This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening. It's quite challenging to do this after a long break, you know. So with the roles and planning and, you know, all of this, it is, my heart is healing. I think there's an experience of those people that... Thank you all for bringing in. My name is Shindo. Sorry. I have been practicing at San Jose School Zen Center for 19 years now.

[01:07]

I came in 2005. At that time, he visited me. So he invited me to Tassajara for practice. And that's how this person landed here in this community. only late from India. Since then, I practiced at all the three centers of Ustahara in the city center. And I go back and forth to India. Right now, I'm here bringing the India Sangha. bringing, I wouldn't say, India Sangha, because most of the people are from different countries.

[02:09]

It's one world, Sangha. So I'm bringing a Sangha to the Sangha Week. That's why I'm here today. It's so wonderful to be with you all this evening. So firstly, I'd like to express my gratitude to the leadership of Tamsahaya when inviting me, inviting Sandra here. And also my deep gratitude to Reverend Heather Peruso for her warm-hearted welcome. And I would like to welcome for her invitation to give the Dharma talk today. And my deep gratitude to my Dharma brothers and sisters who have accompanied me as the Sangha today.

[03:15]

And my deep gratitude to the students who are each and every one of these students who have been diligently putting their efforts in this valley and in this because of your presence and your hard work that this place is sustained. Thank you so much. And my great, deep gratitude to the benefactors and supporters of the Sydney Centre. And my deep gratitude to all the guests, each and every one of you, for supporting Tassahana, Sydney's schools and Sydney Centre. So, And I bow to the lineage of all my teachers, both in the East and West, for their priciest teachings that I've been asked to upon each one of us here. And so today, as I sit here,

[04:29]

I can see change, change in many ways. This is a time of change all over the world, as we all know. And change in many ways, there are global power shifts, the governments changing, heads of nations changing, rising tensions between nations. regression in terms of humanitarian and fundamental rights. And 2024, apparently, we'll see elections in scientific countries. So it's a time of a stress test for democratic systems all over the world. So in the midst of all this change, zooming in to this valley, the San Francisco Zen Center, Again, there is a transitional phase, huge transitional phase that I can see happening here.

[05:36]

There's a whole huge chunk of elders moved to the Enzo village, which is a senior assisted living in Hillsborough. And there has been an ambitial shift with the elders stepping down and Meanwhile, it's taking over. And there's a huge renovation project that's happening at city center. And so there's a lot of shift. And in the midst of all this shift, there was also the passing on of our dear, dear friend, Caroline Meister, in this valley. So... many spoken and unspoken changes have happened and is happening. So the Buddha's teaching that all phenomena are impermanent transient and subject to change seems to very strongly stand out at this time.

[06:50]

He knows somehow how much time go ahead. If you will let me know, five minutes. Thank you. I'm not good at keeping time. So, I just want to read a small passage of Dogin Zenji. Dogin Zenji is the 13th century Zen master. He's the founder of the Soto Zen lineage, the lineage that this community here, this monastery here, follows. So this particular verse is from his text called Uji, which is the heart of Shobo Genzo. Shobo Genzo is a collection of all his facicles. Yohin Zenji has written about 95 facicles and a collection of all his facicles is called Shobo Genzo.

[08:03]

And this particular text is like the heart of his teaching. An old Buddha said, for the time being, I stand astride the highest mountain peaks. For the time being, I move on the deepest depths of the ocean floor. For the time being, I am three heads and eight arms. For the time being, I am 8 feet or 16 feet. For the time being, I am a staff or a whisk. For the time being, I am a pillar or a lantern. For the time being, I am Mr. Charm or Mr. Lee. For the time being, I am the great earth and heavens above. So U and J are made up of two Japanese characters, in which U is translated as being or existence, and J is translated as time or location.

[09:25]

So being time is the name of the text. So our usual way of looking at time is to use it as a measure, measure of transience, that kind of standardizes time. We tend to experience time as something that's separate, separate from the flow of events. Soul is a door with Zenji saying by being time. So... Some of you or most of you would know the famous Gin Jun Kwan in which he talks of, he uses the analogy of spring, where he says, you do not fall winter the beginning of spring nor summer the end of spring. In other words, it's not because it is spring that the temperature becomes milder and flows and flowers bloom and bees go about.

[10:35]

It's not because the temperature... It's not because it's spring that the temperature becomes mild and the flowers bloom. But it is because the temperature becomes milder that flowers bloom and bees grow up. So the universe is progressing from one moment to the next. It's not static. So there is a momentary continuance that Dogon Zenji is talking about. And he talks, this is kind of his key teaching, where he says it's very unique to Dogon Zenji. And he says, there is time, a certain time, a some time that can transcend time.

[11:37]

into existence time of being time. So, Dogen Zenji is not denying conventional everyday sense of time. Nothing is out of his scope. He includes everything. Yet, he points out how necessary it is that each moment must have the freedom to express its individual flavor. So, I'd like to read something from here, where he says, this is a book called Being Time, it's by Shinshu Roberts, We recommend this to practitioners, to all the students.

[12:42]

So Duman says that right and wrong are time. Time is not right or wrong. Right or wrong are the Dharma. The Dharma is not right or wrong. When the Dharma is in balance, Wrong is in balance. Right and wrong are a time of skillful or unskillful expression. But time itself is not good or bad. Right and wrong are dharmas. But the dharma's basic nature is not good or bad. And then he... He also talks of avoiding two kinds of extremes. He says, you must not, by your own penileverine, make practice into nothingness, and you must not force practice into dealing.

[13:58]

So this is where Dovin is delineating two mistakes that we tend to make in practice. He says, if you think he is saying, Shichri Ravala says, if you think he is saying anything you do is acceptable, or that your actions don't matter, then your understanding of the passage is nihilistic. So, when he talks of freedom, he doesn't mean the sense of freedom that comes from our conditioned mind. He's talking about freedom. That comes from practice. That is a huge difference that he's talking about. And he's talking about something expressing itself just as it is. Like when he says, like, firewood becoming ash and not turning, returning to firewood again.

[15:00]

So when firewood becomes ash, it doesn't return to firewood again. Dogen Zenji is here pointing out how we are not necessarily trapped by our unskillful behavior. So don't get stuck in being trapped. Let it pass and let it move on. Don't get stuck in that. So he says, past, present and future are present in this moment. Yet each moment is unique by itself. So life is not what I'm making it out to be, and I am what life is making out of me. So I totally understand that it's all going over our head. During one of Suzuki Roshi's lectures, one of his students asked Roshi,

[16:08]

He said, Roshi, I've been listening to your lectures for several years, but I just don't seem to understand anything. And so, put it kindly, put it in a nutshell, if you have to put, if you have to put Buddhism into a nutshell or a word or a phrase, what would that be? So Roshi laughed and he said, everything changes. So you talk about the principle of impermanence, which in the past is everything. The awareness of this moment, this breath. For the time being, I am Mr. Chang, or I am Mr. Lee. So I come from a lineage of teachers in India.

[17:09]

So I cannot help but not go back to my roots when I talk of Dogen Zenji. And I see the similarities between Dogen Zenji and the master of that particular lineage. So just like Dogen Zenji has written several fascicles, the teacher of this particular lineage has written several fascicles. Classical is almost 90, and they are called as kirtis in Sanskrit. It's just another word called classical. So, you know, it gives a comprehensive essence of the age-old teachings of the ancient sages. Sages of the world, every part of the globe has had teachers. But the magic is that every teaching, any part of the world, seems to come together.

[18:23]

It has a common, homogeneous ground where it all meets. When it goes beyond labels, there is a meeting point. So, Just like Yogi Zenji teaches Buddhism through his own unique understanding, where he has pointed out several nuances of the Buddhist teaching. Similarly, this teacher brings the age-old teachings of the ancient sages through the lens of English philosophy or Advaita Vitantha. And his life was his teaching, was the teaching. So it goes beyond divisions, just like the timelessness of Dugan Lengu's teaching, Ransan's time.

[19:27]

So I was thinking, what happens, what would happen if a student were to ask him to put it in a nutshell, the entire teaching, put it in a capsule, just in one word or a phrase. And this teaching will be sat, chit, amanda. Sat meaning existence, like the existence of this. It exists, I can touch it, I can feel it. It exists. And chit is the... the name and form that we give to everything. And I call it as a blasphemous case, I call it as something hard, you know. So I have a name. I can talk to somebody about it. So it's the psychological aspect. And then another is the value aspect.

[20:31]

So there is the existence which cannot be denied, and there is the psychological understanding of existence and everything. And when it has all these aspects balanced into a value scheme, a value frame of mind, or a Western philosophical world, a dialectical frame of mind, leaning down on both sides and finding your talents, then those moments where these come together, existence, awareness and value come together, are moments when the Buddha meets the Buddha, as Tenchen Roshi would say. Tenchen Roshi says, you know, when your mind is empty and

[21:33]

when you're not caught up in your own narratives and stories of the world, according to me. And if there are two people meeting each other at that time, it's like a Buddha meeting a Buddha. So, you know, there was this great teacher, Kaas Tanahashi, Reverend Kaas Tanahashi, a renowned Japanese scholar and telegrapher. So he was teaching a workshop at Tassahara. And so he gave out papers to the students and he demonstrated how to make an enzo, you know, dipping the brush in the ink and doing the enzo. And then the papers that he gave out, some of them were even rice papers. So rice paper is like, you know, that ink, it absorbs in easily, so you have to be quick in making it.

[22:39]

So, you know, when he demonstrated it, people were standing around the table. And, you know, he was breathing, he was deep in his breath, and he just demonstrated. And what he was demonstrating is not what was happening in that moment. It was a lifetime of practice. What he's demonstrating in a few seconds was a lifetime of practice. So the students went to their desks and then they started making exos and whatever calligraphy he was teaching them. And then they would bring their work to him and asked them, is this okay? Is this right? Is this good? And he would just smile. Because it cannot be repeated, it cannot be corrected.

[23:40]

It's just done and that's it. And many of the students who were there, many of the participants were people who have been coming over several years. And they were confessing. They said, we've been coming for so many years, but we find that we've not gotten better at it. Better or worse. We don't even know where we stand. They said, it's not speakable. So they never became exposed. Nor did they mindfully let go of anything intentionally. So, but working with this teacher over and over, over the years, they probably understood the suffering that comes with grasping or holding on to something.

[24:49]

Holding on to some ideas of the world according to me. So they may have tasted some moments, just like you, I'm sure each one of us have tasted some moments of being time, when there's no narratives, we're not lost in any narratives or interpretations, just like when you're walking in the street on the sidewalk. And if there's a bike in England, and then the bike bird comes, you just move. And there's no narrative to why you move and how good your move was. There's no story about it. You just move. So let your goodness be in your body, be in your breath, just like when you walk.

[25:56]

on the sidewalks. And let your compassion just flow from you spontaneously without being an idea of being compassionate. There's an idea of being compassionate. But Dalai Ramya says, if you're not compassionate, at least start pretending to be compassionate. So... Yeah, I just wish and pray that each one of you find a balance in your body and in your breath. And I hope you take part from this valley, the heart of Zen practice. It's been a beautiful place for people over 60 years, people from all over the world, like India.

[26:57]

and take them back within your heart of practice, which keeps them ground in practice. 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, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[27:25]

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