This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. I'm so happy to be talking to all of you this morning. As the Kogutsu said, my name is Greg Fane. And it begins and ends with gratitude. So let me begin by expressing my gratitude to my late teacher, Sojan Mel Weitzman Roshi, former abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, my home temple, the old Buddha of the East Bay. And just to say that this talk is just to encourage you and your practice.

[01:09]

I would also like to thank my Dharma brother, Juryu. This is the first time I've given the Dharma talk at Green Gulch. And I'm so excited. So thank you for the invitation. And what's more, I didn't even have to leave Tassajara. So I am coming to you live from cabin 1D. Yes. My talk this morning is about generosity. The name of my talk is The Importance of a Generous Heart. Generosity and gratitude. Because for me, they are... sides of the same dynamic. And I consider it like crucial dynamic in the practice of Buddhadharma. So, classically, in Mahayana Buddhism, which Zen is part of, great vehicle Buddhism, we talk a lot about the Bodhisattva path.

[02:28]

At the end of this talk, we'll chant together the bodhisattva vows. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them, etc. In many schools of Mahayana Buddhism, you will hear all about the six paramitas. it's actually kind of an intentional pun in Sanskrit. It means perfection. So, Prajnaparamita is the perfection of wisdom, for example. But it also means crossing over. Crossing over from, you know, typically, samsara to nirvana. from suffering to liberation, anxiety to calm, maybe, what have you, crossing over.

[03:45]

The six paramitas are giving, ethical conduct, patience or forbearance, energy, stick-to-itiveness, meditation, zazen, and wisdom. In Sanskrit, it's fun to say, dana, siva, kshanti, virya, jnana, prajna. So you hear about these all the time. These are practices. These are things that bodhisattvas in training, like all of us, do. Practices that we do to enact our vows.

[04:49]

To be of benefit to a suffering world. Now... dana, giving, generosity, is always first on the list. When the paramitas are taught, they're always presented in that order. And dana, giving, is first on the list. Also, in Ehe Dogen's essay on a different teaching, the Bodhisattva's Four methods of guidance. Dana is also first on the list. Giving. Why? Well, because it's the most important. Now, I've said that in a Dharma talk before, and I got some pushback.

[05:55]

I said, well, how can you say it's the most important? They're equally important. All six are equally important, and they all inform each other, and you're not wrong. I agree with that. So I decided maybe we could say Donna is first on the list because it's very hard to do the other practices without a generous heart. I think it's very important that we cultivate a generous heart so that we can Do these other practices. It's a big deal. No. This. This Bodhisattva path. If you take it up. Never stop. Sojan Roshi.

[06:59]

Really. Loved. This one. Waka poem. translated by Kazatana Ashi, that Ehei Dogen wrote. It goes, awake or asleep, in a grasped hut, what I pray is to carry others across before myself. My intention, my vow, carry others across before myself. This is Bodhisattva practice. This is Bodhisattva training. I don't think you can really do that without a generous... It implies having a generous heart. Oh, no. After you. You know? You go first. And let me help you. Can I help?

[08:00]

Can I help? Can I help you? Can I help you cross over from anxiety to calm? Can I help you to cross over from suffering to liberation? Because I'd like to help. Yeah. Here's a good book. Hi, Suzuki Roshi. In Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, there's a chapter in this book with a rather unusual title of God Giving. It's called God Giving. And Suzuki Roshi says, moment after moment, we are creating something. And this is the joy of our life. But this I, which is creating and always giving out something, is not the small I. It is the big I.

[09:04]

even though you do not realize the oneness of this big I with everything, when you give something, you feel good. Because at that time, you feel at one with what you are giving. And I would add, to whom you are giving. The instance when you're giving. This is why it feels better to give than to take. It feels good. When we practice giving, when we practice generosity, at that time, you feel at one with what you are giving. This is the crossing over. Actually, in that moment, there is crossing over. There is connection. This is the spark that jumps the gap. your notion of a separate self and all existence, actually.

[10:13]

And I feel the same way about gratitude. I've said many times, my practice is gratitude, gratitude and appreciation. Similarly, when I experience gratitude or express gratitude, I feel connection. And this connection, it's the same thing. And for me, also a way to cultivate gratitude. I feel like the more I can appreciate the gift of this life, the gift of people in my life, the 10,000 joys and the 10,000 sorrows, I'm better suited, I'm better equipped to practice generosity.

[11:31]

I remember one time... having a Thanksgiving dinner with Sojin, Mel, Liz, and some other family. And yeah, it was so sweet to have Thanksgiving dinner with my teacher. And naturally, he did the blessing for the dinner. And he started talking about being grateful for things that ordinarily people take for granted, like having water that's safe to drink, a roof over your head, food to eat, people to love that love you. The more I can abide in that space,

[12:35]

I feel, the more my heart can open to this generosity of spirit. Our late abbot, Mjogan Steve Stuckey, told me one time he had this practice of when he gets up in the morning, swinging his legs out from over the side of the bed, When his feet touch the floor, his hands go into gacho, and he just quietly repeat the word gratitude. Feet touch the floor, hands in gacho, gratitude. I honestly can't remember when he told me that, but I've been doing it ever since. I can recommend it.

[13:38]

It's a lovely practice. In fact, even if I'm just taking a nap, having a little lie down, you know, feet touch, it's just so automatic. You know, feet touch the floor, hands and got to show gratitude. It helps to helps me anyway um you're free to try that on or not um but i can say that it has helped me cultivate that that spirit that that heart also sometimes um people maybe don't necessarily see it in this way.

[14:44]

But we have in Bodhisattva precepts, if you go to a full moon ceremony in our tradition or if you've received the precepts as a layperson or priest, you hear the three pure precepts and then First, there's taking refuge in the triple treasure, then the three pure precepts, and then the ten grave precepts. And one of the ten grave precepts is about generosity. Number eight, to be precise. Usually, I mean, they've been translated so many different ways. Quite often, the ten grave precepts are, you know, they're admonitory. Don't kill.

[15:48]

Don't lie. Don't steal, etc. But there are also a complementary ten pure mind precepts, which are, you know, I vow not to kill, but to support all life. When I... officiate weddings, which it's been my pleasure to do a number of times, very often the happy couple will be like, well, can we just do those clear mind precepts? I would not do a wedding without giving the couple the precepts. They'll be like, well, I don't want that negative feeling. Can we have some positivity? And I'm like, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Let's do that. So... Sometimes we do both.

[16:52]

And... The last time I did Jukai, Lay Ordination, I used the version of the precepts from... from my home temple, Berkeley Zen Center. Number eight, it says, I vow not to withhold spiritual or material aid, but to share understanding, giving freely of self. Isn't that nice? Sometimes it just says, I vow not to be avaricious. Don't be stingy. Okay. For monks, it could be, I vow not to withhold the Dharma assets. There it is, you know, both the word share and the word giving are in there. I vow not to withhold spiritual or material aid, but to share understanding, giving freely of self.

[17:58]

I like that a lot. So what holds us back from that is a good question to be asking. The immediate response that comes up for me is, you know, the usual fear. Fear. Fear that... I won't be okay. Fear that there isn't enough. Don't be stingy. How do I get past that sort of crabbed tight?

[19:02]

No. Stingy. No, no, no, no, no. I can't. I can't. It's not okay. I won't be okay. Can I get past that? The scarcity mindset. It's a big problem. It's a big problem for people. It's a big problem for this country. A book. Now, I would like to take the opportunity to recommend to you a book. I would hold it up and show it to you, but I only have it in electronic format. So I'll just have to tell you. The title of the book is The Sum of Us, S-U-M, by Heather McGee. Heather McGee is an economist, but it is not a dry economist kind of book. It is a very warm-hearted human book.

[20:09]

And she talks and explains very carefully and lovingly the effects of this scarcity mindset, what she calls the zero-sum game. If you get something, that's less for me. those people get something that's less for us. And the damage that that thinking has done, is doing. Heather McGee. Yeah, I think the title is an intentional pun because she talks about the zero-sum game and then it's, you know, the sum of all of us. Ms. McGee says, When the people with power in a society see a portion of the populace as inferior and undeserving, their definition of the public becomes conditional.

[21:23]

It's often unconscious. But the perception of the other as undeserving is so important to their perception of themselves as deserving that they'll tear apart the web that supports everyone. including them. Public goods, in other words, are only for the public we perceive to be good. That's a big problem. It's a human problem that humans can solve. And I think we're up for it. I really do. Classically, in Buddhist teachings, going way back to Pali Canon, talk about the practice of generosity.

[22:25]

The monk or the practitioner gives three things. Okay? Material goods such as food, water, shelter, medicine. Teaching. The Dharma. Words of comfort, words of liberation. And thirdly, non-fear. A former abbess Blanche Hartman Roshi. He used to talk about that a lot. She was like, well, I get the two, first two, but how do I give non-fear? How do I do that? Yeah. How do we do that? Because we're living in scary times.

[23:33]

I'm not going to go into detail. I don't think I need to. But I'll just say it again. We're living in scary times. So important. So beneficial. If we can give each other the gift of non-fear. It's not like a Pollyanna-ish feeling of, don't worry, everything will be okay. It's deeper than that. It's in the head and the heart and the gut and the body. Suzuki Roshi emphasized having strong confidence in our original nature.

[24:47]

We cultivate that strong confidence in our original nature and we share that with others. That's giving the gift of non-fear. I was so proud of my community when we had to evacuate Tassajara. On June 18th. When the willow fire was like. Right over there. Started in the early hours of the morning. And it started burning. Straight towards us. Up this. Hot dry desiccated chaparral just. I'm not saying. People weren't scared or anxious.

[25:54]

But I think we all did a pretty good job of being present in the midst of being scared and anxious and supported each other to do what needed to be done, get the vehicles together, Get our go bags. Hugs. Smiles. We got this. Chalks away. 10 a.m. We were up the road. Not bad. Going up. Second overlook. First overlook. Second overlook. Looking behind us. There it was. Okay. It's just what's happening. And I just really felt strongly, wow, what a great example of the power of community and all of us, our practice coming to the fore.

[27:13]

And since this is a Zen talk, allegedly. Might be a good time to talk about zazen. My zazen instruction in five words. Ready? Stay present for whatever arises. When we sit, don't grasp or push away anything. You might have heard that instruction before. Just stay present for whatever arises. And lo and behold, doing that, undertaking that practice, not moving, just staying present, just committing to sit through whatever is happening, we cultivate.

[28:20]

The capacity to stay present for whatever arises. This confidence in our original nature. Don't ask me how it happens. I just... That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Yeah. And it's something... that we get to share with others. Most definitely. Most definitely. Probably. Well, anyway, again, in my view, the best gift we can give another person is our presence. Just making eye contact.

[29:24]

Letting people know that you're listening. Practicing active listening. Really letting them know, hey, I'm here. I'm here for you. I'm not going to abandon you. I'm here for you. In this way, we build joyful community. Community is maybe the most precious gift. Maybe the most important thing in scary times. I'm here for you. You're not alone.

[30:28]

We're in this together. All of us, the sum of us. So I said, for example, human problems with human solutions. If not us, who? If not now, when?

[31:30]

Otherwise what? Despair? Sometimes I hear people say things like, Well, for example, we're living in this time of global pandemic. And some people might say some comment or assertion that the real pandemic is people. The real problem is humanity.

[32:39]

That's the virus that's infesting the planet. I don't agree. I do not agree with that. Yes, human problems. Yes, we say anthropogenic climate change. Anthropogenic means human caused. Yes, we humans, the amount of carbon we pumped into the atmosphere have caused this climate crisis, this climate change. just like to take this point, this time, this opportunity to point out I'm no anthropologist but I am certain that there have been and there are many human societies past and present that have figured out

[34:06]

how to live in harmony with the planet and other life. I've done a lot. Many people who have already figured out in their societies how to live in harmony with the planet and other forms of life are doing their best to help the rest of us who are confused about it. So I will take this opportunity Again, to recommend another book, which I unfortunately cannot hold up to show you.

[35:15]

It's called Braiding Sweetgrass by a contemporary American sage named Robin Wall Kimmerer. And if you haven't read Braiding Sweetgrass, Highly recommend that you do. And. Not only that. If you are the kind of person. Who tends to devour books. Oh Greg said. Maybe I should read this book. A book. Not doing that. Try. Letting it be a slow read. Because there's a lot there. Read her words and let it sink in. So I'd like to finish with some words of Robin Wall Kimmerer from Trading Sweetgrass.

[36:27]

Something she had to say about generosity. She says, generosity is simultaneously a moral and a material imperative, especially among people who live close to the land and know its waves of plenty and scarcity. Where the well-being of one is linked to the well-being of all. Wealth among traditional people. is measured by having enough to give away. Hoarding the gift, we become constipated with wealth, bloated with possessions, too heavy to join the dance.

[37:34]

The well-being of one is linked to the well-being of all. As a Buddhist, I regard that as quite the Mahayana sentiment. But we can't claim ownership of that. Lots of people get that. of people understand i would even go so far as to say most people understand the well-being of one is linked to the well-being of all so in that spirit

[38:38]

May we all learn to lighten up. Give the gift of the joy of living. Join this dance together. It begins and ends with gratitude. Thank you. for sharing this time with me. Thank you for your presence and thank you all for your sincere practice. Thank you. 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.

[39:47]

For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[39:59]

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