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. Welcome. Thank you for joining us tonight, and hello to everyone online. Thank you, Abbott David, for asking me to give this talk. Thank you to Paul, my teacher, for your patience working with me through this topic. Thank you to everyone who worked and arranged for the interpretation and setup so I could sign this talk. Tonight's topic is birth and death, as seen from the Han. A complex topic for sure. Fortunately, the writing on the Han is short. but it says a lot using four short sentences.

[01:03]

Personally, I like the han because I can feel when it's hit, and I feel connection. The han is a thick wooden board hung using a rope. It's hit using a mallet. When people hear the han, they stop their activity, then go to the zendo, meditation. During the pandemic, everyone started sitting and working in their rooms. I missed feeling, seeing the Han, so I put a picture of it on my computer. To remind me, a Han is usually hung near the zendo. Anyone walking past will have the opportunity to hear, see, and read Ahan.

[02:14]

It says, great is the matter of birth and death. Quickly passing, gone, gone. Awake each one, awake. Don't waste this life. Four simple sentences for study, all designed to encourage you to wake up about the truth, the true nature of birth and death. The sound of the Han says, go to the meditation hall. But the beat teaches you Time is short. How? The hit starts slow. Pow, pow. Life seems forever. Then, the speed increases.

[03:19]

Pow, pow, pow. We recognize impermanence. Then, at the end, Life happens again quickly, then stops. Life is gone. So the Han summons us to Zazen first, then offers its four-part lesson. If anyone listening tonight is not yet familiar with with Zazen, I encourage you to attend an introduction to Zazen class. It's worth it. Okay? Zazen applies to birth and death.

[04:21]

And why? Sitting again and again and again, one eventually discovers his consciousness is not truly his identity. Understanding that has a big impact on one's perception of birth and death. You can observe birth and death during one meditation period. How? breathing. The bell for start and finish meditation. A thought arrives and then leaves every start and finish. It's a birth and a death. So the first suggestion from the Han

[05:29]

Sit. Zazen. Okay? Now, let's examine the writing on the Han. The first sentence says, Great is the matter of birth and death. Why great? The lesson on the Han is written big, encouraging you to notice it. Also, it's hit loudly. So the Han is shouting, this is an important lesson. Realizing the true nature of birth and death is essential. If one realizes birth and death, they also understand impermanence.

[06:29]

Everything that we study here has some connection to impermanence. Our Western culture encourages minimizing death. Your aim is to counter that tendency. We can't explore both birth and death until we open the box and start unpacking it. Life will provide you continuous opportunities to see impermanence. When we explore, we begin to have close contact with death. Contact plus the experience inside the body.

[07:36]

And Zen teaches that the body and mind are the same. Just one body-mind. And remember, birth and death happen to the body-mind. Use the same non-dual approach for birth and death. Think of them both as one single coin. If you try to have only birth or only death, you can't. The coin has a head. I'm sorry, the coin has a head and a tail. Birth and death are inseparable, but we see and experience either heads or tails of the coin during any moment.

[08:53]

If you try ignoring or minimizing birth and death, it that will not succeed. Why? You're a student of Zen. Your practice will naturally increase your perceptive skills and you become more sensitive to death. Thus, it becomes more difficult to avoid and easier to notice. Therefore, I suggest not avoiding the thoughts and feelings about death when they arise. The second sentence says, quickly passing

[10:01]

Gone. Gone. Our human life allocated for practice, it's not a long time. Our situation and attitude, it can change our perception of time. Sometimes time seems fast. sometimes slow. Wanting things to exist different than now can affect our perception of time. So we procrastinate and waste time. Gone, gone. Time flows ahead, never back. So the whole sentence says, life is flowing ahead quickly and you can't get it back.

[11:11]

Okay. The third sentence says, awake, each one awake. This sentence might be understood to mean become enlightened or maybe become wake up to the reality of birth and death. Which one? No matter. My personal opinion, opinion, all are immersed in enlightenment. Like a fish in water. Fish swim, immersed in water. They're not searching for water. We are also immersed in our natural environment. But the request seems for us to awaken to the true nature of birth and death specifically.

[12:27]

Then it says, each one. That means the responsibility. It's personal. It's yours. Why? Birth and death are probably the deepest and most serious topic for anyone. You don't need to search for it. Same as the water. We are immersed in it. The fourth sentence says, don't waste this life. Zen practice, it's not the same as most Western religions, religious practices. Why? Zen offers a path. Then, oh, pardon me. and then encourages you to examine that path during your journey.

[13:36]

There's no promise of bliss or life after death. Zen is a natural practice and used here and now. It applies directly to our experience of life. So when the lesson on the Han says, don't waste this life, it's talking about not, pardon me, not avoiding the here and now. Don't rely on a future lesson. that is not here. And the past is gone, never to return. The future is not ahead there, waiting to arrive here.

[14:44]

No, no, we only have now. Not wasting your life means living here, And now the Han reminds us to fully penetrate birth and death and not avoid them. We change our minds through meditation and practice. Eventually it becomes our flesh and bones. But how does the concept become bone deep? Practice. For example, the first paragraph of the Genjo Koan offers an excellent summary of practice.

[15:51]

We start from a view of many and then progress to a view of unity. And finally, leaping beyond both. So let's read the first paragraph. Signing in English, word for word, using ASL is impractical. So I need a volunteer to read a part. And I'm going to use my interpreter. All things are Buddha Dharma. There is delusion and realization practice, birth and death. There are Buddhas and there are sentient beings, the myriad of things without abiding self. There is no delusion, no realization, no Buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death.

[17:00]

The Buddha way is basically the leaping clear of many and the one, and thus the birth and death. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. If I apply only the parts of birth and death and simply it says, all things follow the laws of physics. So we, experience birth and death, but all things have no permanent self. So there is no one born and no one to die. However, practicing the Buddha way results in leaping beyond the many or the one

[18:02]

Therefore, we experience birth and death. We begin our relationship with birth and death by paying attention to our environment. We become involved in it. Remember the past. When we were children, we saw death. We lost pets. Killed bugs. and saw dead animals on the road. And we saw birth. Puppies and kittens are born. Babies are brought home and we went to funerals. Eventually we all become older and death becomes increasingly real. When we practice and agree to show up, we begin to experience impermanence directly.

[19:14]

We begin to touch it and know how it feels inside. Our learning becomes real and personal. We begin to experience no permanent self. First, we experience birth and death from the viewpoint of the self, then from the viewpoint of the no-self. That's when Douzhen says we don't exist. He says If we have no permanent self, who is born? Who dies? I believe that means we don't exist how we think we exist.

[20:21]

I'm Keith. But there's no substance. Keith. I'm completely made from non-Keith things. Naturally, I have consciousness and self-awareness, but it changes and is new again, constantly. And someday, it shall end. Jojen's third viewpoint, we leap beyond the many and the one. Leaping beyond means accepting the many and the one both. If you try to label one true and the other false,

[21:32]

you try to create a coin that has only one side. Durgin says we leap beyond both. Thus, there is birth and death. Interesting. It proves impermanence is non-dual. But that last viewpoint is different from the first viewpoint. It's from a non-dual perspective, from a perspective that has no opposite. You either have no coin anymore Or if you do have a coin, you know that both sides exist together, not as opposites, but just one coin.

[22:47]

Durgin calls this the Buddha way. Oh, we leap. beyond our either or thinking. The Buddha way is taking up three viewpoints and eight ways of developing practice. They're called the four noble truths. First one, suffering exists. Second one, craving exists. suffering. Third, we can reduce suffering. Fourth, the way is to practice the eightfold path. Our time is limited.

[23:50]

So I'll save the deeper explanation for another talk. So understanding suffering is and how it operates, we change our relationship with birth and death. Why? Practice leaves you to yourself. You are unique and complex. You are many and you are also one. Imagine Indra's net. A net that fills the whole universe. Then imagine each knot has a diamond. Each diamond reflects all other diamonds in the net.

[25:01]

Look at one diamond and you see all the diamonds. Leaping beyond both concepts, you're neither, or, and both. You are interdependent. Nothing exists independently. I have my identity and I depend 100% on everything. One very popular example is the ocean. There's only one ocean in the world. There are several seas. a myriad of waves, but just one ocean.

[26:12]

If you examine a wave, you understand it's always just the ocean rising up. A wave is born. It grows and grows. and maybe enjoys other waves. Maybe it forgets it's truly the ocean. Maybe it's fun to forget. Why? So it can enjoy exploring, enjoy its wave nature. But eventually, It will crest and then back into the calmness and the unity of the ocean.

[27:17]

You can't fully understand birth and death using your limited mind, but by staying present, you will notice birth and death appearing over and over, giving you the opportunity to see their true nature. Thank you. 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.

[28:13]

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