This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. I've been invited to tell some stories tonight about the practice of of Buddhas. An ancient teacher said that all Buddhas are sitting in the midst of fierce flames. turning the wheel of Dharma. Tonight I say all Buddhas are sitting silent and still at the center of the suffering of all

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living beings. Buddhas are sitting upright and silent and still at the center of the suffering of all living beings. maybe some of you hearing this might be thinking that sounds familiar or maybe I'm sitting in the same place. Did any of you think that? One person did. May I suggest to you that's that

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is where everybody sits. That's where each of us is sitting. What's the place again? At the center of the suffering of all living beings. But I don't say that although I don't say that all of us are sitting upright. and silent and still. I don't say that. However, there is the opportunity to be just like the Buddhists. You're already sitting at the same seat as the Buddhists. Are some of you guests here? having kind of a relaxing time.

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I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I really don't. But some students, some of the residents here are not having such a relaxing time. They're kind of, one of them told me, all I want to do is sleep. I'm so, I'm exhausted. So some of the residents are working really hard. Fortunately, it hasn't been so hot lately. When it gets hot, it's going to be harder. Probably. Maybe not. Not for the ants. So some of the students may say, yeah, I'm definitely sitting at the center of all suffering. It's really hard to be here at Tatsahara. It's hard. But even if you're having a relaxing time, you're still sitting in the same place, I'm suggesting.

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It's a challenging place to sit, where the Buddhists sit. And we are sitting in the same place. And they are sitting with us in the same place. All the different places are the same place. And the same place is all the different places. That's one of the messages coming from the center of all suffering. Sitting at their seat, the Buddhas and the ancestors of the tradition make great compassion their foremost concern.

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They sit silent and still at their seat and they intimately and compassionately embrace and sustain all living beings. That's their job and they do it. And doing it is what they are. We are also welcome to join them. What would that be again? Oh yeah, sit where you are and compassionately embrace and sustain all living beings. But, you know, that's sometimes quite challenging. So when I first arrived I was sitting down in the courtyard and Da Wu came down sat next to me and she said that the residents have been asked not to eat in the central area and I had a piece of bread in my hand.

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That was because the Blue Jays have become very greedy and just then a Blue Jay flew over and touched my sandwich and flew off. I think I might have been trying to get the sandwich, but it was unsuccessful. And I did not have this compassionate response. Actually, I thought, maybe we can try that again. And the next time, I'll grab it. But then after I grab it, what am I going to do with it? That would be, you know, kill it, eat it, bring it and show it to the other students, say, look what I have. It's a blue jay.

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Some people say, no, you shouldn't be holding it so tightly. Let's do that again, Mr. Blue Jay. That thought is a sentient being. And the Buddhas are compassionate to such thoughts. Maybe they don't have those thoughts, but anybody who does have a thought of grabbing Blue Jays is calling to the Buddhas and the Buddhas say, I'm listening to you. I'm here for you to help you have a compassionate response when they say swoop down on you and attack your food. Or your face. Because my face was near my food.

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And they didn't say sorry afterwards either. So, anyway, the Buddhas... are sitting still and silent and making great compassion foremost. It's in front of or it's above and sitting on top of revenge. So there we are and they're embracing and sustaining all beings and they are imperceptibly according with all things and fully resonating throughout all times from that seat. From this seat which all of us have, sitting silent and still, we have a chance to...

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open to the practice of the Buddhas which is to accord with all things and to resonate and be in conversation with all things and to have our practice be the same practice as all beings and have our awakening and their awakening be the same In some families, this practice that I've just described, did you hear it? Did you hear the practice? Imperceptibly and intimately accord with all things. That's the practice of the Buddhas. Did you hear me say that? I heard it. Okay. And in some families, that practice is called Zazen.

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maybe some other families it's called ridiculous that's ridiculous to imperceptibly accord with all things and fully resonate through all time give me a break okay you get a break but still I say that's what Buddhas are up to and in some families what Buddhas are up to is called Zazen and what's this called A lid. On the walkway out there, there's a schedule. I don't know what the title of the schedule is, but it probably says something like Tassajara Summer Schedule. Something like that. Do you know what it says, Tanya? Something like that. And then it says something like Wake Up Bell. And it has a time next to it.

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And then under there it says Zazen. In some families Zazen is the word that you use for sitting at the center of all beings upright and still turning the world of Dharma imperceptibly according with all beings, and fully resonating through all time. So, that could be written on the schedule, but it does take up more space. And also, maybe some people here don't think that's what zazen is, so maybe they don't want to write it. In the family that I am a member of, that's what zazen is. I'm talking about zazen.

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And we could write that on the schedule. Is it 5.50? 5.50. 5.20. Huh? What time? 5.50. 5.50? 1, 2, 3. What time? Okay. See you tomorrow. 5.50. You have a chance to come here and sit upright and still. Sound familiar? And turn the wheels down. at the center of all beings and accord imperceptibly beyond hearing and seeing accord with all beings and in this relationship liberate all beings from delusion so they may live in peace and harmony this is the Buddha's work and we have various seats in this room where you can sit and enter that work.

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And Buddhists have been doing this work for a long time. They've been doing the work of liberating beings by embracing and sustaining them with great compassion. And in that embrace, teaching them compassion so that they can practice compassion. And when they practice compassion, they will see the Dharma and be liberated. And they will then also sit in that place and do the Buddha's work. This sitting upright and still and silent is the essence of the Buddhist practice.

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And this essence, this sitting upright and harmonizing with all beings, that essence also has a function. And the function is to relate to the people, all beings, in such a way as they become liberated from human delusion or dog delusion. Not too long ago, I was in another part of the country talking about the same thing. talking about the activity of Buddhas in the midst of the suffering of this world. The activity of the Buddhas in the midst of the suffering of this world is to sit upright and still and silent in the middle of it and then respond appropriately to liberation.

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for beings. And one of the people in the retreat said to me, who had been practicing quite a long time, he said, I guess I had kind of thought, maybe he said thought and also hoped that by practicing all these years, the amount of suffering in the world would be reduced. And he said, but it doesn't seem to be reduced. I don't know who can measure it, but I hear a lot of people measuring it with their minds lately. Have you heard people measuring the amount of suffering? And some people are saying, I think there's more now than there's ever been. Or maybe they say, I think there's more now than there's been since World War II, or something like that. It seems like there's a lot of suffering, right? A lot of people think that.

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I don't know if there's more now than there used to be. Does anybody know here? Is there more? There's like, it's like, it's more or less, it's like infinite, isn't it? The amount of suffering? I mean, it's immeasurable, isn't it? There's so much suffering. Even in this valley, this peaceful valley, there's quite a bit of suffering. Even the Blue Jays seem to be having a hard time. They're complaining a lot. They don't seem to be very happy. They're kind of like bullies. They pick on people, especially us, who don't fight back. They pick on the other birds. But they're suffering. They're suffering bullies. Calling for compassion. in this blustery, suffering way. And we also... So this man said, it doesn't seem like there's less suffering than when I started practicing.

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And I said, yeah, I haven't seen less suffering either over the years I've been practicing. But I am not sure there's more either. I just think there was a lot when I was younger and I heard there was... a lot before I was born, and I was born right in the middle of the Second World War, and there's been suffering ever since. So I didn't really hear that Buddhism was about ending all suffering, even though I've heard that expression. What I think Buddhism's about is practicing compassion to all the suffering. To all of it. I think Buddhism is not practicing compassion to part of it. Some people are practicing compassion to part of the suffering, which is better than nothing. But the Buddha way is practicing compassion to all beings who are surrounding us.

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All of them. No exceptions. That's the Buddha way. The Buddha practice. Those of us who are not yet there are in the process of learning that. But the Buddhas are practicing compassion to all beings. But the Buddhas have not. For thousands of years we've had the Buddhas and they don't seem to have reduced the amount of suffering in the world. But they have increased the compassion in the world. Every day beings are treated with compassion in this world of suffering every day many many beings are practicing compassion and many beings are calling for it and receiving it and saying thank you and saying I want to learn this compassion many the compassion is alive and it needs to keep growing and

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It's going to. But I don't see that the compassion is going to end the suffering. I see that it's going to free people from the suffering. The Buddhas share our responsibility for all the suffering in the world. And they share our responsibility today and our responsibility for our whole life. We, together with all beings, are responsible for all this suffering. And the Buddhas are not exempt from responsibility. The Buddhas don't make all the suffering by themselves. They don't end it all by themselves. They're in the middle of it with all of us. They're not on the outside giving us trouble. They're in the middle with all of us dealing with the trouble. And how do they deal with it?

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First of all, compassion. And the way they practice it, they're sitting still. They're not running away from their position. They're not arguing with it. They're not blaming it. They're sitting still and silent. and embracing and sustaining it, and liberating it. They're not increasing it or decreasing it. However, if it does increase, they share responsibility for the increase. If it decreases, they share responsibility for the decrease. And then if it increases again, and so on. If there is any increase and decrease, they're right there, but they're not in control of the suffering of the world. They're not even in control of the compassion. Compassion is not controlling people into being compassionate.

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If it were, maybe if we had a compassionate person here at the history of this monastery, if there was a compassionate person, maybe that person could have come down here and controlled everybody into being compassionate. But I never saw such a person that could come down here And get the people here to be compassionate. And control them into it. However, I have seen people come down here, quite a few people come down here, and inspire people. And guide people to be compassionate. But quite a few people, even though they're offering this inspiration and offering this guidance, they said, you know, later. I'm busy. Can you believe that? I'm not saying it's true or anything. On my way here tonight, somebody said to me, basically the person said, this isn't a quote, but basically this person said, would you please tell stories about Suzuki Roshi who used to live here?

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He seemed to be a compassionate person, but he couldn't control people to be compassionate. I don't think he tried. Maybe he tried at some point in his life, but then I think he gave up trying to control people to be compassionate and just practiced compassion himself with the wish that people would pick up on it. And I think some people did. That was really compassionate, what he just did there. I'd like to do that. But I guess I said some people were too busy. Didn't have time for that. This is really good water. This is kind of, I don't know what to say. Maybe I'm kind of being, maybe I shouldn't say this. But anyway, I'm going to stop talking pretty soon. But even though I stop talking, after I stop, you're still going to be sitting at the center of the universe.

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If I never say anything again, you'll always be there. And you'll always have this opportunity. And nobody's going to force you to pick up on us. But a lot of people are wishing that you would pick up on this opportunity. A lot of people would really appreciate it. if you would put great compassion foremost where you are all day long. And a lot of other people would be patient with you if you kind of got distracted from that or missed a few beats of compassion. So here's a story about Suzuki Roshi. And me! It's the summer at Tazahara. It's not terribly hot like today. I'm going to postpone that story and tell you another story.

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It's the summer at Tazahara. And it's hotter than it is today. And Suzuki Rush is there. And a lot of other people are there. And he gave a talk down in old Zendo. That's the only Zendo he saw here. And it was really hot. And he gave a talk. And he had all his robes on. And he really was hot. But he didn't wear lighter clothes, even though it was hot. And afterwards he said... I'm soaking wet. And then a few days later, it wasn't so hot. And he gave another talk. And in the talk, he said, blah, blah, blah, my disciples, blah, blah, blah. And when I said that, I thought, I wonder who his disciples are.

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Kind of like, I wonder if I'm one of them. I mean, I appreciate being here with him and I, you know, it's great to study here with him and listen to his teaching and hang out with him. At that time at Tazahara in the summer, we had funnel meals in the Zendo. You can see it on, you can see us eating in the Zendo in the summer at Tazahara on YouTube. So you can see Suzuki Roshi eating in the Zendo. That's in the summer. Anyway, during that talk he said, my disciples, and so afterwards I said, Roshi, during the talk you referred to your disciples. And I said, who are your disciples?

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And he said something like this. I don't like it, but my mind kind of sees two kinds of students at Tassajara. By the way, I think the date of that conversation with him was approximately July 6th, 1970. 49 years ago. Do you remember what he said? I don't like it, but my mind sort of sees two kinds of students at Tatsahara. One kind of student are here for themselves. Another kind of student are here for others. My disciples are the ones that are here for others.

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So for the last 49 years, I've been wondering which kind of student am I? Are you wondering which kind of student you are? So, if you want to be Siddhartha's disciple, it's kind of like wanting to be disciple of Buddha. Do you want to be disciple of Buddha and Siddhartha? I think it's pretty clear. All you need to do is a rather challenging job of sitting where you are. You're always in the right place to practice. Or standing upright. silent and still, and put foremost compassion to all beings.

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And then you'll be Buddha's disciple. And you will realize Buddhahood by being Buddha's disciple. And also, we are all going to do that. We are all on the path of Buddhahood. We're all going to sit upright and still and practice compassion for all beings. We're in the process of learning how to do that while the blue jays attack and the other humans attack. are going to learn to meet them with compassion. But it's going to be hard. But we're going to do it.

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We're on the path. Congratulations. show? Have you ever heard me sing summertime? Have you? Not sure. You're not sure? Well, then you probably haven't. Well, let's hear it. But have you heard anybody else sing summertime? Summertime, summertime, summertime, summertime, summertime. That one? No, not that. Not that one. That's a good one, too. Here's another one. summertime and the living is easy.

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Fish are jumping and the cotton is high. Ah, ah, [...] ah. Good looking. So rest, little baby, even while you cry. One of these learnings, you're gonna rise up singing. You're gonna spread your wings and you'll take to the sky until that morning there ain't nothing can harm you with daddy and man

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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 SSCC.org and click giving.

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