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 evening, everyone. Nice to see you all tonight. Many of you I remember seeing in your squares last night. It's nice to see you here tonight. And also welcome someone who wasn't participating in the practice period, but is here for our first lecture of the practice period. David and I will share the lecture tonight. As Kodo said, I'll speak for about 15 minutes, and then David will speak for about 15 minutes. And if all goes well, that'll leave about 10 minutes for some questions. The theme of the practice period is fierce compassion, enacting bodhisattva principles in a troubled world.

[01:10]

From Taigen Dan Layton's book, Faces of Compassion, classic bodhisattva archetypes and their modern expression, which is the textbook for our practice period, his definition of a bodhisattva is, bodhisattvas are beings, who are dedicated to the universal awakening of all beings. They exist as guides and providers of help to suffering beings and offer everyone an approach to a meaningful spiritual life." So the first sentence is a wonderful sentence. Bodhisattvas are beings who are dedicated to the universal awakening of all beings. A wildly ambitious statement. One, because we're going to not just awaken five or six people or our partner, but we're going to try to awaken all beings. And two, because it reveres to awakening. A Buddhist tradition, awake means, you know, to bring wisdom and compassion into a person's life, the kind that leads to happiness and peace.

[02:14]

So, a wonderful ambition and commitment for a bodhisattva. And the second sentence is wonderful too. They exist as guides and providers of help to suffering beings. So bodhisattvas are great guides and providers of help to suffering beings. The word bodhisattva comes from the Sanskrit roots bodhi meaning awakening or enlightenment and sattva meaning sentient beings. Sattva also has some etymological roots that include intention or intention to awaken and courage, referring to resolution involved in following the path. So combining all this together, bodhisattvas are enlightening, radiant beings, valiantly functioning in helpful ways right in the busyness of the world. That's from Dan Layton.

[03:14]

And the bodhisattva has been a heroic ideal of Mahayana Buddhism. which we'll go more into in the class on Tuesday. I was reading Norman Fisher's marvelous book, and he calls bodhisattvas the energizing bunnies of Buddhism. In the many sutras that touch on the bodhisattva ideal, Mahayana Buddhism has created a marvelous, extravagant, idealistic, and imaginative portrait of a perfect human being whose love and enthusiasm is boundless. So this key aspect of a bodhisattva practice is the commitment to the path of awakening and to carry out this commitment for the benefit of all beings. This commitment is expressed in our tradition with the four bodhisattva vows. The four bodhisattva vows are beings are numberless, I vow to save them, delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them.

[04:20]

Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. We chant these every morning during morning service, and we will probably chant these at the end of this lecture. So I think the central... concept here that I want to talk about more is the term vow. And, you know, vow has a lot of different meanings, and part of the definition of a bodhisattva is a person who lives by vow instead of by karma. So Haku Okamura, in his excellent book, Living by Vow, says, ordinary people are those who live being pulled by their karma. Bodhisattvas are those who live by their vows.

[05:21]

So karma is our conditioning, our desire, our need, the values and ideas that drive us, our belief systems from our childhood and culture, much of which causes us suffering. So what does it mean to make this shift from karma to vow? It's not abandoning karma. Everything remains the same. We don't reject it or abandon it. The question is, do you bet your life on karma or do you bet your life on vow? Vow in this context is much wider than solemn promises or personal commitment. There's a contradiction inherent in these vows. You know, we vow to do things that are impossible. You know, vowing to do the impossible. It's a marvelous idea, vowing to do the impossible. It's more like a vision or a pillar of support in the middle of our life.

[06:38]

Vow is the compass for your life, is another way to think of it. Sometimes I use the metaphor that, you know, karma is this rushing torrent of river, kind of imagine the river running through the Grand Canyon, and you're in one of those boats going down the Grand Canyon with an oar, and your vow is the oar that allows you to steer that boat through all the difficulties of your karmic life and keep you safe and on the right track. And this is this sense of vow that it's an impossible thing that it's you've set a standard so high that it's impossible means that our practice is endless. We value continuous ongoing practice, you need an attitude of softness, if you're going to be practicing

[07:39]

forever and are climbing, you know, it's like having the ability to do a very long, you know, maybe 50 mile hike or something, and you need to have some capacity to take care of yourself in this long process. And you need to keep this up with a certain amount of dedication and determination, but it can't just be done with will. We also think of vow as being identical with zazen, you know. Zazen is not just meditation, zazen is vow. And I was thinking that, you know, when you take on an impossible task like this, you know, the natural thing is it produces a certain sense of humbleness when you take on something that's impossible. It's also nice because you don't have to compare yourself to other people. Since we're all doing something that's impossible, someone has gotten one one-hundred-thousandth of the way towards the impossible, and you've gotten half one-hundred-thousandth of the way, you're both sort of like nowhere on the way to achieving this impossible goal, this impossible goal of vowing to

[09:02]

save all beings, vowing delusions are inexhaustible, vowing to end all of our delusions, Dharmagates are boundless, vowing to enter each moment as an opportunity, as a Dharmagate, as a moment to see reality as it is, and Buddha's way is unsurvastable, I vow to become it. just raced through, you know, all the definitions of a bodhisattva. I'm hoping you've all caught that. So what I thought I would do is talk a little bit about the essential and defining practice of a bodhisattva is compassion. And I'm going to tell a brief story about my inspiration in the area of

[10:11]

fierce compassion. When I was a young man, I was first inspired to go in search of the Dharma by a book by Philip Kaplan called Three Pillars of Zen, which had eight marvelous stories of all these people getting enlightened. And this was back in the late 60s, where getting enlightenment was the theme of the day. So I set out my VW van to go to in search of the truth. and ended up driving into Tasar where I heard there was this famous Zen master. And I was a practice student that summer of 1970. And I had many experiences and got very inspired by the practice there. And I remember this. But that inspiration I had then was some kind of inspiration of, you know, attaining some enlightenment, some great wisdom that would solve all my problems in the world. And I really, you know, kind of grasped that kind of concept of Zen.

[11:14]

And I remember the next summer in 1971, I was working basically just as a general laborer at Tashara, and the senior staff at Tashara had a meeting with Suzuki Roshi, where they were complaining about the guests that were always interfering with their practice, and probably the guest students didn't know what they were doing and all of this stuff. And apparently Suzuki Hiroshi had gotten quite strict with them and angry and critical, which he didn't do very often, but apparently it was critical enough that it sort of set them back. So that evening in the lecture that he gave, he gave a very short lecture, maybe 15 or 20 minutes, and One of the senior students, one of the leaders of the students who had been in that meeting raised his, he said, I'm sure there'll be some questions tonight. And one of the senior students raised his hand and said, you know, Suzuki Roshi, I've been practicing here with you hard for five years, and I still find it very difficult to be kind with people when they're, you know, bothering me.

[12:32]

And... Tsukiroshi looked at him and he said, five years is nothing. You don't know how hard it is to love some people. And there was a kind of quiet that settled over the whole zendo. That was that beautiful stone zendo that was down by the creek. And I just had this sense that... like everybody in that room, maybe 80 people, had been loved by Suzuki Hiroshi. In some way, they'd never been loved by anybody before. And I certainly felt that way. And I was a newcomer. And, you know, it just sort of struck me, what a goal to set, to love everybody, you know, to make that somehow your life passion, you know. And... That's when I learned that Zen Buddhism wasn't about attaining wisdom.

[13:38]

Of course, it is wisdom. It's wisdom and compassion. But the tremendous emphasis on compassion, the emphasis on being a compassionate being. And, you know, I remember I walked out of that lecture and I just wanted to turn to the first person I can say, did you hear that lecture? Did you understand what he was saying? Because for me... That was a moment when my aspiration for practice moved from something like, oh, I'm just going to have this big experience and be wise to, well, maybe compassion is what this is about. Partly because I could see the value in having that kind of aspiration in the way Suzuki Roshi lived his life. and the way he was able to help people, and the quality of his life. So there's a term I want to introduce to you, which many of you are familiar with, called bodhicitta, which is the aspiration to awaken.

[14:43]

Bodhicitta is actually a fairly complicated term. Sometimes it's called the thought of awakening. Sometimes it's the intention to awake. But I think I found in Shantideva, who several of our texts, he wrote The Way of a Bodhisattva, and two of our texts in our bibliography are commentaries on that or translations of it. The one by Pema Chodron is particularly good. Anyway, his idea was bodhicitta is primarily a commitment to engage in the practice of awakening, which is activated And motivated by the wish to help others be free. Or the aspiration to care for and waken all beings. That's bodhicitta. So bodhicitta is kind of one of these mysterious things that all beings have bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is a literal translation from Sanskrit is enlightened mind.

[15:51]

In Buddhism, we all say bodhicitta. All beings have enlightened mind. And another way people interpret bodhicitta is that you have an insight into your enlightened mind, your enlightened mind that wants to awaken so that you can waken and help all beings. And so another way people think of it is the thought of awakening is that's when you step on the path of awakening. practice, when you had this insight, this bodhicitta, this insight into your bodhicitta, your desire to live that kind of life. And I bring that forward because that's usually the inspiration that brings us into following these bodhisattva vows, this inspiration and aspiration to become a bodhisattva. And my suspicion and belief fundamentally is that everybody that's in this class that's taking this practice period has had that moment where they've been inspired, seen their bodhicitta, and set off on the path of being a bodhisattva.

[16:58]

And maybe at some point we'll have a chance to talk a little about each one of yours, inspiration that set you on the path of a bodhisattva. So that was all I wanted to say. I've taken my 15 minutes up and I will now pass the baton to my partner. I'm very pleased to be sharing this practice period with David and look forward to your comments. Thank you. Thank you, Ed. It's a joy and an honor also to be participating and joining you in this endeavor. And thank you for that beautiful, inspiring introduction to the Bodhisattva ideal. And good evening, everyone. It's a joy and an honor to be with you all once again. So for my contribution tonight, I'm going to offer a brief introduction to the seven classic Bodhisattva archetypal figures. that we'll be studying during this 10-week practice period.

[18:01]

And I'm going to say a little bit about how it is that these traditional Buddhist figures can be relevant to us now and why we might want to engage with and embody them in our day-to-day life. So the proposition that we're making is that Bodhisattva archetypal figures can serve as psychological and spiritual models for our practice. And if you're not familiar with the concept of archetypes, one definition is that they are innate, universal, preconscious, psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic themes of human life emerge. So that's a whole lot packed into one sentence. Again, archetypes are innate, universal, preconscious, psychic dispositions that form the substrate or the basis, if you will, from which the basic themes of human life emerge.

[19:04]

And many of you might be familiar with archetypes through the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalysis Carl Jung. And he described archetypes as a way in which humans externalize and project certain unconscious beliefs instinctual patterns of their own character, or you could say their own prevailing psychological structure, mental structure, onto others and also onto the world. So it's not just about projecting onto other people, but actually the way that we perceive patterns and narratives and images of the world. So such archetypes serve to organize, to direct and inform human thought and behavior. And I'm sure many of you are familiar with archetypal symbols and figures because they're so often used in myths and storytelling across different cultures.

[20:08]

And that includes these days in movies as well. So examples of archetypal figures include the great mother and father, the child or the innocent, the lover, the wise sage, the trickster, the explorer, the warrior, the healer, and the hero. And particularly the bodhisattva, the bodhisattva's endeavor is particularly recognized or characterized as a hero in their deeper endeavor. So the notion is that by examining these common psychic patterns or archetypes, we can recognize and better understand aspects of ourselves, including what motivates and inspires us. So each of the Bodhisattva archetypes that we'll be studying have their own characteristics, their own psychological approach,

[21:19]

and their own strategy towards practice, as well as their own function as spiritual resources for practitioners such as you and me. Ed had mentioned Teigen Dan Leighton's book, Faces of Compassion, and the subtitle is Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression. And Teigen says that archetypes exist as both external forces to provide encouragement and support, as well as internal energies to be fostered. And above all, he writes, the Bodhisattva archetypes serve as examples and models of awakened practice that we can emulate and incorporate. So if all beings have the capacity for clear, open, awakened awareness, posited by Mahayana teachings of Buddha nature, Then by seeing the bodhisattvas as archetypes, as patterns or approaches to awakening activity, we may learn models with which we can each express the elements of our own enlightening and beneficial nature.

[22:37]

So there are models for awakening that call forth our own awakening, our own capacity. The seven classic bodhisattva archetypes that we'll be studying are Siddhartha Gautama, Manjushri, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteswara, Kishitagarbha, Maitreya, and Vimalakirti. And so I'm going to walk through each of these, just give you a very brief overview of them. And I realized right before I... got ready for this tonight that I could have had a slideshow, actually, an image of all the bodhisattvas, but unless I didn't have the time to pull it together to share it with you. But if you're taking the class on Tuesday nights, we'll be actually looking at some of the images as well. So Siddhartha Gautama, or Shakyamuni Buddha, is the historical Buddha whose home-leaving, path to awakening, and eventual Buddhahood

[23:40]

forms a very primary archetype for all Buddhist practice. And because he was an actual human being, we can perhaps more easily resonate with his life struggles, including the tensions and the difficulties he encountered in leaving behind his family, his wealth, his position and title, and his physical comforts in order to pursue ultimate liberation. and actually with no guarantee that he would actually find it or experience it. So Shakyamuni Buddha is also designated as a Bodhisattva in the early Jataka tales, which are legendary stories about his many previous lives before the one in which he attained Buddhahood. And then the next Bodhisattva is Manjushri, who is the Bodhisattva of wisdom and insights, who penetrates into the... the fundamental emptiness, or the true nature of all things.

[24:43]

And his name, Manjushri, means noble, gentle one. And he's often depicted as a prince, and he's seen riding a lion and welding a Raja sword, which he uses to cut through delusion. And you often find him sitting at the center of a Zen meditation hall. including here at San Francisco Zen Center, just down at City Center. In the zendo there, we have a small figure of Manjushri. And his presence there is encouraging deep introspection and the awakening of insights. And he's also, another aspect is that he's revered for his skillfulness with language. And the next archetype, Samantabhadra, is the bodhisattva of enlightening activity in the world. So he represents the shining function and the application of wisdom in daily activities.

[25:45]

And his name, Samanta Bhadra, means universal virtue. And he's often, I love this so much, he's often depicted riding a six-tusk white elephant. However, it's said that he's actually hard to encounter because he performs his beneficial purpose while hidden in worldly roles. So he doesn't need to be seen. He's actually like a stealth bodhisattva in many ways. And Samantabhadra especially represents the luminous vision of the interconnectedness of all beings, right? Our beautiful, intimate connectedness is something that he also represents. Probably the most popular bodhisattva is Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Ed was talking about how central compassion is to the bodhisattva ideal. And Avalokiteshvara appears in more different forms than any of the other bodhisattvas.

[26:54]

The thing that I particularly like is that Avalokiteshvara is not one to be limited by gender, right? So this bodhisattva is depicted at different times as male, female, and even non-binary. So I'll use the pronoun, the gender pronoun, they. They are called Chenrezig in Tibet, the goddess of mercy, Kuan Yin in China, and Kenan, Kanzeyan, and Kanjizai in Japan. And sometimes they have a thousand, they're depicted with a thousand helping hands and eyes. And then other times they're, particularly in Tibet, they are represented as wrathful with a horse head on top. I quite haven't figured out why they make that connection. And the meaning, the meaning of their name, Avalokiteshvara, is regardor of the world's cries.

[27:58]

And this is implying, of course, empathy and an active listening as primary practices of compassion. Well, the Bodhisattva, Kishitagarbha, the next one is doctrinally of kind of... you could say, lesser importance than the other bodhisattvas, the other archetypes that we'll be studying. He's perhaps equal to Avalokiteshvar in popularity, and particularly in Japan. In Japan, he is better known as Jizo. And his name means earth storehouse or earth room. and he's regarded for his fertile relationship with the earth as well as nurturing and protective function. So this is another way where the kind of the feminine and masculine aspects kind of get blurred together in this fascinating way.

[28:59]

In Japan, Jezo is popularly considered a guardian of travelers and children and women. And he's also associated with ceremonies for deceased children. And this stems from his traditional role as a guardian of the underworld and afterlife, as well as a guide and friend to those in the hell realms. So he actually goes into hell and befriends those who are suffering down there and tries to offer them solace in some way. And so usually, if you see a jizu, jizu is typically depicted as a shaved head monk carrying a wish-fulfilling gem in some way, or oftentimes a staff with a number of rings on it. The next bodhisattva archetype is Maitreya.

[30:00]

And Maitreya is the disciple of Shakyamuni Duda. who the Buddha predicted would become the next incarnate Buddha in the distant future, although he didn't actually say when as far as I know. So while he waits his destiny as the future Buddha, Maitreya, and Maitreya's name means loving one, currently resides in Tushita heaven. And Tushita heaven is said to be reachable through meditation. So while his devotional followers prepare the world, for his eventual arrival, it's said that he spends his time contemplating how to save all suffering beings. And in China, Maitreya is nearly synonymous with his incarnation as the historical Chinese monk Hotei, who is commonly depicted in popular culture as a fat, jolly, laughing Buddha. So if you've ever seen the laughing, fat Buddha,

[31:01]

This is a manifestation expression of Maitreya. And the final Bodhisattva archetype is Vilma Kirti, who was a wealthy lay disciple and a patron of Shakyamuni. His name means undefiled fame or glory. And his wisdom and enlightenment is described as surpassing those of all the other disciples and Bodhisattvas. And as a layman, he practiced in the midst of illusions of the world without being caught by them, all the while benefiting beings. So he's particularly an aspiration for people who are lay practitioners for this very reason. And you don't have to be a monastic in order to wake up and serve all beings in this powerful way. And Ludmilla Kirti is famous for both his thunderous silence as well as his elegance.

[32:01]

And I'll say he's kind of critical of many of the other kind of bodhisattvas and disciples of the Buddha. It's something kind of fun to explore when you study Vimlak Kirti. So those are the seven. So while there are many other bodhisattvas in notes in numerous Buddhist sutras and texts, our focus during these 10 weeks will be on these seven major archetypes. As inspirations, models, spiritual resources, all these Bodhisattva characters are alive and dynamic. And now we may find them interesting insofar as how they developed and been engaged with over the centuries by the numerous Dharma practitioners who've come before us. What I think is particularly interesting is the way in which as these bodhisattvas enter our modern cultures, and particularly so-called Western culture, how it is they will find new guises and evolving qualities that are resonant with who we are now.

[33:16]

So you could say their true worth and efficacy lies in how it is that we might bring them to life in our own unique way. to help us meet the miry challenges we're encountering at this very moment on our own journey toward collective liberation. Greg Fane, I think some of you may know him, he's the current tanto at Tassajara. He likes to describe San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara as Bodhisattva Training Academy. Bodhisattva Training Academy. So you might consider that participating in this particular practice period, you too are in training as a bodhisattva, one working to fully realize and manifest your Buddha nature for the welfare and liberation of all beings, including, of course, yourself.

[34:21]

So in this vein and throughout the practice period, Ed and I invite you to try on each of these seven Bodhisattva archetypes and explore how their particular characteristics and qualities empower and inspire your own liberative and compassionate practices. We'll also invite you to identify contemporary figures who, in your view, embody these bodhisattva qualities. And not only well-known public figures, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Angela Davis, the Dalai Lama, Joanna Macy, Thich Nhat Hanh, and many others, of course, but also individuals with whom you have a more personal relationship with, such as a parent.

[35:24]

or a grandparent, a school teacher, an activist friend, a spiritual or career mentor, and even a fictional character. I confess one of my personal favorite contemporary bodhisattvas who has inspired me since I was a young child is a comic book superhero. And many of you know this already. You've heard my story many times, Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is probably my most favorite contemporary fictional bodhisattva. And yes, I am eagerly awaiting the release of Wonder Woman 1984. Comes out in December now, in case you're interested. Excuse me a second. I got a flu shot yesterday in my throat. It's a little dry from the consequence of that. So please excuse me. So I think all of us can agree that our world is in great need right now of dedicated superheroes and compassionate visionaries.

[36:34]

And we in our world are facing many challenges, including multitudes of systemic sources of suffering. And before us are the issues of climate and environmental damage that imperiling our habitat, the deep karmic legacy of racism, the rampant injustice and inequality in myriad forms, including economic disparity, persistent sexism, and the erosion of civil rights that are destroying many lives. And even though these issues can seem overwhelming at times and kind of, you know, even maybe tipping us into a certain level of despair, Buddhism and history show that change does happen. even if we can't necessarily control it or know the outcomes. And while we shouldn't overlook the numerous and tragic societal failures throughout history, it's important to also acknowledge and separate the many successful movements to improve the human condition, including, I'm sure you can think of many, the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage,

[37:55]

the civil rights and LGBTQ rights movements, and Black Lives Matter. These movements on behalf of human and planetary welfare have made real differences in the world, reminding us we have the ability to respond. It's this ability to respond, you could say our respond-ability, our responsibility, that the bodhisattva embraces, right? The bodhisattva is naturally just responsive. That is the heart of compassion. It's a responsive nature, a turning towards suffering to address, alleviate. So as the American statesman and civil rights leader, John Lewis, reminded us in his last piece, I believe it was in the New York Times, he said, now is the time to answer the calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.

[39:02]

Now is the time to answer the calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe. But you need not do this work alone. We can do it together. And as I said in my statement during the practice period opening ceremony on Tuesday morning, when the Bodhisattva comes forth and supports the world, the world comes forth and supports the Bodhisattva. Our practice is not separate from the world, but grounded in participation in it. The way that we work together, makes the world a better place. The way we work together to make the world a better place is a profoundly intimate affair. It reminds us of our unfathomable interconnectedness. So thank you for supporting each other in this endeavor over the next 10 weeks and hopefully beyond to

[40:14]

really bring wisdom and compassion to the world that is in great need right now. 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, please visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[40:50]

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