This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Can you hear me? Yes, yes. Okay, good. Welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. Are there any of you who are here for the first time tonight? Two? Okay. Three? Excellent. Especially welcome to you, and I hope you enjoy the evening and find something that's worthwhile for you to have come out for tonight. this practice period, I've been teaching a class about karma.

[01:05]

And so that's what I want to talk about tonight. And since the theme of the practice period is Suzuki Roshi's way of practice, I will certainly include some teaching from Suzuki Roshi. And also, I had... included anyway before today some material from Thich Nhat Hanh. And since we just received some news today that he's sick, I feel even more like I want to honor the wonderful influence he's had on my practice these years by sharing some of the material. from Thich Nhat Hanh. So before I get into all that, though, I want to give a sort of overview of the topic of karma, beginning with the meaning of the word.

[02:16]

So I think we all know the word karma. We've known it for a long time, maybe since we were teenagers even, or before we came to practice, because it's really part of the mainstream culture vocabulary. It's a household word, I think. And it's often used in a very casual way. So I might say something like, oh, I found a parking place immediately. It must be my good karma. And I talk like that too. It's not just foolish common people, or I am a foolish common person. But the actual...

[03:19]

Sanskrit meaning of karma is action. And in the context of Buddhist practice, especially volitional action or intentional action. But we also use it to mean... effect or result or consequence of our actions or retribution or reward. And I'll be using it that way sometimes tonight. So I think in Buddhist practice that intention is always very important. We receive the precepts with a pretty good idea. at the time we receive them, that it will be impossible to keep them. And yet we avow our intention to do our best to keep the precepts, to live by the precepts.

[04:24]

And the same thing happens in our meditation practice. We set out with the intention of following our breath. And over and over again, we lose our way, lose our focus, stray. And instead of berating ourselves or criticizing our practice, we just come back to our breath as soon as we realize that we've gone away somewhere. So... Buddhist practice is a lot about having an intention and falling down and getting up and falling down and getting up over and over again with the emphasis on getting up. If you're good at getting up, you know there are some disciplines, some probably, I don't know what, where it's good to know how to fall.

[05:30]

Well, here it's good to know how to get up and probably to fall gracefully also. So in this process of failing and returning to our effort, we're always just living from the circumstances of this moment right now. We're not crying over spilled milk. or saying, if only it were some other way. We're just accepting the circumstances in this moment right now and making our best effort to do something good, to do something beneficial. So I have found karma to be a very big and complicated and interesting subject.

[06:33]

There are lots of really interesting materials to study about karma. And the teachings about karma really address the very meaning of our lives and attempt to answer questions that are important to us, like, why do bad things happen to good people? And why do we suffer? And can we end suffering? These teachings about karma come from Buddha's realization on the night of his enlightenment. So they're really another way of speaking about or thinking about or practicing the Four Noble Truths. They're a teaching about how suffering arises.

[07:40]

And as conceived by Buddha on the night of his enlightenment, they're sometimes called the 12-fold chain of causation. or the 12 links of interdependent co-arising. Those are names we've given to that particular list of stuff. And they're teachings about how cause and effect co-arise. Sometimes they're depicted on a painting, often a tanga painting, called the Wheel of Life. And in the perimeter of the wheel, all the links will be drawn. There will be drawings representing all the links. So one link causes another, causes another, causes another. And even though a wheel by nature is beginningless and endless, it's still a much too linear way.

[08:54]

to think about karmic cause or the links because they're all so interconnected and it isn't as simple as one causes the next causes the next. And cause and effect, which might seem to be opposites, are like dark and light and hot and cold, and a lot of the opposites that we know as dualities that are really just two sides of the same coin, they co-arise. You can't have one without the other. And when I was thinking about teaching a class on karma, I was afraid Nobody would sign up for it because I think people have sort of negative ideas about karma, that it's more on the retribution side than the reward side, something to avoid if you can.

[10:11]

But actually, karma is a neutral word. We can have good karma or bad karma, depending on our actions. And the general oversimplified law of karma is that good actions and well-intended actions produce good effects, and bad actions and ill-intended actions produce negative effects. However, I think we all know that when we do something, usually the results are somewhat mixed. So you may do something very good and have some good effects, and there are likely to be some negative unintended consequences.

[11:15]

And by the same token, when we do something bad or when something happens in the world that's really terrible, at the same time, something good may spring up incidentally around it. I think the teaching of interdependent colorizing is really foundational to all Buddhist study and It's the teaching that everything is dependent on everything else. Very basic. And Buddha expressed it this way. This is because that is. This is not because that is not. This comes to be because that comes to be.

[12:18]

This ceases to be because that ceases to be. And every cause is also an effect, and every effect is the cause of something else. So cause and effect are inter-are, as Thich Nhat Hanh would say. So I was surprised at how helpful the study of karma was for me. It's another way of exploring the truth of reality and our place in the world. And considering the karmic effects of our actions, really shows us how to live, I think, really helps us in the business of living and doing good and living a beneficial life.

[13:21]

Zen master Dogen, who is the founder of the Soto Zen School in Japan that we are part of, wrote three fascicles about karma, two of them toward the end of his life. And some scholars say that when he was in his last years, he was very disturbed at the interpretation that had been given to some of his teachings. He was disturbed that emptiness was used as an excuse by some of the samurai for killing and for warfare. and he wanted to be very clear about his deep belief in causality. And some scholars say that he intended to actually rewrite the Shobho Genzo so that it would focus around karma, but that never happened.

[14:30]

Maybe a fascicle or two happened in that effort before he died. So I want to read a little from Suzuki Roshi's Dharma talk called Changing Our Karma, which is from the book Not Always So that you're using in the practice period class. It's a wonderful book. You become very serious when you have a big problem without realizing that that you are always creating problems. With a smaller problem, you think, oh, this is no trouble, so I can manage it quite easily. You may think this without even knowing how you will cope with the problem you have. The other day, Tatsugami Roshi said,

[15:36]

catches a mouse with his whole strength. A tiger does not ignore or slight any small animal. The way he catches a mouse and the way he catches and devours a cow are the same. But usually, although you have many problems, you think they are minor. so you don't think it is necessary to exert yourself. That is the way many countries treat their international problems. This is a minor problem. As long as we do not use atomic weapons, we can fight. But that kind of small fight eventually will result in a big fight. So even though the problems you have in your everyday life are small, unless you know how to solve them, you will have big difficulties.

[16:48]

This is the law of karma. Karma starts from small things, but with neglect, your bad karma will accelerate. So I think it is characteristic of karma that it keeps growing. The effects are always bigger than the original cause. And I think of the example of throwing a stone into a stool pond. So I throw my stone. and it enters the water with a splash. And then ripples radiate out from the place where the stone entered the water and get bigger and bigger.

[17:54]

And eventually the stone sinks to the bottom of the pond, and the ripples exhaust themselves and dissipate, and you don't see them anymore. So that might be a sort of oversimplified metaphor for cause and effect. But it isn't like that in real life, as you know, because we're acting every moment, and other people are acting too, and all our actions relate to each other. So it might be more accurate to visualize that still pond, and a lot of people throwing stones into it of different sizes and shapes and weights, all at the same time, but not just once, this moment and this moment and this moment and this moment forever, would be very complicated.

[19:03]

I'm not a scientist or a mathematician, so I don't know if it would become completely random or if there would be some pattern, but I certainly wouldn't be able to trace the pattern. And I think our karmic lives are a little like that. I think there is a law of karma, but it's so complicated that it's impossible to completely trace. You can follow it a little way out. You can see some of the effects of the things you do. And then it's beyond us. We don't know. And so all we can do is try to do good, try to benefit the world. And how does that look in real life? So that's just an example, a sort of scientific example. But this happens in our lives, too. So I may say a sharp word or make a careless, unskillful comment to somebody I work with.

[20:16]

And it may hurt their feelings. And worst case, maybe it triggers some particular sensitivity they have and they get really angry about it. And if that problem is there between us and we don't do something about it, it may grow. You know, they may respond in anger to me. I may feel anger back at them. And pretty soon we have a difficult working relationship. We're feeling uncooperative and a little afraid of each other, and things just aren't going well. Maybe someday there's a blow-up. And if one or both of us feels badly, we may go home and say something unkind to our child or dog or husband, and so it spreads. And, of course, it can happen the same way with good actions, too.

[21:19]

I may smile warmly at someone or say something that they appreciate, and they may feel gratitude and warmth and carry that. So we have a big effect on the people around us. And I'm more apt to create negative karma of that sort when I'm very task-oriented or goal-oriented, which is one of the ways I tend to be sometimes. find myself trying to manipulate a person or a thing to get the outcome I want, forgetting that the main goal is to live in harmony with all beings, that that's much more important than getting some particular thing done. When...

[22:24]

that I found that we do a lot at Zen Center that I think has really helped me over a long period of time with this kind of activity is training with forms. So, for example, I have my Oriyoki set and I carry it at chest height. And When I go to the zendo, as I step into the zendo and cross the threshold, I lift it to eye level. That's the form. And it's a reminder to me that I'm entering a sacred space and that my bowls are sacred objects. After all, they're Buddha's bowls, right? And I eat an oryoki meal. And all the bowls and utensils I pick up with both hands carefully.

[23:27]

I very carefully lay my chopsticks across the middle bowl so that they don't slide off and go clattering to the floor and embarrass me. So out of respect for the chopsticks and for myself, I'm very careful and respectful. We do the same thing when we ring bells. We ring a bell in kind of a circular motion so that the striker makes contact with the bell in a way that brings out the best sound of the bell. And Thich Nhat Hanh talks about not hitting the bell or striking it, but inviting the bell to sound, letting it make the most beautiful noise, sound that it possibly can, helping it to do that. When we fluff our zazu at the end of zazen, we can feel care and appreciation and gratitude for the seat that received us and allowed us to sit during zazen.

[24:42]

So treating things with care and respect in that way I think enters our body and becomes a body habit. Sometimes somebody will ask me a question about some form. Do you walk in this way or that way? Which foot do you step onto the tatami with? And I won't... in my head, know the answer. I can't tell them. I have to do it. My body knows and my mind doesn't know. So these body memories that we build up, these body awarenesses are very powerful. And we can actually change our minds through our bodies in that way, I think. I learned from Thich Nhat Hanh a more direct way to work on the mind that I've appreciated for a long time, and that's Gata practice.

[26:02]

So I'm very fond of this little book, Present Moment, Wonderful Moment. It's a little book of verses and commentaries on the verses. So agatha is a verse that we say to ourselves as we're doing something that we do every day, some routine thing like brushing our teeth or turning on the lights or something like that. And we say it as a reminder to be present in this moment and to be aware and appreciative of our life. So here's his gata about waking up. Waking up this morning, I smile. 24 brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion.

[27:12]

So I think that's a great start to a day. Very inspiring to me. And he wrote a beautiful gata about answering the telephone. These days, my phone doesn't ring all that often, but I receive and send lots of email. You don't see the person. You don't see what facial expression they have or what state of mind they're in when they write. That's why we have all these emoticons, right? So I think a good way to practice with this particular gatha might be to take a deep breath and say the gatha to myself. Work on my email. read it over, take another deep breath or two or three, and then hit the send button.

[28:24]

And it takes a little more time, but it may save a lot of grief or unhappiness in the end. So here's his gatha, which I really like. Words can travel thousands of miles. May my words create mutual understanding and love. May they be as beautiful as gems, as lovely as flowers. And here's one more. This is Agatha for greeting someone. A lotus for you, a Buddha to be. When I try that, frankly, it's a little sweet for me. I have some resistance to it.

[29:26]

I find myself thinking something else. And I think these practices can be useful in that way. It brings up the shadow side of our feelings. what's going on in there, and puts it out in the sunshine where we can look at it and practice with it. So I think it's useful to do something like that. And if it really bothers you, you can rewrite it. And in fact, I think that's a good thing to do anyway, is to write your own gatas. So enough about gatas. It's a training, I think, to pay attention to what's happening right now, because we can only live in this moment. And what does this moment ask of us? So for me, the most obvious, big example of how

[30:42]

Something small can turn into something great is Suzuki Roshi's life and the impact he has had on us and other people and the world. So he was a small, quiet Japanese man who came to take care of a Japanese-American congregation. He spoke English as a second language, imperfectly and with great difficulty. And he was only in this country for 12 years. That's a very short time. And he touched and changed the lives of thousands of people. And it hasn't stopped. His teaching is continuing to change the lives of people all over the world. I think it's very impressive. What I notice is the way—I never met Suzuki Roshi, but what I notice is the way his disciples describe him.

[31:57]

So I remember sort of the feeling tone that Ed had in a Dharma talk when he said he was— unlike anyone we had ever met before. We had never known someone like him. And his disciples described really deep, meaningful ways that he was with them and affected their lives. They talked about things like how he picked up a teacup, or how he put on his sandals, or how he put his hands on someone's shoulders during Zazen, or Gashod, when he met you on the path. It was about how it felt to be with him. And I think that must be Big Mind.

[32:59]

I think that's what it's about. And I want to read just a little bit from another Suzuki Roshi Dharma talk called One Particle of Dust. I think you read that in the class. So this comes from a koan. The Zen teacher Fuketsu said to the assembled monks, If one particle of dust is raised, the state will come into being. If no particle of dust is raised, the state will perish. So what could be smaller than a speck of dust in terms of karma? Very small thing, very small activity. And this is used... This is an expression, kind of a standard Zen expression for starting a Zen group or building a monastery.

[34:09]

Sometimes they say raising a speck of dust. Sometimes they say putting a blade of grass into the earth. Something small and insignificant-seeming that grows and impacts many people. So when we pick up a speck of dust one way or another through our practice, we make our lives meaningful and we create a world that was different, that is different than if we had never been here. And that's, I think, what we want to do. We want to live meaningful lives. So this fascicle that Dogen wrote near the end of his life that expressed his deep belief on causality, that's one of the titles it was given by some translators.

[35:23]

Other translators have given it the title, Identifying with Cause and Effect. And I think that's a very interesting I think identifying with cause and effect means that we realize that we are cause and effect, that there is just cause and effect happening all the time, and the self drops away. If we don't have any idea of self, there's just cause and effect. And I want to quote one more thing from Changing Our Karma, Suzuki Roshi's Dharma talk. As long as we have an idea of self, karma has an object to work on.

[36:28]

So the best way is to make karma work on the voidness of space. If we have no idea of self, karma doesn't know what to do. Oh, where is my partner? Where is my friend? Some people try hard to banish karma, but I don't think that is possible. The best way is to know the strict rules of karma and to work on our karma. So I think this moment will condition the rest of our lives. And what does it ask of us? I want to close by reading a few very brief things from this little book, To Shine One Corner,

[37:36]

of the World by Suzuki Roshi. It's subtitled Moments with Suzuki Roshi. And these are short stories of interactions that students had with him. And this book was put together 30 years after his death. So that means that these students, this was something that lived in them for that length of time. They remembered it and called it up to be put in this book. I think that's very impressive. And I've chosen the ones I've chosen, not because they're particularly beautiful or clever or surprising, but because they have to do with karma. A student filled with emotion and crying implored, Why is there so much suffering? Suzuki Roshi replied, No reason.

[38:42]

A student asked, Is enlightenment a complete remedy? Suzuki Roshi replied, No. Once in a lecture, Suzuki Roshi said, hell is not punishment, it's training. A student asked Suzuki Roshi if he kept an eye on his students to see if they were following the precepts. I don't pay any attention to whether you're following the precepts or not, he answered. I just notice how you are with one another. One night, I was on desk duty in the front hall of City Center. Suzuki Roshi and his wife were going out. I was a new student sitting stiffly.

[39:52]

He smiled and said, good night, happened, but it changed my life. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[40:25]

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