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. Good morning. I seem not to be finding the little clip on this, so I hope it stays in place if it goes awry, let me know that something is happening, okay? Can you hear? Okay. Welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. How many of you are here for the first time today? Would you raise your hands? Great. Welcome particularly to you. And I hope that you enjoy the morning and that you find something here that makes it feel worth your having come out today.

[01:08]

Today is a special occasion for us because we're celebrating Buddha's birthday today. There are three events. in the story of the life of Buddha that we commemorate with special ceremonies at San Francisco Zen Center. And Buddha's birthday is one of them. And we followed the Japanese tradition of celebrating as nearly as possible on April 8th. That's the date they use in Japan for Buddha's birthday. And we usually choose the Saturday nearest that so that we can include everyone, the wider sangha, in the festivities. And there are various years when Buddha was thought to have lived.

[02:15]

It's not completely agreed upon. And we will... We will chant later. We'll have a special ceremony in the park. And our chant will say that Buddha was born 2,501 years ago, which I guess makes his birth year 486 BCE. And he lived to be 80 years old. And another event that we celebrate from Buddha's life is his enlightenment. And the traditional date for that is December 8th. And we generally celebrate on the last day of Rohatsu Sushin, which is about at that time. It seems fitting after we've been sitting together for seven days to celebrate Buddha's enlightenment.

[03:16]

And the third is Buddha's from this world into nirvana. In other words, his death or parinirvana. And we celebrate that on February 15th or the date closest to that that works for our schedule. So these are the three big events in Buddha's life that we actually have ceremonies for. And I think it's pretty universal that birthdays are considered joyous occasions. And especially a first birthday, the day when a human being is born, is joyous. And there's the excitement of a new life.

[04:21]

I've never been present for a birth, and I've never given birth, but when I'm close to someone who's going to have a baby, I'm really always just fascinated and curious at the fact that there's a new being in the world that wasn't here before. It's such a mysterious, wonderful thing. And even though we know a lot through science and medicine about reproduction and birth and our bodies, birth in its essence remains a complete mystery, completely unfathomable, as does death. I think in our early years, birthdays are especially treasured.

[05:23]

Birthdays mean that we've grown or grown up, advanced in our maturity, increased our capacity and skill in living, and moved along on the path to independence. And these are very important things when we're young people. These are things we want. And besides, birthdays involve fun stuff like presents and parties and balloons and candles and birthday cake. And we'll have all of that except the presents today. In our later years, I think birthdays are still a cause for celebration. A birthday means we've made it for one more year.

[06:29]

And it's a time of renewal and refreshment and starting over, starting our life over from this moment. That's an opportunity that we always have on birthdays. Even though there's a little shadow side to an older person's birthday that another year of our life has passed, I think we intuitively grasp that that time is not gone. It's not lost. As Dogen Zenji said, Time does not fly away. So it's time that we've lived, time accomplished, time spent. And it resides in us, it lives in our bodies and minds.

[07:31]

You may notice it in the form of wrinkles, I do. So today, our program, is that I am going to tell the story of Buddha's birth in this Dharma talk. And I would ask you to maybe shed a few birthdays and become kid-like and willing to listen to this familiar story once again. And maybe you'll hear something new Or maybe you'll hear something already familiar in a new way, and it will feed and nourish your life. I hope so. And then, after this talk, we're going to go to Koshlin Park across the street and have a ceremony that will enact some of the features of Buddha's life from this story.

[08:37]

And after that, we'll come back and you're all invited for lunch with birthday cake. So I've known for a long time that I'm not very interested in whether the Buddha actually existed or not or whether the story about him is true. The story that has been handed down The legend inspires me, and I appreciate it. And I actually didn't know at the time I started preparing this talk what the historical view was. So I researched it a little bit. And this is what Wikipedia has to say. Laughter Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life.

[09:42]

Historians agree with broad outlines of birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching and death. So I think that's pretty complete. Those are the main... features of Buddha's life that impact my life, that teach me. So that's very reassuring. He did exist. And I think the point of the legendary story that we'll tell, which includes fantastical elements, is that it encapsulates Buddha's teachings. I think that like Jesus, Buddha was a human embodiment of spiritual teaching. And we need a living example that's like us to put the teachings into practice and have faith that it will help our lives.

[10:51]

I think religious teachings in the abstract aren't very helpful. At least they're not very helpful to me. We need a living example of how to live that's like us. And the Buddhist story is such an example. Buddha encounters real difficulties in his life, just like us. And he has the same sufferings I do, the same sufferings we all do, including old age, sickness, death. not being able to control all the circumstances of his life, not always getting what he wants. This is our suffering. So I want to launch into the legendary story of Buddha that has been handed down. Buddha was born a prince. He was born to King Suddhodana,

[11:57]

and Queen Maya of the Shakya tribe in India, not far from Nepal. And they wanted to have a child and had been trying to have a child for a long time. The king wanted an heir to the throne. He wanted a son who would succeed him and take care of the country and the people. So one day, Queen Maya was overcome with sleepiness, and she fell asleep, and she had a very extraordinary dream, and this is her dream. A pure, white, perfect bull elephant with six ivory tusks holding a lotus flower in its trunk walked around her, circumambulated her three times, and then touched her right side with the lotus flower and entered her right side and merged with her.

[13:14]

And then Queen Maya woke up and she was in a state of bliss. such as she had never experienced before in her life. And she immediately told King Sudodhana about her dream. And they both realized it was an important dream, that it was auspicious, and they wanted to understand what it meant. So King Suddhodana invited 64 Brahmin wise men to the palace to interpret the dream. What do you think? Is that a little over the top? Can you imagine the conversation of 64 Brahmin wise men about this dream?

[14:15]

So they concluded that an elephant... is a symbol of fertility and also of greatness. That makes sense, doesn't it? Greatness. And a lotus flower is a symbol of enlightenment. So they made the prediction that Queen Maya would give birth to a wonderful child who would grow up to be a great leader, either a worldly leader or a spiritual leader. And lo and behold, ten months later, Buddha was born. So it was traditional in India for an expectant mother to return to the home of her parents to give birth.

[15:22]

So Queen Maya had set out with a retinue of attendance to go to Kosala, where her father lived, for the birth. But on the way, it became clear that the child was ready to be born now. So they all stopped at Lumbini Garden, which was a beautiful park with lots of lush greenery and flowers. Very beautiful. And Queen Maya held on to the branch of a tree and gave birth to her baby standing up. The baby emerged from her right side. And at that point, Devas appeared to attend to Queen Maya.

[16:25]

And flowers rained from the heavens. Dragons filled the sky and released two large streams of water, one cool and one warm, to bathe the baby Buddha. But it wasn't as if the baby was dirty and needed cleaning. The baby emerged from Queen Maya's side clean and pure and perfect and extraordinarily beautiful. Clearly a special child. So the water was a symbol of refreshment and renewal and purification, not just for this baby, but for everyone, everywhere, for the world, for the universe.

[17:33]

It was a cosmic thing that was happening here. And then the newborn infant stood up, planted his feet firmly on the earth, and took seven steps. Sometimes it's said that these seven steps represent the four directions plus up and down and right here. And I've also heard that the seven steps represent the seven planets that were known at that time. Either way, I think you can see that this was a representation of everything in the universe. It was including everything, everywhere, all space, all time, all beings, nothing left out.

[18:34]

And then this baby, you know how tiny a newborn baby is. It's hard to imagine this. pointed with his right hand to the heavens and his left hand to the earth and said, Under the heavens and above the earth, I alone am the world-honored one. So that's a pretty astonishing statement for a little baby to make, isn't it? laughter It's hard to imagine. Where was he coming from? Who did he think he was? So I want to come back to who he might have been. The baby was named Siddhartha, which means one who accomplishes his aim, or...

[19:46]

he through whom everything wonderful is accomplished. And just an aside, I think it's interesting. It turns out that Buddha wasn't some just spiritual person. He was very effective in the world. He was a true leader. So there was a sage at that time named Asita, who had a regular meditation practice. And in his meditation, he became aware of this birth. And he made his way to the palace to see the child. And as soon as he laid eyes on the child, he began to cry. The king and queen were very alarmed. they asked Asita, is there something wrong with the baby?

[20:50]

Is there some misfortune that will befall him that you can foresee? But Asita assured them that there was nothing wrong with the child. He said, I predict that this child, this extraordinary child, will grow up to be... a great ruler, a great leader. Excuse me, I gave away the punchline. He will either be a worldly king who is beloved by his subjects and takes good care of his country and is generous and helps the world to live in harmony. or he'll be a spiritual leader who will seek and find the truth and share it with everyone and save beings in the world.

[21:52]

So that was Asita's prediction. And he said, my tears... are because I myself have wanted such a teacher, a spiritual teacher, for a long time. And here he is, and I know that by the time he finds the truth and can share it, I will be dead. It's too late for me, and that's why I'm crying. So Queen Maya died. seven days after Siddhartha was born. And Siddhartha was raised by her sister, Pajapati, who was also married to King Suddhodana. That was the custom of the time. And maybe this was the Buddha's first

[23:02]

and deepest and most long-lasting suffering, the knowledge that his mother had died giving birth to him. So I want to say, although I wanted to focus on Buddha's birth, since that's what we're celebrating today, I have to talk about his practice and enlightenment to make any sense out of this. So I'm going to fast forward without very much detail to that part of his life. Excuse me for a moment. So remember that the king wanted an heir to the throne and he was not at all happy to hear about the possibility that his son might become a spiritual seeker and give up the throne.

[24:22]

So he did everything in his power to prevent that from happening. He protected Siddhartha from all kinds of suffering, even the knowledge of old age, sickness, and death. You can imagine that that would be pretty hard to do. I think it involved things like taking wilted flowers out of vases and sending sick palace workers away for a little while until they got well. So he kept Buddha... kind of imprisoned in a palace of pleasure and youth, shielded from the realities of life. But the time came when Siddhartha was old enough to begin to think about the kingdom he would take care of and wanted to see it.

[25:24]

He was curious and intelligent. And at the age of 29, he left the protective cocoon that his father had created for him and looked around outside and saw that there was indeed suffering in the world that none of us can escape. And this was hard for him because he had been so sheltered. So he knew what he had to do. After some consideration and against the wishes of his parents, he left the palace, left everything behind, and embarked on a spiritual search and journey that included he started studying with the teachers of the day,

[26:26]

and learned everything that they could teach him. And then he took up the practice of austerities which with such severity that after about six years of this practice he was emaciated and realized he was just going to die and nothing would have been gained. So he stopped those practices and instead devoted himself to seated meditation. And he finally attained enlightenment after resolving that he would sit in meditation without moving until he found the truth. He was very determined and he accomplished that.

[27:28]

So he became the spiritual teacher and leader that Asita had predicted. He became Buddha. And I've left out a lot, but we're focusing on Buddha's birthday today. So I want to talk about... how we can see this story as having something to do with our lives, how it can be meaningful and instructive to us. I think the mythical and fantastical features of the story point to something. They grab our attention. They say, pay attention to this. This is auspicious. And the story as a whole is koan-like.

[28:38]

You know, there are dilemmas involved and questions. Most of the koans that we know are about the student-teacher relationship. They tell the story of an exchange between a teacher and a student. And this story is about our founding teachers' entry into the community of human beings. So questions come up that are really questions that have been important to all practitioners, I think. Who is this extraordinary child and what is his relationship to enlightenment? Who is Buddha and what is it to be enlightened? More importantly, what is our own relationship to enlightenment?

[29:45]

Was Siddhartha a human being or was he a fully enlightened Buddha? from birth. And what's our relationship to enlightenment when we're born? There's a series of stories called Jataka tales that are about the Buddha's practice in previous lives as a bodhisattva, a Buddha to be. And There's a story that before being born into the world, Buddha resided in Tashida heaven, which is the heaven of the contented. So he lived there, awaiting the moment when it was right to appear in the world, to be of help.

[30:49]

So how do we reconcile those stories of... long practice over lifetimes with this story of Buddha attaining enlightenment in six years through diligent, arduous practice. Dogen Zenji's burning question in his early years was, if I'm already enlightened, why do I have to practice? And I have the same question about Tibetan tokus and the Dalai Lama. In the Tibetan tradition, they believe that tokus are reincarnations of very advanced spiritual teachers who lived in the past and died and were reincarnated and are usually discovered as children and taken from their birth family, raised in monasteries with loving care and teaching by the world's foremost teachers, and they become great spiritual leaders.

[32:06]

And the Dalai Lama is said to be the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. And when we look at these people, it appears that they do, even as children, that they have advanced spiritual capacities. They're not ordinary people. And yet they study and practice all their lives and are deep spiritual leaders in the world. Which I think raises... Oh, and I remember having that kind of question when I came to Zen Center, actually. So I came to Zen Center, and there were teachers who looked very attractive to me. I would look at those people and think, I will practice if it will make me like that. Have any of you ever had a thought like that?

[33:13]

And then in my more skeptical moments, I would think, well, they were just born talented and good-looking and were fortune's favorites to begin with, you know? So it isn't practice. It's just that they were born under a lucky star. But now that I've been at Zen Center for a long time, I would have to say that I'm very inspired by transformations that I see in people. it's amazing, really. So I believe in it deeply. So is it possible to attain enlightenment in one lifetime? And I think one of the points of this story is, yes, it is. Um... So Buddha attained enlightenment after six years of very arduous effort.

[34:17]

And we also hear from our teachers that it doesn't take long at all to get enlightened. All it requires is meeting our own life completely in this moment right now. But we may spend years practicing to figure out how to do that. Right? And we can wonder about all these things, but in the end, our responsibility is to live our own life. To take whatever circumstances we have and practice with those circumstances to benefit ourselves and others. So... Thinking about how long it takes to get enlightened or who is enlightened doesn't make nearly so much sense as just what does my life ask of me right now and can I meet it completely.

[35:25]

So I want to go back to this wonderful phrase, under the heavens and above the earth. I alone am the world honored one. I love it, actually. And how can that be true for us? How can there be some sense in which we all could make that statement? I don't think it was just something egoistic that this precocious child said. I think it has far more meaning than that. So when he points to the heavens and also points to the earth, he's including everything. He's including all space, all beings within all space. So again, I think he's pointing to the universal nature of all of this.

[36:33]

And he says, I alone am the world-honored one. So how are we world-honored ones? I think he's pointing to the fact that this whole world, this cosmos and everything in it, all space, all time, all beings, support us. to be just who we are right now. We couldn't be any other way. Our existence completes the universe. We're completely enmeshed and interdependent with everything else. We're an important part

[37:38]

And yet, we're born alone and we die alone. And we're completely alone with the responsibility to take our present circumstances and live in the best way that we can in those circumstances. To use our life as the way we practice our life right now. And only we can do it There's a Zen phrase, you can't exchange even a fart with someone else. And I'm afraid that that will be the one thing you'll remember from my talk. But it's a very graphic truth, isn't it? That's how our life is. We have to live it. We cannot give it away. So we're alone, and we are world-honored.

[38:43]

We're completely supported. So maybe that's enough about the story of Buddha's birth, and I want to say a few words about the ceremony before we go. So when we leave this room, we'll come out here. If you peek out there, you can see that the universe has supportively gathered up a lot of stuff for us to take across the street, parasols and balloons and baskets of flower petals, and please get something and come. And when we're all ready, we'll process together down across the street in the crosswalk and up to the park, and we'll gather around the altar and make some offerings, and we'll chant the Heart Sutra, and while we're chanting, we'll circumambulate the baby Buddha three times.

[39:45]

We'll walk around the park, walk around the baby Buddha three times, and then come back to the altar. And to avoid a little knot of people, everybody's going to bathe the Buddha. So there's this wonderful little house that, again, the universe supported us by making and decorating with flowers, and it's holding a statue of Buddha pointing to the earth and the sky. And he's in a little bath of sweet tea, and we're going to pour dippers of sweet tea over him. So everybody will pour a dipper of sweet tea over the Buddha once. And you know, since we're walking around three times and everybody does it once, hopefully the line won't get too hopelessly knotted up at that place. You can help with this, okay? And as you pour sweet tea over the Buddha, I suggest that you think of bathing

[40:56]

Think how comforting a bath or a shower is, how pleasurable, how much we enjoy it. And think of this as refreshment and renewal and purification for yourself. Washing away old thoughts, hindrances, negative karma, allowing yourself to experience freshness and renewal, to see the world through new, fresh eyes. I think every Buddha's birthday reminds us to do this, and we don't have to have Buddha's birthday to do it. We can do it every moment. We can realize that my life begins from here. I can start over, So please keep that in mind as you bathe Buddha.

[42:03]

This is an opportunity for every one of us to be reborn today as a baby Buddha. Then, after everybody's had a chance to bathe Buddha and we've finished our ceremony, we'll all come back here for lunch and birthday cake, if you choose. So I want to end by saying happy birthday to you and all beings everywhere, including plants and animals, rocks, trees, the clouds, the sky, rain, stars, grass. every form of being everywhere. Happy birthday. So let's go to the park now, and we'll go outside, get some fresh air, and be with all those various forms of life to help us create our ceremony.

[43:20]

Thank you very much. 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.

[43:46]

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