In the Diamond Sangha tradition (of Aitken Roshi, of Hawai'i) when we prepare
for taking the Precepts in the Jukai Ceremony, we are to prepare a list of
"personalizations" of each precept that we wish to study, or take.
There are ten Grave precepts, but we do not have to take them all. Most do. I
did. Many of the younger people balk at the precept of not taking or selling
intoxicants, and change it to suit their wish, or omit it.
The sixth precept happens to be the precept of "Not Discussing the Faults of
Others." This is another of the characteristic behaviors of a Buddha, which
each precept is (again, descriptive, not prescriptive or presumptive).
Your "It's all my fault" reminded me of this precept, and of my personalization
of it. I took Jukai with Pat Hawk Roshi in April, 1999, at the end of a 7-day
intensive Zen meditation retreat (Sesshin). Everyone is typically exhausted
and elated on the last day at the end, and a Jukai is a good way to end
Sesshin, in lieu of the usual sesshin-ending ceremony.
Well, I wrote, and recited at the proper place in the ceremony, each of the
precepts I wished to uphold ("study"), in sequence with utterances by the
Roshi, and chanting by the Assembly.
"I take up the Way of Not Discussing the Faults of Others... In seeing others,
I am already 200 miles off-course; In seeing a fault, all hands are lost."
The personalization is the sentence after the ellipsis.
Maybe we ought to apply this to ourselves, also, Kris.
But on the other hand, a Roshi will sometimes say: "Yes, we are perfect as we
are; but we can all use a little improvement."
I agree with both sides of that side-less coin of Roshi's.
Ha; and, my joke for students as a Philosopher was, "Are YOU the Solipsist
responsible for all this?"
G'day!
--Joe
> Kristopher Grey <kris@...> wrote:
>
> Which reminds me of a recurring thought, a silly motto of sorts, almost
> a reflexive mantra, that I've had since quite young:
>
> "It's all my fault."
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