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. I see some new faces this morning. Is there anybody here for the first time? Welcome. Welcome. You've come on a special day. This morning we celebrated Buddha's enlightenment with a ceremony. And also this is the seventh day of a seven-day sashin here at Beginner's Mind Temple. So it's interesting. I've been having a lecture every morning here for seven days with a group of you, maybe half of you. Now I have a whole new half-other group joining.

[01:03]

So welcome to the Rohatsu Sashin. Rohatsu literally means eighth day of the twelfth month, and it's the day that traditionally celebrates Buddha's enlightenment. I mean, we obviously don't know what date Buddha was enlightened since that happened 2,500 years ago, and we don't even know within... 50 years exactly when he was born, so I doubt if we know the exact date in which he was enlightened, but anyway, we have established December 8th as that date, and it was very fortunate that this year we always have to start our sashins on Saturday night and ending them on Saturday, that the Saturday we ended up actually aligned with December 8th, because it's traditional to sit for seven days prior to Buddha's Enlightenment Day as a kind of recreation and honoring that practice of sitting that was what led to his enlightenment. This morning, in the morning echo, that's the little something that we say at the end of our chanting.

[02:10]

On this winter morning many centuries ago, after long and patient struggle to find the truth, a human being looked up and saw the morning star for the first time and was set completely free, laying down his heavy burden once and for all. Realizing unsurpassable peace, heart opened wide as the sky, and from his mouth came forth a great lion's roar. I was, am, and will be fully awakened simultaneously with the entire universe. Thank you. Another translation that we use in our Zen circles is, when Buddha attained enlightenment under the bow tree, he said, it is wonderful to see Buddha nature in everything and each individual. Realized unsurpassed peace, heart opened wide as the sky. And as I was offering, I looked at this statue, which I do every time I offer, and it's such a beautiful kind of embodiment.

[03:16]

of that sense of peace and calm and heart-open, kind of a symbol of this enlightenment that Buddha experienced. And isn't it kind of wonderfully encouraging to hear such a thing, to see Buddha nature in everything and each individual? That means each of us, me, you, we all have Buddha nature in us. something very special about our life. I mean, we know that, right? We know that life is this incredible mystery, this phenomenal gift, this, well, we poets have been writing about it for centuries. There's no way to describe what it means to live a life. Yet we're so busy most of the time with our problems that it never occurs to us that actually what we're living is something completely remarkable beyond the kin of even

[04:21]

our greatest poets. And yet, every day, every moment, we are actually living this phenomenal thing of being a human being with oceans and mountains and stars and moons and galaxies and beyond anything any mind can imagine. Anyway, it's traditional on such a morning to recount the story of Buddha's enlightenment, which I am not going to do this morning, because you all know the story of Buddha's enlightenment, right? It's a pretty common, pretty well-known story. It's a story of a man, an ordinary human being, who, in spite of the fact that he was born into great privilege... saw the suffering of the world and said, I would like to understand how to help people that suffer and what's going on with my own suffering, and set out to find a solution on a pilgrimage.

[05:27]

And since he was in India, and at that time they had very many advanced meditation techniques, he tried them all and apparently was an exceptionally good student and was always, every teacher he met, the teacher said, oh, please become my teacher. But Buddha never really found exactly what he wanted with that. And then he even tried asceticism, which was also popular in India at that time. He practically starved himself to death. There are statues with Buddha being so emaciated you can see his back bones through his stomach. Every bone in his body is exposed. He almost died. But then he decided that that didn't work either. And so he eventually found a middle way between sensual indulgence and severe sense. Sitting under a tree, he woke up, liberated. Facing his demons, his mental demons, he managed to see through his mind and wake up.

[06:30]

And then spent 49 years wandering around India teaching. So... What I want to talk about today is sort of how that concept of enlightenment actually has unfolded over a period of time and come to us here in America. In India, the word Tathagata Garbha was more commonly used than Buddha nature and Garbha means womb or embryo. So Tathagata Garbha can be translated as the womb of Buddha. So Tathagata Garbha refers to the teaching that each living being, each of us, is a womb containing the embryo of a Buddha. And if we cared for it, it will grow into a Buddha. So just like when you were a child, you grew up to be an adult. Or we hope we've grown up to be an adult. Maybe we'll have some more maturing in that area to do. But anyway, in the same sense, we each have an embryo of a Buddha inside of us that can grow to be a full-size Buddha.

[07:37]

So... Buddha-nature is sort of a synonym for Tathagatagarbha, which was first used in a Mahayana Sutra called the Mahaparinirvana Sutra. And the most famous statement in that sutra regarding Buddha-nature is, all living beings without exception have Buddha-nature. And that term became the popular replacement for Tathagatagarbha in China. So in China, originally Buddha-nature was defined as the hidden dormant potential to become a Buddha in all of us, assuming that if we practiced hard, we could become a Buddha. And Buddha nature theory became the basis for a teaching of many Chinese Buddha schools through the influence of the work Awakening the Faith and Mahayana. And the text states that the mind-heart has two aspects. The absolute, you know, we're Buddha, suchness,

[08:42]

emptiness, and the relative, the phenomenon. And these two aspects are mutually inclusive, totally inter-penetrating. So we are both, sort of according to this theory, Buddha, connected to everything, oneness, and living a very separate relative life. One of the common metaphors for this is water and waves. The absolute is like the water, and beings living in our relative world are like the waves, and the waves are caused by our ignorance, our delusion, our greed, our hatred. But since the waves are made up of water, the waves themselves, the relative world, is actually interpenetrated with the absolute or emptiness. So in terms of an absolute Buddha, all living beings, all of us, are fundamentally Buddha being enlightened from the beginning.

[09:47]

This aspect of reality is called original enlightenment, and in Japanese it was referred to as hongaku. At this stage, Buddha nature no longer was the potential to become a Buddha, but our Buddha nature was completely interpenetrated with all of our existence. It was no longer a case where we have a Buddha embryo inside us and if we practice hard we can become Buddha. No, everything, Buddha nature is interpenetrated with every aspect of our life. Even though we can't see, feel or experience it, it surrounds and illuminates our life. Every aspect of our life is an expression of it. You've heard the term, we are perfect just as we are. That sense that there's a great perfection in this moment and we're part of this moment of reality. It's perfect just as it is.

[10:49]

We're perfect just as we are. Of course, Suzuki Roshiri was famous for saying, you are perfect just as you are and you could use a little improvement. There's a trouble with... This course raises the question, if we're perfect just as we are, why do we have to practice if we're already enlightened? If we already have the Buddha nature that the Buddha said we had 2,500 years ago, why do we have to practice? Why don't we just sort of go about our day doing whatever we're doing? Because practicing is not easy. Sitting a seven-day sashin that we've just done involves a lot of commitment, a lot of effort, and a lot of courage. So if you already are enlightened, why would you bother with this? So the key to the answer to this is two aspects of the mind-heart, the absolute and the relative. The absolute, our oneness with everything, and the relative, that which we can see and do, the dualistic world we know, what all our senses report to us.

[12:01]

Our senses tell us there's the other out there. I look out of my eyes and I hear with my ears and see that you're out there. And I'm in here. And because of that, that separation between us, I feel kind of alone over here and maybe I'm not sure what you're doing. So I start to decide I'm going to manipulate and organize the other out there to get what I need to take care of my life. and then sometimes I don't get what I need, and so I get frustrated and angry, and sometimes the world is not cooperating, and so I get greedy or angry or deluded. We call them the three poisons. And this comes from that setup, that the world that we know, the relative world we operate in all the time, involves this fundamental me and the other. And yet, Buddha has said that at the same time, that I'm experiencing all of that, I'm actually completely one with everything.

[13:10]

And that connection with everything is my Buddha nature. So at some level, we understand that. We understand both sides. At some level, we have felt in our life at some time our deep connection to everything. Maybe it's walking in the woods, a feeling of connection with nature. Maybe it's another human being, some sort of deep sense of how connected you are. We feel that connection. And out of that connection, we feel that deep desire to be kind and to love. We feel in some sense that's the deepest nature of ours, that kindness and love coming out of that connection. So we can understand, well, maybe we do have Buddha nature. We can feel that. On the other hand, it's totally obvious to us how often we betray that desire to be kind by our stupidity, our greed, and our anger that comes up.

[14:20]

We've all had those experiences. So we have this dilemma between our two intertwined aspects of our life and reality. So this was a fundamental dilemma that Dogen, who was the founder of Soto Zen, born in 1200 in Kyoto, Japan, into the imperial family, wanted to solve. And he did a similar pilgrimage to Buddha because this is very much part of our heritage. It's actually part of our life. I think everybody, in some sense, is on a pilgrimage. searching for what to do about suffering, either your own suffering or the suffering of the world. Part of you is in a search. I think it's actually part of the human condition to look deeply into your life and say, what is the meaning of it?

[15:27]

How can I create less suffering how can I be more helpful to the world? Is the life I'm leading some kind of life that does that? I think that's part of what really inspires a great human life, that sense of search. Well, Dogen sent off on it and eventually, at that time, he was ordained a priest and he studied in the Tendai religion, which was dominant in Kyoto at that time. the Tendain religion had a very strong component of this Buddha nature side. And just to make a slight comment, if you switch too far over into everything's perfect and I'm perfect, there's a shadow to that. You can start thinking that everything you do is okay, whatever conduct you have is part of your Buddha nature. You can rationalize bad ethical conduct and you can actually rationalize extreme violence. And this...

[16:29]

showed up in the Japanese culture through a kind of collusion between the Buddhist tradition and the samurai tradition, which sort of had its worst example during the insanity of World War II, where the Buddhist religion aligned with the imperial forces. And there's a wonderful book on that written called Zen at War, laying out the complicity between Buddhist... a lot of the Buddhist leaders and the war. And there was actually an apology written by the Soto Zen sect for its past participation in that war. Anyway, there was also that kind of violence in the Japan of the 12th century too. The Tendai monks had armies and they fought between each other. And so this was part of all the backdrop that sent Dogen to China to find out what what is the real practice of Buddhism and how to set up this proper balance between I'm already enlightened and answer the question of why he should practice.

[17:38]

And he found his answer in China, fortunately for us, and brought it back and wrote the Genjo Koan, which has been the theme and study of our 10-week practice period. A beautiful essay which lays out the many different ways to solve this problem of, if I'm totally enlightened, why should I practice? And even the more important question, I think he pretty well laid out why we should practice, and there's a koan that is the structure of the essay that I'm going to do at the end of my talk that lays out sort of his answer why we should practice, but I wanted to get to the core of it. Even if you know that you should practice in this, you should actually act out your enlightenment, you should do something in the relative world to express your deepest heart's intention, how do you do it?

[18:50]

How is it done? And the secret to Dogen's message is The answer lies right here in the present moment. And right here by, I mean, in this place, in this present moment. If you practice here, then you'll be okay. Just pay attention to how you're practicing in the present moment. I mean, in some sense it's obvious. How could it be anywhere else? There is no other thing but the present moment. That's all we have. Everything else is a figment of our imagination, some past that we have restructured in our mind in some way, some future we're imagining. But the present moment, that is what's here. And the only place that we're at is here. So obviously, in some sense, of course, the answer is here. And if that's the case, the question then becomes, well, what do you do?

[19:53]

If the present moment is where you practice, and that's Most important, how do you commit wholeheartedly to your life in every moment? This is it. This is where it's happening. Suzuki Roshi talks about it like complete combustion in the moment. Burn like a bonfire and leave only the ash in the moment. Leaving no trace. The problem is, of course... Each moment we get kind of caught up in what's happening, and it sort of sticks to us. And the trouble is that the fundamental nature of things is everything's changing. Everything's moving along. And so whatever moment you got caught up in, either through the fact that you got too attached to, oh, I really want more of that experience, but it's already changed. Life underneath you has changed, and you're trying to create that. experienced in the next moment, which you can't because you can't recreate it.

[20:59]

Or you got angry at somebody in the last moment and you're carrying that anger into the future moments. It doesn't leave you free to interact with a new situation that's in front of you. So that becomes the question, if each moment and how you act in each moment is the key to expressing your enlightened mind, then how do you do it? How do you go into each moment fresh with a beginner's mind, as Suzuki Roshi would say? So, just to use a few words from the Ganjo Kon, which we studied, Dogen says, when you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs actualizing the fundamental point. The place, the way, has not carried forward over from the past.

[22:09]

Accordingly in the practice enlightenment of the Buddha way, meaning one thing is mastering it, doing one practice is practicing completely. So that's why one of the practices in Zen is in this present moment, Concentrate on what you're doing. Bring yourself completely into the activity of your current moment. Plunge your whole life into this moment. Commit to this moment. Stand up in this moment. Part of what we do when we sit for seven days is we stand there and say, sit, we don't stand, we sit. Sit upright. Sometimes we stand. Sometimes we walk. Sometimes we sleep. But the idea is that in all those moments, we are being upright in our life. Whatever we're experiencing is okay. Whatever we're experiencing, we're accepting. This idea that every moment is filled with Buddha nature means that even the moments when you're angry or sad or grieving or anything else,

[23:20]

In that moment, you have to practice. You don't wait until you get better to practice because you're always going to be having problems. You practice, Sikrusha would say, you practice, you ground your practice in your delusion. You ground your practice in your suffering. Right now is where you start to practice. Here is the place. Here the way unfolds. If you're practicing in this moment, the way forward lies right there. The way unfolds, like the path for your life unfolds through the practice, through the commitment to practicing in this moment. In the Genjo Kahn, Dogen has these beautifully poetic lines that sort of are a metaphor for this enlightenment flowing through us.

[24:35]

One of them is, although the moon is a vast and great light, the moon being enlightenment, is a vast and great light, it is reflected in a drop of dew on a blade of grass. Enlightenment is reflected on a drop of dew. in a blade of grass. And you're the drop of dew. You're the small person whose moonlight, whose enlightenment is completely reflected in your life. Another sort of poem that's similar to that and expresses the impermanence of life. To what shall I liken the world? Moonlight reflected in dew drops shaken from a crane's bill. So on the one hand, to what shall I liken the world? Moonlight, enlightenment reflected in the dew drops shaken from a crane's bill, where little dew drops shaken from a crane's bill.

[25:41]

And how quickly our life passes. How long does a drop shaken from a crane's bill last? Not so long. How quickly it goes. And I'll just give you one other phrase that's famous from the Genjo Koan to sort of the structure of how we approach this problem of how to live in each moment. To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be awakened by myriad things. We spent three 45-minute lectures on those three sentences. So basically saying... to study the Buddha way is to study yourself, your biggest self, your total experience of the world, and then to let your self-concern, which is the dominant feature of our thinking and mind, go, to forget it, to forget that, to imagine, to live in the world without taking care of all your personal self-concerns.

[26:58]

And when you forget that, your self-concern, then your entire life is awakened by your connection to all things. You come alive through the Buddha nature in you, your connection to everything, and your action flows from a deeper connected place than the relative busy trying to manipulate the world. So I'm going to quickly go to the... Koan at the end of the Genjo Koan, which is where Dogen picked this koan. Koans are these famous stories that come from masters' interactions in the past. And this particular master, Bao Che, of Mount Mayu, because that's where he was teaching, he was a very famous Zen master in the 9th century China. And he was fanning himself.

[28:00]

And a monk approached and said, Master, the nature of wind is permanent, and there is no place it does not reach. Why then do you fan yourself? And the master said, Although you understand that the nature of wind is permanent, you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere. And the monk says, What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere? And the master kept fanning himself. And then the monk bowed deeply for having had this great teaching. So just to deconstruct it slightly for us all. The nature of the monk, so first of all, this teacher was chosen by Dogen because he was a preeminent teacher and he was a teacher that was very famous even before the five schools of Zen broke up in China. So he represented the sort of the broad sense of Zen Buddhism. Anyway, when the monk says, Master, the nature of wind is permanent, well, the wind is a metaphor for Buddha nature.

[29:09]

He's saying, since Buddha nature is everywhere in all of us, no place it doesn't reach, why do we have to practice? This was the question I brought up earlier in our lecture. And the master said, well, although you understand that Buddha nature is everywhere, I don't think you really do understand its meaning of it reaching everywhere. I think actually when he said, although you understand the nature of wind is permanent, I think what he is basically being very plain, say, I don't think you understand this issue of Buddha nature. And the monk says, well, then what is it? How do I actualize the Buddha nature in me? And the master just kept fanning himself. So it's quite common in these things to say, I can't explain to you why you have to express your Buddha nature.

[30:22]

I mean, I could write a lot of words about it. I could give a long lecture about it. I'm just going to demonstrate through the life I lead that acting out of your Buddha nature, acting out of a sense of connection with the world acting out a sense of openness, acting out of a sense of kindness and wisdom, that's the right way to live, and I'm going to express that by waving my fan with you, being with you here in this moment. A demonstration of something that cannot be talked about, cannot be described, cannot be even understood by the mind. And as is the case with most of these koans, there's a question when the monk bowed whether he really got it or not. But in this case, the general assumption is that he did get it. And he said, well, I understand now, so I too will demonstrate, not say something, but demonstrate my understanding of that connection by bowing to you, acknowledging my connection to you,

[31:35]

And my bowing is such a beautiful way to express some connection to somebody. So, life is sacred. Life is perfect. That is our birthright. Being a living being is doing something. Part of our birthright is also to act. There is no way to be a human being without acting out our life. There is an effort we have to make. Everything has a role and a play of enactment. This is Dogen's practice. It's not something extra special. It's the natural expression of our Buddha nature. It requires something of us. It cannot be activated without our effort. When you fan yourself, you are not producing the wind.

[32:38]

The wind is already there. The air is there. But without your moving it around, it doesn't influence anything. It won't cool you if you don't fan. And it won't appease your desire to be your best self unless you act from your Buddha nature unless you express that deepest connection you have with all things. And we have some responsibility to do something. Our life has a great virtue and power. And the world has a lot of suffering. And we have a lot of suffering. And by acting from this place, from a place of Buddha's enlightenment, we can make a difference both in our own life and in the life of all those around us we love, which is hopefully everything.

[33:54]

Anyway, in the last few minutes I thought I would give a quick summary of what to do after you leave the sashin for those of you who are in the sashin, and also it might be a recommendation for those who would like to take up a way of practice. I think the key when you're living a busy life outside in the world to keep your practice alive is to sit a little every day, to take this Genjo Koan teaching of each moment practice. Practice isn't something you do once a week for 30 minutes. Practice is something you do every moment of your life. Mindfulness of your daily activity, your moral conduct. Three, meet if you can once a week with a group of fellow practitioners so that you don't get too discouraged because life is difficult. It's not an easy thing to carry this practice on and you'll be encouraged by meeting with a group. And if you can take the time, spend a week or so, once a year, intensifying your practice, getting back in touch with the quality of your zazen practice, which is the core of our practice.

[35:11]

And of course it would be good if you had a teacher that you could talk with from time to time about what your practice is so you get some personal guidance. With that, I think you can carry on your practice and it can illuminate the everyday human life that you live. And I think I'll end with just a slight variation of Dogen's last line, which is, May the wind of the Buddha's house bring forth the gold of your world and make fragrant the cream of the stream of 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 free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click giving.

[36:18]

May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[36:21]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_97.0