This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzz.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. I was a little behind this morning, and I was up in my house not ready, and I heard the bell, and then that Hemingway novel came to mind, Ask Not For Whom the Bell Tolls. So I rushed around so I could act very calm when I got here. A monk asked Da Sui,

[01:02]

When the fire at the end of an eon rages through and the whole universe is destroyed, is this destroyed or not? Dasui said, destroyed. The monk said, then it goes along with that? Dasui said, it goes along with that. A monk asked Longji, when the fire at the end of an eon rages through and the whole universe is destroyed, is this destroyed or not? Longji said, not destroyed. The monk said, why is it not destroyed? Longji said, because it is the same as the universe. So this is a koan. It's the 30th case in a book called the Book of Serenity, which some of us nicknamed the Book of Anxiety. And in the book, which was published maybe in 1987 by Thomas Cleary, translator, our senior Dharma teacher, Rev.

[02:13]

Anderson, said of this text, An auspicious peak in the mountain range of Zen literature, a subtle flowing stream in the deep valley of our teaching. Auspicious peak in the mountain range of Zen literature. So in this text, you can pretty much find the whole range of between heaven and earth, what we call the whole range of spiritual endeavor. There are a number of other koan collections, which some of you may have heard of. They all have amazing names, like there's the Blue Cliff Record, you know, hard to climb. The Gateless Gate, hard to enter. The entangling vines. Hard to escape. And then there's one called The Collection of Wings of the Blackbird. Just hard to understand. What could that be? So if you've already looked at a koan collection yourself, you have a pretty good feeling for the language of the Zen tradition.

[03:22]

These dialogues pretty much evolved in China over many centuries. an exchange between teachers and teachers or students and teachers. Somebody heard it and wrote it down. And then they were gathered together into Koan collections. So the formation of the Koan study was basically a shift in the Buddhist tradition from what's been called the Indian model. The Indian model was basically... an individual endeavoring to reach spiritual attainments, like Buddhahood, through personal endeavors, like years of practice, ethical discipline, concentration practices, meditation, wisdom teachings, and so on. So this emphasizes self-purification, the what you came here to discover, this spiritual goal of some kind. And the shift that happened in China was away from the what to the who.

[04:27]

You know, who are you talking to? So this is called the Zen model. And in the Zen model, the emphasis is on the relationship between the teacher and the student, the self and the other. And this term intimacy becomes a pivot, this way of practice, style of practice. Scholar John McRae says in a book, which I'm really fond of, called Seeing Through Zen. Seeing Through Zen. You can understand it in two ways. Seeing Through Zen and Seeing Through Zen. Zen became a cosmic dance, shifting the emphasis from individual accomplishment, you know, the what, the what, to the relationship between a very special set of partners, the student and their teacher. And the teacher, you can also say, the guide or mentor or senior or elder. I mean, we all, I hope, have found someone we consider a role model, worthy of our respect.

[05:31]

So that's the teacher. There's a saying in Zen that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. And again, this can be seen in two ways. When the student is ready, well, then magically this alchemical person arrives that's going to be your teacher. That's one way. The other way is that when the student is ready and has completed their course of study, including the study of what's a teacher, the student is the teacher, becomes the teacher. The student is ready, the teacher appears right there. There is no other. There's no teacher. That's the teaching. At the same time, at the core of all of these ancestral methods, there's just this one endeavor, which is to free us human beings from that which traps us. And it's pretty clear that what traps us is language. Stories.

[06:32]

Even good stories, you know. Like the ones I'm going to tell you. So be careful. We can be saved by stories, but first we have to be saved from them. So the point really isn't whether what I or anyone is saying is true or not, but rather, are we sticking to it? Are we stuck on it? Are we captured? Are we caught? Buddhists are always trying to understand, and even more to the point, to avoid getting attached or to grasping onto that which cannot be held. Stories are a really good example. beliefs, convictions. Where do you keep them? Which pocket? What locked box? Can't be grasped. Our identities, our preferences, our righteous indignations. These are stories, words, ideas, language. So endeavoring to understand precisely how suffering arises out of our attachment to language was the whole point of the Buddha's teaching through his entire lifetime.

[07:47]

And there were two basic categories of stories that he said we typically fall into, enchantments into. One of them are our favorite stories, which are about ourself, about me. And then the other story is about everything else. the world that which is not me which I believe is not me which would be all of you Tanzania the federal government the planet Mars the entire universe is not me at least that's how I tend to see it and therefore it's not my problem At least not yet. So guiding us to study ourselves and to study our stories about ourselves and about the world was the message that all of the Buddhists have been giving to us throughout the ages.

[08:54]

So right now, sitting here in California, 2,500 years after the Buddha woke up, we have an opportunity again to try to understand the story that he told about how we can figure all of this out. and thereby become free. So according to the Zen tradition, the very first story about how to let go of stories was offered by the Buddha himself on the occasion of sitting with a group of people and holding up a flower. And do any of you know what happened then? Can you do it? What happened then? Anybody? Can you? Yeah, he did it. So Buddha held up a flower, and the student smiled. That's the story. So then we want to know, well, what did that mean?

[09:56]

What did the flower mean, and what did the smile mean, and what's going on here? Well, I've never heard what it meant. The only way you'd know what it meant is to make something up. make up a story. And that's what these koans are wonderful for, because they give us nothing. And then we make up things. I've got pages here that I made up about nothing. Absolutely nothing. The fire rages at the end of the eon. I mean, what does that mean? I have no idea. But I shouldn't have told you that. I'm sorry. So this story of holding up the flower and Mahagashapa was the name of the disciple who smiled. And Mahagashapa's smile is the kind of story, it's a story that has no meaning. And that's the story of how to be free of stories.

[10:58]

Leave us kind of gasping and grasping after meaning so we can see that we're doing that. What does that mean? I don't know. So this method of coming to a deeper understanding of our lives, of ourselves and of our tendencies, how we perceive things and how we ascribe meaning to things very quickly, when actually what's happening is that we are, all of us, emerging continuously out of the dark into this light and sound-filled amazement called the present moment. That's what's happening right now. Kind of scary, but that's what's happening. out of the dark into the light. I don't know how it's happening, and I bet you don't either. But here we are, fresh. So this method of trying to help us to see the freshness of the arrival of the present moment was used also when Suzuki Roshi came to America.

[12:02]

He took his whisk and made circles in the air. What does that mean? What did that mean? Well, I don't think he knew either. He didn't know, and none of his students knew, and yet we've been talking about it for 50 years. Just like Mahakashapa smiling at the flower. So it doesn't mean anything, but Shakyamuni Buddha knew how to play with a flower, and Suzuki Roshi knew how to play with a whisk. And that's what they're trying to teach us, how to play, how to enjoy our life. So here's another story from the Book of Serenity. This is case one called, excuse me, The World Honored One Ascends the Seat. The World Honored One Ascends the Seat. So this, what I'm going to start with is a verse from this case. So the way the koans are laid out is there's some descriptive language and then there's the case, like what happened, the story.

[13:04]

And then there are verses and commentary on the case by various different teachers. who collected the stories. So this is a verse about the case. I'm going to read the case after. The unique breeze of reality. Do you see it? Continuously, creation runs through loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. But nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. The unique breeze of reality. Here it is. Do you see? Do you see? Continuously, creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. And isn't that the truth? Everywhere you look, flowers, grass. But nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking.

[14:09]

So this last line about Manjushri's leaking has to do with telling stories. Because in the case, Manjushri's going to tell a story, which I'm going to tell you in a minute. And the story he's going to tell is, he's going to point at something as though it were outside, pointing at an object, using a story to point at something and thereby placing it outside of the self. Objects are outside of the self in our way of understanding. Separate. Different. And language is the means by which we separate objects from ourself. Separate ourself from objects and from one another. Language. So, keeping in mind, if you would, nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking, I'm going to read this case, this first case from the Book of Serenity. And this case is a story, it's a very short story, but actually I was thinking it might be more interesting if you think of it as a play, a performance.

[15:17]

And it's kind of a perfect performance because it's the one we're enacting right now, in three acts. There's only three sentences, three acts to this play. So here it is. One day, the world-honored one ascended the seat. The world-honored one is the Buddha, ascended the seat. That's act one. Act two, Manjushri. Manjushri is this large figure on the main altar, and Manjushri is the bodhisattva of wisdom. So Manjushri strikes the gavel. Thank you. Lucky guy, he had a gavel. And he says to all of you, clearly observe. The dharma of the king of the dharma is thus. That's act two. Act three, the world-honored one got down from the seat.

[16:22]

Okay? So, you know, I'm playing the role of right now of the world-honored one and... My friend over here is playing the role of Manjushri, pointing rudely at the seat. Sorry, excuse me. I know, I know, I know. He's always trying to help. Anyway, rudely pointing at the seat and indicating an object outside of himself, outside of all of you. That's the Buddha sitting up there. Clearly observed. Clearly observed. Aren't you amazed? Isn't that wonderful over there as the Buddha? That's a big mistake. That's the biggest mistake. And so, you know, but nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. It's a mistake, but it's one that actually comes from his mercy for us. Merciful gesture.

[17:27]

So this unique breeze of reality is what we've all got. That's what we are. We are the unique breeze of reality, continuously arising, continuously creation herself, weaving the ancient brocade. That's it. That's what's happening right now, always. Your whole life will never, ever, until the loom — we don't know when that's going to happen — shuts off. Here it will come. Spring, summer, fall, winter. Families, children, uncles, aunts, birthday cakes, death, love. Got all of it. And what is it? What is the dharma, the king of the dharma? Well, it is thus. It's just this, just right now. Unique and current and fresh. You know, hot off the press, as we say. Right out of the oven. We have terms that we're very fond of about right now, right now.

[18:33]

This is it. Coming at you. Coming from you. So words and metaphors are, we use them, we try to use them to draw our own attention to this miraculous appearance of our life, you know, right now. What's happening right now? So that's why Manjushri pointing was a big mistake. But at the same time, it was this great kindness, you know. It was his great kindness. There is no location for awareness. Buddha means aware. So where is awareness happening? Can you point to awareness? Anybody? Is it happening from that which is aware? Can I point to that which is aware? Can I point to that which I am aware of? Well, I'd have to point at everything, you know. There's no direction, there's no time passing. In the present moment, there's no place to point.

[19:36]

Just this is it. Right now. The whole works. So, you know, Manjushri points because, not because he doesn't know that. He's the bodhisattva of wisdom, he knows that. But he points because we need some help. We're confused about this. Object, subject, language. We've been taught a certain way of thinking and we've come to believe a certain way about the world. And as a result, there's terrible suffering among us and between us. We think terrible things about each other that we're separate to start with. You're not my problem. So... Suzuki Roshi built a temple to invite people to come and to talk about this and to listen to each other's concerns. That's why we're here, so we can share our stories and share our recommendations of what to do about it.

[20:41]

One of the recommendations you'll hear here is to sit down quietly and don't move for a little while, 40 minutes. See what happens to the story-making machine if you just sit with it for a while. Listen to yourself think. We have this saying, it's so noisy I can't hear myself think. Well, the noise is your thinking. That's the irony. So if there were a purpose for meditation, I think it would be to give ourselves this time to recognize that the Buddha, the awakened one, can never be anyone else but you. There's no other chance, you know, other possibility. How could awakening be outside of yourself? Somewhere else. What relevance would that have for the world if it was somewhere else? And the Buddha said that there isn't anywhere else.

[21:42]

There isn't anything outside of you. That's what he said. That you are the radiating awareness, embracing the world in all of its light and sound-filled wonder. That's what you are. And as Longyear said, the same as the universe. You are the same as the universe. If that were not the case, then awareness, life, creation, would shut off as soon as the Buddha left the room. When he got down from the seat, the show would be over. Oh, awareness is over. No more awakening. Buddha left. Buddha died. All the Arhats wailed and cried. The Buddhas died, you know. But boy, if it was the Buddha that we were counting on, we're in big trouble. Suzuki Roshi died. Our dear friend Daigon is very likely going to die today or tomorrow. I'm going to die. You're all going to die. We're all going to die. And before we do, we have a chance to tell each other that we are the awakened ones.

[22:44]

And then we can tell the children that. That's what the Buddha said as he was dying. Be lamps unto yourselves. Light those lamps and turn them up all the way. Be a light unto the world. Same as the universe. So Zen teachers engage in dialogues with their students. In the same way that they make use of ritual objects like the whisk and the flower, they also make use of words as a tool, as a way, an implement for helping them to draw their attention away from their thinking, their obsession with their thinking, and into the present moment, the smile. Mahagashapa was the only one who smiled. Everyone else was going, what's he doing? What's he doing with that flower? I don't know how many of you have spent time with infants lately, but I have the great, great fortune of having one living next door to me.

[23:53]

And his mom has been bringing him over since he was really tiny. And he was just kind of a lump for a long time. And I'd pat him and he didn't do much at all. And then one day he came over and I went, Yoo-hoo! Hi, girl! And he looked at me. He made that, you know, he made contact. He arrived. I saw it. It was that one day. Day before? Mm-mm. That day it was like, oh my God, you know, and I was like, Miro, you're here. And he smiled. What does that mean? We don't know. A thousand Buddhas don't know. But we smile back. It's love. We love to smile at each other. We don't need to know anything. This is a Zen story. There's another metaphor called using a thorn to take out a thorn. Using language to remove language. Using the thorn to take out a thorn.

[24:55]

So, you know, the teachers use words, they use metaphors and language and stories to call to the mind, which I'm going to point out, but it's not really here. Call to the mind, you know, yoo-hoo, hello, make contact. To the story maker, the master of illusions. in order to help the mind understand that it is the source, both of our suffering and of our liberation. It's right here, somewhere, anyway. Right here, I don't know where it is. Anyway. It's the source of our bondage and of our liberation. How we think. I remember telling my daughter many times when she was little, it didn't help, but I say to her, the problem isn't with the cookie, sweetheart, it's with your noodle. It's in your noodle. But of course, even though the problem is not in the object itself, we forget that.

[25:57]

We make the problem about the object. I don't have that, I don't have that, or I have too much of that, or not enough of that, or whatever. And then we compound it by how we feel about it. We have a feeling that goes together with our thinking, and then, boy, that better be true. Because I feel it. No one can argue me out of that, what I feel. So therefore, I hate you, I love you, or I'm not sure. Round and round and round. This is the cycle of illusory thinking. Greed, hate, and delusion. I don't know, I don't know. Oh, I do know. No, I don't know. Round and round. And the Buddha... during his six years of yogic practice, his austerities and his meditation practice, when he was asked, what's true? What's true? What have you found that's true? What he said was, I have found no evidence for or against anything.

[27:01]

It's not so helpful, is it? Now, he didn't say he didn't find anything. I'm sure he found all kinds of things. He found no evidence for or against reality. I like that better than that. I like spring better than winter. I mean, we say things like that. I hate fog. I hate rain. So strange. Anyway, he found no evidence for or against having an opinion about reality itself. So he didn't get stuck. And therefore, he was free to choose how to act. And he found a very nice way to live, not being stuck on his opinions about anything. I once looked up the word meaning, etymology for the word meaning. Meaning is closely connected to the word to moan. What's your moaning? What's your suffering? We're listening. We're listening to each other's moaning.

[28:08]

We're listening for the meaning. And even though we can't do very much about it, as much as we'd like, We can listen, you know, and that's where practice starts, is with listening to the cries of the world, hearing one another. And these cries are mostly audible within our very own minds, you know, because we're the ones interpreting the sounds of the world. It's my call, what's happening here. But if it was just that, that would be simple. But each of you makes a call, too. So together, collectively, we're deciding what the meaning of the world is. And that's the problem. We don't agree on the meaning, on the moaning. And we all think we're right. So, therefore, we argue, we quarrel, we fight, and we kill. Because we're all right. because each of us believes that our story is true.

[29:12]

So these koans that I was sharing with you from the Book of Serenity are basically metaphorical narratives for, you know, propelling us beyond narratives. That's what they're for. To propel us beyond the traps of language and into the great ocean of reality itself. How's that sound? You ready? So even that, the great ocean of reality itself, is a story. I'm kind of loathe to admit it, but even the beautiful language of Buddhism is another story. It's words, language, inviting you to leap into the ocean of reality itself. Come on, do it. And it's so attractive to us because we'd like to get out of those mundane stories that we tell ourselves all day long. You know, like, I've got to go shopping, and oh my God, my taxes are due, and on and on and on.

[30:19]

You know, like, let's leap into the great ocean of reality and out of here. You know, this is just boring and tedious. Sunday, and I've got to have lunch, and I go shopping. You know, but those stories at least don't bear the conceit of being, you know, the great ocean of reality themselves. even though they are. So no matter what words we use to try to escape from stories, you know, like leap from the 100-foot pole, or justice is it, or what's another one? Oh, yeah. Oh, you're jumping off the 100-foot pole, or leaping into the present moment. These are all the invitations. There we are again, you know. belly flopping right back into words. Over and over again. So, you know, it's just inevitable that you use words as a springboard, but then what goes up comes right back down.

[31:24]

Somebody once called this yo-yo zen, you know, get up, get down, get up, get down. So, what's a girl to do? My therapist used to say to me every time I'd tell him a long story, a whole string of words about my suffering of my life. On and on I'd go, and he'd say, what's a girl to do? Excuse me? And I'd go on talking some more, and he'd go on listening. And finally I had to admit that I didn't know what a girl was to do. I don't know. Maybe stop talking? Good start. Because no matter how long I kept talking, it just entangled me more and more, like a pumpkin on a vine, to the stories that I was telling about other people and my own suffering. It's just more and more entangling vines. That's one of these koan collections. Entangled in what? Narrative.

[32:30]

Stories. So Master Dogen gave us a very simple instruction for meditation. He said... Think not thinking. That's it. Okay? And then the meditator said, well, how do you do that? How do you think not thinking? And he said, non-thinking. This is the essential art of zazen. So think is think, and not thinking is not thinking. So these are opposites. How do you think not thinking? Non-thinking. Don't eliminate anything. All-inclusive reality. Don't throw anything away. Not stories, not no stories, not silence or noise or self or other. Because you can't.

[33:33]

Reality doesn't allow it. You can't think not thinking. can't throw anything away. I think this is why Suzuki Roshi like frogs. They jump. They're not like pumpkins. They're just kind of trapped there. Frogs jump up out of the swamp, kind of look around real fast and then go back down. That's our practice. Leap. Leaping clear of the dualistic notions of self or other, of thinking or not thinking. Just jump out of there and then come back down. with a smile. Like, oh, that's funny. Look what I'm doing. Look how my mind is doing these tricks on me. That's why we smile. So we don't stay in any one place very long. We're always moving, always moving from one thought, from one place, from one gesture to another, constantly in motion, hearts beating, blood circulating, air in and out of our lungs.

[34:37]

We are never still, never quiet. And always it's fresh, newly arrived, the present moment, coming to us, brand new, like a new baby. Every moment. And reality has never responded to being called by any name whatsoever. Doesn't come when you call it. Come here, reality. It's never been a story. It's just what is. It's just thus. The dharma of the king of the dharma. Holding up a flower or... twirling a whisk. You know, it's like, wow. Just wow. Wow. So I have some doubt that we'll ever escape from our own imagination. You know, I've tried for many years to do that in, you know, yo-yo Zen. But I still recommend it that we try. That we try, you know. And it takes some persistence and some devotion to find your way

[35:44]

through this stream of consciousness, to an experience of what's called non-imaginative wisdom, for that brief space of, it's not time, because there's no time there, the present, when there are no words, are sticking, nothing is sticking, there's no sticking to self or other, or time or place, no imagination happening right there, just clear, clear. Not even that. No words. No words can reach it. But you can experience it. You can have an experience of this. So how do you do that? Well, there's Dogen's instruction, think not thinking. That's an instruction for non-imaginative wisdom, not being stuck. And there's another set of instructions that I'll offer you from the Book of Serenity. This is case number three, the same text I've been mentioning. It's called The Invitation of the Ancestor to Eastern India.

[36:45]

A Raj of an East Indian country invited the 27th Buddhist ancestor Prajñatara to a feast. The Raj asked him, why don't you read scriptures? The ancestor said, this poor wayfarer doesn't dwell, doesn't get stuck in the realms of the body or the mind when breathing in. When breathing in. doesn't get involved, doesn't get stuck in myriad circumstances when breathing out. I always reiterate such scriptures, hundreds, thousands, millions of scrolls. So this is a pretty straightforward and basic meditation instruction of focusing our attention on our physical reality, physical bodies, which are always in the present. Your body can't escape from the present, unlike your imagination, which thinks it can. So we focus on inhaling and exhaling. Inhaling and exhaling. Over and over again. That's the persistence part.

[37:48]

Over and over again. A million scrolls. All day long. Breathing in and breathing out. Turning to your body again and again. Where are your feet? Where are your hands? How's the temperature on your skin? That kind of thing. What time is it? Okay, two minutes. Okay, good. So in that case, for 30 seconds, I'm going to have us focus on our breathing. Okay? So all of you, just see if you can just notice yourselves inhaling and then exhaling. Can you tell me about 30 seconds? So this practice of attending to our bodies, our breath, is an invitation through the gateless gate.

[39:20]

That's the gateless gate to a feast, the feast of our life. Very nourishing when we can cut through the stream of consciousness, take a respite from our mind chatter. It's very nourishing for us. It feeds us deeply, sustaining. And don't be discouraged if you, you know, couldn't find your breath. It happens to all of us all the time. It's challenging to cut through this stream of consciousness, to stop daydreaming. We forget, but we don't get stuck in that either. Don't get stuck in the fact you forget or you're a terrible meditator. There's nothing but terrible meditators at Zen Center. That's who we are. We just keep coming back to the practice again and again. That's our devotion. That's the devotional part. Persistence and devotion. Again and again. Yo-yo Zen. Come back. Come back. Do it again. So these stories I've been telling you about the Zen monks in the dialogues, they've been practicing for a long time.

[40:28]

A lot of them are professional meditators. They're monastics who've been six, 20, 30 years in monasteries. Many of us have been living in monastic communities for many, many years. But it doesn't take that long to catch on to body awareness. I usually say, and I've seen many, many people within a few months kind of get the, find their seat. I call it find your seat. Find your breath. Find your body. Some people, six days. Some people, six hours, six minutes. You know, right now. Maybe it happened for you. There you are. It's not a time thing. It's really a matter of curiosity. Do you want to know what happens when you stop thinking? Who you are when you let go of this dream world that most of us spend most of our time in? Who's there? What is there? Is there a who there? Maybe not. So now I want to say a little bit on behalf of our sponsor, beloved Planet Earth.

[41:33]

So really the point I want to make today is that we do care about studying ourselves and studying the world, but more than just some kind of hobby, the world is maybe always in trouble. We're kind of in trouble, but we're the living generation, so it's our turn to care about that and to figure out how it's happening and what we have to do. So in this story I told in the beginning about the fire raging through the universe, the monk seems to be worried about that. Why is he asking about that? The end of the eon, fire destroys the universe. It's kind of abstract concern. So I wanted to say a little bit about what is the it that he's asking about. Is it destroyed or not? Is it destroyed? What's that about? So, you know, it is also this, or thus, or presence, or right now. Is this destroyed in the fire that destroys the universe?

[42:38]

So what's, you know, what is it that he's really caring about? Well, the inflooding of all of the universe into a compact unit called me is what he cares about. Will I be destroyed? Will this be destroyed? My beautiful awareness? of the universe be destroyed when the universe is destroyed? Is that me too? Am I going to go down with the universe? So, you know, this koan is basically pointing to our dilemma here. You know, it's highly personal. It's about birth and death on both the grandest scale, the world, the universe, But also on a personal level, he's sharing his heartfelt fears with his teacher. This intimate connection with an other. The cry, the moan, he's moaning. I'm worried about myself and maybe about all of us.

[43:44]

So this is the dynamic interplay of the story between the universal and the particular, between all of it and me. How they interconnect, how they inter-be. as Thich Nhat Hanh says. So although I am, in fact, the center of the universe, so are each of you, and so is everything. The exact center of the universe. And therefore, every one of us matters deeply. It matters. We are making a mess of this world together, and we are going to have to clean it up together, or not. And even though this is not an organizing committee or a strategic planning session, maybe we could do that. When we all stay behind and I'll get a chalkboard and we'll make a plan, clean up the world. At the same time, I do think we can moan together. We can share our sound, our audible sounds of concern with each other, with our leaders.

[44:52]

We can keep making noise. Things are kind of bad. We are in a time of plague, probably always, but once again, a time of plague. And there's much to be frightened and worried about. And that, too, is the arrival fresh of the present moment with a kind of toxic overtone. The monk asked Longjir, when the fire at the end of an eon rages through and the whole universe is destroyed, is this destroyed or not? And Longjir says, not destroyed. The monk says, why is it not destroyed? Why am I not destroyed? Longzhi says, because you are the same as the universe. So I think even though it's important to find our seat, find our teacher, to find our way and the truth of who we really are, I think it's more important that we don't linger there in some kind of gratitude and appreciation for this wonderful life, tempting as it is.

[45:55]

I think we have to turn back toward the raging fire which we've set. And we have to call out to our friends and our loved ones, you know. You're in danger. We're in danger. We need help. We are burning down our house. Here's a poem by Juan Ramon Jimenez. I feel that my boat has bumped. there at the bottom into something big and nothing happens nothing quiet waves nothing happened or has everything happened and we are already at rest in something new I feel that my boat has bumped there at the bottom into something big and nothing happens nothing quiet waves, nothing happens, or has everything happened, and we are already at rest in something new.

[47:03]

Thank you very much. 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.

[47:33]

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