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. Can you hear me? Okay. Welcome to Green Gulch. Right now at Green Gulch, we've just begun in this last week what's called what we call an English practice period. And this is a translation of a term or word or compounded, anyway, an ango. An ango.

[01:00]

And that translates. more literally as peaceful dwelling. The an character is used for peace or ease, and it's made up of a rooftop and the character for a woman. So a woman sitting under her rooftop, undisturbed, peacefully, at ease. That's the... That's part of the character for peaceful dwelling, this on-go. And in this last week, we've had many ceremonies marking this time, this gathering. People have made a commitment to be in the valley without leaving for two months, practicing together, following the schedule,

[02:02]

And there's an old image from the Buddha and other teachers and the founder of Zen Center, Suzuki Roshi, saying students should be like milk and water because we've all been good friends from ancient times. And the way milk and water blends, you can't tell the milk from the water. It's just one substance. So how do we practice this way? We're like milk and water. It's not easy. When you gather a group of people together, inevitably there'll be ways in which we can irritate each other, annoy each other, hurt each other. without intending to.

[03:05]

This happens. Conflicts arise. This is what happens when lots of people gather together. So how do we practice with those inevitable difficulties between people and then also in our own hearts, our own struggles? and heartaches. So peaceful abiding, peaceful dwelling, and this dwelling or abiding is abiding in the flowing, ever-changing, moment-by-moment unfolding of an inconceivable life together. It's not settling down and clinging to something. It's abiding in the flowing

[04:05]

peacefully as things change moment by moment. So this is a time, this ango, that we set aside to practice together in this way. And it's rare, it's hard to create the conditions to practice like this, to have that much time where you're supported, where a person who's in practice period is supported There's shelter. There's food. This is not a small thing. There's wonderful meals that are provided. And everyone contributes their work to take care of one another, to take care of this practice place and help maintain this rare chance. practice in this way. This chance rarely occurs in any lifetime.

[05:08]

So when I say this, I say this from my own experience and from years of entering into practice period and meeting myself, and meeting each thing and each being with as much awareness as possible. We just finished last week, actually, last Sunday, there was a large gathering of people for a memorial funeral service for our former abbot, Mjogan, Steve Stuckey, and what followed that was another memorial service, the annual memorial service for Shakyamuni Buddha's, commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha's death. So we've had many, many ceremonies, as I said this week.

[06:14]

Aside from the funeral, there was the ceremony of entering into the practice period, sitting all day, entering the temple in a particular ceremony opening the practice period, then there was a full moon ceremony, and then we had just the daily ceremony of zazen and morning, noon, and evening services, and then this large ceremony commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha's death. So I just wanted to say a few things about the practice that Shakyamuni Buddha expressed at his death. He knew he was dying. He had eaten an offering. He went around and gathered alms of food during his lifetime. People donated food, and he ate a meal that was, and maybe there was some food poisoning in this particular dish.

[07:26]

not food poisoning, it was tainted in some way, not by any fault of the donor. And so the Buddha ate it and knew that that was his final meal and asked that the rest of that food not be given to the rest of the monks, but be buried and not touched. So he knew from the story, from the oral tradition that's come down, that this was his He would die. He was already around 80 or so. So he had lived a very full life, taught for about 40 or so years. And then these last weeks of his life, when he was very sick, he took care of so many. The details that have been passed on, whether they're literal, legendary or not, have a lot to teach us about. how to take care of each and everything.

[08:28]

There was a student who had not met the Buddha, like a very new student, and asked the jisha, asked the attendant to have an audience with Shakyamuni Buddha. He was already lying down between two trees called sala trees. He was in the sala forest, sala tree forest, and he lay down on his right side. taking the lion pose and was not able to get up again. And someone asked to see him, a new student, and the jishu said, no, no, you mustn't bother the teacher. He's indisposed. He can't see you. And the Buddha overheard this and said, please, let this student come. So this student had been practicing with other teachers, had heard about the Buddha, and... wanted to hear the Buddha Dharma, the Buddha's teaching, and the Buddha taught him about the Eightfold Noble Path and some very simple teachings.

[09:31]

And this student wanted to become ordained, and he was ordained. That was the last student the Buddha ordained, right there on his deathbed, as taking care of this last person that he could who had come for ordination. That particular detail also, I felt, was expressed by Myogen Steve Stuckey, who took care of some last ceremonies with students, literally on his deathbed, finishing a Dharma transmission ceremony and other ceremonies, making that effort. Also, at the end, the Buddha said about this donor, Chunda the Smith. Chunda the blacksmith had given him this meal that, you know, that led to the Buddha's demise was one of the conditions.

[10:36]

And he was very specific to say, do not blame Chunda the Smith. Do not say, you, you know, killed our teacher. So he was very... that this was not his fault, this was part of the conditions of his life, and he took care of that detail, telling his followers, do not, you know, take out your grief and blame this person. So I always appreciated that detail of the story. Also, many... of his students gathered around and he asked them to step back a little bit because there were unseen beings who had also come to pay respects and they couldn't see him. So could you please move back a little bit, let some other people see too. He also informed a village nearby and all the lay people came to pay their respects as well. So he was really thinking about

[11:38]

what people need at this time when they lose their teacher, when their teacher will not be in front of them, where they'll be able to see them again, and the sadness. So he made a big effort to allow people to come and pay their respects. At the end, in part of the ceremony that I said we had here, We have an evening ceremony and a morning ceremony. The evening ceremony is a very quiet ceremony, and usually we have someone in the past we've had our head student or head monk-to-be read from the last words of the Buddha. And these are admonitions for practice set upon the deathbed. or that have come down to us as this is what he said.

[12:41]

All these stories and teachings were written down hundreds of years after the Buddha had died, so we don't know for sure, but there was an oral tradition that passed these things on. So I'm just going to read a few things. O good followers of the path, Do not grieve. There can be no coming together without parting. The teaching which benefits both self and others has reached completion. Even if I were to live longer, there would be nothing to add to the teaching. I'm just going to Pull out a few things. Therefore, you should know that all things in the world are impermanent. Coming together inevitably means parting.

[13:45]

Do not be troubled, for this is the nature of life. Diligently practicing right effort, you must seek liberation immediately. Nothing is secure. Everything in this life is precarious. All things in this world, whether moving or non-moving, are characterized by disappearance and instability. Be as lamps unto yourselves and pass on that light throughout the generations. and to everyone in this world. So these final teachings, everything that is born must die, all things that come together must also come apart.

[14:53]

These teachings are basic, basic teachings that we've heard before. And when we accept that, deeply and thoroughly there is a freedom because this is the reality of our existence together. And when we avert from that or run from that or cling to something else, we cause suffering for ourselves and others because we're not in accord with this reality of the impermanence of all things. So often we have enormous gratitude and love for our teachers and the teaching, and we may want to repay that teaching, requite this somehow. How do we do that? What can we give? What can we offer?

[15:54]

And really there's the only thing, the only thing that the Buddha or the teacher's that matters is that we practice hard and carry on the teaching. There's only one way. There's really one way to express your gratitude and love to carry on the teaching and practice hard. So that your life becomes a living expression of the teaching, all the aspects of your life, body, speech, and mind. Everything you do and say and think the way you think is permeated by the teachings and always expressing the teaching.

[16:58]

So it becomes one fully embodied teaching. This is how we repay the kindness and the compassion that's been passed down by our teachers and the teaching. So having a practice period is an on-go, is a time when we can expose ourselves to the teachings at a very intimate level throughout the day. The teacher, the schedule is sometimes I think of as the teacher. It's constantly saying, please, time to go here, time for zazen, time for a meal, gathering together to eat together, time for work, time to rest.

[17:59]

So following the schedule completely is is maybe the most simple thing that happens during practice period and deeply profound because we encounter our resistances. Even though people sign up and pay sometimes by either earning it with being in a program here where being in practice period is part of the program, Even though people want to do this, it's difficult. It's a rigorous practice. It asks everything of us. So with the schedule, being the teacher, we can find something comes up. For example, I don't want to. Or leave me alone. Or, I'm out of here.

[19:04]

Or, why are you making me do this? Which is an interesting one since people voluntarily sign up to do this. Somehow it gets turned like, why are you doing this to me? But that's what happens. We can get confused when we face something that asks everything of us. There's one of our teachers, Dung Shan, who is in our lineage and this particular school of Zen that San Francisco Zen Center is in. He was the Chinese teacher, and that came to Japan through this teacher. He practiced with different teachers. One teacher was Nan Ren, and after practicing with him, He took his leave and Nganaren said to him, make a thorough study of Buddha Dharma and broadly benefit the world.

[20:13]

Make a thorough study of the Buddha Dharma and broadly benefit the world. And Dungshan said, I have no question about studying Buddha Dharma. But what do you mean by broadly? benefiting the world. And Nanaren said, do not disregard a single being. Do not disregard a single being. This is how we broadly benefit the world. Do not disregard. The word disregard, you know, to regard is to look again. to guardare, to look, and then to re, to look again, and then to disregard is to not look again at our life, to avoid or ignore, really. So broadly benefiting the world is not to disregard a single, single being.

[21:24]

And what are beings, anyway? What does that mean? I think what we find is we might have this as an intention not to disregard a single being. And beings are like not just human beings or, you know, alive beings that are walking and talking, but all beings, meaning, you know, this as a being, this is a being that we are admonish not to disregard. How do you take care of a notebook and paper and cups and eating bowls and robes or clothing? Do not disregard, do not avoid or ignore a single being. Each thing is like a being that comes forth into our life, that appears in our life.

[22:27]

And, of course, human beings But because of our backgrounds, our education, our experiences, the painful things that have happened in our life or the wonderful things, we have what are called karmic formations. We have ways in which we see the world that have been formed over time through our language, through our families, through all the experiences that we have moment after moment, forms and creates a world, actually. So each of us has a world that we — it's not that we even notice it because it's just the way we see things.

[23:32]

So you wouldn't say, well, what do you mean the world? This is reality, right? This is truth. But actually, each one of us carries with us, carries around and sees and lives out a kind of karmic, karmic meaning, the word karma means actions. So this world created by many, many, many gazillions innumerable actions of body, speech, and mind. The way we think and then speak and do imprints and creates neuronal pathways if we want to talk about our brain, but it's more vast than that. So there's a world, and everyone has their unique world. So, of course, when we gather together, these worlds kind of bump into each other. And part of our worlds are maybe we don't even see certain people.

[24:33]

We disregard because that's our world. And that can be very hurtful to the person who feels like they're not being seen or acknowledged or treated carefully. And everybody's doing this, you know. So knowing this, we have to treat each thing, not disregard a single being, with gentleness and kindness and slow down here, compassion, patiently trying to understand and hold our own karmic consciousness lightly rather than this is the way things are and this is true and this is true. I've got it right and you don't, to really be very, very close to this is my sense of things, this is how I see things.

[25:39]

What do you see? Or I'm open for feedback, you know. Did I miss something? Am I disregarding something? This is how we widely, broadly benefit the world, to not disregard a single being. And this is very difficult because it's hard to see, by definition, our blind spots. We can't see what we don't see. But living closely together and intimately, we help each other. If we can let each other know what's going on, what just happened there, this will help us. And then more changes and broadening will happen. And this is how we help each other. And it's painful. But there's an image of practice period or sangha life, which is, there's two wonderful images.

[26:50]

One is like rough stones in a dual type. jewel polisher where they tumble and rub off all the stones, rub off all the sharp edges of everybody until all the stones come out, you know, polished and shining. And then Hoetsu Suzuki Roshi says it's more like potatoes that have just been pulled out of the ground, stuck in a bucket, and you shake the bucket and they all kind of clean each other up by... bouncing next to each other and the dirt comes off. Both those images, I think, are useful. But, you know, when you're being tossed around in the polisher, you know, it hurts sometimes. So making a thorough study of Buddha Dharma and broadly benefiting the world, not to disregard a single being.

[27:51]

And that can be a kind of vow that we renew and re-consecrate ourselves to over and over and over. Not to disregard a single thing. And in the practice period, we have dedicated time to not disregard a single thing. With practices, for example, we'll be eating meals each week, a couple of meals in the zendo using a set of nested bowls, and the name of the nested bowls is, it's oryoki, or just enough. So this comes from the practice which I mentioned of going around for alms in a bowl, asking for food, and then eating just enough for that meal.

[28:51]

There wasn't a practice, there was no refrigeration that we're used to anyway. They probably had some way of doing this, but the monks and nuns didn't keep food for like the next meal or save it up or have a little snack later. You... had just enough for that meal, and that was it. So we practice with the oryoki and these practices of not disregarding a single being, taking good care of the bowls and the claws and how much food that you receive. You know, not taking too much food. It's the art of eating, actually, to not have your eyes bigger than your stomach. to actually take what you can finish. This is not disregarding a single thing. This is taking care of food to eat just enough so that we don't waste, even if it goes into the compost out here and goes into the ground still.

[29:59]

The practice of taking just enough, not disregarding a single being Other forms of practice that help with this are bowing to each other, just all sorts of things, wrapping our sutra books for study hall in a cloth, out of respect for this marvelous teaching that's being passed on, all sorts of ways to not disregard a single being. And this is practice period where we're devoting this time, but this is not a practice just for practice period. In fact, this teacher said he was saying to this student who was going off into the world to, you know, thoroughly study Buddha Dharma and not disregard a single being. This is a practice for all time and all places. But to get the hang of it, it's sometimes really useful to be in a retreat or a time when really that's all you need to do.

[31:06]

That's all anyone's asking you to do is take care of each being, each thing, each moment. And to be open to someone bringing to your attention that you disregarded something, or weren't taking care of something, or asking about it. That's another kind of being. A person asking you about, gee, what happened there? That's a being also. That's the being of someone making inquiry. So there's the kind of physical beings of objects, of consciousness, of all, you know, that seem like they're only physical. But how we treat them, how we handle things is neither physical nor mental nor emotional.

[32:08]

It's actually... inconceivable what it is that's going on. But it does feel like the outside, external things and inside. Not disregarding the beings of the inside is also important. What comes up, what voices within our consciousness that might be critical or harsh or have a story that we keep bringing up over and over. These are beings also to not disregard, meaning don't ignore. You don't have to believe the kind of inner dialogue that's going on, but to notice, to say, I hear that, I see that, I hear you, okay, and I'm taking care of my life this way. I'm not going to go with what that critical voice is saying about me or harsh way of talking. This is not disregarding. So there's all those inner beings, inner and outer beings, so-called, that we don't disregard.

[33:18]

There's a wonderful quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, which I mentioned in a lecture. a while ago, and it just came up today again. Eleanor Roosevelt said, you wouldn't worry so much about what others are thinking of you when you realize how seldom they do. Yeah, and I think often we might be very caught in thinking I'm being watched or judged or criticized or how do I look? Do they approve of me? It can be very stultifying and stressful, really stressful. So just to remember this quote, you wouldn't worry so much if you realize how seldom people really are.

[34:31]

Everybody's thinking about, who are they thinking about? They're thinking about themselves, right? This is our tendency, you know, thinking about we're the centers. And yes, we think about others too, but not, you know, not to the degree that we may be under this impression that people are really thinking a lot about us. So if we can free ourselves from being caught in what do people think of me and stay with, how am I practicing? How's it going? What's the most important thing? What do I need to focus on? What help do I need? How can I gather the causes and conditions for liberation that may be unique, that have to do with this karmic consciousness, maybe different for someone else, what I need?

[35:31]

And I would venture to say, Each person, you know, has a unique way that they develop. The Buddha taught differently to different audiences. Differently meaning the subject matter, the way he spoke was... He didn't stick to something according just to some plan or formula. the teaching was alive and would skillfully be addressed to that audience at that moment, at that season of the year, what that group needed to hear. So in the Lotus Sutra, which we'll be studying during this practice period,

[36:32]

On a Monday night class, which is open to everyone, if you want to come out for a Monday night class, one of the main things from the Lotus Sutra of Main Teachings is what's called in Japanese, hoben, or translated as skillful means, or skillful devices, or expedient means, or modes. sometimes just translated as modes, different modes of teaching according to who the people are, who are the students. Because there is no teaching without students. Students make the teacher and the teacher and the students co-create the teaching together. So when the students need teaching, something particular, the teaching is then skillfully, it meets that.

[37:38]

The... There's a part of the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra has a number of parables and stories, and one of them is the story of two very good friends who spent an evening together having a meal and having wine and enjoying each other's company, and the guest who had come was poor. poorer than the host. And he got very inebriated and went to sleep. And the host had some business he had to do and he had to go off. And he felt he wanted to do something for his friend who wasn't in as comfortable circumstances as the host was. So he took a jewel and he sewed it into the hem of his friend's outfit, his robe.

[38:58]

and the friend was sort of sleeping, sleeping off this night of indulging a little bit too much, perhaps, and his host went off. And the fellow woke up in the morning and went off, and he, you know, he didn't know. He didn't know that there was this jewel in the hem of his... rope and he had all sorts of difficulties and you know, he couldn't make a living and he really had some tough times and later, much later, he bumped in somewhere in a city to this friend of his, this fellow who hosted him at this party and he was sort of in tatters and hadn't been taking good care of himself and couldn't make a living.

[40:02]

And his friend said, well, what's going on? How are you? You're in these terrible circumstances. Didn't you know? Didn't you know that there was this jewel in your hem, in your robe? You've been carrying around this jewel all this time. And, of course, the fellow, the poor, Poor fellow didn't know that he had this jewel right there, right on his person, that he was fully endowed with abundant ability to take good care of himself, and that he was a rich man, actually, with this jewel. This is one of the stories of the Lotus Sutra, and the... You know, in the commentary on this parable, the host is the Buddha, and we are all the, you could say, the friend who doesn't realize that we're carrying a jewel with us all the times, that we are fully endowed.

[41:16]

And it takes us a while to realize we have lots of ideas of who we are and what the self is, and to finally understand that we are child of the Buddha, you know, that we are awakened nature itself. Not that we have, and parables always, you know, or analogies, you know, don't quite, they're not perfect. So it's not like we have Buddha nature, like the jewel in our sleeve or our top knot or in our hem, it's not like we're carrying it around. Actually, it's we are jewel. We are awakened nature. Not that we have it somewhere inside, but our very nature is.

[42:24]

awakened nature. So this is one of the main thrusts of the Lotus Sutra, which we'll be looking at the awakened nature. Just to finish that parable with a parable of my own, or a story of my own, this was a dream I had. It was a very simple dream. I dreamt that my mother, who is no longer alive, and she wasn't alive in the dream either, gave me a gold watch. It looked like an old-fashioned gold watch that wasn't working. And in the dream, I took it to a watch repair person, like a little shop, and the watch repair person took care of it and fixed it when I came to pick it up he said it was a gentleman he said that watch is worth a million dollars and I had no idea that this was you know this this watch that was a gift from my mother was worth so much it was a treasure it was a treasure and

[43:52]

For me, that dream was a very important dream. The gifts from my mother, all the immeasurable treasures, the main one being, or I don't know about the main one, maybe the main one being that I knew, I knew without a doubt that I was loved. That immeasurable gift, you know, What other gift does one need, really? That gift. And also the attunement with who I was and mirroring who my needs and all those things are immeasurable, immeasurable gifts worth a million bucks. And that kind of treasure. But it was like the Lotus Sutra, you know, that there was this gift. And I feel like...

[44:54]

This jewel or this gift is our inheritance as well, is a gift from the Buddha, being a child of the Buddha, a child of awakening. All of us share that, and this is a gift beyond measure. A gift beyond measure. So please, those of you who are in the practice period, renew and re-consecrate every morning, actually, this vow to thoroughly take up the practice and not disregard a single being. And for those of you not in the practice period, in the formal practice period, actually Every day is an informal practice. What else is it but a period of practice?

[45:57]

Just one moment after another of trying to practice with awareness and compassion. There's nothing more important and more beneficial. to the whole world, to broadly benefit the world. There's nothing that's more important. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving.

[47:04]

May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[47:06]

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