This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. Great pleasure to be here this morning. It's been a while since I've been given a talk here in the city. It's been a while since I've been here at city center. So I appreciate the opportunity. And also, the Air Force is coming.

[01:01]

Say hello. Helicopter. And also a particular pleasure for me to be here during this practice period being led by Ed Satterson, the abbot here at City Center, because Ed and I go back a long, long way. So that's particularly enjoyable to me. And it is a practice period. I was thinking of practice period. And you know, we say a practice period starts on a certain date and ends on a certain date. But actually, practice period starts when we are born and

[02:07]

The period of practice begins then, and it ends when we are no longer alive. That's the Maha practice period. It's the big practice period. Or we could say practice period is now. And now, and now, and now, and now. Each moment is practice period. And practice period begins on a certain date and ends on a certain date. And in preparation for this talk, I looked on the Zen Center website at the announcement of this practice period, which has the title, The Koan of Everyday Life. And a sentence in the description caught my attention, namely... Once I remember it, you'll see it'll be a really good sentence.

[03:23]

We will focus our exploration on the depth and poignancy of ordinary human life. That's what this practice period that some of you are in is billed as. We will focus our exploration on the depth and poignancy of ordinary human life. I thought this was pretty good. I don't know exactly who wrote that and I don't know exactly what they intended, but depth And poignancy, I take it that poignancy meant, or at least could mean, the first noble truth of Buddhist understanding, namely that things don't work out the way we would like them to.

[04:25]

Sometimes they do, but sometimes not. That's the poignancy part. And my interpretation of this sentence is that the depth is a response to the poignancy. The depth, it's not exactly an answer, but it's some way of working with that things don't work out the way we would like. That there is suffering and difficulty in our life. So I thought that... Just right there, that little phrase, that was like a pretty good summary of Buddhist teaching. Bammo, right there in the first part of that sentence. We will focus our exploration on the depth and poignancy of ordinary human life. That's the other part of it, which is a big emphasis for our particular...

[05:31]

our particular style of practice, the style of practice that Suzuki Roshi introduced and brought to us from Japan, which is that it happens in our ordinary life, our everyday life. One of Suzuki Roshi's phrases was zazen and everyday life. And he would joke that... Of the two practices, zazen and everyday life, zazen was much easier practice than everyday life. Everyday life is much more difficult because it's coming at us so fast and so complexly. So that's what I want to speak about this morning. Maybe not the poignancy, easy for us to fill that part in ourselves, but maybe the depth of our human life and the depth of ordinary human life.

[06:44]

This is a very, very fundamental point in Zen teaching. That on the one hand, our life is very ordinary and simple and everyday. And that very same life is deep, [...] deep. A metaphor that Dogen uses, a strange metaphor that Dogen uses for this, is that we're swimming on top of the ocean, you know, we're swimming on the waves. That's our ordinary life, choppy waves, still waves, difficult swimming, easy swimming, but we're walking on the bottom of the ocean. If you try to visualize this metaphor, it's a very strange metaphor. But anyway, that's Dogen for you. So ordinary life and deep life. So I was going to start by doing a little self-introduction, just a little bit.

[07:50]

So I began practicing... regularly when I came to San Francisco in the fall of 1968. Arithmetically, that is 50 years. I think I came in September. Somehow... I may have made that up, but I think maybe I came September 1st, but within two weeks after I was in San Francisco, I was at Zen Center, which wasn't here. It was over on Bush Street. Fifty years and a couple of months. So, like Ed...

[08:57]

and maybe one or two other folks here, I was around during the last few years of Suzuki Roshi's life. And though I was not particularly close with Suzuki Roshi, nevertheless, his understanding, his teaching, his way, has been and is the wellspring and north star of my own practice, my own attempt at practice. Wellspring, that is, A fountain coming from or ground out of which my own practice arises.

[10:05]

And North Star as guidance. See which way to go. Get a sense of direction. So by teaching, his teaching, Suzuki Roshi's teaching, I mean both what he said, Dharma talks like this, except he was giving them and I was listening. And now, as many of you know, I'm sure, you can actually hear the recordings of Suzuki Roshi giving those Dharma talks, which, you know, due to our... technological advances. And they're quite wonderful. And he laughed a lot in his own Dharma talks. Years and years ago, nowadays, I don't usually measure things in years.

[11:16]

I usually say, a few decades ago. A few decades ago. I haven't done this for a few decades, but some decades ago, I transcribed Suzuki Rishi's, you know, many of his Dharma talks. And there would be a code, laugh in parenthesis meant he was laughing, and laughter in parenthesis meant everybody was laughing. Almost every few sentences, he'd chuckle about something. He was getting a big kick out of it. We don't know why exactly. I have a sense as to why. but he never explained it. So anyway, there are his teachings, what he said, but more, I think more, equal to or more than his teachings is the way that he was. And I actually remember, me who has a very poor memory,

[12:20]

I actually remember that that was really, that attracted me to the teaching, to his teaching. Because it wasn't just ideas. It wasn't just theory. It wasn't just some fancy talk. It wasn't far out. Are you familiar with that term, far out? So this was the late 60s, okay? So there were a lot of people who were talking. It was really far out. And of course, if you ingested certain substances, it got further out. And often, the people speaking about such far out things had ingested various substances. So it was very far out, but it was... It turns out, for the most part, even though it was brilliant and far out and extraordinary, it was thin.

[13:31]

It wasn't substantial. It wasn't substantive. It wasn't grounded and rooted. It wasn't grounded and rooted in our everyday life, which is the life we have. No matter how far out it may be, no matter how far out our ideas may be, you have to, you know, have a piece of toast, drink a cup of coffee, go for a walk, go to work, come home, sleep, talk to your friends and partners and wives and husbands and children and grandchildren and so on and so forth. Just the ordinary stuff. This is the realm of practice that Suzuki Roshi was emphasizing.

[14:34]

This is where our practice arises and flowers, develops. So I was going to mention four qualities of the way Suzuki Roshi was to me. Someone else may feel differently. Simple. Modest. Kind. Very ordinary qualities. Very everyday qualities. Dogen this 13th century Zen master who we like a lot around here wrote many things and one of the works that he wrote is called The Four Methods of Guidance for a Practitioner for a Bodhisattva is the

[15:56]

official title, but it means basically for those of us who are following the way, for those of us who are practicing, the four methods of guidance or four embracings. And methods of guidance means ways, I think he was referring to, ways to guide others. But of course, in our practice, it's always outside and inside. Ways to guide others and ways to guide ourself as well. And the four methods of practice, the four methods of guidance are generosity, kind speech, beneficial action. And the fourth one, the fourth one's a little complicated. It's usually translated as identity action. I'm not sure exactly what it means, but I think it refers to something like

[16:58]

what in modern psychological language would be called empathy, identity action, identifying with the other. So this kindness, kind speech, kind action, generosity, those are all qualities of the depth of the ordinary. The last one, referring again to Suzuki Roshi. I think I felt this way at the time, though I don't know if I would have been able to express it or say it. And if you talk to people who were around in those days who practiced with Suzuki Rishi, often they say this.

[18:06]

Namely, he really saw who I was. He really saw my true nature. My deep nature. My Buddha nature. And as a mechanism, as a wellspring, as an energy, as a vector, it doesn't get much better than that. That's enough. That's enough to energize 50 years or 500 years of practice. For someone, for the teacher, for that which is a teacher, which may be someone.

[19:23]

In this case, it was located in this rather diminutive Japanese man. It doesn't have to be there. But for someone to recognize and affirm that true nature in us, in each of us. That's a big, excuse my language, that's a big goddamn deal. That's a big deal. In the absence of such recognition and affirmation, we are at risk of becoming hungry ghosts. if that is not recognized and affirmed and situated as a substance given to us, then we're like hungry, running around like a hungry ghost.

[20:32]

A ghost means someone who looks alive, but they're not really so fully alive. They can't be alive. And they're very, very hungry all the time. In the pictures, you may be familiar in the iconography. A hungry ghost has a tiny mouth, a very, very, very, very long neck, like 20 feet long, and a giant empty stomach. So the hungry ghost is desperately starving all the time. but almost incapable, almost completely incapable of taking in any nourishment. Do you know anybody like that? Do you know anybody inside yourself like that? So then we try to fill up that empty, empty stomach with food or...

[21:37]

or alcohol, or power, or sex, or adoration, so on and so forth. But of course it doesn't work. Even the, I wanted to say this, even the leader of a big, powerful country in the world might just be a hungry ghost attempting to fill up this vast, empty space. Not Zen, empty. Empty, empty. This vast, empty space with power, money. Oh yeah, money's another popular one. Try to fill that up with. Money, power, adoration, so on and so forth. In the absence of the recognition and affirmation of our Buddha nature, Chögyam Trungpa called it fundamental goodness.

[22:42]

That recognition and affirmation of our own fundamental goodness. If it is recognized, if it is affirmed, then we are encouraged. The C-O-U-R of encouraged comes from the French C-O-E-U-R, which means heart. When that is seen and affirmed, then we proceed with heart. We're heartened. We're heartened. to do whatever it is, to develop in whatever way we may develop in our life. It's like somebody is really on your team.

[23:53]

Yeah, go. You can do it. As many of you know, one of Suzuki Roshi's favorite phrases was, the most important point, and then he would say something. Usually something different than the last time that he said, the most important point. And one of my favorite phrases is, the point of practice. The point of practice is to encourage us in our life. I would say, it's not some distant thing that's going to happen to you if you practice zazen and have enlightenment.

[25:06]

It's not something far away. Ethereal. Ethereal. There are some other words like ethereal. It's not any of those. It's just encouragement. Encouragement for us to move in our life, develop in our life. When we're encouraged to develop in our life, what arises is generosity, kind speech, beneficial action, identity action. That's what arises when we're encouraged. That's why we encourage each other in this way. So this was, in retrospect, this was maybe the great gift of Suzuki Roshi.

[26:10]

Unspoken, you know, not analyzed or explicated, just manifested. That's the Genjo of Genjo Koan, manifestation. how it comes out, what it looks like, how it manifests in the world. So, as it turns out, it wasn't like this was a new teaching, this was a new way, this thing of recognizing and affirming Buddha and nature. There's a teaching in our tradition I don't know where it's from, and I'm not sure if I heard it from Suzuki Roshi first, but it goes like this. A Buddha is someone who sees others as Buddha.

[27:14]

That's what I'm talking about with Suzuki Roshi. He saw each of us as Buddha. God knows why. That's the thing. A Buddha is someone who sees others as Buddha, which is really... I've been thinking about this teaching. It's really quite wonderful. First of all, it's like a Mobius strip. So a Buddha is someone who sees others as Buddha. But that makes you a Buddha. If you see others as Buddha, the more you think about it, the more confusing it gets. The other thing that I think is, you know, that I enjoy about this teaching is I always thought it was the other way around. I always thought the point of practice, I don't know about always, but, you know, for a few decades anyway, I always thought the point of practice was that you practice, you know, you work hard, you do zazen, you do sishins,

[28:29]

you have enlightenment, you have another enlightenment, many, many things happen, and then everyone sees you as Buddha. I thought that was the direction it was supposed to go, or at least then I would see me as Buddha. But apparently self-assessment is not part of the deal. It's like, who thought up this system? A Buddha is someone who sees others as Buddha. It doesn't say anything about how you happen to feel yourself. It doesn't say, oh, I see others as Buddha, therefore I must be a Buddha. Oh, okay, great, I'm a Buddha. It doesn't talk about that self-assessment aspect. It's not emphasized in our practice. Self-assessment is not emphasized... And the other thing that's not emphasized, which is very, very difficult, is results.

[29:32]

We want to practice and then get some results and then be able to assess, hey, we got these good results. This really looks good, you know. I'm such a Buddha, you know. I wasn't going to say this, but I will. Which is, so... I work as a psychotherapist, many of you know. So many decades ago, when I first started working as a psychotherapist, I thought I'd put out my shingle. Steve Weintraub, Zen psychotherapy, no results. But I didn't think that was a good marketing ploy. No one would come. No results, no people. So we want assessment, we want results, but that isn't where we rest, which makes our practice very unique in the world, unlike all of the promises that we see all over the place.

[30:54]

about how great our life will be if we use this kind of toothpaste or if we go through this kind of deep spiritual process, etc., etc. Unlike all of those, I think, unlike all of those, we say, Suzuki Roshi said, make your best effort. Make your best effort doesn't mean make your best effort and then you'll notice what a great Buddha you are. Make your best effort and then the results that you want in your life and the happiness that you've been seeking will occur. Nope. I'm not nope, that won't happen. But nope, that isn't. Make your best effort means... Make your best effort is not emphasizing assessment and results because...

[31:55]

Because make your best effort is already Buddha nature. That's the trick. Make your best effort is already the activity of a Buddha. That's what Buddhas do. They make their best effort. That's the enactment of Buddhahood is make your best effort. However, when that happens, when you do that, it may not look the way you think it's supposed to look. You may not feel the way you think you're supposed to feel. It may look just like ordinary life to you who are making your best effort. It may not look like wow, this was really fabulous.

[32:56]

It may look like self-criticism and I'm trying, this didn't work out, why can't I do this? How is this going to happen? Or some difficult relationship. How could this be so terrible? I've been practicing for so long, six months or six years or 60 years or 600 years. How could this happen? That's the results. We want the results, but that's not the emphasis of our practice. The emphasis of our practice is make your best effort, period. And not only that, Also, we don't even know what is our best effort. Well, this really isn't my best effort. That's self-assessment. Goodbye. Goodbye self-assessment.

[33:58]

Just make your best effort. Now, as far as you can see, that's Buddha activity. But we don't... It won't necessarily feel some way that we can identify as Buddha activity. So, Dogen, Genjo Koan. Buddhas who are truly Buddhas do not necessarily notice that they are Buddhas. Yet, they are actualized Buddhas. who go on actualizing Buddhas. Again, Buddhas who are truly Buddhas do not necessarily notice that they are Buddhas. I, and I think many of us, think, well, what do you mean we don't notice it?

[35:05]

Isn't that the point, to notice it? To accomplish something? To get something out of this? Guess not. Katagiri Roshi used to call that vending machine zen. So on a vending machine, you put in the money, used to be a quarter, now it's $1.50, and then you get the coke out of the bottom. And in vending machine zen, you put in, you know, you put in... What are they called? The three... You put in shila, samadhi, prajna. Those are the three... Somebody help me. Three virtues. Shila, moral conduct, samadhi, concentration, prajna, wisdom.

[36:06]

You put those in in the top by developing one's own moral conduct, samadhi, and prajna, and then at the bottom you get... Instead of a Coca-Cola, you get Buddhahood. Then you drink it. Oh, the taste that refreshes. Do not necessarily notice that they are Buddhas, yet they are truly Buddhas. They are actualized Buddhas who go on actualizing Buddhas. Does anyone have the time to So, I wanted to mention those two things. A Buddha is someone who sees others as Buddha and make your best effort. But I also wanted to speak about the text being studied. That's this thing that I've been quoting.

[37:08]

The text being studied during this practice period, I believe. Genjo Koan. Is that what is being studied? Genjo Koan, written by Ehe Dogen. Zen master, first half of the 13th century. And I just, I don't have too much time, just a few minutes, and I want to talk about the title, Genjo Koan, which loosely translated, you know, translated with poetic license is, this thing is happening here, actualizing the fundamental point. actualizing the fundamental point. So I want to talk about three aspects of this title. One, there is a fundamental point. Two, it ain't worth a hill of beans unless it's actualized, made actual, made real, realized.

[38:18]

in our life. And three, this isn't exactly in the title, but it's in the work itself, which is just an essay of a few pages written by this brilliant Zen master, Ehe Dogen. Third point is the place and the time of actualization. The fundamental point is beginner's mind. The fundamental point is what is being referred to in the phrase not always so. The fundamental point is expressed in the sentence I quoted earlier.

[39:21]

the focus of our exploration will be the depth and poignancy of our ordinary human life. Laminated to our ordinary human life is our deep life. Laminated to our specific, limited life is big life, big mind. laminated to, and it's more than laminated, it's like super laminated, it's one thing, laminated to the life of separation that we are so clear about, how clearly separate we all are, and indeed we are. That same life is inextricably, irrevocably down to the last iota of our atomic structure.

[40:26]

totally connected to everything. Participatory. In a participatory way. So, in Genjo Koan, this is the metaphors for this, in that work of Dogen, there are a number of metaphors for this. One is, for those of you familiar with it, is the moon in countless dew drops on the grass. So the moon is our universal life, our big life, big mind, connected, one connected thing mind. That is reflected, that is inside each of these many, many, many, many, many different dew drops. Just like Suzuki Roshi could see Buddha mind, one big Buddha mind, in each one of us individuals.

[41:37]

Just like it's in each one of us individuals. Not just that he could see it. He could only see it because it was there. See and affirm. So this fundamental point, there may be other fundamental points, but this is one that Zen really emphasizes a great deal and Dogen emphasizes a great deal, is the locking, the meshing, the melding of ordinary life and big mind. Limited mind, limited life, just, you know, excuse me, limited and separate, which are kind of very closely related to each other, and unlimited. We are the expression of unlimited universal being.

[42:43]

The only way that that unlimited universal being gets expressed is very particular, very specific, very limited. It's so strange, right? it doesn't get expressed in any other way that we know about. Because, of course, what we know is part of that limited world. So one metaphor is the moon and the dew drop, and then another one is when you sail out in a boat to the midst of an ocean and view the four directions, the ocean looks circular and does not look any other way. But the ocean is neither round nor square. Its features are infinite in variety. It is like a palace. It is like a jewel. It only looks circular as far as you can see at that time.

[43:49]

That's the fundamental point. The ocean Our life, life is infinite. But it looks like a circle to us because that's as far as we can see at that time. It looks a particular way due to our karma, due to our limited karmic specificating mind. It looks that way. But it only looks that way as far as you can see at that time. Then in some other work, Dogen says, then we're cautious not to be small-minded. This is the depth that's being referred to that's the healing balm for the suffering of our life. Big mind. This change of perspective, it's not a change.

[44:56]

recognizing this perspective, recognizing this realm. So again, that's the fundamental point, but our practice is actualizing the fundamental point. It's not just a fancy idea. It's not a far-out idea. It is a far-out idea, but the point is that we actualize it. And the means of actualization are infinite. They are generosity and kind speech and seeing others as Buddha and making our best effort. All of these are the vehicles of actualization. Last point I want to make is that...

[45:58]

the place of actualization is always and only here. And the time of actualization is always and only now. There is no time or place other than that. Again, I used to think, I think when I was newer in practice, that practice meant having some extraordinary experience, extraordinary, beyond ordinary experience. And then after that, I would be an extraordinary person. Like I said earlier, that I could see and others could see. I thought that was a good deal. That was a good vending machine. But I don't feel that way anymore.

[47:08]

Now I recognize that or feel that it doesn't have to do, our practice doesn't have to do with or doesn't emphasize or The point of our practice is not some extraordinary experience, but really our ordinary life. Our ordinary life. And what we make of it. What depth we can give it, what perspective we can see it in. which ironically frees it from being ordinary. We can't say anymore it's ordinary or not ordinary.

[48:09]

So the last quote from Genjo Koan where Dogen addresses this is, when you find your place where you are, practice occurs. actualizing the fundamental point. When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the fundamental point. Here is the place. Here the way unfolds. Thank you. 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.

[49:14]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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