that has a name and a history. I am. But that's not the only point of view. Someone else, can someone else say something about this? I mean, it's just a very essential question. Going back and forth between points of view. Or, when he was assassinated, you can see that black, tall hat.

[39:44]

But, unless you get a label in front of it, it's just a hat. Right. Marion, ask something else again, if you want to. Yeah. [...] Catherine? I don't know if this will help, but I'm hearing you really try to ready to do a particular thing, if we hear about the next thing that belongs at the next stage, we might try to leap ahead or imitate that or pretend or whatever, simulate it or whatever.

[41:05]

I realized that And then I hear you read that and I think, oh, I shouldn't be here, I should be not go lighting, I should be not here. And I think it's so important to let ourselves have this period of breaking up and be exactly there and not think we ought to be somewhere else. I don't know if that answers. Good, thank you. Okay, one more, last one. Paula. It makes a lot of sense to me.

[42:21]

But what seems really ironic is that this idea of right view, you know, then I think, well, there must be a wrong view. That's not really what you're saying. That there's shifting. Well, there is wrong view. There is wrong view. There is ignorance. There is being, you know, if you have entered the practice, if you've stepped upon the path, if you want to make some adjustment in your life, then there's all of the unhelpful, unskillful, ego-attached views. And you have to notice, you have to work with them. You can't deny them, but they're definitely there, and they are the basis of your location, they're where you are.

[43:23]

This is not easy. And the more you work with the wrong views, the stuck places, the chronic confusions, The more you discover where you are, if you really work with them, and notice them, and note them. Just the noticing, even of confusion. You know, it's said if you want to control a cow, you put her in a very large pasture and you watch her. So, if mind is confused, you know, You address it skillfully. And the skillful thing to do is put it in a big pasture and watch it. Karen has a good answer. I have two things now. Okay, but this is really... Cows are easy to control. So you can put them in big pastures. Monkeys, on the other hand, you have to tie to the stake.

[44:30]

Or snakes you have to put into a bamboo tube. Is that not right? That's right. They're all those different... There's no one answer. What about the notion of no view? How does that fit into this? Well, it's a hard sutra position that there are views and you also have to know there are not views. And that you cannot live in this world without views. But there are also views are empty. You know, they come, they go. And they're not where the groundedness is. The groundedness is is the result of circumstances. It's a skillful means in and of itself. There's nothing right about it other than it works. Thank you. Right. That's what the Heart Sutra says, you know. Raises all the teachings and then says they are not.

[45:31]

These questions are getting worse and worse so I wish you'd stop.

[45:36]

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