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, everyone. I wanted to bring up with you today some stories, some Zen teaching stories and weave them into our daily life and how we meet our life with skill and openness. And There's other stories that have come to mind while working on this talk, and I'll see if there's room for them or not.

[01:11]

We'll just see what happens. So it's getting to be springtime, coming soon, and all three of the temples are in practice period. And the grasses are green, flowers and plum blossoms are coming up. the boundless spring on the hundred plants. That is a phrase from the poem, from the verse in case four of the Book of Serenity, which is called The World Honored One Points to the Ground. The World Honored One Points to the Ground. And I wanted to mention that this January intensive at Green Gulch Farm, Tenshin Roshi took up this koan for the whole intensive.

[02:16]

And I asked him, actually, it's been very meaningful for me, and I asked him if it would be okay if I brought it up here. And he said something like, not to be a copycat or anything. And I said, right. So this will be my own... relationship to the stories, but it's true, for three weeks, every lecture, every class, was turning this particular koan. So it went in deeply. So the world honored one points to the ground. And as often happens with koans, within the commentary, there's other stories that shine light on the main case, and so, I'll try to weave in different things. So this is the case. As the World Honored One was walking with the congregation, he pointed to the ground and said, this would be a good spot to build a sanctuary.

[03:26]

And Indra, the emperor of the gods, took up a blade of grass, stuck it in the ground, and said, the sanctuary is built. And the world honored one smiled. That's the case, case four of the Book of Serenity. So, I often imagine enacting that, you know, walking along with the Buddha. World honored one is an epithet, for Shakyamuni Buddha, world-honored one, with a group of people, other practitioners, and Indra, Indra, the emperor of the gods, comes up in many Buddhist stories of a Hindu god, Indra, you know, came to help the Buddha at various times, encouraged the Buddha to teach, for one, after the Buddha's enlightenment, when the Buddha thought,

[04:34]

no one will understand and maybe I'll just enjoy this, but Indra requested and encouraged and said there are people who can understand. So here's Indra along with the Buddha and the Buddha's walking along and he just points to the ground, just doesn't say some special place or some particularly beautiful place or anything, right here, point to the ground. This would be a good spot to build a sanctuary. And then Indra takes up a blade of grass, sticks it in the ground, and says, the sanctuary is built. And the Buddha smiled. And I think, you know, every single part of a Zen story is necessary. Necessary. that last part, the Buddha smiled.

[05:36]

One might think, well, what's this all about? Sticking grass in the ground and smiling. Why is the Buddha smiling? So I just wanted to stop for a minute and think about the word sanctuary. And, you know, there's sanctuaries used in different ways, but the kind of my basic sense that all the other meanings flow from is that it's a place of refuge, a place of safety, a place of protection, a kind of a haven, a safe harbor. These are kind of some words around sanctuary. And then it's been used for things like animal preserve, you know, a bird sanctuary, which is a protected place where birds... can live unharmed and unbothered, you know.

[06:40]

And also it means a holy place. So I grew up in the Jewish religion and the place where servicers were held was called the sanctuary, the kind of innermost place or the holy spot or the sanctified spot. And it comes from the Latin sanctuary, sanctus, holy. So it means a sacred place. And in more ancient times, pre-churches and temples and so forth, these sanctuaries were out of doors, groves of trees, and places that were thought of as holy places. and they set aside for ritual, probably. And the sanctuary movement in the United States started, which is another meaning of it, providing sanctuary, started in the 80s when there was great war and turmoil, civil war and so forth in South America, Central America, and many, many churches provided places of sanctuary for refugees.

[08:00]

So that's the kind of thinking about what a sanctuary is, different meanings of sanctuary. So here's the Buddha walking along and points to the ground and says, this would be a good spot, a spot to build a sanctuary, to build a place of refuge and safety, protection. And along with that comes, without saying it, you know, calm and settledness and serenity, maybe. Rest. Right there. And then Indra, you know, picks up this blade of grass and says it's built. And right there, you know, the Buddha was saying this very spot would be a good place. which is very open, right?

[09:06]

Very open. And then in the commentary or in the verse, it says that Indra, talking about Indra, picking up what comes to hand, he uses it knowingly. So this came to hand. This was right there. Hands right at hand. What is right at hand for us in order to build a sanctuary? For Indra, it was grass growing, he just stopped right here, and this is it, right here. And for each of us, the question might be, what is it to build a sanctuary? Right on this spot, this right now. This is a good place to build a sanctuary. And what is at hand to build it?

[10:09]

And what's always at hand is our body, mind, body, breath, mind, heart, our intention, our vows, right there at hand. And what do we, how do we manifest sanctuary? How do we create and build sanctuary? In our own bodies. Right here. No matter what is going on. And the world honored once smiled. There's other instances of this silent communication of smiling. One is the Dharma transmission story of the Buddha and his disciple in this lifetime, Makakasho or Makashapya in Sanskrit, where the Buddha held up a flower, in this case, other plant material, and twirled it and blinked or winked.

[11:22]

Two different translations, blinked. And Makashapya broke into a smile. And the Buddha then said, I entrust the entire treasury of the true Dharma, I, to Makaka Shabya, and the fine mind of Nirvana, the fine mind of peace. This is a good spot to build a sanctuary. This affinity, communication, and understanding between people. Inter. interrelational and intra within our own people that we are, our own parts. And this is worthy of a smile. In the commentary on this case, it brings up another story which I want to bring up about the Buddha in a past life.

[12:32]

So the Buddha... This Shakyamuni Buddha is, in the teaching stories, is this time around in this world, in this eon. And the Buddha said, I didn't make up this practice by myself. I received it from other teachers in the past. And one of the stories, long, long ago, is about the Buddha named Dipankara. Dipankara means lamp, or light bearer. So the story is that, and so that was this old ancient, ancient Buddha named Deepankara. And Shakyamuni Buddha at that time, this is like a Jataka tale, or a tale of past lives. Shakyamuni Buddha was a Brahmin in India, and very wealthy, and both of his parents died, and the head kind of steward of

[13:33]

the estate showed him what was left to him, what his parents had left to him. And there was a treasure house filled to the brim with gems and gold and silver. And he said, my parents couldn't take not even one penny or one tiny bit of that with them. And I won't be able to either. And I'm going to give this all to the poor and begin to practice as a monk. kind of a hermit. And the name of this Brahmin was Smetha, Smetha, Smetha. So he left this wealthy life and became a hermit and had great capacity and was able to, he was an adept, you know, and he was able to have kind of special powers that come with great, these practices he was doing Anyway, he heard, Smedha, who was practicing as a hermit, heard that this very wonderful teacher, Dipankara Buddha, was coming to town, was coming to this village.

[14:46]

And everyone was excited. They wanted to prepare for him to come. And they were cleaning up the village and cleaning up the roads. And so Smedha thought, oh, I want to hear this teacher. I want to help with the villagers doing this work. And they thought with his supernatural powers he might do really quick cleanup and work. But he said, no, no, I want to use my hands. I want to do it with you and using my own hands, not any supernatural, just right on grounded with you. So they said, could you clean up this road? It's very, very muddy. And the Deepankara is going to be coming along this way with this retinue. And Smedha began digging, bringing fresh earth to cover all this mud. And it was taking a long time. And then he could hear that Deepankara was coming, that there wasn't time to get the road all cleaned up. And it was all muddy, and he didn't want Deepankara to walk in the mud.

[15:51]

So what Smedha did was he unfastened his hair. He had long, matted hair. He was a hermit. That was, you know, didn't cut his hair. And he laid out on the ground with his body and his hair out into the mud and made of himself a place for Deepankara to walk on his matted hair and his body. And Deepankara, you know, came along and saw this devoted practitioner just in the mud full-on, full body, face in the mud, and was moved by it, by the devotion. And Smedha looked up at Dipankara and had a kind of moment of great affinity and communion maybe with this teacher.

[16:57]

And what occurred to him, what arose in him, was the thought that I could continue on this path and, you know, leave the wheel of birth and death and become an Arhadara. But I want to be like this Deepankara, this Buddha who's teaching and staying in the world, and I vow to return over and over again to practice until I too might become a Buddha to help other beings. This is a very, very strong vow of what was called the Buddha to be, or a bodhisattva. And Deepankara understood what was in Smedha's mind, and what happened right then was Deepankara predicted, there's a practice of actually saying this being, this person, will become a Buddha in the future. And in the Lotus Sutra, many, many beings are predicted or given this kind of confirmation or affirmation that you too, in a future life, and he named them, your name will be, and you will have these disciples and your country will be Roseapple Island, which is the name of this world, India, actually.

[18:21]

So, this communion between them and the rising for smedha of this vow, this bodhisattva vow, right there in the mud, while someone's walking on top of your, walking on your body, you know. So this, in the commentary on the world honored one points to the ground, this commentary on this koan about it brings up this story of Deepankara and Smedha and says, when Deepankara saw Smedha lying in the mud with his hair to become a walkway, Deepankara said, a sanctuary should be built in this place. So this koan and this old story resonate, echo each other.

[19:23]

A sanctuary should be built in this place. And an elder who was a wise elder who was with Dipankara put a marker there of some kind, doesn't say what the marker was, maybe a stone, and said, the building of the sanctuary is finished. And then there was scattering of flowers and praising for the elder who marked where it is. So in turning these two stories that are, you know, they echo each other and speak to each other, Deepankara Buddha is saying, this is a good place for a sanctuary. A sanctuary should be built right here. How come? What's happening right here? Here's Smita lying down in the mud, you know, kind of a mess, all muddy in his hair. What is it that spoke to Dipankara to say, right here, a sanctuary should be built, a place of refuge, a place of rest, a place of peace, a safe haven.

[20:40]

And for me, Smetha's act of using his body to respond, not caring so much, I don't want to get dirty, I'm going to look ridiculous. I shouldn't do this. Or he just threw himself on the ground. And this image of down on the ground is actually a kind of origin story for our full prostration that we practice, where we kind of do a five-point landing of knees, elbows, and forehead, and then raise the hands. I just did three of those. and many of you have that practice, this is thought to come from this image of Smedha just throwing himself down, grounded, down to the ground, pointing to the ground. This is a good place to build a sanctuary. And a sanctuary can be built every time we bow, or I would say is built, which may not be surprising.

[21:51]

That might feel, yes, that's what bows are about But more than that, how is it that every moment is a good place to build a sanctuary? This is a good spot. Or a sanctuary should be built right here as we're speaking to one another, as we're helping one another, as we're doing our daily life, as we're reading the news, as we're joining with others. Can we be a sanctuary? And this is more difficult maybe than it sounds. That may be our vow and our intention, but we are taken up with emotions and what are called the three poisons of greed, hate and delusion and malice and jealousy and anger and disbelief.

[22:52]

and horror, you know, at what's happening in the world and cruelty and the sad situations all over the world in our own lives, the lives of those we know, people we've heard of and those we've never heard of. How do we become a sanctuary and a good place over and over to build a sanctuary? And it's... You know, sticking the blade of grass right in the ground is a very particular action. It's not kind of wishy-washy or kind of sorta. It's the sanctuary is built, or this other Smeda story, putting a marker right there, the sanctuary is built. It's not approximate, it's right here. So I've been using this koan, you know, to remind me, you know, when there's sadness or strong emotion or disbelief, maybe, to have that phrase, this is a good place to build a sanctuary.

[24:11]

Right there in my difficulty in the disquiet and the, disconcertion, if that's a word, or anger. This right there, not approximate, right there is a good place to build a sanctuary. Can I remember that and build it? How do we build a sanctuary? I think we build with what we've got, with what's at hand. You know, just like Indra, what was at hand? A blade of grass or a stone or... Can we find our breath? Can we find our uprightness inside and outside? Can we be quiet in order to listen, be ready? Can we drop our strong views, fixed views of self and other and them?

[25:18]

So Smedha, you know, when he was down in the mud, which is such a wonderful image, because we use mud a lot, you know, the lotus in muddy water is an image for our bodhisattva vows and life, being in the world, being completely rooted in mud and water and the places where lotuses grow are not clear water, they're lagoon-y, muddy places, it's the only place they grow. So this image of mud, there's also the Guishan saying, Guishan Zen Master, Chinese Zen Master saying he's going to return as an ox. And know that I'm returning as an ox. And the ox is another image for Bodhisattva Vao, the ox. walks through the rice paddies and the mud and does the work, grounded work, in the mud.

[26:29]

So, so this Smetha's bodhisattva vow coming up right there in the mud that I want to, I too want to awaken, not just for myself, but to help all beings, to live for the benefit of all beings. This precious, bodhisattva vow and the bodhicitta, or this mind of awakening, this mind that turns in this direction, is what happened for smedha right then and there, right in the mud, this arose. And bodhicitta is a term we use a lot, and I wanted to say used the words of Pema Chodron, great teacher, in her book, Go to the Places That Scare You, which some of you may know, it's an older book, the 80s maybe.

[27:35]

And she talks about bodhicitta as, not as some, you know, oh, it's in this wonderful, which it is, but the wonderfulness is that it's, she calls it like a wound, a wound in our heart, like a broken heart. And from that broken-hearted feeling, the suffering of others, and wanting to respond, not being all healed and then responding, but broken-heartedly, wounded healer, is bodhicitta, this pain that we have over the suffering that we see. that we can't block out, that we open to. This is what she calls bodhicitta, this wound. The other image is smedha, which I actually love this image.

[28:41]

It'd be fun to paint it, actually. Smedha in the mud, lying down, face down, is a very vulnerable position to be in, right? I mean, bowing is vulnerable. And the word vulnerable comes from the Latin word vulnus, which means wound. The word to be vulnerable means to be able to be wounded. We allow ourselves to be in a situation where we can be touched and hurt, perhaps not I'm not saying putting ourselves in harm's way. I'm saying that vulnerable is that we are wounded by who we speak with, what we see our hearts feel, the wound, the pain, the despair, the fears. This is part of our bodhicitta, the ability, and the more we practice, the more we can.

[29:49]

feel this, and be vulnerable, be willing to be vulnerable, which connects us so strongly to others. So in our lives, in difficult times, vulnerable times, it's very important to care for ourselves, to take very good care of ourselves, to be able to be available to others. If we're not taking care of ourselves, It's hard for people to feel met, and it's hard for us to respond. So we can't forget, even in the great fervor maybe of responding to the world, we mustn't, I guess, neglect our own care. In fact, there was a workshop

[30:50]

for the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, SCBA, around power and the uses of power by Peg Severson. She does various workshops and what she said about self-care was not taking care of the self, she called a form of abuse of power, which I found very startling. And for each of us taking care of ourselves might look slightly different in terms of our constitution and our energy and our age and all sorts of things, but for each of us to know what it is to take care of ourselves, to give ourselves the gift of our sitting regularly, our formal practice, resting, taking care of the body and mind and our faculties, which includes, you know, being careful about what we ingest through the senses, not just eating good food and not taking in intoxicants, but what about our media consumption and our screen time and our substances of all kinds?

[32:16]

Are we caring for ourselves and noticing this? Thich Nhat Hanh during the Vietnam War when he was here. From what I understand, there was no screen time then. There was letters, and letters would be coming from Vietnam about the horrors of war and loss of life and people he knew and destruction. And from what I understand is that he didn't open those every day when they came, and having a steady diet of... you know, deep, sorrowful news. He set aside a day and probably, I don't know, but prepared for it with sitting and walking meditation and then opened the letters. It wasn't a constant diet of, it's not healthy, you know, it's, we can't withstand that kind of onslaught day in, day out.

[33:21]

So taking good care of ourselves and also along with some of the things I've mentioned, some things that are so important I think at times like this are the arts, music, poetry, art, nature, these kinds of things to not somehow skimp on that or to feel like I have so many things to do and I'm doing so much social engagement and social justice work that I don't have time. Because those are the things that feed us so deeply along with our, you know, our zazen practice and receiving teachings and meeting with teachers and sangha friends. These art and poetry are necessary, I feel, especially in difficult times. I was just recently, I think I heard about this years ago, but reminded of a man named Vedran, let me get it right, Vedran Smilovic.

[34:36]

Vedran Smilovic was a cellist and he came from Bosnia Herzegovina and he was in Sarajevo during the siege of Sarajevo and he would go out and play his cello in talk about vulnerable in bombed out buildings and ruins and just out very open to sniper fire and other things and he would play his cello every day and he would play a certain piece called Al Binoni Adasho in G major, which I found on YouTube. You can look it up. Adasho in G major, Al Binoni. So you could imagine if you were taking shelter in your house and all, what that would be like to hear.

[35:38]

It's very beautiful, the music. And to hear that and to see him just playing. completely vulnerable and completely with everyone. So there's a phrase or a verse that we chant during the ordination, priest ordination, which is smedha and smedha's vows and also our own vows and our own building of a sanctuary with our practice and our body-mind, and the verse is only the mind of a bodhisattva can cut through this drifting, wandering life and take the path of peace or the path of nirvana. This virtue cannot be defined. So, you know, when faced with so many

[36:45]

personal and social and world difficulties, our environment, the loss of species, and really the inconceivable sorrow that we feel, how do we continue on, someone might say. And this verse, only the mind of a bodhisattva can cut through this Cut through with what? With love, with care, with just responding. I wonder what that means, the laughing of the... Is it an ambulance? I'm not sure. Only the mind of a bodhisattva, this ever-renewing commitment to live with others to benefit self and other self is not dropped off it's not part of the equation self and other both are dropped off so go to the places that scare you it's a Tibetan

[38:15]

and of admonition. And when we don't go, when we hold up in our own building that we've built for ourselves, it's hard to be a sanctuary. A sanctuary means people can come. They can come to us for refuge. And if we never go further than our own comfort zone, that gets stuck and kind of closed off. I think the last thing I just wanted to say, I was, this is another music. I was shown a video of, it's another cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, playing with James Taylor, who was singing, and some other violinists.

[39:25]

And they're singing the Stephen Foster song, which is kind of in the American songbook, Hard Times Come Again, No More. I don't know if you know the song. But in the song, it's, you know, it's this universal wish, you know, the refrain is hard times, hard times, come again no more. But then the verses say, you know, we hear the sigh of the weary and the frail and the hungry and then this wish, please, you know, don't come anymore. I can't take it. It's a very wonderful song. And to have Yo-Yo Ma playing the cello for... It's another YouTube thing you can look up. James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma. This is the refrain we hear. I'm suffering the cries of the world.

[40:26]

And can we listen and respond? So thank you very much for coming to this sanctuary, these places of peace, and may we each become and build a sanctuary right here. This is a good spot. Thank you very much. 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 Dharma.

[41:25]

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