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. Welcome to day two of Sushin. This is our middle day. And because tomorrow we'll have more activity, it may be our last really quiet, sequestered day. So please take advantage of that and make a good effort today. That's because tomorrow is the one-day sitting for residents. So 10 more people will be sitting with us.

[01:02]

And also it's Saturday, so we'll have our public program and public Dharma talk. So there will be a lot of people coming in and it will be a little more active. And then late in the afternoon, we'll have some kind of closing event for the practice period. And then amazingly enough, that will be the end of it for this time. But please don't think ahead to tomorrow. Let's stay with today while it's today, okay? And so tomorrow the Sushin will end before dinner, and then dinner will be offered, and you're welcome to attend dinner if you'd like to. So sometimes I think day two is a difficult day for people.

[02:04]

We've been sitting long enough now that maybe you're in some physical discomfort. And I think it's somewhere along about day two or day three that we begin to be settled enough in our minds that the physical... discomfort doesn't bother us so much. So I hope that will happen for you soon. But don't expect anything, as I said yesterday, right? We have no right to expect that that will happen. So day two, I think, is also a day when we can learn a lot about practice and how our minds work It's an opportunity to study impermanence and to appreciate impermanence as our friend.

[03:10]

So impermanence in Sashin I experience as momentariness. Everything shifts every moment, and a moment is so small. Katagiri Roshi, in his book about time, gives some kind of astronomical number that I can't even fathom of how many moments there are in, I don't know what, a day or something. So, you know, the gears are always turning. And that means that whatever might be making you uncomfortable in this moment, very well may not be present in the next moment. It may just vanish all by itself without you moving or doing anything. And I think that's true of our life outside Sashin, too.

[04:15]

There have been times when I've been very agitated or angry and gone to the place of, what should I do? What should I do? you know, kind of a strategizing mode. How can I end my suffering? But what really happens is some number of hours later, it's just gone, you know, whether I did anything or not. So please appreciate the impermanence that comes your way, and it will come your way. I've so often had the experience, and I imagine you've had it too by now, that you think, oh, I'm so tired. I don't want to sit another period of zazen. It's going to be very uncomfortable. And then you go and you settle down and you forget about having that thought and you have a nice period of zazen.

[05:18]

So whatever we expect usually isn't what happens. not just during Sushin, but all the time, right? So I think we can just bring some curiosity and interest to the issue of our life unfolding. What's going to happen next? If you can be curious about that without expecting anything, I think that's an ideal attitude to have and to cultivate. Can you hear me? Everybody? Okay. So intention is the theme of this practice period, and I think having an intention is very important for Sushin. It's our intention of that keeps us going when we get bored or lose our inspiration or are in pain or when we have doubts.

[06:27]

And I suggested yesterday that you formulate an intention and remind yourself of it every period. And somebody brought up the idea of, or the issue of gaining idea. and how that fits in with intention. So that's why I think it's good to keep your intention really simple and directed towards process rather than result. So let go or just sit is an activity that you can devote yourself to without going the next step of thinking. And if I just sit, I will get, you know. So... I think that's the practice. Have an intention that's just about doing the process, following your breath or whatever. So in the practice period class, we've been studying the chants that we do at Zen Center, the chants that we do every day that...

[07:42]

all of you have been exposed to. In fact, you were exposed to them the first time you set foot in the door for a Dharma talk and sat down. We made you chant the four vows and you didn't complain or you didn't leave. So we've been studying the four vows and the repentances. The repentances is the verse that begins all my ancient twisted karma. And the refuges, I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And the meal chant, so these are all from Shohaku Okamura's wonderful book, Living by Vow, that was a text for the practice period class. But today I want to talk about something we chant that is not in that book. It's been part of... our noon service two days a week for the whole practice period and during Sushin.

[08:47]

And that's Dogen, our Soto Zen School founder in Japan, Dogen Zenji's fascicle, Ehei Koso Hotsu Ganmon. So we've been chanting that. And I want you to have copies. And this talk may be a little different than most of our talks. It's more of a study of this text, and I hope that will work out okay. We'll try it. And so I want us to all recite it together, and then I'll begin to unpack it together, and then I'll begin to unpack it a little bit. Okay? So we'll just start reciting it and maybe a little slower than when we chant it at noon service.

[09:49]

Everybody have a copy? Anybody who doesn't have it? with all beings from this life on throughout countless lives to hear the true Dharma that upon hearing it no doubt will arise in us nor will we lack in faith that upon meeting it we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha Dharma

[11:09]

and that in doing so, the great earth and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. Although our past evil karma has greatly accumulated, indeed being the cause and condition of obstacles in practicing the way, may all Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way Be compassionate to us and free us from parmic effects, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance. May they share with us their compassion, which fills the boundless universe with the virtue of their enlightenment and teachings. Buddhas and ancestors of old were as we. We in the future shall be Buddhas and ancestors. Reveering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor.

[12:10]

Awakening Bodhi Mind, we are one Bodhi Mind. Because they extend their compassion to us freely and without limit, we are able to attain Buddhahood and let go of the attainment. Therefore, the Chung Master Lunya said, Before Buddhas were enlightened, they were the same as we. Enlightened people of today are exactly as those of old. Quietly explore the farthest reaches of these causes and conditions. as this practice is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha, confessing and repenting in this way, when never fails to receive profound help from all Buddhas and ancestors.

[13:12]

By revealing and disclosing our lack of faith and practice before the Buddha, we melt away the root of transgressions by the power of our confession and repentance. This is the pure and simple color of true practice, of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith. Thank you. So this is my favorite chant. And that's why we've been chanting it at noon and why we're talking about it now. And Part of the reason it's my favorite chant is because of what it says and how encouraging it is that Dogen is telling me, us, that we can be Buddhas and ancestors. And it's so hard for us to believe, but he tells us over and over. He's very emphatic about it, as he usually is about things that he tries to tell us.

[14:19]

And another... of it being my favorite, I'm sure, is the surround in which I encountered it, the atmosphere in which I learned it. So when I lived at Tassajara in the 80s for a few years, it was always the before lecture chant. And we chanted that instead of the verse of opening the sutra that we use here. And since I loved Tassajara and loved Dharma Tux, I must admit there's some kind of warm association that I have with it that I'm aware not everyone will necessarily have. I also love Dogen's writing, as I think many of us do,

[15:21]

for its beautiful language. And that beautiful language is often very strong language, very passionate language, and yet it seems to be inspiring to us. I think Dogen is always telling us things that no one else could tell us with a straight face, and we're ready to believe, or at least to keep chanting it. So in that vein, The Genjo Koan, one of the most famous lines in all of Buddhism is from the Genjo Koan, to study the way is to study the self. And what does that mean exactly? And Shohaku Okamura says that the word that's used for study there means...

[16:23]

grow accustomed to, get used to, become familiar with. And the kanji in Japanese is the wings of a bird. And so it's an image of a bird who innately knows, has the capacity to fly, but doesn't know how to fly. And he watches the bird watches its parents fly and tries over and over again and finally learns to fly. And so he describes study as meaning something like that, studying, flying, studying, becoming familiar with. And that, of course, happens in Zazen. That's his description of Zazen. But I think It happens with our recitation of these wonderful fascicles of Dogon II.

[17:26]

We hear it over and over and over and maybe get to a place where we might be able to accept the idea expressed. And I think actually that religious ceremonial elements are like this. So I say that It's connected, my feeling about it is connected to my experience with it. But I think that's common. For example, I think many people have very warm and pleasant associations with candlelight Christmas Eve ceremonies from when they were a child, right? Or from being an altar boy or something like that. So I think our religious associations have that kind of emotional content of how we encountered it. And I think one of the main purposes of our chanting is to inspire us.

[18:36]

And this inspires me a lot. So for me, it's working, and I hope it works for you too. Oh, there's one more thing I want to say. As I was leading up to Sachin and thinking about what to talk about, do you know how a song will play in your head over and over and you can't get it to stop? Has that happened for you? So this fascicle kept playing in my head night and day, and I couldn't get it to stop. And that's happened to me before. So I just love this chant, and we're talking about it so that I can share it with you. And I hope you have some good feeling about it too. So let's launch into studying it.

[19:39]

I'm very aware that despite all my good feelings about this chant, when I look at it, it's just full to the brim of really loaded language, right? Vow, faith, renunciation, confession, repentance, words we associate with Christianity and with negative things like our misdoings or giving up things that we like. So they're difficult words for us, I think. But that's one of the reasons I want to talk about them and give a Buddhist meaning for some of those words that is a little easier for us to accept.

[20:43]

So the title, according to our former abbot Sojan Mel Weitzman of means Old Dogen's Practice of Faith in the Dharma. So I'm just going to recite parts of it and then talk about those parts. We'll do a little bit at a time. We vow with all beings from this life on, throughout countless lives, to hear the true Dharma. So right away we have this challenging idea presented that there are countless lives. And you can think whatever you want to about rebirth. I don't think you have to believe in it. I don't think most of us literally believe in it here. But I think we all probably have some feeling that we've had multiple lives within our current life.

[21:52]

Right? So I have had a life at Zen Center that's gone on for quite a while. Before that I had a life at this job or that job. I had a life in school with, you know, schoolmates. I had a life in my birth family. So I think it's like that for us. These seem like different worlds, don't they? You know, we're continuous somehow, but these worlds are different lives. So I think it can be understood in that way. And I think here it just means continuously forever. So we vow from this life on throughout countless lives, we vow forever to hear the true Dharma. That upon hearing it, no doubt will arise for us, nor will we lack in faith that upon meeting it, we shall renounce worldly affairs and maintain the Buddha Dharma.

[23:09]

And that in doing so, the great earth and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. So Dogen talks about faith and doubt because he knows that we all have the experience of faith and doubt. or lack of faith and doubt, excuse me. We all have times when we lack faith and we doubt. We wonder, I think the most frequently asked question in practice discussion is some version of, am I doing it right? That's doubt. Is this the best practice for me? Am I in the right place? Do I have the right teacher?

[24:13]

And maybe a more advanced student would have the question, and why haven't all my problems gone away? Why isn't it working the way I expected it to work? So... What Dogen is saying is that this doesn't make us different from the Buddhas and ancestors. It's part of practice to have these questions and face these questions and work out our answers to them. So Dogen's burning question was, if I'm already enlightened, why do I have to practice? And he went from teacher to teacher and finally went to China to find the answer to that question.

[25:15]

And eventually he was satisfied. But he had doubt and lack of faith, and he addressed it. And I think the way faith works is we keep practicing. We're not always sure why, but somehow we keep coming. We come a little bit or a little bit, and over time, I think our faith builds without our knowing it. And then we have it as a resource to use. It's in us. We weren't aware of it entering us, but it's in us. And when we get discouraged or lose our inspiration, we keep on because of this faith that has... somehow entered us. So this doubt, losing our inspiration, lack of faith is our problem or our mind weed, which nourishes our practice.

[26:32]

It strengthens our practice. So Suzuki Roshi said that we should always be grateful for the problem that we have, that it's like exercise, you know? It helps us to be stronger. So I think this is what it means by practicing true dharma. Does it say practicing? Hearing true dharma. So I think hearing true Dharma is also practicing true Dharma. So it's zazen, it's listening to Dharma talks, it's doing work practice and mindfulness practice, it's studying texts. All of those constitute hearing the true Dharma. And renounce worldly affairs. So I think renunciation is one of those negative words that has the connotation of giving up something that you actually want, an ascetic renunciation.

[27:47]

But I think what's actually meant here is letting go of the burden of worrying about worldly affairs. giving up pursuit and striving and competition. So that's what we're doing this week. We have the space to give up all those things and just be quiet and settled here. And I hope you're enjoying it. The world is different than it was in Dogen's time due to instant communication. The world is small. We can vote, we can influence our circumstances, and we can't hide away in the mountains. But maybe we can hide away in the mountains for a particular period of time, or we can come and do a sushin, or we can sit zazen every day.

[28:51]

And during that time, we can let go of worldly affairs. And then, when we have to go out into the world and make decisions and discriminate, we have that spirit that's been infused by the silence of the time we've spent in zazen. And it informs our life and our practice. And since we're connected with everything, We awaken together with everything, not as individuals. We awaken to the wholeness of the universe. So I think that's what he means. The great earth and all living beings together will attain the Buddha way. Although our past evil karma has greatly accumulated...

[29:53]

indeed being the cause and condition of obstacles in practicing the way, may all Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way be compassionate to us and free us from karmic effects, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance. So the idea being expressed here is that the hindrances that arise in our meditation are the result of our past evil actions, of our karma. And we may not believe that and we may not like that idea. And evil is a very strong word.

[30:54]

So in our own confession and repentance ceremony, it's been softened. We used to say, all my ancient evil karma, and now we say, all my ancient twisted karma. And in Berkeley, at Berkeley Zen Center, they say, all my ancient tangled karma, which I think is a beautiful, apt description of how our karma works. It's such a mess, such a tangled... interconnected, untraceable mass of connections, right? So the hindrances referred to that are apt to come up in our meditation practice, there's a traditional list. from early Buddhism, their desire, aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt.

[32:07]

And we ask in this chant the Buddhas and ancestors to be compassionate to us and free us from our karmic hindrances. And I think this implies that we think it's possible for them to do that. So I wonder how we think that happens. Is it their mystical power, their special power that we don't have but Buddhas and ancestors have? Is it the power of their great compassion? Or is it through their having handed down teachings about the practice that we can put, that we can live, that we can bring into our lives and practice and align ourselves with reality so that we're not hindered, so that we don't run into obstructions, so that we're in harmony with how things are?

[33:20]

and then life flows more smoothly. Dogen wrote another wonderful fascicle called Bendowa, The Wholehearted Way. And in it, he refers to the help that we receive from Buddhas and ancestors as imperceptible mutual assistance. It's a beautiful phrase, I think. So many of Dogen's phrases are so beautiful. May they share with us their compassion which fills the boundless universe with the virtue of their enlightenment and teachings. Buddhas and ancestors of old were as we. We in the future shall be Buddhas and ancestors. Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor.

[34:23]

Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. Because they extend their compassion to us freely and without limit, we are able to attain Buddhahood and let go of the attainment. So this is very encouraging and very hard to believe, isn't it? Do you believe it? But we would love to be persuaded, wouldn't we? That it's true. I think we think of Buddhas and ancestors as much more serious and virtuous and adept and committed than we are. But Dogen is saying they're the same as us, and that before they were enlightened, they were the same as we are, that they faced the same problems and the same doubts and limitations.

[35:31]

And that's really encouraging, I think. So they had their problems with doubt and lack of faith, And I think it gives us permission to take ourselves seriously, which is a responsibility. You know, if you think you're the real thing doing something, you enter into a job or a position fully. If you're not quite sure you can actually fill those shoes, you may hold back. So I think it's like that. And there's no getting off the hook. by saying, oh, that was the golden age of Zen, and now it's different. And in fact, we even have advantages, as I said yesterday. We have teachings on our Kindles, and we have teachers and beautiful buildings to practice in, and comfortable environments.

[36:44]

So the idea that our practice should somehow be inferior just doesn't make any sense. I think of this, it's like I got a card from a friend when I started leaving this practice period that said, go girl. And I think it's like that, except that he's talking to a monastery full of male monks. Therefore, the Chan master, Lunya, said, Those who in past lives were not enlightened will now be enlightened. In this life, save the body, which is the fruit of many lives. So I love this line, too. We talked about it yesterday. I think this is a way of saying that our body has been handed down to us from ancient times, that it's the result of everything that's ever happened.

[37:54]

My body is and your body is. And in fact, everything is that way. And in that sense, I think everything is sacred to be revered and respected and treasured. And also our bodies are what they are. We have handicaps and flaws and imperfections. Our bodies may be unbeautiful. We may be sick or weak or old. We may not like our bodies. But our bodies are the vehicles we have to practice with. And our body is part of our life. actually, and our job in this world is to live our life, to do the best that we can with this life that we have. I think that's our main responsibility as human beings. So Zazen is a physical practice, and we practice enlightenment by embodying it, and we do that in Zazen, for one thing.

[39:08]

So Dogen's instruction is to save this body. In this life, save the body, which is the fruit of many lives. And I think he means conserve it, care for it, treat it with respect and reverence. And gratitude for... it enabling us to be alive and practice and use our life. And that's the middle way that was handed down from Buddha. It's not abusing our body or practicing austerities or overly indulging ourselves. It's using our body to enact our life. Before Buddhas were enlightened, they were the same as we.

[40:12]

Enlightened people of today are exactly as those of old. So this is the same encouraging message as above. We may not have believed it, so he's going to say it again, and it's good that he repeats it. I think it's good to chant this chant often and repeat it to ourselves and get used to the idea, accustomed to the idea. Quietly explore the farthest reaches of these causes and conditions as this practice is the exact transmission of a verified Buddha. Confessing and repenting in this way One never fails to receive profound help from all Buddhas and ancestors. By revealing and disclosing our lack of faith and practice before the Buddha, we melt away the root of transgression by the power of our confession and repentance.

[41:25]

So in this paragraph, the loaded language really comes to a crescendo. I think that confession and repentance have overtones of shame and remorse that are unpleasant associations. But remorse is an interesting word because it comes from the root meaning to bite again. And... Shohaku Okamura says that the Buddhist idea of repentance is to rethink, to reconsider, to see the situation from another point of view. It's like revisiting the seam of the crime and examining carefully all the contributing factors. So I think this is what it means when it says quietly explore the farthest reaches of these causes and conditions.

[42:32]

Our karma is so complicated that we will never be able to trace it, but we can trace some of it. We can look at the causes and conditions and our own contributions to situations a little way out, and that's useful. Not so that we can beat ourselves up about the things that we've done wrong, but so that we can see our limitations as a human being and how complicated it is, how we're all in the same boat, and we can have compassion for ourselves and everyone else. Because we all have this limited... We're human beings. We have a limited point of view. We keep trying to do something, and we always fall short. That's part of the human condition. So when we do that, we see how interdependent we are with everyone else, and we can't help but feel compassionate to others when we see this, I think.

[43:51]

We see our oneness with the eyes of compassion. And then we can begin anew. That's the point of repentance. In the confession and repentance ceremony and in ordination particularly, so you chant the repentances and then you take the vows. So you start over. It's the first day of the rest of your life. and you've rid yourself of old karma, and you can start again. I think that's the idea. This is the pure and simple color of true practice, of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith. So I hope this chant will inspire in you as it does me, the wish to make your best effort with a feeling that awakening is possible, that you can do it.

[45:05]

It's a responsibility and a commitment to yourself and others to your life, really. It's a commitment to your life. So please see yourself, get familiar with the idea that you are a Buddha and an ancestor, and continue your practice for the benefit of all beings. Let's see what time it is. It's time. So thank you. 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.

[46:01]

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