Good morning. Good morning. So... I'm really happy to be talking this morning. I think there's two things I ought to get out of the way first. Can you guess? I want to thank and acknowledge the support of my teacher, Sojamil Weitzman, and say that my talk is just to encourage you in your practice.

[01:00]

As long as I'm thanking Sojun Roshi, I'd also like to thank Hojo-san, Abbott, Myoga, and Steve Stuckey, to have the two of them co-leading this practice period. What a gift. And our dear abiding teacher, Leslie James, great to have her back. and our Shuso. Thank you for all your support, Shuso. So it's really great to be studying the Denko Roku. I'm really happy that Yogen and Sojin decided that we were going to study this text in this practice period, the record

[02:04]

of transmitting the light the record of transmitting the light the light of Dharma pass from warm hand to warm hand from Shakyamuni Buddha's time until the present day as Suzuki Roshi said and I would like to talk about one of our ancestors in the Denka Roku and the Teisho about that ancestor and I checked this out with Myogen before he left he's gone to Abbott's group and various other meetings and pretty confident that this wasn't one of the ancestors they were planning to talk about, even though they've picked a lot of the less obvious ones.

[03:24]

I want to talk about Punya Mitra, the 26th ancestor. And usually... I mentioned this one, it's like, oh, huh? It's kind of like Millard Fillmore or Chester A. Arthur. I have to explain that joke for people who are not from the U.S. Those are presidents. And mostly, you heard the name, oh yeah, Chester A. Arthur, he was president at some point. That's all you know about him. Might have been a lot more interesting to talk about Punyamitra's disciple, Prajnatara, who was a woman, it turns out.

[04:29]

That would be an interesting talk. But I have my reasons for talking about Punya Mitra, which I will get into. I really have been appreciating, as I always do, our Wayseeking Mind Talks. I'm really appreciating the wealth of experience and backgrounds and people's stories that they brought to the student Wayseeking Mind Talks, each Tangario student sharing their story with us. So we had three more Wayseeking Mind Talks last night, and it was quite great. And, you know, the Denko Roku is...

[05:35]

Weisiki Mind Talks, right? Can be seen this way. Our student Weisiki Mind Talks are autobiographical, and these are biographical. Each story has got some biographical information that Kezan writes about, then how they came to practice, and... how they came to transmit the light. So I'm going to include a little bit, a tiny bit, my own Waisiki Mind talk. Not much. A little. why this particular case is interesting to me.

[06:48]

Maybe I should read the case. This is the Francis Cook translation. the one I'm most familiar with, the one I read a long time ago. Punyamitra, the case. The 26th ancestor was the venerable Punyamitra. When he was a crown prince, the 25th ancestor asked him, you wish to make your home departure. What thing must you do? The master replied, when I make my home departure, I will not do any particular thing. The teacher asked, what thing will you not do?

[07:53]

The master answered, I will not do any ordinary thing. The teacher asked, what thing must you do? The master answered, I must do Buddha work. The teacher said, It's not my intention in this talk to talk about the various merits or pros and cons of home leaving, i.e. formal home leaving, the ceremony of Shuke Tokudo, or not.

[09:02]

I don't consider that particularly relevant to what I... want to talk about today. But it's brought up, obviously, in this case, in this teisho. And it has to do with my own story, my own way-seeking mind talk. And please, any of you who have heard this story before, I beg your forgiveness. I think I first talked to Sojin Roshi about ordination. I first broached the subject with him around 97, to the best of my recollection. I broached the subject with him like, maybe I should ordain. What do you think of that?

[10:05]

I'm thinking maybe I should ordain. Maybe I should be a priest. And his response was immediate. No! Are you kidding? Really strong response. Like, what are you thinking? Just put that notion out of your head. There's nothing wrong with your practice. Well, that was kind of nice. bucked me up a little bit. He said, you don't need to ordain. It would be entirely superfluous. No point in it. You just, please, forget about it. I was like, okay. Yes, teacher. I'll forget about it. I don't know if he told me, actually, forget about it, but that was a strong message I received. Just like, what? No. So it wasn't too long after I happened to have the opportunity to go to Dharma Talk by Robert Aiken Roshi in Oakland.

[11:31]

Jerry Brown used to have this nifty kind of huge live work space and meeting space in Jack London Square. in Oakland, and Akin Roshi gave a talk there. I have a feeling it might have been the last time in his life that he came to the mainland. So I feel very lucky to have seen and heard teachings from Akin Roshi. And his talk was very interesting. It was sort of a pastiche, or... mash-up, if you will, of different essays and, I guess, talks he'd given previously. So it went around various topics. And some things he was just reading, and some things he was obviously speaking off the cuff.

[12:36]

But one thing he talked about was I don't know if you know this, but in Aiken Roshi's Sangha, the Diamond Sangha, they don't bother to ordain. They don't ordain priests. And it's just not important to... It wasn't important to Aiken Roshi. And he talked about that on his... feelings about that and his philosophy around that. He said, the Japanese model is not for us. It's time to put that aside. Again, I'm not quoting precisely, but this is what I got from it. I do remember him saying, tear down the monastery walls. It's pointless. It's not serving the Dharma in, at that point, 20th century U.S.

[13:41]

And, you know, pretty strong message. What's that about? You know, why are we adopting this Japanese model that is, you know, here's the Danka over here, and here's the ordained Sanga over here, and, you know, that's not the way we're practicing. Why do we even want to try doing that? I was like, oh, okay. So then it was like, the next time I had Doka's on, with Sojin Roshi. I said, okay. I got it. I went and I heard Aiken Roshi speak, and he said, tear down the monastery walls. These distinctions are spurious. There's no need to have, so I get it now. I don't have to ordain. There's no point in that whatsoever. And he's like, what? What are you talking about? course there need to be breeze so I was thoroughly confused and I didn't bring it up again for a long time later on I

[15:06]

did, later on, say to him, I'm thinking maybe I should go to Tassahara. And that kind of response, maybe you should. And so I came to Tassahara and You know, I can't really recall any specific conversations. We must have had conversations. We must have. But I don't really recall them. It's more like I was in my third trimester. Think you might be pregnant? Do you get what I'm saying? Does that make any sense? Yes. think you might be ordaining?

[16:14]

We didn't talk about it. I can recall. I mean, we must have, but not that I can really recall until he said, I think you should start sewing an okesa. But I do recall, now this is getting back to Punya Mitra, when I came to Tassajara, and guest season of 2000, you know, at Tassahara in morning service, we chant every morning service in practice period and guest season, we chant the lineage of Buddhism ancestors and the women ancestors. And I hadn't been, you know, we don't do that so much in Berkeley Zen Center, my home temple. So, chanting it every day I naturally got interested and naturally I read Francis Cook's translation of Denko Roku to find out more about these ancestors to learn to educate myself about who we were chanting about and I was reading I recall this quite distinctly actually in the library

[17:38]

And I got up to, that's Bhashashita, Ponyamitra, I got up to, what thing must you do? And the master answered, I must do Buddha work. And I had a physical response to reading that. This girl said, if I'm pronouncing that word correctly, of the viscara, the guts. Or actually, the way I described it to Sojin Roshi was, I felt like there was a bass string in my heart, and somebody just went boom, [...] boom. I'm not kidding. This is like physical. Reading that sentence, I must do Buddha work. So, that's been my koan for a long time, off and on.

[18:48]

Maybe still my koan, off and on. That's something I think about a lot. What is Buddha work? What is Buddha work? Having thought about it a lot, I'll share a few of my thoughts. According to the Avatamsaka Sutra, when the Buddha woke up, when the Buddha saw the morning star, he said, I now see all sentient beings everywhere. fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the enlightened ones, but because of false conceptions and attachments, they do not realize it.

[19:56]

I now see all sentient beings everywhere fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the enlightened ones, but because of false conceptions and attachments, They do not realize it. So one thing I could say is, the way I see it, to do Buddha work is to live your life, your one precious life that you've been given, such that your actions of body, speech, and mind are in alignment with that statement.

[21:06]

In other words, to live your life as an expression of interdependence. To live your life as an expression of the one Buddha mind that we all share. This takes many obvious and not so obvious forms. I say obvious, to practice the paramitas, practice generosity, practice ethical behavior, practice sticking with it energetically, sticking with it with acceptance and inclusion.

[22:10]

Practice zazen. Practice seeing the big picture. Practice the precepts. Upholding the precepts. Going for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. not so obvious ways, you know, the false conceptions and attachments that keep us from realizing it. Can we practice being with those, your own and others, acknowledging the false conceptions and attachments Acknowledging where we get stuck, where we get caught in our story.

[23:21]

And, you know, like we do every morning at the beginning of service, we put our hands in gasho and we say, all my ancient twisted karma I now fully avow. Just confess. Okay. I'm stuck. I'm addicted to the notion that I have a separate self, a separate existence. Confessing that over and over again. Especially when there's trouble. Especially when there's Afflictive emotions, depression, hopelessness, fear, grief, sorrow, greed.

[24:34]

This general feeling of I'm not good enough. or there is no point confessing that. Our Enogram was going through a lot of old papers and getting rid of some stuff and cutting paper up for scrap. You know how we do, we cut them in quarter and something that's been printed one side and use it for notepaper. And he found my application for my ninth practice period at Tassajara. Fall 2004 practice period.

[25:39]

My application as a continuing student. And it said, See, this is more of my way-seeking mind talk. The application said, what is your intention for this practice period? And my answer was to see all beings as Buddha and to follow the schedule. Graham showed me that. I said, hey, not bad. I like that. So I put that as my intention for the next practice period, too. That works for me. To see all beings as Buddha, I think, is Buddha work. It's not easy. It's not easy. You will be challenged over and over. That's what they said about Suzuki Roshi.

[26:44]

People always said that about him. I felt like he could see the Buddha in me when I couldn't. That's the big problem for most of us, I think. I can't, you know, yes, yes, yes. Are you kidding? Blanche said, Blanche Hartman. said, you know, she was new to Zen Center, Suzuki Roshi, she heard him say, you're perfect just the way you are. And she thought her immediate thought was, I just got here. He doesn't know me yet. Right? I now see all sentient beings, all sentient beings everywhere, fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the enlightened ones.

[27:49]

But because of false conceptions and attachments, we don't realize it. This is not Pollyanna-ish. Oh, wow, man. Buddha, it's all Buddha. Yeah. Okay. You know, even though secretly I hate your guts, I see... The Buddha in you. Really? No. No, this is checking in with secretly I hate your guts. Acknowledging that. Confessing that to yourself. And you know, if you're feeling up for it, confessing it to another. facing that and trying to see the bigger picture.

[28:53]

Hard work indeed. Another thing bodhisattvas do, you're all bodhisattvas, right? You know that. I mean, you're all bodhisattvas and you're all home leavers. You're in this ango. We're all in this ango together. We're all bodhisattvas. We're all home leavers. We're all Buddhas in training. We're bodhisattvas in training. And you know, various Mahayana sutras like the Lotus Sutra and the Avatamsaka Sutra, they're always talking about making offerings. In past life, I made offerings to gazillion Buddhas in a gazillion different Buddha lands, and I offered such things as blah, blah, blah, blah, and I offered this, and great Bodhisattvas make offerings, continuously making offerings, practicing Dhanaparamita, making offerings to Buddhas.

[30:06]

That's what we do. That's what... That's what we do, making offerings, continuously making offerings. And I thought, I was thinking about Steve Neogin, when he talked about Suzuki Roshi saying, you know, these glasses, they're not really mine. You know, I don't really possess them, but temporarily I get to use them. And I thought, you know, that's a pretty deep, profound statement. And I thought, you know, what is it we really possess? What are the things that we can say we truly possess? And then I thought, oh yeah.

[31:09]

Fear. Jealousy. Greed, feelings of inadequacy, grief, sorrow, depression, all these things, that's what clusters up around manas, individuating consciousness. You know, I, me, mine, my grief, my sorrow, my rage. Otherwise, what does manas have to do besides, you know, help the toothbrush find the right place? Doesn't have a whole lot more work than that. But stays really busy. Stays really busy somehow.

[32:10]

Right? So I say, grief, rage, feeling separate, feeling lonely, up there, up there on the offering table. Put it up there. Those are your possessions. Those are the offerings you can make to Buddhas. And the Buddhas gratefully receive these offerings. The Buddhas are very grateful to receive these offerings. This is, in my opinion, Buddha work.

[33:12]

haven't read any of the teisho. I surely meant to do that. Except for my own dang teisho. So, here's part of it I wanted to share. Kezan says, thing means ordinary thing. Even if you shave your head and dye your clothes black so that you look like a follower of the Buddha, You will not avoid views of self and other. If you do not detach yourselves from distinctions of male and female, these remain ordinary things, not Buddha work.

[34:30]

It's interesting that Kezon said male and female. I like that. He was way ahead of his time. Don't do any ordinary thing, okay? This is your big chance. You're in Ango at Tassajara. As the Eno said to the Tangariya students in their orientation, congratulations. Welcome. Congratulations for making it here. This is your big chance. And, you know, it's been a little interesting in this practice period. If I was getting into comparing mine, I think that Tangariya students can't.

[35:33]

It's the only practice period I ever did. How should I know? But I brought it up right in my Shosan question to Abbot Myogen. how do we hold this as a single body of practice, given the diversity? And I felt like, really, somebody asked me if I was happy with the answer. I said, mostly I was happy to ask the question. I just wanted to put the question out there. And I think maybe the question is the answer. Keep asking that. And if there are those of you who might be having the thought, I thought I was going to be playing in the major leagues, and I come to find out it feels more like baseball fantasy camp, well, that's on you, actually.

[36:39]

That's on you. It's up to you. It's your practice. Master Kazon says, later, the original mind of all beings is like this. Thus, one should not be afraid of being a lay person. Hey. That's strange. Don't be afraid of being a lay person. Excuse me. thus one should not be afraid of being a layperson nor should one be proud of making one's home departure just stop looking externally and discern it within just stop looking externally and discern it within oh yeah thank you Master Kazan

[37:49]

Good point. Good reminder. In honor of my teacher, Sojin, I have to hold up the other side. I must hold up the other side. So I say, if you feel like You're playing at being Zen monks. Good. Play wholeheartedly. You know, kids, when they play, very serious. Kids can get really serious about play. Play wholeheartedly. Play completely. When you... Kasho, put your whole body into it.

[38:53]

Kasho with your whole body. Why? It's play. Enact it completely. Kids are very serious about play. You can be very serious about play. This wholehearted play is Buddha work. When I was a kid, I had a playmate from across the street. I don't know how old I was. Seven, maybe? I don't know. I can't remember. But playmate from across the street, Rodney. And Rodney and I, we both had older brothers. So between the two of us, We had like a gazillion Matchbox toys. Cars, the little cars, little Matchbox cars.

[39:56]

And we had, there was this giant tree that had these roots going this way and that way. And we would play under that tree. And the tree was like a mountain. Cars are about that big, right? Matchbox toy cars. I mean, we had so many. and we would clear out this little space over here, and we say, okay, this is the big parking lot. And then over here, this is like reserve parking for the big boss and executives. I don't think we said executives, but anyway. And over here, this is parking for just our special friends. And then way over here, There's another parking place, and I've often thought, you know, if I go up, like, Overlook Trail or Flag Rock, and I look down, and I see, okay, there's guest parking, you know, this is...

[41:07]

bare dirt. It looks familiar. Here's guest parking, and here's fleet parking, and there's the shop over there, and way over there is the flats. There's a couple vehicles over there, right? Here goes Linda in the green Isuzu. She's going to get Sojin Roshi. She's going to go pick up Sojan Roshi and bring him back. She left me a voicemail this morning. She said there was snow on the ridge as she was driving out. Look out for the snow, Linda. Drive carefully. Please, I wish for all of you to enjoy your practice.

[42:22]

Enjoy your enlightenment. Take relief in this truth that we are not separate beings. And in that wholehearted play, Enact that truth. Something like that. Something like that. What I had in mind. Buddha work. I have a present for you. Well, some of you. treasure I brought treasure can you help me out he can pass this out you know and keep it if you want one since there isn't enough for everyone maybe you can pass it around later it's beach glass

[43:40]

It's beach class from Midland Beach, Staten Island that I brought back with me. Walking on the beach in Staten Island. Being in a very difficult time and place. Being with someone who's overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. by grief.

[44:50]

Unhinged. Being unhinged with them, actually. Being in that pain with them. That's true. And these dogs that hadn't been any further than this tiny backyard for days, unhinged by joy. So odd. And walking down the beach, not having much to say, not really needing to have much to say, and stopping and picking up beach glass. I like beach glass because it's of the nature of sand.

[45:54]

The sand is silica. The glass is silica. The beach glass is being worked on by the sand. That's why it looks so groovy. That's how it gets that nifty, frosted look. The sand's been rubbing on it, you know? And it's broken. Duh. It's broken glass. But it doesn't look so broken anymore. It's on its way to changing back into sand, actually. It's on its way there. It's becoming sand again. And it's not exactly sand and it's not exactly broken glass.

[47:00]

It's beach glass. I was at Orange Julius for all you New Yorkers. I was at Orange Julius in a mall in Staten Island, and I was digging in my pocket for change. I pull out and say, do you take beach class? And the woman looked at me and she smiled. She was like, yeah, why not? Right? The economy's in such a state. It could be money. Why not? Broken, you know. Used to be really sharp edges. Dangerous, even. Dangerous. Now, it's this sort of beautiful thing.

[48:08]

Beach glass. On its way back to turning into sand again. We are such fragile, vulnerable creatures. We are such fragile, vulnerable creatures. Just to be with someone who is in that state, who is like, no, no. This doesn't, no. This doesn't work. No, it's wrong.

[49:12]

This life is wrong. I reject it. Under these circumstances, no. No. to be with such a one. How to just share presence. How to, under those circumstances, enact the truth of we are not separate. This is the challenge of Buddha work.

[50:14]

So maybe we're all just chunks of beach glass on the shore of nirvana. being washed by the surf of practice and enlightenment. Just in this practice period, bringing ourselves to that, allowing ourselves to be worked on, to be softly worked on, allowing ourselves to become like beach glass, the broken pieces of us. So I think

[51:27]

Those were my thoughts about Buddha work, about this story, about what we're doing here, about all I wanted to share with you this morning. And now would be a good time for me to say, Are there any questions? But instead, I have a question for you. What is Buddha work? Who can offer me a turning word? To make this welcome. To make this Welcome.

[52:30]

And to forgive and [...] to forgive. Leaf falling in the courtyard. She has no complaint and forbearance. Opening the sword of wisdom. Your ass hurts? Everything is included. Bowing. With each breath, I pray for your well-being. Letting things be just as they are.

[53:53]

completely feeling our resistance to things just as they are. You don't have to define it, just do it. I belong here. I will see you as I'm seeing you now. No self, no other. Do it now.

[55:39]

Dropping all urge to change and control. careful attention to the urge to change and control. To begin again. Making lunch. Just be and let be.

[56:59]

Releasing a wood rat from its trap. Staying awake. Thank you for your teachings. All of you. All of you. Everyone's practice is really quite magnificent. That thought often comes to me on those occasions when I get up and offer postural suggestions

[58:12]

gazing around the window. I think your practice is magnificent. Everyone's, each individual's practice is magnificent. It makes it very, very easy to see all beings as Buddha. So thank you. For more information, visit SSCC.org and click Giving.

[59:06]

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