Examining the Precepts, Part 4: Steward the Earth, Manifest This Way

In this episode we will continue and finish our series on the precepts of the hollow bones zen order.

Up to this point we've covered nine of the eleven precepts which were to affirm life,

Act generously,

Be loving,

Manifest truth,

Respect clarity,

Honor silence,

Celebrate others,

Be giving,

And embody compassion.

The final two precepts are to steward the earth and to manifest this way.

Steward the earth is a precept that,

To my knowledge,

Does not exist formally in others and orders.

The concept of stewarding the earth is something that belongs to all of Buddhism in that it is a result of our meditative awareness.

We just formalize it in the precepts of the hollow bones zen order.

Formally we say that,

I hold sacred this planet's earth.

I seek to understand nature's interconnections and celebrate my own interdependency.

I worked toward achieving a lifestyle that gives more back to this earth than I take from it.

So the overriding concept is very simple.

We can summarize it in the final sentence.

I worked toward achieving a lifestyle that gives more back to this earth than I take from it.

So we're conscientious of our consumption of resources.

We're conscientious of how our consumption patterns affect the world around us.

We're conscious of any of our political activities or how transportation affects the environment.

We just try and stay very aware of these concerns.

There's a little bit more to it though when we say that I seek to understand nature's interconnections and celebrate my own interdependency.

This comes,

I think,

In our tradition from the basic removal of subject and object in our perceptions.

So you could probably summarize the deep truth of zen mind as interdependency or interconnection or non-discrimination.

It's often called emptiness or non-dual reality or any of these other things.

And it fundamentally says that meditative awareness reveals to us that we are deeply connected to everything around us.

There is nothing that stands alone in a vacuum.

And this even goes to the difference between myself and any element of nature.

So anything that we see outside of us,

Anything that we perceive outside of us is still a construct of our own perceptions.

And it is only different from us because we see it or we touch it or we hear it or we smell it or we taste it or we think about it.

And from those processes we perceive something that is not me.

However,

Many many traditions have all expressed that matter is fundamentally interrelated.

So from a scientific standpoint you can look at quantum physics for example,

Or string theory.

It talks about vibrations.

It talks about how a particle cannot be observed without being altered.

For example,

In quantum physics there is also the entanglement theory.

So there is all these scientific theories that show that matter is fundamentally intimately connected.

So there is that level of connection.

You can also look at the origin story in the Abrahamic faiths as another evidence that people have long ago understood that we are deeply connected to this Earth.

What was the original purpose of Adam other than to steward the Garden of Eden?

It's very interesting as you explore the different religions and philosophies that show just how deeply our actions in this world affect everything else.

And how through the ignorance that we are somehow separate from all that and not responsible for all that leads to so many issues.

So in this precept we bring it forward.

We put it right in front of us.

I hold sacred this planet Earth.

I seek to understand nature's interconnections and celebrate my own interdependency.

I work toward achieving a lifestyle that gives more back to this Earth than I take from it.

As with the other precepts,

This one is another one that just kind of goes in that category if you really ask yourself,

Should I do this or should I not do this?

Yeah,

This is just kind of what our little inner voice tells us,

What our conscious tells us,

What we always know to be good things when we're watching movies and people violate these.

We're like,

Hmm,

That wasn't great.

But for some reason human beings are really good at knowing what we should do and then choosing not to do it.

That's part of the power of the precepts and of committing to them by giving us this formal invocation of these guidelines.

When we are faced with a situation where we know,

You know,

I really should,

But whatever justification we give for not engaging in this positive behavior,

There's a little extra motivation.

There's a little extra push.

There's that moment where you remember,

Oh yeah,

I kind of promised myself that I was going to embody compassion and I wasn't going to be a slave to my greed,

Anger,

And ignorance.

Or,

Oh yeah,

I did say that I was going to act generously and I was going to only receive things that were freely given to me,

Including the love of others or including whatever it may be.

Or,

Oh,

That's right,

I said I was going to manifest truth and speak with integrity from the depth of my heart.

So these things that are generally speaking,

Quote unquote,

Should-dos that we don't do because as humans we're trying to allocate our resources and survive and make life as pleasant as possible for ourselves and kind of turning away from anything that's particularly challenging,

At least in a survivalist sense or in a interpersonal relationship sense.

We don't like to face that stuff,

So we justify and we find ways around doing what we're supposed to do.

And in no area is that more prevalent,

At least in the world that I see around me,

Than in our relationship to nature and our relationship to the Earth.

So it's good to hold this in mind and to constantly bring about this state of non-duality,

This state of interconnectedness,

This state of interdependency.

Because through that realization we get a lot of motivation to be actively engaged in preserving the world around us and to giving back more to the Earth than you take from it.

So finally we have,

Manifest this way.

Manifest this way is formally stated as,

I hold precious this sankh and the sacred life we embody,

Especially these three treasures.

This absolute purity of our awakened mind,

This life filled with wisdom,

Compassion,

And skillful means,

This never-ending mystery of life unfolding.

All brothers,

All sisters,

All beings.

What this is saying is this essentially is the three jewels,

Which is to take refuge in the Buddha and Dharma and Sangh.

The Buddha here is the absolute purity of our awakened mind.

So according to our tradition,

We're not taking refuge in the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama,

Shakyamuni Buddha,

Or whoever you want to say he was,

As the ultimate teacher.

We are looking at the state of mind and the teaching that he put forward,

But specifically the state of mind that comes from meditative awareness,

And we are taking refuge in that.

This absolute purity of our awakened mind.

The awakened mind that comes only through meditative practice,

Self-realization,

And direct experience.

So all of the teachings.

.

.

There's a common phrase that the Buddha never taught a word of the Dharma.

Well,

He went around speaking on this teaching for 40 years in India.

So he said lots and lots of words.

But when he said that,

What he meant was,

None of my words capture the truth.

All of the words are discriminations.

All of the words have something wrong with them.

This ultimate truth of realization,

This ultimate truth of non-discrimination,

Of the suchness of this moment,

Of everything both being exactly what it appears to be,

And not at all what it appears to be.

This truth can only come about through direct realization,

And that's why meditative awareness is such a strong part of our practice.

So we take refuge in that.

We hold that precious,

This mind precious.

We also hold precious the Dharma,

This life filled with wisdom,

Compassion,

And skillful means.

This Dharma includes the precepts that we've covered over the last four episodes.

This Dharma is so deeply interrelated to this mind that we could even say that they're the same thing.

As with many,

Many Buddhist teachings,

They all come down to this mind.

And they are teachings that show us different ways to get to an understanding that this mind is the genesis of everything that we try and do in this life.

So this wisdom and compassion and skillful means are three words that describe this mind.

And this Dharma,

This teaching,

Is referring to that and how we actively embody this teaching.

We also have the Sangha,

Which we hold precious.

This never-ending mystery of life unfolding,

All brothers,

All sisters,

All beings.

We can also view the Sangha in two major groups.

And I think it's important to emphasize that there is both the universal Sangha,

Group one,

And the local Sangha,

Group two.

Because as humans,

We get very localized in our thinking.

So what we engage with on a day-to-day basis becomes generally more important to us than what we don't engage with on a day-to-day basis.

And that's normal and fine,

But it also limits our perspective and limits our ability to see the truth,

The deep truth of the interconnection and interdependency of all sentient and insentient life.

So with the universal Sangha,

We're saying that every human,

Every mammal,

Every reptile,

Every bird,

Every tree,

Every flower,

Every rock,

Every stream,

Every ocean,

Of every land and every place that we know and don't know about is part of our community.

It's part of our living group of interconnected beings.

Which is kind of a profound concept when you really let yourself soak it in.

Although it is also not really that difficult to understand.

For example,

If we look at the items we buy in the international market.

I'm sitting at a computer that has parts made in a dozen different countries,

Assembled in another one.

It's been on planes,

Boats,

Ships,

All of these things that this computer is made up out of,

Connects me to all of those people.

By purchasing it,

I supported all of the industries that brought this computer into my life.

And that's just a very physical and fundamental way that we can see that this interconnection and interdependency is a lot deeper than we normally think about in our daily life.

So taking a moment to recognize the universal Sangha and holding it precious is a very powerful thing for us to do.

And then of course we also have our local Sangha.

These are the people that we normally think of when we say,

Okay,

My little Sangha,

My group,

My people that I sit with on a regular basis,

The people that I talk about this practice with on a regular basis.

However,

Our local Sangha isn't limited to just those people that make us feel good and that support us in this path.

Because our best teachers of the Dharma,

The best teachers of wisdom and compassion and skillful means,

Are the ones that challenge us to express ourselves in new ways that they can relate to.

The ones who challenge us to live out the six perfections of generosity,

Patience,

Virtue,

Energy,

Meditation,

And wisdom.

We need these people in our lives that challenge us so that we can grow in the Dharma and to understand it more deeply.

So our local Sangha includes them as well.

With this examination of the three jewels of Steward the Earth and manifesting this way,

We conclude our examination of the eleven precepts of the hollow bones of the Zen Order.

I hope that you've enjoyed this discussion.

Should you have a topic that you would like to delve into a little bit more deeply,

Please feel free to send me a message.

You can also email me at dan at wavemartialarts.

Com I will be making more podcast episodes in the future,

And should you have anything that you'd like to discuss,

Just let me know.

I will try and work it in.

Thank you all very much for listening,

And I hope that you go,

You sit on these concepts,

And you identify how to work them into your own life through direct realization.