Good morning. A lot of new faces in the crowd. And an old one, I find. Once a month here, on or about the day of the full moon, we do a ceremony that we call the Bodhisattva ceremony. And this ceremony goes back way back to the beginnings of the Buddha Sangha, the community of practitioners, monks and nuns. And once a month, or I believe sometimes twice a month, on the full moon and perhaps the new moon as well, they would gather together to recite the code of behavior, the precepts for living the religious life.

[01:15]

And at this ceremony, if any member of the Sangha had transgressed one of these precepts, confession would be made, repentance, and the renewal of the vow to try and live in this manner. And so for centuries and centuries, people have been doing that, and we do it too. Our version is probably quite a bit different from the one that those old People did many, many years ago. But the intention is the same. Acknowledgement that we have not been able to perhaps live during the past month the way we would most like to live. Repentance for that and renewal of our vows. At the beginning of that ceremony, everybody involved chanced the following verse three times. all my ancient twisted karma, from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, born through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow."

[02:23]

So that's what I'd like to talk about this morning, greed, hate, and delusion. It's always good to talk about something you know intimately. So according to the Buddha's teaching, we come into this world basically fueled in our unimproved state by greed, hate, and delusion. And furthermore, it's said that each person is characterized primarily by one of these three afflictions. Greed types, we say, hate types, and delusion types. And if we look at ourselves closely and if we look at the people around us, I think that we'll probably recognize some of these types. The greed type. The greed type is always somebody who wants more of whatever he or she perceives as good. Food, sex, sleep, movies, money, power.

[03:30]

Always more and more and more. When I'm in my own greed mode, I sometimes imagine that I've come into the world just as a giant mouth waiting to consume whatever good thing is offered to me. The hate or aversion type, then, is somebody whose primary inclination is to push things away constantly. Maybe you work with somebody like this, somebody a little surly who finds fault with other persons, with other situations, with him or herself even, constantly over and over again. God, that movie was so dumb. Why did we spend the money? Well, the restaurant was okay, but, you know, they put too much garlic in everything. You know, why do you always have to, whatever it is, whine, complain maybe, So, and then we have a delusion type, who's never really sure what he or she wants. So, you want Chinese or Mexican tonight?

[04:33]

I don't know. You decide. But what do you think of that idea? What do you think of what he just said? Well, you know, I can see some merit in it. But, you know, on the other hand, what Mary said also made a lot of sense to me. And, gee, I'm just really, you know, confused. I was working one summer in the kitchen at Tassajara, which is our monastery down south. And during the summers we... open it up to guests. It's a way of sharing the place and it's also the way of helping to support ourselves. And I was one of three cooks that summer and we were a marvelous display of greed, hate, and delusion. One of them, who shall go nameless, spent most of the summer stuffing whatever he could into his mouth, particularly if it were sweet. One of the other cooks wandered around in a haze most of the time, you know, picking things up and putting things down and sort of looking sweetly but confusedly around him.

[05:37]

I, on the other hand, found fault with absolutely everything. from the way the beans were chopped to the way the lettuce was torn to the temperature and the guest manager coming in wanting to add three more people to dinner. We were three great little monkeys. So to say that each of us is a greed type, a hate type, or a delusion type seems pretty simple, even simplistic, and of course it is. For a more complete treatment of this, you can go to the Suddhimagga, The Path of Purification, which is a 5th century compendium of Buddhist psychology by Buddhaghosa, written in Ceylon, I believe. And he goes into great detail about the different types and what kind of food they like and how they sweep the floor. And, you know, the greed type is very careful about the way she sweeps the floor.

[06:42]

Everything is drawn into a wonderful little pile right in the middle. And, of course, the hate type is, excuse me, whacking away, sending dust everywhere. And the confusion type... Starts a little pile here, maybe, and then runs off and starts a little pile here and starts a little pile here. And they sleep differently and they walk differently. And it's really quite amusing. I should have brought it to read. But anyhow, so I'm going to stick with the simple stuff today. But the Vasudhimagga down in the library. It's great fun. And of course, when we look at ourselves, we can perhaps see a predominance of one inclination in another um i as i said i'm predominantly a hate type um but i can see my own confusion very often and um and my greed especially i notice eating the zendo for some reason i can never get enough food maybe it's the sensory deprivation but anyhow at first this seems seems to be a rather grim view of the human condition that uh

[07:51]

Rather than coming into the world stainless and spotless and blank tablets or trailing clouds of glory as we come, we come into the world with these rather negative things, predominantly driving our actions and our personalities. And if we left it at that, it would seem a pretty grim state of affairs. The good point, or the saving grace in all of this, is that each of these, through practice, can be turned. Each of these traits has its counter trait, which can be developed through practice. I'll talk a little bit about the practice later. Greed, that which wants always more and more and more, is transformed to attachment to the good. to love of practice, to love of study, to love of the Dharma.

[09:01]

That which reaches out and brings in learns to reach out and bring in that which is wholesome rather than that which is unwholesome. Hatred or aversion has a tremendous amount of energy, as any of you who have ever been angry will know. You know, it wants to slice through things, it wants to pound through things, it wants to erupt and explode. And we take that energy, and with practice we turn it. And what we turn it to is wisdom, the ability to slice through delusion. to cut through delusion, even our own, about our own anger. So that tremendous energy is something that is symbolized in the zendo, in the meditation hall, by the figure on the altar. The figure on the altar is Manjushri. Manjushri is the exemplar, if you will, of perfect wisdom. And he's a pretty fierce fellow.

[10:05]

He carries a sword, and sometimes he rides on a tiger. And that's Manjushri's fierce energy to cut through delusion, his own delusion and ours. And delusion itself can be turned and transformed. And what it is transformed to is a little bit harder to explain, but it's sort of like the ability not to be caught by situations, by points of view, by one's own thoughts actually, by one's own deluded thoughts. And I think that that delusion is very important in teaching the Dharma. The Buddha is often compared to a physician, a skilled physician who has different medicines to treat the different ailments that people come with.

[11:08]

And so this turned delusion, this ability not to be caught, this ability to respond freely and helpfully to situations can be seen as being actually based on our delusion. So that's pretty good. And I have a good example of how this stuff is termed. A friend of mine, and I will be ungrammatical in not referring to gender, is... is very much in love with Zen practice, in love with the forms, zazen, the teaching, the little day-to-day rituals that we do around here, the big ceremonies that we do, all aspects of this religious life. To such an extent that in a fit of pique once, I accused this person of being into a macho Zen cowboy trip.

[12:13]

These things do happen. They are to be avoided. And was pretty irritated. But as I watched my friend, I realized that what I was seeing was transformed greed. From someone who could not get enough of whatever it had been, this person can now get enough of, not get enough of that which is good. And it's still greed, you know? It's still greed. The basic personality has not been changed. But the focus has been changed, has been turned. And what was interesting to me about this too was that I realized after processing this is that what I had been seeing was one thing, but I had been seeing it originally with the eyes of aversion, with the eyes of pique.

[13:22]

And so I had my own little turning there. I was able to see more clearly with, however briefly, the eye of wisdom. And that was very encouraging to me, to see both the turning of my friend and my own small turning. Not a big thing. Not much to show for 17 years of Zen practice, but the little things maybe are what keep us going and give us faith. So this all sounds real good. How do you do it? That's a good question. I think the first thing that is very important in this ability to turn our greed, hate, and delusion is to be calm enough to see it for what it is, to see it clearly, or as clearly as our customary befuddled state will allow us to. We have patterns in our minds and they are discernible to us if we stop and look and listen long enough to see them without becoming involved with them.

[14:30]

And of course for us in Zen practice, the way we do this primarily is Zazen, sitting meditation. And, you know, it's not necessarily perhaps the only way. Other Buddhist teachings have other practices which they consider paramount, ceremony or chanting or what have you. Other faiths have collected prayer. But for us, we do satsang, facing the wall every day over and over and over again, the same blank wall. And of course, what we're really facing is our own mind. over and over and over again. Looking at it, watching it, watching it jump through the same old stupid hoops. And it's not always fun. Watching your own greed, hate, and delusion come up over and over and over again.

[15:37]

I thought I was finished with that one. My God, when's it going to end? It's not always fun. As a matter of fact... I don't know about you, but for me, sometimes looking deeply into my own mind is like staring into a cesspool, and I don't like it. Early on in my practice of Zen, I was complaining about this to somebody, and he very wisely and helpfully, though I didn't see it at the time, said to me, Zazen will show you exactly who you are. but it doesn't guarantee that you will like that person. He's right. And I think that's very helpful to know. But looking at it, however you do it, over and over and over again, is the only way to become familiar enough with it to be able to step in and maybe stop before you act upon your aggression or your

[16:42]

your greed or your complete confusion about a situation to stop and say, oh, yes, this is what it is. I know that. I know that really well. And it's still there. And I'm still really pissed. But just this once, maybe I won't say anything about it. Or I don't really need that cookie. I really don't. But I want it. I really want it. just aside, an aside, which just occurred to me is one day, or evening, I don't recall, I was at Zazen at Tassahara, where I lived for quite a while. And we do a lot of Zazen there, much more so than we do in the city here, because that's what we're there for. So I had been sitting for quite some time, and I was sitting there, and I thought, I want. And I tried to figure out, what was it I wanted? So I, you know, I went, through the list and wasn't hungry, wasn't thirsty, wasn't sleepy, wasn't horny, wasn't tired, wasn't cold, wasn't, but I kept, I want, I want, what is it?

[17:46]

And I finally was sitting there with nothing but naked wanting. It had no object. And I think this is how it is. I want. I don't know what it is, but I want. There's something missing. There's something not there. There's something tasty. There's something that will make me whole. There's something that will make my life okay. And I want it. I don't know what it is. And you know that... The Buddha also defined this craving, this thirst he called it, this formless desire as the source of suffering. And it is. It certainly is. So anyhow, I've got these notes here and I'm trying to find out where I was. Okay. And I think that within our practice... what we are acknowledging to ourselves is our heartfelt desire for transformation.

[18:50]

This is what it's really about. And I think that that's why we're all here today. I think that even if maybe this is your first time here, and even maybe if you never come back again, and even if you decide that Zen isn't it for you, I think you're here because you're acknowledging your heartfelt desire for transformation. I am. And this transformation, of course, as I said earlier, is turning who we are. It's not changing who we are. Or maybe it is a little, but it's turning our basic personality in a new direction. And maybe that's what the transformation is. Maybe that's what the change is. There are other practices besides zazen, or not besides, but perhaps collateral, if that's the correct word to zazen, that I think can often be useful to us. One of them that I like is chanting.

[19:56]

I think I've spoken about this before in another lecture. Some of you have heard. But there's much time during our daily life when we're actually doing things that don't take much thought. walking down the street, washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, what have you. And during times like these, we can make our intention, our heartfelt desire, plain to ourself by the practice of chanting. May all beings be happy. [...] are one of the first of the bodhisattva vows. Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them. Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them. Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them. Or bringing up the faces of our friends and saying, may Tim become a Buddha, may Eileen become a Buddha, may Jim become a Buddha,

[21:05]

These are little practices. This is one little practice that we can do that can perhaps be useful. Other reminders of the way we want to practice are maybe for a day when you're walking down the street, you want to carry change in your pocket and give it away to everybody who asks. A quarter, a couple of dimes. You know, this is the practice of generosity. This is the practice of non-greed. It's the practice of non-hatred. Another one that I might suggest is as you walk down the street, maybe you just want to, as you pass someone, just very briefly, just bow your head very briefly, acknowledging the Buddha that you've just passed. And acknowledging... are noticing when you don't bow. If you pass someone and you're trying to develop the practice of, and I don't mean, you know, they'll put you away or nobody will pass you, but I mean, just something very slight or even a slight inclination of the eyes, just to remind yourself.

[22:20]

But as you do this, if you do this, when you walk past someone and you find that you don't bow, why is that? Is that person that you've just passed the wrong age? the wrong color, the wrong shape? Does he or she look like maybe they're dirty or maybe they want to ask you for something? Are you afraid of them? Are they the wrong gender? You know, why am I excluding this person from my catalog of Buddhas? It can be useful. Once again, when I was at Tassajara during the summer, a friend of mine came down to visit me He had no interest in Zen or Buddhism, but he wanted to know where I lived, and I told him it was a nice place. So I arranged for him to come down for a few days. I can't even remember if he ever sat Zazen. But when he was leaving, I was saying goodbye, and I was saying, how did you like it? What was your experience? And he had enjoyed himself, but the thing that was interesting to me was that the thing that he was most impressed by is the fact that as we passed each other on the paths, we bowed to each other.

[23:33]

He was very impressed by this. And I am too when I stop to think about it, though it's such a part of my daily life that it's become almost habitual. And I think that this bowing whether it's the full bows we do in here, whether it's the gassho we give each other as we pass in the hallways, or whether it's just a little inclination of the head we give to a stranger, can be a very, very profound practice. And of course, these are just some things that I thought of. Any practice, anything that we do as body, speech, or mind that reminds us of our heartfelt desire to transform our greed, hate, and delusion. is something that can be useful. And we don't have to do it forever. We can say, I'm going to do this for a day, an hour, a week, the rest of my life. You know, I find in myself that when I'm figuring out ways to satisfy my own greed, hate, and delusion, I can be incredibly inventive, very creative.

[24:38]

And I think that's true for all of us. And I think that we can use this creativity to turn that behavior as well. We can be just as creative figuring out ways to be generous as we can in getting what we want. And of course if we do these little practices, whatever they are, they're going to feel artificial at first, funny, odd. And of course they are artificial. Everything like this is at first until it becomes another habit of body, speech, and mind that we have cultivated until it's quite natural. And it's hard to do these little things. It's hard to remember them. We have to remind ourselves constantly because what we are fighting against, our bucking, is a lifetime of other patterns, of other less wholesome habits. So I leave it to you.

[25:40]

You can try it. If you like it, do it. If you don't, stop. We talk in Buddhism of what we call the three treasures, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The Buddha, of course, is the teacher, or the Buddha within ourselves, or the Buddha within... Oh. the little bird. The Dharma is the teaching, and the Sangha is the community of practitioners. So these are what we call the three treasures. I would also like to suggest that we have another triad of three treasures, which are greed, hate, and delusion. Because actually, it's good stuff. It's what we have. It's what we are. It's what we practice with. It's the means of our transformation.

[26:43]

Greed that turns into the love of what is good. Hatred, which turns into penetrating wisdom that can penetrate even our own hatred. And delusion, which turns into a means of helping all beings. So when we begin to turn these As Dogen Zenji says in his Universal Recommendation for Zazen, your treasure store will open of yourself and you will use it at will. It's going to be a short lecture today, guys, because that's all I've got to say. Thank you very much.

[27:27]

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