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Talk Notes
Just to orient, we are on class or Dharma seminar number four of Huineng and Dogen.
So when I was an adolescent, I was involved in a church group at the Methodist church in my Minneapolis neighborhood. And I never realized how what we studied and yes practiced hinged around two questions that really encompass Huineng's body of work. Who am I? Where am I going?
Of course, we used to make fun of it because we were kids, but now I see how exceedingly relevant they were to the human predicament and to this body of work. We are now fully in the portion of the platform sutra. This is Red Pine's translation for any of you scholars who would like to pursue it. Good book. Good translator.
Where Huineng gets into the teachings that we often think of as core. It's important because of his revolutionary belief that we are born with purity and become by way of being human affected, afflicted and possibly confused. He says in verse 19 of the platform sutra, "To practice means not to be obstructed by anything and externally not to give rise to thoughts about objective states and by zen we mean to see our nature without being confused."
He suggests that we purify ourselves, cultivate ourselves, do it ourselves with the help of that inner good friend that was mentioned in one of our earlier talks and see the Buddha of our own mind, our own Buddha nature. So he invites the assembly to have a direct experience and says, "While I confer on you the formless precepts, you must all experience this for yourselves." Well, I can be pretty dense when faced with terminology that is not my usual vocabulary. And what on earth did he mean by formless precepts? Red Pine says that this represents Huineng's attempt to encourage his audience to transcend the normal interpretation of precepts as restrictions on behavior. So this sutra establishes Huineng's teachings as beyond the confines of mere formality. In other words, do this, don't do that. And it breaks from the convention that in order to become enlightened or free, one needs to be learned, scholarly, and of a class worthy of such effort.
So he talks about the three-bodied Buddha. This is something I've been especially interested in since chanting many times at meals during sesshins.
The Ino sings, "Interesting ourselves to the sangha we invoke" and we all sing, "Vairochana buddha pure Dharmakaya." The body of reality is our dharma body in which we take refuge. In other words, ultimate Buddha nature. "Lochana Buddha, myriad Nirmanakaya". The actual experience of this. "It's complete Sambhogakaya
Shakyamuni Buddha"
Lochana Buddha is the second one. They're a little out of order but that's how we do them. Myriad Nirmanakaya and then Shakyamuni Buddha, complete Sambogakaya. It's on the, it's on the, it's on the meal chant.
So in other words we have the actual experience and we take refuge in what some in some disciplines is called the bliss body. We don't talk too much about that in Zen, but it's one of the old original teachings. And then complete Sambogakaya, the manifestation of this body in our thoughts, words and deeds, is our transformation body. This is the sangha in which we take refuge, our realization in human form. When we hear somebody say this is a body practice, we can apply it to every aspect of our consciousness. Most important, it reminds us and he reminds us that it all changes that everything is impermanent.
If we think good thoughts, good will arise. If we think bad thoughts, bad things will arise. This is something we can do by trusting ourselves and not being influenced by what he calls objects, outer world. It's taking possession of our true Buddha nature.
Then we move into the four boundless vows which Buddhists all over the world recite daily and we all know them. In Huineng's words, "I vow to save all beings no matter how numberless. I vow to end all afflictions, no matter how countless. I vow to master all teachings, no matter how limitless. I vow to attain Buddhahood, no matter how transcendent." We sing it, and we'll sing it tonight. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. And as my teacher Kathy says, this is not a to-do list. Instead, it's an expression of love.
Next, we repent. Because we have past, present, and future, we look back to destroy our karmic barriers. This is where the repentance bursts. All my ancient twisted karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion born through body, speech, and mind. I now fully avow. That's where that comes from. We have to remind ourselves that we are part of an endless limitless possibility. We've made mistakes. Of course, we're human. That's our karma. But we didn't invent it. And we have it in our bodies to purify, to repent, to be one with our Buddha nature. This was pivotal to me as I lived in a many years deep state of self-deprecation, self-hatred, and little faith in my ability to change. As an alcoholic, I had done some crazy things. Body, speech, and mind. When I do the verse of repentance, I acknowledge it all. And I fully acknowledge it. I take responsibility for it. I also understand that such behavior comes from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, which were already there before I was born. For a long period of time, I began each day with nine prostrations, during which time I would repeat the verse of repentance, admit it all, and then let it go.
Sudden enlightenment is a great thing especially when followed by gradual practice. So we don't have to have either/or. We can have those moments and we can also practice like our hair is on fire.
Finally, we need the wisdom of Prajna to carry us through. That means letting go of our old stories and behaviors. Letting our Buddha nature shine through. This practice is what gets me through the worst of times. May it serve you, too.
Now, how does Dogen and Chris Burkhart see it?
Can you hear me? Okay.
I just want to say how much I am enjoying this co-teaching gig. It's really a lot of fun and collaboration and I just really enjoy Hannah's take on this material that we're studying because we're actually doing something quite unusual which is this combination of Platform Sutra and Dogen and allows us both to, I shouldn't say play with it, but to sense deeply into the material and I'm really enjoying it. So, thank you, Hannah.
So, I thought just to give us a little place to stand on, I'm going to do a quick review of how we ended up here. In the first seminar the question was who is the one practicing? The central illusion was self-improvement. And Dogen primarily answered with Bendowa and Genjokoan. Practice isn't a means to become awakened later. Practice is the expression of awakening. Now in seminar two we asked where does practice happen and we worked through the one practice Samadhi and the rice room.
We answered with Fukanzazengi, Bendowa, Giochi, continuous practice and at the time Shoho jisso which means the reality of all things. The point was that there is no separation between zazen and life. Zazen and awakening. Pounding rice is not a preparation for future practice. It is practice. So last week our question was how do we relate to thought? Hannah explored no thought and I worked on Fukanzazengi, think of not thinking, non-thinking with some bendowa mixed in.
So I would like us to notice something the questions so far have been who am I, where do I practice? How do I relate to my mind? Those are deeply personal questions.
And tonight, Hannah introduced vows and refuge and repentance and precepts. That's a different territory.
These are not questions about the individual mind. They are questions about how we orient ourselves.
The formless precepts are one of the most remarkable phrases in the platform sutra, in my humble opinion. At first glance, it sounds like a contradiction.
First we need to let go of the thought that the precepts resemble commandments. They do not. There are guidelines that can be flexible. Even though we need to be careful around that flexibility.
Precepts seem like they should all be about form. They tell us what to do and what not to do. Don't kill, don't steal, don't lie. That sounds very much like forms. Yet tells us that the precepts are formless.
And Dogen I think liked that phrase. because he is trying to approach the same question and the question is this. If awakening is already our true nature, why do we need precepts at all? If we are not trying to become someone else, why should we concern ourselves with ethical conduct? If Buddha nature is already complete, why not simply trust that everything will take care of itself?
As you see, these are not modern questions. I think they've always been the question.
Throughout this seminar, we've been watching Dogen dismantle one misunderstanding after another. In the first seminar, he dismantled the idea that practice is polish and a perfect self. In the second, he dismantled the idea that practice happens on the cushion. And last week, he dismantled the idea that every thought deserves our attention. And now he undermines yet another misunderstanding. It dismantles the idea that the precepts are rules we obey in order to become enlightened.
Dogen turns the whole picture upside down. We imagine the precepts as something outside of ourselves. Something over there tells us over here how to behave.
We imagine precepts as standards that we try to live up to. We measure ourselves against these standards and some days we think we are doing reasonably well and other days we just discover how impatient and judgmental and self-centered we are.
Dogen is not interested in that way of thinking. Instead, he asks us to see the precepts as the activity of awakening itself. That is a profound shift.
Let me say that again. That is a profound shift. The precepts are not conditions we fulfill before awakening. They are what awakening looks like when it takes the form of a human life.
That doesn't mean that awakened people become morally perfect. We all know that that's very unlikely. Human beings continue to make mistakes. Like Shunryu Suzuki says, you're all perfect and you could all use a little improvement.
So our Zen practice has been described as one mistake after another.
We continue to misunderstand each other even though we really, really want to understand. I continue to speak too quickly. We tend to judge too harshly, overlook someone's suffering, or we react from fear. And Dogen knew all of that. So the difference in our practice is not perfection. The difference is where our life is coming from. Think back to the image we return to throughout the seminar. The mirror doesn't become reflective because we polish it long enough.
It was never lacking the capacity to reflect.
Once the dust settles, reflection simply happens.
And I trust that Dogen looks at the precepts in the same way.
Compassion, honesty, and generosity are not manufactured. When greed loosens its grip, generosity naturally happens. Once fear relaxes, compassion automatically naturally appears. When I stop defending this imaginary version of myself, honesty becomes much less frightening.
So the precepts are not something we screw onto our practice. They are what practice naturally expresses.
And this is why I really appreciate that phrase formless precepts. Don't get me wrong, formless does not mean vague kind of wishy-washy.
It doesn't mean that anything goes.
It means that they are not imposed from the outside. They arise from the freedom that is deeper than habit. We've all experienced moments like this. Someone drops a heavy box and before we've had time to think, we are already helping. A friend is grieving and without calculating what to say, we just sit beside them, maybe hold their hand, make them a cup of tea. Those moments do not come from following rules. They come from somewhere much quieter, something much more intimate.
Our tradition calls that Buddha nature Dogen also calls it our original functioning. Huineng calls it seeing our own nature. The language changes but they are all pointing towards the same living reality. So Dogen asks us, invites us to imagine something much more beautiful that ethics begins with intimacy. The more deeply we experience that we are not separate from one another, the less natural it becomes to harm another person.
The more deeply we experience that this life is shared, the more naturally the precepts begin to appear.
This is why I don't think that the precepts are primarily about restraint. They are about relationship.
The precepts become about what becomes possible when we stop living as though we're isolated individuals trying to get through life on our own. From that perspective, the precepts are not fences around our behavior. They are descriptions of what life looks like when awakening has hands, a voice, and a heart. And that is why Huineng calls them the formless precepts.
The precepts invite us to trust something much deeper that is already present. As practice matures, compassion doesn't have to be manufactured and honesty doesn't have to be forced.
All that arises because we are becoming less divided from one another and less divided within ourselves.
This precepts, their source, is awakening itself and the precepts are alive. Every moment asks something different of us. Sometimes compassion means speaking honestly, sometimes speaking softly and sometimes we remain silent. Sometimes we need to step forward and sometimes back. It is not mechanical and neither are the precepts. They are living responses to living circumstances. And this is why we continue to practice.
Habits of greed, anger, and delusion loosen their grip just a little. And as soon as they loosen a bit, something else begins to function. become a little quicker to listen and a little slower to judge and more able to recognize ourselves in other people.
The formless precepts are the awakening that take shape in an ordinary human life. Let's see. I wanted to quote a little bit of Dogen, but I think we're better served if we use this time for try a discussion. And I had a suggestion as a question to ask ourselves and it is, if Buddha nature is already complete, why do we need precepts?
Another possibility is if you heard something in the talk in this talk, something that Hannah or I said that caught your interest, bring that up. And if that does not resonate, pick something else.
So, let's give everybody four minutes and Hannah is going to time us.
