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. Thank you very much. When I arrived here, I went to room 10. to change into my ropes. And I looked out the window. I saw this big redwood tree outside the window. And some of the leaves have turned brown. And I thought, oh, the fall is here. I think the fall season has just started. Is that right?

[01:01]

Coming to the farm every time, I am reminded of how nature lives through its cycles. Just a couple of months ago, I was here for a day long, and we walked through the farm. And the vegetables were just very happy. And now I imagine the field is probably getting ready for the harvest. When is the last harvest here? Does anybody know? Do we still have a harvest day, like the last one? October 10th. So that's the time when we collect or harvest everything from the ground.

[02:07]

All right, all right. So this is a very different time of the year. When leaves turn color, some of the leaves here, and return to the earth. Vegetables get collected and the soil get prepared for the next season. Or they get a break and they rest for a while before the next growth season. I also heard there will be a Jukai ceremony this afternoon, and Linda Kat Roshi will officiate.

[03:31]

and give precepts to some of your students, two students. Thank you, and congratulations to those who are receiving Jukai today. Great, thank you. And for those of you who don't know what Jukai means, it's a ceremony when students are given precepts. Well, students take precepts and take refuges. And I think the beginning of the ceremony, in the beginning, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Is that right? after some rituals.

[04:34]

So today I'd like to talk a little bit about taking refuge. I'm sure many teachers here have talked about it and will talk about it. Maybe I'll just touch on like a very small about taking refuge. The Chinese character for taking refuge is gui yi or pie in Japanese. Gui yi. Gui means to return to And Yi means to rely on. So to return to and to rely on something.

[05:43]

When the trees and the vegetables have gone through their growth cycle, they return to the earth. They rely on the earth. Of course, they also rely on the sun and the rain and all the hard work that you do. They always return. They rely on their root. They receive energy, they receive nutrients from their root.

[07:08]

We too go through seasons in our life. go through cycles of beginning something, developing, allowing things to unfold and flourish, to happen, and at some point, maybe they transition into the next phase. We go through seasons of life every year, every day, in our relationship, in our work, in our practice, as we go through these seasons.

[08:18]

in our life. What do we rely on? What do we return to? To receive nourishment, to receive energy and support. The classical formula, as described in the Jukai ceremony, is to take refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. I'd like to share some of the teachings of the sixth ancestor Hui Neng.

[09:35]

Master Hui Neng was the sixth ancestor in Chinese Zen, a prominent figure in the development of Zen in China. His teachings were collected in a small book called the Platform Sutra. And in the Platform Sutra, there are some words that he gave about taking refuge. a chapter called Repentance.

[10:44]

Basically, he goes through what we would go through in the Jukai ceremony, for the most part. But he gives teaching from his point of view. In that chapter, he says, to take refuge in our true nature, to take refuge in awakening, truly is to take refuge in Buddha in the most true sense. to take refuge in our true nature, in our true mind, heart, is to take refuge, to return to, to rely on the Buddha in a true sense.

[12:08]

He goes on saying, our nature is originally pure and all dharmas, all phenomena arise from this nature, from our true nature. Our true nature is like the clear sky, with sun and the moon shining. And in that blue sky, in that clear sky, sometimes clouds float by. Clouds form and dissipate. Yes.

[13:37]

Thank you. So in this clear sky of our true nature, phenomena arise and fall away. due to their causes and conditions. But the sky is always there. In our life, things happen due to our causes and conditions. And these causes and conditions happen within the spaciousness of our true nature.

[14:53]

Perhaps sometimes it's hard to see it when we are all wrapped up. in the fog. How do we stay close? How do we remember that the clouds and the sky is all there together. How do we remember that whatever happens in our life, it's never separate from our pure mind, our true mind.

[16:10]

There's a famous koan that originated from the Platform Sutra where the sixth ancestor asked this person who was chasing after him and they stopped and he asked this person named Hui Ming thinking good, not thinking of good, not thinking of bad, just at this very moment, what is your original phase? What is your original phase? This is a koan that's used in many cases.

[17:30]

if you study koans. What is your original faith? What is your true nature, in other words? Perhaps you have to stop and Be unstuck from your comic ways of thinking and doing things. To be able to see it. Not thinking of good, not thinking of bad, it doesn't necessarily mean that There's no ethical standards in relationships or in the society.

[18:50]

I think it means here that don't get stuck in your view about things. If just for a moment that you can be unstuck from your habitual ways, that very moment, that moment of release, that moment of freedom, perhaps, you'll be able to get in touch with the self that's originally pure, like the clear sky. How do we not get stuck?

[20:17]

Is the sound still okay? Just checking. Maybe we have to check in often. Is this working? I mean, you have to check often. Is this working? If we... are able to see that everything just unfolds. All our life just keeps unfolding. There's no stopping.

[21:21]

The seasons keep changing. Not only there are four seasons in a year, there are four seasons in a day. There are 24 hours, seasons in a day. There are a million moments, seasons in a day. Do we know what's going on? Are we aware? Are we aware what's happening? This nature of change, this nature of everything connected with everything else is what we are.

[22:46]

how things are. As I see leaves turning brown on the trees or falling to the ground, I I'm often reminded of this phrase from Dao De Jing, a classical Taoist teaching. To return to the root is to return to silence. To return to silence is to be alive again. As we go through life, there is a time

[24:20]

to return to the root. No matter how high and how far we get, we always return to the root, just like the leaves falling back to the earth. In our practice, perhaps this root, this place that we return to, is called silence. And the silence is not dead.

[25:29]

There is a lot of life happening in the silence. The silence is the vast space of our awareness. When the leaves fall back, on the earth. The tree is not dead. The tree is preparing for the new growth. When we return to our root, return to silence, return to our awareness, not shield ourselves from what's happening.

[26:34]

We're not shielding ourselves. We're not closing up. We are allowing space, allowing air to flow between these little root system that we draw nutrients, we draw energy from. So to return to the root is to return to silence. To return To silence is to be alive again. To return to the root is to return to our true nature.

[27:53]

From our true nature, 10,000 things flourish. Everything is possible from that place of vastness. So to take refuge in our true nature, to take refuge in our awakening, is to take refuge in the Buddha in true sense. What is your true nature?

[29:18]

What is your original face? How do you see it? What's your practice? How do you get in touch with your root? 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.

[29:58]

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