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. Morning, everybody. How great. I think today's a special day. Does anybody know what today is? Yeah, what is it? Buddha's birthday, that's right. Anyone else have a birthday today? Who? Who has a birthday? Frank has a birthday today. Anybody else? Very exciting, huh? Well, happy birthday, Frank. Happy birthday, Buddha. And all of you, this is your birthday too. Buddha's birthday is everybody's birthday. So this birthday is to celebrate a young man, this young boy, who grew up to become...

[01:00]

someone we call Buddha. And in this room, we have some statues that are pretty much look like that young man. This one here looks like a Buddha. And then in the back of the room, you can't see it right now, but when you get up, there's a big one. It's a Buddha. And then there's a little one in front of him who's a Buddha. And then we have this wonderful statue of a person that looks a lot like Buddha's mother or sister Or disciples who also became Buddhas. Women who were Buddhas. We're very lucky to have all these wonderful figures that look a lot like us, don't they? Kind of look like human beings. The very best of us. So, because this birthday is so special, we're going to have a party today. Did you know about that? We have a parade. And who's going to be in the parade? Raise your hand. Yeah, you are. You guys are going to be in the parade. And the rest of us are going to come and watch you.

[02:05]

Just a little bit. But first of all, I want to tell you a story. And after the parade, we all have a chance to give the baby Buddha a bath. So there's a pagoda covered with flowers. And inside is a baby Buddha. And there's some water. And we can pour water over him and give him a bath. Just like maybe you had this morning. That'll be nice. And then, you know, it might have been possible that we would have had cake with our tea today, except somebody, me, forgot to tell the kitchen. So instead, we're going to have Buddha birthday muffins. It's very special. Anyway, I told Chelsea, where's Chelsea? I told Chelsea Chu, who is the head of our children's program, that I would tell the story pretty quickly today of the Buddha's birthday. So usually we begin the story of Buddha's birthday with the day that the baby Buddha was born.

[03:06]

That's his birthday. You all had a birthday, didn't you? The day you were born is your birthday. But I thought I would tell you the story of who he had been before he came to India to be born here on planet Earth. So this story, like many other stories that you've been told by your parents and your teachers about such things as animals who can talk and who wear clothes like people wear and who live in houses like people do, or about magical creatures, or even about the many tricks that your own stuffed animals can do. Stories are something that we make up from our imagination, right here. So right now, I want all of you, all of you to close your eyes and imagine that we are on a spaceship together, traveling to visit another planet, way out in outer space.

[04:11]

Okay, you all on the ship? This is our spaceship. Now, don't worry, there's lots of food and toys and your parents are there, so this is going to be really fun. We're all going together. And because we're going to be traveling for a long time, you need to imagine that you're asleep for a while. All right, so everyone go to sleep. You all asleep? You feeling like you're asleep? All right. Okay, we arrived. Now, open your eyes. And you'll see that this new planet looks a lot like ours. There's a bright yellow sun, a night sky full of stars, and there are deep lakes and mountains and rivers and oceans nearby. And yet we are far, far away, far from the Earth. And not only that, it is many, many years ago. So do you get it? It's far, far away and long, long ago. So now we can use our imaginations to zoom down onto the planet where we will find ourselves in a little town that looks a lot like the towns where we live.

[05:24]

And what things do you see in towns when you go to town? What's there in a town? What do you have in town? Buildings, uh-huh. Something else? What'd you say? Trees. Yeah? What's that? Restaurants. That's good. What do you got in town? People. Lots of people. Yeah. Stores. You got one too? Houses. Maybe schools and playgrounds. Right? Okay. You got another one? More houses. Lots of houses. Yeah. That's what makes a town. Do you have one too? Not in this town. This town, they didn't have cars. They had feet and they walked. Okay.

[06:25]

So there we are in town on this planet far, far away and long, long ago. And just outside of town, there's a little cottage. And in the cottage lives a young person whose name is Sumedha. Can you say that? Sumedha. Sumedha. Sumedha. Sumedha has been practicing yoga. For many, many years. And he's so good at it that he has learned how to fly. Do any of you parents who practice yoga know how to fly yet? Do you? Yeah, good. It's in the book. You know, keep going and eventually you'll hover above your mat. I've read about that. Okay, so he could fly. He was like a superhero, Sumedha. Now, meanwhile, the people in the town, in our little town we just built, were so excited because they were going to have a visit by their local Buddha, whose name was Dipankara. Can you say that? Dipankara.

[07:27]

Dipankara. So they were really busy getting the town ready, cleaning up and hanging banners and flowers and balloons and lots of food, just like we're going to do in a minute. Unfortunately, there had been big rains that year and the road had been washed away. So the people were trying to get it ready before the Buddha arrived. And they weren't getting very far when our friend Sumedha flew in from his cottage and said, I'll help you fix the road. So they were so excited because he could fly. He had magic. They thought, well, he'll fix the road no time at all. But instead, he started fixing the road with his own hands out of respect for the Buddha, just like we might do by walking somewhere instead of driving fast in our cars. So if they hadn't fixed the road, the Buddha might have walked on by and gone to the next town, you know, like Sausalito or Santa Rosa or something like that. So just when they were really afraid it wasn't going to get done,

[08:32]

Sumedha saw there was just one little spot in the road that was still full of mud. So do you know what he did? He had beautiful long hair full of jewels. He laid his hair down in the mud and he put out his arms and he let the Buddha stand on his hands. And then he lifted the Buddha up over onto the dry road again. Okay. Now when... Deepankara looked down and saw this young man holding him up by his hands. He said to him, I can see by your sincerity and your love that you are devoted to caring for others. And I know that one day in a far off time and place, you will be born as a baby by the name of Shakyamuni, who will grow up to be a Buddha, just like me. This is a true story. And sure enough, after many lifetimes being born as many different kinds of animals, a monkey, a lion, a deer, a farmer, a carpenter, an accountant, and a queen, Sumedha was born as a baby boy in the town of Lumbini in a country called India right here on planet Earth.

[09:56]

And on that special day, flowers rained down from the skies, there were rainbows over the mountains, and celestial music played everywhere. People came from all over the place to see the baby and offer him a blessing. So today we're going to show our thanks to the baby Buddha in just the same way, with flowers, with sweet water, and with our blessing. And do you want to know how to make a blessing? Just like this. You put your hands together and you say, thank you, baby Buddha. Thank you, baby Buddha. And thank you, all baby Buddhas. You can all go out now and get us ready because we want to see your parade in a few minutes, okay? We're so excited. Yeah. Well, welcome back to planet Earth in 2019. This story actually does appear in the Pali Canon.

[10:59]

It's the story of the origin of the Bodhisattva and of our Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha. So this prediction was really a wonderful encouragement to Sumedha, the prediction by the Buddha Deepankara that he too, if he really was disciplined and cared deeply through many lifetimes, would himself become a Buddha. And so he did. So many of the elements of the story are relevant to each of us who have also incarnated on this planet, a planet that astrophysicist Carl Sagan famously called the pale blue dot, floating in outer space, far away from our nearest neighbor, just as it was for Sumedha long, long ago and far, far away. In the modern age, generally, we consider our own incarnation to be the result of something we call the Big Bang, followed by a number of flukes called evolution.

[12:03]

And if those ideas don't work for you, there's always the magical appearance which we humans will never fully comprehend. That would be us. I personally like all of these possible explanations, however, Since I and all of you are seemingly here, the more interesting questions have to do with what we are going to do to requite this extraordinary gift of life. It was this question of what now that led Sumedha to fly over to the village to meet with Deepankara Buddha, a Buddha as most of you know. Buddha means one who is awake. One who is awake. So an awake means that you have a pretty good idea of what is going on inside of you, as well as with your fellow humans, how to use skillful means to help things turn out for the best, and especially those things that are important for sustaining our life and the life of those we love.

[13:12]

And for Buddha, that means everybody. This past Wednesday evening, I gave a talk for the residents here at Green Gulch. Many of them recently arrived to our community, and I asked them a question, which I want to ask all of you now. What is the most important thing in your life? On what do you stake your life? I've asked this question to a number of people recently, and I have been privileged to hear their response. Usually it takes them quite a while, you know, maybe even a few days, to peel it down enough to find out what's lying there inside, deep inside of themselves. We have a term in Zen called dropping a line with a barbless hook, you know, fishing or a probing pole to find out what's going on inside of ourselves. which for the most part is unconscious. So these unconscious bits show up now and then in our conscious experience as habits of mind, as our conditioning.

[14:24]

It's called our karmic conditioning, our racial conditioning, our cultural conditioning. That's what shows up each moment of every day. Gives us a clue of what's going on inside, what we're carrying around. So some people have said the most important thing is the well-being of their families, their children, or their aging parents. Others focus on the wish to find a fulfillment through a career, to get a good paying job, maybe buy a house and start a family of their own. Some people, especially in my age group, I think we're called the boomers, are most concerned about the fact that fairly soon we are going to die. So whichever way our minds turn, we have all been given, from the moment of our birth until now, the three inviolable laws of the universe to contend with. These three laws are not so obvious as we're sitting here in this quiet place at Green Gulch Farm Zendo.

[15:32]

But nevertheless, these laws are what make us human and are, for the most part, what drive our lives. So this is what the Buddha saw and what he taught to those who came to see him. The first law is the law of impermanence. Nothing lasts. Nothing. No permanent thing. Not any of us. Not this building or this farm. Not Mill Valley or Santa Rosa. The Americas, the continents, the oceans, the rivers or the stars. And as my therapist used to say, so what's a girl to do? So this is the key question, though, isn't it? What are we to do with the facts of life? And the second law is no self. Oh, dear. No self doesn't mean that we aren't really here or that nothing matters to us, but quite the contrary.

[16:36]

It means that we are not here separately from everything else or everyone else. It means that we are not here as individuals simply making deals for our own benefit while ignoring the impact we are having on others, even if we think so. The illusion of a separate self is the basic cause of the third fact of life, suffering. There is suffering. There are no two ways about it. And then there's the suffering of suffering, the fact that we don't like to suffer, and we complain about it pretty much all the time. So that kind of suffering is what the Buddha taught as optional. So therefore, the real problem isn't the facts of life, although they may sound kind of grim. The real problem is that we don't like the facts of life, and we do a lot of crazy things to try and escape from them. We kill each other.

[17:36]

We steal from each other. We lie, sexualize, intoxicate, slander, brag, repossessive, and we hate. Each of these very human behaviors is an effort to escape from the facts of life. Each one of these is an expression of selfishness, of I am not you. Once the Buddha saw how he had been educated to perform his role in the world, the role of a king, he renounced the assignment and ran off into the forest to try and find his own way, not driven by the values of the society of his day, values tied most explicitly to the accumulation of wealth and dominance over others. It was the age, after all, of empires. Once he had come to the realization that the gift of life was truly an amazing gift, albeit transient, selfless, and painful, he turned his heart toward relieving the suffering that comes from our effort to run away from the gift, as if we might find a better one.

[18:52]

We might find a better deal for ourselves or a better mission for our lives than to live for the benefit of one another. Shakyamuni Buddha's awakening was the culmination of the vow he had made long ago to Deepankara Buddha as he lay with his head on the ground. He was inspired at last, not by magic or power or by the admiration of others. He was inspired by the impact the compassionate gaze of an awakened being had on his own precious life. His inspiration came to be known as the Bodhisattva vow, which in turn has become, over the many centuries since the Buddha's birth on our planet, the primary motivation, aspiration, intention, and ethical principle underpinning our community's way of life. The Bodhisattva vow, by its very definition, is a vow that has been held for centuries by the community itself.

[19:55]

as each of us seeming individuals choose to connect our inseparable selves to all the other inseparable selves around us and before us. So one by one by one is the only way. I vow to care for you, each of you. And you vow to care for me. And that's how it works. And it's the only way it's going to work. And therein, the circle will grow wider and nearer to complete one earth, one life, one vow. So this vow has two aspects which are present in the story of Sumedha, the first of our kind, to take the vow. The first aspect is to become a Buddha, to wake up. The second aspect is helping all beings become Buddhas. somewhat like a self-replicating virus.

[20:58]

Buddhas making Buddhas until only Buddhas are left. Arousing the thought of enlightenment for the benefit of others is called the bodhicitta, the thought of enlightenment. And it may take some time, and that's okay. Because somewhere along the way, we invariably come to realize that everyone's suffering is no different than our own. that there is no separate self to go on ahead and leave all the others behind, that we are being followed and most certainly by our children. From the Perfection of Wisdom Teachings Hoping for the welfare of the world, the bodhisattvas think to themselves, let me undertake spiritual practice that I may bring welfare and happiness to all beings. Although the bodhisattvas see the five aggregates of form, of feeling, of perception, of impulses to act, and of consciousness like a magical show, they do not wish to disown the five aggregates, the magical show.

[22:12]

And although they see the senses as like a poisonous serpent, they do not wish to disown the senses. And although they see sensory awareness as like an empty village, they do not wish to disown sensory awareness. So inspired in this way by the example of the Buddha and the Buddha's teaching, what the bodhisattvas, such as Sumedha, promise to do is to stay here with us in samsara. Samsara. The land of no escape. The seemingly endless cycle. of birth, death, and rebirth, until all suffering beings have been saved. And that is, until all beings have awakened to impermanence, to selflessness, and to suffering, without complaint. Which explains why Zen Master Guishan, as he was dying, said to his disciples that he would come back as a water buffalo,

[23:15]

to walk in muddy water to help the farmers of their village grow rice for everyone to eat. Water buffalo thereby symbolize a bodhisattva's life of practice. In his book, Living by Vow, Okamura Roshi taught us that because our vow is endless, our practice is never complete. There are stories among the tales of the Buddha's former lives which include his own realization of the incompleteness of the bodhisattva's way of life. So as I mentioned, while the kids were still here, before he became the Buddha Shakyamuni, Sumedha entered into many different life forms. And one of those was as a king by the name of Suprabhasa. One day the king asked his elephant trainer to bring his great white elephant for him to ride. The trainer said that the elephant had escaped into the jungle, but it would return because it had been well-trained to do so.

[24:17]

The king did not believe him and grew angry, lost his temper, and threw the man out of the palace. Next morning, the servants told the king that the elephant had returned, that the training had been good, and that the trainer had conquered the great white elephant's formerly wild ways. When he heard of this, the king thought, though I am a king holding great power over others, I have failed to control what is closest, myself. I was unable to control my own anger. This will not do. Remember, this is the incarnation that's going to become Shakyamuni Buddha. This will not do. As Okamura Roshi then says, Such a reflection and realization of one's own incompleteness is called confession and repentance. It is the origin of Shakyamuni Buddha's search for a way for freedom for us all.

[25:21]

It's the same realization that gives rise to the energy of our own study and diligent practice. Not quite yet. Still more to do. I have a drawing that I've shown to people here. that I think I brought with me. Yeah, here it is. It's a picture of an owl out on a limb, and it says, in my defense, it was your fault. Yeah, I know. We all laugh when we see that. And I think it's because we recognize that tendency we have, right? In my defense, it's your fault. Everybody, when they see this, I think feels it's very familiar. we are often quite busy shielding ourselves from blame or from the consequences of our own actions, from confession and repentance, something that a good lawyer, of course, can help us out with, right? And we don't have to. I often use the example here, a simple example of the garden cart, which on many occasions seems to go missing.

[26:29]

And then the head of the garden asks at our daily work meeting if anyone had seen the cart. Nobody raises a hand. But magically, later on in the day, the cart reappears. So one of the practices I've often appreciated that I hope we can learn and teach here is to demonstrate and acknowledge our errors in the least dramatic way. Yes, I took the cart and I did not put it back. And I'm sorry. And I'll put it back right after this meeting. That's it. Thank you. Somehow confession and repentance sounds kind of heavy-handed to us, I'm afraid. And yet it's a very cleansing thing for us humans to do, especially when it's followed by our deep intention to do a little better the next time. And in this way, we learn new habits and eventually break down the old ones. As Pema Chodron once said, the practice of renunciation

[27:34]

is to renounce that which doesn't work. When Sumedha was lying there on the ground, inviting Divangara Buddha to walk on him, he was taking refuge in the Buddha. Taking refuge is another important element of the story that I'm telling you today, the story of how to give birth to a Buddha. Taking refuge means to literally fly back, refugio. to fly back to who we really are and how we truly want to live. To take refuge in Buddha, in awakening, is the teaching the Buddha gave to us, the beloved community, which in turn takes refuge in itself, in the Sangha. Taking refuge in these three things, the Buddha, Dharma Sangha, is called taking refuge in the triple treasure. In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition that's being practiced here at the Zen Center, people become Buddhists when they take the Bodhisattva vow, they receive the Bodhisattva precepts, and when they confess and repent the harmful aspects of their previous way of life, and when they take refuge in the triple treasure.

[28:48]

At such a time, some of us choose to leave home for a while and live a monastic life, such as we do at Tassahara. Others choose to live as laypeople, like many of you, coming to this Dharma center from home to find some encouragement, to continuously engage in renewal of your own spiritual vows. And still others live here at Greenwich Farm, a kind of hybrid situation between monasticism and lay life. As Suzuki Roshi said to us in the very founding of this community, I understand that you are not monks, but you are not exactly lay people either. There is something new that we are doing together here in this place that once was called the New World, something we can't quite see, just like our vows. We can't see how we're going to save all beings, and we certainly can't see all the beings that we wish to save.

[29:51]

And yet, here we are together, all of us, the children, the new apprentices, me and the other aging staff members. All of us are trying to grow out of ourselves a practice community that is all-inclusive, welcoming, and safe for everybody. Many years ago, back in the 1960s, Suzuki Roshi said to the young people that gathered around him, on a day of the Buddha's awakening, which is the real Buddha's birthday. I am glad to be here on the day Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. When he attained enlightenment, he said, it is wonderful to see Buddha nature in everything and in each individual. And what the Buddha meant, Suzuki Roshi went on to say, was that when we practice Zazen, seated meditation, we have Buddha nature and each of us is Buddha themself. By practice, Buddha didn't mean to sit under a tree or to sit in a cross-legged posture.

[30:56]

It is true that this posture is the basic one or the original way for us, but actually what Buddha meant was that mountains, trees, flowing water, flowers and plants, everything is engaging in Buddha's activity. Each thing has its own way. So when we just are, When each of us exists wholeheartedly in our own way, as children or as plants, as parents or as kings, we are expressing awakening itself. When we ask, what is Buddha? Buddha vanishes. But when we just practice being who we are and not knowing what that is, we have complete understanding. Do you understand? Suzuki Roshi went on to say that an enlightenment experience is to figure out, to understand, to realize the mind of awakening, which is always with us and which we cannot see.

[32:02]

If you try to attain enlightenment as if you see a bright star in the night sky, it will be beautiful. And you will think, ah, this is enlightenment. But that is not enlightenment. That understanding is literally heresy. We practice in order to express our true nature, not to attain enlightenment. Buddha's teaching is to be practiced, is to be enlightened. So that's what the Bodhisattva vow is offering us to do and to be. So no big deal, no special state of mind, no magic or mystery, just this place at this time on this precious planet Earth. We have no other choice than to be here together and to make of ourselves in this time and in this place the best we can possibly be. Enlightenment is the way we live our life with no other ambition than to do our best for one another.

[33:05]

So before leaving the Zendo to watch the procession of children on Buddha's birthday, I will end with a teaching called the Bloodstream Sermon attributed to Indian master Bodhidharma, who came from the West, from India, to China to teach Zen. Trying to find a Buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space. Space has a name, but no form. It's not something you can pick up or put down, and you certainly can't grab it. Beyond this mind, you will never see a Buddha. The Buddha is a product of your mind. Why look for a Buddha beyond this mind? If you don't see your mind as Buddha, invoking Buddha, reciting sutras, making offerings, and keeping precepts are all useless. Invoking Buddhas results in good karma. Reciting sutras results in a good memory.

[34:10]

Keeping precepts results in a good rebirth. And making offerings results in future blessings, but no Buddha. Even if you have a mountain of jewels and as many servants as there are grains of sand along the Ganges, you see them when your eyes are open. But what about when your eyes are closed? You should realize then that everything is like an illusion, like a dream. And then as Rumi said in his lovely poem many centuries later, the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you, don't go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the door sill where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. Thank you all very much.

[35:39]

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