Good morning. And welcome to Green Dragon Zen Temple. I think if we say Green Dolch Farm, that's also true. Green Gulch Farm, but in my mind it has a little more limited connotation. I say Green Gulch Farm, and then when I say Green Dragon Temple, I feel, okay, it's invoking something bigger, something wilder, something that, you know, humans can do farming. But dragons have to do dragoning.

[01:07]

So we imagine we have this, I have this image anyway, of this big dragon that has its tail down at near beach in the ocean and its body coming up through the valley and its head up somewhere in the clouds on the ridge above, sort of. expanding the notion of our life here, actually. And our life here is, because we're here, because we're gathered for the Dharma, I think that is in response to the sense that we have a feeling for a bigger life, a life that's bigger than what we might be able to control, what we might initiate or even imagine. So the dragon invokes this notion of the inconceivable.

[02:09]

And so this is the Dharma or reality that is so profound that as human beings we feel some awe and some humility. And And I wish to honor that and I wish to respect it and take it into account, take the inconceivable into our lives in some way and express it, find it. So we find it in the farm. The farm and the dragon are not two, not separate. but somehow when we talk about it, we have to talk about it as maybe two levels or two different understandings of what's true. Some of our need for this, I think, is

[03:28]

Becoming clearer in, say, post-post-modern age we live in, that the modern age is very shiny and where humans are really particularly competent, right? Feeling that, oh, we can actually do things. Almost, say, going to the moon was almost an expression of, okay, human endeavor is... We know where we're going, and we know how to get there. And we have the technology to do it, and there's a feeling of some great capacity that's reflected and expressed in that. And then sometime after that, though, beginning to notice some, I think here in America, anyway, notice some cracks and seams that we were not... so much completely on top of things.

[04:32]

Beginning to notice that there were some unintended consequences of our human capabilities, which was kind of discouraging. And then, now I feel that we're at the point of going beyond that discouragement, although it's still here, there's still, I think, a lot of discouragement and feeling of sometimes despair that puts us in the frame of mind to look for what is deeper, what is deeper and what is the source of true wisdom. in human culture, going back to explore what's possible that actually includes the dragon, that includes the inconceivable.

[05:41]

So in a way, to even name a place a dragon sounds maybe somewhat archaic or maybe esoteric. But I think when we landed on that name in the 70s, we were feeling, okay, there's something that's evoked by that that goes beyond what we even know. So we were touching and inviting that wisdom of what's inconceivable beyond what we know to live here and be present here. So that's part of creating this as a sacred space. So that's, I think, an impulse, a deep intuition for something that must be more deeply satisfying.

[06:48]

And an intuition that we need to create, honor, and actually serve the development of a culture of wisdom and compassion that goes beyond what we ourselves can be so proud of creating. For myself, I know that I was feeling that my own self-interest, even in creating, wanting to create something good, was something I was tripping over. And my friends and I who were, say, living in Chicago in the late 60s, thinking, okay, we can create a new world, right? And I began to notice for myself that there was a way in which we were getting into arguments that were based on our own egos and not able to get beyond that entrapment of our own egos.

[07:55]

So today I just want to invite you to consider how to participate in creating a culture of wisdom and compassion, which is sorely needed. We're having a workshop started last Saturday and actually going through the week and continuing this afternoon. that Lee Lip and I are leading, which is attending to the transformational power of our practice of mindfulness and our practice of compassion. And yesterday, in addition to that, yesterday here we had a one-day sitting. People coming in in the morning and sitting all morning and sitting in the afternoon.

[09:00]

And I talked to many of those people, and it seemed that, as it happens, people come to a meditation practice wanting to have a calm, clear state of mind. And maybe the morning goes okay. First, maybe some excitement, settling down, and then a feeling of some calmness. But then the afternoon is kind of like, this gets kind of long. The day gets kind of long and some of my old worries are coming back up again. And I'm actually kind of unhappy about various things in my life. And I thought that I could kind of shake them off by now, but here it is. There's only another hour of meditation left. And I'm feeling kind of tired and a little cranky.

[10:02]

And it also happened during the week of people working in this workshop of transforming difficult emotions of depression and so those, or as we were saying, low mood states and anger and worried states of mind. And what happens is when you stop and take up this practice, you become more in touch with your actual experience. The experience of your body and what you carry karmically in your body. And so that's not always so happy. But my thought is that this is a work that we all really need to do so that we can see more clearly how we can live in a balance of the

[11:03]

the world of human construction and the Dharma dragon world. Because it's a kind of a mistake to think that we can create little, say, national parks of wildness and contain wildness. That we are actually all supported by a bigger wildness and are interactive or interacting with that. So how to go forward and create a culture of wisdom and compassion, I wanted to refer to one of our 13th century great Zen teachers, Dogen, who offered four four ways of guiding us toward the creation of a culture of wisdom and compassion.

[12:14]

And those four he called the first, the practice of giving, and second, the practice of kind speech, and third, the practice of beneficial action, and fourth, a practice of identity action. In talking about generosity, he says essentially generosity is to let go of your attachment to things. It's non-attachment. If you're not attached to things or not attached even to your ideas, then naturally things are given, which is in respect to the greater giving that's already going on, that things are being given. And of course he says, please give away your unneeded belongings.

[13:17]

So if there's anything that you think belongs to you and you don't need it, why are you Why are you holding on to it? Sometimes it's not easy to know what to do with what's unneeded. Can you give it to someone without burdening them? Or where do you recycle it? The more things that we have that have toxic elements, the more complicated it is to know how to appropriately release it. So it's not always so easy even to know how to let go of something. And also small acts of generosity. We often think, oh, well, I don't have much to give.

[14:21]

There's an old story of in ancient India, these two monks walking along with their begging bowls, and they come across, I'll say, they come across two little girls playing in the sand, and they're making mud pies. And the monks stop and greet the little girls, and one of them kind of shyly picks up and puts her mud pie, or sand, handful of sand, in the monk's bowl. And the monk bows and says, thank you. So according to the legend, that was Buddha receiving this offering. And the merit of that offering extended to this person, this little girl becoming a great teacher later on.

[15:25]

So this feeling of wanting to give something, that the value of it is not exactly something that can be computed or measured. And what about receiving it? On the other side, if I was the monk with the bull, and I'm interested in my lunch, and a little kid puts a handful of dirt... mud in my bowl. How do I receive that? So how do you receive what is given? Do you completely appreciate the intention of the gift? Or do you have some other idea of what I want? And what I want is this, and what you're giving me is that, and so no thank you.

[16:29]

Kind speech, sometimes it's hard. Even our great wise leaders sometimes get caught up in unkind speech. But even to have the practice just of greeting someone, greeting someone, and asking, you know, how are you doing? And then are you willing to listen? How are you doing? Actually, I don't want to hear how you're doing. So this carrying the spirit of generosity into kind speech includes that reciprocal communication.

[17:39]

So yesterday, I was going down through the garden. In the evening, I took a walk. Hear the bird? I saw a... or juvenile robin in the garden. And I thought, yes, this is the season. It's summertime. It's foggy and cool. Summertime at Green Gulch. And robins are maturing. It's the season for robins to mature. And then there was a sign saying, please don't pick these apples they're not yet ready so just that is a shift we've developed a culture in which we think we can have whatever we want whenever we want it wanting I want an apple now I don't care where it comes from New Zealand because our apples here are not ripe yet so we'll get apples that come from

[19:06]

the southern hemisphere. So we have this feeling of being so powerful. It's hard even to wait for the season. It's hard to wait for something to have its own time to transform. So this practice then of actually goes to the practice of beneficial action. The action that is beneficial is the action that is in tune with the season, the moment. When is the time to take a particular action? So... Generosity and kind speech and... beneficial action all go together.

[20:09]

So I want to tell you about one of my great enlightenment experiences here at Green Gulch, and some of you have heard this story at least once before, but it's the story of planting beans in the second field. I think this was the first that I lived here in the spring, in 1973, so I was planting, we had just created an experimental vegetable garden, and I was planting beans. And a very serious Zen student I was. And I took planting beans very seriously as a mindfulness practice. And in this case, since we had a row, maybe about 50 feet long, with a furrow, I made this furrow with a hoe, and I had my bag of beans, and I started at one end, and I was carefully placing the beans, I think about six inches apart.

[21:22]

And I had my focused attention right in that furrow, and right on each bean, and I was kind of proud of myself for really being so mindful. And then out of the corner of my eye I saw some people coming down the road into the garden. And immediately I had this thought, oh no. They've already disturbed my concentration. I'm trying to plant these beans. And these people have disturbed my concentration. And not only that, I know what they're going to do. They're going to come down. They're going to continue. They're going to get closer and closer and closer. And I'm kind of going towards the road when I'm planting my beans. And we're going to get closer and closer. And I was beginning to get this tension in my body that

[22:30]

My mindfulness was being disturbed. And not only that, they were going to come right there and they were going to stop. And they were going to stand there and watch me. I knew this was going to happen. And that then they were going to say something. Because this is what people usually do, right? They come down and they say something and they want to be friendly even. And they want to say, so what are you doing, right? And then, and then I, there was this part of me that is kind of righteous, you know, and says, can't you see? I'm planting beans. So, And then I thought, you know, then they're going to ask for directions, you know, which way to the beach.

[23:35]

And lo and behold, I continued planting my beans. They got closer and closer, and they did exactly that. They stopped. They stood there for a minute. They watched. They said, hi, what are you doing? And right in there I realized that I knew that I should just drop my whole idea about what I was doing. My whole idea about what I was doing dropped away at that moment. And this was my big enlightenment. Because I already knew that they were a part of my world. They were a part of my bigger world They were not in the world that I thought was my world, which was just being mindful, planning, being six inches apart. But they were in this bigger world already.

[24:40]

So it was only my mind that had excluded them from the beginning. It was only my mind that had thought that they were someplace else and they were going to interrupt. So at that point I realized that really there aren't any interruptions. Everything is already in motion. There's a great interplay of all the various causes and conditions that support this moment, that supported me in that moment. And so I was able to then say, ah, yes, I'm planting beans. And then when they asked which way to the beach, I was able to say, it's just down the road, just follow it and see if they got it. And it's like, without the sarcasm, 10 minutes ago it would have been, well, what do you think is the beach?

[25:50]

Downhill, right? So I was relieved actually to discover because I came to this practice years before feeling that I did not want to be a cynical person. And I noticed I had the tendencies to be a cynical person. That separated me from other people and things and discounted them. And so when I realized that the bubble of my mind, my small mind bubble, was broken by the arrival of these guests, I made a vow that no matter what happens, I will not think of it as an interruption.

[26:58]

A big intention for me. Big vow. And I can't always do it. But when I feel that something is happening, it's an interruption, then I realize, oh yeah, it's just because I have this arbitrary idea of where my world ends, that something can be an interruption. And it's only an interruption because I make it so. which opens up to a tremendous power that each of us has. Each of us has a tremendous power, a tremendous capacity to receive what we're actually experiencing as already included in this world. Because you see, I already was experiencing these people coming down the road. they had entered.

[28:00]

And then I knew that they had been there before they even entered. So we could say that the causes and condition or the seeds of the universe exist sort of beyond the realm of our awareness, but are already there and are ready to arise. And to acknowledge what is already there but is not yet arisen is this wisdom mind. To see then, immediately, when something arises, to see it. As connected with the whole of the cosmos. And to help wisdom mind, we have... The practice of compassion. The practice of compassion is to go beyond the vision that we create when we seek comfort.

[29:16]

The practice of compassion is to be willing to be uncomfortable with what arises. It sounds great, you know, to be compassionate. It sounds like, oh. Everybody wants to be a compassionate person until they find out it means, oh, I have to be uncomfortable? So finding composure with what's uncomfortable is this practice of compassion. In other words, to be present with what's uncomfortable. So Zen students actually have turned out to be very good hospice workers, for example. Being willing to be present in that uncomfortable space with someone who's dying. Now, the wisdom and compassion then are really based in what Dogen calls identity, identity action.

[30:22]

Identity action is to go beyond dualistic notions. To receive this life as given, to release this life as taken, to receive this body, to release this body without, well, there may be some fear. but even finding some composure with that fear. This is how we kind of cross that kind of threshold from being a separate person to being a whole being. So sometimes it's

[31:29]

Sometimes it's comfortable, sometimes it's uncomfortable. It's not really a matter of being comfortable or uncomfortable. If it matters to you being comfortable and uncomfortable, then of course you're still holding yourself in that individual realm. And sometimes that's what's needed. So the bigger truth is to not be, I'd say, caught on one side or the other. To not think that non-dual is better than dual, but to freely, say, in accord with the situation, be willing to dissolve, disappear into emptiness, and then be reborn as individual with all of your particular limitations. So it's a kind of a dance.

[32:33]

Now speaking of dance is problematic for me because I have to learn how to dance from my daughter's wedding. So I actually took a lesson just this last week. My daughter sent me a CD of the music that I'm supposed to dance to. This was at her wedding just the next month in August. She's in New York, so we don't have time to try this together. But, so I played, so I went in and sat in San Rafael at the Dance Arts Studio, and the person who was my teacher is a young woman, and We put on the CD and she said, hmm, that's kind of hard. So she went to check with her teacher.

[33:43]

And the teacher came over and said, well, it's actually a, I knew it was a waltz speed. It's a three, it was a three, could be six, eight time. It was pretty fast. And she said, it's pretty fast for a waltz, but you kind of have to do it as a waltz. So this is going to take you more than an hour. So then they sold me the package. But it was kind of fun, and it was at the edge of my own experience. I've never been a dancer, and actually have been inhibited about dancing. I won't go into that, except to say that Zen practice has helped me be more aware of my body.

[34:49]

And so kind of halfway through this dance lesson, this person said, My dance teacher kind of put it together, you know, the shaved head and I don't know what, and said, you're a Zen practitioner, right? Yeah. She said, well, so you have a lot of body awareness, right? I said, yeah. But that's sitting still. Yeah. So body awareness sitting still and body awareness in motion are two different things. And then I thought, you know, I'm actually quite happy when I'm hoeing down in the garden, you know. Being in motion with the hoe, I feel, that's been good practice for me. But the other element was being in motion with another person. And then being in motion with the limitations of a particular form, you know.

[35:53]

So I thought, okay, this is the next place for me to take on my formals and training, to take up the form of the waltz. And then I noticed that there were little moments. Most of the time it was kind of funny because I'm supposed to lead, right? But she's teaching me, and then I'm supposed to lead. So every once in a while I was... I was leading, but then sometimes I would lead in a different way than she was teaching me to lead, and so then it was immediately unclear whether she was actually the one who was leading. But then we'd get into sync for a moment, and I thought, okay, sometimes we're in sync. And so this is this, say, from beneficial action, Beneficial action is where you have an intention to benefit someone else, but there's still someone else, right?

[36:59]

You may benefit a person. You may benefit a tree. You may benefit water flowing. How to benefit water flowing. But still, you have a sense that the water is separate from you. But moving from beneficial action to identity action is this kind of tuning in to where then... There's just one. And so even in this first lesson of dancing, there were little moments in there where the two of us disappeared. And then as soon as I thought about that, then I would take a misstep, right? Go the wrong way or something. But it was kind of a metaphor for this... Going from beneficial action to identity action. I see the kitchen people are getting restless, and actually I promised someone I would make this a short talk.

[38:10]

So, the matter of studying how to include the inconceivable in all aspects of our lives. I want to invite everyone here to take it up. This takes a lot of study and practice. It takes knowing oneself, one's own body completely, being willing to stop and thoroughly, thoroughly accept radically accept reality. And also to notice one's own limitations. Oh, this is too much for me. I need to step back and take a deep breath. And then re-enter.

[39:10]

So there is a season for new robins, right? And there's a season for each moment to step back or step into engagement. The more you know yourself, the more you know how to respond. All the formulas, you know, may sometimes be helpful and ultimately not. So this practice is also being willing to drop the formulas. That scary place, not knowing. So I don't know what to do.

[40:17]

I'm deciding right now, should we sing the Red Robin song? It's a spring song, and here it's summer, but actually the young Robin isn't red yet. It's got kind of a speckled breast, you know, doesn't have the red breast. How many people here know the Red Red Robin bobbing a long song. I think there's probably enough people that we can carry it. And if we sing it twice, then the second time everyone else can join in. So I sing this also as an homage to Ten Shin, senior Dharma teacher who started singing this years ago. And so it took me a while to get around to learning it. When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along, along, there'll be no more sobbing when he starts throbbing his own sweet song.

[41:35]

Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead, get up, get up, get out of bed, cheer up. Cheer up, the sun is red. Live, love, laugh and be happy. What if I'd been blue? Now I'm walking through fields of flowers. Raindrops glisten and still I listen for hours and hours. I'm just a kid again doing what I did again, singing this song. When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along. Okay, it's a good song to... Let's do it one more time. When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along, along.

[42:41]

There'll be no more sobbing when he starts throbbing his old sweet song. Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead. Get up, get up, get out of bed, cheer up. Cheer up, the sun is red. Live, love, Laugh and be happy. What if I've been blue? Now I'm walking through fields of flowers. Raindrops glisten and still I listen for hours and hours. I'm just a kid again doing what I did again. Singing this song. When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along. So thank you.

[43:49]

Thank you for listening and thank you for singing. And please continue to create a culture of wisdom and compassion.

[43:59]

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