That thing, that which we are most interested in, is our self. Right? Yes. So, the question in Buddhadharma is, what is our self that we're so interested in? So, we are the receptor and the doer of our life. We receive and we do. And we do and we receive. So, we are interactive with the world in that way. Stuff flows into us and flows out of us.

[01:04]

And there's a continuous flow of inner and outer. Sometimes I think of our self as a... Well, I used to think of our self as kind of like a radio. When radios were popular. Since the computers have become... taken the place of... But anyway, a transmitter. We transmit. We receive information and we transmit information. We receive all kinds of things. So, Buddhism has always been the study of what is elemental. So, in the course of study of what is elemental and coming from Shakyamuni's understanding, there's been a lot of research, so to speak. But Buddha's basic teaching is usually characterized as this.

[02:14]

No doer of the deeds is found. No one who reaps their fruits. Empty phenomena or dharmas roll on. This view alone is right and true. And while the deeds and their results roll on based on conditions, all, there is no beginning that can be seen just as it is with seed and tree. So, Buddha's teaching is called the Dharma, the truth, reality. That's what Buddha, Shakyamuni presented. What is really the truth of this being? What is the reality? So, he recognized that it's important to break down the being into constituents.

[03:23]

Like, what are the elements of a person? The elements of a person, what is the dharma of a person? The truth. The elements of a person are called dharmas. Of course, you all already know this, but maybe you don't. The elements of a person are called dharmas. Dharma, with a small d, means things. Everything is dependent on every other thing. This is my understanding. Everything is based on every other thing. There is no such thing as a thing. It is truly independent of other things, even though each thing keeps its own place as an independent being. But dharmas are the elements of existence,

[04:27]

are always coming into formation with each other and disintegrating. Integrating and disintegrating, or deintegrating. So, when we view life in general, it's integration and disintegration. Continuous integration and disintegration. So, when we say, what is a person? What am I? I am elements, constructed of elements, which are continuously integrating and disintegrating. So, when someone is born, so to speak, we say, oh, this is an integration called a person. And in the course of a number of what we call years in time,

[05:29]

time is also just integration, disintegration, there is a disintegration of the person, and we say they died. But integration and disintegration are simply continuous. Some people say, we sometimes use the term eternal. Annihilation and eternalism are two extremes, which are not valid in Buddhadharma. Those are the two extremes. Because what we call life, is not, it rolls along, not eternally exactly, because it's a loaded term, but continuous. So, life is continuous. Although, it's continuous because it's continuously changing.

[06:30]

So, change is the steady state. And the elements of change are the factors that have no substantiality except momentarily. So, every dharma is momentary. And at the same time, continuous. So, I want to talk today about certain elements or dharmas that compose what we are engaged in, moment by moment. And which interest us the most. So, dharma, we say there is no substantial self,

[07:39]

because we do have a self, but it's momentary. Just like all dharmas are momentary, our self is momentary. So, we exist moment by moment. And we say, I exist, which is an arrogance. We don't like to think that it is, but that's one of the five, seven or eight arrogances, is, I exist. The one that said, I exist, no longer exists. Even though there's a feeling of continuity. It's like a motion picture, where one frame replaces the next. But because, when you look at the movie, it looks like a continuous event. But it's discontinuous as well as continuous.

[08:40]

Because each frame is a little different than the next frame. Or the past frame. So, we exist, our existence is from frame to frame. From moment to moment. Suzuki Yoshie used to like to say, we exist, our life is, we live our life moment by moment. And, if we really understand our, really look at our life, we realize that it's moment by moment. One moment at a time. That's our practice, is to realize our life one moment at a time. And realize that we are born, and we are born to die on each moment. So there's so many different births and deaths. We just think, usually birth and death is when we came into existence at one point,

[09:47]

and we died at another point. That's true. But there are other ways of understanding birth and death, and ways of understanding no birth and no death. Because only something which is born can die. But we use these terms conventionally, and then we believe in the terms. This is called believing in signs. We believe, we invent terms which seem correct, but then when we look underneath the meanings, or investigate the true meanings, we realize that these are simply conventions, which make it easy for us to live our life, moment to moment. So the Buddhists, various schools of Buddhism, classified these dharmas.

[10:53]

They were not interested so much in the dharmas of nature, as the dharmas that constitute a person. Psychophysical dharmas. Form is the physical dharma, right? So they classified five skandhas. Heaps. Heaps is not so good. Rivers. Streams. Five streams, called form. Rupa. Feelings. Perceptions. Mental formations which are thoughts. And consciousness, which is the basis of a person. We say mind, but mind has to be analyzed into consciousness. So form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations,

[11:55]

and consciousness are the five streams which we conveniently call me. When I was a kid, we say I am three people. Me, myself, and I. But it's true. Me, myself, and I. That's what we're always concerned about, moment by moment, day in and day out. So Buddha says, forget yourself, and then you can live freely. Buddha's message is, life has the element of suffering, and what is the cause of suffering, and what is the cure? The cure is to forget the self. But you can't forget the self because

[12:57]

it's there bothering us all the time. So, we've been studying Vasubandhu's, in our class, Vasubandhu's divisions of consciousness, which takes the place of a self. So, Buddha Dharma, we say, there is no self. That's the fundamental understanding of Buddha Dharma. There is no self. No substantial self. Even though momentarily there is a self, from moment to moment, and the self is a different self from moment to moment, even though, when you look at the movie, it looks like we're still the same. So, it's neither the same or different,

[13:57]

and it's both the same and different. So, the dharmas are the constituents, or the elements, that form what we call our self, as well as all phenomena, but specifically, the psychophysical dharmas that are constituents of our being. So, Vasubandhu created a system of 100 dharmas, which includes the dharmas of the mind dharmas, of consciousness. And then there are classifications of dharmas.

[15:03]

So today, I'm going to talk about two classifications of dharmas. One is called wholesome, and the other is called unwholesome. These are dharmas which are specifically concerned with creating karma. Karma means volitional action. And then there's the fruit of karma, which is called the fallout, or the fallout, the result of our actions. So, everything we do has a result, because the creationism, creation of life, is cause and effect. As the statement says, no doer of the deeds is found. In other words, there's no self in the self. Within the self, there's no self. It's not that there's not a self.

[16:05]

It's just that the self is not a self. If you say there is no self, that's not right. If you say there is a self, what did I say, no self? When I say there is a self, that's not quite right. If I say there is no self, that's also not quite right. It's always in between. Everything exists in between. Thank you. Much earlier. Thank you. So, everything exists in between. Yes, there's a self, and no, it's not a self. So, if you fall into one side or the other, you can't figure it out. Well, but there is a self. There is a nose. No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue.

[17:08]

Means, yes, there is. No, there isn't. It's not that there isn't, it's just that that which is, isn't. That's the understanding of man-duality. No doer of the deeds is found, even though deeds keep being introduced. No one who reaps their fruits, even though there's karma, and we feel the effects of karma. Every phenomena, meaning every dharma, all dharmas, it's just dharmas rolling on, continually reproducing themselves. This view alone is right and true. And while the deeds and their results roll on based on conditions,

[18:11]

causes and conditions, there's no beginning that can be seen. So we say it's just dharmas rolling on forever. Continuously. I don't know about forever, if there is a forever or not a forever, but continuously. Just as it is with the seed and the tree. So the seed produces the tree, the tree produces the seed, the seed produces the tree, the tree produces the seed. So karma and dharma. We're continually creating karma through our deeds. So here are our deeds. There are five or six classifications of dharmas. This classification is the dharmas that are wholesome and the dharmas that are unwholesome. And here are the wholesome dharmas. These are dharmas,

[19:12]

wholesome is okay. You can say beneficial dharmas, if you want, or dharmas that promote, that are, that lead away from the sense of ego. First one is called faith. There are 11 of these dharmas. Faith, vigor, shame, remorse, absence of greed, absence of anger, absence of stupidity. It's usually called ignorance. But I kind of like stupidity. It makes us laugh, right? Light ease,

[20:13]

non-laxness, renunciation, and non-harming. What was the one before non-laxness? Light ease. I like that. That's a good one. So these are the sustaining dharmas, which allow us to live a life of practice. These are the dharmas that we practice with. Faith is confidence. First, to have faith in yourself. Faith is not like in a deity, because there's no deity in Buddhism, even though we deify Buddha. There's a tendency to deify Buddha, but when you come down to it, Buddha is not a deity. This is why we have the seven Buddhas before Buddha in our chanting, because

[21:16]

Shakyamuni is really the eighth. The mathematics is strange, but... And before Shakyamuni, seven is just a number. That means an infinite number of Buddhas before Buddha. And Buddha discovered the path that had been grown over. So he simply, according to the legend, re-opened up the old path and found, oh, here's the path of the Buddhas, and introduced that. He didn't want to do it. It was too complicated. But he was asked to do it. He said, OK, I'll do it. So faith is not... We do have faith in the ancestors' teaching. And we do

[22:18]

bow to Buddha, but Buddha is everywhere. We're not bowing to some person. When we say Buddha, what we really mean is Buddha nature. We all have... Buddha nature is the thread that runs through everything. So we have faith in our own... When we say faith in ourself, not in our ego, but in our Buddha nature. A lot of people have faith in their ego, but they have difficult endings. Even if you have faith in yourself, you can have difficult endings. But faith is what supports our practice. If you don't have faith, you can't practice. Otherwise, you're just doing something that somebody else wants you to do, or something. The more... The deeper your practice,

[23:21]

the deeper your faith. Then you have unshakable faith at some point. Which, no matter what happens, you know who you are and where you are, even though you don't know who you are and where you are. Vigour is virya, which means effort, to put forth effort. You know, when we hold back, then we get... If we put in 50% effort, we get 50% back. If we put forth 100% effort, we get 100% back. People complain about, how come I'm never getting enlightened? Well, duh! Wholeheartedness,

[24:24]

wholeheartedness means you have the whole heart. Halfheartedness means you have one half. So, you know, it's okay, but it's not fulfilling. So we want to be fully filled, like we got to talk about fulfillment. Fulfillment means to fill up the whole bucket. So shame is interesting. Shame and remorse go together. Wait a minute, Peter. Shame has more to do with what I have done. I feel ashamed of what I have done. And so, I want to do better. Shame and remorse are called the guardians of the world,

[25:27]

our world. Remorse is more like what I haven't done. I wish I had done this. I feel remorseful for not having done this, for not having put myself 100% into practice, or what I did to somebody, or what I didn't do for somebody, or what I didn't do for myself, or my laziness, or my... I feel remorseful for what I allowed to pass me by. You can argue it in other ways. Yes, it also applies to other ways. don't get stuck on this. But this is one way to express these two terms. Peter? I've seen those terms translated in English. I've seen those terms translated in English as lack of respect for self, and lack of respect for... No, respect for self and respect for others. Yeah, that's good.

[26:28]

It isn't exactly parallel to the way you explained it. Yeah, it can be explained in various ways. It remains in a more positive light without some of our cultural baggage. Yes, so these terms can be explained in many ways. This is just one way of explaining. Thank you. That's good. So, and this is more in a Chinese way. This is a... So, greed, anger, and stupidity, or greed, anger, and... always they seem to be expressed as in their negative. Absence of greed, absence of anger, absence of stupidity. That's interesting. The positive way would be generosity,

[27:30]

goodwill, and wisdom. Right? That's cultivating. But they're always expressed in the negative. So then, number eight is light ease. You know, when we are... when we can do something well, and we really have absorbed what it is that we're doing, and have some confidence, then our practice is light and easy. You know, you get to a certain plateau, and your life is easy and light. It's not always oppressed. So how do we get to the point where our life is easy? Easy doesn't mean that

[28:30]

you just take on easy things. But it means that you do things easily and lightly. Because you have absence of greed, ill will, and delusion. When there's no greed, you're not... your mind is not obsessed with gaining. And when there's no ill will, your mind is not obsessed with others at fault. And when you're not obsessed with stupidity, your life... That's called Nirvana, actually. Absence of greed, absence of ill will, absence of stupidity or delusion is called Nirvana. It's called the cool state, sometimes. It's also called the state of freedom, where you're not held down. It's like a balloon

[29:31]

that's tethered. You're tethered to greed, tethered to ill will, tethered to delusion. And when these strings are cut, the balloon rises. And it gently bounces around, which is nice. So it's flexibility and agility. And these are two really important aspects. It doesn't mean frivolously. It simply means that you don't get pushed around by life. So, non-laxness also goes along together with light ease. It means actually, basically, mindfulness. To always know that you're practicing. You never forget that you're practicing.

[30:32]

That's basic mindfulness. Whatever you do is, you know, all our problems are the raw material of our practice. Without a problem, there's no practice. So if you think, I have no problems, it's just simply that you are not mindful of what your problems are. So number ten is renunciation. Renunciation is letting go. Basically, it doesn't have so much to do with material things, although we usually apply it to material things. Renunciation of material things, that's minor. What's major is letting go of the knots that we tie in our minds. Letting go of our

[31:38]

views, our partiality. When anger comes up, to be able to see it for what it is and take a proper position in relation to it. You can't, you know, you can sometimes just forget it, but it's still there. So what is our proper relationship to anger? What is our proper relationship to greed? What is our proper relationship to all these emotions and thoughts that dominate our mind? That's renunciation, is to take the step back and really look and really consider so that we always retain our freedom. Renunciation means to be free, basically. So,

[32:39]

the vow of practice actually is the vow of renunciation. It means to let go of our self-centeredness, basically. When self-centeredness arises, which is all the time, to realize that that's what's happening and what is my alternative. It's the difference between reacting and responding. Reacting is to take hold of something so that you're caught. And responding is to step back and make a proper relationship with whatever is up. So non-harming ahimsa, difficult, is like restraint in a way. Restraint is one aspect of non-harming. I'd like to smack you in the face, but I won't. Sometimes you have to.

[33:44]

It's always the exception. But, basically, to not harm yourself and not harm others. We easily harm ourselves. We're doing it all the time. We're our own worst enemy, basically. So, non-harming to us. When we can practice non-harming to ourself, then it's easier to practice it for others. You know, people all the time say, I hate myself. Even if they don't say it, you know that they do. Because most of our anger that we project comes from self-deprecation. So we always

[34:46]

have to come back to ourself. Always have to come back to ourself. We're always pointing out there as the problem. Problems out there. Problems here. We control the world. We control the world. And we make the world either angry or we make it harmonious. It's up to us. We are. People talk about no free will, but actually in Buddhadharma it's all free will. Because we're self-creating. Although there is an element of our life which is beyond our control. We can't stop getting older. We can't stop all these you know, we can't stop the blood from running and the breath

[35:47]

from breathing and all that. That's nature. But when we co-operate with nature we control nature without controlling it. We control nature without controlling it. When we don't try to control it we're in perfect control. But when we co-operate with nature we have a longer life. And one with light ease and flexibility. So those are eleven wholesome dharmas which lead to liberation basically. And then there are the unwholesome dharmas which lead to attachment and bondage.

[36:47]

And there are six fundamental afflictions. They're called afflictions. The Chinese call them afflictions. Greed, anger, stupidity. Those are the three poisons. Arrogance, doubt and improper views. So we talked about greed, anger and stupidity when we talked about the good dharmas. The absence of those three. But of course these are the dharmas that hold us in bondage. These are the non-sustaining dharmas. The ego builders. I call them the roadblocks. Obstructive karma. Arrogance means that it is a

[37:51]

false sense of security or a false sense of our self which we would like to believe is true which we act out in a way that we think is our self but it's not. So it's self-deception basically. Arrogance is self-deception because when we compare ourselves to others we feel either that they we we see that others have qualities that are more developed than our own and we become jealous and so we pretend that we have those qualities or we may have those qualities and we flaunt them because we feel insecure. We need to have the certain kind of assurance and security which is

[38:52]

not real. So it's deception. It's deceptive. We're just kidding ourselves and the more we fool ourselves the deeper we get into being stuck. You know, when we lie about something that's the beginning of quicksand because then we have to defend our lie and the more we defend it defending our lie is a deeper suction down to the bottom of the earth and and then we have to defend our defense and then we have to defend our defense which is of our defense and pretty soon we just get stuck and there's no end and we go crazy. So that's very important and doubt doesn't mean doubt exactly it means skepticism. There's doubt

[39:56]

and there's skeptical doubt. In the Dharma it's important to have doubt because doubt is a check on faith. Blind belief is not true faith so in order to check our doubt our faith we need to be able to question it and the questioning it is the doubt but when doubt becomes skepticism it changes its nature it's no longer wholesome and so like you're standing outside throwing rocks you know at people because you know you can't you're at least arrogance actually so I sometimes think of faith and doubt as like an airplane

[40:56]

faith is like the engine which drives it right we love to be driven by faith and something but we need resistors in order to be able to control faith so the resistors are like the ailerons and the rudder and the tail so the tail is as important as the engine and it's kind of like faith just takes a look and makes sure that everything is really true and working right so it has a good function but we should be careful that it doesn't turn into skepticism and then there are improper views well here are the improper views the view of a body

[41:58]

attachment to a body meaning this is my body it's not my body really it's just the body that is produced by nature nature produces all of these bodies and nature produces the mind and nature produces what we call my life and so cooperating instead of saying my me myself and I we say the eye sees the ear hears the nose smells there are many cultures in which eye is not a noun but we're so used to identifying as a ourself as a big noun that we can't forget it but not every culture

[42:59]

does that and then extreme views and views of grasping and deviant views and so forth a lot of views which we like to believe in but there's no no foundation to them so and then there we're almost finished there are 20 derivative afflictions which I'm not going to explain the 20 derivatives afflictions are derived from major afflictions but so these are wrath hatred rage covering concealing deceit flattery conceit harming jealousy stinginess lack of shame lack of remorse

[43:59]

lack of faith laziness laxness torpor restlessness distraction improper knowledge and scatteredness and each one of these you can study but not today so if you identify with any of these views you can take one of these views that you feel would be good to work on and use that as a wedge or a problem for your practice thank you

[44:45]

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