This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. I offer a warm, wholehearted welcome to the Great Assembly. chant we just or I just recited and maybe you went along with me says that when we meet the true Dharma we will renounce worldly affairs and some people think maybe that worldly affairs means going shopping or commuting to work or making dinner or changing diapers

[01:02]

or working in the garden. Today, I would suggest that an example of worldly affair is violence. Violence is a worldly affair. And so today, I feel called to address the issue of violence. Or another way to put it is, I feel called to uphold the marvelous, inconceivable practice of nonviolence. Nonviolence. I don't know.

[02:04]

I can't see where we're going. I can't see where this great pandemic that we're living in the middle of is going. I don't know where the political crisis is going to turn, how it's going to evolve. I don't know how the environmental crisis is going to evolve. But what I trust in, in the midst of all this uncertainty, I trust in nonviolence. I trust in working for harmony and peace. I feel that nonviolence is in accord with harmony and peace, promotes it, realizes it, that it is harmony, and harmony is nonviolence.

[03:19]

I hear the word violence. I see images of violence. And I feel called to respond to these images and feelings of violence with compassion. I imagine that I was attracted to the Zen tradition and Zen practice by stories, by images of nonviolence.

[04:50]

When I read these stories, my mind imagined various scenes, And I didn't think of the word nonviolence when I read these stories. But today, looking at those stories, I think they're stories of nonviolence. One of the early stories I read about the Zen tradition is a story about a Japanese Zen monk named Hakuin. I've told many of you this story before, and today may I tell you again? May I? Okay, so Hakuin, a disciple, a Buddha, lived,

[05:58]

in Japan, and he lived quite near to Mount Fuji, and he lived quite near to the temple where Suzuki Roshi was the abbot in the state of Shizuoka, near the Pacific Ocean. And so it was, yeah, he lived near a fishing town. One day, a girl in the fishing village was discovered by her parents to be pregnant. And they were very upset. And they asked her to tell them who is the person who is the father. And she resisted. But finally, because I would think maybe a violent pressure, she, in her fear,

[06:59]

lied and said that the father of the child was the monk Hakuin. The parents went to Hakuin and expressed great anger. And Hakuin said in English translation in the book called Flesh, Zen Bones, the translation of his response to their great anger was, is that so? Then, when the child was born, they brought the child to Hakuen and told him to take care of it, and he together with neighbors, did take care of the child very well, according to the story.

[08:09]

He got the food and clothing and protection and love that the child needed. After about a year, the daughter... I guess couldn't stand her lie anymore, and told her parents that the father was actually a young boy who lived in the village. The parents went back to Hakuin, apologized, begged forgiveness, and praised him for his great virtue. And Hakuin said, is that so? When I heard that story many years ago, I think I thought, I want to live like that. I didn't know how Hakuin was able to live like that, but I wanted to live like that.

[09:17]

Now today I look at that story and I say, he was treated violently. And he responded with nonviolence. Then he was treated respectfully and gratefully, and he responded with nonviolence. I wanted to learn to live like that, to be nonviolent in the face of whatever comes. At the beginning of the story in the book, for each story in the book, it has a Chinese character. And the Chinese character at the beginning of this story is a character which means this. This is the name of the, is the character at the beginning of the story, this. And I thought maybe another translation might be, oh, this. Oh, this.

[10:23]

Oh, now this. Oh, it's come to this. And to meet whatever this is, with nonviolence, for the sake of peace and harmony among all living beings and the great earth. And I wanted to live that way. And then I gradually found out that Hakuin wasn't just that way by luck. He had trained and studied the Buddha's teaching and practiced in the Sangha for many years to become such a great compassionate being. And so there's many stories in the Zen tradition and the Buddhist tradition of Buddhist practitioners, of bodhisattvas on the path of Buddha who have met violence and responded non-violently and

[11:30]

in some cases, quickly realized peace in the face of violence. But sometimes it takes a while in these stories. Sometimes we may respond nonviolently to violence and yet not see the harmony immediately. In the story of Hakuin, It took a year for him to practice and for the people in the village to practice together with him and see how he responded. And during that time, part of the story says his good reputation was lost for during that year. And then it, I guess, was reestablished at the end of the year and is still living now, 300 years later.

[12:31]

He practiced for a year with this violence. He practiced compassionately and nonviolently for a year in order to realize harmony with the daughter's family and the village. Would you like to hear another story about nonviolent response to violence? One person does. Two people do. Okay. Three. All right. Four. Five. Okay. Great. Here's the story. This is one of the stories which is proposed by the Buddhist canon. It's in the Buddhist canon. It's a scripture. And it's just amazing. Many of you heard it. It's so amazing. A lot of people talk about it. It's a story about the Buddha in India.

[13:36]

The name of the scripture is, in Pali, Angulimala Sutta, which can be translated as About Angulimala. Anguli means finger, and mala means necklace. It's a story about the Buddha, and it's a story about a bandit. a bandit who killed many people, a brutal, violent, insane person. They say he made villages into non-villages, towns into non-towns, inhabited areas uninhabited. He devastated the area all around where he lived. In his territory, everyone was afraid.

[14:41]

People were afraid wherever they lived to go out of their houses. It was a time. The Buddha was in the world. The great teacher was living in the world. And not too far from where he lived, there was tremendous fear and violence. Like now. Just like now. And what did the Buddha do? Well, one day, the Buddha, as usual, arose and went to town to beg for his lunch. And he wore robes and he also carried It says in the sutra, he carried his top robe, his upper robe and his bowl.

[15:44]

And he begged in town. And after finished begging, I guess successfully, he went back to his abode and ate lunch. And after lunch, he took his bowl and his robe and went for a walk. And where did he walk? Well, for some reason or other, the Buddha went walking in the neighborhood, in the territory where this mass murderer lived. I mean, that's the story. And as he walked into that neighborhood, as he approached where the Angulimala lived, shepherds, cowherds, farmers, And laborers saw the Buddha walking mindfully on the earth.

[16:49]

And they said, Venerable teacher, don't go there. The terrible murderer lives in that area. Stay away from him. And they reiterated what a terrible situation he was walking into. And what did the Buddha do? The Buddha silently said, continued to walk on the path, non-violently. And then again, they said to him, Honored One, don't go there. And again, the Buddha responded by silently continuing to walk. And again. And the Buddha responded by silently continuing to walk.

[17:53]

Finally, he got into sight of Angulimala. Angulimala saw the Buddha coming towards him. And Angulimala said or thought, amazing. This is astounding. This monk is walking into my territory. Nobody does that. The Buddha astounded him. And Angulimala got to see a nonviolent one come towards him. And Angulimala, you know, had his job to do, his job of violence.

[19:07]

So as the World Honored One approached him, even though he was amazed, he still did his usual thing. He was not yet amazed out of his violence, but he was amazed in his violence. And he picked up his sword and his shield and his other equipment of violence. ran after the Buddha who was walking non-violently. And as Angulimala got closer to him, the Buddha did something which I'd like to maybe talk in more detail about. The Buddha used what you might call or magical powers. I'll talk with you later maybe about, is that nonviolent to use these magical powers?

[20:21]

And what magical powers did the Buddha use? Well, he used the magical power of walking, But also, somehow, somehow, somehow, Angulimala, who can run really fast, you know, he can outrun deer, horses, elephants. He was a fast runner. He could catch anybody and kill anybody. So he's running at top speed after the Buddha, and the Buddha's walking mindfully, and he's not gaining on him. And he's amazed. This non-violent guy, how does he do that? He walks slowly and I run fast and can't catch him. I want to catch him and kill him. What's going on? I'm amazed. This is astounding. The Buddha's work is starting to sink in.

[21:26]

Finally, Angulimala stops running and yells out to the Buddha. Hey, monk. What's going on? Why can't I catch you? And the Buddha says, because I have stopped. and you have not. Angulimala thought he had stopped and called to the Buddha, and the Buddha was walking, and the Buddha tells him, the reason you can't catch me is because I have stopped, and you have not. And again, Angulimala is amazed and astounded. This is not just another kill for the mass murderer.

[22:40]

This is an astounding meeting. He's meeting nonviolence and fearlessness in the face of his brutal violence. And then he even asked the Buddhist, now he's asking the Buddha questions. And he says to the Buddha, why can't I catch you? And the Buddha says, because I stopped and you have not. Then he says, what do you mean? And the Buddhist says, I've stopped all violence. I've abandoned violence. And because I've abandoned violence, because I will never kill anything, I am fearless of death. You, however, have not stopped. You are still involved in violence.

[23:42]

To make a long story short, and there's many versions outside the scripture of this story, going into the details of what's going on in the murderer's mind, the murderer gave up being a murderer. He stopped. He abandoned his worldly affairs. In the face of the Buddha's teaching, he abandoned the worldly affair of aggression, violence, and hatred. And he bowed down to the Buddha. He threw his swords and his shield into a deep pit. in the dark forest and bowed down to the Buddha and asked the Buddha to be his teacher and to join his community. And I just realized an interesting twist of this story.

[24:58]

which I hadn't noticed before. One of the good things, by the way, of telling these stories over and over is you keep discovering new jewels. So the one I discovered today, right now, while I'm telling you this story, is that, as I said before, the Buddha was walking on the earth nonviolently, carrying his robe. He was wearing a robe, but he also carried his outer robe while he was walking. his bowl. So, when this murderer is converted, when this murderer hears the teaching of the Buddha, lets it in, and the Buddha delivered it over and over in this very deeply kind way, deeply friendly way, it got into Angulimala's heart and he turned And abandoned violence.

[26:06]

And bowed to the Buddha wholeheartedly and asked to become a student of the teaching. And asked to join the community. And when you join the community, in those days, you would be given a robe and a bowl. And the Buddha... is carrying a robe and a bowl, and he gives them to this person who a few minutes before was harboring intentions of murder and now wants to recover, wants to be redeemed, wants to be repaired, and asks the Buddha to let him be redeemed and repaired. And the Buddha says, come, come. And he comes and he becomes a disciple of Buddha. The story goes on.

[27:07]

But for now, I'm going to stop here and just let you read it. It's online. You can read it. Angulimala Sutta. There's many translations. And the story goes on. But I'm not going to tell you the whole story because it's almost time for me to stop. Instead, I'm going to tell you some other ones that are a lot shorter. And I'll try to restrain myself and not tell you too many. So one of them is... One of them occurs in Japan, and as you may know, the Zen school had close relationships with the military class, with the samurai class in Japan.

[28:18]

And many samurai professional warriors went to Zen teachers to learn nonviolence, Some of them learned it and some of them didn't. Again, even though the Buddha teaches nonviolence, not everybody learns what it is in a moment. Sometimes it takes a long time for us to really understand what nonviolence is. I want to understand it. I want this great community to understand what nonviolence is. I want to understand it so we can live in peace and harmony. So one more short story is a samurai comes to a Zen teacher and says, please teach me about Buddhism.

[29:27]

Teach me what is the difference between between heaven and hell. And the Zen teacher says, well that's not possible for me to teach you because you're too arrogant to be taught. There's no way that you would be able to understand it because you're so arrogant. And the samurai jumps up, pulls out his sword, and is about to chop the Zen master, kill the Zen master. And the Zen master says, this is hell. The samurai wakes up, falls to the ground,

[30:29]

Bows to the teacher. Says he's sorry. And says thank you so much. For teaching me. What is hell? And the teacher says. This is heaven. So those are the stories. And now I'd like to comment a little bit. that our practice, in my view, and I want to say this non-violently, I want to say this, I want to say this firmly and clearly and maybe even a little emphatically and I want to say this non-violently. Our practice is is to express ourselves fully.

[31:30]

And in order to practice expressing ourselves fully, we must do so non-violently and responsibly. Now I said that, and I welcome your feedback, if the way I said that was at all I don't want to speak to you violently, but I do say our practice of nonviolence is to express ourselves fully, to express our unique Dharma position. Each of us is sitting at our Dharma seat, and we have something to express, and we're being called to express it fully. It doesn't mean you talk. It doesn't mean you're silent. But it could be speaking and it could be silence.

[32:34]

In the story of the Buddha, the people told the Buddha, don't go there. And the Buddha walked. The Buddha expressed herself by walking silently. When the murderer saw him, the Buddha continued to walk silently. The Buddha was expressing herself fully. soulfully, astoundingly full was the Buddha's expression, and nonviolent and silent. But then, when called upon, the Buddha spoke, and the Buddha spoke firmly, clearly, assertively, responsibly, and nonviolently. Our practice is to express ourselves fully and clearly, wholeheartedly, our Dharma position. Each of us is sitting in a particular Dharma position.

[33:36]

Each of us has this opportunity and responsibility to express ourselves under our conditions. And to find a way to do that in a way that realizes harmony with the beings we meet. So I aspire to express myself fully and nonviolently. And I assert that. But I assert that while I assert it, I want to do it gently, respectfully, carefully, and nonviolently. Not shrink back from my expression. Not get ahead of my expression. Not try to control my expression. and not try to control you. Trying to control you or myself is a form of violence.

[34:47]

It's a form of oppression. I wish to give up trying to control, and rather than control living beings, be their friend. And when people are afraid, many people are afraid now, they are at risk of trying to control themselves and others. And they need someone to be friends to them, to show them how to face their fear so they can relax with it and be nonviolent with their fear. And that is the path the path to realizing nonviolence. So, again, I have the experience of feeling like I didn't say anything, but there it is.

[35:50]

Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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