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, everyone. And I want to wish you a happy holiday, holiday weekend. July 4th weekend. Coming from St. Paul, Minnesota, July 4th was celebrated in various ways. It was middle of the summer. School was far, far in the future. And We could swim. We were able to swim after June 25th. We were allowed to go in the lake. And it was a memorable and fun day for me as a kid.

[01:09]

Fireworks and family and friends. And this year, I'm thinking about July 4th in a different... in a different way. And thank you for coming on the holiday. I don't know if you have plans or are going to be with family or friends. July 4th was the day that Tassajara was officially founded when Zen Center moved our monastic practice to Tassajara in 1967. So that was the kind of beginning, the opening day. July 4th, 1967. And the name of Independence Day reverberates quite differently for me now.

[02:13]

Independence Day. Independent, Interdependent Day. What are people celebrating? What stories, you know, what narrative is it that people are celebrating? So I'm turning that this year. I wanted to mention the death of the great teacher and translator Thomas Cleary. And. I feel like all of us, all practitioners, so many people have been affected by his marvelous work, his unbelievable, skilled, and magnificent work of translating Buddhist teachings. And just to name a few, the Blue Cliff Record, the Book of Serenity, these koan collections, the Avatamsaka Sutra, and over 80

[03:22]

works, as well as works not only in Chinese and Japanese, but Sanskrit and Arabic and Bengali and Pali. It was kind of a genius, a great, great translator. And Robert Thurman says, perhaps the greatest translator of Buddhist texts from Chinese or Japanese into English of our generation. And he'll be known by grateful Buddhist practitioners and scholars in the future. So just we'll be having a little memorial service for him here at Green Gulch. So I haven't spoken on a Sunday since before I had a hip operation.

[04:26]

I had a hip replacement, a full hip replacement at the end of April. And I don't think I've spoken since then. And, you know, during this COVID time, there are lots of precautions and, you know, The numbers of people who have died across the world, I think it's getting close to 4 million people. And, you know, in India, over 400,000. Brazil, over 500,000. The U.S., over 600,000. Just the numbers are hard to even imagine, really, that amount of grief and sorrow. And... When I went to have this hip operation, I went to the clinic, outpatient clinic. And, you know, going in for major surgery is always something to be... I was neither looking forward to it nor not looking forward to it.

[05:39]

It was just, it felt intense to go in and at... And because of COVID, my family members who were with me could not come in with me. They had to leave me at the door, which I realized I got this taste of the millions of people, hundreds of thousands of people who had to leave their loved one. at the hospital or the loved one was taken away and never seen again, maybe on the phone or something. And I could feel what it felt like for me and felt connected, even in this tiny way. I mean, I was, you know, going in for something very different from life-threatening. But I felt this... break and given over to strangers, lovely and skillful strangers doing their best and just that feeling.

[06:51]

So I feel like even with the COVID restrictions and protocols being lifted, this is not over. We're still walking through this, all of us, this sorrow and grief. even with the vaccinations and the changes and the opening up somewhat of Green Gulch, which it's not so sure exactly when we'll be open again for Dharma events and guests, but we can see on the horizon. So with these opening up, we at Green Gulch have been able to host friends and family. And I've been able to see my grandson, who's two and a half, who I kind of miss that year plus of his life, except with videos and all.

[07:57]

And he's been visiting Greengalt, and I want to tell you something about that. And by way of entry, Last week, when Fu gave the talk, she mentioned the teacher of authentic movement, Janet Adler. She's a marvelous master of authentic movement practice. And what Eva Fu said was that Janet, instead of using the word concentration, uses the word devotion rather than concentration. And I found that... to be rather interesting as a shift. So the word devotion is, you know, I think of it in certain ways, and I wanted to look it up, so I'll share this with you. To devote yourself to something is to set aside as by vow.

[09:07]

or a solemn act, or to dedicate or consecrate. And it comes from the root that means to vow. So the D-E is completely, and the V-O-V-I-R-E, vovere in Latin, is to vow. So to completely vow is to... And devotion has both positive and negative valences. It can mean ardent attachment or affection as to a person, a cause, a faith. It can also mean loyalty, faithfulness. It also can be... You know, an act of religious, like prayer, like I said in my devotions today.

[10:13]

A devotee, which I think I have those conflated, is someone who's, you know, ardently, fanatically devoted to a religion or a devotee, just really attached. And the synonyms of devotion are love. So to switch the word concentration or to enlarge our understanding of concentration with devotion seemed very, felt very warm and very, for me, that there was a place to explore that would be very helpful, very beneficial. And what came to mind is Grandmother Mind, which is, in Japanese, it's Roshin.

[11:20]

And it's one of the three minds that the head cook is Dogen, our founder in Japan in the 12th century, in the 1200s. speaks about the head cook's three minds, magnanimous mind, daishin, joyful mind, kishin, and roshin, translated sometimes as parental mind or grandmother mind. I think Suzuki Roshi translates it as old woman mind at some place. But this grandmother mind is brought up, this roshin is brought up as a... the mind of a bodhisattva, our practice mind. So thinking about my grandson, who came to visit Green Gulch, coming to a new place, and we, the grandparents, being completely in... He was completely in our care because the parents...

[12:35]

went on a had a an event and so we we would take care care of him completely and green gulch is like a magical place you know the the birds and the gardens and the play structure and then walking down to the beach and it it was he was enjoying himself so much uh when we got to the beach um I had reverberating in my mind stories of children, babies, toddlers being washed out to sea, and then the parent going after them, and the parent being washed out, these terrible tragedies. This is very much in my mind. This is part of my karmic formations, and it was... this vow, really, nothing is going to happen to him. And how do you have a vow like that without it becoming tight and controlling and, no, you can't?

[13:45]

And, you know, sometimes you see people with leashes on their children and yanking them away. And how can it be flowing from this care from from complete devotion to him, which means complete devotion to this moment and these conditions and this day and these waves coming in, but not with some kind of tight, anxious, frightened spirit, because as we know, that comes through, you know, just like osmosis, And then, oh, the beach is a scary place. I don't want to go there. The water is, you know, it comes through without saying anything. So how to completely care for this young being who is so excited about the waves that come and go and never stop and are strong without controlling, without snuffing out his spirit.

[14:57]

without, you know, a disciple of Buddha does not kill, without killing his adventurous, exploratory delight, and without, you know, leaving him just to his own devices, you know, his own activity at the beach. So this is... This is grandmother mind with grandson. And it takes, I found it to be very, very wide. Each wave is different. You can't just assume the next wave is going to be the same as. Each wave is different, just like each moment is different. And... Yet to have that feeling of devoting oneself to each moment rather than, and this is maybe a use of the word concentration.

[16:06]

That's actually not accurate, but sometimes there's a way people turn, the way we can or I can turn concentration into control, pushing away. You know, very, very strict, very mean, very harsh, because we're just concentrating on this right now. So get away. I have things to do. I can't talk to you right now. That can happen sometimes. How do you do it with grandmother mind to say, let's talk later? Or I need some space now or whatever without some kind of. controlling, harsh, pushing. Suzuki Roshi, when talking about the koan, what does the Bodhisattva of great compassion do with so many hands and eyes, talks about concentration, that if you're just concentrated on one hand, what about the 999 other hands of compassion?

[17:17]

What about them? So it's a very wide and very, not a narrow mind, but a wideness which seemed to arise in relation to this wonderful day at the beach with my grandson. So this kind of, you know, in thinking about this, this reminded me of Suzuki Roshi's In Zen Mind Beginner's Mind under the little chapterette called Control. Suzuki Roshi is talking about the difficulty that in an artistic way to do some random dots on a page is very difficult. Some kind of order comes up in placing the dots. And he says, after talking about this, he brings up, it is the same with taking care of your everyday life.

[18:25]

And then he talks about people and control. So this practice of devotion rather than an overly strict kind of concentration. I think the thousand-armed concentration of kanon is devotion, actually. But this narrow control is not what I'm talking about. So Suzuki Roshi says... Even though you try to put people under control, it's impossible. You cannot do it. The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous, which I find delightful. Then they will be in control in the wider sense. To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control them. So it is with people.

[19:29]

First, let them do what they want and watch them. This is the best policy. To ignore them is not good. This is the worst policy. And the second worst policy is to try to control them. The best way is to watch them without trying to control them. So many of you may be familiar with this. give your sheep or cow a wide pasture, and the kind of healing quality of that kind of mind that's loving, devoted, watching, not ignoring, and yet not trying to make something happen a certain way according to the way I want it to be or I think it should be. or I've been told it should be, etc. Each of us have probably experienced a lot of that, I imagine, in our life, in our educational experiences, in our family.

[20:41]

So in our zazen, and I feel like when Suzuki Hiroshi's talking about the pasture, he's not talking about... Well, he's talking a very wide way, and I think we can bring up our zazen practice. To try and control our mind in zazen and make it toe the line and make it be concentrated is filled with, can be filled with very harsh, strict, mean kind of inner voice and inner way, criticizing. So after this, you know, this devotion rather than concentration, I've been practicing just coming into the Zendo with this mind of devotion, devoting myself to...

[21:49]

stepping into the zendo, walking down to the zendo, actually getting up in the morning and getting ready to go to the zendo. Each moment is zazen mind and can come with loving, devoted, as well as ardent. You know, ardent also has this feeling of blood and warmth. walking to the Zendo, listening, feeling the mist. It's been very misty at Green Gulch. Coming in, stepping in, bowing, taking my place, arranging body-mind, and devoted, devoted to this very moment, which is both. co-arising with the entire universe and it's independent and just suchness, the suchness of our life appearing like that.

[23:05]

So this quality of warmth, devotion, love, I would say openness, joy, that quality, if our practice is not suffused with those qualities and it's just grim and harsh and critical and you should be this way or that way or you'll never be any good, this This will not support us, will not support me to thrive and to continue sitting forever and to continue our practice forever. There's some other Zen stories and poems, actually, that have been brought to mind by

[24:16]

this quality of devotion, which is not ignoring, not just letting someone run wild or let the mind run wild. That's not helpful. And yet too strict. You know, it's like the Buddha talking about the musical instrument. If the strings are too... It's not, you'll break a string or it won't sound right. And if the strings are too loosely fixed on the musical instrument, you won't get the sound. It has to be like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You know, it has to be just right. And that middle, what is it? And do we ever... If I didn't say, now I've got it, no, this is an endless practice of devotion. So in thinking about devotion and Suzuki Roshi's pasture image, I was remembering Guishan, the Zen master.

[25:31]

There's two Guishans, actually, which... They were Dharma brothers, and they both practiced under Bai Zhang. Bai Zhang is famous for supposedly creating Zen monastic rules, although we don't have an extant copy of that, and whether it actually existed. But monastic rules, he also is the protagonist in the Wild Fox Koan and the Wild Goose, where he... His nose got pinched, or he pinched the nose of his student. So Guishan, there were two Guishans. One was Guishan Lingyu, who was a tenzo. He was a head cook, and Dogen talks about him. And the other was Guishan Da'an. And both of them talk about this practice of caring for the ox.

[26:35]

Caring for an ox, which is very similar, I think, to this. If your cow, give your cow or sheep, you know, watch them. Or give your grandson, you know, be there right next to him. He will not be washed out to sea because you're right there. But not for a moment do you assume. It's a loving, devoted presence. each moment and joyful. So Guishan Da'an, that Guishan, came to study with Bai Zhang and his first encounter with Bai Zhang, Bai Zhang brings up this ox. So when they first met, Da'an bowed to Bai Zhang and asked This student seeks to know Buddha. How can I do so? And Bai Zhang says, it's like riding the ox, looking for the ox.

[27:46]

Now, we also have the 10 ox-herding pictures. I imagine many of you have studied them or taught them or enjoyed them. And this has... riding the ox. In the ox, I heard pictures at the beginning, he's lost the ox. He's looking for the ox. But in this, when Guishan Dayan says, this student seeks to know Buddha, how can I do so? How can I know Buddha? And Guishan said, it's like riding an ox and looking for an ox at the same time. Right now, right underneath our bottoms, we're riding the ox, you know, right now, even as we look for it. We can't pull ourselves out from the one body of suchness.

[28:52]

But it's... When he says, how can I do it? It's like riding in the ox. So then this Guishan Dayan says, after finding it, then what? It's like riding the ox and arriving home. And then Dayan said, how does one ultimately uphold and sustain this, this practice of being at home and riding, riding each moment, each of the 10,000 things, riding it as ox, riding the ox and looking for the ox and then riding the ox home. And Bai Zhang said, it's like an ox herd who, grasping his staff, watches the ox and so that it doesn't transgress by eating other people's sprouts and grains.

[30:00]

Sprouts and grain. And upon receiving this instruction, Guishan Dayan did not ask anything further. So this description of the ox herd, he's... holding his staff. And the staff, you know, the staff supports us and helps us find our way, you know. And he watches the ox so it doesn't transgress. We are limited beings. We are relative limited beings. And we... Causes and conditions are such that we... Do not stay in alignment with our vows and our precepts. We break precepts. We don't observe precepts. This happens. This is part of our limited life.

[31:02]

This is what we need to, what I need to humbly accept and acknowledge in order, not as an excuse, like, well, I'm just a limited being, so yeah. Of course I do such and such. That's a kind of excuse, but it's more thoroughly seeing, humbly looking at, you know, the limits, the limits of my practice mind and consciousness. So the Aksher, according to Bai Zhang, with his staff, you know, watches the Aksher so it doesn't Transgressed by eating other people's sprouts and grain. No, we don't want to get into our neighbor's garden and take up their parking spot or take more than is given.

[32:05]

But this is not a, there's no once and for all. This is devotion. This is grandmother mind, actually, devotion to every single thing as Buddha Dharma that's come in that form to help us to wake up and to stay and manifest our bodhisattva vow of living for the benefit of all beings. So grandmother mind is each and every thing. is worthy of our devotion. And just as each and everything is, it is thus. So this ox that right from the get-go, Guishan, this Guishan Dayan, when he met with Bai Zhang, heard about the ox.

[33:10]

That already he was ox. He was riding the ox, but somehow looking for the ox. This is like fire boy. There's another koan, the fire boy seeks for fire. This is our awakened nature is responding and seeking for through our affinity with and connection with the Buddhas and ancestors and the teachings. We We practice. We want to practice. We're drawn to practice. And together with others and with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, together we bring forth Dharma. We can't do it by ourselves. However, our true nature is, you know, we're already riding the ox, looking for the ox. It feels like paradox, but it feels like truth. So, his brother, so this is Guishan Dayan's first meeting up with Baishan and getting this practice of caring for the ox with devotion.

[34:27]

And the other Guishan, Guishan Lingyu, Guishan Lingyu was with his disciple Yangshan, They started one of the five houses of Zen, and he was also a student of Bajang. And he was Tenzo, and he lived on Mount Gui. He was chosen to be the abbot of Mount Gui. A person came to Bajang's temple and said, I've just come from Mount Gui, and there's like 500 practitioners there, and they could really use... a good leader, they could use a good abacial presence. And Bai Zhang said, are you asking me to go? And he said, no, no, you're a teacher of the bone, and this is a teacher of the flesh. Somehow this quality of the students that were on Mount Gui needed something a little different.

[35:29]

So... Baishang said, well, I have some students here. And he brought someone out and asked them a question. He said, no, no, that's not the one. And then he brought out the Tenzo, which was Guishan Linyu. And just by seeing him walk in the room, he said, yeah, this is the abbot of Guishan. This is in the Tenzo Kyokun, I believe, this story. And the Shusou, the head student, said, wait a minute, I'm the head student here. How come I'm not being asked to be the abbot of this new temple? And Bai Zhang said, well, okay, I'll do one more test for you. And, you know, so he said in front of the assembly, there was a water pitcher there, and he said, what is that water? name what that is without calling it a water pitcher. And he said something, it's not a wooden bowl or something like that.

[36:36]

And then he asked Guishan, what is it? And Guishan kicked over the water pitcher and walked out. And Baishan said, Guishan's going to be the abbot of Mount Gui. So Guishan was on Mount Gui for many years and taught. And at the end of his life, He said this, after I've passed away, after I've died, this is right near his death, he said this, I shall become a water buffalo at the foot of the mountain. On the left side of the buffalo's chest will be five characters, Gui Shan, Monk Lin Yu, basically his name. but this is on the buffalo. That will be inscribed on the buffalo. At that time, you may call me the monk Guishan, but at the same time, I shall also be the water buffalo.

[37:42]

When you call me water buffalo, I am also the monk Guishan. What is my correct name? This story of... There's something for me in this story of warmth and becoming a water buffalo. I will be a water buffalo. I will take that form. But I'm also the monk Guishan. Meaning to me... We are always our own limited self that has a name. This person is called Guishan Lingyu. This person is called Linda Ritkats. Each one of us has a name. The 10,000 things have names, verbal. And each of the 10,000 things, however, is empty of all characteristics, is Lakshana Shunyata.

[38:53]

the marks are of emptiness, marked by emptiness. And in that marked by emptiness is the Thus Come One, the Tathagata, the water buffalo. The water buffalo and the monk, Guishan, are together, as they've always been. But after he dies, he takes the form of the water buffalo. This fusion of the absolute and the relative, the universal and the partial, the one and the many, is the way our true existence. This is the way we are. This is the way it is. So just to add to this story another layer.

[40:00]

So we have Bai Zhang teaching the first Gui about how to care for this buffalo with love, but not letting it go wild. It'll get hurt. And then Gui Zhang Lingyu saying, when I die, be this water buffalo with this mark on me saying that I'm also just this monk. Then Guishan Dayan died also. And right at the end of his life, he said this, I've been at Mount Gui for 30 years and have been eating Mount Gui's rice. and excreting Mount Gui's excrement. I've not studied Gui Shan Zen, but just see a single water buffalo.

[41:05]

When it wanders off the road and begins grazing, I pull it back. When it trespasses on other people's rice fields, I give it a hit. In this way, I've been taming it for a long time. Such an adorable one. It understands human speech. And now has transformed into a great white ox. All day long it walks around and around in front of us. Even if we try to drive it away, it does not leave. And then he says, 30 years of pursuit in this assembly of Buddha's ancestors is eating rice.

[42:11]

There are no other pursuits. If you actualize this endeavor of eating rice, invariably you will see the buffalo. So we have Bajang's buffalo. Guishan becoming up a flow. The other Guishan basically saying, this is all I've done. That's what Bajang told me when I walked in the door. And that's what I've been doing. And this adorable one, this loving devotion to the practice of caring for each moment. Grandmother mine. And in that practice, one might think, which some of Dogen's disciples did, one in particular, this can't be the real deal.

[43:12]

What do you mean? Just caring for stuff all the time? And there must be more to it. And Dogen basically said, I can't start Dharma transmission with you because you haven't understood grandmother mind. And this grandmother mind, this mind of devotion, and not selecting out what things are worthy of devotion. Everything is worthy of our devotion. The devotion will take different forms. Sometimes it's yanking a kid back from the waves. Maybe it takes that form. Or holding your arms around them so they can feel the wave but know you're there. There's nothing that one can say, oh, it's like this all the time.

[44:14]

It's like this, and it's like this, and it's like this, it's like this. And are we present with this warm devotion? This is concentration. So I've appreciated, in preparing for this talk, I realized this water buffalo image and relationship really was shared and turned over and over. Water buffalo and ox are interchangeable. I think sometimes, I'm not sure if the characters are interchangeable. So... Yeah, even Dogen wrote a poem about this water buffalo. But I think I'll leave that for you to find it in the Ehe Koroko, the book of Dogen's lectures and poetry.

[45:27]

He says he vainly raised a lazy water buffalo. So I don't understand... this poem so well, so I'm not going to share it. I have to devote myself to it a little bit more. So this image of caring, caring for things that are not easy to care for, that don't go along with what we may want them to do, that misunderstand us, that seem to even try to get back at us, or they resent us, or have a very confused understanding of what's going on, very different from ours. All of that is our life together, this bringing forth the Dharma together.

[46:30]

All those difficulties, all those so-called problems can be seen as bodhisattvas, the bodhisattvas of infinite compassion, taking that form to help us to develop, to open, to practice the perfections, to really live out our vows, to live for the benefit of all beings, all beings. So this waking up comes together with practicing together. We don't do it kind of alone. That's why I think our Zen literature is filled with dialogues and the Mahayana filled with questions.

[47:35]

The Mahayana literature, the questions of this one and that one, always asking questions. bringing things up. We can't do this all by herself. We need each other. 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 Dorma.

[48:16]

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