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. Excuse that graceless ascent to the seat here. Unfortunately, my doctor calls me Calamity Jane because I report with injuries that haven't been seen since the early 20th century. And recently, I ran into a rebar stake in the garden and skewered my leg. But I am tough and from old Zen, so you sit still on the cushion no matter how you haul yourself up onto it. And actually, it's great teaching for these times. We've all got to haul. There's a lot to haul. It's a good morning.

[01:01]

It's an honor to be here. I feel just an upwelling of emotion and gratitude. And thank you for coming. We are celebrating many challenges and gifts right now and in this day, a few days. before the opening of what is almost the 70th gathering of practice, practice period beginning, I think, on Valentine's Day. Is that true? Perfect. Love for intensity and depth. So many people gathering from the Ten Directions to practice here at Green Dragon's Inn. Place... beautiful in Japanese, we talk about so-rin gathering. So anytime there is an intentional gathering of practice, it's likened to so-rin, which means a forest thicket, coming together in a forest thicket of diverse and multifaceted plant material coming together.

[02:14]

So a new kind of forest. planted for the period of intensity and practice. So keep your hearts and minds gathered, and also enter into your own forest. Stick it along with us, along with that intention to sit still, strong and long, and to get up and serve. So both are included in the intention. I don't know how forest trees get up and serve, but actually that's not true. They certainly and lousy and fully do. So we're celebrating this, and also I want to say today, this is a global day of prayer. Did you know that? A call for a global day of prayer. We like to say in the extended Dharma community, prayer into action. Prayer into action. And it's so meaningful today that at the yurt, the Green Gulch Yurt, It's a gathering of formerly incarcerated felons from San Quentin Federal Prison.

[03:23]

Now they are out in the world. So felons who are now in the world, or like they like to say, crooks now in the world. And then the caregivers or the volunteers who've worked inside behind bars. So we have felons in the world. rejuvenated members returning to the marketplace, to the world, and then the volunteers who are in prison. A beautiful balance. Gathered in prayer right now while we're here in this hall. And they will join us this afternoon, I hope, for planting. It will be lovely to do that together. And I also want to acknowledge how auspicious it is to be together today, the 12th of February. just after the full moon, past an eclipse of the moon, total eclipse of our hearts, an eclipse of the moon, and a strengthening of resolve. So from the 30th day of January every year, from the 30th day of January, which is the day a number of seasons ago that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on his way to prayer in his garden,

[04:36]

The 30th of January was the last day of his manifest life on Earth. His teaching continues and strengthens. And this day, the 30th of January, until the 4th of April, when Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, we mark as a season of nonviolence. So every year I have the pleasure, the deep pleasure, of mentioning this. in honor of celebrating the planting of trees and care of watershed, which is very much what we're doing today. So a season of nonviolence, 64 precious days of prayer into action, peaceful resistance, resilience, adaptation, mitigation, holding actions that protect the world, a time of deep renewal. I am praying, said Mahatma Gandhi, not long before his death. I am praying for the light that dispels darkness.

[05:37]

Let's think with living faith. Oh, let those, excuse me, let those with living faith in nonviolence join me in this prayer. So this is a global day of prayer into action. And we find ourselves in this extraordinary watershed. For the last few weeks, there's been a celebration of awareness of this extraordinary place where we live nine square miles, nine square miles of land that is always and ever the land of the first people, the Ohlone people, the Kosmiwok. for whom this home was their home. They lived in the Green Gulch Valley. We found in the early years of cultivating with horses, in the very first years of farm cultivation, arrowheads traded from Lake County, the bright obsidian flint of arrowheads sparkling as we opened the ground with the horses, reminding us of long-standing intensity and inhabitation, which is continuous.

[06:55]

not historical, continuous, nine sacred square miles. Extending from the peak of Mount Tamalpais to the Pacific Ocean, we are nestled in one of the most populated regions in North America, the intensity of population in the Bay Area, the extended Bay Area. And yet still remembering and honoring the Penushan-speaking first people who lived in isolation, complexity, peacefulness for 13,000 years. This valley, this watershed, is one of 25 global biodiversity hotspots marked as key to preserving the world's ecosystems. This is an extraordinary designation and one that we take very seriously. And tremendous capacity and intention to protect and conserve and learn from radical conservation, as Bhikkhu Bodhi says.

[07:58]

Now we need radical conservation. Conserving what is most important and being willing to push down to the bottom of the world with our roots and doing that. So to have the honor, pleasure, and privilege of living in this place, even for a season, for a day, for this morning, is a renewal and a remembering of what our work is in the world. And I want to acknowledge one of my closest Dharma sisters in the work. For the last five or six years, I've been working with Professor Melissa Nelson, who teaches Native American Studies at San Francisco State and is the president of the Cultural Conservancy. We have the pleasure and honor of working together to revive Native foodways. at the College of Marin Indian Valley campus, where we've been working steadily to try to remember traditional ecological knowledge in a genuine and distinct and living continuous way.

[09:04]

Really good work for these times. So Melissa reminds me, Melissa, the honey of the earth, Melissa. She reminds me that in traditional ecological knowledge, there is always an honoring of the learning spirits. The Chick-Saw Law professor James Youngblood Henderson and Michnauwa educator Marie Baptiste remind us that in the earth, there are latent spirits of the ecosystems moving through the land, latent spirits of learning and growth and curiosity and capacity that are moving. Throughout a lifetime, these learning spirits can awaken when we meet them, when we meet the living landscape and interact and feel what these professors call the cognitive gravity of our times.

[10:06]

So the learning spirit of place is very alive. When we can settle the heart and mind in the present moment and come back, to holding still and getting up and serving and letting those spirits speak through us and in us. And one of the main roles we have as human beings is to pay heed to learning spirit and nurture the growth. So, in honor of the practice period, I always think of words from the Dogen Zenji, when he says, when you find your place, or let's do it as an admonition, find your place where you are, let practice occur. Find your place where you are, let practice occur. So this year has been an extraordinary year, and in the last six months in particular, again, I had the really deep pleasure of participating with Central Abbas.

[11:20]

Colinda Cutts, and Melissa Nelson from the Cultural Conservancy, at a gathering at CIIS in the city last March, where our friend and guide and teacher and elder in the work and beautiful teacher, Mary Evelyn Tucker, admonished us, encouraged us, those of us who love practice and love the world, to bring together religion and ecology, the living, learning spirit of the world. and focus on how much we are made of each other, our intention to practice, and the deep commitment to remember how connected we are, body to body, mind to mind, heart to heart, with the place in which we practice. So we held a very vigorous, for me, and meaningful practice class this fall of looking at Buddhism and ecology, paying attention to how we orient ourselves to the landscape, how we ground in the place where we live in practice, how we're nurtured, and then how the fire of transformation burns everything down and cleans the field and gives us new ground.

[12:40]

So in that orientation, always have a sense of where you're sitting and where you are in relation to the world. So in the case of today, this morning, and I remember for many years we held in this meditation hall every year, again with Abbas Linda Ruth, we held a deep sitting for women and oriented ourselves to the four great directions. In the south, in the south, the spirit of the south, excuse me, in the east, we always begin in the east with Manjushri, the mind of awakening. Bodhicitta. And in the case of the greater Bay Area, we turn to the east and face Mount Diablo, sacred mountain of first people and continuous place of practice. So the great powerful devil in the east. I love it that we face Diablo in the east, first of all, turning toward wakening up that spirit. So orienting ourselves to the spirit of Bodhicitta.

[13:48]

Great awakening. Turning to the south and facing Samanta Padra. Shining practice for all beings. Mount Hamilton in the South Bay. A peak that orients us to this landscape. Shining practice for all beings. The fire of our intention. And rotating to face the west. West Peak, West Hill, Coast Mountain, Mount Camel Pies. the song the mountain sings, this local peak. And the ocean, the vast ocean, orienting ourselves and be willing, as Jizo Bodhisattva behind me holding the ground this morning, Jizo Bodhisattva reminds us, be willing to go down into hell with all beings and come back up. So the mind of compassion into action. And then finally turning toward the north volcanic peak, Mount St. Helena, deep earth, the earth deep intention to extinguish our concepts, blow out our concepts, and come fresh, come out of the ground renewed.

[15:00]

So this is the voice of the watershed includes these sacred peaks and orienting ourselves, standing in the center of our intention, letting the learning spirit of the land come forth on Friday night Some of us gathered on the flanks of Mount Tamalpais, and the evening was opened by Sky Road Webb, with whom I had the pleasure of practicing for one full week last week, or two weeks ago. More than that. Gosh, more like a month ago. Practicing in Point Reyes with this wonderful Tamales Bay Miwok man. Comes from mixed, mixed family and deep intention, reviving Miwok language through his own poetry and song. he offered us this poem to West Peak. Tamalpais, [...] because you call her six times. West Coast Mountain, bright eye of the right eye of the turtle, right eye of the world.

[16:07]

Ah, West Coast Mountain, your tears are red, we drink your tears. Walker, says Antonio Machada, you make the path as you walk. Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. Walking and walking, underfoot, the earth turns, streams and mountains never stay the same. So we find ourselves in a dynamic landscape. And feeling that dynamism and also settledness. I hope that at some point this morning you'll stand up and enjoy the view. Of course, you won't have the full view I have, which is the beauty of each and all of you, which is so moving. But there is a direct dialogue going on between the figures that hold...

[17:11]

this practice space. We don't worship these beautiful figures that are in this hall. They are reminders of what it means to be a human being in the learning spirit of our times. They remind and encourage us in the direction of deep practice. So I'm looking directly at Manjushri Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of complete, thorough, deep wisdom, deep looking into the heart of all that is. sitting on a lotus pad, holding a lotus teaching staff, reminding us that all wisdom comes out of muddy water. When I drove in this morning, Elizabeth greeted me and said, watch out, the world is muddy. And I said, that's just what we need. Or you're not kidding. I said to myself, the world is really muddy. And out of muddy water comes the flowering of wisdom. So the reminder... of this beautiful figure, Chinese figure, to wake up wisdom in our hearts.

[18:15]

And then facing Jizo Bodhisattva, protector of children and travelers, and Tara Buddha, the seated female emanation of deep intention to serve, compassion in action, prayer into action. So a dialogue between settled, all-seeing wisdom and the intensity and commitment to get up and serve. These figures are so dynamic. And they remind us, encourage us in that direction, the direction of wisdom and compassion. So, you know, we have the etiquette in this meditation, this old barn that is a meditation hall now, almost five decades of sitting every day in this hall. Deep intention. We have the simple etiquette of not crossing in front of the figures. So if you have to make your way from that end of the meditation hall to this end, you pass behind Manjushri and come forward with respect.

[19:22]

And it's something that has always made deep sense to me, but it wasn't until many years ago that I came into this hall with children of the world from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, the sixth grade, 50 children of the world. This is one of the most wonderful, diverse campuses in the Greater Bay Area. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, feeder school for children of the world. So these 50 children came into the hall and stood at the back, kind of frightened. It's a little dark and intimidating, especially when it's empty and you're in middle school and you'd rather flirt than focus on meditation. They came in. And one child put out her hands and said, I never thought I would see them again. A child who was raised in Asia and came with her family all through very challenging circumstances to this country.

[20:23]

And it was she who stepped right up to Manjushri and offered incense. And I remembered the children, I reminded the children that we don't worship these figures, that they represent what we can be. in our life and i felt on that day a direct current of electricity between these two figures almost like um you know worthy of the jedi a force field between them of course we don't cross in front of wisdom and compassion this is the work that we're facing and called to do and there is a direct currency and intensity in our intention So I felt that so strongly with the children. And then was very moved by them sitting still for one minute and then complaining that one minute wasn't long enough and sitting still for two minutes, which was rather remarkable. 50 middle school students, it had its own currency of electricity, I'll tell you. So what practices are helpful in these times?

[21:34]

What will help us meet the challenge of these times? You know, in honor of a day of prayer, I'm remembering the bodhisattvas' four methods of guidance, especially as we turn now toward practice period. And again, this is from Dogen Zenji from the 13th century, reminding us that bodhisattvas, those of us... Everyone who makes the pledge to work for the well-being of the world, no matter what, and meet the challenges of our times. So what methods of guidance do we have together as bodhisattvas or awakened beings in these times? First of all, the capacity to give, to be generous in stingy times, in narrow times. to be deeply generous and grateful and to come with a heart of gratitude.

[22:41]

Be joyful and grateful, although we know the facts. Says Wendell Berry, reminding us, be joyful and grateful, although we know the facts. And I don't mean saccharinely grateful. I mean fiercely, radically, substantially, and wholeheartedly grateful and generous with each other. So non-greed marks... the mind of giving or leaving the way to the way, trusting in a mind beyond measure. And the things that are given us in this world time, even difficult gifts, are a gift beyond measure and one that we can appreciate and turn toward. This is the vow of the bodhisattva. And we find ourselves practicing in difficult times with this vow. In giving your mind, the mind of awakening, transforms the gift. And of course the gift, the gift of being alive in these times, transforms our mind.

[23:51]

So we ask, what are the gifts that we face right now, or that are given us? And I appreciate the ancient teachings that the gifts, the three gifts we're facing right now, or that are very much in our presence right now. Number one, the gift of non-fear. Often the gesture in the meditation figures is a gesture of the right hand held up. Look, I'm coming as peacemaker. I'm not afraid. Showing the naked hand. When Carl Sagan and the astronomers sent a space capsule into space, etched on the space capsule in the inner vessel of the space capsule, sent into space, sent out into outer space, an etching in brass of a naked human man, naked human woman, holding their hands up, making the gesture of non-fear or peace. So this is a gift, to be peaceful and vulnerable and to make the gesture of non-fear.

[25:02]

Abaya. Non-fear. And then the gift of nourishment. Just the pure gift of food from the living ground. We're given the gift of nourishment to continue our practice. And then the third gift, the gift of community and practice in challenging times. So non-fear, deep nourishment, which can be through study or through human food. for the food of the world, food of the land, and then the gift of practicing together. And I feel that now these gifts are quite vividly available. On the 20th of January, in driving rain, with flooding on the Coast Highway, 80 of us gathered in Point Reyes on that morning, January 20th. And we walked in the rain in silence.

[26:03]

down into the forest at Kule Loklo, which is a demonstration Miwok village, right on the edge of the fault line, where the worlds rub up against each other. So right on the edge of the fault line, going down into the forest, in the driving rain, the firekeeper was there in the forest, waiting for us, and we got down into the village and gathered around the sodden, rainy pit with the trees hanging down and dropping more rain. And there was a tent off to the side, but we kept away from the tent, just gathered around the fire pit. Firekeeper called for help. And I remember the old koan, the fire god calls for fire. And he said, I will, I said, let's ignite a friction fire. And leaned down on the ground with a stick of, I think, buckeye, into a little tiny hearth and spun the stick, and it was raining. People gathered in closer, kind of sheltering but not protecting, saying if there's meant to be fire and flame in these times, it'll come from our intensity and intention to wait until the spark catches.

[27:15]

And so about five people spun that stick with him and we chanted and prayed and finally a little spark lit and extinguished and then another one lit, caught into mugwort and some lichen. was transferred to dry straw, and the sparklet leapt to flame. It was beautiful. It was so good to be there with Stuart and Carrie Cutchins, who practiced here for so many years, who were leading meditation in Point Reyes, along with many others. And to have, I think it was Nina and Carrie calling out, let's not be submerged by the things of the world. And that spark caught fire. And then when people were ready, they came and either took a little bit of incense here from... I brought incense from Zen Center. The soggy incense from Zen Center still burns beautifully and strong. So we gave each other the gift of our intention. New world, new time, the edge of the world.

[28:19]

And it rained and hailed, all hail to the chief, we jokingly said. All hail to the chief of the world, which is... the mystery, the great mystery of being together. And we gathered around that fire and set our intention, and then walked together into Point Reyes, about a three-mile walk, and planted a peace garden right in the center of town. Beautiful day. Beautiful day. So... And I remembered Lanny Pinola, who served as, for many years, who served as a ranger, Kosmiwak and Pomo. Man, wonderful, big-hearted man. Lanny helped start that village. He was present, although he's been dead with the great ancestors for a number of seasons. He was so present in that gathering. So the spirit of giving, Bodhisattva's method of guidance, and then the gift of kind speech.

[29:25]

Oh, what a challenge. in these times. It was cruel and chaotic speech. So dominant. Now, the gift of kind speech is extraordinary and the capacity to sit still and listen because kind speech cannot ground and grow without the capacity and intention and commitment to listen. The Anglo-Saxon root for listening is develop the capacity to wait in suspense, in alert suspense for what you do not know you will hear. So to listen is to wait in alert suspense and also to develop a state of readiness and non-knowing, non-expectation. That's at the root of listening. Kuan Yin, the one who encourages us in the direction of listening, the character for her name means gaze and sound together, or we say, regard the cries of the world.

[30:42]

Regarder of the cries of the world. So kind speech comes out of this kind of listening. Kind speech, writes Dogen's energy, means that when you see sentient beings, I like to add human or more than human, you arouse the mind of compassion and offer words again and again of loving care. And this is contrary to cruel or violent speech. In the secular world, ask after someone's health. In Buddhism, remember, please treasure yourself. and respectful address to elders and teachers. May I ask how you are? It is kind speech to speak to all beings as you would to a newborn baby. Praise those with virtue and pity those without it. If kind speech is offered, little by little virtue grows.

[31:47]

And even kind speech, which is not ordinarily known or seen, comes into being, very much like the learning spirit. Kind speech comes into being. Be willing to practice for this entire present life. Do not give up. World after world, life after life, kind speech is the basis for reconciling rulers, a basis for subduing enemies. Those who hear kind speech, from you have a delighted expression, a joyful mind. Those who hear of kind speech will be deeply touched, and they will never forget it. Know and remember that kind speech arises from kind mind, and kind mind from the seed of compassionate mind. Ponder the fact that kind speech

[32:52]

is not just praising the merit of others. Kind speech has the power to turn the destiny of nations. Kind speech has the power to turn the destiny of nations. So this has always been a very important point method of guidance for me. I'm from New York City, and my father was king of irony and sarcasm. Wicked, wicked tongue of truth. But kind speech can also be present in irony. Kind speech that arises from kind mind and the seed of compassionate mind is absolutely essential.

[33:59]

We are starving for this nourishment now. And we are listening for kindness. Kindness from kinship. Kind, kin. I'm akin to you. We speak to each other as we would speak to kin. In kinship and kindness, we're linked. And if we don't hear kind speech, then we generate it ourselves. Lifetime after lifetime. I'm not talking about weak speech. I'm talking about radical truth speaking and listening. This is a method of guidance right now to generate the energy and intensity of kindness and kinship. To listen to each other. And third method of guidance, beneficial action for all beings. Dr. Schumacher, Dr. E.F.

[35:02]

Schumacher, the author of Small is Beautiful, is the founder 40 years ago. He came to Green Gulch from England. And he walked around with us through the valley. If you don't know Dr. Schumacher or Small is Beautiful, treat yourself to kind speech, to his kind speech. Economics as if people mattered. And the root of economy, eikosnomia, is the earth household, treasuring the earth household, because people and all beings matter. So small is beautiful is a strong text. He'd just written this text. And he came to Gringolk and ruminated and let us know that he had studied with the Gandhian movement in India for many years and reminded us that as practitioners in the lifetime of the Buddha, Buddha encouraged everyone who practiced with him, to plant a tree a year and see to its maintenance for five good years, and you can plant another tree. Therefore, reforest, with your beneficial action, reforest a stripped-out world.

[36:07]

So that really affected us. And Arbor Day was generated from that visit with Dr. Schumacher. I remember walking around with him and being deeply moved. So plant one tree and see to its maintenance. So for many years, and it's 40 years now that we've been doing this here at Green Gulch, and for many years, the first year, we thought, yes, not just one tree. We planted 1,000 redwood trees, 1,000 Douglas fir trees. And to my great regret and sorrow, we're still cutting them down, 1,000 Monterey pine trees. This was the carpentry crew. Every single carpenter was covered with poison oak, but full of the learning spirit. A thousand trees. Most of them died. Maybe 5% of them succeeded. But I remember watching those trees and thinking about the noble redwood. You know, right now, in thinking about the redwood trees of antiquity, it's one of the oldest trees.

[37:15]

on planet Earth, the tallest tree on Earth, and also the broadest, growing in a circle, an intense crescent circle, which we call the Rim of Fire, the Pacific Rim of Fire, because the remnants of these ancient beings are all along the earthquake zone of this country, marking the rift, marking danger. And they are extraordinary beings and teaching beings. So many years ago in 19, well, not long after Dr. Schumacher's visit, we were visited by Masanobu Fukuoka-sensei. And he came and looked at Green Gulch and walked around with a very strong and open spirit. This is a natural farmer, one of the primary teachers for many years, the author of The One Straw Revolution, came with his translator and met our teacher and guide, Harry Kellett Roberts. And they had an incredible connection. Harry was raised by his... mother at the mouth of the Yurok country at the Klamath River, and was a student of the Yurok culture.

[38:19]

So Harry and Fukuoka Sensei really connected. And Fukuoka Sensei said, in the early 1970s, what have you done to the rain and to the world of the trees and the way you're living? And they went into Muir Woods together and walked for hours through the trees. And afterwards, Fukuoka Sensei said, maybe what would help now would be a redwood that has deep roots that could push down and find nourishment because there's no regeneration in the woods. He really felt that and was concerned. So he went to Koji, to a national preserve in Japan that had never been harvested and collected seed of what he called virgin trees, trees that had never been harvested or cut, and sent the seed back. It took two years. And I remember in February, in 1981, February, Harry was very sick. He was at the end of his life.

[39:20]

He died a month after this. Last thing that he did was with a number of us gathering around this box, sowing the seeds of the cryptomeria. He died in March of that year. And two months later, the seeds burst out of their flat. And we entrusted them to the ground here at Green Gulch, up by the Reservoir where Gregory Bateson's ashes are interred. And behind the guest house. And then over by where the bell sounds. Groves of cryptomeria Japanese. Cedar tsugi. The great noble tree of Koyasan Monastery and Graveyard in Japan. These ancient cryptomeria japonica. A relative in the Pacific Rim of Fire. And they flourished. jumped up out of the ground. In 1992, friends led by a practitioner and longtime student of the Dharma, Bing Gong, friends had gathered to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus.

[40:30]

And they walked in peace. It's a group of Native American and trackers, men only. They walked from Slide Ranch carrying a hatchet. and chose to bury the hatchet at the roots of the cryptomeria tree in the grove right outside where the bell is, making the pledge to go against the stream of conventional action, to bury the hatchet of our resentment, and to plant groves of peace, honoring and recognizing the peacemaker from the Iroquois tradition who came against the rivers in a stone canoe to bring peace. and to bury the hatchet of war at the white roots of peace. So beneficial action happens invisibly and steadily, lifetime after lifetime. I hope today, when we have our afternoon gathering, we'll begin at that grove where we planted members of the Pacific Rim trees.

[41:33]

And there is a hatchet underneath those trees. calling for beneficial action. Last of all, what Dogen Zenji calls identity action or remembering that we're made of each other. So how can we practice with identity and connectedness to the more-than-human world? Non-difference, finding again an affirming non-difference of self and others. The ocean never excluding a drop of water, no matter how polluted or toxic it may be. The ocean receives all water. And in our own bodies, we carry the identity of ourselves with the wider community that we live and are nourished by. I love this fact as we sit.

[42:34]

So much of our blood and body is salty water in the same proportion as there is salty water on Earth in our bodies, so 78%, something like that. And then a tiny, thin stream of sweet water that runs up the spine, that gives us strength of the spine to hold ourselves upright. And that same fresh water in our spine relates to fresh water on planet Earth in proportion, a tiny percentage. So we carry the percentage. We carry the mathematics, the subtle gravity, the truth of our identity, and the importance of our action, if we can remember. And how do we remember? How do we remember that confusion the mix of good and evil runs through the landscape of every human heart.

[43:37]

How do we remember that, identify with that, and keep going? Of course, wisdom and compassion help us mightily, and also any actions that stand strong and long in protection of the earth. So I... I want to get a little personal, and especially because my Dharma brother, Mateo, is here. Really, thank you for coming. It really means a lot. Mateo has this year twice lived and practiced fully with the Standing Rock community along the junction of the Cannonball River and the Missouri River, which is the third longest river on planet Earth. So Matteo is a filmmaker. He's an artist, an activist, and a practitioner.

[44:38]

And since April, the identity action that's been happening there to protect the waters of life has gone on long and strong, and it's been documented beautifully by young filmmakers, all indigenous, and all recording the truth of what's happening at the edge of the world. And the identity of prayer into action. And right now is a very difficult time because the stay that was to protect the community there at the edge of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers has just been lifted. And we're facing the threat and probably even the resumption of laying down a pipeline. I know many of you know this story. Right before the election, I had the deep pleasure and honor of visiting, going to Standing Rock with clergy. We expected maybe 100 ministers from all over the world would come and stand together in identity with the peacemakers and the people dressed in riot gear resisting.

[45:51]

Stand in identity there at the edge of the waters and pray. So instead, 500 of us showed up and we walked together. It was one of the most Meaningful days of my life, I think, gathering with clergy from all over the world and standing and witnessing and speaking with love and commitment, not only to water protectors, but to everyone who has gathered at the edge of the river. So these are the times we find ourselves in. I want to read you a current prayer. And this is from a few days ago. From the great, great granddaughter of Hongpapa Lakota Chief Sitting Bull.

[46:53]

Her name is Brenda White Bull. This courageous Hongpapa Lakota woman... served in the United States military for 20 years, and in the height of tension at Standing Rock, she went across Backwater Bridge, the bridge between resistors or water protectors and the militarized police, and she directly addressed with love and identity the militarized police protecting the pipeline. She spoke as an unlikely ally. affirming water protectors are akin to North Dakota law enforcement agents. We are family, she said, both of us, all of us working every day to protect our families, our human rights, and this living land. She reminded the people gathered there at the edge of the water that making a way out of no way

[48:04]

is the practice of a lifetime. Then she thanked the elders at Standing Rock, the people that have been maintaining the council fire there for months, and the people who decided to extinguish the fire when there was the possibility of peaceful resolution. The elders extinguished the fire, and the next generation lit the next fire. This happened in early December. during Rojasu Sishin. She thanked the elders of the Standing Rock community, and she acknowledged the young indigenous leaders tending the seven council fires now of the Sioux Nation. This is not a movement about ourselves. We are coming together now as a team, an identity action team. This is a movement about humankind, about nature,

[49:06]

about peace and prayer that flows through us. So we find ourselves alive in these times. And can we do what is more important than generating the spirit of generosity in narrow, stingy times? What matters more than kind speech in the cacophony of chaotic cruelty of language? And what matters more than beneficial action and identity action, remembering that we're made of each other? Maybe this is a little grim, this talk, and I hope I haven't been too scoldy.

[50:10]

So I turn to poet and troublemaker Kay Ryan, a national poet of this country, who taught for decades in local community college, College of Marin. You aren't swept up whole, however it feels. You're atomized. This is a beautiful poem. You aren't swept up whole, however it feels. You're atomized. The wind passes. You recongeal. It's a surprise. You aren't swept up whole, however it feels. We are not swept up whole, however it feels. We're atomized. The wind passes. We recongeal. It's a surprise. It's a surprise. So thank you very much for your attention.

[51:16]

I want to say that we've got a wonderful day planned. In the question and answer, we'll come back and hear from Mia Monroe from the Muir Woods National Monument, about 40 years. We'll hear about the current situation of the salmon. what's happening with the trees, what the indicator species are teaching us. And we'll hear from beloved Suki Parmalee, who's here, resident here, and has kept the spirit of regeneration and restoration alive and strong. So we'll hear a little bit. Together we can talk about how the work of the world recongeals us. We'll do that. And then we'll have lunch together and then gather and participate. prayer in the redwood grove, this grove of the Japanese redwood and the Chinese dawn redwood and the coast redwood gathered together in that area where the hatchet was buried and set the course and then do a little walkabout and group planting and celebration this afternoon of the privilege of being alive and part of this West Hill Mountain, drinking the tears of the world and coming back fresh.

[52:29]

Thank you for your attention and kindness and commitment. May all beings in the Ten Directions be nourished and sustained and regenerated and recongealed by our practice. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[53:15]

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