with technical difficulties. Can you hear me back there? Person waving back is going, hmm, hmm. So, this is a great time for me to make a correction. From yesterday's Dharma talk, when I noticed that I was thinking of a Carl Sandburg poem, and I began to quote it, but I couldn't remember it. And made a real mess of it. Very simple poem, too. And so I went...

[01:02]

last night and looked it up. And this is the correct version. It's called Grass. Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work. I am the grass. I cover all. And pile them high at Gettysburg. and pile them high at Ypres and Verdun, shovel them under, and let me work. Two years, ten years, and passengers asked the conductor, What place is this? Where are we now? I am the grass. Let me work. 10 years, 100 years.

[02:06]

Maybe 1,000. 1,000 years. The record of this talk will be long gone. No, no, it's recorded. Uh-oh. Then it will be cast in immutable plastic, right? What prompted me to think of that poem was a visit on Friday by Alan Wiseman, who was just on a book tour, publishing a book called A World Without Us, I think. I think that's the title, The World Without Us. And he's doing, I think it'll be a book passage on Wednesday or something. Anyway, he's around the Bay Area this week, and you can see if... if you want to hear him read. But he was here Friday night and I caught a little bit of his talk in which he imagines what if all human beings vanished instantly?

[03:18]

How would the earth recover from everything that we are currently doing to it? So I didn't hear the part of the talk. But afterwards, someone else told me that he mentioned in New York City, in Manhattan, if everyone vanished, all the pumps that are pumping all the water out from the subway system would stop. And in three days, the whole underground of New York would be filled with water. And a short time later, the roads that are over the subways would collapse. And there'd be channels or canals right through Manhattan. So that's just one example of how we're working very hard as human beings every day to control things, actually, to try to have a world that's more and more comfortable for us.

[04:29]

And that reminds me of a song I heard on the Prairie Home Companion that I can't sing, but it goes, Why do we work so hard to get what we don't even want? I wanted to talk about upaya. Upaya is a Sanskrit word usually translated as skillful means or skillful method. If we're talking about upaya paramita and the paramita system, the practices,

[05:38]

of cultivating what is perfection or cultivating the ability to see the phenomenal world as the ultimate, as the absolute world. As we cultivate that ability in our practice of stopping and just taking in what's already happening. That's actually the practice of the paramita of crossing over, of going from this world of duality, of relationship, of us and them. Going from this world to the world in which we see that we're all completely interconnected. And it's the same world. But the paramitas, the practice of paramitas is crossing over from this perspective of seeing things as all divided to seeing things as all completely knit together, completely unified.

[06:44]

And realizing that form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Realizing that the two worlds, these two worlds are the same. And yet, how we live in them is completely different. The experience of living one way is completely different from living the other way. So in the Paramita system, it's the seventh Paramita. And in the Bodhisattva stages, some of you are studying the Bhumis, the different stages of Bodhisattva of a wisdom being development. That's the seventh stage. In the Shambhala dictionary it says, Upaya is the ability of a bodhisattva to guide beings to liberation through skillful means. All possible methods and ruses from straightforward talk to the most conspicuous miracles could be applicable.

[07:55]

So skillful means still, seems to me, just the language is kind of dangerous, actually. There's a kind of an ego trap, a real temptation of thinking, oh, how can, if we could actually just have the right, say, technique. That's so tantalizing to think that if you had the right technique, if you were only skillful enough with a clever strategy that you could leave the world of suffering. Actually leave the world of suffering behind. And not only that, you could take everyone else with you. Or at least your close friends. or maybe the person who comes and asks you a question, and you really want to help them.

[09:00]

Maybe at least them. Maybe you could at least, if you had this upaya capacity, that you could actually free them. So what we're actually talking about with paramita, upaya, is... something beyond skill, what we usually think of as skill. In Dongshan's poem, The Jewel Mirror Awareness, it says, Yi, Y-I, the short one-syllable word for a Chinese legendary archer, says Yi, with his archer's skill, could hit a target at a hundred paces. I think it means a small target. I don't think it means like big as a barn. I think it means the bullseye. You could hit a bullseye at 100 paces.

[10:03]

But when arrow points meet head on, what has this to do with skill? What has this to do with the power of skill? And this poem actually refers back to a previous poem of Shido's, the merging of difference and unity. I know some of you actually were in the class this morning studying the Sandokai. The merging of difference and unity or the harmony of difference and unity where it says, all things have their function. It's a matter of use in the appropriate situation. Phenomena exist like box and cover joining. Principle accords like arrow points meeting. So there's this notion of this wonderful precision of things, of arrow points meeting.

[11:09]

And we know with our human capacities, if we're standing 100 paces apart, And wanting to shoot the arrow and meet the arrow simultaneously that someone else is shooting from 100 paces apart. The chances of doing that are even less than Barry Bonds being able to hit a home run. Or anyone being able to hit the ball. It's amazing, you know, that someone can hit the fastball. So this is way beyond that. And yet it is how things are always working. Moment by moment. So we speak of this cause and effect a little bit as if we know what we're doing, as if we understand cause and effect, but actually cause and effect is so much a part of

[12:17]

our whole being and the way in which our mind works and our perception of things that we can't separate ourselves out from it we can't actually see because we're involved in the whole beginning of the experiment you know we can't actually understand how it works because we're right in the middle of it so it's the way things work is then we say it's inconceivable. So we're talking about upaya as inconceivable skill. So how do we then even make any application of this inconceivable skill? In Buddhism we say this is actually compassion.

[13:24]

That the bodhisattva of compassion is sometimes pictured with many, sometimes nine hands, sometimes one thousand arms and hands. And each one has some particular say implement or tool. And there's an eye in each hand that can actually see what is needed in each situation. So we try to indicate what it means to be compassionate, to be able to respond in all these different situations. So this sounds like this is so vast. And what I like about our Zen tradition is sometimes we... We bring it down to earth and we, there's a tradition then of calling upaya instead of, instead of the bodhisattva skillful means of calling upaya garden equipment.

[14:29]

Very ordinary garden equipment. The tool that you use for weeding. And so, and we have our own way of understanding cultivation of understanding what it means to do gardening. So I want to mention a few Zen garden tools. One is to welcome everything. Welcoming everything and not pushing anything away. Suzuki Roshi, who was the founder of San Francisco Zen Center, said various times, he said, welcome difficulty. Which is included, of course, in welcome everything.

[15:35]

It's maybe easier for us to welcome pleasure And so he put the emphasis on welcoming difficulty. Someone was recently telling me that when he was a new student at Tatsahara, he had actually just arrived on his motorcycle and he was just traveling around checking out Tatsaharas and This was shortly after Zen Center had opened Tassahara as a Zen practice place. And he found out that he could be a guest student for a day or two and could work and could have the afternoon off, but then could work part of the time. And so he decided to stay for a couple of days. And he then...

[16:43]

was kind of relaxing in the afternoon and said, hey, I've got some good grass. You want to go smoke it? And so he said yes. So they went up over the hill, off the property. And then he came into, and then they heard the bell ring. They know they're supposed to go back for the evening service. So they went back for evening. They rushed back, and they were all dusty and sweaty and reeking of marijuana. And as they were approaching the zendo, they saw Suzuki Roshi coming to lead the service, but they were able to kind of get right in in front of him and stand inside the door. And he said, as Suzuki Roshi came in, he stopped and had this expression of intense anger for just one second. And then

[17:44]

kind of just glanced at him and then continued on and did the service. So he was feeling then particularly bad. And then he went to the, so this fellow then went to the baths when he could. I think he was in the kitchen for a while and he had to work in the kitchen and then he went to the baths. And when he went to the bath, there was Suzuki Roshi. taking his, he was in, you know, in the old baths, for those of you who remember Tatsahara, they're the old little baths that you wash off in before you go into the plunge. So he was in that, preparing to go into the plunge. And so this fellow came in and he was really embarrassed now. He felt... He didn't know what to do, but he really wanted to clean off all the dust and everything, and so he started to get undressed.

[18:56]

And then when he turned around, Suzuki Roshi was out and actually was already in his robe and gestured to him to get into the bath. And so he got in, and then Suzuki Roshi was going out and turned around and said, don't worry. Don't worry. And then left. So he actually felt completely relieved. Ah. So this is an example. I mean, it's one thing for Suzuki Roshi to say, welcome everything. Another for him to demonstrate. And later on, this fellow, years later, continues to actually practice with this generosity.

[20:04]

Learning himself, learning this spirit of generosity, of welcoming the unexpected visitor. In this case, he realized after Suzuki Rashi left that Suzuki didn't even take his bath. He didn't actually even get in the plunge. He just left and left the whole place. And that he, the new student, had invaded the abbot's private bath hour. Unwittingly. Later on he found out, oh, this is the abbot's private bath time. But he didn't get the message of, oh, you've invaded the private bath time. The message he got was, don't worry. So,

[21:08]

So that's the notion of welcoming. Welcoming everything is actually one of our garden tools. And it's good to just have that thought. And you can sometimes reach for it. Oh, yeah. It's a difficult time I'm having, right? So you can reach for that tool of, oh, welcome everything. even though you can't do it, even though it's impossible. To have that suggestion makes a difference and over time you actually have a chance of trusting a capacity to welcome everything. Especially difficult and to see it as an opportunity To understand yourself and maybe to actually help someone.

[22:16]

So another tool is this thought of bringing your whole self. We say wholeheartedly engage the way. Bring your whole self to this present moment. To this experience. this present moment, whatever it is, bring your whole self. The monk, Yan Yang, asked his teacher, Zhao Zhou, one of the great Chinese teachers, said, what if I have nothing with me? Zhao Zhou said, throw it away. And then the student asked, Well, but if I have nothing with me, what can I throw away? And Chao Zhou said, in that case, keep it.

[23:35]

It's pretty hard to realize that the idea of having nothing is not the same as actually having nothing. And Zhao Zhou is very gently, very gently indicating to this student that his whole self is already there. So, arrow points... meet even when they miss. Even when the, in this case, looks like a very innocent kind of concern that the student has. And Chao Chao is ready to meet

[24:39]

And then when he sees again, ready to meet again. Oh. First, you have nothing, throw it away. Then, oh, you don't know what to do with that? Then keep it. Continue to work with right where you are. There was a young priest who had helped... Shinryu Suzuki do some wedding ceremonies marriage ceremony he would at each ceremony he said so he said to Suzuki Roshi he said I don't understand I don't understand I noticed that at each ceremony you say to the man you are married to the perfect And then you say to the woman, you are married to the perfect man.

[25:44]

And you say that. Perfect husband, perfect wife. You say that each time. It doesn't matter who it is. And Suzuki Roshi looked at him and said, oh, you don't understand? So that way, a very gentle way. Oh, you don't understand? And then not trying to convince him of something, but leaving it as an opening. Realizing that whole self is already there. And yet you may have a feeling, realizing that sometimes that you're somehow hindered. That you're not bringing forth your whole self.

[26:48]

And so that the place to say step forward is not so clear. So need to then take some time. Say stop. So we say this is a great value of practicing suchness, of stopping and realizing where you are. Once you realize where you are, then you can trust your intuition. If you don't realize where you are, then you really can't trust your intuition. someone was describing a training for people in kayaking, which I haven't done, but the training is that you have to then know how to, when you're turned upside down in a kayak, you have to know how to right yourself, right?

[27:59]

So what's the first thing to recognize? What's the first thing to do in that situation, when your kayak turns upside down. And the teacher in this class said, the first thing to do is realize you're upside down. Once you realize you're upside down, then you know what to do. You can go from there. And when that's clear, then don't hesitate. So this is actually another garden tool. When it's clear, don't hesitate. And sometimes, because it's very interesting, clarity usually comes here in your heart or your gut. You have some deep sense, this is the thing to say, or this is the thing to do.

[29:07]

right now. And then you might have a tendency to second guess. I was thinking recently of Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks you know is a great hero for civil rights. And I think she was listening to her intuition, probably getting on the bus time and time and time again, getting on the bus and following the rules of the society, conventional society that she's living in for years. And then one day, it's very clear to her, this day, Don't hesitate. Sit.

[30:09]

And this is the right moment. This is the right moment. She understood that she was completely in accord with a deeper truth. So when the bus driver called the police, And the police came and explained that it's against the law for her to sit there and this white man is entitled to have her seat. She didn't hesitate. She could say, I'm sitting, I'm not moving. So they had to carry her off the bus. Which was the beginning then of this whole in Montgomery, Alabama. And it turned out to be the moment that Martin Luther King had arrived as a young 26-year-old minister at the church.

[31:18]

And he had studied Gandhi. I don't know how Rosa Parks understood this whole moment, you know. But somehow she understood this whole moment was this moment. And then was able to find, because of the nature of everything coming together at that point, the wheel of this civil rights dharma wheel actually turned, of course, excruciatingly slowly with a lot of difficulty, but still there was that turning which continues. So this is actually another example to me of Rosa Parks and that moment on the bus seat of Aero Point's meeting, completely beyond what she could say figure out, you know.

[32:33]

what you can figure out intellectually. So another say garden tool or skillful approach is to look for a point of light actually. which just means to actually bring awareness into the intensity of the moment, the intensity of things. Even when it seems pretty difficult to do that, to be willing to enter right into the center of the intensity. So I'm saying point of light, but that may not be right. It's actually the feeling of being willing to engage with your full awareness right into where something feels intense.

[33:45]

So I was listening to a recording of teaching by Frank Ostasecki. who was the teacher and one of the founders of our Zen hospice many years ago. And he was telling about this Russian Jewish woman who was facing death. And he was there as a hospice volunteer. And Frank was... Noticing that she was having a hard time. She was struggling. And she was pretty tough. And she was sitting there on the edge of her bed. And the nurse came and sat beside her and said to her, you don't need to be frightened.

[34:58]

I'm right here with you. And this woman's name was Adele. And Adele said, if you were in my place, you'd be frightened. So she kind of let her know she really didn't want that much help. And then the nurse came back a little bit later and said, are you feeling cold? Would you like a blanket? And Adele said, of course I'm cold. I'm almost dead. So Frank was listening, sitting and watching all this, listening. And this whole time, he was just in the room with the practice of finding kind of the center of what's happening. And he noticed that Adele's breathing was really hard.

[36:01]

painful and she was struggling with her breath and so he at some point when he felt it was right he came up to her and he said Adele would you like to struggle less so he didn't try to take her struggle away from her but would you like to struggle less And she said, yes. So he said, see if you can find in your breath, see if you can find a place where at the end of the out-breath there's a little space before the in-breath comes. That little space. See if you can rest right there. And she said, okay.

[37:05]

And so then Frank listened and actually joined her breathing and noticed that the struggle of her breathing became less. And a little while later she died. She took her last breath. in that place of rest. So that's, even at the point of dying, the willingness to find that place, say a point of space right in the middle of the intensity of things. This is also where arrow points meet.

[38:08]

And finally, I wanted to mention this thought of the garden tool actually of focusing on the ground. that here we have an organic farm, we have a garden, we have this whole valley that we're taking care of and it's our intention to be excellent stewards of this land and of the Valley of Green Gulch. Realizing that everything we do has some consequence and And when we don't do something, it's also okay that the grass grows by itself. And that actually, rather than focusing on the results, it's our practice to focus on the ground itself.

[39:21]

So actually we take care of the earth itself, which is a basic principle of organic gardening and farming. And in our cultivation of our mind, cultivation of Buddha mind in our awareness, we put emphasis on the whole field of the mind. Not on focusing on something that we know, but on something that we don't know. Dijang, another Chinese philosopher, teacher and Fa Yang had a conversation and Dijang asked Fa Yang, where are you going? And Fa Yang said, I'm going around on pilgrimage. Dijang said, what is the purpose?

[40:22]

What is the purpose of pilgrimage? Fa Yang said, I don't know. And Dijang said, not knowing is nearest. What is the purpose? I don't know. Not knowing is nearest. So this practice actually of not knowing is the willingness to see that there's inherent wisdom in the earth. Inherent wisdom in yourself. Inherent wisdom in the person that you meet. And listening carefully is the practice of not knowing. Just bringing a careful attention and listening. And the not knowing itself is a kind of tuning in. So tuning in is this practice then.

[41:30]

The most skillful means then, the most skillful practice is not knowing. So as you notice your own tendencies, the tendencies that you have to want to do things from just a part of yourself rather than from, say, a complete sense, it may be good to sometimes let the tendency relax, tendency to want to do something or act when you're out of balance. See if you can actually Find your place of center, your own deep intuition. And listen carefully. So thank you all for listening in this room, which we dedicated to stillness and to listening.

[42:38]

And please take good care of yourself. as you find your own path. May our intention equally send to every being and place with the true merit

[43:00]

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