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. I feel so excited. I think it's the greatness in the room. It's so wonderful to feel nervous. There's so much greatness that you feel nervous. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to Green Dragon Temple, fellow travelers.

[01:04]

And thank you for being born to come and illuminate the world. And what a radiant morning it is. November 2nd, 2025. Is that right? I instinctively looked at Kika. Is that right? Now the chuseau. It is Dia de Muertos, Day of the Dead, a day for remembering and celebrating ancestors. This festive Mexican holiday is celebrated at my children's school, and they made a big, beautiful altar to beautifully decorated with pictures of our deceased family members and colored flags, brightly colored flags, and candlelight.

[02:07]

And my dad was on that altar for the first time because he passed this year. What a rite of passage to put your parents' picture on the altar. And I share that in common with you, I know. Here at Green Gulch, we just performed Sijiki, a ceremony that honors our departed family and Dharma companions by reading aloud their names and making offerings for their nourishment. And we simultaneously invite any wandering spirits that need nourishment to come at that time and be nourished. And in the Catholic tradition, they just celebrated All Saints Day, celebrating those who reached holiness. And today, I think it's All Souls Day, celebrating and appreciating all those who have died.

[03:12]

And there are probably more traditions in season that I'm less familiar with. So presently, we are the living. Later, our names will be read out as Sijiki. But here we are, the living. So we're doing the reading. How wondrous. Collectively, we reflect with gratitude on the lives and generosity and effort of our ancestors. That's the season we're in. Also, If you are a citizen of the United States, Election Day is just two days away. If there is a voting opportunity where you live, I pray that you have already voted or that you will imminently vote, that you will rise up and use your powerful voice to support decency, dignity, and awakening.

[04:24]

I offer the invocation of decency, dignity, and awakening as a course of treatment for the ancient maladies of greed, hate, and delusion. Ah, a pause, a sigh. That was a lot right there. When I say decency, I could also say ethical discipline and not coincidentally, that is the heart of Buddhist practice. Here's a summary of ethical discipline from a Zen perspective. I vow to do no harm. I vow to do good for the benefit of all beings. Pretty straightforward, right?

[05:33]

Maybe you learned this as a child from a sagely grandparent. At Green Gulch, we express these three vows of ethical discipline every morning. As the day dawns, infused with candlelight and incense, and flowers, and bookended with prostrations. It's wonderful, and it's the central point of our practice. Just before we sing out these three pure precepts, we fully acknowledge our ancient twisted karma. We openly avow, confess, on behalf of those before us. who lived before us. We confess on their behalf, the very same ancestors that we love, that the human realm we're living in is a karmic work in progress.

[06:54]

Having acknowledged it, we are responsible for it. And more than that, we have the power to shift our karmic situation, to improve the gift. We always have the power to awaken together. Okay, and I don't mean when this talk is over. And I do mean now. What do you think? Can we awaken together right now? What comes up in your body and heart and mind when I say those words? Can we realize peace together right now on behalf and for the whole universe?

[08:12]

And dedicate it to whoever might need help the most right now. I acknowledge the peace in this room among many people right now. And I dedicate it to the beings that need it most in this moment. You are not the universe. The universe is you. You are a radiant flicker. A wonderful, radiant flicker.

[09:16]

Here for a moment. And you have the wonderful destiny of illuminating the universe. Thank you. you lights will never be replaced by darkness light is your in-breath shall we observe an in-breath When tears come, tears may be just the thing. Peace is not disturbed by tears.

[10:30]

And if you have held a crying baby with gentleness and patience and care, you know this. And if you hear the words crying baby and you feel aversion, then this is an important thing to observe. We have a warm lap for you. Aversion. Maybe aversion has something important to express. We were all crying babies, and through the miraculous light of the universe, we survived babyhood. and were nurtured well enough to become grown-up babies. Thank you, parental beings. You weren't perfect, but you were successful. Thank you, nurturing causes and conditions.

[11:38]

When I say causes and conditions, it may sound kind of vague, but no, the causes and conditions are not vague. They are so very specific and wondrous, which is why we could each write an incredible autobiography and have a book exchange and be awakened over and over again. If you consider the causes and conditions even just a little bit, the conditions of your life, then the world around you begins to sparkle and shimmer and sing. Mysterious events begin to unfold for your awakening in the one and only way possible, together with all beings. Here's a modern Zen story featuring, I'm happy to say, a handful of grandmotherly practitioners.

[12:46]

You won't find this story in any well-known Zen book because it hasn't been recorded. I chose it because, well, it ends in awakening and because it is deliciously ordinary. Pointer. The women in this story were sewing their first rakasu. That's the small robe that some people are wearing, Buddha's robe. Sewn by Zen students while they are preparing to receive the Buddhist precepts. These adepts claimed they were beginners. But look, beware the beginner. Watch your footing or you may shed tears. Case. A couple of years ago, I had a sewing student named Louise. She and the others were in their eighth decade, the 70s. Louise had been a textile artist. She definitely had skill with cloth and needles, but she needed my instruction because the Raukasu is designed in a uniquely complicated pattern.

[13:56]

Louise was the kind of student who asserted her questions in what often felt to me like an earnest, ambitious, and somewhat demanding way. She had a way of interrupting me and seemed like she was prioritizing her own projects more than the flow of the class. She seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. I tried to be patient with my irritability and her hurry, and I also enjoyed her very much. Louise got so far ahead of the others that she was just about finished while they were progressing more gradually. And then she had a stroke. She wasn't able to come to sewing class anymore. No Louise interrupting me to inquire about the next step. I missed her.

[15:00]

In the following weeks, the other women in the cohort finished their raucouss. and kindly finished the last step of Louise's rakasu. We next saw her at the Jukai ceremony, where they received their rakasu's Buddhist names and precepts. The same precepts I mentioned earlier. I vow to do no harm. I vow to do good for the sake of all beings. Louise was now in a wheelchair brought by her daughter, and she was so grateful. So happily, radiantly grateful. Her humility and vulnerability and gratitude stopped me in my tracks. Louise, as I knew her,

[16:06]

Louise, with a mission, had been transformed into a river of light. Recently, I crossed paths with one of the other women from the group here at Green Gulch. How is everyone, I asked. Is everyone still with us? And she said, everyone is good. And Louise passed on. capping verse in gratitude for the causes and conditions of Louise. Renowned warrior, needle and thread companion, nearly twice the years of my own hands, you inserted yourself between every other person and sewed up your vow to live for the benefit of all beings. Apparently, just in time. You knew what you wanted to finish with this body before saying yes to the surliest of transformations, swapping motor functions for the winding river of gratitude.

[17:22]

You called me teacher, but I awakened together with you. Thank you, Louise. beings are our teacher. They really are. It is wonderful to be permeated by the intent to not harm, to do good for the sake of everyone. It's a wonderful thing. Are you with me? but then I do love a good breakthrough. It's like when somebody drives you crazy and you marry them. It's my husband in the back.

[18:29]

And then they keep driving you crazy. And then you marry them again. Because the vow is the marrying. And the vow is the steadiness for the everything. And the everything, says Louise, is the prerequisite for the river of light. I feel like great transformations are coming If we keep up the awakening, that is, the request for awakening, the practice of awakening, and the commitment to awakening. Of course, it isn't you that awakens. Thank goodness.

[19:33]

So don't get caught up in that. But the universe awakens through us. During the precept receiving ceremony, the preceptor asks the ordini, from now on and even after realizing Buddhahood, will you continue to practice this excellent path? And the ordini says, yes, I will. And then they get asked a second time. And they say again, yes, I will. And we like to be thorough. So they get asked a third time, even after realizing Buddhahood, will you continue? to practice this excellent path. Yes, I will. And then my favorite line in the whole ceremony, the concluding statement, really revealing myself as a Zen nerd now, may it always be like this. Did you get it?

[20:35]

They get asked, will you continue this even after receiving Buddha, after Becoming Buddha? Yes, I will. They get asked three times. And then the capping statement is, may it always be just like this. It is a total acknowledgement of the already attained. Yes. So Dharma nerds like me by this time are blissed out. And the next thing they talk about, the preceptor talks about flowers raining from the heavens. And it's true. You can be a Dharma nerd too. The reason we're so happy is because it's the universe that arrives to say yes. That's why we're so happy. The light of endless practice is like a lighthouse.

[21:45]

It illuminates the perils. It helps us to not become indifferent. Zen is not indifferent. But some things require indifference to exist, like tyranny. Tyranny requires that people who are committed to decency go to sleep. requires that we adapt to moral conduct being thrown out the window? That we look the other way when we see cruelty? That we learn to become amused and bolstered by degradation of others? No. No. Let's wake up together. The degradation of others is not amusing. It hurts all of us. The definition of Buddha is awake.

[22:49]

Beings who are awake don't adapt to evil. They don't ingest the poisons of greed, hate, and delusion. They work tirelessly to neutralize and transform them. Birth and death will keep rolling on, and awakened beings keep saying no to tyranny. No to tyranny. No! To tyranny. Yes to awakening. Together. Together. Other people have stood in these shoes before, and now it's our turn. I'm sitting here wearing Buddha's robe, which is one of my capes, my superhero capes. I have others. You do, too.

[23:54]

You have capes, too. And you have an in-breath. Significantly, you have an in-breath, which is the full magnitude of light you'll need to do your job of impacting the course of the universe. You have what you need. Good news. You have what you need. You have the in-breath. And you have a cape. There's a whole variety of them. Nobody's light is brighter than anybody else's. Really. But some of us may have a tendency to try to hide our light or just go on believing that others have light, but we don't. Or worse... That my light is better than everybody else's. Look how bright. That's dim. Light is light and it belongs to no one.

[25:04]

But we can enjoy it, celebrate it, actualize it, share it. That's our unique opportunity while we're alive. The only superpowers that you need are the ones that are already available to you, like the superpower of awareness. I'm aware of my actions of body, speech, and mind. The superpower of reality. We arise together. We awaken together. Together, together, together. as demonstrated between these walls and beyond. And the superpower of clarity, no tyranny. No tyranny.

[26:08]

Nope, no tyranny. You don't have to say it forever. We want to live forever. You just need to say it while you're alive, and then somebody else will take over. No tyranny. Every hero needs a companion. And so we have those to offer. And I just wanted to highlight, well, besides the ones sharing the tan over there, the ones sitting, oh, I'm obstructing them, behind me. I do want to highlight some of our companions right here in the room. The standing figure is Jizo Bodhisattva. You can see Jizo better than I can right now, who's famously ready to accompany beings in need through any realm, even hell. Jizo's specialty is walking through hell. He's got a toe raised, never falling asleep.

[27:19]

Look at the composure on Jizo's face. If you find yourself walking through hell, call on Jizo, whose vow is to accompany you. He, she, they carry a staff that rattles each time it strikes the earth to awaken beings indiscriminately along the path. And here, Next to me, to my right slightly, is green Tara. I want to move out of the way. Can you see green Tara? A revered deity in Tibetan Buddhism. I love that this Zen temple ended up with some deities that are from a different tradition. We're learning. We're expanding. We're, you know, welcoming. whose special power is her swift action to protect beings from fear and danger.

[28:30]

If you wake up in the night and you find yourself having fearful thoughts, even though there is no imminent danger in the room, you might try calling on Green Tara for her clarity and protection. Green Tara is said to be able to deal with external fears. When I was reading about her, it talked about elephants and snakes, okay? I think more to our time would be hurricanes or assaults. And she also attends to internal fears like arrogance, anger, and doubt. And I thought, how interesting to consider arrogance as fear in disguise. To consider anger as fear in disguise. Anger is a great diversion. Picture the raging alcoholic keeping their vulnerability at bay by blaming everyone else.

[29:31]

So I thought, Green Tara, we really need you. There's a lot of fear, and it masquerades as other things, like arrogance and anger. Enlightened beings are available to help us, but we need to do our part to invoke enough courage calmness of body and mind so we don't go stumbling past them in our rush to escape hell. If we are in a rush to escape hell, we will not find our place where we are. If we compose our body and mind even a little bit and keep our eye out for green Tara or for Jizo, then we will meet them. and hell will be neutralized. We don't have to escape hell. We just calm ourselves down, and hell will become neutralized.

[30:34]

Have you heard the birth story of Green Tara and her sister, White Tara? Perhaps the loveliest birth story you'll ever hear. Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva who observes the suffering of the world, released tears from his, her, their eyes, and they rolled down and sprang up as white Tara and green Tara. Born of the tears of compassion, white Tara is serene, depicting the mudra for ultimate generosity with her left hand and holding a lotus flower in her right. Green Tara is ready to spring into action to help others, an embodiment of enlightened activity. When you make it your practice to look for goodness, to look for the deities, you become better at seeing the goodness.

[31:48]

and seeing the deities. And the ordinary world comes to life with support for your practice. I was driving my car a couple of days ago and encountered a sign that read, changed conditions ahead, slow use caution. And because I'm a Zen practitioner, I read the sign and I felt like I was receiving a practice instruction. Was that funny? I never know when you're going to laugh. I didn't expect that. Well, about the changing conditions, yes, exactly. That's what we've got here. slow down, use care, invoke the help of awakened beings. These wonderful beings are not hoarding any secret practices or teachings.

[32:53]

Realization occurs when the teaching of great beings becomes real to you. Why wait? If Avalokiteshvara can release tears... that roll off his, her, their cheeks and rise up as white Tara and green Tara, I cannot wait to see the transformative power of your tears. That's all I'm saying. Is it 10.55?

[33:57]

Anybody verify? Yes. Is there five more minutes to talking and then other things occur? Okay, are you in the mood? I have two options for you. Are you in the mood for dorky acronym or energetic song with participation? Yes. We won't force anybody to do any particular thing, but you just have to be at least comfortable enough to get up and walk out of the room or stay and see what happens. Okay, well, I am called toward the With Participation song because it's November, and I think Leonard Cohen gets kind of stirred up for me in November. He died on November 7th, 2016, the day before the first round of madness unleashed. I respect that.

[34:59]

And I feel like he's a Dharma companion to me. He was a Zen practitioner. His name was Silent One. His Zen name that he was given by his teacher was Silent One or Ordinary Silence. And coincidentally, my Dharma name is Field of Jewels, Silent Radiance. Anyway, there is something about, anyway, he's a companion to me, so I didn't put his picture on the altar for Dia de los Muertos, but you can help me honor Leonard Cohen now, a fellow Zen practitioner. You're familiar with his version of Anthem. Ring the bells. That still can ring. Forget your perfect offering.

[36:04]

There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. That's how the light gets in. That's how the light gets in. that was me trying to sing something like he sang it, but I want to add some energy now because I don't want to fall into some somber place. I want to also visit an energetic place. I heard another version of this. Maybe this is the part of me that really wanted to be in, I don't know, some of the traditions that have more energy and more movement. I miss that sometimes in Zen. So that's your warning. Let's do this call and response. OK. You're going to repeat after me, except for the very last line, which might be obvious.

[37:05]

You just leave that one out. OK. Forget your perfect offering. Just ring the bells that still can ring. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. That's how the light gets in. That's how the light gets in. Let's try that once more. We can polish that up. I think he would be pleased. I think he would be happy. Forget your perfect offering. Just ring the bells that still can ring. There is a crack in everything.

[38:06]

That's how The light gets in. That's how the light gets in. That's how the light gets in. That's how the light gets in. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I don't mind being an amateur. That is the wonderful thing about living. We get to be amateurs. and try something new together. All right. Well, and then the silly acronym is APT, A-P-T, APT. It's APT. You follow me? A-P-T, APT. Awakening Project Together. We're in an awakening project together. I'm just saying that's what's happening. It's APT. I knew I shouldn't have ended with that.

[39:11]

Okay, I turn it over. 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. May we fully enjoy the Dormon.

[39:41]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_96.65