Knowing One Has Enough

My talk is on the second of the eight characteristics of, uh, an adult, which is, uh, a teaching Shakyamuni Buddha did right before his death.

And I just found out last, uh, uh, during the class, when I, when I was studying for the class, I found that Enjo wrote this letter explaining that Dogen actually died after...

He was trying to rewrite the hundred fascicles that he had, and he died on the 12th fascicle, which was this exact one, the, um, uh, the eight qualities of a, uh, a day nin or adult.

Um, we're using this book, "The Root of Goodness." It has four authors in it.

It basically has Shakyamuni Buddha, the first Buddha techni- so what, some-somewhat, and, uh, Dogen and Uchiyama Roshi's commentary and, uh, Thomas Wright's commentary.

And, and the intro is quite good, so I encourage you to look that over.

Um, let's see.

So it's on the eight characteri-, uh, or on the second characteristics, which is knowing one has enough, which is something, like, we all can use, uh, a revisiting, I think.

Um, Dogen teaches in the Tenzo Kyok- Kyokun, um, he shows how, like, one half grain of rice can equal one serving, as well as two half grains could equal one serving.

And he, kind of pointing out to us the, um, uh, the relative nature of, of life.

That, that, like, you can't just say, "We have 20 people, we need 20 half grains." We, we have to look at the size and the proportions that people usually consume.

So it's, it's not a, a slam dunk, is what he's trying to get at.

He's trying to say...

It's funny that I use slam dunk 'cause I have basketball in this talk, too.

Um, so the root of goodness and knowing one has enough.

Um, we've all seen f- folks who never have enough.

Maybe not-- Maybe it's money, sex, or toys.

Uh, uh, could be about, uh, getting enough thank yous, getting, uh, enough prestige.

Um, I've had the experience of never having enough, the opposite of this teaching, uh, but I'll say more on that later.

So we have these two teachings.

I didn't talk about the first one, but the first one was addressed in the class on Thursday night, um, which is having few desires.

So the two of them work really nicely.

The few desires and not having enou- or, uh, having enough are kind of like a pot and lid.

They fit nicely together.

Um, and, and in the talk, I'll kind of address both, but I'm gonna lean more towards, um, uh, uh, having enough.

My talk is on the second of the eight characteristics of, uh, an adult, which is, uh, a teaching Shakyamuni Buddha did right before his death.

And I just found out last, uh, uh, during the class, when I, when I was studying for the class, I found that Enjo wrote this letter explaining that Dogen actually died after...

He was trying to rewrite the hundred fascicles that he had, and he died on the 12th fascicle, which was this exact one, the, um, uh, the eight qualities of a, uh, a day nin or adult.

Um, we're using this book, "The Root of Goodness." It has four authors in it.

It basically has Shakyamuni Buddha, the first Buddha techni- so what, some-somewhat, and, uh, Dogen and Uchiyama Roshi's commentary and, uh, Thomas Wright's commentary.

And, and the intro is quite good, so I encourage you to look that over.

Um, let's see.

So it's on the eight characteri-, uh, or on the second characteristics, which is knowing one has enough, which is something, like, we all can use, uh, a revisiting, I think.

Um, Dogen teaches in the Tenzo Kyok- Kyokun, um, he shows how, like, one half grain of rice can equal one serving, as well as two half grains could equal one serving.

And he, kind of pointing out to us the, um, uh, the relative nature of, of life.

That, that, like, you can't just say, "We have 20 people, we need 20 half grains." We, we have to look at the size and the proportions that people usually consume.

So it's, it's not a, a slam dunk, is what he's trying to get at.

He's trying to say...

It's funny that I use slam dunk 'cause I have basketball in this talk, too.

Um, so the root of goodness and knowing one has enough.

Um, we've all seen f- folks who never have enough.

Maybe not-- Maybe it's money, sex, or toys.

Uh, uh, could be about, uh, getting enough thank yous, getting, uh, enough prestige.

Um, I've had the experience of never having enough, the opposite of this teaching, uh, but I'll say more on that later.

So we have these two teachings.

I didn't talk about the first one, but the first one was addressed in the class on Thursday night, um, which is having few desires.

So the two of them work really nicely.

The few desires and not having enou- or, uh, having enough are kind of like a pot and lid.

They fit nicely together.

Um, and, and in the talk, I'll kind of address both, but I'm gonna lean more towards, um, uh, uh, having enough.