Here's a story. Spiritual beings deign, sometimes, to appear in time and space. So, they participate in the creation of a space, like this space here, to practice with body, mind, and spirit. So, this is a practice place for the spirit, to make it whole, to make it healed and whole. It's called no abode.

[01:23]

There's many stories about how it came to be called no abode, and that name could be used as a kind of slogan or emblem of the spiritual practice in this space. This could be, one could say, this is a place for Bodhisattvas to practice. And there's a teaching for Bodhisattvas. What are Bodhisattvas? One definition of a Bodhisattva is a being who is on the path of the Bodhisattvas.

[02:30]

And the path of the Bodhisattvas is sometimes talked about as the path to Buddhahood. The Bodhisattva path is for Buddha candidates. People are candidates for Buddhahood. So, one could say, this temple has a name, which is the name for the kind of mind that is taught to Bodhisattvas, that is taught to beings who are candidates for Buddhahood. In the story of, oh, that's the space thing, this is the space, right? There's also the time that this space has been provided for Bodhisattva practice for

[03:36]

quite a while. And now we're coming to the end of a time period called a year. So another year of this space being provided is coming to an end. And when it comes to an end, then there might be the start of another year, which gives the opportunity to consider what will the practice be in the new year? Or even what will the practice be in the next 15 days of this year? I actually today would suggest, or anyway, I'm definitely open to this practice place

[04:36]

not just be available for Bodhisattvas, not just be available for people who are on the path to Buddhahood. I would also like this to be open to people who are on the path to what we call enlightenment of the non-Buddha type. In the early history of the tradition, there was a Buddha. And the Buddha indicated that this Buddhahood was the fruit of the Bodhisattva path. And the Buddha had a number of wonderful disciples or students who listened to the Buddha and looked at the Buddha, and these beings became enlightened.

[05:39]

They became enlightened by listening to the Buddha's teaching. And when they were listening to the Buddha's teaching, they heard the Dharma. And when they heard the Dharma, they became enlightened. But they were not Buddhas. They were called, in Sanskrit, they're called Shravakas, which means auditors. They are listeners. Sometimes Shravaka is translated as disciple, but literally it means the listeners. The beings who listened to the Buddha and heard the Dharma and became awakened. And the Buddha welcomed people who wanted to be enlightened disciples, not just Bodhisattvas. So it seems like we should here also welcome people who wish to be enlightened, even if

[06:42]

they do not wish to walk the path of the Bodhisattva. Today I'm open to the possibility that some of you might be here just to become enlightened, but not necessarily wish to walk the path of the Bodhisattva. Because it is possible you could become enlightened in this lifetime. But technically speaking, nobody in this room right now is going to become a Buddha in this lifetime, because our dear, compassionate founder in India, Shakyamuni Buddha, had monopolized Buddhahood in this time period. And he gave this teaching, and once the Buddha's teaching is in the world, which it is, fortunately, there can't be another Buddha until these teachings are forgotten and lost.

[07:49]

And the next Buddha has already been specified, so it's not going to be you. Or me, as far as I know. But it's not like we're going to be reborn as Maitreya Buddha. The next Buddha actually is present and waiting for her turn. The next Buddha is alive right now in the world, in the universe. And as soon as the marvelous teachings of the Buddha disappears in this world of patience, the next Buddha, Maitreya, will come and give the Dharma again. Fortunately, we have all set up. So there, in some sense, we talk about three vehicles.

[08:58]

Three vehicles, three goals, three types of enlightenment. Enlightenment of what are called the listeners, the Shravakas, the enlightenment of the Pratyekabuddhas, and the enlightenment of the Buddhas. The Buddhas usually don't have Pratyekabuddhas in their assembly. They have Shravakas in their assembly. The Buddhas have Shravakas in their assembly. They don't have Buddhas in their assembly, except for the Buddha. But they also can have Bodhisattvas in their assembly. The early tradition was a tradition of the Buddha with these enlightened disciples or disciples who were on the path to the enlightenment of the Shravakas. That's the early tradition. And a later tradition is the Buddha has Shravakas and Bodhisattvas in the assembly.

[10:06]

Or the Buddha has Bodhisattvas, Shravakas, and people who want to be Shravakas and people who want to be Bodhisattvas in their assembly. Again, in the realm of time, the year is coming to a close, I'm kind of warming up to ask you, where do you stand? What path do you wish to walk? I haven't yet asked you, I'm just telling you I might. I propose to you that there is a profound continuity between the early history of this tradition in India and the Bodhisattva movement of this tradition.

[11:18]

There's a profound continuity between those who aspired to be enlightened under the leadership and teaching of the Buddha, but did not aspire to become Buddhas, only aspired to become enlightened with this body, this human body. That's the early phase of Buddhist history. The later phase is there were beings in the Buddhist assembly who aspired to be Buddhas. But aspiring to be a Buddha is not the same as aspiring to be enlightened in this life. You can be enlightened in this life, but we will not be Buddhas in this life. It's a much longer path than can be accomplished in one lifetime.

[12:20]

We had a ceremony recently over the hill at Green Gulch, and it was a ceremony where one of our long-term practitioners of our community served as head student, and then there were questions to this person, and some of the people in the audience spoke of this person as being a Buddha. Sometimes people use the term Buddha informally, non-technically, and sort of affectionately. You're a Buddha, in other words, I really respect you, I think you're wonderful. I don't know, I'm okay with that. I'm not going to... I'm going to accept people talking like that. If I hear any of you calling each other Buddhas, I'm going to accept that you're talking like that. And I'm going to probably feel like... I feel they're really being kind. They're saying, I appreciate you.

[13:26]

And then later people said, I heard Homa call Sase a Buddha. Is Sase really a Buddha? And I said, well... Let's go ask him. BODHISATVA IDEAL I'm proposing again, there's a deep continuity between the early phases of Buddhist history and the phase where the Bodhisattva ideal arose. And the continuity is the continuity of renunciation and non-attachment. In the early tradition, there is a practice of renouncing attachment and realizing the mind of no abode. For the Sravakas, the Buddha taught that.

[14:29]

In the later tradition, where the Bodhisattva ideal arose, there was again this practice, this overarching practice of non-attachment, of selflessness. That's the continuity. The difference is, one group is wishing for enlightenment in this life, even today, and the other is wishing for supreme perfect enlightenment of a Buddha. So the difference between the earlier and later tradition is not so much that the later tradition discarded the early tradition, but that it added new practices to the old ones. New vows, in particular the vow to become a Buddha.

[15:33]

Maybe I'll mention this first. No, I won't. I'll mention it second. First I'll mention that I would suggest the question, how could someone actually wish to be a Bodhisattva? To take on this immensely long and challenging path to Buddhahood. How could someone say, yeah, I want to do that. And I would say that in this phase of history, most scholars of Buddhism would say, that the cause of wishing to become a Buddha is compassion for others.

[16:47]

Is concern for the suffering of others. That that's the cause. It's acute sense, an acute sense of the suffering of others, and the wishing to work for their liberation. That thing which is also called Karuna, or compassion, that's the cause, that's the motivation of taking on the vow to become a Buddha. The Bodhisattva vows are like the vows of the Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha's vows are very similar, or identical to Bodhisattva vows. Why would anyone, why would someone take on these vows?

[17:50]

Many, most, almost all Western scholars say, because of compassion. For others, and for all others. But there's another motivation, which is not so often talked about these days, but is in the tradition. And that motivation is, that the person who wants to be a Buddha, wants to be a Buddha in order to be a Buddha. That they actually want to attain the Buddha body. Of course, that can only be attained by a virtually inconceivable amount of practicing compassion towards other beings. So, I've talked to a lot of people about their motivation over the years,

[19:09]

and some people have told me that they do want to become enlightened. Well, some people say, I don't want to be enlightened, that's too much. I just want to feel a little better. I don't want complete liberation. That's too much for me to think about. I would like a little. I would like some. For me. And then, they don't necessarily say it that emphatically, but they say it often, sort of kind of, they're kind of wondering if that's okay. If they could be in the Zen practice arena, wishing to feel a little more liberated, a little bit more free, a little bit more relaxed, able to sleep better at night, and so on. Well, of course, I would support that. However, that's not one of the traditional goals. The traditional goals are basically

[20:14]

enlightenment and freedom and Buddhahood. They're not the same. Buddha has the previous one. Buddha has enlightenment and freedom, but Buddha has other qualities. Buddha has the qualities that if you put Buddha someplace where there was no teaching, the Buddha would discover it and give it to that world. So, you know, people say that to me. Some people say, actually, I do want to attain enlightenment, but I'm not here primarily to help the other people at Zen Center attain enlightenment. But I do want to. I would like to be enlightened. I would like to be completely free of suffering. I would actually want that. But I'm not aspiring to be a Buddha. So, again, some people, to say that they're aspiring to enlightenment

[21:16]

is too much for them. Some people say, OK, I can aspire to enlightenment, but not to Buddhahood. Some people say, I'm here to help myself in a very profound and wide way, but I'm not here primarily to help others. Some other people say, I'm here to help others. That's why I'm here. I don't care about myself. I don't care if I get enlightened. I just want to help other people. Some people say that too. That one is, I think, that's really quite popular, that one. I imagine that people feel that it's OK to say, I'm here totally for the welfare of everybody else in the community, and I don't care about myself, or I don't mind myself, I'm willing for me to come along with all that good, but primarily I'm here to help others. I think people feel comfortable with that because it doesn't sound selfish. And it's not. It doesn't sound selfish to me either.

[22:16]

So I want to help others, but enlightenment is too much. Just let me devote my life to help others. That attitude actually is not actually in the tradition too much. I don't actually hear that too much. I hear, being devoted to the welfare of others, yes, but are you devoted to the welfare of others for others, or for Buddhahood? The path of the Bodhisattva is devoted to the welfare of others, but what's the motivation to be devoted to the welfare of others, all others? Not just the others that you would like to be devoted to, but the ones that you don't want to be devoted to. I would like to learn to be devoted to the people that I don't feel devoted to. Oh, how come? I think that'd be cool.

[23:19]

That'd be great. Or I actually think it's necessary to be Buddha, to make a Buddha, and I want to make a Buddha. I myself have suggested that Bodhisattvas wish to live in the world with all living beings. I've suggested that. That kind of perspective in Bodhisattva is kind of saying, well, that would go with, the reason I'm doing this is because I care for the welfare of beings, so of course it would make sense that I would want to be into it. I would want to be intimate with them, and live with them. So I could practice the compassion with them. But the other side is, that actually, making a Buddha might actually involve

[24:20]

that you don't spend time with living beings. In order to develop the Buddha body. And that line of making a Buddha, which sometimes involves not engaging with other living beings, that way kind of relates to the earlier way of becoming enlightened, where one gives up involvement, gives up certain involvements, in order to realize non-attachment. And when I say that, people start to feel something about the challenge of

[25:21]

becoming enlightened, and something about the challenge of being a Buddha. Zen, the Zen tradition, kind of combines the two traditions. What two traditions? Well actually, I should say it kind of involves the two traditions, but it also involves even more so the two motivations. The Zen tradition is about the concern for the welfare of others, but it's also about making Buddhas. A Zen monastery is called a Buddha-making house, a house for making Buddhas. But it's a house where other beings are there practicing closely together. But in some of the teachings

[26:28]

for the Bodhisattvas, for the people who wish to be Buddhas, the Bodhisattva is encouraged to practice solitude, to go off in the wilderness by herself. In order to make a Buddha. And the Buddha, the historical Buddha, went off into the forest to make a Buddha. In the Zen tradition we say, we call the monastery a forest, and we stay close together, we don't go off into the wilderness. So we try to have solitude with other people around. So it kind of combines the Bodhisattva path is to engage with living beings, because we're concerned for their welfare,

[27:28]

and also solitude to make a Buddha. Buddhas need, in order to make a Buddha, you have to practice compassion with living beings, and you need solitude. You need both to make a Buddha. But someone might think, but to make a... No, some people say, no, you can just make a Buddha by practicing compassion. The reason why I'm on this Bodhisattva path, the reason why I want to be a Buddha, is because I'm concerned for the welfare of beings. I say, okay. But part of becoming a Buddha is to practice concentration and wisdom, and in order to practice concentration and wisdom, you need solitude. So...

[28:30]

Two nights ago, I mentioned in Berkeley, and on December 2nd, I mentioned at Green Gulch, an image from the book Moby Dick. And it's an image that appears in a chapter, which is called The Pulpit. And The Pulpit is a raised platform for giving sermons, but it's also a raised platform on a whaling boat. So, when the author of Moby Dick named the chapter Pulpit, he was playing with the pulpit of the church, for this scene that took place in a church,

[29:39]

of a preacher getting up into the pulpit, but he also, I think, knew that he knew that the pulpit, the platform at the end of a whaling boat is also a pulpit. That's the origin of the word. The word comes from the platform on the boat, and gets transferred to the church. And so, on a stormy night, this minister, this preacher, comes into the church, and goes up to the pulpit, and this pulpit, in order to save space, doesn't have steps, it has a rope ladder. And the minister climbs up the ladder to get into the pulpit. And when he gets into the pulpit, he pulls the ladder up into the pulpit. Cutting himself off from where he came from.

[30:40]

That's part of the practice. You climb into your place where you're going to sit, and then you pull the pulpit, the ladder, you pull the way you got there, up into your seat. You cut off how you got to your sitting place. You cut off your past, and also you cut off your future. You cut off how you're going to get out of your sitting place. You go to your sitting place, and you give up past and future. Because when you're looking for this place, to find the mind of no abode. And Melville talks about this place that he created, a self-contained stronghold for replenishing, for replenishing the meat and wine of the word. The continuity

[31:47]

between the early tradition of those who wish to become enlightened in this life, and those who wish to become Buddhas, the continuity is the pulpit. Is solitude. Solitude is a place to go and sit and pull up the rope from the past, which is also the rope to the future. Pull the ropes of the past and future up, put them down in front of you, and sit there and realize enlightenment. Or Buddhahood. The continuity between realizing enlightenment in this life, and realizing Buddhahood someday, the continuity is the practice place. The difference is the vow. I'd like to tell you that

[33:02]

there's another topic which I wish to raise, and I'm going to raise it now, but I'm not going to go into it. I'll go into it later today. I want to tell you about it though. And it's the topic of whether the Bodhisattva practice, I'll talk about first of all, is the Sravaka practice imitative of the Buddha, or is the Sravaka practice a practice of relating to the Buddha? And is the Bodhisattva imitating the Buddha, or is it a practice of relationship with the Buddha? That's a topic I'd like to raise later. For now, I want to discuss with you, now that I've said this to you, how this is for you. And also I'm asking you to consider do you aspire to an enlightenment in this lifetime?

[34:04]

Do you inspire to give in this lifetime to the path of becoming a Buddha, knowing that the path that you're not going to become a Buddha in this lifetime? And do you have some questions about this? And this question is offered to you as we come to the close of the year for you to consider the rest of your life or even a lot longer than the rest of your life. I'll think about this with you. Yes? Anything? Yes. So, given that we're out of luck to become a Buddha in this lifetime not just this lifetime but this entire lifetime

[35:07]

It's not that I can't become a Buddha in my lifetime it's that it's been done and can't happen again until the conditions are met as you stated. So given that is it possible to become a Bodhisattva in my life or in this lifetime? Did you hear his question? Is it possible to become a Bodhisattva in this lifetime? In my lifetime or in this lifetime? In my lifetime or in this lifetime. The answer, I would say, is yes. And how do you become a Bodhisattva? Any questions about that? What questions do you have about that? Any questions about how to become a Bodhisattva? Yes? What sets a person on that path? Studying the Dharma? What sets someone on the path of Bodhisattva? A motivation.

[36:09]

And I propose to you that the two motivations the two motivations and I said the most common one in this phase of history the most common one that people will tell you that looked at Buddhism they'll say that the concern for the welfare, the concern for the suffering of others is the that's the start, that's the motivation for wishing to enter this path. But not so popular to say this day, but if you look at the Buddhist teachings, if you look at the records of the Bodhisattva vehicle texts there's another motivation which doesn't exclude the former one you can still have compassion but it's not just, it's the primary one it's the wish to be a Buddha it's the wish to realize the Buddha body. If you had either of those two motivations

[37:13]

or both then you could actually wish to here's the thing, just wishing to help others is not the Bodhisattva vow the Bodhisattva vow is wishing to help others but also wishing to have wisdom, Buddha's wisdom. It isn't just I wish to help others, I wish to help others with an enlightened mind. Right now I wish to help others with the mind I've got. I think that's great. Don't you think that's good? Some people, as you know some people, what they think helping others is, given their mind a lot of other people think that's not helpful. Have you noticed that? We have quite a bit going on now where people are doing what they think is helpful and other people think it's really, really not helpful.

[38:13]

What you're doing is not helpful, please stop it. But I'm trying to help you. This is not helpful. But still, there is this thing in us that we want to be helpful. If you want to be helpful and you want to also have some wisdom so that you're helpful, not just according to your idea, but according to reality in other words, you actually wish to become really enlightened in order to help other beings. You'd like to become most supremely and perfectly enlightened in order to help other beings. That wish is the Bodhisattva wish. It's not just wishing to help others. It's wishing to realize the Buddha body in order to help others. The thing I'm showing you today is the wishing to realize Buddha body in order to help others is it the wishing to realize the Buddha body that's primary, that's central, or is it wishing to help others that's central? And I'm saying

[39:16]

at this time in history, wishing to help others that's central is most people say that's the motivation. Wishing to be a Buddha in order to help others, that's the Buddha part, secondary. But the Bodhisattva vow is both of them. I wish to become Buddha in order to help others. But you can also just take away the helping others. I wish to be Buddha is helping others. And in order to be a Buddha, I know I have to help others quite a bit. I have to help others, you know, any way they ask, pretty much I will help them that way. That will be part of the path of making a Buddha, is to give myself to others. If you have those kinds of motivations, and which kind do you have? Do you have one, the other, or both combined? If you have that motivation,

[40:17]

the next step would be that you actually wish to practice that way, that wish, that vow. And then you make a vow, you say I wish and I commit to this wish. And then the next thing is, if you take care of that wish for a while, you become a Bodhisattva. Just the wish doesn't make a Bodhisattva. However, Bodhisattvas have that wish. If you take care of that wish, you become a Bodhisattva. And it can happen in this life, it could even happen in a few minutes. Some people if they took care of that thought really a lot in a few minutes, they would become a Bodhisattva in this life. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Are there enlightened Bodhisattvas? We have to be very careful. See, Bodhisattvas

[41:24]

can be enlightened, but they have to be careful not to get the kind of enlightenment that will preclude their path to Buddhahood. There's this little technical twist, is that these early students of Buddha became enlightened but they couldn't, the way they became enlightened did not allow them to become Buddhas. The way they became enlightened is they got no more opportunities at the end of their life to develop the Buddha qualities. So Bodhisattvas need the ability to be enlightened, they need to get enlightened without getting enlightened in such a way that they can't keep working on this Buddha path. So it's kind of a tricky thing. A student of Theravada Buddhism said that Bodhisattvas must not be able

[42:27]

to be the first stage of Ashravaka, which has three stages, four stages. Stream entry, where they first wake up, and then once-returner, never-returner, and fully trained, what we call Arhat. Those are the four stages. And even the first stage, even at the first stage, you have at most seven more lifetimes. That's not enough to become a Buddha. So Bodhisattvas have to understand as well as the stream-entrier and so on, they have to understand the Dharma as well as them and yet not get involved with that in such a way that they only have seven more lifetimes. Well, the vow. The vow is what protects them. The vow is what keeps them

[43:29]

very careful not to not to abide in that situation of awakening. In order to go from the early, middle and final stages of the enlightenment of the disciples, the Buddhas have to not abide in those stages. Otherwise they'll just become enlightened disciples. Because if you ask me what I would want, I would want both. Which is both? Enlightenment. I would want to be an enlightened Bodhisattva. Again, let me say, there is a deep continuity between the path of the enlightened student of the Buddha. There is a deep continuity between that enlightenment and the enlightenment of a Bodhisattva. And the continuity is non-attachment. Renunciation.

[44:31]

That would include renouncing enlightenment. That's a continuity. All the Buddha's disciples should not have enlightenment. They shouldn't be possessive of it. That promotes it. So the disciples should be like that too. And they are. The disciples don't have enlightenment. They enter it and live there. That's their life. Because they're enlightened, they don't think about, I have enlightenment. They're like, these are like really wise people. They're disciples of the Buddha. They're like successful Buddha projects. Buddhas make these wonderful disciples by interacting with them and teaching them. And these disciples, when they really understand, they don't have enlightenment. They don't have anything. They don't have concentration

[45:33]

either. They don't have compassion. They don't have generosity and patience and humility. They don't have anything. And nothing has them. These are like sages. Buddhist sages. Authentic disciples of the Buddha. Who do not wish to become Buddhas. They're happy to be enlightened and free and be compassionate and patient and ethical and careful and tender and free. They're happy to be that way without attaching to any of it. Doesn't that sound good? Yeah. And it's, you know, even today in this world, you know, in this Buddhist world, people are very careful that any, you know,

[46:34]

people do not claim to be sages of that quality. You know, if you ask some of the sages, some of the possible sages in the Buddhist world, are you one of the sages? Are you a disciple of Buddha? Are you an enlightened disciple? The people who wish to be enlightened disciples, if you ask them, they won't say so. They won't say yes. It's part of the culture is you don't say yes to that. And then sort of like other people say it for you, yeah, that person really is, you know. So, it's not clear that there are any of these stream enterers or arhats in the world today, but some people think there are, but the ones who are won't say that they are. You know, they won't say, yes, I am an arhat, I am a completely enlightened disciple of Buddha. They don't talk like that. The Buddhas, however, get to talk like that. And in Zen monasteries, we do services on a regular basis,

[47:42]

some temples on a daily basis, we pay homage to these sages, these stream enterers, these arhats. We pay homage to all the people who are on the noble path. In other words, all the enlightened disciples and the great ones who have gone all the way. We honor them. These are amazing disciples of Buddha. And their enlightenment is a real enlightenment, it's just that it doesn't have the wish to become Buddha. So they get to have it, not have it, but they get to enter it and live there and not participate in rebirth anymore. And during the time that they're on that path, they bring great benefit to the world. We honor that. And more people enter that path and bring great benefit to the world. And between the time they enter and when they don't

[48:43]

enter anything anymore, they give great benefit to the world, but they do actually in a fairly short period of time, they're not around anymore as spiritual beings. It's a very amazingly high level of spiritual awakening. A very deep wisdom. But it doesn't, they did not wish to become Buddhas. When the Buddha met her first disciples, those five guys, apparently none of them wished to be a Buddha, that we know of. But they somehow were willing to listen to Buddha and when they listened, they became enlightened sages. And the story is they weren't reborn. Those guys. That was the end for them. And from the time they were awakened until they went into perfect, complete nirvana,

[49:46]

in other words, they actually entered into the Dharma and all that was left was the Dharma. They entered the Truth and there was nothing but Truth. Between the time that they entered and that point, they helped many other people enter the path. And many, many, many who entered and attained awakening. They were great disciples of Buddha. It's a wonderful thing. But there's this other path which sort of we're dealing with now, the path of the Bodhisattva, which wishes to be Buddha. Any questions? Yes? Charlie had a question. Helen had a question. Yes? Did you say that Buddhists have to help people however they ask to be helped? No, Bodhisattvas. It's not that you help them the way they ask you to. Like they ask you, you know, what's an example?

[50:49]

Oh yeah, they say, can I have your clothes? And you say, yes, and also you can have the full moon too. They say, I didn't ask for the full moon. Okay, well I'm giving it to you anyway. So you don't necessarily give them what they ask for. Can I have some drugs? What kind do you want? They say, I want this kind. No, I don't have that kind, but I'll give you this kind. They say, can I have your body? And you say, which one do you want? So you basically, you don't necessarily give them what they ask for, but you give them whatever you have to give. And if what they want is what you have to give, you give it to them. Bodhisattvas learn to do that. And as you can imagine, it's quite a difficult thing to learn. But they learn, basically, to give themselves. Not because anybody needs them, what they have to give, but they need to learn to give. Bodhisattvas need to learn that in order to be a Buddha. And so there's many stories

[51:50]

in this history now of the Buddha when he was a Bodhisattva, giving himself. And sometimes you give things that people don't ask for, like the Buddha. Like the tigers didn't exactly ask the Buddha to give them his body. He just saw they were hungry and he thought, oh, and they accepted the gift. So Bodhisattvas practice giving. The first practice of becoming a Buddha, once you get on the Buddha path, the first practice is generosity. And that, you know, it works. It becomes pervasive. Any questions? Helen? I had a question and I thought an understanding, but now I just have a lot of confusion. But, so I thought, to translate that, maybe you're saying a Bodhisattva path. You said how does one do that? I believe that's amongst life. And the other, your path to enlightenment could be a lay person.

[52:51]

But then you said that you could be on the path in a few minutes to a Bodhisattva path. Let me make clear. The path to the path to enlightenment in this life, there's two approaches to that path. A lay and a priest. But they would say in order to actually fulfill the path in this life, the lay person would, before they die, have to become, I shouldn't say priest, but have to become a monk or a nun. Okay? No. The enlightenment in this life has, there's two types of disciples of that path. Lay and monastic. But in order to have the enlightenment, I take it back. You can actually become a stream enterer as a lay person. I don't know if you can become, finish the whole course as a lay person. A Bodhisattva has two vehicles. Lay and monastic.

[53:56]

A lay person can be a Bodhisattva. A lay person can be a Bodhisattva for many lifetimes. A lay person, a monk, a monastic can be a Bodhisattva for many lifetimes. Monastics, the monastic Bodhisattvas who live in this world now will not become Buddha in this lifetime they're in. The lay Bodhisattvas will not become Buddhas in this lifetime. That's a teaching. I haven't heard any contradiction to that. Except people saying, hey, so and so is a Buddha, which I'm happy to hear. However, there's also a teaching that at the time of becoming a Buddha, you have to switch over to being a monastic. But it's possible, kind of unlikely, that you'd be a lay Bodhisattva for a few billion lifetimes and then your last one

[55:00]

you'd become a monk. It's also possible to be a monk for many lifetimes, be a lay Bodhisattva for many lifetimes, a monk for many lifetimes, a lay Bodhisattva for many lifetimes, switch back and forth. You can practice the Bodhisattva way and you can also practice the other way as a monk or a lay person. It's just that in that tradition there was more of a feeling like the lay people are not really doing it. I don't know if that's true, but again, lay people in the early tradition there are examples of them becoming stream-enters. Do you know any lay people who became arhats? Any examples? I think that's what they say is you can realize it, but the moment you realize it you immediately go seek ordination. But a stream-enter? As an arhat.

[56:00]

I think it's because you're not attached to anything anymore. There are examples in the scriptures of lay people coming to the Buddha, interacting with the Buddha, waking up and then saying I want to become a monk. And of course there's also examples of monks coming to the Buddha, waking up and saying now I want to continue. I don't know of any examples of a monk coming to the Buddha, waking up in the encounter and saying now I want to be a lay person. In that early tradition, the Bodhisattva tradition, the monk comes to the Buddha, wakes up and says now I want to be a lay Bodhisattva. A monk Bodhisattva comes to the Buddha. Got this? A monk Bodhisattva comes to the Buddha, has a deep awakening and says I think now I should become a lay person. I think that would facilitate

[57:02]

the path to Buddhahood. It seems to me quite likely that on the path to Buddhahood if a being was a monastic Bodhisattva for many lifetimes it probably would be the case that it might be helpful for them to be a lay Bodhisattva for a while. Okay? Isn't that interesting what I'm saying? So I see you, Meg. And there was Linda next, I think. With this last thing you were saying I was thinking about the ten bowls and the picture of going back to the marketplace at the very end. But a question that's coming up for me is given no time So she's referring to the ten ox-herding pictures.

[58:03]

The last one is going back to the marketplace after the practitioner goes through this evolution. It looks like there's some enlightenment going on there. That process could have been followed as a monastic or as a non-monastic, as a layperson. You could have gone through that process. That's one vision of it. And when you get to the last one, it's possible that the if you've gone through that process of evolution as a monastic the last one you might go into the marketplace as a layperson. And then go around again as a layperson. And then for you as a layperson going through this process of enlightenment going back to the marketplace might be going to the monastery. Follow that? This is about the mind of no abode. Both traditions are about

[59:04]

not abiding anywhere. That's what people need to realize. Yes? So given no abode, no time, no future, no past... It's not that there's exactly no future, no past. It's that you pull up the rope of future and put it in your seat. Pull up the rope of past and put it in your seat. It isn't that there isn't any. It's just that you let go of them. Okay, what if... Given the possibility that there are not many lifetimes there's only now. Yes. So I'm thinking about what is the meaning of this story about there is no other Buddha in this lifetime. Or we cannot... Well, let's just do the last part first. What does it mean that there's no other Buddhas? What do you mean no other Buddhas?

[60:06]

No new Buddhas in this world? You said there has been one Buddha. Yes. In this world. Period of time in this world. So... Yeah, so... Okay, so that cannot happen. You're saying. In other words, nobody else can, in this historical situation, nobody else can come and tell us for the first time about the Dharma. That's not possible. Oh, okay. It's not going to happen because it's already happened. Telling, telling, but not being. Well, the Buddhas are the ones who actually without abiding anywhere, they come up with a teaching for beings in a particular world where they haven't had it before. So that's not going to happen again until... until materialism completely triumphs and people are totally uninterested in the

[61:08]

Buddha Dharma anymore. They're suffering but they don't think the Buddha Dharma is going to help them and then people stop taking care of the teachings. People stop learning. They stop, you know, and then pretty soon it's lost. Then Maitreya will come and everything will be very lovely. The world will be full of love. Love Dharma. Meg? Yes. I would say that the ten ox-herding pictures, I would say, could apply to the Sravakas. I don't see in the ten ox-herding pictures of the Bodhisattva vow except at the end maybe the last one is the

[62:12]

Bodhisattva vow. That if somebody had gone through that process and attained complete personal enlightenment, but not Buddhahood, if they were a Bodhisattva, they might give up whatever form they were practicing and just enter the marketplace. And they just keep going around? I've seen the ten ox-herding pictures for the Bodhisattva but you just keep going round and [...] round. Always with the same motivation to help people by going around this until every time you go around you develop more qualities of Buddhas, more enlightened qualities. Just go round and round and round. And as I remember saying at the first class of the last time I gave a class on those ten ox-herding pictures, I said the first one,

[63:13]

the first stage, is the last stage. Actually before you start the first stage is the last stage. The last stage is before you even start this process. That's the marketplace. Except that except the last stage you understand that the first stage is the last stage. But you don't hold on to that. Let's see, what's your name again? Bobby. My question was is there a choice between the enlightened being and the Bodhisattva or is it more Is there a choice? It seems, it looks like

[64:15]

when you look in the mind of the person it looks like the mind has made a decision. You know. But the living being that has this mind which says I want to become, I want to realize Buddhahood or I want to realize enlightenment. I understand. My mind understands that in order to be a Buddha I'm not going to be able to go from here to Buddhahood in the next 76 years or the next 100. I understand that. And I don't want that. I want to have an enlightenment in this lifetime. Even perhaps an enlightenment that could come in 10 years or something. In the history of Buddhism the Buddha's first five disciples were already highly trained yogis and they went from his first talk to complete enlightenment in this lifetime

[65:15]

in about a month or two. Having this intensive training with the Buddha. In a month they were all completely finished the course. So in the mind of a living being they might say I would like to do that. I would like to have complete enlightenment in this lifetime. So when that happens it looks like their mind decided on that. So they're kind of like a decision. And then they said and I wish to live according to that decision. They had that vow. But also some other beings say it just happens to them I would like to give my whole life to the welfare of all beings. Again that's what most scholars think is the motivation for the Bodhisattva path. The Bodhisattva path is so hard so huge how could anybody dare to take it? Well because I care so much there's so much suffering I care so much I want to help. The other one is I think this Buddha thing is so great I think it's the best thing and even though it's really hard to attain

[66:16]

I see the wish and I see the decision to live that way. That's the way I want to live. And I myself have told stories about my background I didn't see the Buddha. What I saw was I think maybe Bodhisattvas. And when I saw Bodhisattvas I thought oh I want to the decision that wrote in my mind I'd like to be like them. I'd like to be like these enlightened people who are not trying to complete their enlightenment course in this lifetime. I might have seen examples of people who did complete their enlightenment program in this lifetime but I didn't know that they were. In other words I didn't I might have seen some who were enlightened this lifetime and didn't wish to be Buddhist but I thought they were totally cool. And I saw some others who were enlightened but they wished to be Buddhist so they're not going to finish their

[67:16]

course. I could have been turned on by both of those types. So in both the minds, in the human minds decisions do arise. So at the beginning there's kind of like a human mind thinking kind of like decision arises in the mind. And it often arises when the living being sees another living being or another practitioner or they hear another practitioner and they think Oh, I want to do that. I want to do what they're doing or I want to do this thing which they remind me they juggled me to make me think I want to do this. I want enlightenment in this lifetime or I want Buddhahood someday. That decision can come. So I'm asking you to look and see what's going on with you. Where are you at? Yes.

[68:18]

I could see the Bodhisattva but the Buddha I can't see it because to me when anything is the production of my imaginations or my thoughts or my ideas it's not it. And then to make Buddha as my imagination or thoughts that he is Buddha or she is Buddha or I am Buddha it just doesn't exist. Yes, that's what I say. So here's another example of what she's saying or she's saying. I hear that. And when I first started to orient towards Zen I did not see examples of Buddhas. I didn't really hear about Shakyamuni Buddha. I saw examples of Bodhisattvas. I wanted to be a Bodhisattva but wanting to be a Bodhisattva I'm suggesting to you ladies and gentlemen some people would say some scriptures would say wanting to be a Bodhisattva

[69:19]

is not what Bodhisattvas want to be. Wanting to be a Bodhisattva is wanting to be somebody who wants to be a Buddha. But if you don't notice the part of wanting to be the Buddha which some people don't, they see the Bodhisattva and Bodhisattvas they say Oh wow, I want to be like that person and then they find out what the person is like they say I don't want to be like you. You mean you want to be a Buddha? Yeah, oh I don't want to be like you anymore. You were so beautiful the way you made lunch it was so beautiful, I wanted to be like you. The way you took care of that person the way you responded I wanted to be like you. Now I find out that you want to be a Buddha I want to be like you when you did that but I don't share your goal of Buddhahood. Still, the motivation for becoming Buddha

[70:19]

could be the compassion rather than actually you just want to be Buddha knowing that that includes so it's kind of like they're both there and so where are you at? I'm asking you as we come to the end of the year where are you at, where do you want to go what path do you wish to walk what practice do you wish to practice and those who wish to have better night's sleep are welcome here those who want to be better looking are welcome here those who want to be uglier are welcome here those who want to be young again are welcome here those who wish for enlightenment in this lifetime are welcome here and those who wish to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings are welcome here too I'd just like you to check to see where are you at, what's your thing and I tell you when I first started practicing Zen I did not think I wanted to become Buddha I did not think that I actually had no sense of how

[71:19]

amazingly weird I shouldn't say weird how amazingly, inconceivably magnificent are the possibilities of life that a Buddha is however I did see how magnificent some Bodhisattvas were and I wanted to be like them I wanted to be able to like not being possessive of my junk which I was Bodhisattvas can do amazing acts of generosity which anybody would be astounded and inspired by but the people who are astounded and inspired still might say, well I want to be Buddha they might say, I want to be like that, I want to do that that I'm okay with part of the Bodhisattva thing I'm okay with, but this thing about becoming Buddha is a bit much yeah right, but the person you want to be like is opened up to this thing so you partly want to be like them and partly don't so let's be, what do you call it, let's be real let's look at our minds

[72:23]

and see where we stand let's grope into our hearts and minds and see, do I really want to be a Buddha or not, do I want to be a Bodhisattva well they want to be Buddhas do I want to be a really good person, yes I want to be a really good person okay fine, that's great and then we look at that we look at that and also somebody asked me on Thursday night is everybody going to be a Buddha? Dash, is everybody going to be a Bodhisattva? and I said the Lotus Sutra says the Lotus Sutra, which is very important for the particular lineage that I'm living in there's people in this lineage who really thought the Lotus Sutra was where it's at and the Lotus Sutra says everybody is going to be Buddha and everybody, whether they know it or not

[73:23]

is a Bodhisattva even the people who wanted personal enlightenment in this lifetime and got it, really didn't they're actually on the Bodhisattva path they're going to become Buddhas that's what the Lotus Sutra says but other sutras say that not everybody has to be a Bodhisattva that not every... there's two versions of this what might be called Bodhisattva Universalism one is everybody is a Bodhisattva whether they know it or not the other one is everybody should be the weak version of Bodhisattva Universalism is everybody should be the strong version of everybody is everybody is on the path and Soto Zen, to some extent

[74:25]

some versions of Soto Zen is the strong version which is faith of this tradition is that you are already on the Bodhisattva path but there's another version which is not Bodhisattva Universalism by Bodhisattva I don't know what the word is that some people are Bodhisattvas and some people aren't some people want personal liberation and others want to Buddhahood and not everybody is wanting Buddhahood and the other people in the Lotus Sutra the people who want personal liberation are stuck there I look down upon somewhat but in the early tradition that tradition of personal enlightenment in this lifetime or a lifetime whatever you are that was considered an authentic version

[75:28]

of the Buddha's practice and when someone becomes a Buddha they're going to have a bunch of disciples who want enlightenment in this lifetime the Buddha is devoted to the people who are not Bodhisattvas and Bodhisattvas devoted to give them teaching but there's a phase of the development of Buddhist tradition where the people who are interested in enlightenment this time are not interested in Buddhahood they're kind of they're not considered authentic disciples by some points of view I myself I can't get there I want to honor the people who don't want to be Bodhisattvas at the same time I honor the Lotus Sutra which says everybody is a Bodhisattva so I'm kind of in a what do you call it? I'm kind of in a I'm on a boat and this boat is in rough waters

[76:31]

and even if the boat was in smooth waters when the harpoon sticks into the whale the boat's not going to be in smooth waters anymore I'm more or less racing through the waters and the rope which is connected to the harpoon is whipping by me all over the place and and you are there too I'm sharing with this I'm inviting you onto the podium I'm in the church on the podium on the front of the whaling boat and you know no animals were harmed in this show the harpoon was inserted into the whale in a way that didn't hurt the whale but once it got onto the whale it's pulled this boat really fast and this rope is going by really fast

[77:33]

and we have to be very careful once again I'm saying to you this is a great opportunity I'm not saying this is your last chance I'm saying this is a great opportunity to consider these matters do you want enlightenment in this lifetime? do you want to be helpful in this lifetime? do you want to be helpful and have enlightenment and work on the path of becoming Buddhahood? where do you stand on these issues? what questions do you have? yes yes yes compassion is

[78:40]

definitely part of the path to enlightenment in this lifetime definitely but compassion is not the same as saying I wish to be a Buddha so in order to have enlightenment in this lifetime those students of the Buddhas, of the historical Buddha they had to practice compassion in order to be concentrated you can't really be concentrated in the Buddhist sense without compassion so the Arhats the Supreme Mentors had to practice compassion in order to be a Supreme Mentor you cannot be a Supreme Mentor unless you practice compassion towards self and others okay? you look like that do you have some questions about that? what's the question? anyway, do you understand me saying that the path

[79:41]

the Theravada path in order to actually become, enter the what do you call it, the noble path you can't enter it without compassion that's what I'm saying does that make sense to you? I'm agreeing with what people say compassion is part of that path but compassion is not the same as saying I wish to be Buddha although you have to have compassion to do that too both both paths require compassion the Buddha is compassionate and wise and those who wish to receive Buddha's wisdom have to practice compassion but I'm saying that not everybody that became wise wished to be a Buddha but some people who wish to be Buddha's become wise however, their wisdom does not take them to stop before Buddhahood their wisdom takes them along the path and along the path and along the path

[80:45]

until they reach their goal, Buddhahood the other one, it takes them along the path and they reach this thing called Supreme Enterer and finally Arhatship in both cases there's compassion in both cases there's detachment in both cases there's renunciation of possessive things in both cases there's generosity both of them start with generosity ok? but different goals and everybody says Zen has no goal, right? Zen does have a goal the goal of Zen is making Buddhas and in the process of making Buddhas Zen is completely respectful of the people who wish personal liberation in this lifetime the path of making Buddhas is to be compassionate to all beings who do not wish to be Buddhas consciously or unconsciously

[81:49]

but the path of Zen is to make Buddhas the Bodhisattva path is to make Buddhas the question is, what's your motivation? and do you feel motivated to make a Buddha? and if you don't what do you feel motivated to make? to realize? enlightenment? being a little bit more helpful than you were yesterday? what? just think about it yes? I have a question about enlightenment so when you talk about it it sounds like, ok, so then they became enlightened but it also sounds like really you only recognize it through their behaviors in the way people the way other people would recognize it it would be through their behavior so, what's the question? what is it? is it a true understanding? how do you know it's a true understanding? I'm wondering what it is

[82:53]

you're wondering what enlightenment is? yeah we're all wondering what it is wondering what enlightenment is is a normal part of the path of enlightenment is to wonder about it fixing on what it is and attaching to what it is isn't compatible with it but in fact the way other people judge it is by our behavior what attracts us to enlightenment is the behavior of enlightened people if we found out that enlightened people were nasty and selfish and so on we probably wouldn't be attracted to the enlightenment business most of us I was attracted by examples of astounding shocking surprising generosity and flexibility and equanimity I already knew I had already seen people being kind of not very sometimes shockingly selfish and shockingly impatient and shockingly rigid

[83:55]

and shockingly not funny I had already seen that so then I saw people being shockingly generous shockingly flexible shockingly relaxed shockingly patient shockingly humble shockingly helpful and I found out oh those people are working on enlightenment oh maybe I want enlightenment then after you get attracted to enlightenment then you see people who are supposed to be enlightened acting in weird ways that don't look generous and so on and so forth and then you have those problems but you've already been kind of like what's the word? kindled to how cool enlightenment is by seeing the behavior of wise people and people get to be wise because they're compassionate but they're not just compassionate they're compassionate and they receive teachings and then they understand the teachings they understand the Dharma and then they act like the Dharma

[84:56]

some people are compassionate but they feel compassion, they care for other beings but then they think sometimes other beings are somehow they care for other beings but then they have a thought, this being is a jerk they say I want to be compassionate but then they see everybody in this room is a rat you know and they think maybe I shouldn't be compassionate after all we need wisdom too and wisdom is wondering what is enlightenment wisdom is also wondering what is delusion, what is suffering what is freedom what is a living being, what's a bodhisattva what's an arhat what's a buddha wisdom wonders about this and wisdom wonders what is your goal in life what do you want to devote this life to do you wish

[85:59]

to devote your life to realizing buddhahood or enlightenment but not buddhahood or both you can choose both and you can choose neither I don't choose enlightenment and I don't choose buddhahood I just choose being a little bit better person everyday ok we got your goal and I will help each person with their goal we who wish to attain buddhahood will help everybody with their goals or not have you been wanting to hit that bell? you just got to strike it ready you don't have it ready? may our intention

[87:08]

equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of buddha's way beings are numberless I vow to save them delusions are inexhaustible I vow to end them our gates are boundless I vow to enter them buddha's way is unsurpassable I vow to become as an appendix to the talk this morning I also want to mention that for the last few years here we've had a ceremony around new years where people would

[88:09]

calligraph a a greeting a traditional greeting and bring it here and offer it this year we had trouble finding a day to do that because of sort of where new years fell and so on so we aren't going to do that so the next meeting will be February 4th but I just brought with me this this this collection of these astounding documents which people wrote by hand mostly one person typed it and if you wish to write out a document like this and send it to me

[89:11]

or anybody else you're welcome to do so even though we won't have a day here to do that in the new year and I read these things and I'm touched that people would write statements like this it's almost like you know it's sort of in the ballpark with I wish to be Buddha that people can write stuff like this, it's just amazing I respectfully offer you happiness in the new year I humbly ask for your guidance in this year teacher, oh Buddha not really but teacher, oh Buddha I practice with you I practice with your protection, I pray for your health in body and mind unlimited prosperity and long life

[90:12]

peace and tranquility in your temple and all good fortune I pray for this with my whole heart that's a traditional greeting to offer to the teacher you're welcome to do that if you'd like, you can just send it or bring it next time you come I'm just, you know I what's the word I wonder if I would ever be worthy to receive such kindness I wonder I am receiving it but I wonder if I'm worthy I actually do wish to be worthy of it do I wish to be Buddha?

[91:18]

can I say I wish to be Buddha? I'm looking to see if I wish to be Buddha I'm asking you, do you wish to be worthy of such kindness such good wishes if such kindness comes to you which it might and do you wonder if you're worthy of such kindness I wonder if I am I don't say, oh I'm worthy of this I don't assume I don't expect such kindness but it comes and I wonder, am I worthy of it I want to be worthy of it I do I aspire to that but I don't know if I will be worthy of it in this lifetime but I aspire to be worthy of it someday do you? that's my question thank you very much

[92:20]

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