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 evening and welcome. My name is Greg Fane. I'm the Tanto or Head of Practice at Tassajara. I'm very happy to be speaking to you tonight. It gives me a lot of joy. I'd like to start out by saying, by expressing my gratitude and appreciation for my teacher, Sojin Mel Weitzman Roshi, Abbott of Berkeley Zen Center, and to say that my talk is just to encourage you in your practice.

[01:21]

Tonight, think I'm liable to talk about a number of things because I had the ambition to talk about inconceivable liberation. Achintya vimoksha. Inconceivable liberation. Oh yeah. How do I talk about that? Like this. I'll just sit here and dummy up. Vimalakirti's thundering silence for the next half hour. That'll work, won't it? No.

[02:31]

No, it's called the Dharma talk. How do I talk about the inconceivable liberation? Well, you can't. What's your conception of that precisely? It's inconceivable. It's closer than your own eyeballs. But we talk. We talk about glimmers. The moon through ivy. A crescent at that. That kind of thing.

[03:32]

And I wanted to talk about the inconceivable liberation... because that's where we are in the sutra. That is the Vimalakirti Sutra. That's what I've been teaching lately. The second class I've been teaching this summer. So for those of you who were there, that's where we left off. For those of you who weren't there, I assure you, it makes no difference at all. Don't worry about it. I've been really enjoying studying and talking about the Vimalakirti Sutra. That Vimalakirti, what a guy. And I think some people have been... The class has become like story time.

[04:39]

It's kind of great. It's kind of enjoyable. So where we left off in the story was with Shariputra coming into Vimalakirti's house, looking around and not seeing any chairs. And he says, oh, Where will all these disciples and bodhisattvas sit? There aren't any chairs. And Vimalakirti reads his mind. Shariputra is thinking this. And Vimalakirti reads his mind. There's a lot of mind reading going on in the Vimalakirti Sutra. Vimalakirti reads his mind and then says to Shariputra, did you come here for a chair or did you come here for the Dharma?

[05:46]

And poor Shariputra says, I came here for the Dharma, the Dharma. I came here for the Dharma. And then, Vimalakirti, with a little help from his friends, causes 3,200,000 lion thrones to appear in his house. And they don't take up any space at all. They fit just fine. They fit perfectly. Even though each one is about the size of a skyscraper. And invites all the disciples and bodhisattvas to have a seat. And the bodhisattvas make themselves quite comfortable.

[06:50]

But the disciples in Shariputra, poor Shariputra, they can't get up into the seat. It's too big. These lion thrones are the size of skyscrapers. And Shariputra can't figure out how he can have a seat on one of these gigantic lion thrones. We're just like that, I think. I think we're just like that. I hear that all the time. I'm not good enough. I'm not qualified.

[07:53]

I'm doing it wrong. I get that one a lot. Oh my gosh. I'm doing it wrong. I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong. I'm pretty sure there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. And guess which one I'm doing? The wrong way. no lion throne for me, then Vimalakirti invites Shariputra and the rest of the disciples to do one prostration to the Tathagata. That's all. Just do one frustration. And then, lo and behold, they can sit down just fine. Make themselves good and comfortable. This is one example of the many, many apparent incongruities in the sutra.

[09:02]

But is it an incongruity? Is it an incongruity to humble yourself in order to take your place? To humble yourself in order to be seated on a great lion throne? My teacher, Sojin Roshi, that old Buddha, always says humility is just knowing where you are. Humility is just knowing exactly where you are and being comfortable exactly where you are. Glimmers and shadows.

[10:17]

I have a lot of appreciation. I would like to express some of my appreciation. I have a lot of appreciation for this part of the summer. chunky gooey crispy gritty part of the summer practice period 72 days down 64 to go but who's counting? just a bit more than two months left of this amazing, joyous practice.

[11:29]

Guest season is best season. The Sangha is amazing. And the Sangha is isn't only the students who are here all summer. The Sangha isn't only the students who are here for three months or more. The Sangha isn't only students who are here for one month or more. The Sangha isn't only students. The Sangha isn't only students and guests. The Sangha is everybody. Everybody. I want to express my gratitude and appreciation for Robert Thomas and Samantha Ostergaard.

[12:44]

You're leading a retreat. To people who are joining us from the accounting department in City Center so they could see what happens in Tassajara in guest season. Here I have a little junket just to see what Tassajara looks like. What a good idea. To Kim from programming. To the body workers. Kent who's been coming for many years. And Tim Lee who just started coming. Isn't it amazing that we bring in people just to work on the bodies that work in the guest season?

[13:45]

Whoever came up with that idea was a genius. In The last retreat I helped to lead here in Tazahara, I was talking to the people in the retreat about the Mahayana, about bodhisattvas, what it means to be a bodhisattva. And this person in the retreat got pretty excited. He said, this sounds really important. I think the world needs bodhisattvas. I said, yes, I think so too. He said, well, is something being done?

[14:47]

Is there some kind of training program for bodhisattvas? I said, yes, this is it. This is it. You stumbled upon it. This is Bodhisattva Training Academy. That's what we're doing here. If I didn't really, really, truly believe that, I'd be up the road in a heartbeat. We're not playing around here. This is the real deal. And guest season, summer practice period, is pretty hard practice. And this wonderful

[15:59]

crunchy, crispy, gooey, gritty time, how do we recommit? How do we stay true to the intention that brought us here? To me, it's been abundantly clear this summer. Really like words on a page. We do it for each other. Our practice is for others. The way we recommit is to be there for each other. July 15th will be the new moon again.

[17:29]

June 16th was the new moon. Shon was really into cycles of the moon. Did you know that? I think some of you knew that. He was very aware of cycles of the moon. I found it so interesting. that he died on the new moon. That really galvanized us. That really brought us together. unprecedented event, like it says in the Lotus Sutra.

[18:34]

We all experience something we've never experienced before. And we were all there for each other. I feel that energy continuing. I want to share something we got in the mail yesterday. I was going to read it in work circle but I'm here. This is a card from Shone's best friend and her partner and her daughter which Shone was her godfather. Dearest Tassahara community and friends, thank you for loving our friend Shonru as much as we do.

[19:41]

We love and miss him so much every day, but know in our hearts of hearts he is with us. He was my best friend and loved me no matter what. We played together, worked together, And he was the godfather of my child. He is so missed. No one can swing on a swing like that man, play frisbee or swim all day. Such great memories, so very loved. And her daughter wrote, so proud of Shone, he was a wonderful teacher. So this goes on. This great love, these glimmers.

[20:48]

Today, I was so fortunate as to go to Carmel to marry two lovely people in a Buddhist ceremony. A long-time friend of mine and his fiancée, friend of Tassajara's. Beautiful ceremony in the Mission Ranch Inn in Carmel. So beautiful. Such a lovely July day. No fog. I got so much sun. I look kind of red, I think. I got a lot of sun. It was very, very joyful. There's a lot of joy in my practice. I think I have the best job in the world.

[22:02]

Because I get to watch people turn towards the Dharma all the time. I get to witness people turning towards the Dharma. I get to witness people choosing liberation over suffering. What a great job. marriage, great love, letting go of life, new life appearing.

[23:14]

this amazing cycle. Nothing to be afraid of. Nothing to avoid. Nothing to avoid. The sutra. Poor Shariputra. He has this funny exchange with this goddess. Where the goddess comes from? Well, I can't get into that right now. That's too much longer story. But Sharipucha says, goddess, is not liberation the freedom from greed, hate, and delusion? And the goddess says, liberation is freedom from greed, hate, and delusion.

[24:25]

That is the teaching for the excessively proud. But those free of pride are taught that the very nature of greed, hate, and delusion is itself liberation. How do you like that? That puts me in mind of a talk given here by a great teacher sitting in this very seat, Darlene Cohen, after she received Dharma Transmission. It's traditional after the ceremony of Dharma Transmission for the newly empowered teacher to give a talk. And Darlene said, and I quote it often, Baroline said, it seems to me that fish swim in the water and birds fly in the sky and the medium that humans move through is greed, hate, and delusion.

[25:41]

Here's A little more, Darlene. This is from an essay she wrote called Being Bodies. When you include the shadow in your perceptions, your conscious life begins to be shaded and textured by your anguish and your petty little snits. Sanitizing your thoughts and your preoccupations not only squanders vital energy that would be better spent in your creative endeavors, but your not so presentable life can be enormously enriching and provide the compost for the development of compassion. If you have never given in to temptation of any kind, how can you ever understand or embrace the sinner? Yes, indeed.

[26:52]

That sure sounds like Darlene. Come join us in the mud, Darlene would say. Don't be afraid. Come join us in the mud. Come play with me in the mud. Here's the sutra again. This is a little old exchange. Now, wait a minute. See if I get this right. Yes. This is Manjushri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, explaining a thing or two to Vimalakirti. Noble sir, flowers like the blue lotus, the red lotus, the white lotus, the water lily,

[27:54]

and the moon lily do not grow on the dry ground in the wilderness, but do grow in the swamps and mud banks. Just so, the Buddha qualities do not grow in living beings certainly destined for the uncreated, but do grow in those living beings who are like swamps and mud banks of passions. Noble Sir, Through these considerations, one can understand that all passions constitute the family of the Tathagadas. For example, noble sir, without going out into the great ocean, it is impossible to find precious, priceless pearls. Likewise, without going into the ocean of passions, it is impossible to obtain the mind of omniscience. Come play with us in the mud. Because that's where the lotus blooms.

[28:59]

There's nothing to be afraid of. There's nothing to avoid. Could this be pointing to the inconceivable liberation? This compost for the development of compassion? Anyone here had any anguish or petty little snits this summer? No need to put your hand up. Good.

[30:11]

If so, your practice is right on track. Your practice is right on track for the development of great compassion, of great Maha Maichi, great love. The love that is spontaneous because it is fully enlightened spontaneously the love that is without formality because it is pure in motivation, the love that is without deviation because it acts from decisive motivation, the love that is high resolve because it is without passions, the love that is without deceit because it is not artificial, the love that is happiness because it introduces living beings to the happiness of the Buddha.

[31:23]

Sajmanjushri is the great love of a bodhisattva That I maintain is what we're doing here in Bodhisattva Training Academy. I may be wrong. But I've seen a lot of evidence to convince me of that story.

[32:26]

I've seen a lot of glimmers like the moon through ivy. And I have a lot of appreciation for everybody's strong practice for everybody's cultivation of great love, maha-maichi. Because only love can save the world. Thank you for your attention.

[33:32]

Good night.

[33:57]

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