This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. At the beginning of many scriptures, there is a description of where they occur and who is there. So this event this morning, this mysterious event this morning, occurs in a meditation hall in a beautiful, green, wet valley.

[01:01]

by the great ocean. And at this assembly, at this great assembly, are about 70 bodhisattvas. And also at this assembly are some number of bodhisattvas from around the world. You know how many there are? 127 bodhisattvas around the world are observing this meeting here in this meditation hall. Also in the scriptures, they describe the bodhisattvas, often give their names. describe their qualities.

[02:07]

And the qualities of this assembly that are in this room are that the people in this room have made so far in this intensive meditation retreat People in this room have made a wonderful effort. An inspiring, an awe-inspiring effort. One could say you have made the effort to uphold and maintain wholeheartedly silence and stillness. Silence and stillness, I propose, are always present, no matter how noisy and active.

[03:23]

Silence and stillness is always present with us and available as a great resource. In our business. And this group. Of bodhisattvas. Has upheld. This principle. This omnipresent principle. Of silence and stillness. By the ritual. Of sitting. Silent and still. So. In one sense. I don't want to wait till the end of this intensive. To raise you. tell you how inspiring your effort has been. And pray that you continue to uphold the principle of silence and stillness. Because it is in silence and stillness that everything occurs. All of our busyness occurs in silence and stillness.

[04:33]

All of our afflictions occur in silence and stillness. And also, all Buddha activity occurs in silence and stillness. The way is perfect and all-pervading, but if we don't uphold the way, it's like it's not here. But you are upholding it so it is here. And those of you who are watching from around the world, you too can remember and uphold the context in which the activity of the whole world really occurs. This Pacific coast has been assailed, has been afflicted by great difficulty, suffering in many ways.

[05:58]

Death, destruction, fear, confusion. On and on, the afflictions have been roaring. from before this retreat started and through this retreat to this point. In this room, these bodhisattvas, you bodhisattvas, have been, each of you in your own way, assailed with difficulty and suffering. Everybody's had their own suffering. And you have taken... care of it. You have been present for it. You have been confused by it. But you have stayed with us. You have supported your friends to stay with the afflictions.

[07:02]

And they have supported you. You may not know that they are supported by you. But if you ask them, they would say, yes, you have supported me. The person sitting on either side of you, they would say, you have supported me by being here with me. When I could barely stay at my seat and face the afflictions that have come up in my body and mind. You're there. You helped me be here. And you could say, and you've helped me. You have helped each other. You have helped me. And I've helped you. Haven't I? Nobody's nodding yes. It's okay. Even though you don't think I'm supporting you, I am. That's what I come here for.

[08:07]

And you may not know that's what you come here for. Some people, some of the bodhisattvas here think they came here to get support and encourage them. And you did. But they didn't necessarily know they came here to support and encourage others. But you did. That's for your consideration. That you are bodhisattvas. And you're here to help all beings mature. That's watching online. You're bodhisattvas too, and you're here to help beings mature to Buddha's wisdom and compassion. That's what we're all here for. That's my assertion for you to consider and meditate on in the midst of all your afflictions.

[09:08]

Some of the people who are watching from around were maybe here last week when we brought up the fact that we in this Bodhisattva Assembly are chanting Dharma together as part of our practice. You could say it's all of our practice. We're here when we're sitting in silence. We're chanting Dharma together. We're chanting the Dharma of silence and stillness. without making a sound. And we're bringing beings to maturity. We're making an effort to free all beings so they can dwell in peace. And I brought up one of the things we chanted, one of the things we have been chanting every other day is the harmony of difference and equality. between the way we're all different, the way we all have different suffering, and the way that we have the same suffering, and also the way that we're all doing the same thing.

[10:35]

Each of us suffering bodhisattvas is doing the same practice Each of us is doing the practice of supporting each other and being supported by each other. We're not just doing the practice of supporting. We're doing this practice of being supported. That's a practice. We're allowing, really, others to support us to practice. We're all doing that. We have the same practice. And that same practice is in harmony with a different practice. You practice this way. You practice that way, you practice that way. Each of us, Bodhisattva, has a different practice. And all those different practices and different sufferings are in complete harmony with the way we're all doing the same practice. I brought that up last week, right? Do you remember that? Now, this week, I'd like to bring up, oh, by the way, and I also said, not a set, I quoted,

[11:41]

I chanted that this harmony of difference and equality is, that's the title, and it's followed by the mind of the great sage of India. Remember? The mind of the great sage of India is the harmony of sameness and difference. That's what it is. It's the harmony of that. Buddha's mind is the harmony. This harmony. And then the next line is, intimately transmitted. This harmony, which is Buddha's mind, is intimately transmitted. And this harmony, which is Buddha's mind, is intimate transmission. That's what Buddha's mind is. That's what the harmony is. It's the intimate transmission between all the differences,

[12:42]

And the one sameness. That communion, that transmission from sameness to difference and difference to sameness, that's Buddha's mind. And since last week, we've been bringing up this intimate transmission over and over. Right? Did you notice? Over and over, somebody's been bringing that up. And we've been chanting it again and again, intimate transmission, intimate communication, intimate communion. That's Buddha's mind. And you all have held a container to contemplate Buddha's mind. Thank you so much. Your sitting there has helped you and all beings be here and look at the intimate transmission. of the Buddha mind.

[13:43]

You may not have noticed it, but it's been in front of you the whole time and you've been here to witness it. I'm laughing because I'm thinking of a TV show. Can anybody guess what TV show it is? Dragnet, yeah, that's a very good guess. Very good guess. Especially the part in Dragnet where Jack Webb says, just the facts, ma'am. Well, I'm hesitant. Maybe later, if you want, I'll go into the Dharma talk about Dragnet. But right now... I want to go to a different TV show, which is called You Are There.

[14:46]

I didn't know when I watched that show as a child that it was a Dharma teaching. You are there. So when we talk about the intimate transmission of the answer, Intimate transmission of the Buddha mind. We sometimes say after that, that everything that was there, everything that happened when the Buddha mind was transmitted, for example, on Vulture Peak, it's exactly the same. as it is today, except you are there. So various historical events are enacted on this show, and they say everything was just as it was, except you're there.

[15:55]

This is like, before Buddhas were Buddhas, they were just like you. And when they became Buddhas, it was just like you. when you become Buddha. Again, you have sat upright, you have been upright in the cauldron, in the vessel of silence and stillness, contemplating what's happening, contemplating the teaching. And you have been assailed by afflictions, yours and others. And you've been assailed by wondering how to respond to the suffering of all living beings.

[16:57]

This is the normal state of affairs. Bodhisattvas are afflicted by wondering how to help living beings. And they're committed to stay there and face that question. And they're committed to meditate on that question and meditate on everything. Right? I'm going to meditate it no matter what's happening. I'm meditating on it. I'm going to have a meditative response. I'm going to listen to it in stillness. And I'm going to listen to it. and silence, and I'm going to contemplate this suffering. And that, I believe, will bring great blessing to this world. That's your commitment. Now I would like to, I think I would like to, actually I'd be, I'm overjoyed to apply this teaching

[18:10]

of the Buddha mind as intimate communion. I'd like to apply this to some of our Bodhisattva vows. At the end of this talk, and oftentimes at the end of our Dharma talks, in this tradition, in this temple, we recite four great vows. Four great vows. Four great Bodhisattva vows. Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Afflictions. We say delusions, but the term we translate as delusion at Zen Center, if you look in a dictionary, almost no dictionaries will translate it as delusion. They translate it almost always as afflictions or sufferings.

[19:12]

Now, the afflictions include delusion. Delusion is one big affliction, and it has considerable subdivisions of the delusions. Infinite delusions are definitely affliction. But along with delusion and confusion come hate and greed, etc. The afflictions are inexhaustible, right? The vow is delusions are inexhaustible. Afflictions are inexhaustible. Greeds are inexhaustible. So I'm not pushing, but maybe we'll change the translation someday to afflictions are inexhaustible. And the people in this assembly have not just been afflicted by delusion. They've had other kinds of afflictions. Fear. etc.

[20:15]

Many kinds of affliction. Shame, tortures. So many kinds of affliction are circulating in the bodies and minds here and all over the world. So the chant says, Now it says, delusions or afflictions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. So I've been having a problem with this, I vow to end them thing. And that's what I like to bring into focus, this term, I vow to end them. Part of the reason I have a problem with it is that I can read Chinese a little bit. And that what's being translated as end them is a Chinese character, which means to cut. So a more literal translation would be, afflictions are inexhaustible, I vow to cut them.

[21:25]

Now some people might think, well, cuts kind of like put an end to them. And that's what I'd like to look at today. The meaning of cut. I think most in the vast ocean of Mahayana practitioners, probably most of them think that that vow means to cut them off or to chop them up into little pieces and throw them in the compost. Putting them in the compost is closer to the real meaning. We should compost these things. but not try to get rid of them, but make them blossom into delicious fruits and vegetables. Anyway, there's this wonderful fascicle, which I have been treasuring for a long time, and I'm sorry I haven't talked about it every day to you, but now I'm talking to you.

[22:35]

And the fascicle is written by, in this case, the great teacher, Dogen, Zenji. And the fascicle is called, in Japanese, kato. And kato can be translated as... The characters are characters for wisteria and a kind of twining vine. Wisteria is one character. The other one is like twining vine. Like kusa. Is it kusu? With that thing that grows out of all of those trees? twining vine together with wisteria, a compound kato. So it could be translated as twining vines. But it could be translated also as entangling complications, entangling bondage. Generally, the term has a negative connotation.

[23:41]

So, as I talk to you about twining vines, you might keep in mind that I'm talking about affliction. But I think it's good to use the poetic image that Dogen gave, because it has more possibilities than just the word affliction. You ready? So, the fascicle is called Twining Vines, and Dogen says something like, this is a translation, right? there are a number of sages who try to study by cutting the root of twining vines. I just might say that again and edit it slightly.

[24:49]

There are a number of sages who try to study brackets, the Buddha way, close brackets. How do they try to study the Buddha way? By cutting the root of twining vines. A lot of bodhisattvas have been trying to... Practice the bodhisattva way by cutting the root twining vines. And those bodhisattvas are great, but now I'm offering with the aid of Dogen another interpretation. They're trying to study the bodhisattva way, and this is how they're trying. And then he says, they do not regard twining vines twined with twining vines as cutting.

[26:00]

They don't see twining vines entangled with twining vines as cutting. They don't see it that way. They don't see that twining vines are transmitted by twining vines. And those who understand that the transmission of Dharma is twining vines are rare. That's quite a statement, huh? This is the intimacy. This is intimacy with twining vines. And intimacy with twining vines is the transmission of Dharma. I think you know from previous talks that I wouldn't say that trying to get rid of twining vines is intimacy with them.

[27:12]

Intimacy with them is intimacy with them. It's twining vines tangled with twining vines. Because twining vines are entangled with twining vines. And intimacy is to be completely with that. And being completely with that is not me and entwining vines. It's not me and entwining vines. It's just twining vines. And that is the transmission of Dharma. And twining vines can be experienced as pulling us away from our attempts to practice. That's one kind of twining vine. What's pulling us away from our attempt to practice is not being intimate with that thing we think is pulling us away.

[28:19]

Because the Dharma is we are intimate with that. Have you been able to keep track that I'm talking about affliction? There are sages. Another translation of that is there are divine beings. Divine beings who try to practice the Buddha way by cutting the root of affliction. Of course, there's Not-so-divine beings who try it too. Got an affliction? Let's get rid of it. Not-so-divine beings try to get something or get rid of something. But even some divine beings who are not quite in this school or do not know that the Buddha mind is intimacy with affliction,

[29:24]

try to get rid of affliction by cutting its root. By the way, turns out that intimacy does cut the root of affliction. But not really. It's just that affliction has no root. And intimacy realizes that affliction has no roots. And so the afflictions have no root. And so have no problem. We're free of them. without trying to cut or push or pull. But there's in the Buddhist history of our great huge mass movement of bodhisattvas, there has been discussion of pushing and pulling afflictions going on. A whole lot of splashing going on. Very few have realized that the transmission of Dharma is affliction itself.

[30:38]

We've got the affliction. It's not an option, really. And intimacy really isn't an option. But what is an option is whether we contemplate the intimacy, contemplate that there's no duality between us, and our afflictions. And it's not that afflictions are us or we're afflictions, there's just no duality. And that lack of duality is afflictions itself, is the transmission of Dharma. Those who realize that the transmission of dharma is affliction itself are rare. But it's possible that all of us could realize this by being intimate.

[31:51]

All of us can realize this by realizing our intimacy with affliction and the way we realize it. is look at the affliction in this container of silence and stillness and look at it with great compassion, which is also intimacy. Look at it with respect, with loving kindness, with gentleness, with tender care, not trying to get rid of it, not touching it, not turning away from it. And then we will see that affliction is the precious mere samadhi. It will take off its mask and say, guess who I am? I've been waiting for you to be nice to me, beyond nice. And now I'm showing you that I'm who you really are.

[33:00]

and who you've always wanted to be. A great being who's here to free all beings so they may dwell in peace. That's who we really are. And because of that, we get assailed. We get assailed, don't we? Yes. Some people get assailed by their inner mental torment and their body pains. Some people get assailed by other people's suffering. Some people get assailed by both. And this assailing,

[34:01]

is inexhaustible. I vow to be intimate with it is the same as I vow to cut through. I vow to cut through is I vow to realize that these afflictions, I vow to realize the transmission of Dharma with these afflictions, with all afflicted, all afflictions and all afflicted beings. I vow to realize the transmission of the Dharma by being intimate with them. And I didn't see the look on all your faces, but I just saw finally a few people wincing or frowning. So maybe I caused enough trouble this morning. Anyway. I confess to you that I'm very happy.

[35:06]

And what I'm happy about is my current understanding of affliction and my current understanding of what that vow is. I feel really good about what I've said to you. And if you have a problem with it, I'd like to hear about it. And if you don't have a problem, I'd like to hear about that too. And I see the vanguard in the kitchen. departing to maintain, don't forget, silence and stillness while you busily make us lunch. And I'm not trying to extract a promise from you. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support.

[36:08]

For more information, visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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