Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: For more information on Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, please visit our website at www.ancientdragon.org. our teachings are offered to the community through the generosity of our supporters. To make a donation online, please visit our website.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Good morning, Bodhisattvas.
We have some cloudlings joining us today, which include Mark Splitting, Joe in Evanston, Teigen probably in Evanston by a tree.
Karen, Leo. S. Good to see you. Nicholas and Howard.
And then, as you all can probably see, there's a gaggle of bodhisattvas on the ground in this Sendo Day 4 of Rohatsu Sashin here.
So I know we have some new.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: People joined us today.
Yana.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Nina, Libby, hiding somewhere. There you are, Libby.
Maybe one more person. Leo, there you are. Okay, I think that's.
And Lisa snuck in last night yesterday.
So the gang's all here just to get us on the same page.
We're Hatsu, you know, is the 8th day of the 12th month, that is in Japan or Japanese Buddhism, traditionally marks the day of Buddha's awakening. So we have this kind of awakening under this Bodhi tree, and.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: We commemorate that event somewhere around that date. So our sashin ends on the 7th, but we'll celebrate on the 7th.
But we're sort of engaging in this intensive meditation practice, just like Shakyamuni Buddha did so many years ago.
And I know that everyone is getting pretty settled and pretty deep in your meditation.
Some people are here for the entire five days, some people are here for just a little tiny bit.
All good?
All good.
You know, tomorrow there'll be in the afternoon, quite a bit of ceremonial stuff will sort of end with a bang, so to speak. But before then, I want to encourage everyone to be careful, to stay settled and maintain silence and attend carefully to your body and mind, especially during breaks, because sometimes there's a tendency to kind of unravel a little bit after doing so much sitting.
So take care.
Take care of it.
This is so precious.
You know, even if you've went home and, like, watched three hours of television last night, when do we get this kind of time to just not be on devices, to settle, to be present?
It's so precious.
And I know everyone appreciates it and supports each other, so let's keep it going and then even see if you can keep it going as your life returns. On Sunday afternoon and Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
But don't remember the Sachin.
Just remember your concentration and openness.
So the sashine's been kind of revolving around the wheel of the Dharma, around Buddha's first teaching, let's say formal teaching, maybe called the Discourse or the Sutta or the Sutra on turning the Wheel of Dharma.
And we chant it.
We've been chanting it in the evening for evening service before dinner.
And this discourse teaches the famous four Noble Truths.
The truth of suffering exists in this world.
Stress, sorrow, lamentation.
Or as somebody said to me, Dale here, Dale, could you recite the Four Noble Truths, please?
Shit happens, number one.
Number two, we make it worse.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Don't be a jerk.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Don't be a jerk.
Thank you very much, Dale, for that Dharma.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: So.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: So that's the basic plan. The don't be a jerk part is sometimes known as the Middle Way.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Sometimes called the Eightfold Path or the Middle Way of the Eightfold Path. And it's ethical behavior, cultivation of wisdom and meditation.
And as far as I can see, there's been a lot of that going on here in this group, even online. I sense it.
So this don't be a jerk is kind of, you know, it's just like a healthy way to live.
It's really not that special. It's not that profound. But it's so simple. It's hard to do sometimes, especially given this world we live in and.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: Just the trauma of being a human.
It's difficult, difficult.
But somehow people have been doing it for a long time.
And you're all here today, I'm sure, because you actually want to develop and open your hearts.
You want to live in a way that is healthy, not just for you, but for everyone.
But if you wanna live in a way that's just healthy for you, if you're like, you know, I just wanna feel better, that's good. That's great.
It's a great place to be.
So this meditation we do in is a way of working with our minds and our bodies, our hearts, our psyches.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: So that they're ready to let go and open and be free from craving and grasping, even if it arises. You don't have to get too involved in it. Just like, oh, that's a huge amount of craving that seems to be arising in this mind.
This Eightfold Path is also rather represented by a wheel with eight spokes, the Dharma Chakra.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: And as Reverend Niyozan pointed out.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: A couple days ago, wisely said, we need all those spokes aligned to function properly. It's how the wheel turns.
Don't let it stop with Buddha. Turn your wheel, Bodhisattvas.
But even Buddha, after awakening, was very reluctant to teach Imagine That.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: I actually can imagine that.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: That reluctance.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: I told our Tanto, I said, maybe I won't give a dharma talk at one of the days of Sashin. We'll just sitzen.
But I don't want people to feel like they paid their money and they didn't get something for it.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Or after my talk, you can request a refund.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Just contact the director. Paula.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: So one way, it's said that Buddha, right after awakening, had this thought. The ambrosial Dharma I obtained is profound, immaculate, luminous and unconditioned.
Even if I explain it, no one will understand.
I think I shall remain silent in the forest.
That which is free from words cannot be understood through words.
Likewise, the nature of phenomena, which is like everything, mostly is like space, totally free of the movements of mind and intellectual.
But this reluctance, you know, like, I think I'll just stay sitting under this tree or in this forest.
But somehow that didn't work out for Buddha.
Buddha did teach for 45 years after that initial complete enlightenment, and from a certain perspective, has not stopped talking since.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Rocks, trees, walls, pebbles, tiles, all speak to us.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: But it has been said that the first 20 years post awakening.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Shakyamuni was newly awakened. So the texts say, in. In Shakyamuni's newly awakened first 20 years.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Baby awakened being, ah, he had temporary assistance or attendance, so he didn't have full time staff.
But people would randomly, or maybe not so randomly show up to attend the Buddha in that first 20 years.
And afterwards, Buddha had one attendant, supposedly his cousin Ananda, but that's the story of another sashin.
So.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: You know, these disciples managed Buddha's schedule.
They remembered the teachings, they cared for him, they hung out with him, kept him company when they were wandering.
This tradition still exists today in Zen places. In some Zen places, there's a role of jisha, who's a teacher's attendant.
And at San Francisco Zen center, at least the way I've seen it, this jisha sits next to the teacher in the zendo and carries incense or flowers or whatever they're offering, arranges dokusan appointments, makes tea, prepares oroki bowls, you know, irons the cloths, washes, takes care of the teacher's robes sometimes and helps them kind of relate to the community.
I would say communications, but also kind of fills them in going. I think that person, that bodhisattva in the community might be struggling, might want to check that out. So they're helpful, very helpful.
And I've often found it very moving and interesting to talk to teachers jishas about their experience and to watch how teachers relate to their attendance.
And Buddha, like I said, during these early days, early awakening days, these first 20 years, had these temporary attendants.
And we've heard about one of them, the venerable Kandana was said to have been one of these assistants for some time until Kandana wanted to do their own thing.
But Kandana was the one who kind of heard Buddha's teaching in a special way and the Wheel Sutra at the end of it.
But today I'd like to talk about another attendant.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Magea.
And there's a writing in the Pali canon in the early teachings about Magea and Buddhist relationship with Magea and Buddhist teaching. I think yesterday we talked about somebody else. Who was it? Was it Bahia?
Yeah.
So this is Magya.
Magya was also from Buddhist hometown Kaplavastu, and was said to be Buddha's attendant in his 13th year of teaching.
So still quite a newbie.
And it's a very human story.
It's such a beautiful story.
And it's a story that emphasizes the importance of dharma companionship.
And also it's a story of kind of slightly half baked spiritual ambition.
You're all pretty ambitious to come and sit a sashin, I'll say that.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: Even ambitious to take on this practice. So nothing wrong with a little bit of that.
But it starts out.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: With Buddha staying in a certain place in a certain time as usual, and with Magya being his attendant.
And Magya went to Buddha showed up and of course, you know, bowed, probably touched his feet or something like that, stood to one side, usually off to the right, and said to Buddha, I would like to go into town to beg for some alms, which is usually food.
And Buddha said, then do so, Magya, do what you think it is time to do.
That's kind of sweet.
Ask permission very respectfully. And Buddha's sick. Yeah.
Then do what you think it's time to do now.
So off Maggie goes.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: Adjusts his robe. It's very interesting how a lot of these are like people are adjusting their robes constantly.
And I'm carrying, I carry on that tradition, but we, you know, this, this robe adjustment tradition.
And then we went into the village for alms and after the meal, after getting some food, returns back to by way of a river. I think it was like the Black Worm river. Apparently it had a lot of blackworms in the soil, probably good for it.
But as Miguel was walking up and down along the bank of the river, says to exercise his legs, he was taking care of his body, maybe getting shaking out his legs a bit, getting ready for some meditation, he saw a pleasing, charming grove.
Seeing it, the thought occurred to him, how pleasing and charming. This is a repetition in these repeated stories, right? How pleasing and charming, this mango grove.
It is good enough for a young man of a good family intent on exertion, which means practice to exert himself in meditation.
If the Blessed One gives me permission, I would like to exert myself in meditation in this mango grove, okay?
So comes back, sees Buddha.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: And reports to Buddha, just now in the early morning, I adjusted my under robe and carrying my bowl and robes because they have extras, I went to the village for alms. So he reports back, having gone to the village after the meal, I went to the bank of this Blackworm river.
And as I was walking up and down the bank of the river, doing kinhan, I guess, kind of, I. I saw a pleasing, charming mango grove.
Seeing it, the thought occurred to me, how pleasing and charming, this mangrove.
Seeing it, the thought occurred to me.
It's good enough for a man of good family intent on meditation, unlike strong meditation, maybe like all the way to complete perfect enlightenment. He doesn't say this, but that's a little bit implied by that exertion, right?
If the Blessed One gives me permission, I would like to exert myself in meditation in this mango grove.
And Buddha said, you know, Magea, as long as I'm still alone, stay here until another monk comes along.
It's very sweet, keep me company.
But Magea asks the same question a second time and said, Buddha, the Blessed One has nothing further to do, nothing further to add what he has done. He's already got like the complete full on enlightenment, Anuttara, samyak, sambodhi, something like that.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: I, however, have something further to do and something further to add to what I have done to my practice.
If the Blessed One gives me permission, I would like to go to the mango grove to exert myself. So this is kind of like you've already got it, but what about me, you know, Imagine that people are talking to Buddha like that, this great, enlightened, glowing being, and they're like, you know, I've got to go off and do my own thing, okay? Even though you said, don't leave me alone.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: My practice is more important.
Buddha was like, as long as I'm still alone, stay here until another monk comes along.
Third time, same thing. I, however, have something further to do, something further to add to what I have done.
The Blessed One gives me permission, I'd like to go the mangrove grove to meditate The Buddha third time says, okay, as you're talking about exerting yourself in meditation, Mageeya, what can we say?
Do what you think it is now time to do.
Kind of sweet. It's also like, trust yourself.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: It's also like, go find out for yourself what happens.
So Magea went deep into the grove and sat down at a certain tree for the days abiding. Isn't that sweet? Meditation? Is the day's abiding, going to abide.
And then so, you know, you sit down like, isn't it great?
I get to just sit in meditation, get my samadhi going, getting moving towards full on, perfect, complete awakening.
And said, now, while Venerable Megio was staying in the mango grove, he was for the most part assailed by three kinds of unskillful thoughts.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Thoughts of sensuality, pleasure, desire, you know, I mean, some people just have sexual fantasies when they're sitting, but sometimes they're also like, just like, you know, blissing out or thinking about how their temple's gonna look next week, you know, something like that.
What clothes, what outfit they're gonna buy on Amazon when they get home, what TV show they're gonna enjoy, that kind of thing.
The next kind were thoughts of ill will.
You know, that person did that to me.
Yeah, you know, I'm going to get back at them or I hate the world, I hate this cushion. I'm not comfortable, you know.
But usually it's like ill will, destructive thinking.
And the third one is actually thoughts of doing harm.
You know, I'm going to get back at you.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: They could be more subtle.
Thoughts are doing harm, but that's for another day.
So emerging from his seclusion in the late afternoon, wait a minute, they didn't even have to sit all night like we do. You know, some people actually, you know, on the night before the end of Sachin, sit up all night.
It's good to try. Usually like at about 3 or 4 in the morning you're like, you know, but it's still good to do time or two in your life.
It's good to have friends around when you do that too, because you get into competition, you know, who's going to leave the zendo first.
That'll come later.
So he emerges from seclusion. Magea comes back to Shakyamuni Buddha and sits down and gives a report. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One just now, while I was staying in the mangrove grove, I was for the most part assailed by three kinds of unskillful thoughts. Thoughts of Sensuality, thoughts of ill will, thoughts of doing harm. And the thought occurred to me, how amazing, how astounding.
Even though it was through faith that I went forth from home to the homeless life, still I'm overpowered by these three kinds of unskillful thoughts.
Thoughts of sensuality, thoughts of ill will, thoughts of doing harm. After all this practice, all my sincerity and what happens?
And Buddha was like, yeah, maybe kind of like, I could have told you so, told you to stay with me. He didn't say that, though. He just said, in one whose practice, let's say, is still immature, five qualities bring it to maturity.
So, so he basically, like, you know, tells this monk, you're kind of not ready. You kind of have some work to do.
It's interesting because, you know, Buddha doesn't say, would you like some instruction? He's just like, yeah, I'm not going to get caught up in this. But let me just tell you, you have some work to do.
But I'll offer you some things that will help you.
You know, these are things that will always help us open and ripen so that we can taste the truth of the Tathagata's words.
So.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: This language can be a little weird. I'm going to summarize this in a minute. But he says there is the case. The first thing is where a monk has admirable people as friends, companions and colleagues. These are good dharma friends is what these admirable people are in one who is still immature in their practice. This is the first quality that brings it to maturity.
Oh, that's pretty good.
So this immaturity from a more technical standpoint is not yet quite ready to fully embody the Eightfold Path. Like, some of the spokes aren't quite aligned yet or maybe even in place.
You're not ready for freewheeling, you know, in the Dharma.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: And the Buddha does offer some ways to arrange one's life to start to really cruise along the Eightfold Path.
So that first one is spiritual friendship.
Kalyana Mitra, find a good friend. This can be a teacher or dharma friends.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: And these are models, guides and support for practice. They're not people who are like, okay, after Sashin, let's go, like, smoke a bunch of weed and get into some trouble or other things.
Not that I, you know, have any problem with things, but that's an advanced practice. But they're not like, you know, taking a mature individual and just saying, go, Go wild. You know, they're actually people who are like, oh, how is Sacheen how is your Sachin? Tell me about it.
Was it easy? Was it hard?
[00:25:03] Speaker B: Or someone who could help you and say, you know, I know you want to do that, but maybe we could just sit here quietly for a little bit and have a cup of tea.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: You know this very famous line, right, that the Buddha declared to Ananda that spiritual friendship is the whole of practice.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: So these things keep returning and being repeated again and again in these early Buddhist writings.
And by the way, I think I said this a little while ago, a couple days ago, could be. I don't even know what day it is anymore.
[00:25:44] Speaker B: But.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: An external condition to support the Eightfold Path is spiritual friendship and an internal condition is wise attention.
So again, these are these teachings, these old school teachings.
It's old school so you can be like, oh my God, give me some more Mahayana stuff. It sounds so beautiful and luminous and you're talking about like, I have to be around people who are kind of boring.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: But anyway, that's the case.
The first thing, Maguya, for making the immature mind mature for liberation, is to have a noble friend, noble companion and noble associate.
Second one, probably even a little more disheartening practice the precepts live in a wholesome way.
The third one is related to. And you know, some of these really resonate with the Eightfold Path, right? Right speech, right conduct.
And this right speech one is sort of that you are hearing, you're surrounding yourself with speaking and hearing the words of Dharma versus like gossip and divisive talk.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: The fourth one is diligent effort and energy.
So this is not cutting corners, you know, like, not being like, ah, I think I'll space out a little bit for this partisan.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: It's okay if you do, because this is a really hard practice. But it's also humbling to know that you're doing it.
You know, it's a little more work. But this effort, that there's kind of buoyant effort and energy is the fourth one.
The fifth one's kind of interesting too.
It's possessing the wisdom where you are endowed with the discernment related to the arising and passing away of states that you're actually understanding the end of suffering.
And this is a little bit like our friend Kandana who is like, oh, everything that arises ceases.
So seeing into that nature of phenomena, impermanence is considered this fifth one.
So this is all this kind of.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: Setting the stage and taking care of practice and purifying the heart and mind, or let's say aligning it with the Dharma and Setting in motion the Dharma. The more you open this way in practice, the more the wheel turns freely, and it just keeps turning until it's kind of freewheeling effortlessly, you know, spinning without moving in stillness.
So this emphasis in this little teaching, the sweet interaction with magia, the attendant to Shakyamuni, Buddha really goes back and emphasizes multiple times that spiritual companionship is the foundation and support for maturing practice.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: And being liberated from suffering.
But then he also goes on and says, and furthermore, when the monk is established.
So we're all monks here today, by the way, in case you didn't notice it.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: When the monk is established in these five qualities, which I think are kind of abundance, in abundance here, more or less.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: Then there are four more additional qualities.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: So Buddha had this love numbers, right? Here's three more, and then there's four more. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, you know. So.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Buddhist says, there's, you know, once you've got those five down, here's four more.
[00:30:00] Speaker B: They should.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: Develop or contemplate the unattractive so as to abandon passion or craving. So this is kind of the standard think about the dissolution of the body, you know. So when you want to go out and, you know, have some plastic surgery to get rid of aging, maybe an antidote is to remember the body and how it is, really.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: But there's many other things that could be involved in that. But first, first have an antidote to this constant craving, let's say.
The second, which is really great as well, is the antidote to ill will and hatred, and that is contemplate metta, or loving kindness. So, you know, at this sashin, we're chanting the meta sutta, but we're also chanting alternately the enmeijuku kannongyo, which is a chanting durrani of compassion, of great compassion.
So these are helping us, supporting us to drop off ill will and hatred.
Another recommendation number three was being mindful of breathing.
Uh, oh, wait a minute. And so does Zen. We're just supposed to, like Sitzawzen, right? Do nothing else.
But Buddha, I think it's okay if you. He says, do this to cut off discursive thinking.
So if your mind is going wild or your body is going wild and you can't settle, I think this is a good idea. Just pay attention to your breath, enjoy your breath, know your breath, or use it as sort of a little stabilizer.
And then there's this interesting one that says the monk should contemplate impermanence to understand or to uproot the perception of a fixed Self.
The conceit is what it's called, conceit of a fixed self, so that the perception of not self or non fixed self, non self, you could say the perception that I exist apart from anything else, to uproot that.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: So that.
[00:32:47] Speaker B: Your understanding of your interconnectedness and fluidity with everything, everywhere, at all time, is made firm or steady.
And this is called the uprooting of the conceit, called I am.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: And it is unbinding right here and now, so it's liberating.
So those are a few additional things.
And then once again, I think yesterday Buddha also had an exclamation. After giving his own teaching, he, you know, speaks a verse. Isn't that beautiful?
On realizing the significance of that, the blessed one exclaimed, little thoughts, subtle thoughts, when followed, stir up the heart.
Not comprehending.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: The thoughts of the heart, not knowing it fully, not knowing your thinking fully, let's say, not knowing your heart fully, one runs here and there, the mind out of control, but comprehending the thoughts of the heart, one who is ardent and mindful restrains them, doesn't go berserk when followed.
They stir up the heart, when awakened, lets go of them without a trace.
So there's this tracelessness that resonates with this study of the self. We study our heart, we study how it's stirred up, and then we can let go of it without a trace.
To study the Buddha way is to study the self, to study our conceit, and to realize it fully, and that no trace of realization remains and continues endlessly.
So this showers benefit on all beings.
So this is our practice.
And maybe I've said more than enough.
So thank you very much for listening to this story of Magya and the Buddha.
