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 evening. My name is Tova Green. I'm a resident here and I'm one of three people co-leading this winter practice period, which is nearly over. This week was our last week of classes and our last practice period tea was today. So my talk tonight will be a little bit of a summary of what we've been studying, the six paramitas or perfections. But first I wonder, is there anyone who's here for the first time tonight? A special welcome to you. And I want to thank Wendy and David who are co-leading the practice period with me and our abbot Ed Sadezan who invited me to do that.

[01:18]

It's a real pleasure to be able to study these teachings deeply enough to be able to share them. So the title of my talk tonight is In Praise of Trees. And when I began thinking about the paramitas, I began thinking about how each one reminded me of a different tree. And as I began... exploring that a little further and I talked to a few people and found out how many people love trees. You know, some people grew up with a special favorite tree or climbed tree houses or as adults hug trees, sit with their backs to trees to get, you know, just the strength of a tree in their body.

[02:18]

And... And in many ways, our lives and the lives of trees are interconnected. Trees release the oxygen that we breathe. They provide shade, shelter for birds and animals. They provide nuts and fruit. We enjoy their beauty and the ways they change with the season. And there's evidence that Trees support and protect one another. Many of them live in communities, forests, as we live in a sangha, live or participate in a community of Zen students. So just to say briefly what the six perfections are, they're qualities that we can nurture.

[03:21]

in ourselves that create more spaciousness and awareness in our lives. And the six qualities are generosity, ethical conduct, patience or steadfastness, energy, meditation or concentration and wisdom. So I'm going to talk about each one of those and relate them to a tree with a poem or a story and weave together some of the teachings about the paramitas with some tree-related forays, you could say. So the first paramita dana paramita or generosity has to do with generosity of spirit as well as generosity with material goods.

[04:29]

And it also, the perfection of this quality of generosity has to do with placing the welfare of others on a par with our own welfare, that is All of these qualities develop in us an awareness of how interconnected we are. And one of the ways of thinking of them is they help us develop the mind of awakening bodhicitta, the mind of the bodhisattva or being who lives for the benefit of other beings, which includes oneself. So... When I thought of that kind of generosity, that abundance of sharing and open giving, I thought of a poem called From Blossoms by a poet named Lee Young Lee.

[05:38]

So I'm going to share that poem with you. From blossoms comes this brown paper bag of peaches we bought from the boy at the bend in the road where we turn toward signs painted peaches. From laden boughs, from hands, from sweet fellowship in the bins comes nectar at the roadside. Succulent peaches we devour, dusty skin and all. comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat. Oh, to take what we love inside, to carry within us an orchard, to eat not only the skin but the shade, not only the sugar but the days, to hold the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into the round jubilance of peach.

[06:46]

There are days we live as if death were nowhere in the background, from joy to joy, from wing to wing, from blossom to blossom, to impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom. So how do we carry within us an orchard? Can we give from that sense of abundance? and interconnectedness. The Buddha said, do not imagine that the gift is one thing, its fruit another, the giver another, and the recipient another. All are interconnected. The tree, the peach, the dust, the one who eats the peach, life and death. They're not separate. So the second paramita, shila, or ethical conduct, sometimes referred to as morality, calls to mind bamboo.

[08:04]

And there's a quality of bamboo that it stands straight and one of the ways I like to think of ethical conduct is the title of Reb Anderson's book, Being Upright. But bamboo is also flexible. And in practicing the precepts, we don't take them as strict rules, but as more as guideposts and develop the compassion to know when it's important not to take a precept literally, not to be judgmental of ourselves or others. but to practice the precepts with kindness. And I think the bamboo embodies that combination. I found a reading of seven qualities of bamboo by someone named Gary Reynolds, and I won't read all of them, but the first one, he says, one of the most impressive things about bamboo in a forest is

[09:10]

is how they sway with even the slightest breeze. Their bodies are hard and firm and yet sway gently in the breeze while their trunks stay rooted firmly in the ground below. And I learned that the Buddha had a very strong connection with bamboo. And there's a story about that in a wonderful book by Thich Nhat Hanh called Old Path, White Cloud. It's his version of the life of the Buddha. And he tells the story of a time when the Buddha was traveling with a large group of monks and came in contact with Kim Bimbasara, who greatly appreciated the Buddha. And the king offered to provide a meal for the Buddha and his monks and brought some of the officials of the kingdom with him when they offered the meal.

[10:22]

And then he asked the Buddha to give some teachings. And what the Buddha taught was the five precepts. So he taught about ethical conduct, basically not killing, not stealing, not... misusing sexuality, not lying, and not using intoxicants. And the Buddha said that observing these precepts was the way to create peace and happiness for one's family and for all of the kingdom. So in gratitude, the king wanted to give the Buddha a gift, and what he gave the Buddha was a very large bamboo forest. It was 100 acres. I'm sorry.

[11:26]

Yes, here it is. When the king offered the Buddha the gift of the forest. He described it as quiet and serene, cool and refreshing, a place where the Buddha could teach and practice the way. And the Buddha reflected for a moment, because it was the first time the Sangha had ever been offered land for a place where they could be, for a monastery or whatever kind of dwelling they might create. And the Buddha realized that the Sangha needed a place to dwell during the rainy season, which was about to start. So the story goes, the Buddha breathed deeply and smiled and accepted the king's generous gift. And when he visited the bamboo forest the next day, the Buddha saw that it was an ideal location for the Sangha.

[12:32]

It had a lake in the middle where they could bathe, and... It was quiet and very beautiful. And then he told the monks, the monsoon season is not a good time for travel. We need a place to study and practice together during the rains. Having a place like this will help the community to return to a common place at the beginning of every rainy season. And that... is the way the tradition of having practice periods began. Because usually the monks traveled individually, but coming together every rainy season and listening to teachings is kind of the predecessor of what we're doing now, this practice period. So the bamboo and forest really had that connection with the Buddha's teaching on the precepts.

[13:33]

So I think that's another way in which the bamboo, with its flexibility and its sturdiness, is a good reminder of this paramita, ethical conduct. And we have some beautiful black bamboo in the courtyard, and actually all three practice places, city center, Tassajara, and Green Gulch have bamboo. So the third paramita, kshanti, patience, forbearance, perseverance, sometimes referred to as tolerance, led me to think of the redwood trees. We're very fortunate to live near Muir Woods in Marin where there's some

[14:35]

very old, very tall redwoods. Some of the coastal redwoods have lived for over a thousand years, and they're among the tallest trees in the world. They've survived fires, storms, and drought. And an old-growth redwood forest like Muir Woods is not only a gathering of trees, but it also houses many a community of plants and animals that are nourished by both the live trees and the dead trees decaying on the forest floor. And some of you may know a poem by Jane Hirschfield. She's a local poet who spent a number of years as a Zen student at Tassajara.

[15:35]

It's simply called Tree. This is it. It is foolish to let a young redwood grow next to a house. Even in this one lifetime you will have to choose that great calm being this clutter of soup pots and books. Already the first branch tips are brushing on the windows. Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life. Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life. So that sense of the redwood, as so well they are fast growing but the quality that they have of enduring through so many years and changes in weather and

[16:58]

is, I find, very inspiring. And this sense that she describes as softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life, I think also points to the sixth paramita, which we'll get to in a little while, of wisdom. That sense of opening up to... our interconnectedness with one another, but also to nature. And I'm going to talk a little bit more about that when I get to the sixth paramita. Well, the fourth paramita, virya, joyful energy, vitality, is, I think, exemplified by the Japanese maple tree in the courtyard. which we live with, right now it's just starting to have corona of light green baby leaves.

[18:05]

And there's a story, I verified this with our former gardener, Marsha Lieberman, because when I first heard this story, I didn't believe it. But the story that I heard, which she said is true, is that this Japanese maple, which is so tall, was originally a bonsai maple. It's hard to believe, isn't it? And the story is that Blanche Hartman, our former abbess and senior Dharma teacher, was given this bonsai maple and took very good care of it. And after a few years, it had outgrown its pot. And someone said, well, why don't you plant it in the courtyard? And she did. And it kept growing and growing and growing and growing. And I think a beautiful example of vitality and the energy that a plant can produce.

[19:15]

And I'm sure it got treated well and watered. And it's become this magnificent tree that produces shade. I think is just a good reminder of the vigor of the tree and how that can inspire us to tune into the life force in nature and the energy that's available to us and can emanate through us. I think this tree can encourage us when we feel tired or despairing. And I've noticed many people touching the tree. We don't have too many. That's probably the largest tree we have at city center. And if you like to hug a tree, that's a good one to hug. So the fifth paramita, jhana, or meditation, led me to think about other trees that played a role in the life of the Buddha.

[20:29]

Most of us know about the Bodhi tree, the tree under which the Buddha sat for a long time, I think it was six days, until he woke up and saw the morning star and realized the truth of impermanence and no self and suffering. reawakenings. But I think less well known is that there's another tree that the Buddha sat under when he was nine years old. It was a rose apple tree. And this story is also in Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Old Cloud, Old Path, White Cloud. The rose apple tree actually is It's a tree native to India and some other Southeast Asian countries.

[21:31]

It has fruit that's like, it's about the size of a guava, but it has a large pit and the fragrance of roses, which maybe that's why it's called a rose apple tree. So there's, in the story, when the Buddha was nine years old, he was the son of, of a king whose mother died when he was still a baby. And then his aunt, a pajapati who became a maha-pajapati, took care of him. And so when he was nine, he and some of his schoolmates were allowed to attend a ritual for the first plowing of the fields. And there were many chants which the young Buddha, Siddhartha, he wasn't the Buddha yet, we'll just call him Siddhartha, didn't find very interesting.

[22:37]

And he wandered off with his friends. And as he watched, the king plowed the first row of the season and then was followed by farmers plowing the fields. And he watched... a water buffalo straining to pull a heavy plow as the plow turned the earth and saw that the farmer was using a whip to encourage the water buffalo to keep going. And he saw that as the earth was turned, there were worms and other small creatures that were being cut up. And then he saw birds come down and eat the worms. And then he saw a larger bird come down and eat one of the smaller birds. And he was very concerned about this.

[23:39]

But also very absorbed in watching it and became very warm and sweaty. And so he... went to the shade of the rose apple tree and sat down cross-legged and just began to sit in a meditative state and to absorb all of the things he had seen which were unfamiliar to him. And he... The story goes, he sat composed and erect for a very long time, oblivious to all the singing, dancing, and picnicking taking place around him. And then his parents passed by, and when he opened his eyes, he talked with them about his concern about all that he had seen.

[24:44]

But this is... thought to be the first time he experienced meditation. And wondering, was there something about that tree that fostered that state of mind in the Buddha that enabled him to sit so still? I know that many people like to meditate outside and sometimes sit under trees. And there's that tradition from the time of the Buddha that we may want to experiment with or enjoy. Just sometimes sitting outside in a park, one can... become mindful of the breath and find that sense of connectedness with the world of nature around us.

[25:54]

So now we're coming to Prajna Paramita, the sixth Paramita, which is wisdom. And... one way of thinking of wisdom is that awareness of interconnectedness, of spaciousness, and that applies not only to our interconnectedness with other people, but can also be about an awareness of how interconnected we are with everything in nature. Sometimes things we think of as inanimate, but really rocks, trees, rivers, They all have life, a life of their own. And can we connect with that? There's a naturalist named Aldo Leopold who wrote Sand Country Almanac. Some of you may be familiar with it. Who said we can think like a mountain.

[27:01]

And he said that we abuse land He worked in national parks. He was very familiar with wilderness. And he said, we abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. So it's kind of turning from what's sometimes called an androcentric, people-centered view of nature. that I think has been fairly prevalent that mankind or humankind can master nature to a different understanding that we are part of nature. And when we begin to experience trees as sentient beings and see ourselves as part of the great web of life,

[28:05]

We naturally want to take care of trees, rivers, and animals as much as we care about other human beings. So there's a practice in Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh's center in France, of doing a tree meditation. And there's a song from... Plum Village that has a few lines I wanted to share. We are all one organism and together we breathe. Breathe in, it's the breath from the trees. Breathe out, exhale, and the trees will breathe. We inter-ar with the trees. When we breathe, they breathe. So I think I... There's some time for questions if anyone would like to ask any questions or comment, perhaps on your own experience with trees.

[29:13]

Vicki? I just wanted to comment on Blanche's statement about that. She marveled because when she put the tree down, it was still in the pot. And the tree's root went through the pot and broke the pot. And when she went to pick it up, There was just pot pieces. She forgot about it for a while, but still. Oh, she hadn't planted it intentionally? She just put it there? Thank you for sharing that. So that's a great example of joyful energy.

[30:15]

Any other comments, questions, any experiences you've had with trees that you would like to share? in the country. My parents couldn't find me and it turned out I was hugging trees and I got lost in the forest. Thank you. Lovely story. Yes? It always amazes me to see trees that grow out of rock.

[31:29]

How can they do that? And be struck by lightning. It's also, I think, an illustration of endurance. Thank you. I saw two hands go up. Simultaneously, why don't you go first, and then Elliot? You were talking about how rivers and rocks and things, and I went to town a couple of weekends ago, and usually town is pretty calm, it's not too windy, but we were caught in the middle of a snowstorm, and I had never seen a lake have so much life to it. It looked like it was a choppy ocean, it was incredible. And I knew my friends stood behind this majestic tree that just kind of shielded us all from the wind because it was coming so harshly and there was a smell everywhere. And I just sat there really appreciating the tree for a moment, so it was reminding me that tree.

[32:30]

Thank you for sharing that, yeah. Sounds like it was quite a memorable, maybe awe-inspiring experience to see that. Thank you. Yes, you had your hand up. beautiful sight there was like a whole community of people under it there was people playing music there were children running about its branches were like so wide and low that people were just sitting in its arms and it was a it was just a really beautiful sight of community which really brought everyone together thank you yeah sounds very joyful also trees offer so much, and yeah.

[33:36]

Christopher. I just remembered something really stupid I used to do. They used to be very tall, pretty, well, when I was little, so they were tall, maybe relatively young pine trees, and every time that there was a hurricane or a big storm in New England, I would run to them and climb up to the very tippy top, and just, like, That's pretty dumb. There's something about the flexibility and the strength that, like now, I think some of the parameters are in that moment. Yeah, I totally forgot I did that. Thank you. Thank you. It reminds me of Robert Robert Frost's poem of being a swinger of birches. If you weren't the only one who liked swinging on trees. Yes.

[34:40]

Yeah, the courtyard is built over the Zendo. Some of you may not know that. I don't remember that magnolia tree, but I must have been here when it was. Lucy? Oh. So it was on the other side from the maple tree. On your side. Is that a hand? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I'm not wearing my glasses, so forgive me if I'm not recognized. Is that Gaia? I'm sorry. Because I don't usually see people hugging trees.

[36:25]

And I really like hugging them. They're very grounding and very open and they have this Yeah, I'm wondering why the embarrassment is just like also like a flavor of slight embarrassment of, oh, I wonder what people are thinking of me. But yeah, that's okay. That's fine. But you know, in Plum Valley, Thich Nhat Hanh actually encourages people to hug trees. So maybe, you know, you're certainly not the only one who hugs trees. And maybe more of us will do that, you know, be encouraged to do that while you're doing that, so thank you. I think, you know, any other comments?

[37:31]

Do you have a favorite tree yourself, or a tree that's been really important for you? I do love that Japanese maple tree. And when I lived at Green Gulch, there was a redwood tree outside my window in Cloud Hall that I loved. I like redwood trees, but I don't live next to one now. But I really love watching that maple tree change over the seasons. And then the small maple trees that we planted in front. I like Japanese maple trees. But, yeah, thank you. Do you have a favorite tree? Yeah, I do. I used to live, as a kid, I lived in Reno. And they have, in Reno, they have a big botanical park or garden called Rancho San Rafael. It's sort of associated with the university. And they have a big section of, like, desert plants.

[38:37]

And one of the trees that they have is a bristlecone pine. It's one of the oldest living tree species. And I had a crystal confine that was my favorite tree. I visited it recently and it's still like this tall. It's going to live like 4,000 years away. It's awesome. Thank you. Thank you all for your and sharing about trees. I'm going to read Jane's poem one last time and then we'll close. It is foolish to let a young redwood grow next to a house. Even in this one lifetime you will have to choose. That great calm being, this clutter of soup pots and books.

[39:38]

Already the first time Branch tips brush at the window. Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life. Thank you very much. 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.

[40:21]

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