Bye. Thank you for coming to today's Dharma Talk offered by senior Dharma teacher Tenshin, Reb Anderson. This time again, we are experimenting with the live transcription feature. So some closed captioning is on, and if you find it distracting and would like to turn it off, you can do so by finding the CC

[19:09]

button on your device or on some devices clicking more and then disabling the closed captioning. We'll begin with our opening verse. Unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kalpas. Having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. An unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kalpas.

[20:16]

Having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. An unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kaphas. Having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. Welcome, Great Assembly.

[21:28]

May I just take a moment and look at all your faces? this talk today is offered to and dedicated to an ongoing effort to realize peace and harmony and especially emphasizing peace and harmony among humans

[23:54]

and non-humans who who and when they have very different world views when they have conflicting and opposing beliefs and values we have so much appearances in this form of great difference and potentially disharmonious differences. I am very enthusiastic about finding a way to address this situation in a way that is not intending to eliminate different views and make everybody see in exactly the same way and have the same values and same beliefs.

[25:01]

I'm not hoping for that or I'm working for that. I'm working for peace and harmony among people and animals and plants that have different views. And also peace and harmony among people who have the same views. So that's kind of... I wish to dedicate this talk and this practice to. I'm not sure it's appropriate for me to mention, but someone said to me that a good epitaph for me might be, he loved the Dharma.

[26:02]

And when I heard that possible epitaph, I felt joy. It reminded me that I do love the Dharma, that the Dharma is a joy for me. Having it to see and listen to, to remember and success and accept. It's a joy to me. And now we're in kind of the middle of April. And for the first three months, many of us have been intensively studying the Lotus Sutra, starting in January and continuing to today. someone just said to me a couple of days ago, this is your new baby. This Lotus Sutra is your new baby. And it is kind of like a new baby to me. And it's also my old baby. I've been cuddling this wonderful sutra for more than 50 years.

[27:17]

I first started in 1968 because Suzuki Rishi was going to give talks on it. Now, he actually did give talks at Tastahara on the Lotus Sutra in 1968. And I heard a rumor that these talks were not popular with the students there. Yeah. But anyway, I started studying it and I have been continuing to study it and contemplate it. since that time and this year partly because of the very difficult times we're in i felt like the lotus sutra is so appropriate when situations are really terrible and horrible the lotus sutra is self-proclaiming itself for that purpose for those times

[28:25]

Our great teacher Ehe Dogen said in one of his essays, an essay is called Only a Buddha Together with Buddha, Dogen Zenji said that the Buddha Dharma is not understood by a person. A Buddha Dharma is understood only by Buddha and only by Buddha together with Buddha. Buddha together with Buddha understands the Buddha Dharma, not a person. But a person being completely herself, together with others who are completely themselves, that conversation, that relationship is only a Buddha together with Buddha.

[30:02]

And that relationship understands the Dharma. according to the Lotus Sutra, according to Ehe Dogen. And I am holding that up to you and for you, that teaching, which is also the teaching of Zen. Zen, Buddha Dharma, is not understood by a person. Zen, Buddha Dharma, is understood by Zazen. It's understood by our practice. And our practice is not a person. Our practice is how a person is practicing together with all beings.

[31:06]

The way we're practicing together is Zazen. the way we're practicing together is only a Buddha together with Buddha. That conversation between ourselves and all beings, that conversation understands, that conversation is the real Buddha. And that real Buddha conversation understands the Buddha Dharma. And in that conversation, There is the realization of peace and harmony between all beings, some of whom have deeply different views of the world and each other. This is the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

[32:09]

And A related teaching of the Lotus Sutra is called the One Buddha Vehicle, which the implication of it is that all of us, all beings, not just humans, but all humans and all beings are on the same path. And all of us are on the path of becoming Buddha. mentioned this to someone or to many people and one person said, do we have to believe this? And I don't think you have to believe this. However, I offer it and it has been offered as a way of regarding each other. A way of framing the context of

[33:10]

of our relationships with other beings. That everybody we meet is a future Buddha. Everybody is a future Buddha. Trying on, it's a meditation, it's a thought experiment. I guess it might be needed to believe enough believe that it would be good to try it, to try this meditation that everybody we meet is a future Buddha. And treat everybody as a future Buddha. So we are all, according to this teaching, we are all going to be Buddha. the Lotus Sutra also tells us that this teaching that we're all going to be Buddha must be taught.

[34:20]

Somebody has to bring this teaching up. That's part of the process of us becoming Buddhas. Another way to say it in the Zen school might be everybody Well, in the Zen school, we sometimes call our zendos Buddha-making houses, houses of making Buddhas. But we also call our meditation hall zendos. So another rendition of this teaching would be all beings are in the path of becoming zazen. All beings will become zazen. we will all become only a Buddha together with Buddha Zazen. And here at this temple called Green Dragon Zen Temple, we have a room for becoming Buddhas, a room for becoming Zazen.

[35:30]

It's called the Zen Do. Zazen Do. It's a room to become Zazen. It's a room to be Zazen together with other Zazens. And to hold up the teaching that we will all become Zazen. We make the gesture of sitting to express our intention to realize all beings becoming Zazen. All beings becoming Zazen. Buddha together with Buddha. Somebody has to hold this teaching up. As we say, somebody has to raise the Dharma flag. And I want to do that.

[36:33]

I love the Dharma and I want to raise the Dharma flag because it is necessary that this flag be raised. for the sake of all beings becoming zazen, for the sake of all beings becoming the dharma, for the sake of all beings becoming the bodhisattva precepts. The bodhisattva precepts must be upheld, must be taught in this great movement of all beings becoming the bodhisattva precepts. the Lotus Sutra and the Zen ancestors are inviting us to take up the task of expressing that we're all future Buddhas.

[37:38]

And if we regard others who have very different views, with this teaching. Really look at them as future Buddhas and treat them with utmost respect as we would treat a Buddha. Not trying to control them. If we meet the Buddha, we respectfully do not try to control the Buddha and tell the Buddha what Dharma talk to give today or how the Buddha should be a Buddha. However, we can say to the Buddha, Can I ask you a question? And we can say to the Buddha, may I make a suggestion? And we can say to the Buddha, I'm feeling uncomfortable. We can give the Buddha many gifts. We can give the Buddha our limits, our boundaries. We can ask the Buddha to speak more loudly or more quietly. We can ask the Buddha to stand farther away. We can make many requests of Buddha as gifts to the great Zazen.

[38:45]

And we can treat all beings that way. And they will eventually realize that they are being deeply respected, perhaps by someone who really disagrees with them in many ways and sees the world differently. But even though I see myself as being different from that person and that person being different from me, I can still regard... this different person with these different views, with these clashing views, with these perhaps horrible views as a future Buddha. And they can feel the love of Dharma. Not my love of Dharma. They can feel the love of Dharma and it will, it will make them accept that they are going to become Buddha.

[39:47]

And some people who I practice with have problems with the word Buddha, and I'm one of them. I have problems with the word. It's a difficult word in a way. Now, instead of Buddha, I could have, you can just sort of reframe everything I've said so far today and just make Buddha a synonym of Buddha. for great wisdom and compassion and unlimited skillful means and virtue. But Buddha's shorter. And Zen's even shorter. But, you know, Buddha has a problem because sometimes we think, oh, Buddha is something out there. But we might do the same with wisdom and compassion, that it's something out there. We are going to become wisdom and compassion. We are going to become great wisdom and compassion, according to the Lotus Sutra. And I'm trying that on. That everybody I meet is going to become great wisdom and compassion.

[40:54]

Hello. This person is going to become great wisdom and compassion. I may or may not say that out loud. But today I'm saying it out loud. I'm singing it. From the highest hill. You are going to become great wisdom and compassion. All of you. I'm saying that. And I hope that was respectful the way I said that. Can I sing loudly and respectfully? I want to. Sometimes I'll sing quietly. Let me know if I sing too loud. Am I singing too loud? One person says no. Am I singing too loud? Another person says no. So am I singing just right? Okay, so we don't need to use the word Buddha. We don't even need to use the word Dharma. But we somehow need to bring this teaching up.

[41:58]

So I'm bringing it up. And our teacher, Suzuki Rishi, asked us to bring it up, encouraged us. Somebody has to encourage this teaching of zazen, this teaching of we are all going to be Buddhas. So, one more thing is... You do not have to become a Buddhist in order to be a Buddha. You don't have to be a Buddhist in order to be a Buddha. You don't have to be a Jew in order to be a Buddha. You don't have to be a Muslim.

[43:07]

in order to be a Buddha. You don't have to be a Christian in order to be a Buddha. You don't have to be an atheist in order to be a Buddha. No. However, No matter what religion you are, you're going to become great wisdom and compassion. No matter what religion you aren't, you're going to become great wisdom and compassion. And I'd also like to mention that being a Buddhist or being a Jew or being a Christian or being a Muslim, or being a Hindu, or being Zoroastrian, or being a Taoist, or being a Confucianist, can be just deeply touching and so beautiful.

[44:23]

Some Jews and some Christians and some Buddhists, they're Buddhists. If you ask them, they say, yes, I'm a Buddhist. And the way they practice is just so inspiring and wonderful. And they will become Buddhas. But you don't have to be like them. You can be like you. You're going to become Buddha no matter what you are. And I am holding that up to you and for you and for us. Many Zen students, if you ask them, they will say, are you a Buddhist? They say no. But they love the Dharma. They love the Dharma. And if you ask them, are you a Dharmaist? They say no. Are you a Zenist? No. Do you love Zen?

[45:25]

Yes. Do you love the Buddha Dharma? Yes. So again, I don't usually think of myself as a Buddhist, but I do love the Dharma. I love the Buddha Dharma, but I don't think of myself as a Buddhist. And I also don't say that I'm not a Buddhist. I just don't think of myself that way. Also, as you may have heard me say before, I don't think of myself as a Bodhisattva. I aspire to be a bodhisattva, but I don't think of myself, oh, I'm a bodhisattva. But I wish to be a bodhisattva.

[46:31]

And I wish to be Buddha. But I don't think I'm Buddha. I just wish to be Buddha. And I am trying on the teaching of the Buddhas in the Lotus Sutra and the teaching of Suzuki Roshi. which is, you are going to be Buddha. I am going to be Buddha. I try that teaching on. But I have not come to the place where I say, I am Buddha. And I understand that if I were truly Buddha, I also wouldn't necessarily think I'm Buddha, even though I would be. I don't say I'm not a bodhisattva. I don't say I am a bodhisattva. I say I aspire to be a bodhisattva. I don't say I am a Dharma teacher. I don't say I'm not a Dharma teacher. I say I aspire to be.

[47:35]

I don't say I am teaching the Dharma. I don't say I'm not. I want to. I don't say I'm practicing the true Dharma. I don't say I'm not. I say I would love to. How about you? Would you love to practice the true Buddha Dharma? Well, part of practicing the true Buddha Dharma would be, I would say, I suggest, is not leaning into that you are practicing the Buddha Dharma or that you're not. And if you do lean into, I am practicing or I'm not practicing, Then we practice compassion with that leaning and come back upright. I want to practice Buddha Dharma. I want to become Buddha Dharma. I do. One of the teachings of the founder of Zen Center that deeply impressed me

[48:49]

And I bring up often. Is he said. Our practice. Is just. To be ourselves. Or our practice is just to be ourselves completely. Or our practice is. just to be ourselves completely without expecting anything for it, of it. So now I hear that this teaching, this wonderful teaching, that our practice, what's our practice? It's called Zazen. That our practice of Only a Buddha together with Buddha. It's just to be completely ourselves.

[50:07]

It's to just be a solitary Buddha. And so Suzuki Rishi, I feel, is teaching the Lotus Sutra to us. Also, he brought up some stories about this. One story he brought up was a story of a monk named Zhu Zhu, Chinese monk. I don't know if Zhu Zhu thought he was a Buddhist. But anyway, oftentimes people would say he was a Buddhist monk.

[51:16]

Japanese, his name is pronounced Gute. And he had a lot of doubt about being himself. He could almost say, I'm having trouble being myself. I mean, I am myself, but yet I'm not really myself. I am myself, but I don't have the spirit to be myself completely. That's kind of how he was. And then they say a bodhisattva came to visit him and the bodhisattva's name was... The bodhisattva took the form of a Chinese monk. Again, maybe they would say Chinese Zen monk. And that monk's name was... or Tianlong, celestial dragon.

[52:28]

Somehow, when he needed someone to give him the teaching, the teaching came. And he told celestial dragon, the great teacher. maybe didn't think he was a great teacher and maybe didn't think he wasn't a great teacher but wished to be a great teacher for Zhu Zhir. Zhu Zhir told him about his problem and Tianlong raised one finger and pointed at Zhu Zhir and Zhu Zhir became Buddha. He became Zazen.

[53:37]

He became only a Buddha together with Buddha. Jir Jir Buddha together with Tian Lung Buddha. In discussing this case, which I think Suzuki Rishi often did with laughter, he also brought up another story of one of our ancestors in our, we say, the founder of our tradition in China. His name was Dungshan Liangzhe. He lived in the ninth century. A monk came to Dungshan, Liang Jie, and said, how can I escape cold and heat?

[54:59]

Dungshan said, well, maybe you could go someplace that's neither cold nor hot. And the monk said, well, what kind of a place is that? What kind of a place is neither cold, nor hot. And Dung Shan said, when cold comes, freeze to death. When heat comes, swelter to death. That's the place of freedom from cold and heat.

[56:17]

That's the place of being completely yourself. That's the place of expressing yourself fully without expecting anything. That's the place of when it's cold, cold Buddha. When it's hot, hot Buddha. Cold Buddha without expecting anything but cold Buddha. Hot Buddha without expecting anything but hot Buddha. are all going to learn how to be cold Buddha when it's cold and hot Buddha when it's hot.

[57:38]

But of course, this is a difficult practice. It's difficult. Usually when cold comes, we shrink back. And also, with heat, we kind of feel like fainting, maybe. For the sake of the great program of all beings becoming Buddha, for the sake of peace and harmony, somebody has to teach, somebody has to express, somebody has to demonstrate this.

[58:50]

When sickness comes, sick Buddha. When confusion comes, confused Buddha. When pain comes, painful Buddha. When pleasure comes, pleasure Buddha. When fear comes, fear Buddha. When arrogance comes, arrogant Buddha. When shame comes, shame Buddha. When embarrassment comes, embarrassment Buddha. When I'm sorry comes, sorry Buddha. When loving Dharma comes, loving Dharma Buddha. This is Tenryu's one finger. This is Dungshan. When cold comes, freeze to death. This is Suzuki Roshi's.

[59:58]

Just be yourself completely. This is zazen. And you don't have to be a Buddhist to do it. All you got to do is be a living being, which you are. And when you're completely a living being, you are precisely Buddha. And nothing is harder than you being you. together with all beings, telling you how to do it. Yeah, and if it was just for me, I don't think I would make the effort. It's just so hard. I might want to check out. It's so hard. But people say, don't go.

[61:02]

They can see I'm having a hard time being me. They see it, but they don't want me to go because they want me to show that I'm willing to stay and practice the Dharma of being me completely. They want me to show that I'm willing to do that for the sake of of peace and harmony with them. They also find it hard and they're thinking of giving up too. They want some people who are going to continue. So they say, please don't go. We've got your epithet also. We've got your epitaph. It's a good epitaph. But stay until we're all Buddhas, please. Stay until we all become zazen. And then I think, oh, okay.

[62:03]

I'll stay for you. It's too much work just for me. But for you, okay, I'll keep trying to be me. I'll keep trying to be Buddha. I'll keep trying to remember that everybody is a future Buddha. And act accordingly. And be their servant. Just as I would serve a Buddha. Just like I would serve a Buddha to do that with everybody. Okay. For you, I'll continue to try to do that. You know, it's for you. All of you. And I'll continue to this. challenging practice of the Lotus Sutra, of the Zen School, of Dungshan, of Tenryu, of Suzuki Roshi.

[63:06]

Thanks to all of them, and thanks to whoever put together the Lotus Sutra over hundreds of years, and whoever's taken care of it for thousands of years. I think I'm ready, if you are, for kind of like you to come forward now and offer your face and your words and your heart and your love of the Dharma. And also, your love of Dharma could include questions about the Dharma and doubts about the Dharma. That's part of Dharma love. So... Great assembly, you're invited to come forward now. As we move into conversation, please feel free to raise your hand. You can find the option to do so in the reactions button or on your device.

[64:16]

It may be under the more section. You can also wave your hand and maybe we'll see you on camera. I also, while I have the floor, just wanted to encourage you all to support the temple in whatever way you can. And thank you for all the ways you are supporting the temple. If you'd like to make a donation, there's a link you can use to do so now. We've really relied on your donations in this time. And thank you for continuing to make these offerings of material and dharma. So I see a number of hands. Attention, Roshi, would you like to call on people? No. Shall I do so? You call them with their hands. Okay. Karen. Good morning.

[65:18]

I can't see her. I'm here. Can you see me if I speak? I can now. OK, so I wanted to the phrase only a Buddha together with a Buddha seems to me idealistic. And from my point of view. The potential to become something is not the same as being something. So I wonder if you can help me reconcile that. Or if you would speak to that. I'm suggesting that when you are just yourself and you're not avoiding that at all and avoiding it by shrinking back from it or trying to get something from it, at that moment, you are precisely yourself.

[66:42]

And that is precisely awakening. i see buddhahood as some ideal state and not as you know just me or just this person what you what i just said was an ideal state okay you being you is an ideal state you being used not you and you being in conversation with another person who is being herself that's not you But that is an ideal state. It's an ideal state. It's something we can try to practice. So also, when cold comes, freeze to death.

[67:45]

That's an ideal state. It's not you. You're cold. You're hot. You're tall. You're short. But you being... Tall. You being short. That's an ideal state. You know, and you could aspire to that ideal when you hear about it. So you hear, oh, the teacher's saying, when cold, freeze to death. That's an ideal which one might wish for. When in pain, just be pain. That's an ideal. Yes. The Buddha way is a way of aspiring to an ideal. It's not about who you are. It's about the ideal of being who you are. And that is Buddha. And of course, if you practice that for a long time, you will become this thing which is fully enlightened.

[68:52]

So you're that way all the time. Never slipping from that. never forgetting that. But you can be that way right now, and that is Buddha, and then the next moment, you can forget it. And then you slip off being completely just yourself, and then in a way, the actuality that you will be Buddha is temporarily forgotten. But you're still on that path. I see it more as a future thing than a present thing. You have a future Buddhahood. But also, you are the past of your future Buddhahood. You are a future Buddha's past. You're part of a future Buddha.

[69:56]

You're the past of a future Buddha. And you also have a future Buddhahood. But the past of a future Buddha, when that person who's the past is completely herself, she is Buddha. And she also has a future Buddhahood on her program, on her dance card. Can you make the screen so that it's split between me and the person? Yes, thank you. I will do my best to do so. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. My question started with what Karen started.

[71:06]

Your respond to her also was what I was expecting as the respond, which is beyond in the sense of recognizing who you are, recognizing what is. That recognition is awakening. That recognition is what is beyond. And then, no, okay. It's not a recognition. Okay, go ahead, give me that. You being you. Okay, so. It's not a recognition. No, it's the recognition of you realizing what you are seeing is not necessarily you.

[72:10]

Yeah, that's something to recognize. Yeah, that's what I meant. But that recognition is still not quite what we're talking about here. If you see, if you have the thought that that thing is not what I'm thinking it is. Okay. The thought rises through my observation. So there is observation. From the pure observation, a realization is being seen that this is not you. This is not... This... Let me see if I can... I understand.

[73:16]

Okay. Yeah. So that was the realization. And being... That's not a realization. That's a thought. Can the thought be proceeding after the realization or no? Yeah. That's what I'm saying. The thought is the after thing of the realization and then that's the thought of it. Yeah, but the thought is not the realization. No, thought is not the realization. Now it's the thought, it's not the realization. Then I can take the thought and be attentive to the thoughts and see where that thought, just kind of following the thought, And that may or may not come to another. But I'm saying the way I see things is I take the thought and observe the observation of the thought.

[74:27]

Realization is being seen and it comes back to the thought form. That was what I heard. That's what I heard. Then my question was that when you keep seeing Buddha. The thought that rose in my mind is that I don't. Why even becoming anything, including Buddha? Why? Why is the question? OK, there's two questions. Why? Why are this this becoming? Which is very much I think what Karen said is. No becoming anymore. Not becoming. That was one question. Okay, the question for that becoming is, is it necessary? Is it essential? Is it vital? Is it primary to become?

[75:29]

That's the question. And then the second question was, because I do this myself too, through inquiry of what who I am, or inquiry of the mind, there is this tremendous amount of joy that I experience by literally observing and watching. Then the question comes, is this process because of joy? So if there was no joy, would this process will be continued? or am I hooked to the joy of the process? So that's the question because the reward of this process is joy. And if there was no joy, would I continue processing? That's my question. Would we continue processing if there was no joy in this process?

[76:30]

Yes. Then I... The only reason I see is joy. So can you tell me a little bit on that? Yes, please. Why would some, what would be other reasons? Do you ever, do you ever not have joy? Yes. Okay. But I don't, okay. The times that I'm not in joy, I feel I'm not processing. I'm just being numb. I'm just being dull. Yeah. So you're saying when you're dumb, when you're numb, when you're dull, you ask me, is the practice still going on then? The practice goes on only when I wake up to the practice. That's the only time. Yeah. Before that, no, there's no practice. No, the practice is not going on. When I'm dull, the practice is not going on.

[77:36]

No. To answer your question. So I'm saying. If you ask me, is the practice going on at the time you say it's not? I say, yes, it is. Then I don't see that. Right. Yeah. I don't see it either. It's not something I see. It's my understanding that the practice goes on. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. When you say it's your understanding, are you taking your understanding just because or... talking about actual understanding that through your understanding you have realized it i'm just telling you my understanding okay my understanding is that the practice goes on whether you're joyful or not you're on you're you're practicing whether you're joyful or not that's what i'm saying Okay, so let me understand what you say your practice to see if I'm on the same page.

[78:42]

When you say practice, are you saying, are you alive? Because true practice is being alive. Okay. That's what practice is. Are we talking about being alive or are we talking about? You just said practice was being alive. And then if you ask me, am I alive when I'm not joyful, I would say yes. Okay. live when I'm not joyful? I cannot digest that, but for the sake of the group, I'm going to take it and just let it be, but it's not digested. Thank you. All right. Towards the beginning, you said something about peace finding peace between living and non-living beings and what came to mind was viruses they seem to be something in between and i saw this virus approaching a host cell kind of like a spaceship coming to a new planet and delivering its messenger rna or a new message

[80:11]

that the host cell doesn't quite fully understand and receives it in a wrong way, which can be detrimental to the host cell. And there's been a curiosity of viruses and how to meet them without going to war against it. and without being afraid of it and trying to understand its message that it's delivering. And there's also a sense of apprehension and fear approaching this spaceship from another planet and knowing that I might not understand the message completely. and that it might be detrimental to the host cell and that it might kill me.

[81:16]

But then also some, it seems that despite that fear that that might happen, that some of us or some host cells might get the message wrong and die. And that also seems necessary at some point for things to die to make room for other things, and that's a risk. But I'd still be curious of meeting this virus and understanding what its message is. Dear host, could you try to make this person visible to me? All I see is me. I'd like to see this person's face, if I could. Trey.

[82:27]

So, Trey, I feel like your expression was nonviolent. I feel like your curiosity is non-violent. And I feel like the way you're contemplating this relationship with viruses is in accord with only a Buddha together with Buddha, is in accord with Zazen. That your contemplation of relationships with with viruses is, I think, in accord with fully being yourself. So I encourage you to continue meditating on this particular example along these lines and treat other situations like humans, other humans and plants and animals with a similar curiosity and respect.

[83:36]

and nonviolence. I heard the possibility of violence, you know, looming around your discussion, but you didn't get into it. And part of the reason is we don't even know how to be violent with viruses. The only kind of violence we can have towards viruses, I guess, is just I hate viruses and I wish viruses would die, but we're not even sure viruses can die. It's kind of an interesting and mysterious process, but I think your attitude and your contemplation is in accord with becoming awake, nonviolent, and peacemaking. So please continue. And also, I just might parenthetically, if I can, mention that human beings are the result of a long history of relating to viruses. Some viruses are not deadly, but many of them, anyway, have affected our DNA.

[84:41]

Our DNA, to a great extent, is from incorporating the RNA of viruses. And that has made us who we are. So, yeah. And we're trying to get into the harmonious aspect of this process of evolution. Thank you. Richard? May all beings benefit from our meeting. Yeah. I am today a miserable Buddha, being Buddha with another Buddha.

[85:45]

And I say yes to everything that you have said. And I thank you deeply from the bottom of my heart for being a teacher and for continuing to teach and to help us to understand and to learn and to practice this beautiful way. No matter what shows up. It is a Dharma gate. And I pray for the strength. Of realization of understanding of wisdom and compassion and loving kindness to meet. Even the most painful. Judgments and criticisms which may come my way. Harm and violence.

[86:48]

with the full realization of the Buddha way. And I fall short, but I'm working on it. And to respond to an earlier person that It is possible to practice when there is no joy. And I include in that practice, it seems the mantra keeps coming up. I surrender, I surrender, I surrender. But it's not really surrender because if I were to surrender, then there would be no reason to surrender. And so my challenge right now is to be who I am.

[88:00]

And I thank you for being here in this way and the great assembly and you and everyone for helping me to mature and deepen in this path at this time and at all times. I pray that my effort to practice at this time is a benefit to all sentient beings and that all beings who suffer be free of the causes of suffering and realize the true awakening. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Bill?

[89:10]

Good morning. Good morning from the state of Louisiana. I just wanted to share with you, Reb, that during that beautiful moment when you wanted to see everybody who was attending and being a part of this assembly, I was, as I am now, out in the yard doing yard work. But I wanted to be seen, so I held up my phone and I turned on the camera and I was... feeling your beautiful energy and the energy of everyone else in the space. And a warbler, a little tiny bird, landed right on the top of my screen. And it was looking at me. And it was just beautiful. So thank you. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

[90:27]

Thank you, Reb. I have maybe a simple question. I want to go back to the dedication that you brought up about realizing peace and harmony with those who have conflicting views. And I've been contemplating this for a while, and my feeling thought is that it's about, excuse the word, cultivating, or embracing that practice of fearlessness. If we're not afraid, or we have some courage or stability, then we can actually hold conflicting views. views or hold our view. And I don't know who, what the references Blanche used to talk about what a monk has to offer is fearlessness, but I don't know who said that.

[91:34]

So I wonder if you could comment on, if you feel like, think that the source of conflict a little bit is about fear and how we might practice with fear or fearlessness, practice into fear. with fearlessness or willingness to not be self, I would say, protected, knowing that all of us have an end somewhere. Anyway, those are just some thoughts I have. And maybe you have some comment on the practice of fearlessness or practicing fear. Yeah, for me, fearlessness, is a practice of fully embracing fear. If there's no fear, at that moment, I don't have a fearlessness practice.

[92:43]

But when fear arises, and I am upright with it, and don't shrink back or lean forward and try to get rid of it, when I respect the fear, when I'm generous with it and patient with it, that, for me, is the fearlessness practice. For me, fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It's the presence of compassion in the face of fear. And when we meet beings who have very different views from us, it is quite common for us to feel fear. Or even people who don't know their views, but they look really different from us, or they're much bigger than us, or whatever. We naturally, our body is... has been developed to give rise to fear.

[93:50]

And so fearlessness is to meet that fear. To be frightened Buddha, frightened Buddha. To be frightened the way Buddha would be frightened, which is to be completely frightened in the present without trying to get anything for being frightened. And there we have fearlessness. And that helps that gift if we're that way we can demonstrate that to other people that can be our gift to show them oh well he's afraid and look how he handles it rather than he's not afraid what about me i'm afraid oh that person over there showing me how to deal that person's afraid and they show me how to deal with it now and in a way of non-violent way that person over there is afraid, and the way they're dealing with it is violence. And actually, we know how to be violent when we're afraid.

[94:56]

Nobody needs to really teach us. They can kind of reinforce it, but we know how. Babies know how to get really violent when they're afraid. But somebody needs to hold up the Dharma of fully embracing the fear, and thereby demonstrating that dharma of fearlessness, which does come up when people say, you know, I think this would be good. And we think, oh, my God, that would be terrible. And we feel fear that they would think that. But I want to find a way to be at peace with that person and respect that person and transmit to that person this respect. this appreciation that they are Buddha in this way. As I listen to you, just now as I'm hearing you, I feel the positive side is kind of a positive action would be a willingness to die

[96:16]

in compassion or a steadfastness. It sounds like a positive standpoint, so to say, or point of view. And rather than this lurching away, but it's an openness or willingness in compassion and maybe a curiosity, willingness to be interested in what's happening. I had one more thing I wanted to say, which I loved about your talk. This morning, while I was sitting with all the other Buddhas, the thought came to my mind is, what is Zazen? And then something came up to my mind, and then I asked again, what is Zazen? And then I asked again, kind of... cultivating that as a mantra.

[97:19]

Unfortunately, I didn't come up with anything on your list, but now my list just expanded in the midst of this talk about what is Zazen. And it has many names, it seems. So somewhere there was some attunement with this talk. And my Zazen, the Zazen, I don't know if it was mine, but the Zazen of this morning. Thank you for your comment and your reflection. Amen. Shall we continue with questions? Are there some more? There are about seven more questions at the moment. We will continue with Terry. Hello, Reb.

[98:25]

Can you see me? Not yet. I can hear you. There you are. I'm wondering if you have had an encounter with someone with whom you deeply disagreed to the extent that you wondered if they were mentally ill and you used these practices of respect with them and if you could describe how that went. Let's see, how did it go? I think that I was talking to this person and this person, you know, based on something I said earlier, That I would like to hear from people who have trouble expressing their views to people who might have different views from them.

[99:31]

So this person told me about her political views. And she also told me that she's been afraid to tell her some of her friends about her political views. This person was. appreciative of our former president. And she told me that she had been afraid of expressing that appreciation to a lot of her friends. Because, you know, she thought they might not respect her. She did. But then she told me about her appreciation. And so my job was to respect her while she was expressing appreciation and telling me her views, which really surprised me.

[100:35]

This is a really good friend of mine. And her views were surprising. And I was really also happy that she was telling me this. I never heard her tell me these things before. But she had felt encouraged to reveal this to me, which she had been afraid to reveal to her friends, other friends, because they had not told her that they would like to hear from people who had different views from them. So she didn't tell them. But she told me, and she didn't necessarily think that I had different views, but she thought that I would, even if I did, that I would respect her and listen to her. And I did. And the more I listened to her, the more amazing things she told me. And I learned so much. And I didn't tell her my views because she hears me talk about my views a lot about a lot of things. So I didn't give her a talk about my views.

[101:37]

What I did was I gave her a chance to tell me many amazing views. And also for her to see that she could tell me and that she wouldn't lose anything in our relationship. That I wouldn't criticize her or denigrate her or laugh at her or whatever. Not to mention being violent. So, yeah, it was wonderful. And also, it wasn't that difficult. But still, what she said was amazing. And some people might have, instead of seeing it as amazing, they might have had some other adjective for it. And if they had expressed it, it would have hurt her a lot after she opened up. And I gave her some instruction about how maybe to open a line of communication with her friends who she's afraid to talk to.

[102:38]

To develop a way of talking so that she feels safe, not safe exactly, but encouraged. to take the chance of letting them know who she is. But be careful because without being careful, they might ridicule her or something like that. Yeah, so that's how that went. It was very encouraging. And I still have the invitation to please express your views to me. Give me a chance to respect you and learn about you. even though what you might be telling me might be different from my views. But isn't there a way that silence equals assent? You know, if somebody says something racist and you don't say anything, you are... There's a moral concept that you're seeing as being in agreement with it.

[103:44]

Well, you know... There is that because, you know, like the Buddha, when the Buddha gave talks, sometimes the Buddha would say the assembly is silent. So I assume you all understand me and agree with me. So there is that. But if somebody is telling me their views, especially telling me their views because they're having trouble telling anybody these views, that's a different situation. Yes. Well, you are in a situation of teacher and student. Yes. Right. Yeah. So trust me. And if somebody, if a student told me, made some racist comment, then I would have the opportunity of asking, and I had some feeling about it, I could offer them the feeling. In her case, yeah, in her case, I was more amazed. But it could also be the case that someone would tell me something racist and I might be like amazed.

[104:45]

And I might, you know, amazement isn't exact. Amazement is not a scent. No, that's true. Like, I'm just amazed, you know, and without looking down them, I'm amazed to hear. Yeah. You know, I'm amazed to hear you talk about people of color that way. You know, but maybe not to be amazed, but just say, that's really, you know, it's hard to avoid. Yeah. But anyway, they could feel like it was amazement. I was surprised rather than looking down on them. Yeah. Because if I'm looking down on them, then they feel like, oh, I guess the people who look down on me are the people who. The people who look down on me are the people who don't like racism. In other words, the people who look down on me aren't intelligent. In other words, people who don't like racism aren't intelligent. But if this person is surprised by racism and doesn't look down at me, this is a person who's surprised about racism and amazed who is intelligent because they respect me.

[105:59]

They respect me, not necessarily agree with me. And again, people who respect me, of course, are intelligent. intelligent people would naturally respect me. And I say, yes, that's right. When you're intelligent, you respect viruses and racism. But also you're amazed and in awe of them and careful of them. And in that way, you can actually open up a dialogue and bring peace to a situation where some people have racist views, right? So... I don't think we're going to get rid of racism, but I think we can have a conversation with it where we're going to make it a nonviolent conversation and include all the racists getting together and having nonviolent conversation. Okay.

[107:00]

Yeah, okay. Yeah. Let's have peace and nonviolence, even though there's racism. circulating in the situation it's not going to be eliminated but we can pacify it we can we can make it non-violent okay good thank you I like that amazement I'm going to try that thank you very much amen Tracy It's wonderful to see you. Wonderful to hear you. And soon I'll see you. There you are. I can see you now. Thank you. And it's wonderful to see and be with everybody else. And I spend a lot of time, like a lot of people, not really bashing Zoom, but complaining about Zoom and our lives that are caught up in Zoom world.

[108:07]

And I want to own the wonderfulness of it as well, because. You really have made yourself available to us during this pandemic in this format, which I don't think you necessarily loved at the beginning. And I just appreciate it. And I appreciate seeing all the other people who I never used to see. So I'm balancing my complaints with the truth here, which is that there's been some really great things to come out of it, including these meetings. And so thank you. There's something you said today that I feel like I get, but I don't understand. And that's probably okay. But when I'm not with you, what I don't understand or what my mind doesn't understand kind of grabs me. And so I want to see if my mind can actually understand the thing that I think I already get. So I'm going to ask you for some clarification. And usually it has to do with words. You say words that are like, why are you using this?

[109:08]

I just don't understand how this word now means a new thing. So here's here's my question. I think you said today our practice is to just be ourselves. A solitary Buddha. And then I thought you earlier said the Buddha Dharma isn't understood by a person. It's only understood with another Buddha. So I'm like, well, which is it? Is it a solitary Buddha? or only if this solitary Buddha understands that she is nothing except connected to everything else. That's my question. You being completely you is not a person. That's a state of a person. Okay.

[110:14]

You being settled is not a person. You not avoiding your situation and being respectful of your situation is not a person. Okay. And you... Being that way with others in conversation is not a person. What if I'm that way without others in conversation? Say again. What if I'm that way but not in conversation with others or not in this kind of conversation with others? Does that still count? Then I say you haven't fully realized being who you are. You're not just you. You're also others. But then what does the term a solitary Buddha mean? A solitary Buddha is you only being you. But you can't only be you unless you're with others.

[111:15]

That's right. But you have to do the part of you feeling your body, you feeling your temperature, you feeling your fear, you feeling your grief, your pain, your joy. That's your job, not mine. I'm not really trying to avoid your feelings. I'm not getting tired of your feelings. You are. That's your job. Your face is not my face. However, it's a hard job for you to have your face. It's a big job. You have to have your face in order to meet my face. That's your, you know, kind of intramural work is you being this body, these feelings, this mind. That's your job. And to be that way completely in the moment without trying to get any reward for that. Just fully accepting your responsibility to take good care of your body and mind.

[112:24]

That's your solitary Buddha. I need you to do that. So you can meet me. And when you do that. And you meet me. Then you realize you're not just that. You're also me. And that's the full realization. Of who you are. But you have to start by having your face. And then having your face. Which again is a very hard job. Then you can meet my face. And in that meeting. In that conversation. That is Buddha. Thank you. Thank you so much. Agent Roshi. Yes. Yes, I cannot hear you, Linda. I didn't hear what you said. Thank you very much for the talk this morning.

[113:27]

And I realized there's something I wanted to bring up. When you started to talk about Gute, the story about Gute, I thought, oh, good, he's going to bring up Shurji, and he's going to bring up the nun who came to visit Gute, which I've always thought, here's one of those very, very few stories where we have one of our Zen women ancestors who in this encounter, I think, precipitated or helped Gute to see that he wasn't completely himself. And then I felt maybe disappointment that you, I don't know why, maybe you thought it wasn't necessary for the story, but I felt it as a missed opportunity to, you know, celebrate that particular event. part of our lineage or our Zen ancestors anyway.

[114:30]

So I just wanted to bring it up because I've always liked that part of her showing up in the middle of the night and circling him. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So yeah, I want you to know I'm working on a book and in the book I tell the whole story. And also you've heard me tell the whole story before, right? And I really appreciate you telling me about your disappointment. And your disappointment is kind of like her coming to meet me. And it gives me a chance to see if I can like really meet you in your disappointment. Because she was kind of disappointed in him. You know, she came to see him. And she said, OK, say something. And he didn't say anything. And she was disappointed. And so she was going to leave.

[115:31]

And he said, stay. And she said, well, I will, but say something. And he couldn't. So thank you for saying something and telling me that you're disappointed. And that's great. We're enacting it. And Linda also pointed out that the name of this monk, this nun's name, this female monastic's name was, her name was Reality. And so when reality met Jujur, he couldn't face her. He couldn't meet her. He was kind of stunned by reality. And so reality is going to leave. And he said, don't go. And she said, well, say something. And he couldn't speak to reality. So thanks for coming to visit reality. Thanks for meeting me. I'll wait until you see me.

[116:40]

Okay. Thank you. Hi again. Nice to see you again. So thank you for the topic that this is such an important topic. It's... I find that it is much harder to be who we really are in this world right now. There's so much pressure not to. Just the other day, yesterday, two of my friends from different parts of the world had told me that they have been shunned by the groups that they were belonging to because they expressed their view about vaccination. They didn't want to take it. They were reluctant, and they were not allowed to even express that view. So it is a very difficult time for people right now to truly embody themselves, their position, the Dharma position.

[117:40]

And especially, you know, like... Excuse me. Yep. I have a request of you. May I? Mm-hmm, please. Would you keep looking at me and not look away from me? Okay. I was looking at my notes. Yeah, would you please look at me? I will not be looking at my notes. So, yes, so I was... So as I listened to the discussion today, I recall those conversations of my friends and how... And I started to... look at other, actually other sources about vaccinations and decomposing views. And I must say that I myself find it hard to hold, to truly embody the fear when it comes up with some of the views that are presented. So your example that you just gave, it was such a great reminder when you're called freeze.

[118:46]

That was really helpful. Because we... kind of turn into this softy, pleasure-seeking, being myself ideas, which is not what you mean, right? Well, if it ever was like that, then be that way. And maybe that's not so difficult. But this is a good example of people are expressing a view and I'm afraid to express myself. And how can I open up a conversation? Because these are the great opportunities for us to The Lotus Sutra is like, what do you call it? Cheering us on. The Lotus Sutra is saying, come on, find a way to relate to these people. Exactly. And be careful. Be careful. Because maybe the worst thing would be to express yourself uncarefully and then get hurt and then say, well, I'm never going to express myself again. So try to find a way to do it that you feel like, well, that was good.

[119:50]

I'll try that again. It was hard. for me to disagree with my friends, but it, you know, I, I, I really feel good that I did it and I want to do it again. Yeah. What I found. If when I hear stories like that, I would say, you're lucky that you have friends like that, that, that are, you know, that you, there are friends, but that have different views. So there's a possibility of opening up, opening up the conversation. And, and could I say one more thing? The Lotus Sutra, it starts out by having conversations with people who have different views who are both Buddhist. So it's like the different Buddhists have different views, but they dare to talk to each other. And that's an example of start with some people that you can talk to together who you have different views with that you feel close to. Start with those people and work on that and then start to go out to talk to people who you aren't so close to.

[120:52]

Yeah, well, one of the friends, she was in her professional circles and she didn't really want to be thrown out of it. She valued that group. So she was asking, looking for advice. And what I offered was what I have been doing, my practice, because I found myself, there is this, the society is so polarized right now. It's terrifying. People are just so either black or white, and they are not even considering there's any other views. That's even more terrifying. So I said, you know, for myself, I look, I start noticing the hardness of my position. Good. And so it's either noticing that hardness and recognizing that... Not only they have strong views, but I might be having some too, and I need to see it. Yeah, and noticing that is putting on your face.

[121:54]

Right. You're the main one to notice that your view is hard. And then if you can, like, be kind to that hardness, then you'll be able to meet them. Right. And also, I also notice in myself that I need to be kind to the one who wants to wiggle away. Yes, and that will help you meet them too. Right, because so often it's just so hard to face the conflicting views, and yet so then there's the wanting to somehow soften, reject, or dismiss. There's all kinds of escape mechanisms not to face their situation, right? So anyway, when you spoke about that, When you are called, freeze. Again, going back to our discussion from Tuesday, Jesus has his passion.

[122:55]

He's walking with the cross. This is the hardest message to accept. That's why I walked away from Christianity. As a kid, I was like, this is terrifying. But I guess it takes maturity to truly appreciate. the pictorial representation of the position that you're trying to deliver here right now. And so my question is, is there in Buddhism, because I've been practicing Buddhism for quite a while, but is there a depiction that is actually so pictorial that you can think of that I don't know about? Well, what comes to my mind is is stories of the Buddha's past life, where he gave his body to a tiger. And there's a number of examples of where the Buddha made these amazing gifts of his body, and sometimes of her body.

[124:05]

There's examples of that. And... Yeah, and then there's Zen stories, you know, where one of the great teachers was meeting a bandit. You know, he didn't run away from the bandit. He stayed in the temple to meet the bandit. He faced the bandit, and the bandit killed him. And that story is a story which a number of people after him had trouble with. Why didn't he go away? What was the point of staying in the temple and meeting the bandit? His name was Yan To. Yeah, that's great.

[125:08]

I think it would be helpful to collect... these pictures, Buddhist pictures, because, you know, just with Jesus, I've been brought up Catholic. They are collected, but they're in a collection which has, they're not collected separately. But you can go through the records and pull them out and make a... Maybe that will be a task. Zen horror stories. It probably would be a hot selling book. Well, especially in these insane times, right? Especially now. Stories... Buddhist stories of the hard times of the ancestors. Yeah, because they kind of bring us right into the point of practice, not this wishy-washy, you know, stuff. Because we've said enough words, but to actually walk, the walking is the hardest thing, right? So we've said enough words this morning. So now let's do the practice, everybody, okay? Here we go. Here's the hard part. Thank you so much.

[126:09]

May our intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of Buddha's way. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to cut them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Goodbye, everybody. Have a great rest of your day. Goodbye. Bye. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you. Thank you, Rob.

[127:12]

Thank you, Roche. Bye. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye. See you Tuesday. See you Tuesday. What's Tuesday?

[127:57]

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