This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Thank you all for coming, helping me give this talk tonight. I received a card in the mail and it was what it looks like. It was purchased at Tibetan Center near where I live up in Trinity County. I tried to memorize it and I did, but then I thought, oh, I'm just going to read it because I felt like I didn't

[01:03]

want to have that extra pressure of memorizing it. But anyway, we'll see. May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May they be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May they never be separated from that sacred joy that is beyond suffering. May they rest in equanimity, free of grasping, hatred, and ignorance. And may they be aware of the equality of all that lives. So it's similar to our loving-kindness meditation that we chant sometimes in the zendo. to wish for people to be free from suffering.

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And tonight that's what I'd like to talk about a little bit. Suffering. A little bit about the Buddha's first teaching. And then a little bit about my realization of suffering and also how we can meet suffering when it arises. Can you hear me okay in the back? Okay. The Buddha said bhikkhus both formally And now, what I teach is suffering and the cessation of suffering. And this is from a sutra that's in the Middle-Length Discourses, the Alagadhumpama Sutra, which is also called the Simile of the Snake.

[03:28]

And in that sutra, There is one of Buddha's disciples who has misunderstood the Buddha's teaching. The Buddha had taught that there were certain obstructions that would be not conducive to practice. And this monk, his name was Arita, And every time his name came up in the text of the sutra, it said, formally, of the vulture killers. I don't know what that meant, but I thought he had already sort of a... some kind of a reputation. But anyway, this monk thought that the Buddha's teaching was that there were certain obstructions and that

[04:35]

that he could engage in those without difficulty or without problem. Later on in the sutra, the Buddha is challenged by other teachers and Brahmins that accuse the Buddha of leading people astray. And after that section of the sutra, the sutra also has a lot of other interesting things in it, but to the point of suffering, that's when the Buddha said, what I teach is suffering and the cessation of suffering. So that's helpful in some way for me, because then I realized that all the teachings that the Buddha has given us, all the sutras all have that one motivation and that is the liberation of beings from suffering.

[05:49]

So no matter how different the sutras might seem or it may appear as if they're talking about many different things at the at the very base is that wish for beings to be free of suffering. So dukkha is the Pali word for suffering and it is often translated as suffering which may not be so accurate, or it may be more dramatic sometimes, I think.

[06:53]

But I found this list of 15 words, other definitions for dukkha by other Buddhist teachers. And so, you know, the gist is similar. But I thought I would just read them to you. Number one, anguish. Two, anxiety. Three, affliction. Oh, they're in alphabetical order. Four, dissatisfaction. Five, discontent. Six, discomfort. Seven, frustration. Eight, misery. Nine, sorrow.

[07:56]

10, stress. 11, suffering. 12, Uneasiness. Thirteen, unease. Fourteen, unhappiness. Fifteen, unsatisfactoriness. So, you can see there's other ways to think of it besides suffering. The Buddha, the first teaching that the Buddha gave, called the first turning of the wheel of Dharma. And he gave it after he was enlightened and had had his enlightenment experience and waited, I think it was 49 days before he decided to teach.

[08:59]

And the first people that he taught were the five ascetics that he studied with. had practiced with at one time. And what he taught was the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path. The Four Noble Truths, I feel like they are a way for us to meet suffering, sort of a model that we can use to meet suffering. At any rate, the first noble truth is in life there is suffering. Some of this none of us can escape. Birth, old age, sickness and death. That's what being a human being is part of.

[10:01]

Separation from the ones you love is suffering. Being together with people that you don't love is suffering. Getting what you want and being unsatisfied with it is suffering, or unsatisfactoriness, or anxiety. And not getting what you want is suffering. Then there are these emotional states that are also suffering. Sadness, fear, anxiety, jealousy, and others, I'm sure. The second noble truth is that suffering is caused by afflictions. Oftentimes it says suffering is caused by desire.

[11:04]

or craving. And the afflictions, as you know, are greed, hate, and delusion. Desire and craving are part of greed, as well as attachment. Hatred or ill will for yourself or others. And delusion, the belief in a separate self. So these three afflictions, the Buddha is saying, are the cause of suffering. The good news is the third noble truth, that there's a path to the cessation of suffering. And the fourth noble truth is that this path is called the Eightfold Noble Path.

[12:07]

We were talking about this briefly in our tea this afternoon, so I just want to briefly go through the Eightfold Noble Path. I know a lot of you have studied this, but just as a way to remind ourselves about the Buddha's way for us to relieve suffering. The first aspect of the Eightfold Noble Path in this discussion is right view. And right view basically is understanding the Four Noble Truths, so understanding that there is suffering and understanding that there is a cause for suffering and that there's a path for the cessation of suffering actually that there is cessation and that there is a path.

[13:15]

That is the first noble truth. The second one is right intention. The intention of renunciation, which we talked a little bit about renunciation, but I think of it as letting go. letting go of things that are binding you, are binding you to suffering or ignorance. The next intention is intention of goodwill, so doing all good. And the third intention is to do things that are harmless. So you can see that the Eightfold Noble Path overlaps with the Bodhisattva precepts. Some of these sound like they are the precepts.

[14:20]

The third aspect of the Eightfold Noble Path is right speech. And this includes abstaining from false speech, abstaining from slanderous speech, idle chatter, and harsh speech. The fourth aspect is right action. Abstaining from taking life. A disciple of Buddha does not kill. Abstaining from stealing. A disciple of Buddha does not take what is not given. And abstaining from sexual misconduct. A disciple of Buddha does not misuse sexuality. Those comprise the right action. section of the Noble Path. Five is right livelihood. So it's talking about giving up a livelihood that is not helpful or not harmless or not conducive to good.

[15:25]

Right effort. I used to think that right effort meant getting up in the morning and sitting on my cushion in the not moving, but actually what the Buddha is talking about here is the effort to refrain the defilements of greed, hate and delusion and to abandon the defilements and then the effort to encourage wholesome states to arise and then the effort to maintain those states. The seventh aspect is right mindfulness. So this is, we've talked about the four foundations of mindfulness. The first one is mindful contemplation of the body. We are, as a practice period and maybe as a sangha, being aware of our breath and our posture.

[16:31]

This is part of right mindfulness. There's also mindful contemplations of feelings, the mind, and phenomena. And right concentration is the last of the Eightfold Noble Path. This lists various meditative states. I feel like it includes zazen and one-pointedness of mind, or samadhi. So this is the Buddha's path for the alleviation of suffering. When I first went to Tassajara for the fall practice period, I think it was in 1997, I thought to myself, what's all this talk about suffering?

[17:34]

People would say, oh, suffering is what brings you to practice. But I thought that was not me, that I came to practice because I wanted to learn about Zen, I wanted to meditate, I wanted to hear the teachings. Because I had this idea what suffering was, for me suffering, at that time, I thought suffering was like bleeding. bleeding or starving or being in a war, some situation like that. I didn't realize, and after sitting for a few years, I found out that suffering can be much more subtle than that, and that there are a lot of emotional states that can be called suffering.

[18:40]

So I think that's one of the benefits of zazen, is that we're able to sit quietly and things are able to surface that when we're busy, we don't necessarily pay attention to. You might say, why would you want to have that come up? Why would you want to surface this suffering? the suffering does not come up, and if you don't recognize it, there's not a way really to be free of it. So, the first step is to realize that there is suffering. And the Buddha said that to suffer and not know that your suffering is more painful than a mule carrying an unimaginably heavy load. I think I've heard the story of someone carrying a rock around with them, like carrying a burden.

[19:52]

And I think this is what the Buddha is talking about. If you don't realize that you are suffering, you're probably carrying around some weight that you don't actually need to carry. So, how do we meet suffering? We also talked about this a little bit tonight, but as I just said, the first step is to recognize that you are suffering, that something hurts, that something doesn't feel quite right. And in this way, we can sort of follow the model that the Buddha set up, so they are suffering, So the model for us then is what is that suffering? There's a cause for suffering.

[20:52]

So then for us, when suffering arises, the question is, what is the cause of that suffering? Is it greed, hate and delusion? Is it something else? And then what is the path? How can I find a way to meet that suffering and to relieve myself of that suffering. I don't know if you need an example. But I wrote one down anyway and maybe I'll say it. A simple example is someone accuses you of doing something wrong or something that you did not do. So there's that energy coming towards you and what may arise is anger. I'm angry, that person is accusing me of something. So what you're recognizing there is that anger, first you recognize you're angry, and then you recognize, oh, that anger is suffering.

[22:00]

Then you can say to yourself, what is the cause? Well, the immediate cause of my suffering is this person accusing me of something, but at the same time finding out what is the path to the relief of that suffering, is the belief in self and other, the belief that I have to defend myself, that I'm taking something personally. And when I take something personally, that is reinforcing my idea of a separate self. It's not always easy, that example I chose because I thought it was sort of an easy one to illustrate how you can meet your suffering. Oftentimes you don't know what the cause is and you have to look at it over and over. And sometimes the same thing happens over and over and you say to yourself, haven't I learned this yet?

[23:04]

I'm suffering again. I'm angry again. So, looking at your suffering requires courage and how we can look at our suffering courageously. And it's interesting, we also talked about this tonight and I had written it down, to meet the suffering with compassion, to be to be careful and kind with it, to meet your suffering with acceptance, not trying to push it away, and to try and see what the cause is, and to try and find the path that will relieve the suffering. During this process, it's helpful to use the six paramitas,

[24:07]

I find especially courageous, heroic effort is really important. And I find that people who are looking at their suffering are quite courageous. There's also patience, which oftentimes, as I said, it takes a long time to figure out what's going on. And the patience to come back and look at it again. generosity, but it goes with compassion and ethics, concentration and wisdom. I used to live in San Francisco, and I lived out in the Sunset District, which is out near Ocean Beach.

[25:16]

And when I wanted to get into town, I would take the Anjuda streetcar. And, you know, many of you have been on those streetcars. They make a lot of stops, and generally I would look out the window. And this one time, the streetcar stopped, before it went into a tunnel and I happened to look up at this apartment building and on the third floor was this sign in the window and it said, you are beautiful. And when I saw that sign I felt like somebody was saying that to me. I don't know if it's the same for you, but oftentimes I think it's difficult for us to say that about ourselves, or it's easy to say it about someone else.

[26:19]

But that sign, when I saw it, it put me at ease. It made me feel good and happy, and I feel like it eased my suffering. So every time I would take that streetcar, when it would stop, I would look up and see the sign. And each time it had the same effect. Sort of in the same vein, I was teaching school in Daly City, and I had a boy in my class who I taught special ed, and he was using a talker and he also used sign language and I hadn't been trained in sign language so I decided I would take a class and I signed up for a class at City College and they have a campus in the Mission District and so I would take BART from Daly City and get off 24th Street and walk down Mission, not Mission, Valencia and

[27:32]

midway between the Bard Station and the college where I was taking the class, there was a church across the street and it had a white tile facade with green tile letters that said, Jesus loves you. And I thought, well, I felt so nice. I mean, I have not been raised or been a Christian, but I felt like, oh, somebody loves me. And how that relieves suffering, whether it's another person or Jesus or the Buddha. When someone tells you that they love you, I feel, at least for myself, and I I'm thinking it might be the same for you.

[28:36]

It feels like you're not suffering anymore. I get the same feeling when we talk about spiritual communion. Sometimes we talk about sending out a request and receiving a response. But when that happens, I also feel like there's love being exchanged. Like, I send out a request, whether I know it or not, and that request contains love. And the answer I receive back from the Buddha mind, or the universe, or the Dharmakaya, whatever you want to call it, the love comes back. I want to suggest that when I said at the beginning, when I was reading that verse, when it says, may they never be separated from that sacred joy that is beyond suffering, I feel like that sacred joy that is beyond suffering is love.

[29:56]

And as I said, love from a person, to have someone say that they love you, or for you to tell someone that you love them, or to have it come from the universe where you know that all things are loving you, or having you love yourself, which I think, again, is the hardest to love yourself as you are. But this love I don't know if this is correct. I have a strong feeling that this love will ease your suffering. So, when another person is suffering, how can we help them?

[31:03]

When the person sitting next to you on the tan is suffering, or a person that you see is suffering, one way is by loving them. And that can look a million different ways. It can be listening to them. It can be sitting by them. But your feeling in your heart is that of loving that person. There are other ways to help people who are suffering. And I don't exactly know where love fits into the Noble Eightfold Path. I think it's partially about a wholesome state, maybe. I don't really know. But I feel like it is definitely something that helps relieve suffering for me. When we sit zazen, I was rereading the article that I wrote, Ceremony for the Encouragement of Zazen.

[32:21]

And in that article, he says that the goal of zazen is to liberate living beings from suffering. And that the goal is the same as the practice So that by sitting zazen, we are actually helping beings to be free of suffering. And when I think of zazen in that way, I feel like it's easier for me to sit through discomfort and restlessness and pain because I feel like, oh, this is for all beings. And this is the end of suffering of all beings. Another practice that we do is bowing.

[33:21]

I feel like when I do the jundo in the morning, what I'm saying to you is thank you for your practice. during the Nenju ceremony when we, the people in the practice period at least, when we bow together, I feel like I'm saying thank you, I see you, and you are beautiful. So I feel like bowing can also relieve suffering. So now I have this idea of an experiment. And you can choose to participate or not, of course. But what I've done is I printed out some little signs that say, you are beautiful.

[34:31]

And I put them on the table in Cloud Hall. So what I'm thinking we could do is, if you're up for it, take one and put it somewhere where you can see it, maybe for a week or so, and see if it helps you feel at ease. You can imagine that it's the Buddha saying it to you, or whoever you want to say it to you. I know that seeing that sign helped me a lot. And I just wonder if someone has told you how beautiful you are and that this might be helpful for you. So, may you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

[35:33]

And may you remember the sacred joy that is beyond suffering. Thank you for your kind attention. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving. by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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