This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. Raining. How pleasant. Say something, Tanto-san. How pleasant it is to sit in the zendo. and enjoy the sound of the rain.

[01:04]

I'd like to begin my talk by thanking and acknowledging my teacher, Sojin Mel Weitzman, senior Dharma teacher, Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center. He's right here. Gosh. And to say that my talk is just to encourage you in your practice. And now you know where I get that from. Pleasant to sit here and enjoy the sound of the rain.

[02:17]

It's preaching the Dharma incessantly, you know. Why should I even say anything? noted that with Zen people, I'm sure other people as well, but mostly I know Zen people, there's very rarely such a thing as an uncomfortable silence. Two people can talk.

[03:34]

One person can talk while the other person listens. The other person isn't even necessarily thinking about what they're going to say next. They're just listening. And then maybe they stop talking and just enjoy each other's company in silence. That happens all the time here. I think in the rest of the world, the world I come from, the world I have known, seems pretty unusual. So actually that's the first thing I wanted to talk about, which is our practice of silence.

[04:45]

and how unusual, how rare that is. This had started out as a work circle announcement, and the work circle announcement just got bigger and bigger. And I said, well, I'm going to give a Dharma talk. So it's also Well, what I have to say has elements of work circle announcement or announcements in my role as Tanto, that doing it from this seat feels pretty good because this is about our practice, the practice of silence. So, yeah. I would like to say, to begin with, let's just... acknowledge how unusual it is.

[05:47]

In Tassajara, we're in silence a lot of the time, all year round, but especially in practice period. We spend a lot of the time in silence. Where else is that practiced? Well, quite a few places, but the places where it's not practiced are most places. The places where there's incessant noise, incessant talking, chatter, verbal, electronic, you know, transmission of information. I don't know that I call it communication necessarily. It's pretty constant, pretty incessant.

[06:53]

So here, we quite often practice refraining from speech. We practice restraint around speech. Ideally, a number of the precepts are about speech, for good reason. So I would like to practice restraint around speech all the time. Maybe, especially when I open my mouth, I want to practice restraint. But to just be in silence, that's kind of an easy place to start. practicing restraint around speech. No problem. We're in silence. Easy. No, it's difficult. I think part of the reason I want to talk about this and share about this is it's always been a very difficult practice for me.

[08:08]

Yeah. It's been a real practice edge for me, I'll just say that. I'm communicative. I'm very social. Shyness is not my problem. I like to talk to people. I remember roughly 10 years ago, I was in the shop and the abbess had asked me, there's this one person in the practice period who had no friend, actually. You know, everybody in the practice period knew somebody else. They were either continuing monks or they knew someone from other practice center or they had some connection. This person was coming from, you know, elsewhere and didn't know anybody. And she said, he's coming to the shop a lot, right? And I said, yeah. She said, well, make friends with him, you know. Do what you can't do. Let him feel, help him feel welcome. I said, sure. Absolutely, I can do that, you know.

[09:12]

So it was work time. And we were talking away, you know? And I got shushed. Somebody said, could you please stop talking? We're in silent work time. And I was like, that's so unfair. So unfair. The abbess asked me to befriend this person. No, it's totally appropriate. We were in silence. We were supposed to be in silence, you know? So I took it in, but I was like, ow. That's just one example of thousands, thousands of times I've come up against this guideline, this practice we do here. I don't think I'm the only person for whom it's difficult practice.

[10:13]

Yeah, no, I don't think so. I thought I could talk about places and times where it seems particularly difficult or how we practice around it. Just to point out, maybe mention a few things. I'm not into the blame game. My job is to encourage you in your practice. Please If you see yourself in any of this, just wash your ears out in the pure sound of the rain and don't sweat it. I'm mostly talking about my own practice anyway. So we have the coffee tea area, the samovar. The samovar is the office water cooler, is the village well,

[11:14]

is the tribal watering hole. There's something very elemental about it, something very primeval about gathering there and you want to talk, you want to communicate. There's, I believe, a Japanese expression for contentless chatter which includes the characters' words spoken around the well. So, yeah. Naturally, we connect there. We meet there. Can we do it in silence? It's a big challenge. It's a big challenge. So, quite often, people will see, you know, connect there during a silent time. have something really and it's somehow at in that time and place it becomes even more urgent i have to communicate this thing and i'm like okay i don't want to i don't want to discount that somebody has something to communicate so one way i practice silence is one thing i've noticed and also um i actually initially got this practice from my home temple berkeley zen center

[12:44]

when they're in Sashin at Berkeley Zen Center, in the admonitions for silence, they say, if you have to talk, do so where other people can't see you talking. Even if people can't hear you talk, if they see you talking, that's also in a way breaking silence. That's also in a way people see two people conversing. You may know it's functional speech. You might be very clear. This is functional speech. Absolutely. We're well within the guidelines here. But other people see you talking and they don't know. And it's still, in a way, kind of not keeping silence. So somebody has something they urgently need to communicate to me, sometimes I'll just stop and listen. Sometimes we might go in the dish shack. Sometimes, like if I have something I need to say, and it's like more than a sentence or two, we might go in the lower shack. Sometimes, like the first time that happens to somebody, why is the tanto bringing me in the lower shack?

[13:55]

Why are we going in the lower shack? Because I want to talk. Because I have something to say that's functional and timely, and I don't want other people to see me talking in order to help promote the practice of silence. That seems to help. So I do that. Another thing that's very social, like The village well, the watering hole, is the smoker's pit. You know? Roshi's laughing. Smoking and talking seem to go, you know, it's just very social. I'm doing this, you know. I used to smoke, like, closely two packs a day. At my worst.

[14:58]

I've been off then since almost 20 years. But I certainly recall, you know, I can do this all day long. It seems so natural, and then you want to talk. It just seems very, yeah, but actually, can you practice that restraint? I acknowledge it's difficult. You know, and I said we practice silence all year round. It's maybe easier in practice period. It's more defined in practice period for sure. In the summer, it's maybe harder, especially for the students, to do the grace silence when guests are still talking and

[16:08]

And you see, you know, it's kind of blurry. It's kind of like not so well defined. And yet, and yet, if you've been practicing here for a while, you know where you are. You know what the practice is. You know what the guidelines are. And, you know, you actually have the agency to practice it or not. The... The guests have their practice, too. The guests have their practice, too. You know, we at the beginning of the Han, at the end of a dining room dinner, we put that little sign out. Maybe it should be a little bigger. Maybe it should be neon lit. But we put that sign out in the courtyard that says, you know, please keep silence from now until I forget what hours, but it says until such and such a time the next morning, basically from evening zazen in the courtyard. Because down there in the courtyard, you might have noticed, anybody talking in normal tones, the sound of their voice bounces off that canyon wall and comes straight into the zendo.

[17:20]

It's amazing. I wasn't witness to that, but there's a well-known story about in the morning, morning zazen time, there was two men down in the courtyard at where else, the Samovar. and one was telling the other a joke in tones audible enough that everyone in the Zendo could hear the joke. And he got to the punchline, and all of a sudden, the whole Zendo was like... Everybody in the Zendo was like... They all got the joke. They were all laughing really hard. And these guys in the courtyard were like... What the... Because it had been real quiet up till then. So, you know, this practice, this practice of keeping silence, this unusual practice, is part of our Xingyi.

[18:30]

Xinggui. Did I say that right? Xingyi. Xingyi. Bai Zhang. Pure standards. Qinggui. Qinggui. Qinggui. Pure standards. The guidelines for practice in the monastery. How we behave. How we comport ourselves. How we are with each other. How we are with the physical space. What our practice is. And last night, we had a beautiful Bodhisattva precept ceremony. Thank you again to the, you know, in the dawns, it really was so beautiful. I told Sojan Roshi later, I wasn't kidding about it feeling like Christmas morning. To me, the candlelight and the light, everything was just sparkling.

[19:35]

That was my experience. So wonderful. The Bodhisattva precepts are also part of our pure standards. They're also part of the Shingi. In the summer Shingi, they're actually included in there in the text for those who may not be familiar with them. We actually include them. And the Shingi and the schedule and the precepts are all part of the practice of shila. Shila is Sanskrit meaning variously translated morality ethical conduct or just conduct behavior comportment how a monk behaves or how a disciple of Buddha behaves And it's one of the six paramitas.

[20:40]

And it's also, prior to that, actually, much more basic than that, the elemental pan-Buddhist, it goes across all schools of Buddhism, the Trishiksha. The Trishiksha is the three trainings. And the three trainings are... Shila, Samadhi, and Prajna. Now, this is, if you like, this could be a preview for when Paul gets here. Ryushin. Ryushin, Paul, howler. The Shisala is giggling. Because if you ask Ryushin, what are you going to teach in the practice period? He might just look at you, you know. He might just arch his eyebrow. Or he might just say, the path of awakening. The path of practice.

[21:45]

Actually, one practice period at City Center that Paul led, the name of the practice period, excuse me, they wanted to have, they, you know, whoever's writing things up for the website and brochures and so forth. I said, well, what should we call this practice period? What's the title for the practice period? And Paul said, Shila, Samadhi, and Prajna. And people who were writing those things up didn't care for that much. Can you come up with something else? It's not very marketable. Oh. Too bad. Anyway, shila, samadhi, and prajna. The three trainings are elemental to Buddhism. And it's no accident that shila comes first.

[22:50]

Actually, Paul usually says sila because he has training in the Theravada tradition. So in Pali, it's sila. But it's no accident. that shila comes first. Shila is elemental. It's what you've got to do in order to practice samadhi and prajna. You've got to practice shila. You've got to practice restraint. You can't be all over the map and practicing samadhi and prajna. And this is my big gripe with Zen. I bet you didn't know I had a big gripe with Zen because I'm very enthusiastic about Zen. I have a lot of school spirit but I do have this gripe with Zen that it seems to me not only in the US but all over the place and not only in current times but maybe lots of times

[24:05]

in history. Seems like a lot of people enthusiastic about Zen want to rush past the shilas so they can get to the good stuff, the samadhi and prajna. And the upshot of that is that we have Zen master so-and-so and great masters such and such and what's name Roshi and who's a what's-it Roshi who not only got into trouble themselves but actually caused a fair amount of damage and I know this is not only in Zen but all these people whose names I could mention at some length.

[25:10]

I could go into that, but I'm not going to because I want to practice restraint. I was talking to my Dharma brother, Jiryu, about this yesterday. And Jiryu said, yeah, they're all wise. They're all sharp. Well, they're all really smart. They've all got a lot on the ball as teachers. Wise depends on your definition of wisdom. If your definition of wisdom includes maturity in practice, then maybe not so much. Maybe not so much. How do you get that? The training in the cishiksha. The training, the constant training. Yeah, this thing with Zen, it goes way back.

[26:15]

I have had students here tell me, well, Huinang in the Platform Sutra, the sixth ancestor says, we don't have to practice Shila. It's right there. Right here in Chapter 3. Sure enough, Huynang says, I will give you a formless stanza. If you put his teaching into practice, you will be in the same position as those who live with me permanently. And he goes on a little more, and then the beginning of the stanza, this is very well known, for a fair mind, this is the Wang Mulam translation, for a fair mind, observation of sila, is unnecessary. For straightforward behavior, practice and Zen may be dispensed with. What are we to make of that?

[27:18]

My Hanshi said I could call on him. What do you think of that, my Hanshi? It comes down to two things. One is the letter of the law and the other is the spirit of the law. They go together. If you're only practicing the letter of the law, that's dead. If you're only practicing the spirit of the law, that's live, that needs control. Therefore, you combine the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. combination of the spirit in the letter makes for Sheila. Thank you very much. I haven't given a talk with my teacher presence since 2005 when I was Juso.

[28:22]

What a thrill. Hoi Nung. Oh. Same Platform Sutra. Excuse me. Same Platform Sutra. Chapter 6. At all times, let us purify our own mind from one thought moment to another, tread the path by our own efforts, realize our own dharmakaya, realize the Buddha in our own mind, and deliver ourselves by a personal observance of sila. Chapter 2 So,

[29:37]

For me, I would say provisionally this morning that Sheila is about mostly restraint. The precepts are about restraint and renunciation. Restraint and renunciation. Restraint and awareness. What are you doing with your body and mind? What are you doing right now with your body and mind? Where are your toes? When you walk into the zendo, you cross the threshold with the foot nearest the door jamb. Where is your foot? This is body-mind training. Also, this includes our forms and ceremonies. All of our forms. All of our many, many, many Zen forms. Soto Zen forms. It's all Sheila.

[30:40]

It's all... I very much appreciated what Roshi said about actually what comes in through the ears and the head is... I want to be careful not to misquote you. Anyway, you said we absorb the practice through the pores. We absorb the practice through the pores. It just gets in us. It gets in our blood. it gets in our bones, our skin, flesh, bones and marrow. We absorb it. We live together and train together, and the mirror neurons are firing all day long. That's how we get Zen training. But I want to say, and Suzuki Roshi, I know, said this a lot, it's not a contest. And Suzuki Roshi warned his students about be careful of looks like good. He said, looks like good. You want to be looks like good.

[31:44]

No. It's not a contest. It's not about looking good. It's about your own practice. And very often we say, don't look left or right. You just take care of your own practice to the best of your ability. How you engage with forums and ceremonies, how you engage with the precepts is what's important. Don't compare, don't worry about that, you know? Or to quote another favorite of mine, Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, it's not what you look like when you're doing what you're doing. It's what you're doing when you're doing what it looks like you're doing. Express yourself. Right? I worked so hard.

[33:01]

on Jared's rock stew. I would rather have spent the afternoon lumping 50-pound sacks of concrete. I would have been much more to my taste. But I enjoyed it. And, you know, I did my best effort. You know, and then I finish, I look out like... And I asked the chousseau. Well, I asked him for calligraphy help. beforehand, because after all, she's right here. Not too much help, but I had her look at the characters, you know, and I had Sojin look at the characters and then, you know, I went in my cabin by myself and shut the door and put the sign up and says, please come back later. And I told Lucy, you know, grind the ink and your tears go in and mix the ink with your tears. And then, you know, the moment of truth when the wet ink goes on the white silk.

[34:04]

Anyway, Lucy volunteered to grade it for me afterwards. We're just playing, of course. But, you know, I said, OK, Lucy, come and you can grade my calligraphy now. You can grade the rock students. So she came and looked at it. She said, pretty good. She approved. Ah. She gave me an A minus. It was A minus because she said, I gave the lion an extra claw. And then she said, you know, doing calligraphy is like doing yoga. I think I was saying something like, well, now I'm done doing this. I can go do some yoga because it was just like, I needed to move my body. And Lucy said, well, it's like doing yoga. You're not trying to be perfect. You're just trying to enjoy the practice and do the best you can, moving your body, engaging with that.

[35:15]

It's the same. The yoga teachers always say, keep the modifications that are right for you. You know, your yoga practice is not like trying to look like somebody on a DVD or whatever, you know, a page in a book. That's helpful, but the spirit of it is how you engage with it, what you do with it. So this is, I think, the spirit of practice. It's the spirit of Zen. what you do. Zen is a religion of action. I have a story that's, I think, kind of illustrative from a different Buddhist tradition, which is a second or third hand story.

[36:21]

Anyway, it hardly matters. if I don't know the names of the people and the teacher involved, because it's just a story. But the way I heard it was sometime probably three or four decades ago, some European magazine said, We should do an article on Buddhism, because there seems to be a lot of interest in Buddhism. So they're going to send a reporter. They send a reporter, get us a story. And the reporter went to Southeast Asia, to Thailand, I believe, and said, get us a story about Buddhism. We'd like to hear about Buddhism. You know, write something for the magazine. So they send a reporter and a photographer, and the reporter finds a teacher. Well, I'd like to speak to a real venerable, a real...

[37:22]

a real Achaan, you know, some venerable teacher who really knows a lot about Buddhism and, you know, possibly enlightened. That would be cool. Enlightenment, that's pretty cool, right? That would make for a good magazine article, I think. So he finds such a person in some Wat in Thailand. Some old venerable, and of course neither of them speaks each other's language, so they have to have an interpreter. So the interpreters are long, and the reporter is asking the teacher various questions, but it doesn't take long before he gets right to, you know, I want the juicy stuff for this magazine article. So he says, what is enlightenment? What is enlightenment? And the teacher explains, and then the translator says to the reporter, okay, he says, you put on your robe, and you sit down, you sit down like here on this platform, and then you get a bowl, and you put the bowl in front of you, like that, see, and then there you go.

[38:50]

And the reporter is like, No. Wait a minute. Some mistake. Okay. So he says, no, excuse me. Let me explain. What I'm trying to say is I want to ask the teacher, what is enlightenment? What is enlightenment? Do you understand what I mean by enlightenment? So first the reporter and the translator go back and forth. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no. I get it. I get it. I get it. And then the translator and the teacher go back and forth. They're talking a little bit. And there's a little bit of back and forth between the translator and the teacher, and the teacher's like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. And the translator's like, uh-huh, uh-huh. And then the teacher's like, uh-huh, uh-huh. Okay, okay. Translator says, okay, I got it. Here you go. So you sit down like this. You put your robe on. The robe looks like this, and you put it on like this. See, just like this. You sit over one shoulder.

[39:52]

And then a bowl, it can be any bowl, but, you know, this is a good bowl. The bowl goes right here, just like this. So you put your bowl there, and then you sit, see? Okay, now do you get it? What is enlightenment? Handle your bowls with two hands. What is the way of all Buddhas and ancestors? When passing another monk on the path, stop and bow in gasho. you might think I'm oversimplifying it but I might say I'm overcomplicating it I might say if I say this very mind is Buddha wait I should pick up my stick this very mind is Buddha right here right now

[41:25]

that might still be over-complicating it. Because, after all, there isn't much to Sojan Roshi's Buddhism. I gave Jared the name Joyous Way. And last night I said, the joyous way is the way of renunciation. The way of renunciation is the joyous way. It's letting go. It's giving up. It's giving over. It's a relief. Thank goodness. It's not all about me. It's not all about my cares and woes. I can let go. This is renunciation. This is... This is the joyous way.

[42:27]

Also, his name is kind of an homage to this practice period because I feel like this practice period is very joyous. And the spirit of renunciation is strong. It's not always easy. And it doesn't mean that if you're not feeling joyous, you're doing it wrong. So I want to emphasize that. Whatever you're feeling is what you're meant to be feeling. That's okay. Part of I think my duties, my responsibilities, or anyway, as just general encourager-in-chief, not to hang out there, you know?

[43:40]

Help you. If there's any way to not hang out there, I've been studying Kowun Ajo's absorption in the treasury of the light. And by the way, that's ko un. When we're chaining it, it's ko un, lonely cloud, just for your information. Anyway, Ejo says in this text, the ancient Nagarjuna said in a eulogy of wisdom, Transcendent wisdom is like a mass of fire. It is ungraspable on all four sides. Although everyone hears and reads such great teachings, you study them as if they were only relevant to others. You do not free and ease your whole being. You do not penetrate the totality.

[44:44]

Instead, you say that you are lacking in capacity or that you are beginners or that you are latecomers. or that you are ordinary mortals who have not cut off a single delusion. You do not put down your former views or your self-image. Dwelling in the great treasury of light all day and all night, you turn yourself into a lowly hireling, roaming in misery, a long-time pauper. This is your own conceit of inferiority, having forgotten the call of your noble origins. How sad it is to take up a night soil bucket and become a cesspool cleaner, thinking of the body of pure light as a defiled body full of misery. This is the saddest of sadnesses, which nothing can surpass. So, as you can see, self-esteem issues are nothing new to our time. This is exactly a problem that's existed for centuries.

[45:47]

And I know some people might read that and then think, oh great, there's one more thing I'm doing wrong. I know because I talked to you in practice discussion. You know? Ryushin Paul Haller says, it takes a certain audaciousness To practice Zen. Impudence even. You just claim your own. Claim your birthright. Your noble birthright. You are dwelling in the treasury of light. When you sit upright in the Zen though, you sit upright as a sovereign under the Bodhi tree. You have a seat in this zendo.

[46:54]

You all sat tangario. You all have a right to be here. Claim your right. This is your chance to practice. They say that when someone, especially a teacher, dies, they leave behind aspects of themselves for people to enjoy and take up and benefit from. So that, for example, when my dear friend and mentor, the late Reverend

[48:04]

John King died in 2008 I noticed after that and I discussed this with his teacher Blanche and she affirmed it I found suddenly it was much easier for me to say I love you and I'm noticing now missing Steve Missing Abbot Steve, honoring his memory. It goes beyond honoring his memory. It's like a gift, a gift I've been given. His gratitude practice is looming large now in my life. I'm noticing that more and more. Gratitude. Steve would just wake up in the morning and the first word out of his mouth would be gratitude. Just gratitude. Gratitude for what?

[49:05]

First comes to gratitude, then gratitude for what? I think this is an opening. This is an opening into the practice of renunciation. This is an opening into letting go. To claiming your birthright as a sovereign under the Bodhi tree. One of my favorite koans is the story about Suzuki Roshi coming up behind Mel in the hallway at city center, apropos of nothing else at all, just walks up next to him and says, just being alive is enough. that's a really good koan that's a good koan for me so I'm grateful I'm grateful for everyone's strong practice I'm grateful for the precepts I'm grateful for

[50:34]

for the practice of renunciation, the joyous practice of renunciation. I'm grateful for my teacher and his teacher and the whole lineage of Buddhas and ancestors. I'm grateful for the rain So I'd like to finish with a poem that's a great favorite of mine. I'm not into poetry much, but this one I just love so much. And I can't tell you much about his provenance, only I found it in that Koto Sawaki kind of fanzine that Koji Rick Dreyer put together.

[51:37]

Koji collected all the articles he could find about Sawaki Roshi and pictures and interviews and just he had been collecting it for a while and then he put together this like very kind of intentionally crudely pasted up like a punk fanzine it's in our library I can definitely recommend it it's actually quite a great resource anyway there's a talk in there of Kodo Sawaki's Homeless Kodo where he quotes this poem and he attributes it to Chinese poet Hakurakuten of course that's a Japanese name the Japanese refer to Chinese as Japanese names so we say whatever Tozan Ryokai for But anyway, Hakurakuten sounds Japanese, but he says it's a Chinese poet.

[52:43]

Apart from that, I know nothing about who this person was or when he lived or anything else he wrote. But I have this poem for you. Here we go. Why should I fight? with the horns of a snail. I am a spark between two pieces of flint. I accept fortune. I accept misfortune. Moreover, I'm thrilled. I stand there with my mouth hanging open, without laughing, like an idiot. You like that? Why should I fight with the horns of a snail?

[53:51]

What a great image, huh? It's like this. Right? When you touch a snail's horns, they go back like that. It's like this. No, no, wait. It's like that. It's the absolute. It's the relative. No. Why should I fight with the horns of a snail? It's useless. You want to hear it again? I do. Why should I fight with the horns of a snail? I am a spark between two pieces of flint. I accept fortune. I accept misfortune. Moreover, I'm thrilled. I stand there with my mouth hanging open, without laughing, like an idiot.

[54:55]

Well, that's my talk. Kind of long. Like shiso days. Still, if anyone has a question they would like to ask or comment or something they want to add, Kozan. Hentoku. Dentoku Hentoku. Nice. Yes. I wonder if you have anything to say about this tradition that is outside the Zen Monastery, like the legend of Putai or other monks who never avoided monasteries and they try to live outside.

[56:21]

Obviously, he's not recorded any kind of following rules for some of them. It looks like there is no reason to follow guidelines for Huthai, for example, if he happened to exist, they leave outside of the monastery. There is a certain kind of saying. I wonder if you have anything... No, not much. You know, Sojum Roshi has said in the past that Tassahara practice is easy practice. I think the beauty of this kind of training, this kind of residential training, is very clear cut. You do it. We know what the Shingi is.

[57:26]

We know what the schedule is. You just do it, absorb it through your pores. Does that make it the only practice? No, of course not. Does it make it the only worthwhile practice? No, of course not. It's, I think, for training, and this is a training monastery, This is not the kind of monastery where people make vows of poverty and stability and stay here forever. Although it is nice if a few people stay here for five years or so. A few people could get into double-digit practice periods. That's nice. But nobody stays here forever. It's a training monastery. I think as long as you can stay here and train, That's good. Well, I mean, if you have an affinity for it. But that doesn't make it the only way to practice. Of course not. Wei Nang says, your, what does he say?

[58:28]

It's chapter 6. Deliver ourselves by a personal observance of sila. So you take care of your own practice, whether you're in the monastery or the marketplace, with your personal observance of Shiva. So whether putai, hotai? Is that the one carrying the bag? Is that what you mean, the one carrying the bag? Yeah. Yeah, with the big belly and like the Chinese Santa Claus. Maitreya Buddha. Maitreya Buddha. Or Maitreya Bodhisattva, I should say. Maitreya Bodhisattva. The loving one. John King. I know it's kind of maybe annoying when I talk about somebody nobody knows. Anyway, I'm sorry. Just someone I loved a lot.

[59:30]

And I kind of thought of him as... He lived in, you know, Potero Hill, mostly. But you can do that. Or can you do that? Maybe that's your question. Maybe you've got to find out. Great. The author was talking about what he called anarchist calisthenics. Keeping in shape. He said that he was encouraging people to follow their own judgment when it comes to petty laws. Like in Chihuahua, there's nobody else waiting for the light.

[60:33]

He said be careful so that no children are around because you might give them a bad example. use your own judgment when it comes to operating your life with other people in society, and not to be so hampered by rules and laws, not to just break them impulsively without thought, but that he said, he was making the argument that we need to break rules and laws to do the rational thing on a consistent basis enough such that when there comes a time when you really, really need to break a law, like when you really, really need to say no to law enforcement officers or to politicians or to certain policies, when that time comes, you need to be ready for it. And I was just wondering, maybe this has a relationship with precepts though.

[61:35]

It's good to keep in shape breaking a precept just so that you don't get so caught up in this web of ideas about behavior. Because it might come a day when you need to break a big precept. You might have to break a precept to keep a precept. Right. I think this is what Sojan Roshi is... Excuse me, I didn't mean to hook my thumb at you. Sojan Roshi is talking about the difference between dead precepts and live precepts. I think that's the feeling you're trying to express there, and I agree with that feeling. I would say, you know, Suzuki Roshi said, the best way to control someone is to encourage them to be mischievous. I think in your own personal observance of Sheila, I don't know if you have to...

[62:38]

look for, maybe you do, but I doubt it, look for ways to like, you know, jaywalk or something like that. Because at least in the monastery, well, I can only talk about my own practice. I'm coming up against the guidelines all the time. You know, I'm talking now. Should I be talking? Maybe not. You know, maybe that I'm not actually, is this functional speech? So I'm just, you know, that's my calisthenics. That's my calisthenics. I'm just watching that all the time. Not obsessively, not judgmentally, but just how am I practicing with it? What is my practice there? And I think that's in the same spirit as what this person is talking about. You know, you have to question. question authority, right?

[63:40]

You have to question, question everything, you know, that they're not dead precepts, that the precepts are very useful. Let the precepts, I really loved what Jiryu said last night, you know, actually, let's just keep the precepts. Good idea, I think. But keep them as live precepts. Yeah. Yes. Well, when I got the job as a taxi driver in 1950-something, the train would be a taxi driver. They don't do that anymore. They had to wear a suit and tie it.

[64:41]

But anyway, the trainer said, The law says that you should stop at all intersections and so forth because that's the law. The law also says you should stop at all intersections unless it's safe to continue. So it doesn't mean you have to stop for everything. Is there's nobody around? Well, that's the law. At least it was in law then. I don't think you can claim that. That's the law. Unless it sleeps to girls. Yeah. So, jaywalking is when... It's not jaywalking. You can walk across the street when there's no traffic around. That's not jaywalking. I... I spent some time with a person who is...

[65:42]

what's the word? Not a refugee, but anyway, who had been living under a very extremely repressive totalitarian regime and just spending time with this person. Now they're in the U.S. and coming to a street corner. Really ultra, ultra careful. because they were traumatized. And people were crossing the street because there was student housing across the street. And they said, don't walk across the street. Even if it worked up, she broke the straight foot point away from the signal, you crossed there. It's very subjective.

[66:50]

It's very subjective. Keep the precepts. Keep them alive in your heart, you know. Yeah. Giyu, did you have your hand up? Yes. Yes. Yes. A little. Did I understand that you say that you can train to wisdom? Well, that's one of the three trainings. Sheila, Samadhi, and Prajna. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Does that answer your question? I beg your pardon? That's what it says, so I can train to be wise. You can train to be wise right now. The Heart Sutra says, with nothing to attain, a Bodhisattva relies on Prajnaparamita.

[68:01]

You can do that anytime. Do that all the time. Do that continuously. That's training and wisdom, I guess. Kind of hard to talk about. Fortunately, my talk was all about Sheila. Amen. Yes. No, I wasn't there. I wasn't there. It's just a story about speech in the courtyard. Yeah. Just an illustrative story, Tassahara lore. Okay, well, I think that's good enough, eh? Thank you very much for your attention. Good morning. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge, and this is made possible by the donations we receive.

[69:05]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[69:15]

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