The Heart of the Diamond Sutra - Hogen, Roshi
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Hogen:I take refuge in the Buddha, the great oneness, the being of all things. I take refuge in the Dharma. All the teachings lead to the truth. And I take refuge in the Sangha, all of us who practice, who manifest the wisdom and compassion of the Dharma. Thank you.
Hogen:Good evening, everybody. We just finished a ten day retreat up at Great Vow, and the whole time we spent chanting. Chanting the the name of the Buddha, or just chanting, or toning, or doing different ways of practicing. And so we would go, something like that. Just paying attention to every every little vibration.
Hogen:And we use that as a very concrete way. Sometimes when we're meditating, think, I wanna meditate on something. And so we said, let's do something really concrete. You can hear your voice. You can feel your voice.
Hogen:It's very concrete. You don't have any questions whether you're chanting or not, you know. You just do it. You really know you're doing it. Everybody has their own way of doing it.
Hogen:That happens to be the way I'm I'm I'm doing it these days. So we just finished that retreat, and we had people who were there for all ten days and are here tonight. You know, Corey on line and Patricia and Vivek were all busy practicing with us all week. Really wonderful retreat. So thank you all for being present.
Hogen:But that's not what we're talking about tonight. No. We're talking about a different kind of practice tonight. Tonight, we're talking about the Diamond Sutra. And I think introduced the Diamond Sutra last week.
Hogen:Thank you,. But I wanted to get a little little couple words in here at the beginning. Now the Diamond Sutra is a sutra from a literature called the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the wisdom teachings, the wisdom teachings of the Buddha. And it was probably, generated in the first century BCE before the common era or first century after the common era, somewhere in that that range, about three, 400 after the Buddhist lifetime. So it's a really really basic sutra.
Hogen:And some of the earlier Buddhist teachings really emphasize a lot... I mean, all of Buddhism emphasizes, ethical living precepts. All of Buddhism from the very earliest time up till now, that's a foundation. The first the first thing we can offer anybody is is is precepts, ethical living. So this particular wave of the Diamond Sutra and the Prajnaparamita Sutras has been a part of Buddhism for two thousand years, and it came when people were saying, okay, it is true that I can live ethically, but isn't there more to that?
Hogen:I have to live ethically, that's the foundation. But maybe there's a a larger view. And so that larger view is what Prajnaparamita literature is about, the non dual as they say. Now, the piece that is that I wanted to emphasize tonight is this sutra says two things. And please, regardless of all the other, you know, personal knowledge or all the other stuff that's there, says two things.
Hogen:One thing it says, it says, please help others. So regardless of what else you hear in this sutra, the sutra says, please help others. And it says it says, when I attain enlightenment, I will liberate all sentient beings in every realm of the universe and allow them to pass through the eternal peace of nirvana. Again, you don't have worry about the language. It says, please help others.
Hogen:And it's not... It shouldn't be said phrase like that, when I attain enlightenment, sometime in the future I'll help others, because there's only the present moment. So it's saying, help others however you can, however you need them. If you just get that out of this whole sutra, great. That's all that's all that's required.
Hogen:Everything else is just sort of murky. Forget it. Except the second point it says is, please help others and it says, be generous. Help others be generous. So the whole sutra just is about help others be generous.
Hogen:So you'll hear all kinds of stuff that's in the sutra about not this and not that and other things. But but you know, don't worry about all that. Just help others be generous. If you get anything out of it, help others be generous. Help others be generous.
Hogen:Help others be generous. Just just keep repeating. Help others be generous. That's that's, you know. So very simple sutra.
Hogen:You know, nothing to do. Help others be generous. And be generous by helping others. You know, you can combine them into one thing. Be generous by helping others.
Hogen:And we help others with generosity and hopefully have some love in. So we help help others with generosity and loving kindness. That's it. Very simple sutra. So I wanna make sure that we we we really get that piece really clear because it's got so many other stuff in it.
Hogen:It sort of complicates it all, or sounds like it complicates it all, negates it all, that we lose this is what the sutra is about over and over and over and over and over and over again. If we want to say that the third point, the third point is do it with humility. Do it with humility. Be humble. If you can help others, you're going to be kind, you're going be generous, don't do it with arrogance.
Hogen:Don't worry about I am so special. I am so cool. I'm helping you. I'm a bodhisattva. Wow.
Hogen:The sutra recommends not doing that. So there you go. That's the whole sutra. And we're going to spend the rest of the next three months talking about that point. Help others, be kind, be generous, don't be arrogant.
Hogen:Right? And we can all get that. So, you know, this sutra was 2,000 years old, so it's got 2,000 year old language in it. It's got some other points in it. The point about humility is is probably a really point that runs through the whole thing.
Hogen:The humility is don't be arrogant. Don't be arrogant. Don't be don't be, you know, you know, it's all about me. Don't be arrogant. It runs through the whole sutra.
Hogen:But don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Just be generous. Just be kind. Whatever that means.
Hogen:Just be generous. Just be kind. There we go. That's the whole talk. Right?
Hogen:You could stop right there. And you can see the same talk every week while we're doing this. It's all the Sutra is about. Everything else is extra. Elaborate a little bit more.
Hogen:So again, generous, kind, don't be arrogant. Now part of the don't be arrogant is if we look at who is the one doing things, it's kind of hard to find the one who is doing all the action. It's fine. Who is the one thinking our thoughts? Who is the one who's who's who's thinking our thoughts?
Hogen:Who is the where is the eye located? It's kind of hard to find that. You know? So it just says, yeah, don't worry about it. There is no eye.
Hogen:Just forget it. Just be kind and be generous. Don't be arrogant. But if you're a practitioner who's practicing and you're in the Zen tradition or the Mahayana tradition, we often encourage people, look back at the nature of mind. Look at the nature of everything.
Hogen:Don't don't just make assumptions about things. Look at the nature of things. Reflect deeply. And so the sutra has some bunch of things about reflecting deeply. You know?
Hogen:Be kind, be generous, be humble, and then if you have time, reflect deeply. But, you know, reflecting deeply, that's, you know, that's that's extra. Just be kind, be generous, be humble. Now, the sutra, you know, kind of goes on and it breaks things down and it says things like, no one who's a true bodhisattva undertakes such concepts as self and other. You know, that's a bunch of words.
Hogen:Be kind, be generous, help others. Don't be arrogant. Arrogant means, you know, I am cool. You know? And I am going to help you who is so broken.
Hogen:Arrogant means, I'm going to help all those poor people out there who are so weak, and who are so troubled, and who are so broken, and who are so who are so needy. I am a great bodhisattva who is now going to step forward and... It's horrible. Horrible. The bodhisattva says, oh, everybody's doing their best.
Hogen:Everybody's doing the best they can do. And if I could be encouraging, great. I'll be encouraging. Everybody's doing the best they can do. And if I can give something here to help, great.
Hogen:But we look at we look at the world not as a place of brokenness and darkness and and and this discomfort and disease, but a great place that everybody's doing their best. Isn't it amazing that we're here at all? Isn't it amazing that that the sun comes up? Isn't it amazing that we have a life? Everybody's doing their best.
Hogen:And so, given everybody's doing their best, what do we do? We'd be kind, we'd be generous, we'd be humble. It's so simple. Don't listen to this sutra and get complicated, you know. Just just extra.
Hogen:Extra. Extra. In reality, there is no self to attain enlightenment, no sentient beings to... If it's true there's no self, then don't worry about it. Forget it.
Hogen:There's nothing to worry about. No other... Don't forget it. It's not important. Just be kind and generous.
Hogen:You know, it doesn't matter whether you're self or no self. Who cares? Just be kind and generous. Your neighbors do not care whether you see self or no self. They do not get it.
Hogen:Want to know, are you a kind, generous person? That's all that matters. So so, you know, really the the sutra it sounds so complicated, know. This is not that, and that is not this, and this is it. It's just, you know, be kind and be generous.
Hogen:Now, for those of you who have complicated minds, I'll say a little bit more. One of the things the sutra is is all... We we have this, none of them are here. During this session, we had we had Kosho and Rinso. Rinso is the monastery, and Kosho is usually here on Sunday nights.
Hogen:And Ginmei, who sometimes is here, was at the monastery. And we chanted this whole thing, this is Stephen Mitchell's version of it. We chanted the the entire thing in like fifteen minutes. And so that means we were chanting at a blind ing pace. We had we had somebody on the with two mallets going.
Hogen:It was a blinding... You could not you could not... If you thought about a line, if you said, what does that mean? You're already pages behind. It was so fast.
Hogen:But that's what the sutra is saying. The sutra is saying. The sutra says, just be kind and be generous. Don't worry about it. Just be kind and be generous.
Hogen:Don't worry about it. And we we did this this amazing chant so that we were actually manifesting that. If you were not wholly completely present, you're already behind. So the sutra is just about be wholly completely present, be kind, be generous, don't be don't be be humble, don't be arrogant. Simple.
Hogen:So, you know, no one who is a true bodhisattva entertains such concepts as self and other. Well, if that's true, there's no one to bother with self and other. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. It's just perciflage.
Hogen:Be kind. Be generous. Help others. Be... Don't be arrogant.
Hogen:So the sutra keeps saying over and over again, you know, if you if you start looking deeply into this, if you start taking things apart, everything can be everything can be taken apart if you want to. You know, you have a car, you can take the car apart, you take the parts apart, and you end up with rubble. You know? But it's much more interesting with the car than it is as rubble. So if you decide, know, you don't want to take things apart, that's okay.
Hogen:Just be kind, be generous, be humble. But if you're the kind of person who likes to tinker with stuff and take things apart, you can't take this whole thing apart. You can't take generosity apart. You can't take kindness apart. You can't take all that apart.
Hogen:But, you know, unless you're one of these obsessed people who is insists upon looking at that sort of stuff, don't worry about it. Just be kind, be generous, help others, be humble. That's in case I haven't said that before. I mean, this this sutra has got so much stuff in it. It it suddenly, you know, it gets it gets so complicated.
Hogen:Let me ask you something, The space to the east is incalculable, isn't it? Yes, sir. It is indeed. Good, Subuti. It isn't the same in any direction of the universe.
Hogen:Isn't space in the direction incalculable? Yes, that's correct. Well, if that's if that's the case, why worry about it? It's infinite. Incalculable here, incalculable there, incalculable here, incalculable here.
Hogen:We're surrounded by mystery. We're surrounded by the incalculable space. Big deal. Great. Be be kind.
Hogen:Be generous. Be humble. So so he just says, know, wow, you're... Got a lot of space around you. Okay.
Hogen:Great. Now, the piece that's also really interesting is he said, okay, the merit the merit if... So equally incalculable is the merit attained by a bodhisattva who acts generously. So that's that's an interesting piece here, is it talks about merit. Now, I think it's just so better to think what is practical.
Hogen:If you were kind, and you were generous, and you were helping others, and you're not arrogant, how do people around you feel? They generally feel good. They generally like you more. That's it. That's the merit.
Hogen:People generally feel good. People generally like you more. And guess what? When when you're feeling good, you get into actually... It's easier to be generous.
Hogen:Right? So when you're feeling good, you're more generous. There's all this interesting research about people who are in a big hurry. If they're in a big hurry, I've got to do this. I've got to do that.
Hogen:They're much more likely to to ignore people asking for help. They're much more likely to ignore people. Or people who are in a really grumpy mood are much more likely to be unkind and to be inconsiderate. But if we're practicing kindness, generosity, humility, We feel better. People around us feel better.
Hogen:And it's easier to practice kindness, generosity, and humility. And then people feel better some of the time, most of the time. We feel better. And so it's a an endless cycle of this growth. And after a while, you don't worry about what am I getting out of this or what's happening with you.
Hogen:You just say, okay, my my intention in my heart is to be kind, and to be generous, and to be humble. So, you know, you make that vow according to your life. My particular... One of my particular vows is I show up on Sunday nights. You know?
Hogen:Just my way of being kind, trying to be generous, and trying to help others. So I just made that vow twenty years ago, twenty five years ago, however many it was. That's what I do on Sunday nights. You make the vow according to your life according to your life. How can you be of help?
Hogen:How can you be of service? You know? You rake the neighbor's leaves every fall, you know? You take some... There's lots of elderly people.
Hogen:As I'm getting older, I realize, oh, there's a whole lot of things I can't do anymore. It's such a help to have somebody come over and, you know, help her clean or move things. The merit that we're talking about is is this kind of reflective sense of I'm I'm I'm engaged in the world. I'm offering what I can offer to the world and we feel better. Now, that has a a limit to it.
Hogen:If you're a police officer, if you're a medical doctor, if you're an EMT, if you're a nurse, if you're a social worker, if you're somebody who's on the front line of of suffering, who's doing their best offer offer offer. First off, people are often very ungrateful in those situations. You know, they have all these these signs in hospitals, know, don't assault the doctors, don't assault the nurses. People get so frightened and so air... So reactive and so fearful and they're so they're they're so feel out of control.
Hogen:So the people on the front lines, any of us on any front line, we we... If we're expecting people to be responsive and kind, usually that's the case. And often that's the case. But sometimes that's not the case. Sometimes people are are hostile and narrow minded and really really mean.
Hogen:So that's just the way the world is. But the practice is even in the face of mean people, even in the face of of unkind people, I can still practice loving kindness. I can still become more loving. The the smaller mind as somebody is, the bigger I have to be. The the the more challenged there has to be, the...
Hogen:If there's a challenge, the more skillful I have to be. Every challenge, every kind of gnarly person that we encounter is if we have this aspiration requires that somehow our capacity becomes larger, that our ability to love becomes larger, that our ability to respond becomes larger, that our skill becomes larger. So we have the aspiration to be kind, be generous, help others, be be humble. And sometimes it works really well, and then there are places that there's a block. We can't do that.
Hogen:It's not working well. Okay. We can always say the problem is out there. All those people, all those, you know, idiots, all those whatevers. Or we could say, okay.
Hogen:I've reached the limit of my capacity to be kind and to be generous and to help others. I now have to expand my view of the world. I now have to expand my view of who I am. I now have to to become bigger. What we see is every time there's a duality, up and down, in and out, right and wrong, there's always a duality.
Hogen:But from a larger perspective, those dualities are seen as just part of the dance. They're both part of the dance. Both important part of the dance. You can't have up without down. You can't have in without out.
Hogen:You can't have kindness without grumpiness. Part of dance. And so then, as we are practicing this, we're basically learning how to dance. Learning how to dance. And we get a terrible partner who steps on our feet and is really clunky, and we have to kind of say, okay, I've got to become graceful for both of us.
Hogen:Kind, generous, humble. Great. With humility. Great. So you've you've all passed diamond suture one zero one.
Hogen:Right? So everything else is just confusion. Everything else is just confusion.
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