Good evening. My name is Greg Fang. I'm the Tanto or Head of Practice at Tassajara. I'm really happy giving this talk tonight. I'm really happy to see all of you. I'd like to start by saying that My talk is just to encourage you in your practice. I'd also like to acknowledge and thank my teacher, Sojin Mel Weitzman, Roshi Abbott of Berkeley Zen Center. And the sound system has some funny humming going up. Test. I don't really need it.

[01:05]

Can you hear me, Lydia? Lydia can hear me. I'm good. Thank you. Oh. Like this? This is a kotsu, a teaching stick. I'm going up to San Francisco tomorrow. I'm going to give this to... the tanto at City Center, David Zimmerman, so they can have one to share, like a loner kotsu, like we have on the back of our altar, when someone, like doing morning service, they can carry the kotsu on behalf of the Abbotts of Zen Center. So David asked for one that they could carry in City Center. It came from Tassajara. So Diego made this out of Tassajara Canyon Oak.

[02:11]

It's really beautiful. I've been carrying it for about two weeks now. It's going to be hard to let it go. But I'll manage. I have my own. This was pretty cool. So thank you, Diego. I'd like to also thank everybody who's here for work period. This is an amazing time at Tassajara. It's a favorite time of mine. I love particularly the transition between practice period and work period and then work period to guest season. I'm really happy about the timing of this talk because everybody, many people are here for work period and many continuing monks who left at the end of practice period are back from their vacation.

[03:24]

And then, as I mentioned, tomorrow Linda and I will go up to the city for innumerable meetings. For me, this is really good timing, and I'm grateful. I'm also happy to see some people coming back to us, familiar faces, coming back to share their practice with us. So my heart is very full. I'd like to give a talk about this, about work period and guest season. in my own way, with some amusing stories from ancient China. Hopefully, you'll find them amusing too. So, to begin with, I want to...

[04:28]

bring into the room, highlight, mention a couple of lines of liturgy. One that we chanted in our morning service this morning, and one that we will chant, we will chant in tomorrow's morning service. So this morning, we chanted the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi by our ancestor, Dungsham. Dungshan Liangzhu. That's where we get the Tō in Sōtō, the founder of our school. And then Dungshan lived in the 9th century. He died in the latter part of the 9th century. And then his ancestor, Shū Tō, who wrote the harmony of difference and equality, which we will chant in tomorrow morning service.

[05:39]

His ancestor by, I always have to do this, Sekito Kisen. We say Sekito Kisen in Japanese. So three generations later, three generations in the lineage between Shuto and Dungshan. So this morning we chanted, Ye, with his archer's skill, could hit a target at a hundred paces. But when arrow points meet head on, what has this to do with the power of skill? And then tomorrow morning we chant the harmony of difference and equality. There's a very similar line. Shoto says, phenomena exist. Box and lid fit. Principle responds.

[06:44]

Arrow points meet. So what is this arrow points meeting they both talk about? What do they mean by that? What is this arrow points meeting? Huh? Well... It so happens that this is a story everybody in China at that time would know. It's just a common reference of folklore that they would all get, but I think for us, requires a little explaining. So the story goes something like, there was this famous Arctur in the Warring States period of Chinese history, which is ancient history even by Shurto's standards.

[07:52]

Even then it was ancient history. The Warring States period was from 430 to 221 before the Common Era. So we're talking like same time as ancient Greece. And there was this famous archery master named Fei Wei. Very, very famous. Rock star. Archery rock star. And a younger, ambitious archer named Zhejiang wanted to challenge him. He wanted to compete with him and demonstrate his skill. So he laid in wait for Fei Wei with his bow and arrow. Kind of like a Western movie, you know? I heard you were the fastest gun in the West. I heard you were the fastest bow in the East. Draw, partner. Well, that's what happened, actually.

[08:54]

According to the story, he laid in wait, fey wait, thought he got the jump on him. That way it was too fast for him. And he also wheeled around it. Bam! Midair. They meet. For those of you who are listening to this talk in podcast land, Reverend Greg just did an uncannily accurate miming of... Someone letting loose an arrow. I used to do that. I used to practice not Zen archery. There wasn't anything Zen about it. I just used to practice archery. I loved it.

[09:57]

I had a really sweet laminated walnut and maple left-handed recurve. Left-handed. lot of fun. So I really dig this story. The unlikelihood of it, its total improbability, makes it kind of magical. This image is about the magic which is our life. The image is about meeting our life. If it were If there were, nowadays, you know, like I said, we don't know. I'm sure most of you never heard of these two famous archers before. We'd probably do something like sports, right? Something to do with sports. So instead of saying, ye with his archer skill, we'd probably say, LeBron James sunk a three-pointer from 83 feet.

[11:04]

But when you Do 10 free throws blindfolded. What is that to do with the power of skill, right? Something like that? No? Yes? No? Okay. So what is this meeting? What is this meeting? Philosophically, you could say many people have said. Many commentaries, many commentaries. have been written about the Song of the Jewel, Mirasamadi, and the Harmony of Difference and Equality, these very famous Zen poems that we chant as part of our liturgy, would say it represents the absolute and the relative. Philosophically, these teachers were... very involved in what's called Hua Yen philosophy, based on the Avatamsaka Sutra.

[12:16]

Mutually unhindered interpenetration of all space and time. The absolute and the relative informing each other in mutuality. the harmony of difference and equality. This meeting of the absolute and the relative. But us Zen people are not so interested in philosophy. Philosophy is nice. Nothing against it. But mostly in the Zen school, we talk about practice. In fact, we mostly... We don't talk about it. We just do it. Mostly. Just practice. This is kind of. Dharma talk. Teacher gets up there. Talk talk talk. But. When my talk is done.

[13:22]

Forget about it. Do the practice. Do the practice. So. I'm more interested in. How. We meet our life. How. How. the absolute and relative inform each other in our daily activity. Master Tungshan said, between aspiration, practice, enlightenment and nirvana, there's not a moment's gap. Continuous practice makes the circle of the way. Continuous practice is nothing other than our daily activity. Work period, guest season, you name it.

[14:27]

Our daily activity. Zen is a religion of action. About what we do. And how we do. Between. The sense. Organ. The sense reception. The object of sense. No gap. Complete engagement. Complete integration. Fully doing what you're doing. It starts on the cushion. Stay present for whatever arises. Just stay with it. Stay with your posture. Stay with your breathing. Stay with this moment. This moment. There's no other practice outside of this moment.

[15:30]

I was telling John Farner earlier today, I had to think of how to talk for half an hour about your practices, not elsewhere. Oh dear. No problem. My teacher, Sojan Roshi, always says, just take very good care of whatever's in front of you. Master Dogen said, doing one practice is practicing completely. So whether it's plumbing or weeding or pouring coffee for a guest,

[16:38]

chopping two gallons of medium chopped onions, taking care of a newborn baby, having a difficult conversation, hiking in the mountains, sitting on your cushion. Just do that. Just take very good care of whatever is in front of you. Doing one practice is practicing completely. In Japanese, they say, That's the calligraphy that's on the altar in the kitchen. It means, well, it's translated variously, but you could say, Taking very good care of the details of life.

[17:44]

Paying attention to the details. Really taking care of what's happening now. Intimately. Mitsu. Menmitsu. The mitsu means intimacy. Intimate attention to what's going on. Intimate involvement in what you're doing. It's our practice. It's not elsewhere. The meeting of the absolute and the relative is what we call the middle way.

[18:56]

Holding up both sides, integrating that in our practice is what we call practicing the middle way. So I said in Workshable, when Linda and I come back, On the 21st, with any luck, we'll be bringing sewing teacher Allison Tate back with us. And she's going to join us for a few days. And hopefully anybody who's got a sewing project going, sewing Buddha's robe, will have something for Allison to help them with. This is a practice that I really love. Since I... sewed the one I'm wearing about five years ago. I kind of haven't stopped. I sewed another ocasa for my bride, director Linda Galleon, which, by the way, did I mention?

[20:09]

This is our wedding anniversary. And then, with Allison's help, just finished sewing an ocasa for Leslie. She knows. It's no secret. In fact, she's tried it on. Dang, it looks good. And so Allison is going to help me give it to Leslie, I believe, on the 25th. So that will make me very happy. Allison, I would like She did most of the work. All the stuff that I'm no good at. The measuring and the cutting. Linda and some other people did a lot of penny too. Allison, I feel like it's like 50-50 mostly between me and Allison.

[21:12]

I did all the stitching because I really like it. I just really like that practice. You know, every stitch, hand stitch. How many stitches, Alex? Do you know? I've heard 44,000. Jeepers! I think Leslie's is less because she's a small woman. I'm thinking less, but still, that's a lot of stitches. Every stitch, this practice of ours, we take refuge in Buddha. With each stitch, Namu Kye Butsu. It takes, well... It takes me about a year at least to sew an ocasa. Some of us can sew an ocasa in less time than that. But I just like to sew for its own sake. And then eventually, voila, there's an ocasa. Well, kind of, it takes so long.

[22:15]

And I think that's the wonderful thing about... us sewing our own rakasus and ocasas, because the very practice of doing it is taking refuge in Buddha. It's hard to have a goal-oriented Maya. It's just stitch after stitch. So, two more. I have two more amusing stories from ancient China. The first concerns Dengshan, person who wrote the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, and his spiritual uncle, Shengshan, spiritual uncle Mi, it's sometimes called, was mending, sewing, possibly sewing Buddha's rope. And Dongshan said, what are you doing? He said, I'm mending.

[23:16]

How is it when you're mending? And Shengshan says, well, one stitch is much the same as the next. Dengshan says, what? We've been traveling together for 20 years and that's all you can say? So Shengshan says, well, what about you? What do you say? And Dengshan says, with each stitch, the world bursts into flames. Whoa. dramatic but you know that's the meaty that's the arrow points meaty both are true actually one stitch is pretty much the same as the next I can vouch for that and also each stitch is a complete experience each breath is

[24:19]

is a complete experience. Each moment of your life is a complete experience. Contains the entire universe. It contains birth and death. So you might as well say, the world bursts into flames. This is it. Doing one practice is practicing completely. paying attention to what you're doing. Completely involved in this moment is AeroPoint's meeting. Totally improbable. Miraculous. Right. That's right. It's miraculous. So...

[25:22]

My other amusing story from ancient China also concerns a Tang Dynasty teacher who was, well, anyway, contemporary, same time as Dongshan in the 9th century. His name was Wu Zhao, and he practiced on Mount Wutai. Mount Wutai was famous for being a pilgrimage place for people who venerated the Bodhisattva Manjushri. It was said that devout Buddhist monks, even came from as far away as India, came to China, to Mount Wutai, to venerate the Bodhisattva Manjushri. That's the person on the altar who's got the scary-looking sword. Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom.

[26:29]

Wu Chao was Tenzo. That's the head cook. That's Kujaku's practice position here in Tassajara. He was Tenzo on this mountain. And he was cooking a big pot of rice. And an image... of Manjushri came to him. Big spiritual experience. His vision of Manjushri Bodhisattva appeared above his pot of rice and he picked up the rice and went, get out of here! Bam! Bam! Made it go away. Because he was the Tenzo. He had rice to cook. He didn't have time for spiritual experience, he was cooking rice. He had to take care of the temple. Later, he told the abbot what had happened.

[27:36]

That's a good thing. If you're cooking rice and you have a vision of Manjushri Bodhisattva, please come and tell a practice leader. And what Wuchal said to the abbot was, I don't care if it had been Shakyamuni Buddha himself, he still would have got the same treatment. So the point of that story, besides being pretty amusing, is our practice is to take care of what's in front of us. Our practice is to be involved completely and intimately. in our activity. Whatever you're doing, do it completely. Don't be led astray. Don't be fooled. Don't be seduced by some vision of spirituality, some story about practice.

[28:54]

Just do the practice. Just do the practice. Just do it completely. That's my best advice for all of you wonderful people visiting and helping us take care of Tassajara. I thank you so much. Beautiful work period people and students continuing monks Just let Tassahara work on you. As you work in and with Tassahara, let Tassahara work on you. We make this community. We make this practice. As Alex said in the meeting we had at the end of the practice period, going into guest season, the meeting with the continuing monks,

[29:59]

Alex said very eloquently, the Tassajara we want to see is the Tassajara we get to make. Or anyway, words to that effect. That's what I heard. We make the practice. The practice we want to do, that's the practice we get to make together as a community. So I thank you for your attention. Somebody has a question or two? Please. I thought I made it clear. He was busy cooking rice. It was distracting. Yeah, he was distracted. I think that's the point of the story. The vision of Manjushri was distracting him, so he picked up his rice ladle and hit it.

[31:01]

Made it go away. He had rice to cook. He had rice to cook. He didn't have time for Mount Jushri right then. The mugs have to eat. That's easy. What's happening now? Pay attention to what's happening now. The monks have to eat. We're not going to all starve to death because we're too busy having a spiritual experience. No. Thank you.

[32:50]

Thank you. Thank you. That's a great question. When error points mean head-on, what has this to do with the power of skill? Actually, The more you try to control it, the more you'll miss. It has nothing to do with... I mean, you could say it has something to do with power of skill because, of course, we practice. Of course, we're not just sitting on our cushions, you know, zoning out. We're not just going into a ground study, I hope, or daydreaming. So we come back, come back to your good posture, come back to your breathing. Pay attention to cooking rice when it's time to cook rice. Meet each moment completely. That's very different from trying to control it.

[33:51]

It's very different from trying to control your experience. If you're trying to control your experience, you're not meeting it. The man said, to carry yourself forward and experience myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and experience themselves is awakening. So, thank you. That's the spirit. That's the spirit in which you do it. It does not have to do with the power of skill. It's a letting go. It's an allowing. Aiken Roshi said, Robert Aiken, that is, said, enlightenment is an accident, but we can make ourselves accident prone.

[35:01]

This is a... my best advice is don't worry about it. In fact, play with it. Play with your problems. Play with your big questions and your big answers and enjoy your practice. Oh, yeah. Do you realize, what does the calligraphy say now? The family wind is relaxed and simple. The family wind Family win is relaxed and simple. Nice. Very nice. Same characters. Ka-Fu. House-Wend. Our family way. Please. you know, for the sake of the monster at the present moment, it's the rights, you know, you're standing for it.

[36:15]

So you decide. I think it was just, in my story, in my version of that amusing Chinese story, it was just total response on the moment. This AeroPoints meeting, this no separation. If there's some cogitating and figuring out, well, that's okay, too. But in my movie, it was just an immediate response. No deciding. Just taking care. Just taking care.

[37:16]

Please. Aspiration is what brought us here. Aspiration is what keeps us coming back. It's a very important place. Aspiration takes us out of the present moment? No. Why? In the present moment? No. If you are caught by your idea of what you're aspiring to, I think that's something extra. Not necessary. Aspiration, in and of itself, is decent, sensible.

[38:38]

It helps us to stay connected. Do you understand? Just the power of thou on its own. We bring that we, again, I would say, allow that power into our lives. We make more room for that power in our lives. It's not about thinking or having an elaborate life plan.

[39:42]

It's simply connecting to the power of vow. I think that's why I appreciate that Our bodhisattva vows are so ridiculous. We don't get hung up thinking about them too much. They're just like... Okay, save all beings. We just chant it. We're going to chant it in... We're going to chant it five minutes ago. We're going to end, people. I'm sorry. I humbly beg your pardon. Yeah. I'm sorry. That was the last question. We've got to go. I thank you all for your attention. Exactly. We have to sleep now. The monks have to sleep. That's what's happening now. Thank you all very much for your attention. Please enjoy your practice.

[40:46]

Please enjoy your time at Tassajara. Please let the practice at Tassajara work on you as you work in and with this community. Thank you very much. Good night.

[40:58]

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