Berkeley Buddhist Priory

05/07/2026

Newsletter April-June 2026

Right View Rev. Kinrei Bassis “If we don’t see the harmful consequences of all our wrong views, then we can’t leave them, the practice is difficult. …… If we have Right View, wherever we go, we are content.” ~ Ajahn Chah Right view is the first step of the Eightfold Path. When we take the Dharma to heart, the whole Buddhist path flows out of our application of Right View....

Right View Rev. Kinrei Bassis “If we don’t see the harmful consequences of all our wrong views, then we can’t leave them, the practice is difficult. …… If we have Right View, wherever we …

04/10/2026

Berkeley Buddhist Priory Newsletter
April-June 2026

Right View
Rev. Kinrei Bassis

“If we don’t see the harmful consequences of all our wrong views, then we can’t leave them, the practice is difficult. …… If we have Right View, wherever we go, we are content.” ~ Ajahn Chah

Right view is the first step of the Eightfold Path. When we take the Dharma to heart, the whole Buddhist path flows out of our application of Right View. Without Right View, we are often seeking our happiness by looking in the wrong direction and this leads to confusion, sorrow, and suffering. When we take the Dharma to heart, we can stop blaming our suffering on our difficult conditions and begin to recognize that our suffering is actually due to our misguided ways of trying to find happiness.

The Four Noble Truths are the core of the Buddha’s teachings. That suffering exists is the 1st Noble Truth. All suffering is due to attachment, due to desire, and this is the 2nd Noble Truth. Nirvana exists, we can find freedom from suffering, we can find complete liberation; this is the 3rd Noble Truth. The way to realize nirvana, to find liberation from suffering, is to follow the Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Wisdom.

Right View is the very ground of the whole Buddhist path. With Right View, we can begin to have the proper spiritual relationship to whatever is unfolding in our lives. For instance, wrong view has trying to find happiness by pursuing goals that will not lead to deep happiness and But instead can lead to more suffering and sorrow. For instance, I have met many people who have spent most of their lives pursuing a goal which, when attained, proved not to be what they really wanted. The movie star, Patrick Swayze, said, “The way to screw up somebody’s life is to give them what they want.” Wrong view in Buddhism is thinking that getting what we desire is how we can find real happiness. Right view points to the 2nd Noble Truth, that suffering flows out of all our ceaseless desires. The more we are able to let things go, the more we are willing to let go of our demands and requirements, then we will have more contentment, more peace and this will point our life to the goal of Buddhist training, the unshakeable peace and happiness of the 3rd Noble Truth.

When we are suffering, wrong view has us blaming others, blaming ourselves, refusing to accept the karmic conditions that are flowing through our life right now. Applying Right View to our
suffering means we need to be mindful of all our deluded thoughts and substitute Right View. For instance, when we are suffering,
it is not any external condition that is creating our suffering, rather, we are suffering due to our inability to accept these
difficult karmic conditions.

An essential part of Right View is seeing the world through the law of karma. When we pay deep attention to our lives, we can see how right and good actions will lead to positive results and wrong and bad actions lead to an increase in suffering for ourselves and others. Whenever we cause suffering for someone else, it will eventually cause us to suffer. An essential part of Rght View is to take responsibility for our thoughts, words, and action. What this means is that in this present moment we do have a choice as to how the future unfolds: whether our thoughts and actions will lead to a future in which we will feel more joy and peace, or a future with more anxiety, despair, and fear. To see our mistakes with compassionate acceptance is to not to pretend that it did not happen or it is not so bad, but to see exactly what we did. Instead of trying to escape responsibility for our mistakes, with Right View, we accept that to free ourselves we need to do what we can to heal the wounds from both our mistakes and others’ mistakes. We need to see and understand our potential for doing harm so that we may open our hearts and grieve and have compassion for both our mistakes and the mistakes of others.

Recently someone asked me “How could I possibly know if I am seeing things with Right View?” Much of the time it is very easy to know if you are seeing life with Right View. Whenever my defilements arise, this means I am seeing with deluded eyes. The defilements in Buddhism are called the Three Fires; we are suffering due to our desires, we are suffering due to our anger and ill will, and we are suffering due to our ignorance and delusion. All of Buddhist training can be seen as the process of converting our defilements of desire, ill will, and delusion into the enlightened states of compassion, love, and wisdom. If I get filled with desire, it means I am not seeing impermanence and I am thinking I can grasp the object of my desire rather than seeing it as ephemeral and dreamlike. Anger means that I am either not getting what I want or getting what I do not want. If we live demanding what we want, we live in our heads and opinions about life and reality rather than opening our minds to experiencing a deeper sense of the spiritual wholeness filling all things. If I apply Right View, this means I try to see whatever is unfolding with an attitude of acceptance. Spiritual acceptance is the willingness to let go of my desires and be at peace with whatever conditions I encounter. Delusion and ignorance underlies all aspects of wrong view and this delusion means that we are trying to grasp what cannot be grasped rather than trusting that whatever is flowing through our life right now is actually the life of Buddha.

What stands against having Right View in most of us is the fundamental doubt that it is not possible for us to let go of our desires. We cannot imagine that we can actually transform our karma and find real inner peace and deep acceptance for all our thoughts and feelings. We deludedly identify with our problems and our failures. We have a deep-seated disbelief that the simple practices of the Dharma can actually convert our very deep-rooted problems. The real problem is not our difficult feelings such as anxiety, desire, or fear. The real problem is the doubt that it is enough to follow the Dharma and that we can keep letting go of all these difficult thoughts and feelings. Right View is to trust that it is enough to try to be still and try to accept whatever difficult conditions we are experiencing. We need to convert the doubt that makes us question whether we can eventually transform all our difficult feelings and desires. This fundamental doubt makes us unwilling to see all aspects of ourselves with compassion. Right View means we work at counteracting these habitual negative karmic patterns with the wholesome faith that we are a Buddha, there is nothing within us that is fundamentally unclean. Wrong view has us doubting our Buddhist training and looking outside ourselves for a solution to our suffering. Right View has us grasping our will to accept whatever conditions are troubling us and trusting that everything in our life is part of our path to Buddhahood

When we view our life and the world with greed, hatred, and delusion, we are ignoring the essential part of ourselves that has an intuitive sense of a deep fundamental connection with all beings. Each time we think and act in a manner which ignores this deep intuitive truth, we help build a selfish and self-centered being which will inevitably experience considerable suffering. Right View means we need to follow the Eightfold Path and take responsibility for our thoughts, words, and actions. The world is full of people who are confused about life. With Right View, we can work on accepting our suffering. This allows us to see through the confusion which colors much of life and we can begin to see how we have created all the delusions that have generated our suffering.

Wrong view has us make the wrong reaction to suffering. We blame ourselves and/or blame others. This, in turn, creates anger and depression. We can pretend that everything is alright and we are not suffering —but simply ignoring suffering is not a solution. Suffering is a lesson that keeps returning until we learn how we are creating this specific form of suffering. and how we can free ourselves.

Right View is seeing the world with the eyes of the Buddhist
Precepts and recognizing that the Precepts are like the guiderails
lining the side of the road. As long as we follow the Precepts we will be heading to the heart of Buddha. One aspect of the Precepts is not to criticize but see everything with a kind and compassionate heart. Right View means that we need to have compassionate acceptance of our present karmic conditions which includes all our own greed, hate, and delusion and all the world’s greed, hate and delusion.

If we want to attain our heart’s deepest longing and find true liberation, we need to follow the Buddha’s teachings. Right View directs us to find that which is deeper than this karmic body and mind. It points us to finding the place where we can lay down our burden of ceaseless desires and fears and awaken to the boundless liberation of the Buddhas.

“The way to Buddhahood is easy. They who do not perpetrate evil, they who do not grasp at life and death but work for the good of all living things with utter compassion, giving respect to those older, and loving understanding to those younger than themselves, they who do not reject, search for, think on, or worry about anything have the name of Buddha: you must look for nothing more.” ~ Shoji by Great Master Dogen

With Gratitude

Charity is one of the four wisdoms and demonstrates the
Bodhisattva’s aspiration. The generosity of the entire Priory Sangha is what makes it possible for the Priory to exist and for the Dharma to be freely offered to whomever is
interested.

In recent months, we have been given many generous gifts,
including flowers, paper towels, toilet paper, books, statues, i
ncense, cleaning supplies, and plastic bags.

Providing monks with food is the traditional offering given when coming to a Buddhist temple, and we appreciate all the generous food offerings we have been given. During the past few months we have been given food donations of pies, soups, salsa, various vegetables and fruit, cheese, soy milk, coconut milk, tofu, breakfast cereal, oats, vegetarian burgers, vegetarian meats, coffee, teas, nuts, various chips and fruit preserves. You are always welcome to check with the Priory on what foods are currently needed.

Wesak Celebration–Sunday, May 24

On Wesak, Buddhists throughout the world commemorate the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha. It is the most spiritually significant day of the Buddhist calendar, and it is helpful for Buddhists to join together as a Sangha and express their gratitude and joy for the existence and transmission of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

On Sunday, May 24, we will have the usual 9:30 am meditation, followed by the Wesak ceremony at 10 am. The Wesak ceremony is a particularly joyous service. The altar is covered with silk flowers, and a statue of the Buddha as a baby stands on the front altar. During the ceremony we pour water over the head of the baby Buddha, representing the water of compassion abundantly flowing over all beings.

After the ceremony, there will be a Dharma talk. At around
12:15 pm, we will be hold a vegetarian potluck lunch. All family and friends of our Sangha are welcome to come to Wesak or just join
us for the potluck and share in our celebration of the birth of the Buddha.

Priory Meditation Retreats
April 11 May 16 June 13 July 11

Retreats are an excellent way to deepen our meditation and
training. The retreat is 8am to 5pm and the day is a mixture
of meditation, Dharma talks, spiritual reading and Buddhist
services.

Spiritual Counseling

Rev. Kinrei is available to discuss your spiritual practice and to help you to better apply the Dharma to your life. Taking refuge in a senior member of the Sangha is an important aid in gaining a better perspective and deeper insight into our spiritual life. It is also helpful in learning to cultivate openness and trust. You are welcome to contact the Priory and arrange a time to talk, either by phone, via Zoom, or in person.

Meditation Instruction

Meditation instruction and an orientation to the practice at the Priory are offered each Thursday at 6:45 pm. Please arrive a few minutes early so that we can begin promptly
at 6:45. The instruction is followed by a 7:30-8:05 pm meditation period. We ask all people new to our practice to attend this instruction. The meditation instruction is free, as are all the activities at the Priory. If your schedule will not allow you to come on Thursday evening, you are welcome to call the Priory to try to arrange a different time for the instruction.

Shasta Abbey Retreats

Attending a retreat at Shasta Abbey is an excellent way to deepen one’s Buddhist life by living and practicing together with a large community of monastic and lay members of the Sangha. The introductory retreats are the recommended first step in practicing at the Abbey. For more information, you can go to their website at www.shastaabbey.org or
contact the Guestmaster at (530) 926-4208 or
[email protected].

Introductory Retreat April 4–10 June 5–7 July 10–12
Law of Karma Retreat: June 21-28

Priory Support and Membership

There are no fees for participating in meditation, Dharma talks, Buddhist services, retreats, spiritual counseling or any other services the Priory offers. We are supported by the donations of our congregation and friends. All gifts of any kind, whether money or materials or labor, are deeply appreciated.
One of the best ways to help the Priory is to make the commitment to be a Priory Member. What this involves is making a pledge to contribute a certain amount of money to the Priory each month. There is no set or recommended amount as we leave it up to each individual to offer what he or she feels is appropriate. This commitment is a tremendous help to the Priory because it gives us a stable financial base. More importantly, deciding to become a member has deep spiritual significance. It means you are choosing to help take responsibility for the continued existence of the Priory. Some of you may only be able to pledge a few dollars a month and think it is not worth making such an insignificant commitment. Yet it is important to offer whatever you can and be willing to make a formal commitment to be part of the Priory. The most important help members bring to the Priory and the Sangha is not their donations but their Buddhist training. By being willing to come to the Priory and train with others, we help make the Priory a true refuge of the Sangha. However, we are not suggesting that everyone who occasionally attends the Priory or gives us donations should become a member. For many people, it is not appropriate to make such a commitment, and we welcome them to join us whenever they wish, to help us in the manner they feel appropriate, and to be valued friends of the Priory.

Home WELCOME TO SHASTA ABBEY Shasta Abbey is a Buddhist monastery in the Serene Reflection Meditation (Soto Zen) Tradition. A monastery of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, it was founded by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett in the name of her Teacher, the Venerable Keido Chisan Koho Zenji in 1970. Shast...

01/09/2026

Newsletter January-March 2026

Stop the Bleedingby Rev. Kinrei Bassis One of the most difficult aspect of the Dharma for most people to fully understand is how we can find peace and acceptance when we confront the many difficult situations and problems in life. Unless we understand and apply this Dharma teaching that we always need to try to find peace and acceptance for whatever life giving us, we will never find real freedom from suffering....

Stop the Bleedingby Rev. Kinrei Bassis One of the most difficult aspect of the Dharma for most people to fully understand is how we can find peace and acceptance when we confront the many difficult…

10/03/2025

Berkeley Buddhist Priory Newsletter
October-December 2025

Equanimity
by Rev. Kinrei Bassis
If your mind becomes firm like a rock and no longer shakes, in a world where everything is shaking. Your mind will be your greatest friend, and suffering will not come your way.
~ Therigatha (verses from the earliest collection of Buddhist teaching by female monks in the Buddhist Scriptures)

A central and necessary quality for spiritual progress is equanimity, which means we are calm and at peace when we confront life’s difficult conditions. The practice of equanimity is one of being open to whatever we are experiencing without getting lost in our reactions of love and hate, fear, or desire. When we stop being agitated by difficult conditions, we can begin to see beyond our fears and desires. It seems to be the most normal and deeply rooted aspect of life that we cling to all that gives us pleasure and joy, and we try to push away everything that gives us pain and suffering. To many people, equanimity can seem to be trying to find a state in which we are numb and unfeeling. Yet practicing equanimity does not mean that we are not feeling all the conditions flowing through our lives, but, instead, we are not blindly reacting to them. Without equanimity, we often demand that happiness occur in the ways that we think it should, rather than just embracing and dealing with the way things are. Equanimity leads to wisdom, which helps us to see how we are creating suffering and how we can stop doing that.

The practice of meditation is also a practice in equanimity. Whatever we are feeling in meditation, whatever we are experiencing, whatever thoughts or feelings are arising, we are asked to just recognize what we are experiencing and then let it go, and to come back to our practice of looking at the wall. Whether we feel good or bad, whether we are having a profound insight or experience, or just feeling restless or worried, it is not what is spiritually important. What we are asked to do in meditation is to just be still and not react to this flow of thoughts and feelings. As we practice meditation, we can recognize our restlessness as an underlying characteristic of whatever is grabbing hold of our attention. Whether we are experiencing a worried thought, a mind caught up with plans for the future, or with regrets or anger for the past, it is all accompanied by restlessness, an inability to be still and be at peace with ourselves and the world. When we meditate, we confront all that is within ourselves that demands to figure out where our life is taking us, and we try to control what happens. This keeps us suffering since we can never really know where life is going to take us, and we can never be in full control of how our life unfolds. Part of meditation is seeing our doubts, our agitation, our fear, and letting them all just arise in the mirror of our minds and then, if we stop clinging, allowing everything to fade away. Equanimity is needed to let our hearts and minds be open to all our passions and fears, and then, by being open, we can experience the deeper truth that can free us from feeling bound by this flow of powerful thoughts and strong emotions.

The practice of equanimity is learning that we do not need to react to whatever we are feeling and thinking. The ground of suffering lies in our unskillful response to our thoughts and feelings, which is often a blind reaction. It took me quite a while in my Buddhist practice to understand that I do not need to automatically react to powerful feelings and strong opinions. I began to see how much of my life had been driven by my karma, under the control of powerful emotions and deluded patterns of thought. I often heard myself thinking and saying, “I cannot put up with this.” “This is unacceptable.” “I cannot let go of this desire, this fear.” “I cannot stop worrying about this problem, complaining about this person.” I sometimes felt powerless and unable to look at my life without being overwhelmed by feelings of despair or hopelessness. When we cling to something strongly, we can easily be overwhelmed when change comes. Clinging makes our hearts and minds fixed and brittle when confronting change. When I would think of who I was, it was these deluded habits of behavior and patterns of thought that I mistakenly saw as my identity.

To find the place of equanimity, I needed to see that I often have conflicting desires. The practice of meditation is the practice of letting go of whatever I am experiencing. I can easily keep my mind filled with all my opinions, with a seemingly endless flow of desires. I can allow myself to be absorbed with my memories of the past and my fears and dreams of the future. Often, I leave the place of equanimity by finding that some aspect of myself or the world is unacceptable and must be different. And, all the time I am looking elsewhere, the only place I can find peace and contentment is in the present moment, in this very situation I find myself. Anything else means that I am abandoning reality to dream of a different past or an imaginary future. What I need to keep doing is to stop dreaming and stop demanding that my life and the world must be different.

To practice equanimity requires spiritual devotion; we need to care deeply about our spiritual life and be willing to focus our minds on the big picture of the Buddhist path rather than the narrow confines of what we are experiencing in the present. By being balanced in our feelings and thoughts, we can cultivate a sense of spaciousness around our experiences. Then, when difficult conditions arise, we can be aware of the impermanent nature of what is unfolding and bring our minds back to focusing on being still, on being grateful, on our faith in the Buddhist teaching and path. Devotion is necessary since we have to care more about finding the heart of Buddha instead of the normal worldly response of only focusing on improving our impermanent conditions. When we stop clinging to our desires, we can find the real truth, which is open and liberating and is grounded in compassion.

We need to pay attention to when we have a sense of spaciousness and openness in our lives. A sense of spaciousness and openness needs to be cultivated as it supports a sense of equanimity. It is helpful to explore what behavior and circumstances seem to facilitate the sense of spaciousness. When we feel content, how do we cultivate that, and what behavior seems to help bring more contentment into our lives? How do we create these favorable conditions for equanimity rather than creating conditions that lead to worry and anger, fear and suffering? Sometimes, the very things that we are doing in order to find joy and pleasure are instead leading us to a place of discontentment and despair. As long as our flow of emotions, desires, passions, and fears is filling our minds, we will not be able to see beyond our present situation and experience the deeper Truth. We need to let go of our habitual pattern of just wishing and dreaming of a different reality, a reality in which I do not hurt, a reality in which life is not so difficult, a reality in which I am not disturbed and upset. When we suffer, help comes to us when we bow to our suffering and look up in faith and gratitude. Trusting that there is nothing to fear in the unfolding of our lives is a great help in finding equanimity and is an immeasurable gift.

From now on, no matter what problems I have to face,
I am not going to be irritated by them.
I will not regard anything that happens to me as a problem.
I will regard everything as beneficial. 1
Lama Zopa Rinpoche

This teaching by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist master, is the essence of practicing equanimity, taking everything that we encounter as being beneficial. The misfortune and difficulties we face in life are not beneficial in the practical sense – for instance, I do not seek or want illness and pain. Yet if I approach the difficult health problems and pain that come into my life with a positive attitude of embracing these difficult conditions as a helpful part of my spiritual path, then the pain and difficulty can become vehicles that help me find a much deeper spiritual place. As a monk, counseling people who come to me with their difficulties, it is not uncommon that someone has gone through a difficult illness or other hardship, and they are now very grateful for that experience. All the hardship they had gone through had forced them to let go of some of their clinging and some of their frantic attempts to control their circumstances. This resulted in allowing them to find a deeper spiritual place in which they found more peace and real joy. Deepening their spiritual life was of much greater value to them than all the pain and difficulty they went through.

Equanimity is based on not clinging to whatever conditions we are experiencing. By not clinging, we are no longer being blinded by the specific details of our life but embracing a wholeness that encompasses everything. Our small human minds can never grasp this wholeness, but we can experience the deep connection that we have with all living things and with everything in the world. This is what is meant by the experience that everything is a Buddha. This deep longing, which brings us to spiritual life, is a longing to be freed from just living for ourselves and to experience our real connection, an experience that takes our limited selves to the place that is open and boundless.

1) Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, Transforming Problems Into Happiness (Wisdom Publication, 2001), p.10

07/05/2025

Judging and Criticizing by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett It took me many years of Buddhist practice to recognize how much my mind was filled with harsh criticism. I was hard on myself and hard on others, and I did not understand how I could be different. I did not understand how I could see all the mistakes and suffering I witnessed in my life with compassion and acceptance rather than with judgments and criticism....

Judging and Criticizing by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett It took me many years of Buddhist practice to recognize how much my mind was filled with harsh criticism. I was hard on myself and hard on others…

05/22/2025

Berkeley Buddhist Priory Newsletter

Newsletter 2025 April-June

The Deeper Meaning of the Precepts

by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett

(The following selection is an excerpt from The Wild, White Goose, by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett, p.101-106. This book is edited selections from Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett’s diaries of her first years of training as a Buddhist monk, mostly in Japan. This section was written after she has been training at Sojiji, a large Soto Zen monastery in Japan, for about seven months. Rev. Hajime, an English-speaking senior monk, had been assigned to help teach her. )

Rev. Hajime came back this morning, instead of last night as he had originally arranged, but it did not really make very much difference because as soon as he had eaten, he called me into his room and said, “I think it’s about time we started translating the Precepts.”

I said, “But I already know them.”

“Yes, you know the version that most people are given but you do not yet know the Kyojukaimon.”

“I heard it during my Jukai ceremony.”

“Did you understand it fully?”

“No, the Japanese was too old for me to be able to.”

“That’s what I meant, so we’re going to translate it. Get some paper and we’ll get on with it at once.”

I settled down at a side desk, which he has now arranged for me in his room, and he got out the old book and started working on it. We had just finished the beginning preamble and had got to the first Precept, “Do not kill, but no life can be cut off. Do not kill Buddha. Do not cut off the life of Buddha,” when he said,

“Before we go any further, I want you to explain that.” “Oh. ‘Do not kill.’ I understand that.”

“But do you understand ‘not cutting off the life of Buddha,’ because only that is real death?”

“I think so. May I tell you what I think it is?” “Of course. I am waiting.”

“As I understand it, it’s a matter of mind attitude in the sense of the kokoro, the heart-mind, wanting to do harm. One frequently accidentally kills. We kill millions of microbes every hour of the day just by breathing and we’re always treading on grass and insects and things like that. To ‘cut off the life of Buddha’ is to will to hurt, to harm; to will to kill, if you like, the compassion within ourselves; to will to kill the feeling that other creatures have the right to live.”

“Go on.”

“Let me think. How can I put this? The trouble is I know what I’m trying to say and I can’t get it out.”

“I know that one but what are you going to do when you have to lecture to people who come to you with questions like this? You have to be able to talk to them on these matters; you have to be able to explain them.”

“Yes, let me think again. I know what it means. It’s the ‘with’ we were talking about yesterday.”

He smiled. “Take it from there.”

“If we kill something deliberately there’s a bit of ourselves that we’re cutting off and there’s something even more than that. We’re saying that something hasn’t got the right to live; in other words, that something hasn’t got the right to be Buddha. There’s something that we’re not accepting . . . . . there’s something we’re saying . . . . . just . . . . . well, can’t be Buddha. That’s the Precept that everybody breaks when they say, ‘Oh, well, this is pure and that’s impure.’ When they say that a . . . . . purity is . . . . . It means that if I say that Hi**er is difficult to see as a Buddha I am trying to kill Buddha; if I say some- thing is unclean I am killing the Buddha Nature within that thing itself; if I say . . . . . but that means that morality has to be thought of from a totally different angle, for morality is only a rule of thumb: that which leads to a higher, truer morality—a morality beyond morality. At a later date, as we spiral in, we discover that we cannot really live completely by the Ten Precepts, otherwise we are always working out which one to break and which one not to. We have to live by the Three Pure Precepts, but even they are not enough. Every time we look at somebody and say, ‘Well, I can see the Buddha Nature in so-and-so but I can’t see it in him over there,’ we’re literally killing the Buddha and it’s our own delusions that kill the Buddha. That’s why we don’t know that we ourselves are Buddha. That is why we are not enlightened. Because we cannot recognize the Buddha in all things, we constantly kill the Buddha. We can know, we can feel instinctively, that the Buddha is everywhere but we have not under- stood the ‘with,’ we have not understood that our bones, flesh, blood, marrow . . . . . yes, and our sexual side as well, and all the mud and the things we hate and all the torture side of ourselves and all the evil, all is the aspect of the Buddha Mind. We have to learn to accept it and work through it and bring compassion to bear on those who only exhibit one aspect, and even love them whilst we restrain them because, only by so doing, can we teach them better things. So, every one of us is a murderer every day of the week; every time we discriminate against someone else.”

“Quite correct.”

“That is the meaning of ‘do not kill.’ It is not just ‘don’t go out and slaughter an animal for food,’ it is ‘don’t discriminate against other people, don’t set yourself up, don’t say “I know who’s a true teacher and I know who isn’t,” because, instantly, we are killing. All the Precepts interact upon each other and spiral in. After a bit we get over the fact that the Ten Precepts are the limit of morality and go on to something deeper. We come to where the Ten Precepts fall away and all we have to live by are the Three; to cease from evil, to do only good and to do good for others.”

“That’s right.”

“Then they fall away too, because they’re still bounded, and we are left with the True Heart within us which is the Buddha Nature. That’s why ‘Homage to the Buddha, Homage to the Dharma, Homage to the Sangha’ are the only Real Precepts and anybody who takes the refuges completely has taken the Precepts. It means that I believe there is within me something greater, something far more wonderful than I have yet been able to show to the world. It means that I know that within me is something intrinsically good and that I can be worthy of it by being better than I am; that there is a teaching which can help me and that there are priests who have realized their True Nature who can give me guidance.”

“Good. Now you have understood ‘do not kill.’ You have understood that no life can be cut off and you have understood it from the moral, from the Lord of the House and from the ‘with.’ You have gone through the phases and now your training must express it. At a later date you will take it deeper still.”

“I’ll try. I honestly will.”

“I believe it but you will fall many, many times and every time you fall you’ve got to scramble back; and you’ve got to go on believing that you can scramble back.”

“That’s the meaning of faith. Faith isn’t a belief in an outside God; it isn’t a belief in something external. It’s the belief that one can always go on and do better than one has done before through
the guidance of the Buddha Nature. That’s the real meaning of belief.”

“Yes, so it is.”

“Faith is the faith in us. It’s the faith in the Buddha Nature; in our possession of it. Now to really try and put it into practice.”

“We will go through the other Precepts steadily over a period of time and you will find that they are all one and the same Precept.”

“Can’t we do them now? ‘Do not steal, but there is nothing to be stolen.’”

“Tomorrow. Don’t try to rush. The world takes time to develop and so can you. You’ve already got a long way. I want you to settle down and work quietly; let these things sink in. Remember that just having a kensho is not nearly enough; all that it does is open up the panorama; whether or not we want to see it is an- other matter.”

“Yes. Seeing God is one thing and knowing how to live with Him is quite a different one or, better still, becoming a saint is quite a different one. That is the meaning of endless training.”

“Correct. What you have to do, now you have seen it, is learn to understand and express it.”

“But don’t you realize that you’re— well, —sort of not teaching me anything, you’re dragging it all out of me?”

“That is how Zen is taught. The master only points the way. Re- member what it says in the Scriptures, ‘Trainees contain the ultimate, masters contain the means; correctly blended this is good.’ All Zenji Sama and I do is point. You have done the work and you walk alone and you can walk alone very well indeed. Why do you want any more?”

“It’s just a totally different concept of teaching, that’s all. Always, when I was being taught before, the teachers were putting stuff in, never taking it out.”

“That’s the meaning of faith. Faith isn’t a belief in an outside God; it isn’t a belief in something external. It’s the belief that one can always go on and do better than one has done before through
the guidance of the Buddha Nature. That’s the real meaning of belief.”

“Yes, so it is.”

“Faith is the faith in us. It’s the faith in the Buddha Nature; in our possession of it. Now to really try and put it into practice.”

“We will go through the other Precepts steadily over a period of time and you will find that they are all one and the same Precept.”

“Can’t we do them now? ‘Do not steal, but there is nothing to be stolen.’”

“Tomorrow. Don’t try to rush. The world takes time to develop and so can you. You’ve already got a long way. I want you to settle down and work quietly; let these things sink in. Remember that just having a kensho is not nearly enough; all that it does is open up the panorama; whether or not we want to see it is an- other matter.”

“Yes. Seeing God is one thing and knowing how to live with Him is quite a different one or, better still, becoming a saint is quite a different one. That is the meaning of endless training.”

“Correct. What you have to do, now you have seen it, is learn to understand and express it.”

“But don’t you realize that you’re— well, —sort of not teaching me anything, you’re dragging it all out of me?”

“That is how Zen is taught. The master only points the way. Re- member what it says in the Scriptures, ‘Trainees contain the ultimate, masters contain the means; correctly blended this is good.’ All Zenji Sama and I do is point. You have done the work and you walk alone and you can walk alone very well indeed. Why do you want any more?”

“It’s just a totally different concept of teaching, that’s all. Always, when I was being taught before, the teachers were putting stuff in, never taking it out.”

“That’s the usual concept of teaching but it is wrong. We must realize that within us is a great storehouse of knowledge; all we have to do is tap it.”

“Isn’t there a danger of becoming swollen headed?”

“Very much so. You must watch constantly for the desire for power. There will even be power struggles within your own mind. The nearer one gets to mastery the worse they become.”

“Yes, I can see the danger of that, but if I really can see that everything, that every aspect of me and the universe is the Buddha Nature expressing itself at all times then I’ll be able to handle it.”

“Good. Leave me now. I have to prepare a lecture for this evening.”

“Thank you, Rev. Hajime. In any case I must go to some ceremonies. I now help with the memorial ceremonies in the Buddha Hall.”

“Yes, I know. There are about seventeen this morning. You’ll probably be pretty tired.”

“I suppose I shall be. Anyway, can we continue this evening?”

“I don’t really know; I may have to go out again this evening but we can certainly continue again tomorrow.”

“Thank you very much.”

Again, we bowed to each other and I went to prepare for the ceremonies.

Changing my robes to go to the Buddha Hall it struck me that
the last two or three lines of the Rules for Meditation really are extraordinarily apt. After all, he wasn’t putting anything into me; he was dragging it out just by throwing out ideas. And through and through my mind kept running those last few lines, “If you do these things, you will become as herein described, then the Treasure House will open naturally and you will enjoy it fully.” I own the Treasure House and always have owned it. What an idiot I have been not to have noticed it before and not to believe, not to realize that the only person who could open the door to it was me. I really am very stupid.

Priory News

by Rev. Kinrei

Our longtime Sangha member, Sally Schmidt, died on December 21, after several years of serious and disabling health problems. We held a Buddhist funeral for Sally on January 18. Sally‘s two daughters and her granddaughter attended along with many of her friends and many Sangha members.

Janelle Reinelt, a Priory Sangha member who had moved to Seattle, came down to the Priory to take the Buddhist Precepts. We held the Precepts ceremony on March 14 with many of the temple Sangha members attending. Commitment is essential for spiritual progress and we are happy to help Janelle make a deep commitment to her Buddhist training.

Janelle Reinelt Taking the Buddhist Precepts
With Gratitude

Charity is one of the four wisdoms and demonstrates the Bodhisattva’s aspiration. The generosity of the entire Priory Sangha is what makes it possible for the Priory to exist and for the Dharma to be freely offered to whomever is interested.

In recent months, we have been given many generous gifts, including a leaf rake, buddha statues, clothes, flowers, books, tools, plants and paper goods.

During the past few months we have been given food donations of pies, cakes, soups, salads, various vegetables and fruit, soy milk, coconut milk, tofu, breakfast cereal, vegetarian burgers, vegetarian meats, coffee, teas, nuts, various chips, peanut but- ter, eggs, and fruit preserves. You are always welcome to check with the Priory on what foods are currently needed.

Introductory Meditation Retreat
May 31 July 26 (10 am–5 pm)

This introductory meditation retreat will provide an intro- duction to the sitting meditation and the basic teachings of the Soto Zen tradition. It will include meditation instruc- tion, several period of meditation and a Dharma talks on how to practice meditation and integrate Buddhist teaching with our lives. A vegan lunch is included with the retreat.

Priory Meditation Retreats
April 12 May 17 June 14 July 12 (8 am–5 pm)

Retreats are an excellent way to deepen our meditation and training. The retreat is 8am to 5pm and the day is a mixture of meditation, Dharma talks, spiritual reading and Buddhist services.

Meditation Instruction

Meditation instruction and an orientation to the practice at the Priory are offered each Thursday at 6:45 pm. Please arrive a few minutes early so that we can begin promptly at 6:45. The instruction is followed by a 7:30-8:05 pm meditation period. We ask all people new to our practice to attend this instruction. The meditation instruction is free, as are all the activities at the Priory. If your schedule will not allow you to come on Thursday evening, you are welcome to call the Priory to try to arrange a different time for the instruction.

Priory Support and Membership

There are no fees for participating in meditation, Dharma talks, Bud- dhist services, retreats, spiritual counseling or any other services the Priory offers. We are supported by the donations of our congregation and friends. All gifts of any kind, whether money or materials or labor, are deeply appreciated.