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 evening. So some of you know that I came back to Tassajara about a month ago. And before that, for actually the last four years, I've been the bookstore manager at the bookstore at San Francisco Zen Center. And during that time, I got to know the book titles very well. I didn't read so many books, but I became very intimate with the titles. And often these titles are really, really clever.

[01:01]

A lot of thought, obviously, goes into the titles. So I thought tonight, as a kind of farewell to the bookstore and a kind of ode to the bookstore, I would talk about book titles. And I chose... So I've chosen four titles, No Time to Lose, finding the still point, start where you are, and happiness is an inside job. And there were a lot more, you know, of good ones, like nothing happens next. That's actually about meditation. And being nobody going nowhere. The miracle of mindfulness. or Moody Cow Meditates. So anyway, these are the ones I've chosen.

[02:04]

So No Time to Lose. So some of you know this is a commentary on Shantideva's poem by Pema Chodron, but I'm not talking about the contents. I'm just on the titles. So there's no time to lose because... everything is impermanent, and that includes our life. And contemplating the fact that our lifespan is limited is an incentive to practice. And there's various reminders at Tassajara of this. They're kind of embedded into our forms. So, for instance, on the echo han outside my room in the barns, the han is the... the wooden board that we hit to call people to Zazen. And on the Han it says, wake up, life is transient, swiftly passing, be aware, the great matter, don't waste time.

[03:11]

In other words, come to the Zendo now. And there's a Nenju ceremony that happens during practice period here. And the Kokyo, it happens once every, before every day of, there's a ceremony that evening, and the Kokyo chants, Carefully listen, everyone. Twenty-four centuries, ninety years ago, the great Tathagata entered nirvana. When this day is gone, life also decreases. Like a fish in a puddle, what pleasure is there here? We are to practice constantly, as if to save our heads from fire. Mindful of transiency, pursue the path with diligence and care. And this, thinking about impermanence as an encouragement to practice, impermanence is actually one of

[04:23]

what are traditionally called the four thoughts that turn the mind towards Dharma. And the others are precious human body, what a wonderful opportunity we have by being human, and also not just being human but living at a time where the Dharma has been taught, where a Buddha has come into the world, and having you know, like not starving, so we have the kind of leisure and opportunity to practice. And then impermanence is the second one. Karma is the third, contemplating karma, how our actions have consequences. And the fourth one is the defects of samsara. So during, we just finished a work period here, And during work period I was waiting, I was in the line for the dinner line, and the person in front of me turned to me and said, how can I continue my practice when I leave here?

[05:39]

And I said, think about impermanence and death. And they said, I'm sorry I asked you. And that was kind of the end of the conversation, actually. But the next day, those of you who were here will remember, we meet at a work circle twice a day. So everyone meets at this work circle. And the day after I'd said this, there was a huge oak tree on the hill above the work circle. And it came crashing down. And I think, you know, I was certainly aware that we were very lucky that we weren't having a work circle at that time. Anyway, I saw this lady. She was coming down from there, and I was going up. And maybe it was a projection, but I thought she looked a little shaken.

[06:42]

And she said something like, I see what you mean. LAUGHTER So there's a sutra in the Pali Canon where the Buddha talks about, well, he talks about impermanence in a lot of sutras, but there's one that I quite like. So I'm going to read this. At present monks, one speaking rightly would say, next to nothing is the life of human beings, limited trifling of much stress and many despairs. One should touch this truth like a sage. Do what is skillful. Follow the holy life. For one who is born, there is no freedom from death. At present, monks, one who lives a long time is a hundred years old, or a little bit more.

[07:48]

And then I like this part because he works out how many meals you would eat. You know, the Buddha was very thorough. Living for 36,000 days, one eats 72,000 meals. He's counting two meals a day. 24,000 meals in the cold, 24,000 meals in the heat, 24,000 meals in the rain. Thus, monks, I have reckoned the life of a person living for 100 years. I have reckoned the seasons, reckoned the meals. Whatever a teacher should do, seeking the welfare of his disciples, out of sympathy for them, that have I done for you. Over there are the roots of trees. Over there empty dwellings. Practice meditation.

[08:50]

Don't be heedless. Don't later fall into regret. This is our message to you. Now I'm moving on to my second book, which is Finding the Still Point. And actually, Finding the Still Point is one book that I have actually read. It's by Dido Laurie. And it has a CD with it. And often in the bookstore, people came in and asked for, they wanted to learn meditation. So they would ask me about what, you know, books or CDs. So usually I listened to the CDs that I had so I would know what to advise people. So for instance, you know, we have Jack Kornfield's Guided Meditations and Jon Kabat-Zingh. Anyway, this one, Finding the Still Point, on the CD, Dido Laurie gives a little talk, but then there's two guided meditations on there, two meditation sessions.

[10:05]

And the bell rings. And then ten minutes later, the bell rings again. And then there's a 30-minute guided meditation. And the bell rings. And then 30 minutes later, the bell rings again. So... So Daido Nori talks about coming home to the still point. In the... Phukhansa Zengi, it says, the zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the Dharma gate of repose and bliss. Once its heart is grasped, you are like a dragon gaining the water, like a tiger taking to the mountains.

[11:09]

So this still point is a natural state that we can come to. But if you've ever meditated, even for ten minutes, you'll know that there's... What you'll notice is that there's a constant flow of involuntary thoughts, of discursive thoughts. And one thought follows another. And they're not just random, actually. Usually there's some association between your thoughts. So on... on Tuesday morning in the zendo I was sitting in the zendo and I was feeling really really cold and I don't know if you can tell but actually I have a cold and just after the jundo someone near me opened a window and I thought I'm going to get pneumonia and then I thought

[12:18]

if I have pneumonia, I have to find a warm room to stay in. So then I started to think where I could go. I thought, Green Gulch is too damp. And I have an elderly family friend in the Bay Area, and I thought, no, I can't go there with pneumonia because it wouldn't be fair to give her pneumonia. And then I thought of this other friend, Robin, in Emeryville, and I thought, And then I was kind of relieved. I thought, I'll stay with Robin in Emeryville. And then I had this anxious feeling. I thought, but is there street parking? So actually, you know, studies have shown that 80% of rumination has a slightly negative tinge to it. That was certainly true in this case. But then when I thought of the car, the image of Rosie, Reb Anderson's little dog that I've often looked after, came into my mind as I often had her in the car.

[13:31]

And then I was transported to a sunny day at Green Gulch, and thinking about the first time I'd seen, I saw Rosie. And then I came to and realized that I'd been lost in thoughts. So this is what happens to us all the time. We sit, we get engaged with our thoughts and lost in thoughts, we come back to the present moment for a short time or a long time, and then we get carried away again. So there's some teachers who speak very... kind of directly about this flow of thoughts. For instance, Alan Wallace in The Attention Revolution says, the normal untrained mind compulsively disgorges a toxic stream of wandering thoughts, then latches onto them obsessively, carried away by one story after another.

[14:35]

And from this Tibetan teacher, Tranga Rinpoche, when we have not practiced meditation, Our thought processes are entirely beyond our control, and therefore we are victimized by the arising of all manner of thoughts. Most of these thoughts are unpleasant. Now, if there were a need, a practical utility in following or entertaining these agitating thoughts, if they actually made us function more effectively, that would be one thing. But in fact they do not. The defilements, we generate attachment and aversion and so on, and the agitation they bring up are unnecessary and do not make us function more effectively at all. And therefore, since they do not improve our functioning and since they make us unhappy, they are, from any point of view, unnecessary and appropriate. So, you know, even if we want to, why can't we stay in the

[15:43]

simplicity and openness and peace of the present moment. And the reason I believe is that for a long time we have had the habit of engaging with thoughts and following them. And we have to, as it were, learn to keep coming back to the present. So if you have been meditating for a while, or even actually a short time, you might notice that there's a gap between thoughts, that the stream, that thoughts can slow down, and then you'll notice a space between the thoughts, and that you can rest in that space, in that peace. So this is Suzuki Roshi in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

[16:53]

When you are practicing Zazen, do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let it come in and let it go out. It will not stay long. When you try to stop your thinking, it means you are bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything. It appears as if something comes from outside your mind, but actually it is only the waves of your mind. And if you are not bothered by the waves, gradually they will become calmer and calmer. In five or at most ten minutes, actually I don't think most people have noticed this, but anyway he says that in five or at most ten minutes your mind will be completely serene and calm. But then in the next paragraph he says, it will take quite a long time before you find your calm, serene mind in your practice.

[17:56]

So now to go on to my third title, Start Where You Are. I find this just a helpful thing to remember and something that will occasionally come into my mind. And I'll think, start where you are. So no matter what's going on for me at the moment, that's the place to practice. That's the place to just be aware of what's happening in one's body and mind. And also to have a welcoming attitude. to whatever is arising. So not to push things away, but as far as thoughts go, you don't want to be too welcoming. So Suzuki Roshi said, invite thoughts in, but don't give them tea. And I just want to mention the way that a few teachers have talked about

[19:11]

relating to thoughts. So Kenneth Roshi talked about thoughts as being like cars on a freeway and you're sitting underneath the freeway and the cars are going past on the freeway and you don't get into the cars. You just let them come and go. And A Tibetan teacher, Sokni Rinpoche, I heard him give this talk in San Francisco and it made a big impression on me. He talked about being like a doorman at a hotel and thoughts were like the guests. So sometimes, you know, there'd be a nice, nice looking guest, nice calm guest coming through and you just open the door for them. and let them go, and sometimes the guest, you know, might be, um, well, not such a pleasant-looking guest.

[20:21]

Maybe the guest, you know, is angry about something. They've been, uh, driving around looking for the hotel and not able to find it. Again, you just open the door and let them in. And you don't follow the guests up to their rooms. You just, uh... You just let them in. And then he said, sometimes there might be a busload of Japanese tourists, and they all come in at once, and you get kind of spun around. But then you just come back again to opening the door. And eventually, there's no doorman at the door. It's like an automatic door. So Charlotte Selva... who I think a lot of you know this, the yurt that just came down. There was a yurt here for many, many years where workshops were held, and that's been replaced by this new workshop space we built.

[21:30]

So Charlotte Selva donated that yurt to us. She was, Leslie told me she was the first person to hold workshops here, and they had to move all the tables and chairs out of the dining room twice a day. So eventually, I guess, she decided to donate the yurt to Tassahara, and her workshops were held in the yurt. But this is from her book. We are sometimes very desirous to come to quiet. This state of quiet is something wonderful. Quiet is not dullness. Quiet is also not forbidding thoughts. You cannot stop thinking from one moment to the other without violating your thinking. But you can, when you feel you would like to rest, gradually allow the giving up of thoughts. Let me call it allowing peace inside.

[22:36]

So we've had no time to lose, finding the still point, and start where you are, and now happiness is an inside job. This is by Sharon Salzberg, and actually this is one that I haven't read at all. But I thought I would just tell a few stories, two stories. One is about a samurai who went to a Zen master and said, do heaven and hell exist? And the Zen master said, ha, in a contemptuous tone, what makes you think you could understand such things? You are a stupid, uneducated soldier. Go away and don't bother me. Anyway, the samurai got very angry and lifted up his sword to kill the Zen master.

[23:48]

And as he was about to strike, the Zen master said, this is the gate to hell. The samurai realized that his anger was what made hell. So he put his sword down and bowed humbly to the Zen master. And the Zen master said, this is the gate to heaven. So sometimes how we react to unpleasant outer circumstances can make a big difference to if something actually a big difference to something if something is unpleasant or pleasant. So I just want to tell this story about when I was in San Francisco. I think it was probably my first year there.

[24:49]

I was on my way to Rainbow Grocery from Page Street, and just on my way as I was crossing Mission, this man stopped me and said, where's the, do you know the way to the Amtrak station? So I said, yeah, I think it's down there. Anyway, then he started to tell me the story. He said, you know, and of course this was a scam, but he was very convincing. Like he said, he was an electrician, and actually he had a baseball cap on and a pencil behind his ear, which I thought was a really good touch. And that he'd parked his back, van outside this building and the police had towed it away and he needed to get to take the train and get back home it doesn't sound like such a good story but I was just he was kind of almost in tears you know and I was trying to work it out for him you know say couldn't you call someone or anyway eventually I opened my wallet

[26:04]

and gave him $20. And he said, oh, could you give me another $20 so I could take my boys back? And I was like, your boys? Anyway, you know, I don't know. I gave him another $20. And he was delighted and grabbed me and kissed me on the cheek. And just in that moment, you know, I thought this could go This could go one of two ways. I could either feel really bad about this, or I could kind of change this around. So I immediately thought, I freely give you this money, and may this money be really helpful to you, and may you help all sentient beings. And because I'd done that, I actually didn't feel bad at all. Even now I have a kind of friendly feeling towards him. Yeah, so sometimes if out of circumstances, you know, something's about to go wrong, our attitude towards it can really help.

[27:16]

There was another thing that happened in San Francisco. This was actually when I was director here. And I would go up and down to meetings. And... once I went for a meeting, and my car was stolen overnight. So when I went to the car and I saw it was gone, this was again another big occasion I felt when I could get really negative. I thought, may whoever has taken this car see the little Buddha in it and reach enlightenment for the sake of all beings. And I just kept repeating that over and over. So I wasn't... I wasn't upset about the car, and in fact, when I came back here, my teacher, Reb Anderson, was visiting, and his Jisha said to me, she said, Reb says, you don't seem very upset about your car being stolen. And it was true, I wasn't. So I'm just going to end with this poem.

[28:27]

that someone sent me on this little card. It's obviously from the Tibetan tradition. When thoughts move, let them. Movement arises and is liberated without a trace. If there is no movement, don't look for it. This is empty luminosity, naked, empty awareness. practice without the suppression or cultivation of thoughts brings the accomplishment of the destruction of hope and fear. So I think there's time for one question if anyone has a question. And if you don't, that's okay. Yes? When you write your book, what title?

[29:28]

Oh. Well, all I can think of is it would be something like practice, practice constantly, which is what, you know, I would like to do, but often I don't. the idea that thinking about getting pneumonia and thinking about where I'm going to stay and wondering if there'll be parking outside and that sort of thing. I have the idea that that's bad and that calm, still awareness is what we're striving after.

[30:33]

And I also have the idea that this way of viewing it isn't really very helpful. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, from... Definitely from one point of view, we can just go round, because this kind of endless stream of thoughts, unless we see that and find and look at that, and actually the thoughts do calm down when you... when you pay attention to them, when you pay attention to the present moment, the thoughts do calm down. So I don't know, in one way, you know, that's... I think it is something that one wants to happen. But the thing is, if you want it to happen, it won't happen. If you're practicing with a kind of gaining idea to get some kind of peace...

[31:40]

It's just not going to happen. You have to gently stay with whatever is happening right now, pleasant or unpleasant, and just hold everything very gently. 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.

[32:16]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_97.65