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 morning. Thank you all for coming to the Zen Center this morning. Those of you zooming in from who knows where and all those who made it in today on this beautiful... Beautiful San Francisco weather day. It's the last day of January. And as I look back over this last month of 2026, it's kind of astonishing what's happened in the world. I can just go through a list of... I actually wrote up some things that were just like, I don't even know how to stop.

[01:05]

Like, where does it end? You know, from threats to war with Iran on day two. Day three brought attacks on Venezuela and an abduction of their president and wife of the president. Just the... The surge in various ice operations, Operation Metro Surge, and what was the other one? Catch of the day. Just the cruelty. Day after day, the headlines. Yeah, a week ago, today I was in Minnesota. responding to a call to come and be part of a group of clergy to join together and be with one another, support one another, do some trainings in non-violent resistance, civil disobedience, non-cooperative resistance, I think.

[02:22]

It was very cold. unlike here today. And that was brought about, that call, I think they started organizing it less than a week before people showed up in Minnesota. So they had one week to organize this event, this training, in which 700 plus clergy members from across the country came to Minnesota organized by a group called March, which is a multi- multi-faith, anti-racism, change and healing. It was impressive to see the level of organization that this group of clergy members who had been working together for a long time, it was very clear that it was not just something they just, you know, we're going to just do this. The relationships had been built up over years, just really demonstrating the importance of interfaith collaboration, of reaching across differences, of finding common ground.

[03:31]

And the impetus for this call was the murder of Renee Goode. And a week ago today, as I was leaving Minnesota, Alex Preddy was also murdered. And so the protests that have been swelling up around the country It's quite sobering. You know, I found out, I just kind of looked at the news. Something to do when you're feeling calm, maybe. Not when you know you're going to rile yourself up, but forgive me if I bring in things that make people uncomfortable. Just seeing how numerous countries in Europe have issued travel advisories for their citizens to travel to the United States due to unrest.

[04:37]

The fact that the FBI seized some 2020 voter records, absentee ballots, voting machines from Fulton County, Georgia just this week. The DOJ has been demanding access to voter records from 24 states. Some of them are fighting it, including California. Journalists being arrested for reporting, having their phones seized and their biometrics used to open their phones. Some people describing, some of the protesters in Minnesota describing how their global entry has been revoked for no given reason, just because they were caught on camera driving, committing no breakage of laws. So this practice period we're studying

[05:48]

We're studying the Dharma. In particular, we're studying embodiment, looking at the body and what happens in the body and how we respond and we react and settle and study the responses of the body. So I invite you all, just hearing me talk of these things, to just tune into your own body, your breath, feel your stability in your seat. Notice the inhalation. notice the exhalation. What happens in the body when we take all of this in? Before we leap into action, before we do anything, what does it mean to be present, be aware, find our center? So feeling into the body right now, if you're in the room, Noticing the quality of light in the room, the quality of air, the slight breeze perhaps.

[06:54]

I'm appreciating the slight breeze on my left cheek at this moment. Feeling our life force, our life energy. So some of you may know that I was asked to write a little piece on my time in Minnesota, which I did, and it was sent out in Sangha News this week. I got some really lovely responses from people I haven't heard from in a long time. And I also got, you know, a few people who, you know, kind of protested a little bit about, well, you know, Buddhism, Zen, is not supposed to be political. You hear this a lot. We're supposed to stay out of politics. You could say it's true. Buddhism fundamentally is about transformation of consciousness.

[07:55]

It's about turning inward and working with our karma to see the ways that greed, hate, and delusion, our human afflictions, arise and how we work with them for the benefit of ourselves and all beings. How do we transform our own consciousness so that we can be agents of peace and love and compassion and wisdom in this crazy world? So I would say there's a difference between politic and political. Yeah, just our coming to a cushion and sitting, just start coming into the Zen Center today, just start tuning in. We could call it a radical act of sanity. And our meditation practice does not separate us from the world, we call the world.

[09:03]

It's actually the ground of our training, how we can show up, how we show up in presence. how we don't lose sight of our inmost request, our deepest vow to be of benefit, to not get caught up in reactivity, in hatred. I think Hillary Clinton wrote a piece recently, this week maybe, I think it was in The Atlantic, where she said, it's really hard not to get caught up in hatred. It's really hard. practice. It takes training. You know, the Buddha, while he didn't take to the streets and fight against the caste system, he certainly provided an alternative to it. It's even said that he was able to stop a war by putting his body right in the middle of things and asking for calm.

[10:10]

It worked the first time, not the second time. Our practice is fundamentally, it's, I would say, a training. A training and a turning towards a fundamental truth of our own capacity for awakening. Our capacity to stay upright in the midst of suffering and injustice, outrage, to be able to be fully present to what's happening right now. Not just the abstract. I think one of the arguments against Zen being political is that it's an abstraction, that it's ideology, that it's separated from present moment. And you can certainly see how that could be the case, that we can get caught up in the doom cycle of the news.

[11:11]

I certainly get caught up. but our practice is not about separating ourselves from the world. When we look at the benefits of our practice, we can look at what does our practice offer us in the way of presence, equanimity, loving kindness, sympathetic joy, the divine abodes. We can look at what our practice asks of us as well. Just much the same thing is what practice offers us, to not forget what we're here for, what our deepest wish is, our deepest intention. And seeing that we're not perfect, that we make mistakes, that we fall into negativity and reactivity, maybe even into hateful thoughts,

[12:15]

But practice gives us the presence to notice. And we notice by watching what's happening in our body. We notice tension. We notice when we can breathe and when we can't breathe. And we slow down. I've really appreciated Christina's teachings and requests this, since we've started this practice period, the request to slow down just a little bit, maybe even a lot. And particularly around speech. watch the intention before speaking. What is our intention? So just to say just a little bit more on this question about whether we can remove ourselves in this desire to be above politics. I think sometimes there's this wish maybe or an idea that practice, our practice should be pure and above it all.

[13:26]

That we shouldn't be riled up and swaddled in ideology. And that's true. We don't want to be restricted by ideology. But there is no contradiction between our recognition that our own mind creates our experience and being able to be effective agents of peace in this world. So if we choose, if what comes to us in the moment, when it comes to you, if it comes to you to where you're asked maybe, one of the pastors speaking at this group, this March event that I went to in Minnesota. Actually, that wasn't a pastor. It was a community organizer, not a pastor, but she was at a panel discussion.

[14:33]

And it's just so incredible to see ordinary people just going along in their lives and then being asked questions being asked to step up and answering the call, not knowing what they're saying yes to, but putting their hearts forward. That was one thing that she said at the end of her words in the panel. She said, if you're asked to help, just say yes. You can sort it out later. what it means. Just say yes. And don't let perfection become the enemy of the good. Again, we're going to make mistakes. That's what our practices of, like we did this morning, our practices of confession and repentance are about.

[15:36]

It's acknowledging that we are human. We make mistakes. We fall. We stumble. We use the ground itself to get up. And the question is, if we do take action, again, what is the intention with which that action evolves or out of? Is it guided by our wisdom and compassion? You know, when we get caught up... in trying to be human under inhumane conditions, and when we get reactive, we feel it in our bodies because we're paying attention to our bodies, because we've been training in stopping, noticing, presencing, and we can go slower.

[16:37]

Even if it's just a little bit, just go a little slower before... grabbing something, what have you. Sometimes being apolitical is kind of pitched as a way of just like, oh, you should be calm, you should be equanimous, and not get involved as if equanimity were somehow being a part. But really, true equanimity, the near enemy You've heard this term before, maybe sort of the corrupted, close thing that looks kind of like the thing, but it's not the thing. The near enemy of equanimity is indifference or apathy, even leading to something that maybe you could call callousness. Feeling like you're above something and you can't, that you, that to get caught

[17:41]

that to feel the feelings would somehow be a misstep in your practice. It's when indifference or apathy kind of masquerade as being cool, being calm, being detached. But I would say that true equanimity is balanced and arises out of the other divine abodes of loving kindness and compassion. of the ability to feel joy at others' joys. It's engaged. It's not passive. It's engaged in all activities in one's life, all aspects. It's not withdrawn or disconnected, and certainly it does not turn away from suffering. Equanimity is not about... sticking one's head in the sand or putting one's fingers in one's ears.

[18:44]

It's not about numbing out or opting out. It's about holding space, taking the breath to expand the container that can hold everything. So... And it's also a personal practice. It's a personal choice of what one does in response to what's happening, to what may happen. One of the dangers of a feeling of a false equanimity or a corrupted equanimity is that it can lead, I think, to... something else that I feel like I'm just sort of learning about, which is this idea that somehow empathy is toxic.

[19:47]

Have any heard this before? Yeah? That somehow to be empathetic, to be compassionate is a weakness. I think it was said that one person famously said, the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy. That somehow caring for other people is soft, makes us weak. I think in some religious circles, I think it's a feeling that empathy can be misapplied to people for whom Their values or ideology does not include, right? So there's a question of who is deserving of empathy. And those over there, those sinners, are not.

[20:48]

And there's a reaction to feeling, understandably, there's a reaction to if some political pressures are saying you should feel this way, you should do this, do this, You know, to be challenged in that way is hard. So it's not that I don't understand, as I've been kind of investigating, what is this me in toxic empathy? You know, it's like I can kind of understand the roots of it or how it comes about, but empathy is strength. To be able to withstand the suffering and not lose one's vow in the face of it. I mean, this is true strength. And, you know, some of the people, the clergy members who I spent the weekend with, last week with, a lot of Christians, so many Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikh, Buddhist, Atheist, Indigenous Christians,

[22:05]

There's a whole wide variety. It was really lovely to be with people. A lot of stoles. Stoles are a thing. I was like, wow, we've got our rock suit, there's these stoles. One of the things that I found tremendously sad was just hearing the anguish of some of these Christian leaders to feel like their religion is being hijacked. by a white Christian nationalist ideology. Just how painful, how painful. And so really feeling into that, seeing it. You know, in Christianity, there's this great teaching of turning the other cheek, turning the other cheek. And it's not about becoming a doormat. Rather, I think in our Buddhist practice we can really identify with this.

[23:12]

It's about becoming a guardian of our actions of body, speech, and mind. It's not becoming, not succumbing to the actions of those who act from greed, hate, and delusion. I think the only thing we own is our actions. It's the only thing that we take that we can really be said to, that belong to us. And so, turning the other cheek is not, in other words, not meeting violence with violence. It's a way of taking care of the only thing we own, which is our actions. And if we can stay present without turning away, without lashing out, our capacity to meet violence with nonviolence grows.

[24:24]

In... In Minnesota, I was invited by a Buddhist friend who lives in Minnesota, and I stayed with some other Buddhist friends who live in Minneapolis. It was a combination of panel discussions, round table meetings, song. There's a lot of song. People like to sing. And singing is actually a great protest. I mean, it's a great way to be in harmony with one another, singing or chanting. So I learned a couple good songs. I don't know if I learned them, but I got to practice a couple songs. The event was about community building, discussion, hearing from ordinary Minnesotans about what they were doing to answer the call of requesting help. the descriptions of my friends really amounted to living under an occupation.

[25:41]

You know, 3,000 agents, federal agents deployed to us to crack down So hearing about the organization of rapid response teams, mutual aid, people who had no experience whatsoever in organizing these things, suddenly starting with like, oh, we've got like, you know, five requests for food today. Goes up to 10, goes up to 15, 200. Now we're starting to fundraise. We've just raised, you know, maybe we can get $5,000, maybe we can 15. Wow, now we're at $300,000 for our mutual aid. Two weeks, within two weeks. So people who aren't used to being leaders even, just being in the right place at the right time to answer the request. It was really inspiring and sobering to see the complete exhaustion. Hearing people whose primary occupation is law,

[26:50]

like taking up to mutual aid networks and rapid response teams, getting tear gassed multiple times daily for blowing a whistle, for driving on public roads, for holding space. Every single person who I met in Minnesota said that almost everyone they know in their circle is involved in some way. It could be even really small. One woman was telling me about her mom who was like, you know, infirm, but she was at home kind of keeping the database of license plate numbers that they were tracking, which, you know, and then hearing about strategies and how strategies had to change and how the agent strategies would change and suddenly The SUVs that were driving around with tinted windows started showing up with bumper stickers that said things like, honk if you're gay or coexist.

[27:53]

I mean, so just seeing how strategies would evolve. Hearing about from the multi-faith organizers just that it's not easy to just come together with people who have different belief structures sometimes very different faith structures, it wasn't easy to get together. It's a skill that needs to be honed, that can only be honed by taking a step forward and reaching out. One of the, I wanted to just give an example of one person speaking, this is a Lakota poet and atheist, a self-proclaimed atheist, invited to this group. He's lovely. He said, I've been a direct action guy for over a decade.

[29:01]

I've fought pipelines from the top of the country to the bottom. And I find myself, as a sober person now, having to actually deal with fear. fear of my own imprisonment, the loss of my family, and now death, because I wasn't doing anything terribly different than Renee was doing just a day earlier. None of us are. It could have been any of us, and it can be any of us again. It's just a matter of time. Two days after this. So we have to do this afraid. There is no other option. And then another, a pastor of a one of the churches that I stayed at, he was talking about his community that he serves. It's an evangelical Lutheran community. He says, I serve a predominantly migrant community where the average household income is between 35 and 40K a year. And everyone gives, everyone.

[30:02]

One value we've continued to lean into, even in this moment, is abundance. When we show up on Sunday morning, when everyone else is uncertain whether that is the right choice, my community insists and says no. The God that we serve requires risks. We need to show the world that we're going to still be standing. Remember us, not just by our fears, but remember us by our dreams. Hearing the stories of... People doing what's called commuting, just driving around, waiting to see if there's something happening and then using their means of making sound to alert the broader neighborhood communities. Just experiences of being boxed in, having their windows smashed, being dragged out of the car, being tear gassed, watching a raid happen and a woman jump out of a car, clutching a baby.

[31:08]

and running, just tearing across a yard, going into a house, slamming the door as agents come up and just in the nick of time, slamming the door and having the door be rammed repeatedly. Organizers spending like every day just checking on friends. checking on people they don't even know that they're connected to through one of many signal groups that have formed. Each neighborhood apparently has a signal group. And then rapid response groups have their own signal groups. And then there's people who have to be in multiple signal groups so they can communicate between them because signal groups can only have as much as, I think, 50 people. And over and over, just seeing how, despite the exhaustion and the fear, and the distress, seeing how each of these people's faith or trust in what is important and what is true be what sustains them.

[32:20]

Not to say that people don't get burned out. I mean, I heard a lot of burnout stories as well. And hearing the invocation of ancestors throughout it the examples in history of people who were committed to resisting injustice again and again just this appreciation so in my own experience there I was I had planned to go to the airport on Friday morning. That was the plan. I had signed up to be part of that group of clergy. And then at the last minute, like that morning, I got a, you know, on one of the signal groups that I was part of, I got a message that said, if you're from out of town, please don't go.

[33:22]

We can't. We don't know if this is going to be a federal arrest or a stated arrest, which would make... at this point, all the difference. And we can't, our lawyers who are providing free counsel can't, we can't expand that to people from out of town. We're sorry. So for everyone's well-being, please just don't go to this particular action. So instead, I went to a roundtable discussion at this evangelical Lutheran church where there were about a panel of 10 people Again, just ordinary people swept up in this situation, describing some of their tactics. That's what I heard about the bumper stickers, for example. On my way there, I took an Uber from where I was staying to the church. And while we were driving, the driver, she was kind of like, I was like, how are you doing?

[34:26]

And she kind of talked a little bit about her distress. being in this situation. And while we were driving there, after a day of trainings the day before, there was a big SUV. And it's all, you know, right now it's just snow is covering everything. I mean, the streets have been plowed. But there was an SUV coming up perpendicular, and they had a stop sign, and we didn't, and we went through, and this SUV didn't stop. And so she had to swerve out of the way, and she was kind of cursing and just like, you know, laid on the horn. And then the SUV kind of turned... behind us and started what seemed like following us. We turned this way, we turned that way. And I started getting nervous. I'm nervous because I don't know what, I'm hearing about SUVs with tinted windows. I couldn't see if their windows were tinted. But when we got close to the church, I almost said keep going out of a fear of leading people somewhere that they could be disruptive.

[35:30]

We did get to the church pretty quickly, and before I got out of the Uber, I could see behind us a woman get out of the SUV wearing a stole. I was like, okay, rainbow-colored stole. It was beautiful. So it was just like a sigh of relief, right? Just seeing in myself, just in the two days I had been there, just seeing how the body tells us, like, oh, what's okay here? How do I be alert? How do I keep my presence? After the round table, which went on for the morning, close to the end where people were wrapping up, somebody came in and just very calmly asked us all to just stay put. There was an ice raid happening at that moment, two blocks away, and there were people who had run from that incident and were now receiving medical attention in the basement of the church.

[36:31]

So we were on lockdown for about an hour, just waiting for things to subside. They were not letting anybody out of the building. They didn't want to open the doors. And then when they started to open the doors, they let us out in groups of five. This was Friday morning before the march downtown. And what brought me to tears was during this, as people were kind of feeling a little like, oh, dear, what's happening? What's happening now, there's about 100 and maybe 200 people participating in this round table, guests, people like me from out of town. And what brought me to tears was not the fear, but the calm that was present in the woman who came and just made the announcement, as a matter of fact, just seeing how the whole thing was handled with clarity, with presence, with care. The level of confidence that had grown.

[37:33]

I could see these people weren't used to this. But to see how this had grown in each of them. They likely didn't have these skills just a couple months before this. But they had stepped up and were being refined in this crucible. Calm. organized practiced trained and it really it made me reflect on Tassajara this summer we had a teacher come and give some classes and she gave a Dharma talk in the in the retreat hall she gave a talk on her this is Jan Willis some of you may know her she's a professor was a professor at Wesleyan she's a professor of religion she's a professor of religion a practitioner, amazing, amazing teacher.

[38:36]

She came and she gave a talk on her experience in the civil rights movement. She was 15 years old and part of a children's brigade in Birmingham in 1963, and she described in detail what it took organizationally to have that resistance happen. that people would show up in their anger or in their, you know, disruption, and they would be turned away. No, you can't be part of our resistance. Please go, and maybe you can be part, but you can go into the back and make sandwiches, right? It was not, like, don't, you cannot be in the front. And hearing about some of her, just how much discipline was required in training the body, right? She said something like, nonviolence is not a philosophy. It is not even an intention. It needs to be trained into the body because you don't know how your body is going to respond when somebody attacks you.

[39:42]

And so their training consisted of first verbal assaults leading to physical assaults, having crap thrown on you, being pushed, being shoved down to the ground. As part of training, how do you be present and not fight back? in the physical sense. So how do we be an agent for change in a peaceful, present, compassionate, wise? When I say wise, I mean like the wisdom of understanding that we are not separate that we are, each of us, interconnected, whether we know it or not, that hatred is never an appropriate response.

[40:43]

It's an understandable one. But it hurts us to make space for hatred to reside. So... do I go to? 11. I'll try and wrap up quickly. I just wanted to maybe end with a few things that insights learnings from my time there and in this moment what comes, what arises. What can be done? How can we respond? How do we respond? So far, it's a sunny, beautiful day in San Francisco. So maybe the first thing we do is we appreciate. Appreciate that. Appreciate each other for coming.

[41:46]

For our intention to wake up. And know that every single person can have a part to play. Whether it's turning inward to one's own practice and maintaining stability and calm. whether it's showing up and chanting during noon service, chanting the loving-kindness meditation, whether it's cooking food for others, running errands. One of the people told me that sometimes it can take five to ten people to get a family food in terms of, like, making sure that agents aren't in the area, you know, the... The number of people involved in the communications, because it's not like when you go shopping for somebody, you know who that person is. Compiling data. Being part of a commuting rapid response team. Getting to know your neighbors. Fundamentally, what we can do right now is get to know one another in a non-superficial sense.

[42:57]

Not in the sense of like, oh, what kind of movies do you like? Being from a monastery in a monastic environment, it's kind of amazing how when you practice together, you don't have to know anything about each other. It's not about facts of what your personality is and so forth. It's an embodiment of doing the practice together, of being in presence together. And that bond that is built by just practicing together, just, I say it just as if it's like, it's not a small, it's not a big thing, right? It's an encompassing thing. It's a whole body thing to practice together. So getting to know each other, your local communities, to build these connections beyond a difference, to see past differences, finding common ground for those who have a voice, who want to use one's voice, write to your legislatures, legislatures, congress folk.

[44:04]

For those inclined and who have the capacity, run for office. When you notice that you've gotten caught up in a doom cycle of headlines, turn off your phone, turn away from the screen, put it down, connect to your friends, connect to your loved ones, connect to the earth. Touch the ground. Practice kindness. You know, just the setting that intention of, you know, I'm going to find ways to just practice kindness. This is what strengthens us, right? And when the call comes, say yes. Answer it. Be the agent or the beacon of calm, stable, grounded. You know, and if you're not feeling calm, stable, and grounded, practice diligently.

[45:09]

Calm your mind. You know, in Minneapolis, we barely scratched the surface of the nonviolent trainings. Like we did the role playing of like, okay, a couple of you come up front and you're going to play the agitators, and you are going to play the, you know, the agitated. And, you know, for those of you who are yelling it, you know, no physical, you know, the rules were no physical, don't touch anybody, and don't talk about people's appearances. And just seeing that and hearing, like, they did a, they decided that we're going to do this for four minutes, where people are up there being yelled at, And what are you going to do in this situation? Four minutes was too long. They all couldn't do it. Even the agitation was like, I don't even know what to do. Why? Because they all started singing in linked arms. What are we going to do with this? Now, of course, in real life circumstances, there's all kinds of things that can happen that can go badly, even if you feel connected.

[46:19]

Even if you feel like compassion is flowing within you, there's all kinds of things that can go wrong. So maybe I'll end with... just a few verses, the opening verses of the Dhammapada. All experience is preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind. Speak or act with a corrupted mind and suffering follows as the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox. All experience is preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind. Speak or act with a corrupted mind. with a peaceful mind and happiness follows like a never-departing shadow.

[47:23]

They abused me, attacked me, defeated me, robbed me. For someone hostile like this, hatred does not end. They abused me, attacked me, defeated me, robbed me. For someone not hostile like this, hatred ends. Hatred never ends through hatred. By non-hate alone does it end. This is an ancient truth. So whether you get involved in things, community organizing or don't, I'm not up here asking people to do anything other than to tend one's mind and look inward at what is the appropriate response that comes out of your practice. When you stay present, When you rely on groundedness, what's the natural manifestation of that?

[48:24]

I think it's joy. To be deeply connected to your inmost truth and to act from that place. What comes is joy. And I saw no dearth of joy within the madness in Minnesota. Just seeing how proud Minnesotans are of each other for rising to this occasion was just, I mean, it's bringing tears to my eyes right now. It's amazing. It's amazing and incredibly inspiring. So thank you very much for coming today. And please take good care. 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.

[49:27]

May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[49:29]

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