This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzz.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Hi, my name is Greg. Hello. conventionally, and we'll say that, this morning, conventionally, I'll say, hi, I'm Greg. And my talk is just to encourage you in your practice on day three of Sesheen. And I'd like to thank our dear teachers, Abbas Christina, and Leslie, and especially acknowledge and thank my teacher, Sojin Mal Weitzman, the abbot of Berkeley Zen Center.

[01:13]

So, giving a talk on day three of Sashin, I'm like not sure what to say. If anything can be said, aren't we all at this point just dragons walking on the ocean floor together, as Paul Haller would say? Maybe. Maybe not. So, well, anyway, the Avis said I'm giving the Dharma talk this morning, so I better say something. I think I would like to begin with a little story.

[02:21]

Once upon a time. Approximately 1,260 years ago, in Zhongle, in Fukian province, in old Tang Dynasty, China, there was a little boy. That's why I say approximately 1,260 years ago. The record doesn't say how little the little boy was. Maybe like Sebastian. And then when I was thinking about it, I thought maybe even younger than Sebastian. Maybe our friend who came on the last day of guest season, Airby, celebrated her fourth birthday with us on September 9th. So at four, she's like pretty verbal, but not super verbal, right?

[03:25]

She can string sentences together and so forth. I was thinking maybe a four-year-old boy went with his mom into a Buddhist temple for the first time. His mom was in the town and took him, probably going to market, and probably wanted to pay her respects or maybe make an offering, and she took him into a Buddhist temple for the first time. in his life. And I guess they went into the Buddha Hall and there's a statue of old man Shaka-sama up there on the altar. And the little boy looks up at the statue and he says something like, Mommy, who's that? And his mom says, That's Lord Buddha.

[04:27]

That's the Buddha. And the boy says, well, he looks like a human being like us. Was Buddha a human being? And his mom says, yes, indeed. Buddha was a human being. And the boy says, I'm a human being. When I grow up, I'm going to be a Buddha. I like that story. And the boy grew up to become a monk and then a great teacher named Bai Zhang. Bai Zhang Wei Hai. I'm not actually sure I'm pronouncing that second name right. It's commonly known as Bai Zhang.

[05:31]

Ocean Heart. Awesome Dharma name. Ocean Heart. It's great. Buddha was a human being. I'm a human being. No problem. pure heart of a four-year-old. Great! No problem. In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha says, living beings all are Buddha nature. We are all Buddha nature. But how do we

[06:33]

Understand that. How do we live that? On the third day of Sashin. So in Master Hakuin's Zazen Wasan, his Song of Zazen, the first lines are, from the beginning... All beings are Buddha, like water and ice. Without water, no ice. Outside us, no Buddhas. That's a pretty good analogy I like a lot. You know, water and ice. Of course, we can all understand that ice, this hard, brittle, cold, breakable, substance, rigid, is actually, in essence, water.

[07:42]

Same molecules, H2O, dihydrogen oxide, same stuff, but seems different. I think most of us can really get the gist of what Hakuin was getting at. Ice. Tightening up. Rigidifying. Hardening. Here we go. I think most of us probably say, you know, I could be wrong. I don't know most of us necessarily, but anyway, I speak for myself.

[08:51]

I want to be like that water. I don't want to be like that ice, you know. The ice, no, no, I don't want that. I'm going for the water. Nice, smooth, flowing, yeah. Ice, bad, water, good. That's where the fun begins. That's where the fun begins. I sat Sashin here some years ago. When I was living in San Francisco, I was treasurer of San Francisco Zen Center, and Paul Howler invited me to come and sit Ratsu Sashin at Tazahara in a practice period that he was leading.

[09:53]

I hesitate to qualify I hesitate to qualify my Zazen experience. It doesn't help. I don't think it's helpful to do that, to compare one period of Zazen to another, to compare one Zazen to another. It took Sojin Roshi a long time to get that out of me. However, I will say that was the worst Zazen of my entire life. Sashin pretty much always kicks my hiney always that's consistent but this one was like just hell in the beginning hell in the middle hell in the end from the first period to the last period it was quite amazing quite interesting that way

[11:09]

Because I was a guest, they put me up in stone two. And it was lovely, lovely staying in stone two. So nice, you know. All my own in stone two. And the sheikah had left... poem written on a scrap of paper in Stone 2. It was just like a torn piece of paper and wrote the poem on the piece of paper and set it by my kerosene lamp on the bedside table in Stone 2. And the poem is in this book, Through the Privy Door. Recollective Verses 1945-2005 by Lou Hartman.

[12:16]

And the poem is entitled, Thoughts While Putting On My Robe in Stone 2 at Tassajara. How smoothly the creek's ocasa folds across the shoulders of the rocks. how smoothly the creek's okesa folds across the shoulders of the rocks. Now, it was raining the whole time this sashim was going on, practically. I don't think it was raining continuously seven days, but it rained a lot. And the creek was pretty high. And the water in the creek was brown.

[13:21]

And of course, at that time, my ukeso was black. But looking out the window of stone two, there it was. Same rock, no doubt. The water. Just going over it. And oh, yeah, how beautiful. and the rain falling, and Kabarga Creek, flowing, vigorously flowing, and my zazen, paralytic. And I was like, all right, I get it. Water flowing. Give me the water. Give me the flowing water. Ah. That's where the fun begins.

[14:24]

Yeah. I don't want to be that ice Buddha. I want to be that flowing water Buddha. Tough toenails. you know, how do we do this? It's a really big question for me. And I've really been enjoying studying the record of Bajang, the extended record of Bajang. Lately, if I could travel back in time and

[15:31]

be made to understand archaic Chinese, I would choose to go and practice with Bai Zhang and Nanquan. They were Dharma brothers, two of my all-time favorites, practicing together under the leadership of great Master Ma. What a wonderful time. But hey, this is a pretty wonderful time, too. And over and over again, I see clear evidence that actual Zen is being practiced at Tazahara. Mel once told me, this is just as good as China. Absent the hitting and the slapping and the shouting and the nose pulling, Bai Zhang had a big enlightenment experience when his teacher pulled his nose.

[16:34]

You know that story, right? Where are the ducks now? Sucker! Excuse me. So... Get this. Try this on for size. If one clings to original purity, fundamental liberation, and considers himself a Buddha, considers his own self to be Chan and the Way, then he belongs to the naturalist outsiders. If one clings to causality, the perfection of practice and attainment of realization, then he belongs to the outsiders who believe in causality. If you cling to existence, then you belong to outsiders with the notion of eternity.

[17:38]

If you cling to non-existence, you belong to outsiders with the notion of annihilation. If you cling to both existence and non-existence, then you belong to outsiders with extreme views. If you cling to neither existence nor non-existence, then you belong to outsiders with the notion of emptiness. So there. What's left? Don't play the game. This is like the record of Bajang just goes on and on and on like this. He'll set something up and say, that's a good teaching. Don't cling to it. Or it becomes poison. That's an interesting view. Don't cling to it. Don't cling to that. Don't grasp it. Whatever it is.

[18:42]

And he has this sort of Taoist approach, but very strict. Very strict. And I feel like he's one step ahead of me. If I say very strict, I hear this echo, don't cling to the strictness. If I say, practice is pure, don't cling to the purity. You can't say anything about it. So, then what? He says, an ascetic maintains discipline of diet and behavior, is tolerant, gentle, compassionate, rejoices in abandonment. This has always been the norm for monks. Once one has conformed in this way, clearly she is in accord with the Buddha's teaching.

[19:49]

But one should not cling greedily or hold fast to it. See? If you long to attain Buddhahood or to obtain such a thing as enlightenment, it is like your hand touching fire. As long as Buddhahood outside of you you'll never attain it as long as you're like I want water Buddha not the ice Buddha it'll never work so by John in his genius put a lot of emphasis on Sheila the discipline and practicing together as a community Stupid. I've been drawn to study that because we've been talking about Sangha. This was very important to Bai Zhang.

[20:51]

He is famous for a lot of things, but maybe most famous for creating the first pure standards, the Bai Zhang Jinkui, or in Japanese Hyakuzhou Shingi. The first Shingi. These are the guidelines. These are the boundaries that enable us to practice together intimately. So he had a lot of emphasis on community practice and work practice. Under Bai Zhang's leadership, work became the core practice of Zen. Work, the core practice. So I've really been appreciating our coffee-tea area practice. And it reminds me of a story about, there's quite a few stories about Bai Zhang and his work practice, of course.

[21:55]

I think the most famous is when his students were worried that he was working too much and they hid his tools. Do you know that one? And he goes on a hunger strike until he gets his tools back. And he says, I have no virtue. I wish that Dan Belsky were here so he could do that in the old Jewish guy voice. I have no virtue. I have no virtue. I don't think Bai Zhang actually said, a day of no work is a day of no eating. But that is attributed to him, that attitude, that approach to practice. Then everyone practices according to their ability.

[23:01]

Everyone contributes to the community according to their ability. And everyone's offering is equally received and equally valued in the Buddhist community. The story I was going to mention that made me think of the coffee-tea area was about Yunyang. There's actually a person in our lineage. The first one I mentioned so far was actually in Soto lineage. That's Dongshan's teacher. All these guys knew each other, you know. So Yunnan was practicing with Bai Zhang, actually. And he asked the master, every day there's hard work. Why do you, who, excuse me, every day there's hard work. Who do you do it all for? And Bai Zhang says, there's someone who requires it.

[24:02]

Yunnan says, why not have him do it himself? And the Master says, he has no tools. Or another translation might be, he doesn't have the ability. One time, years ago, I was in the coffee tea area, and... somebody had left a bunch of tea leaves in the strainer in the sink there. And they were stepping away. And I said, oh, let me get that for you. And no charge whatsoever. I was just like, oh, let me help you with that. I'll show you where these go in the compost right here. Just quite simple, friendly.

[25:06]

And the person looked at me and said, don't you have people for that? True story. So the answer is no. We don't have people for that. We are the people for that. This community. And let me say for sure, I have then that person walking away from the tea leaves. Let me just get that out there quick. And unconsciously, oh, who do you do it all for? Well, there's someone who requires it. this one requires it.

[26:07]

You know, this one who, who, uh, is apt to forget or to be, uh, uh, a little, um, heedless, I guess I might say. And, uh, walk away from whatever little mess I've made as if that were even possible. Uh, Why not have him do it himself? Well, he has no tools. He needs some help. I need some help. We need some help. We need to train that way. So, we do this thing called Sashin. We do this thing called Ango. Peaceful abiding. Coming together as a community.

[27:10]

Coming together with common intention. To practice together. To actualize the Buddha way together. That's what I see. I'm so happy to be a part of it. Once, when Abyss Linda Ruth was leading a practice period, she talked about the energy of a flock of wild geese flying together. I guess it used to be, maybe in the 80s and 90s, synergy was a very popular word, right? The collective energy, there's something that's greater than the sum of its parts. There's something created that actually we don't know what it is.

[28:11]

We don't know what it is. It's unknowable. But for the sake of convenience, I'll say the Sangha Jewel. I'll call it the Sangha Jewel. That helps that we can access, be a part of, participate in wholeheartedly. And we help each other. So, Bai Zhang says, this is making a cart. Excuse me. This is making a cart to carry cause and effect. This is making a cart to carry cause and effect. So I think that's what we're doing here.

[29:14]

In practice period, in Sangha, in Sashin, we're making a cart. We're creating this cart to carry cause and effect. somehow, mysteriously, we're not at the mercy of cause and effect. Not that cause and effect has gone anywhere. Oh my gosh, that's another famous koan about Bai Zhang, which probably most of you know also, the one about the fox, right? And the... the teacher was reborn 500 lifetimes as a wild fox because someone asked him, is an enlightened sage free of cause and effect?

[30:17]

And he said, yeah, sure, absolutely, you bet. 500 lifetimes as a fox. And then he comes to, in the form of a human, he comes to Bai Zhang in his assembly and says, please help me. I've been cursed to be reborn over and over again as a wild fox. What do you say? Is an enlightened sage free of cause and effect? And Bai Zhang says, he is not ignorant of cause and effect, or he is not blind to cause and effect. So it's not like cause and effect have gone anywhere. It's not like duality has gone anywhere. It's not like you know, this samsaric world has gone anywhere. Ice Buddha. Water Buddha. Okay. Okay. Oh, by the way, there's a, it's not a book, there's a box of Zen art in the reserve shelf in study hall, which was

[31:34]

given to us by my yoga teacher, Darcy Lyon, who leads retreats here in the summer. And I put it there because sometimes in study hall, I know you might just be a little bit not up to studying Buddhist sutras. So you could look at Zen art, if you like. And there's a bunch of these cards that reproduce the art. And on the back of each one is some... Pretty cool commentary by John Dido Laurie. So one of the reproductions is a calligraphy of this scene where Bai Zhang goes and finds the wild fox's corpse in order to give it a monk's funeral. And it's so cute. The wild fox, the way it's painted, looks like just the most darling thing. Like, I'm dead. Like a little lamby. so cute excuse me anyway getting back to making a cart to carry cause and effect I'll read you the rest of this short quote this is making a cart to carry cause and effect

[32:59]

In life, one is not stayed by life. In death, one is not obstructed by death. Though within the clusters, Dr. Cleary says clusters, we would also say skandhas or aggregates. So maybe I'll say skandhas. Though within the skandhas of form, sensation, perception, formation and consciousness, It is as if a door had opened, and one is not obstructed by these five skandhas. One is free to go or to stay, going out or entering in without difficulty. If you can be like this, there's no question of stages or steps, of superior or inferior, even down to the bodies of ants. If you can just be like this, all is the land of pure marvel.

[34:06]

It is inconceivable. That's a lot of words about something that's inconceivable. You know, the avid said I was giving the Dharma talk this morning. What's your conception of that? It's inconceivable. In life, one is not stayed by life. In death, one is not obstructed by death. Peaceful, blissful, pleasant, focused, concentrated zazen.

[35:11]

I'm not going to attach to peaceful, focused, pleasant, etc. zazen. Painful, agitated, rigid, ick zazen. Hell in the beginning, hell in the middle, hell in the end. I'm not going to turn away from that. It's trusting your basic awareness. It's Staying with it. Practicing together this very rare and precious opportunity called seshin, called ango.

[36:36]

Ino-san, when is the mid-practice period event? Is it today or yesterday? It's about a week ago, actually. A week ago? Oh. See? Conventionally. I thought you said it was happening during Sesshin, that we were halfway through practice period. That's what I said originally, but that was actually inaccurate. It was about three or four days before Sesshin started. Oh, okay. So, you see... Let's all take advantage of this opportunity. Let's all help each other to make this cart to carry cause and effect. Just sitting quietly and staying present for what's happening

[37:45]

without qualifying it, without grasping or averting from any part of it. Even when you think, wow, this is great, this is a really good idea, this is the real practice. No, don't even grasp that. To just practice like rice bags and coat hangers. Just staying present. Here's Hakuin again. This is how the Song of Zazen ends. Nirvana is right here.

[38:48]

Before our eyes, this very place is the lotus land. This very body, the Buddha. This very place is the lotus land. Boy, being in Tassajara at this time of year, In this weather, it's easy to believe. It doesn't get much more beautiful than this, in my opinion. And yet, I want it to rain so bad it hurts. There you go. That's our human life. Ice Buddha, water Buddha. Either one.

[39:50]

It's OK. Now the kitchen is leaving. Thank you, kitchen crew. Thank you, interim kitchen crew. have food, eh? We have the necessities for practice. Food, shelter, medicine, unscented moisturizer. Everything we need.

[40:51]

This is a very special opportunity. So let's make the most of it. Thanks for your attention. I'm done. Anybody has any question or comment, do that, or we could do our lotus land zazen. Either way, shuzhou. And I wonder if there's something about delusion. We find ourselves, it's not hell, it's not bliss. Maybe we're just bored stiff. So be present with that.

[42:02]

If you're bored, be completely bored. I mean to ask Hoja-san for this annotation for this Sylvia Burstein quote that you were saying yesterday. Maybe you could say it again. It doesn't matter what state your mind is feeling. What matters is that you know it. Yeah. What matters is that you know it. I love that. So I want to... Later on, I'd like to find out where that comes from. That's a wonderful teaching. Zen is a religion of action. It's something we do. It's something we do. It's not philosophy. It's practice. Practice, not philosophy. So we enact the Buddha way.

[43:06]

Maybe, you know, I'm feeling that's good enough. And probably way too many words for day three. So what we ought to do is probably just continue to enact the Buddha way right here in good old Tazahara. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving.

[44:05]

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