Introducing the Six Paramitas: Bodhisattva Practices for an Uncertain World

This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening everyone. Can you hear me okay? I'm gonna ask, I want to help. I'm realizing as I'm getting older my eyesight is like, yeah. And so I'm gonna ask if this helps. Thank you. Once again welcome for anyone who may not know me. My name is Tenzin David Zimmerman and I reside here at San Francisco Zen Center, particularly here at City Center. I've lived here for 26 years in residence and I currently serve as both the central Abbott and the abiding Abbott. So they keep me busy now. And I want to welcome also everyone who's not only in the room whether or not you're new or returning, been here for one day or 50 years. Welcome and also everyone online who's observing now or in the future. So tonight's Dharma Talk is the first of Dharma Talk of a 10-week practice period that we have just started and we're holding here both at City Center and also online. And this morning we had an opening ceremony where we went around to the Divin altars in the temple. And so my intention this evening is to kind of help set the stage for the practice period by offering both a brief orientation to what is a practice period and what are we going to be doing. And then also introduce the topic of our study for this particular practice period. I have to confess I just caught off of an hour and a half board meeting that was pretty intense. So my mind is trying to make this shift from that world to this realm. So if something goes awry that's probably why. For those of you who are new and how many people are new, oh welcome wonderful. Whether or not you're new to Zen or new to San Francisco Zen Center or new to the Buddha Dharma in general, a practice period is a seasonal event in which people come together for a period of intense Dharma study and practice. And this tradition dates back to the time of Shakyamuni Buddha so 2500 years ago when during the rainy season the Buddha and all his disciples or the Sanghas we would call them would gather into one place for an extended period of time and usually it was about three months during the duration. And they would just focus on their communal practice meditation, Dharma study, inquiry and whatever work they need to take care of themselves. And this kind of tradition intensive training periods has continued throughout Buddhism and particularly in Chinese and Japanese and communities. And the Japanese word in fact for practice period is on go. So you might hear me refer to this as an on go that we're participating in. And the word translates as peaceful or bowed or peaceful dwelling place. So kind of makes you want to write, do an on go, do a practice period, that invitation to peace. And the purpose of an on go is to create a container in which we collectively support each other to deepen our practice by taking the time to first clarify our intentions. Why am I practicing? Why am I here? Right? What is the nature of my practice? To kind of settle and quiet our bodies and minds. To cultivate what we say Buddhism clear seeing, you know, being able to see more clearly what is true rather than our stories about the world. To embody whatever insights that we might have during our practice and then more fully integrate practice into our lives. So what happens when we get off our meditation seats and go into our daily life? You know, how do I translate that? How do I include that? Practice never ends in Zen. You know, it's a continuous expression of the awake heart, mind, manifesting in any activity that we're doing. And so a time of on go encourages us to return to and align with our deepest yearning and vow, especially amidst the very busy urban life that can kind of distract us and make it more difficult to hear for ourselves this quiet, subtle voice. What is most meaningful for you? How do you want to live? What kind of person do you want to be in the world? What do you want to manifest with your life energy? Right? And sometimes we get so distracted or get so many messages from others about how we should do that, that we lose contact with our deepest truth for ourselves, our own authentic voice. So a practice spirit is an opportunity to be able to come back and listen deeply to that. The topic of study for our fall on go is the six parameters. And I frame these as bodhisattva practices for an uncertain world. And anyone familiar with the parameters? And I'll say a little bit later, so a good deal of you, sometimes also referred to as perfections. So maybe you also heard that particular term. And the six parameters form the foundation of Mahayana Buddhism, the Mahayana Buddhist path, and include the transcendent practices of generosity, ethical conduct, patience, diligent effort, meditation, and wisdom. And I'll say a little bit more about these later. So over the next 10 weeks, we're going to explore what it means to cultivate and embody these six parameters and not just for our benefit. We don't really do anything just for our benefit in our Buddhist practice, but actually for the will of the world, the welfare of the world, the welfare of all beings. And also during the practice spirit, I'll be leading a eight-week class on Monday nights in which we'll dive a little bit more deeply into the specific ways to take up and integrate each of the parameters in our lives. So other elements that are contributing to the structure of the ongo will include of course daily periods of Zazen. So anyone who's participating in the practice period, I highly encourage you, strongly encourage you to have a daily practice of meditation, even if it's for five, 10 minutes. Here in the temple, we do it twice a day. We have two periods in the morning and a period in the evening, but it's a very fundamental aspect of our practice and really helps with settling. And so it's offered here in the temple and also offered online. We're also going to have two day-long sittings. The first one is going to be this coming Saturday, and then we'll have another one in November as well. And also two sushis, those sushis are multi-day sittings, multi-day periods of sittings, a three-day and November and a seven-day in December. And of course, there'll be these twice weekly Dharma talks, so Wednesday night Dharma talk, as well as the Saturday morning Dharma talk. And one of the things that practice period participants particularly enjoy are the on the small group discussions. So there'll be an opportunity for those who are signed up to meet with other practitioners in groups to talk about your practice and particularly how you are yourself integrating and understanding the parameters in your life. And so there'll be an opportunity to do that either in person or online if you're signed up. And of course, you know, ceremonies are very important parts. We'll have a number of different ceremonies including the full moon ceremony that we do on a monthly basis, and then a special one that people find particularly interesting is one called Sijiki, where we feed the hungry ghosts. And we have a tradition here of doing it around the time of Halloween as well, but typically it connects with the ceremony of Obon in Japan. And lastly, we'll continue the tradition of inviting a number of students to give a 20 minutes, what we call way-seeking mind talk. And that's a talk in which they share their life circumstances and the spiritual increase that have led them to practice. And it's a very intimate, wonderful way to get to know various Sangha members and kind of hear the common themes that many of us that brought have brought many of us to practice. And I also want to acknowledge May Elliott, who's sitting over there. May is going to serve this practice period as what's called our shusou or head students. And that's a very traditional for practice periods. That basically means she'll be kind of sharing my teaching seat. It's a way to begin training someone to take the teaching seat. That's as if she agrees next week when she's formally invited to enter to actually enter. She may at the last minute run out the door and change her mind. And what she'll be doing is supporting us and the ongoing in a number of ways. She'll also be giving Dharma talks. She'll be leaving small groups, meeting with practice period students over tea. And next Wednesday, May will give her a way-seeking mind talk. So you'll get to hear what brought May to practice and what has been her path. And also, I want to acknowledge and appreciate the various Zen Center staff who will be helping to create a supported practice container for our study of the parameters. It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a Sangha to put on a practice period. And so there is particularly Tim Wicks, who is our Tanto or head of practice over here. Michael Novak, who is our Ino or head of the meditation hall, he's not feeling well this evening, so he's not here. And also our online programs team, which includes Dan Gudgel, I'm not sure Dan is here, I don't see him at the moment. And also David Chow, so they'll be kind of the online point person for anyone that is participating online. There are courses, my Jisha or ceremonial, Tendit Allen, she'll be one of the small group leaders as well. And then my assistant Lorenzo, who is actually Baltimore, taking care of his mother-in-law. So thank you and everyone else, you know, everyone who is in the temple contributing in myriad ways, all of you once again, thank you for your support of our mutual practice together. So I hope that just gives you a very brief, helpful overview and orientation of the components of the fall practice period or on go and how it is that we're going to collectively create a supportive environment for deepening our practice over the next 10 weeks. There is still an opportunity to sign up. So if any of you feel inspired to do so, you can do so either going back to the website, you can also talk to Tim over here, who's sitting in front of the Bakugyo, that fish-like wooden instruments, or Alan here. Alan can also help point you in the direction. So if you have any questions about what it entails. So for the remainder of this evening, I want to offer an initial introduction to the six parameters, including some context for understanding their importance in Buddhism and Zen and reflect on how these transformative Bodhisattva practices might help us navigate the world that we find ourselves in. And I think most of us would agree that we live in challenging and uncertain times. Does anyone disagree with that statement? Good. Okay. You know, frankly, I think throughout history, every people have always said these are challenging and difficult times. So I think it's part of the human condition to find ourselves in such times. And you know, every day we receive news of the cruelty, the pain around the world. It's really not easy to escape knowing and hearing about the suffering that we inflict on each other in various forms, either in our communities and also across the world. And the reality is that we live in a world that's filled with danger and uncertainty. And many of us face it every day when we wake up. You know, it may be you get up and you look at your social media, your news, and you just get this onslaught of the challenges of the world, the pain, the suffering that various people are experiencing. Or it may be that when you walk outside your door, even within your house, you are encountering some great distress in some way. You know, and you know, things such as, of course, violence, ongoing wars, murders, racism, governments abusing their citizens, humans abusing the environments, and not to mention the various natural disasters that arise. Sadly, many of these events and the resulting suffering are fueled by or tend to give rise to, you could say, human and emotions, human emotions and behaviors, such as greed, anger, divisiveness, cruelty, fear, and hopelessness. So it takes a lot of courage and compassion to actually maintain an open heart and an open mind during such times. At least I find that to be the case. I don't know how it is for you. And for, so the question remains, okay, so what are we to do? What are we to do when we face all this tremendous suffering within this one and around us and in the world? You know, the Buddha Dharma teaches that navigating and addressing the world's problems begin within us. And so often we're so busy pointing out there, if only they would change, then everything would be fine. But the actual Audi Buddhism says, uh-uh, no, no, you'll have to turn the light inward and look at this one and how suffering arises in this one. So how we gather and maintain our presence of mind and cultivate a deep concern and care for the world begins with understanding and healing the fear, the turmoil, the divisiveness within our own minds. So minds that perceive separation and threats create a world of separation and antagonism. And minds that see oneness and interdependency foster oneness and harmony. So you could also put this a slightly different way. Our suffering is fundamentally a matter of holding the perception and the belief of being an illusory separate self. We somehow feel ourselves to be separate from the world and those around us. And in that process we suffer. And our habitual tendency to grasp or cling to this perception, to believe it, to reify it, it creates dukkha, suffering, disease, dissatisfaction. Right? However, Zen also teaches that when we let go of the belief in a separate self, when you put that aside, when you don't reify it, when you don't give it energy or authority, right? And you let go also everything you believe and think that you are as well as everything we think the world is. All the stories and interpretations, ideas that we have about the world around us and about other people. When we drop those and just stay and open awareness, our true nature, our basic Buddha nature as we would say, can then shine forth and function freely. Right? So if we can, you know, you could say if we just get out of our own way, right? We just get out of our own way, our basic nature, our authentic nature, our authentic self will respond spontaneously, naturally and skillfully to whatever arises. Right? And in doing so, it will have a way of harmonizing better with the situation and with others around us. But this letting go of our self narrative and the associated beliefs that we have about ourselves can be challenging because of our karmic habit patterns, old, old habit patterns that we have developed basically from the moment we took our first breath, you know, the ways that we have created a sense of self, you know, and have kind of expressed that through our body, speech, and mind. And much of these habit patterns, they have a root of some sorts in what Buddhism calls the three poisons of greed, hate, and delusion. Right? And they're deeply entrenched. You could say they're almost at this point wired in us in some way because we've been enacting them for such a long time. In some cases they've been embodied. And Buddhism also teaches us practices and Dharma offerings that encourages to cultivate wholesome qualities, right? And practices that can serve as powerful antidotes to our tendency to grasp and self-claim. And it's through these practices that we begin to taste what we call liberation and retrieve a true maturity or personhood in a Buddha sense. And so as practitioners of the Buddha Dharma, everything we study, you could say our framework for self-study, it's constantly asking ourselves, how is this activity? How is this action that I'm engaged in, body, speech, and mind? Right? Whatever is we're doing or saying or contemplating, is it liberating? Is it liberating for myself and is it liberating for others? So the Buddha himself taught, I teach, said, I teach suffering and the cessation of suffering. In my words, I teach how suffering arises and I teach how suffering can be ended, right? So we might consider approaching all of our Dharma practice from this lens. Ask ourselves, how is this a liberated practice? How is what I'm doing a liberated practice? Or is what I'm doing in some way reifying or serving the belief or the story of a separate self? How do I take up this practice as something that will liberate not just me from self-cleaning and help alleviate suffering, but that it will likewise support others in that endeavor? So part of the thing that we're looking at is, I'm looking at my own behavior, but I'm also looking at the ways that my behavior affects others and maybe might contribute in some way to their own suffering and disease. Now in Manihana Buddhism, the term Bodhichitta, anyone know that term? Bodhichitta? A few people, yeah? Yeah. It refers to the mind that aims for liberation, right? So Bodhi means awakening and chitta means mind or heart or intention. So Bodhichitta could be translated as the awakened heart mind or the mind of enlightenment. And so Bodhichitta is the profound aspiration. May I awaken completely for the benefit of all beings, right? So this is not merely a wish for our own enlightenment, our own awakening, our own freedom from suffering. Rather, it's the union of wisdom and which is clear seeing, seeing things clearly and compassion, a sincere wish for all beings to be free from suffering, right? So may I awaken completely for the benefit of all beings? And this in turn is the heart of the Bodhisattva path. In fact, Bodhichitta is also described as the very mindset of a Bodhisattva. And a Bodhisattva, another way of saying that is a Buddha to be, right? So the root word for Bodhi, Bodhisattva, bodh means to know. It means knowing things as they truly are, seeing clearly the world, not through your lenses of self, your conditioned interpretations, but dropping all that and seeing directly what is. And sattva is someone with heart and courage. So Bodhisattva. Simply put, a Bodhisattva is someone with the heart or courage for awakening. Are you that person? Do you have the heart and the courage to awaken, to be free? Or has it seemed a little scary, a little intimidating to think, I could be free, right? And again, the iterate to reiterate, this, our awakening, our freedom is not a solitary liberation or awakening. It's for the benefit of all beings. Now the path of the Bodhisattva, the one who wants to awaken for the benefit of all beings, is also the path of the paramitas. And we can think of the six paramitas. Again, as I said earlier, they could be known as the six perfections as engines of the Bodhisattva's path, defining how a Bodhisattva lives, acts, and trains their mind. A Bodhisattva naturally follows and embodies these six transcendental virtues. And so by cultivating the paramitas, a Bodhisattva brings their true nature, their authentic nature, their true self, their Buddha nature, into full expression. It can be completely expressed through the taking up the six paramitas. Buddhist scholar Donald Lopez Jr., he describes the term paramita, or perfection in his case, as having two etymologies. So the first etymology of paramita derives from the word paramah, which means highest, or most distant, or most excellent. And because of that, one of the reasons paramita can be rendered as perfection or excellence. And so the six paramitas are often referred to as transcendent perfections. They are transcendent because they transcend the duality of subject and object, and the practice of the perfection are also seen as empty or free of any self. So they transcend dualities in their fullest expression. And the second more creative yet, more kind of widely reported etymology, divides paramita into two parts, para and mita. And para means beyond, or it can also mean the further bank or the shore or the boundary. And mita has the meaning of that which has arrived. And you can e