My Blog About Buddhism: July 2008

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

"Finding Our True Home" by Thich Nhat Hanh

On the opening day of the Colors of Compassion retreat I posed the question: Do you have a home? You may be black, yellow, brown, or white and you are living in the United States ––but do you have a home? Do you have a true home where you feel comfortable, peaceful, and free?

There are white people who live in the United States but still do not feel that they have a home here. They want to leave because they don’t feel comfortable with the economic, political, and military policies of this country. In Vietnam it’s the same. There are those who have Vietnamese nationality but who do not feel that Vietnam is their true home They do not feel loved or understood, and they do not feel that they have a future there, so they want to leave their country.

Who amongst us has a true home? Who feels comfortable in their country? After posing this question to the retreatants for contemplation, I responded. I said: “I have a home, and I feel very comfortable in my home.” Some people were surprised at my response, because they know that for the last thirty-eight years I have not been allowed to return to Vietnam to visit, to teach, or to meet my old friends and disciples. But although I have not been able to go back to Vietnam , I am not in pain. I do not suffer, because I have found my true home.

My true home is not in France where Plum Village practice center is located. My true home is not in the United States . My true home cannot be described in terms of geographic location or in terms of culture. It is too simplistic to say I am Vietnamese. In terms of nationality and culture, I can see very clearly a number of national and cultural elements in me –– Indonesian, Malaysian, Mongolian, and others. There is no separate nationality called Vietnamese; the Vietnamese culture is made up of other cultural elements.

There are elements of Chinese, French, and Indian culture in me. You cannot take these out of me. If you remove them, I will not be the person who is sitting here. In me there are also cultural elements from Africa , and beautiful elements of Native American culture in me. For example, in my room I hang a dream catcher so I can contemplate my dreams just for fun.

I have a home that no one can take away, and I feel very comfortable in that home. In my true home there is no discrimination, no hatred, because I have the desire and the capacity to embrace everyone of every race, and I have the aspiration, the dream to love and help all peoples and all species. I do not feel anyone is my enemy. Even if they are pirates, terrorists, Communists, or anti-Communists, they are not my enemies. That is why I feel very comfortable.

I heard the story of a young Japanese man who went into a café. While he was drinking his coffee he heard two young men talking in Vietnamese and crying. The young Japanese man asked them in English: “Why are you crying?” The Vietnamese men said: “We cannot go back to our country, our homeland. The government there will not allow us to go back.” The Japanese man got upset and said: “This is not worth crying over. Even though you are in exile and cannot go back to your country, you still have a country, a place where you belong. But I do not have a country to go back to.

“I was born and raised in the United States , and culturally I am American. But I feel uncomfortable because Americans do not truly accept me; they see me as foreigner. So I went to Japan and tried to make it my home. But when I arrived the Japanese people told me that the way I speak and behave are not Japanese and I was not accepted as a Japanese person. So, even though I have an American passport and even though I can go to Japan , I do not have a home. But you do have a home.”

Like the Japanese-American in the story, there are many young Asian-Americans who have been born and raised in the United States , who are American in their way of thinking and acting, and they want to be seen as true Americans, immersed in this culture. But other Americans do not accept them as Americans because their skin color is yellow. So they feel sad and want to go back to Japan , Korea , or Vietnam to find their home. They think: if it’s not in America , my home has to be somewhere else. But they don’t fit in with the culture of their ancestral country either. Other Asians call them ‘bananas’ because though their skin is yellow, inside they are white, completely American. This also happens to African-Americans who go to Africa but aren’t accepted there.

This is not to say that white people have found their home and feel comfortable in the United States . Just like Vietnamese people in Vietnam , many people do not feel comfortable in their own country and want to go elsewhere. Very few among us have found our true home. Even though we have nationality, we have citizenship, and a passport that allows us to go anywhere in the world, we still do not have a home.

Life is Our True Home

In the Colors of Compassion retreat we have learned and practiced to be in contact with our true home, the true home that cannot be described by geographical area, culture, or race.

Every time we listen to the sound of the bell in Deer Park or in Plum Village , we silently recite this poem: “I listen, I listen, this wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.” Where is our true home that we come back to? Our true home is life, our true home is the present moment, whatever is happening right here and right now. Our true home is the place without discrimination, the place without hatred. Our true home is the place where we no longer seek, no longer wish, no longer regret. Our true home is not the past; it is not the object of our regrets, our yearning, our longing, or remorse. Our true home is not the future; it is not the object of our worries or fear. Our true home lies right in the present moment. If we can practice according to the teaching of the Buddha and return to the here and now, then the energy of mindfulness will help us to establish our true home in the present moment.

According to the teaching of the Buddha, the Pure Land lies in the present moment; nirvana and liberation lie in the present moment. All of our spiritual and blood ancestors are here if we know how to come back to the present moment. My true home is the Pure Land , my true home is true life, so I do not suffer or seek. I do not run after anything anymore. I very much want all of you who have come here for the retreat, whether your color is black, white, brown, or yellow, to also be able to practice the teaching of the Buddha in order to come back to the present moment, penetrate this moment and discover your true home. I have found my true home. I do not seek, I do not worry, I do not suffer anymore. I have happiness, and I want all of my friends, students, and disciples to be able to reach your true home and stop trying to find it in space, time, culture, territory, nationality, or race.

The Buddha offers us wonderful practices so we can end our worries, our suffering, our seeking, our regrets, and so we can be in contact with the wonders of life right in the present moment. When we have the mind of nondiscrimination, we can open our arms to embrace all people and all species and everybody can become the object of our love. When we can do this, we have a true home that no one can take away from us. Even if they occupy our country or put us in prison, our true home is still ours, and they can never take it away. I speak these words to the young people, to those of you who feel that you have never had a home. I speak these words to the parents who feel that the old country is no longer your home but that the new country is not yet your home. Perhaps you can grasp this practice so you can find your true home and help your children find their true home. This is what I wish for you.

Life is Our True Home

In the Colors of Compassion retreat we have learned and practiced to be in contact with our true home, the true home that cannot be described by geographical area, culture, or race.

Civilization is Openness and Tolerance

If you have only one way of thinking, one way of behaving, then you are confined to the limits of your culture. With your habitual way of thinking, you imprison yourself and you cannot understand the suffering, the difficulties, the dreams of people of other races or nationalities. You have a view about freedom, about happiness, about the future, and you want to force that view upon other cultures, other nations, other groups of people, and you create suffering for them. You think that everybody has to follow a certain economic model, a certain way of thinking, and only then are they civilized. When you think in this way, you have tied yourself up with a rope, and you cause danger and suffering to yourself and others.

We need to learn to let go and be open to other ways of thinking and behaving. We should not think of ourselves as superior in terms of race, science, or ideology. We have to practice to open our hearts, to learn about other cultures and other ways of thinking and behaving, so we can establish communication with people of other nations. If you were born and raised in the United States you should not let the American culture imprison you. Try to learn about the country your parents and ancestors came from. This will help you develop good communication with your parents and your ancestors; otherwise you may be cut off from the cultural stream that is one of your deepest roots.

Do not think that the culture and education you received growing up in the United States is superior. We have to open our hearts to learn about the cultures of Asians, Africans, Europeans, and others. Europeans think and behave differently than Americans, even though many Americans have European ancestors. When we have a stubborn attitude, caught in the values, culture, and way of thinking of our own civilization, we are narrow-minded and isolated. The United States right now is isolated politically and militarily. The way many Americans think and respond to violence and terrorism is not the same way most Europeans think and respond. We need to listen to the Europeans and to people of other nations. We need to learn to let go of the view that our way of reacting and behaving is the best. When we are able to practice the Buddha’s teaching and come back to the present moment, we are in contact with our true home. Then we are not narrow-minded, we are not discriminating, and our hearts are open to embrace all races, all cultures.

To be civilized means to be open-minded, to offer space to others to live according to their views. Civilization is opening our arms to embrace all races, all people, all species; it is not thinking that our race or our culture is superior to all others. If young people can open their hearts wide to learn about their own and other cultures, they will begin to have rich insights. They can help those who are still isolated and caught in their own culture to come together with those from other cultures. This will allow understanding and acceptance to grow, remove boundaries, and heal conflicts.

Speaking to Young People

If you have a great aspiration to learn about other cultures, to go to other countries and to help people accept and understand each other, you have a very great ideal. With that ideal you will not get stuck in despair, blaming others for your difficulties; instead your life will be very meaningful. I am sharing these words with the young people. Many young people have no path and don’t know what to do with their life each day. So they turn to drugs or alcohol and waste their lives. This is such a pity, because each young person can become a great bodhisattva, a great enlightened being whose deepest desire is to help people and bring together those who are separated by hatred or cultural difference.

Dear Sangha, I don’t want to be narrow-minded. I don’t say that Vietnamese culture is the best. Vietnam has many good things, but also many negative things. Buddhism has many good things, but also many negative things. One shortcoming of Buddhism is that we just talk, talk, talk about Buddhism but we do not practice. We can talk beautifully about non-self but we have a big sense of self, a huge ego.

I have the capacity to see the good and beautiful things in other cultures and spiritual traditions. My true home is vast, immense. And my two arms can embrace all nations and all religions. I do not hate, I do not have any enemies, not even the terrorists and those who wage war on terrorism. I only love them. I want the opportunity to come close to them, listen to them, and help them to let go of their wrong perceptions, hatred, and violence.

There is no hatred in my true home; therefore I have happiness. Even though there is discrimination, violence, and craving in life, I use these things as nourishment for my practice. It is just like a garden: wherever there are flowers there has to be garbage. If you leave flowers for five or ten days they will become garbage. An intelligent gardener will collect all the garbage to make compost and so bring forth an abundance of fruits and flowers. It is not a matter of not having garbage, it is a matter of knowing how to transform garbage into flowers.

Surrounding us are many wonders: the blue sky, the white clouds, the blossoming flowers, the singing birds, the majestic mountains, the flowing rivers, countless animals, the sunlight, the fog, the snow; innumerable wonders of life. The Kingdom of God is here in the present moment, but because we have hatred and discrimination we are not able to be in touch with it.

The Buddha teaches us not to be foolish, not to run after the objects of desire: riches, fame, power, and sensual pleasure. There are people who have a lot of money, power, fame, and sex, but they suffer endlessly; some even commit suicide. When we listen to the Buddha and come back to the present moment to be in touch with the wonders of life, we become rich, we become free from objects of craving, and we have the opportunity to recognize our wonderful true home. If we have found our true home then we will have enough love and understanding to help transform and heal the wounds caused by violence, hatred, and discrimination.

No Enemies

When I ask: “Do you have a home yet?” you might say: “Not yet. But with this teaching and this practice I see that I can have a home.” It’s true. The teaching of the Buddha is the teaching of dwelling peacefully and joyfully in the present moment. If we know how to come back to the present moment and generate the energy of mindfulness, concentration, and insight, we will be in touch with the wonders of life. We will have happiness immediately. We will have insights. We will no longer discriminate or be narrow-minded. We can open our arms to embrace all species, all peoples, and we have no enemies. To have no enemies is a wonderful thing. When we have no enemy, no reproach, no blaming, then our mind is light like a cloud. I have no discrimination or hatred, so my mind is light and I have great happiness. I want you to be able to practice like that so that you have your true home, so that you do not accuse and judge the people who have caused you suffering. Do not look at them as your enemies, but see them as people who need understanding and compassion so that you can help them. That is the bodhisattva’s way of looking.

We can all have this way of looking. To call ourselves children of the Buddha, we need to have the eyes of the Buddha, the eyes of compassion, the eyes of love. “Looking at life with the eyes of compassion” is a phrase from the Lotus Sutra. We use the eyes of compassion to look at all people and see that they are all our loved ones. We can help Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, anyone. Nobody is our enemy.

What is Your True Name?

Now I want to ask you a second question: “What is your true name?” What name do you feel most comfortable with, most happy with? What are your true names? I have written a poem on this contemplation called “Please Call Me by My True Names.”

This poem was based on a real event. There was an eleven year-old girl escaping from Vietnam with her family. She was raped by a pirate, right on her boat. Her father tried to intervene, but the pirate threw her father into the sea. After the child was raped she jumped into the ocean to commit suicide. We received the news of this event one day in our Buddhist Association office in Paris . It was so upsetting to me that it kept me from sleeping; I felt anger, blame, and despair. But if we are practitioners we cannot let blame and despair drown us; we have to practice walking meditation, sitting meditation, mindful breathing, and deep looking.

That evening in sitting meditation I saw myself being born as a baby boy into a very poor fishing family on the coast of Thailand . My father was a fisherman, as had been his father and grandfather. He had never gone to the temple, he had never received any Buddhist teaching or any education. The politicians, educators, and social workers in Thailand never helped my father. My mother was also illiterate, and she did not know how to raise children. When I turned thirteen I became a fisherman. I had never gone to school, I had never heard of the Buddhadharma, I had never felt loved or understood, and I lived in a chronic poverty which had persisted from one generation to the next.

Then one day another young fisherman said to me: “Let’s go out onto the ocean. There are boat people that pass near here and they often carry gold and jewelry, sometimes even money. Just one trip and we can be free from this poverty.” So I accepted the invitation. I thought: we only need to take away a little bit of their jewelry, it won’t do any harm, and then we can be free from this poverty. The first time I went out I did not even know that I had become a pirate. But once out on the ocean, I saw the other pirates raping young women on the boats. I had never touched a young woman, I had never even thought about holding hands or going out with a young woman. But on the boat there was a very beautiful young woman, and there was no policeman to forbid me, and I saw other people doing it, and I asked myself: “Why shouldn’t I try it too? This may be my chance to try the body of a young woman.” So I did it.

If you were there on the boat and you had a gun, you could have shot me, but that would not have helped me. I needed to be taught how to love, how to understand, how to see the suffering of others. I needed to be taught what was wholesome and what was unwholesome, and how to understand cause and effect. I was living in the dark.

As I continued sitting. I saw hundreds of babies being born that night along the coast of Thailand under the same circumstances, many of them baby boys. If the politicians and cultural ministers could look deeply, they would see that within twenty years those babies would become pirates. When I was able to see that, I understood. When I put myself in the situation of being born in a family that was uneducated and poor from one generation to the next, I saw that I would not be able to avoid becoming a pirate. When I saw that, my hatred, my resentment, my reproach vanished, and I felt that I could love that pirate.

When I saw those babies being born and growing up with no help, I knew that I had to do something so that they would not become pirates. The energy of a bodhisattva arose in my mind, the energy of love. I did not suffer anymore, but I had a lot of compassion and I could embrace not only the eleven-year old child who was raped, but also the pirate.

When you address me as “Venerable Nhat Hanh,” I answer, “yes,” but when you call the name of the child who was raped, I also answer, “yes.” And if you call the name of the pirate, I would also answer, “yes.” Because they are also me. If I had been born in that area under those circumstances I would also have become the pirate. And so I could embrace both of them, in order to help not only that young girl but also the pirate. I am the child in Uganda all skin and bones, my two legs as thin as bamboo sticks. And I am also the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda . Those poor children in Uganda do not need bombs, they need food to eat. But here in America I live by producing bombs and guns, and if we want others to buy guns and bombs we have to create wars. If you call the name of the child in Uganda , I answer, “yes.” And if you call the name of those who produce the bombs and guns I also answer, “yes.” When I am able to see that I am those people, my hatred is gone and I am determined to live in a way that I can help the victims, and I can also help those who create the wars and destruction.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Three Treasures Suzuki Roshi , June 11, 1967

Today I will explain Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Originally, Buddha is, of course, the one who attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and became a teacher of all the teachers. Dharma is the teaching which was told by Buddha, and Sangha is the group who studied under Buddha. This way of understanding Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is called the "manifested three treasures," or as we say in Japanese, Genzen Sambo. Genzen is to appear. Of course, whether Buddha appeared or not, there is truth. But if there is no one who realizes the truth, the truth means nothing to us. So in this sense we say the manifestation of truth: the manifestation of truth is Sangha.

People who join the practice with harmony and unity are called Sangha. So Sangha means not only his group, but also the state of harmony or unity. Also truth itself is Dharma, and the truth which is not divided into various forms is called Buddha, which is another interpretation of the three treasures. That kind of understanding is called "one body/three treasures." Although there are three treasures, it is an interpretation of the one reality. So we call this kind of interpretation, "one body/three treasures", ittai sambo. Ittai: ichi is "one"; itai is "body"; sambo is "three treasures." Ittai sambo.

But within the social framework of culture we have Buddhist culture. That culture consists of Buddha and his teaching, and the priests or followers of Buddhism. So, this understanding of three treasures in Japanese is called juji sambo. Juji actually means cultural sambo. Existing sambo is what exists in society or within cultural framework. So, beautiful buildings and Buddhist art or Buddha's image are, perhaps, Buddha. Scriptures in beautiful design and literature are Dharma.

And priests in robes are maybe sangha. Juji sambo, or cultural sambo, is closely related to society. The Buddhist organization is also Sangha. So there are three ways of understanding the three treasures, but actually the three are not different. It is one and it is three. This is a very old way of oriental thinking, even before Buddha. Buddha applied this interpretation to our framework of teaching. I think Christianity has the idea of trinity. This is the universal framework of religion. But in Buddhism there are many sects, so Buddhism does not combine many ways of understanding in one school.

Each school is based on some particular understanding or some standpoint. We do not take many standpoints in one school. In Japan, especially, we emphasize this point. This is not sectarianism. Once we take a standpoint, we should develop that standpoint through and through until we can understand various standpoints. At first, each way of understanding has its own insight. But if your understanding becomes higher and higher, you can see other standpoints with understanding at the same time.

This is how we establish various schools in Buddhism. The Nichiren school takes the standpoint of Dharma. Dharma includes the other two, Buddha and Sangha. So their object of worship is the Lotus Sutra, and they repeat nam myo ho renge kyo. Myo ho ren ge kyo is the Lotus Sutra. Nam is scripture. Nam myo ho ren ge kyo is the title of the Lotus Scripture. The Shin School repeats Amida Buddha's name: namu Amida Butsu, namu Amida Butsu, namu Amida Butsu. The Zen school repeats Buddha's name, but the emphasis is on Sangha, and they are not so concerned about the intellectual viewpoint or understanding. So we just repeat the founder's name and say namu Shakyamuni Butsu. When we say namu Shakyamuni Butsu, his scripture is included and his Sangha is also included; and we are a part of the Sangha. And even though we members of the Sangha are not direct disciples of Buddha, we are the descendants of Buddha.

We are successors of Buddha. So, because we emphasize the practice of attaining enlightenment as Buddha did, we naturally put emphasis also on Sangha. By practice we will build our character as Buddha did. So that is why we call Shakyamuni Buddha's name. For us it is natural to repeat Shakyamuni Buddha's name rather than Amida Buddha's name or the name of a scripture. If you repeat the name of some scripture, you are liable to be bound by some teaching which was told by Buddha. But actually, it is impossible to authorize some teaching as the absolute teaching because something which is told by some particular person could not be absolute, even though it was told by Buddha. It may be impossible to authorize the teaching for human beings.

You may say that, if it is impossible to authorize even the teaching told by Buddha, then how is it possible to authorize some person as a Buddha (laughs). This is the point we are studying. This is why we emphasize our practice. And we have a particular understanding of practice. The practice of other schools, for instance the Nichiren School or the Shin School, is quite different from how we need to understand our practice.

This practice is called practice based on original enlightenment. It may look quite unusual to authorize Buddha's Sangha, but this is more adequate and understandable. I'm not trying to explain this point today because I repeat it over and over. So Soto Zen emphasizes transmission from Buddha to us, and we emphasize Sangha, those who have transmission and who are disciples of Buddha.

What I have talked about up to now is, in short, about the three ways of understanding the three treasures. The first is the manifested three treasures. The next is one body/three treasures, or philosophical understanding of the oneness of the three treasures. It is necessary to be concentrated on one thing. If we have three objects of worship, it is difficult to be concentrated; so we have to have some philosophical or intellectual understanding. But, in fact, what exists here is the actual activity of Buddha. Therefore we emphasize the Sangha. So the third one is the understanding of our daily activity. That is the traditional three treasures or cultural three treasures. But the cultural three treasures are supported by philosophy and Buddha's teaching and Buddha's character. So the cultural three treasures cannot be separated from the other two. When understanding those three treasures, each one will complement the other two and make our understanding complete. This is the Soto way of understanding the three treasures. We have the three treasures and what we do is practice zazen; that is our way. So, our understanding of practice is very different from that of other schools.

Each school has its own particular understanding of the three treasures. If you study each school's understanding of the three treasures, you will have perfect understanding. And you will find out that even though there are many schools, actually what each one means is the same. It must be so because religious life is the expression of our inmost nature which is universal to everybody. So, as Buddha attained enlightenment, we will attain enlightenment. What Buddha was striving for is the same thing we are striving for because we have the same inmost nature as a human being.

When we project our inmost nature into the objective world as Buddha, Dharma, or Sangha, it is nothing but our inmost desire to want to be someone whom you can accept. You strive for something acceptable in its true sense. So it is the same thing. You create God, and you strive for God. It means you are striving for yourself. And as we have the same human nature, your understanding of it must be the same. But if the standpoint is different, the way of explanation should be different, that's all.

Tentatively, I am giving you some explanation of the three treasures. It may be necessary to explain it more, but as we have no time, I will explain the next paragraph.

"We should revere the three treasures and make offerings to them. Veneration of the Buddha, the law and the priesthood is in accordance with a precept handed down from the Lord Buddha in India to the patriarchs of China. These are the most important precepts handed down from Buddha to us. We should not worship a Genie of the mountains, or call upon the spirit of death for any reason whatsoever, nor should we pay homage to any heretical religion or religious edifice. Such worship does not lead to emancipation. The Three Treasures are not just an idea invented by someone. They are the universal framework of all the advanced religions, not just the framework of the Buddhist religion. But some hasty person, who usually does not pay any attention to religion, finding himself in some difficulty, may worship something like the god of fire, or god of water or some powerful natural spirit without any idea of what the teaching is, what god is, or true practice."

It is quite easy to know our inmost nature if it is related to the right way. And if we express that inmost nature in an appropriate way, it will develop. But if our inmost nature is misled by a hasty idea, a person may go astray and even destroy himself. That is why he says you should not worship the Genie of the mountains or call upon the spirit of death for any reason whatsoever. This is too simple.

Nor should we pay homage to any heretical...here it says heretical, but heretical is not an adequate translation. I don't know if you have an appropriate word for this. We say gedo. Gedo is "outer way." "Outer way" is just a classification. We call Buddhist scripture "inner scripture," and other, non-Buddhist literature is called "outer." Whether inner or outer,it is the same thing; inside and outside. Outside does not mean bad, and inside is not always good; inside, outside. Gedo means outer religion while Buddhists call our way or our scriptures nai ten.

So, as Buddhists, we should not take absolute refuge in outer religious scriptures or organizations. It is not because they are bad, but because we should not mix up our viewpoint. If you try to discover something good, like a monkey in a cage, you will not find out anything. All you will find is radishes. And your stomach will be hurt (laugh). That is not our way. We should make some human effort always. That is why he says we should not pay homage to outer religious edifices. Such worship does not lead to emancipation. If we have only an idea of the Three Treasures, the Three Treasures will be the goal. If you just have an idea of God without a teaching of the way to God, you will be lost. You will be discouraged. If there is a God, there should be a way to God. But God is the absolute one. So it is a perpetual idea we have which cannot be attained. This point should be understood by people.

It is necessary to have some way to enjoy Buddhahood. Someone who enjoys or rejoices in Buddha nature is the perfect one, or Buddha. This kind of framework is very important. And there must be some practice. There must be some understanding of life. For us, our everyday life is practice itself. So in our everyday life we have religion, if you understand Buddhism. Of course, you will reach Buddhahood through your activity in everyday life. But if you worship some god just because of fear, in what way can you appeal to your inmost request? You will be lost. You will not be lead to emancipation.

Before Buddhism became popular in Japan, Prince Shotaku set up our Constitution for the Japanese people. In the second chapter he said, "Respect the Three Treasures." He said that to follow the Three Treasures is the supreme way of attaining liberation for everyone. Because we use the terminology of Buddhism, it looks like what we are talking about is just Buddhism, but it is not actually so. That is why he says that if you worship some immature religion you will not attain enlightenment. To take refuge in the Triple Treasure it is necessary to have a pure faith. Whether it be at the time of the Tathagata or after his disappearance from the world, we should repeat his formula with clasped hands and bowed head: I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.

Pure faith includes our mental, physical and verbal effort. It is not enough to just think something or say something superficial. So pure faith means, not just faith in something, but real action, reality, realized action. It is necessary to have real practice.

You should take refuge in the Triple Treasure with real effort, not false effort. And it doesn't matter whether it is in the time of the Buddha Tathagata or not. In Dogen's time, almost everyone believed in the Three Periods of Buddhism. They said that in the last period the people will not believe in him and Buddhism will fade away into some other religion. But Dogen did not believe in it. So there is no difference in our practice, whether Buddha is here or not. This was his belief.

We take refuge in the Buddha because he is the great teacher. We take refuge in the Law because it is our medicine and points the way. We take refuge in the Sangha because the members are our wise friends. Although the Three Treasures are one, the understanding, or the way they help us is different. It is through this triple adoration that we become the disciples of Buddha. Without the Triple Treasure, or if one of them is missing, we cannot be a disciple of the Buddha. It is on the basis of this adoration that all the moral precepts of Buddhism rest.

We say "adoration", but just to adore Buddha is like a dream. It means nothing. So adoration should follow some actual practice or guidance. Without guidance, God means nothing. Even though you believe in a God, it will not help you, actually, if your everyday life is cut off from God. In that way God means nothing. So all the great religions have their teachings and followers. And where there are followers, there should be a way to attain enlightenment. Not in the next life, but in this moment. This is Buddhism.

To take refuge in the Triple Treasure it is necessary to have pure faith, whether it be in the time of the Tathagata or after his disappearance from the world. We should repeat this formula with clasped hands and bowed head. D.T. Suzuki's translation is: "I take refuge in the Buddha, the incomparable honored one. I take refuge in the Dharma, honorable for its purity. I take refuge in the Sangha, honorable for its harmonious life. I have finished taking refuge in the Buddha. I have finished taking refuge in the Dharma. I have finished taking refuge in the Sangha."

In Japanese it is simpler: namu kie Butsu, namu kie Ho, namu kie So. Kie Butsu myo sam, kie Ho rijin sam, kie So wago som; kie bu kyo, kie Ho kyo, kie So kyo. But if we translate it into English, we cannot arrange the words in this way. Anyway, whether in English or Japanese, we have to repeat those precepts.

Buddha is said to be the supreme world honored one. There are many names for him. We have ten names for Buddha. By Buddha we do not mean just Shakyamuni Buddha. At the same time we mean various Buddhas. So sometimes we say the Buddhas in the three periods of time: past, future and present. Namu sanze sho Butsu, we say: I take refuge in all Buddhas in the three worlds, Namu is to take refuge. Sanze means the three worlds. Shobutsu means all the Buddhas, or we say, "Ji ho san shi i shi hu." Ji ho means ten directions. San shi means three worlds. I shi means all. Hu means Buddha. Ji ho san shi i shi hu, shi son bu sa mo ko sa means: Shi san is the supreme one, bu sa is Bosatsu, that's bodhisattva. Mo ko sa is great Bodhisattvas. That is actually Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Dharma is mo ko ho ja ho ro mi. Moko is maha or moka: great. Ho ja ho ro mi is Prajna Paramita. That is the teaching. So when we say ji ho san shi i shi hu, shi son bu sa mo ko sa, mo ko ho ja ho ro mi, that means that we are taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. That is why we say: Ji ho san shi i shi hu. That is the old Chinese pronunciation, but the meaning is the same.

The Buddha is supposed to be the supreme one. The Dharma is called Dharma because it is truth itself. It is impersonal so it is pure. There is no dust on it (laughing). If there is any dust on the law, you will be put in jail, rules or Dharma should always be clean. So Dharma is something which is honored for its purity. I take refuge in the Sangha which is honored for its harmonious life.

You know, we human beings should be always harmonious and we should work in unity. So we call a Buddhist group "harmonious Sangha." Sangha means Sang or so gya in Japanese. So means priest and ga is plural; so sangha means priest group, or group of followers.

Here he says, "We take refuge in the Buddha because he is the great teacher. We take refuge in the Law because it is our medicine and points the way. It is law or rule. We take refuge in the priesthood because its members are our wise friends. It is through this triple adoration that we become disciples of Buddha. We should respect the Three Treasures before we receive any further precepts. This is the fundamental precept, since it is on the basis of this adoration that all the moral precepts of Buddhism rest, from beginning to end. Buddhism starts from these three refuges and ends with these three refuges.

"A responsive communication between the refugee and the preceptor makes the maturity of the merit of the triple refuges." "Responsive communication" is the translation of kan no do ko. This is a very difficult work to translate. Kanno means to respond to each other. And Do ko means true relationship. Do is Tao. Ko is inter-relationship. Here we say Kan no Do ko. In terms of consciousness it happens in this way to us: we feel some coherence, or interrelationship, or correspondence between Buddha and us. But, originally, there is no difference between Buddha nature and human nature. So this is more than responsive communication or relationship. But it happens in this way, so "a responsive communion between the refugee and the preceptor," or "protector" (not "protector," ok, maybe "Buddha") "marks the maturity of the merit of the triple treasure."

When we become one with Buddha, it means the Triple Treasure, or refuge, is completed. So, to take refuge in Buddha means to become one with Buddha or to find our true nature which is not different from Buddha. "Be he a devil or man, dwell in the lower regions, demon or animal; whoever experiences the responsive communion is sure to take refuge in the Triple Treasure." By nature, everything has Buddha nature. So when beings have this experience, they can attain the perfection and they can take the Triple Treasure. "The merit of having taken the three refuges continually increases through the various stages of existence and ultimately calls forth the highest right universal enlightenment." "Highest right universal enlightenment" is Buddhahood. If you repeat this experience, you will attain the highest Buddhahood. "This excellent and inconceivably deep merit has been proved by the Tathagata himself; therefore, all living beings should take this refuge."

Buddha himself experienced it and Buddha has the same nature that we have. This means it is possible to have the same experience.

This is not some particular experience when we realize our true nature or some occasion. So here we emphasize the universality of the three refuges. Here he just emphasizes the precepts, but precepts and Zen are not different. Both Zen and precepts are the expression of our true nature; the experience of finding or realizing our true nature. In this sense there is no difference. So the way to practice Zen is the way we take refuge in the precepts.

So, by mutual communion, or kan no do ko, we mean the true experience of Zen. It is not some ecstasy or some mysterious state of mind, but it is a deep joy that is even more than joy. You may have this true experience through some change in your mental state. But a change of mental state is not, strictly speaking, enlightenment. Enlightenment is more than that. That comes with it, but it is more than that. What we experience is joy or mysterious experience, but something follows. That something which follows, besides this experience, is true enlightenment. So we should not suppose that enlightenment will always be experienced in terms of consciousness. Even though you don't know, you know, that enlightenment is there. And by repeating various activities with this subtle caution, the experience becomes deeper and your consciousness will become more and more mature and smooth. So you may say that enlightenment is the maturity of your experience of everyday life. When enlightenment does not follow, your experience is black and white. But when true experience follows your conscious activity or conscious experience, the way you accept it is more natural, smooth, and deep.

It is not just joy. It is something more than joy. It may not be possible to experience enlightenment just in terms of consciousness. But what you do experience is much deeper. This point should always be remembered. If you remember this point, all the precepts are there. You will not be attached to some particular experience; you will not be caught by the dualistic experience of good or bad, or myself or others. When we violate the precepts, we attach to some particular experience.

When you have something, you will have some joy of possession. To do that is, you know, to break the precept of not stealing, (laughs) or not being greedy about giving either spiritual or material help to others. So when those three precepts are kept in the right way, all the precepts will be kept. In short, when you do everything as you do zazen, then all the precepts will be there. We say that we have to just sit. Our mind is clear. You have no experience whatsoever. Maybe the only experience you will have is sleepiness or pain in your legs (laughs). No particular experience.

But when you attain enlightenment, when some sudden change of mental state comes to you--happens to you--even that experience is not true enlightenment. You will see something, or realize something, in terms of consciousness, but that means you saw something, that's all. It may not be yours. You saw something there, something beautiful. That is the experience, that's all. It is a true experience, but that is not enough. We should obtain the truth. We should become one with the truth. That is taking refuge in Buddha or Truth. When we become one with it, there is no communion or interrelationship because it is just one. That is completely taking refuge in its true sense. That is the experience we have in our practice.

Namu in Japanese means "to plunge into something." We say, "you cannot skim over the water in a basket." But if you dip the basket in it, the basket will be full of water. That is the way. As long as you are making (laughter) a dualistic effort, you cannot do anything because you are a basket. You are full of holes. Holes are you. We say, mu ro chi. Mu ro chi means "no-hole wisdom." (laughter) Our wisdom is hole wisdom. Wisdom with holes. Mu ro chi means "no-holes wisdom." But for us, no holes wisdom is just dipping a basket in the water. Then there is no hole. (laughter) That is taking refuge, and that is how we practice zazen. This is the interpretation of precepts and the understanding of our zazen.

Thank you very much.