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 morning. Welcome back, Elliot. Welcome back from the land down under. Nice to see you again. So, I'd like to begin, as I always do, by saying, expressing my appreciation for my teacher, Sojin Roshi, Mel Weitzman, Abbott of Berkeley Zen Center.

[01:01]

Thanks for his support and encouragement for many years. And just to say that this talk is just to encourage you in your practice. I'd also like to thank Tenshin Roshi for inviting me to give this talk. I'd like to thank Arshiso for her impeccable presence, leadership, really a joy. And my practice leader, Leslie, and my Chico Bradley. I wanted to thank Bradley this morning. In particular, it's unusual that the Jiko is on the kitchen crew. Didn't start out that way, but when Bradley went on the kitchen crew, which very graciously, flexibility, said, sure, hike, okay.

[02:14]

And then we thought, well, can you keep on being my Jiko? And lo and behold, it's working out just fine. I'm so happy about that. And as you can see, Bradley's wearing work clothes. which means we will end at... Help me out, somebody. 10.15. 10.15, Kitchen Crew's going to be getting up, right? So maybe a little bit before 10.15. Okay. Good. That's sorted out. This is Veterans Day, so I also want to thank... all the men and women throughout history, our history, humanity's history, who have found themselves, for one reason or another, in harm's way, in service in the military.

[03:20]

And dedicate my practice to having less veterans in the future. We'll have a service, evening service time, we'll do a special service for Veterans Day, and anybody in the assembly who has served in whatever nation is invited to offer incense while we chant. So that's a lot of thanking. My practice is gratitude. My practice is gratitude. Abbot Steve Stuckey. Oh, I miss that man. I miss him a lot. You know, he shared with me this practice.

[04:32]

of getting up in the morning. He said, when I get up in the morning, getting out of bed, my feet touch the floor, my hands go angasho, and I say gratitude. So I've been doing that for some years now. It's become fairly automatic. So now my practice is to remember to put the intentionality behind the automaticness, but yeah, that's working, I feel, and not only first thing in the morning, but even if I go, if I'm lying down for a nap or whatever, it's interesting. It's like every time now, and I'll be doing that for the rest of my life. Yeah, I expect so. This gratitude and appreciation is a way of expressing or accessing connection to have

[06:04]

a felt sense of connection, to understand that I need not be so lonely when I can find something to appreciate something to be grateful for, I feel a connection. And this connection builds intimacy, intimacy with others, intimacy with the immediate environment. And I'm not so lonely. And this intimacy builds, helps to access non-fear, confidence, some kind of foundational okayness.

[07:32]

foundational okayness for laughs this morning. I'll call that suchness or thusness. It's really great. studying face-to-face transmission with Tenshin Roshi this practice period. And he's introduced various texts, mentioned various texts, including the famous Zen poem that we chant regularly, written by our great ancestor Dungshan, the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, which begins, the teaching of thusness has been intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors.

[08:40]

In face-to-face transmission, what is it that is intimately transmitted? The teaching of thusness. What is the teaching of thusness or suchness? just this, or things as it is. What is that? Just to further muddy the waters, Oh, we're just getting started. I'd like to introduce a koan. Yay! Case 19 from the Mumonkan.

[09:46]

A wonderful little story about face-to-face transmission. Zhao Zhou asked Nanquan, What is the way? Nan Chuan said, Ordinary mind is the way. Zhao Zhou asked, Should I try to direct myself toward it? Nan Chuan replied, If you try to direct yourself toward it, you will miss it. Zhao Zhou asked, If I do not try to reach it, how can I know the way? Then Nan Chuan said, The way has nothing to do with knowing it or not knowing it. Knowing it is delusion. Not knowing it is blankness. When you enter the way without doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as the sky.

[10:50]

How can this be discussed at the level of affirmation and negation? So, this is a lovely story. It's dokasan, right? This is a dokasan between a teacher and a student. Supposedly, as the lamp records have it, He wasn't Zhaozhou when this exchange took place. He didn't get the name Zhaozhou until much later. He was a young monk named Tsongshen, maybe 18 years old. Anyway, he was 18 when he first started practicing with Nan Chuan. So I think of him as a new summer student.

[11:56]

First summer in Tazahara. you're very sincere. What is the way? This is way-seeking mind. This is how shall I practice? What is the way? And Dan Chuan says, ordinary mind is the way. Everyday mind is the way. The way is not separate from this, right here, right now. Your current experience, right here, right now, is not separate from the way. And then, Chao Zhou, or Song Chen, he asks a really good question. A very sincere question.

[13:03]

I think I would ask the same question. I think maybe I am asking the same question. What do I do? How do I get that? Should I direct myself towards that? And if so, how? What do I do? Natron says, if you try too hard, you'll miss it. Another translation has it, if you go towards it, you betray your own practice. Trying to get something, trying to grasp onto something that's perceived as other, as outside, that betrays your own practice.

[14:06]

Booby-strap yourself right there. And then Song Shen asks an even better question. If I don't try, how will I know the way? If I don't do something, how will I know? If I do not try to reach it, how can I know the way? This is a very genuine question, and it's a question about practice. How do we practice?

[15:11]

What do we do with this mind that's got to get it, got to get it, got to whatever it is that's right here, right now, like fish swimming around in the water saying, tell me about this water. I got to see this water. Can I taste it? Can I smell it? Water. I've heard so much about water. I think Tassajara, Soto Zen, Nantuan Zen, Bai Zhang Zen, been going on for a while. Centuries.

[16:15]

Centuries of developing a sort of technology, if you will. So we have lots of things to do with that mind. We give that mind lots of things to do. We'll put you on the dawn reel. We'll put you in the kitchen. You've got things to do. You can do things. Or simply eat. general labor, you know, you're Tanganyo, monk. That's plenty. Follow the schedule. Get up when the wake-up bell rings. We'll make you shusou. We'll make you responsible for ringing the wake-up bell. So there's lots of things to do. Good. Keep that mind occupied. And then. And then.

[17:17]

When you enter the way without doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as the sky. How can this be discussed at the level of affirmation and negation? Just being present, just saying yes. This is Kurosawaki saying, we do not practice to gain Satori. We practice being pulled around by Satori. we practice being pulled around by satori.

[18:19]

To practice the way, to enter the way, is to be pulled around by satori. Can't be discussed at the level of affirmation and negation. But as we all know, Too often, we are pulled around by samsara. Samsara, the cycle of birth and death. The Chinese translation for samsara, in translating Buddhist sutras, is just two characters, birth and death. That's the translation for samsara in the Dugan fascicle shoji, birth and death.

[19:27]

It's samsara. There's language in there very similar to what we chant in the Genja Goan. This will be familiar to you. Birth is an expression complete. this moment. Death is an expression complete this moment. They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring nor summer the end of spring. Your life right now is an expression complete this moment. Your body right now, is not separate from the present moment. I enjoy saying that.

[20:34]

This is like, you know, I defy you to dispute that your body is not in the present moment. That's a double negative. Anyway, your body's in the present moment. Go ahead. Argue with that. Give me an argument about that. Yeah. And yet, some of you are thinking about what practice position you'll have in the summer. Not even next practice period. Summer. I know. Or what's going to happen over interim? Or what about this relationship? Or that relationship?

[21:38]

Of course. That's what we do. That's what humans do. That's why Dogen is talking about it. Don't call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring. Just your life right now is an expression, complete this moment. And there's nothing wrong with any of that stuff anyway. There's nothing wrong with planning or thinking about what you need to do. My goodness, I think you do have to do that. And anyway, as good Mahayanists, we vow to stay in samsara. We vow to practice in samsara.

[22:41]

We just do our best to not be caught by samsara. Samsara is not the problem. how will I know the way if I don't try?

[23:52]

In practice, a tasahara is pretty effortful. You may have noticed. You could say, there's a lot of trying there. Or as Reb was talking about in his early days, just certainly ample opportunity for you to apply trying. But we say effort without desire. than just doing. Then we bring ourselves to the zendo.

[25:16]

We bring ourselves to the cushion. give up. Just surrender. When ancestor Dungshan was taking his leave of his teacher, Yunnan, there's a famous exchange in that face-to-face transmission. where he said, in the future, if people ask me about my teacher's portrait, what should I tell them? And Yunnan said, just this person. The teaching of suchness that is intimately transmitted

[26:29]

Just this person. Fun fact, just this person is a courtroom plea in Tang Dynasty China justice system. It was like saying a plea of no contest. Just this person, just this man of Han. You have me. Here's my body. Just this person. I throw myself on the mercy of the court. Just this person. Flawed. Defective. Lots of problems. makes practice hard.

[27:46]

It makes it hard to accept, wow, really? This body? This person? Right here? Right now? This ordinary mind? You haven't seen this ordinary mind. I don't know. You must be talking about somebody else's ordinary mind. No. No. Each person, each one, birth in a human body is all that's necessary for being a bodhisattva in training. So we must accept that in order to enter the way.

[28:59]

Sure, there's effort. Absolutely. And we must accept just this person to practice the teaching of sushness. Right here and now, there is no second person. I wrote that on the back of Nancy Son's Raksu. That's Dogen II. I can't recall from where. Right here and now, there is no second person.

[30:06]

Please, please don't wish for a second person. Just this person. practice of upright sitting, of self-perceiving and employing samadhi, is, shall we say, aligning oneself with the teaching of suchness.

[31:53]

And you know, Suzuki Roshi, my teacher's teacher, he emphasized a lot with his students, when you practice zazen, to have a warm-hearted feeling. Bring a warm-hearted feeling to your practice of zazen. feeling of connection, abiding in a samadhi of gratitude, abiding in a samadhi of appreciation, we can begin to appreciate this life. maybe against what you might feel are pretty strong odds.

[33:09]

It wouldn't surprise me if some of you feel that way. Those are long odds. The Buddha said so. He said it was very rare to appreciate this life. think that's what's on offer abiding in this samadhi of gratitude and begin to appreciate this life and have confidence in your way and having confidence in your way you can share that with others which is the mahayana, which is the bodhisattva path.

[34:12]

You can begin to practice the paramitas. You can practice dhanaparamita. You get that opportunity, which is also pretty rare. feels pretty necessary. Seems to me the suffering world is crying out for just that. You get to be the thousand arms and hands and eyes of Avalokiteshvara. Somebody's got to do it.

[35:16]

Keeping this warm-hearted feeling in your zazen. Practicing this intimate connection with breath, and body. You feel connection with all beings. Your treasure store will open of itself. and you will use it at will. Does that sound familiar? You've heard that one before? What?

[36:29]

Your treasure's door will open up itself. When does that happen? happening right now. What is the way? Ordinary mind is the way. I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Suzuki Roshi of all time. Something he said during Sesshin at City Center in 1969, which I feel like if I said this, whatever, there he goes.

[37:39]

but this isn't me. This is Suzuki Roshi, okay? Verbatim transcript, including brackets, laughs. But after you attain complete liberation from this world without escaping from it, you will have all the money people has. laughs. So there is no problem. Laughs. If you know every one of us, oh no, one out of ten person have this kind of freedom. We will have no war, no social problem. We will be

[38:44]

All happy. With this kind of understanding of practice, we practice zazak. Okay? One out of ten. This I find vastly encouraging. When I think about the world's problems and social problems, and oh, how many people tell me in the practice discussion room, the world is on fire. head.

[39:45]

I agree. And it's all mutable. Everything is always changing. Sometimes things change real fast. So in my effort to make sure that the Jiko could get back to the kitchen on time. I've actually, that's my talk. That's all I got for you this morning. There's a question there. It's not separate from Grandmother Mine.

[40:47]

You know, the etymology for that word, you study commentaries on that koan, which I did a little bit. Another way of saying it's eternal or ever-present or everyday mind, the mind that is always with us, the baseline. So I'd say sometimes it manifests as grandmotherly mind. Yes, I think so. the felt sense of connection, which, just for laughs this morning, I'm calling suchness, dustness.

[42:05]

We say, view reality as empty, shunyata. Right? We chant the Heart Sutra, no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no this, no that, empty, empty, empty, empty. No own being anywhere to be found. And experience it as ta-ta-ta, dustness. The One of the names of Buddha, Tathagada, Thus Come One. So what shows up, what arises in that felt sense of connection? Yeah, I think seems quite natural to say I'm experiencing that as grandmotherly mind. Compassion.

[43:12]

Compassion means suffer with. I'm not separate, connected. Yeah. Yeah. I love to watch Mel Do anything. Handle anything. Manipulate with the hands. Manos. Manipulate. He goes, he's famous for this. Bidoshi, he'll go up to the altar and start rearranging things. It's just, it's so darling to watch, you know, the care, you know. Yeah. The connection, you can just feel it. Feel it.

[44:13]

He's not separate from... You don't see things as outside. That's pretty remarkable. That's how I'd like to practice. Yes? When our treasure house opens up itself, what will do you use it with? What will? Yes, you will use it at will. What is this will that uses the treasure? I think it's Buddhas. I think little me, the manas, the individuating consciousness, at that point is not the shock-caller. Yes? celebrating Veterans Day here.

[45:16]

I'm not familiar with Veterans Day, yet, you know, my picture of it is like, what? Now, here, somewhere? What are we doing? So I'd like to know what the intention is to celebrate it here. Because for me, this is like the worst aspect of America I can think of. So I'd like to know what's the intention, what do we honored or celebrated? People. Why not be nursing day? Septic tank, copper's day. Why veterans day? I suppose because the degree of trauma danger, harm, and anguish involved.

[46:23]

It merits recognition and some tender acknowledgment. That's my sense of it, Michael. She said, samsara is not the problem. She said, I was questioning, what is it? She said, attaining liberation from this world without escaping from it. Yes, without trying to escape from it. Verbatim quote, without escaping from it. Yeah, that's the Mahayana. That's how we practice. Samsara is not the problem. Samsara, nirvana. two sides of the same coin. What is that coin? It's the ground of reality. It's the ground of our existence.

[47:27]

Go ahead. to sit upright in the midst of it without grasping or pushing away any bit of it. You could say any number of things, or say nothing, or I could just say, what? I'm not a shouty kind of guy, It would be appropriate in that situation. A good quats could be appropriate, yeah.

[48:32]

Yeah. If you grasp it or push it away, it's samsara. If you don't, it's nirvana. That's rather simplistic, but so be it. Yes? soldiers who killed Jewish people in the Second World War are also included in this Veterans Day because it would never occur to me to celebrate German veteran soldiers because that's to me kind of something not to be celebrated because they were killing people innocently and I lost two grandfathers that were both missing in the Second World War but I would never celebrate them being soldiers. Yeah. Yeah. So are they nuclear? Yes. Yes.

[49:34]

Everyone's pain is included. The weltschmerz, the pain of the world, is included. Kazeon doesn't say, I'm going to listen to these cries, I'm not going to listen to those cries. I don't think so. It's hard to take in. I'm sorry for your pain. I suffer with you. We suffer together. Samsara is not the problem. Separating and blaming leads to this great suffering.

[50:43]

And more separating and blaming is not the cure. love can heal the world. So this evening's ceremony, we will chant the loving-kindness meditation, the Tathagata's sermon on just how important that is. And we're not going to exclude anyone from that love. Yes, Milo. Thank you for what I feel is speaking and embodying the truth and what's real.

[51:46]

And it's helpful to hear the little intimate details of my own life, seeing here it is again. It's this tendency to rasp on, to make a second person. And that we're being led around by liberation. It's so helpful as a practice. And I wanna say, I guess, that I also heard you say, you dedicate your practice to the not needing time, that means day, the features and time, the possibility, and Can you speak up a little bit? Sure. I see this place and this training and what you're encouraging and embodying as a possibility of a kind of different kind of soldier in the world that is bringing profound love.

[53:04]

So, thank you. Thank you. We practice together. That's the Mahayana too. My liberation cannot be separate from yours or anyone else's. You can, we can, all of us, mention in our hearts what's in our hearts.

[54:13]

Each of us holds our own pain. The original request for the service was for Armistice Day for World War I. Some of us are reading a book about the history of racism, just coming up to the Civil War. warfare, bloodshed, ideas, very difficult to hold, very difficult to study. When we do the service, each of us can think on and hold the thought for whatever way, we are experiencing the Weltschmerz, the pain of the world.

[55:26]

And send love. Thank you for mentioning. The original intent of this day, 11-11, commemorates armistice. 11-11-11, the end of World War I, which was the world war to end all wars. Of course, it hasn't turned out that way, but it was a terrible... It was the start of modern warfare and terrible injuries, and it was... a terrible war. And I think the intent of recognizing the end of war is something to be honored. Unfortunately, we haven't seen that yet, but... We're not ruling it out, are we?

[56:33]

I'm not. I'm a peace man. Peace. Yeah. Why not? I'm studying impermanence, boundlessness, boundless possibilities. Why not? Thank you everyone for your attention. 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.

[57:26]

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