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. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Green Gulch Sunday morning Dharma talk. You know, usually when we were meeting at Green Gulch in the Zendo, I would ask to see for how many of you is it your first time coming to a Dharma talk. So I thought I'd put you on gallery and just see if anybody's here for the absolute first time coming to a Dharma talk. I am scrolling, but I can't tell. Yeah.

[01:05]

Well, thank you for being here. For the last three or four weeks, three weeks or so, we've been having Dharma talks that are flowing from our study of the Lotus Sutra. We did a January intensive, and there was more completion of that yesterday through Noah Bode. studying the Lotus Sutra, and some of us really soaked in this teaching, I think, for weeks. So today's talk is not, I suppose you could say everything is flowing from the Lotus Sutra, but it's not specifically about the Lotus Sutra. I wanted to talk about Buddha's mind, a description of Buddha's mind, and also our precepts.

[02:17]

So tomorrow afternoon, there will be a zaikei tokudoa, staying at home and attaining the way or realizing the way. That's the Japanese words for what we often call lay ordination, or receiving the precepts, or bodhisattva initiation. So we'll be having that ceremony tomorrow. And I believe, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, that that might be the first lay ordination we've done. since COVID. I'm not exactly sure, but I think so. We'll be having that ceremony on the lawn, outdoors, and four baby bodhisattvas will be receiving the precepts. I also just wanted to note that on February 12th,

[03:28]

we begin the Lunar New Year, the Chinese New Year we often call it, and this year it's the Year of the Ox. The Year of the Ox, and I've seen water buffalo and ox being interchanged. I'm not sure in terms of Lunar New Year if it's ox or water buffalo, but I've seen both. And they are actually different animals. But in Buddha's teachings and stories, also both are used, ox and water buffalo. And I think part of the sense of this glorious, wonderful animal is its reliability and its strength and also a willingness to work hard and make effort and also be corrected, be, you know, tamed in some way.

[04:39]

So in Zen, we have the 10 ox herding pictures that some of you may have studied and are familiar with, a kind of visual and allegorical, almost, a story of a path of practice using an ox herder and the ox. And what is the ox? And what is the ox herder? And how do they come together through these practices? So that's, I won't be talking about the ox herding pictures. Some of you I know have studied them. But I wanted to tell, in relation to this description of Buddha's mind, I wanted to bring up some teachings, some stories, some stories of our ancestors in which they bring up a water buffalo and an ox, and or ox.

[05:55]

So I've been looking at a particular fascicle from Dogen called Home Leaving, really about the other tokudo, the shuke tokudo. Tomorrow afternoon will be zaike tokudo, staying at home and realizing the way, attaining the way. And then shuke tokudo is leaving home and realizing the way. Ancestor wrote a fascicle about the home leaving, this becoming ordained as a priest, bodhisattva, or monk or nun. It's another part of our Buddhist tradition. So in that particular fascicle, he quotes the Buddha as, from the Maha Parinirvana Sutra.

[06:59]

And even though there was a citation for it, I was unable to find it in the sutra itself. But in Dogen, the quote is, this is from the Buddha, virtuous relations, virtuous relation, excuse me, virtuous realization means having compassion for all beings as if they were babies. Non-virtuous realization is different from this. So this is this quote. And Dogen, after this quote from the Buddha, reiterates it and says, in general, the inherent nature of shuke tokudo, or this ceremony of leaving, leaving family life, is, this is the kind of essence of it, is to have compassion for all living beings as if they were babies.

[08:07]

And he goes on to say, this is having our speech and our actions and mind in accord. So this particular phrase really struck me. Having compassion for beings as if they were babies. Treating them. Another translation. That was one translation. This is another translation. Wholesome awakening is to have a tender heart toward all sentient beings as if they were babies. Thus, the self-nature of a home lever is having a tender heart toward all sentient beings as if they were babies. Now, in studying this with someone, and also Dogen uses a phrase similar to this in another place when he's talking about kind speech. He says, it is kind speech to speak to sentient beings.

[09:18]

as you would to a baby. And, you know, for some people, what this brings up or how they take it or how it affects them is that, well, wait a minute, I don't want to be treated like a baby. You know, I don't want to be spoken to like a baby. which we might equate with speaking down to me or someone patronizing or patronizing or not taking me seriously enough, treating me like a baby. However, this is not my understanding of what this teaching is. Instead, if we look... to our own experience with being, with seeing babies, not only human babies, but baby animals, children, we might notice, and many of you might be grandparents or parents or have nieces and nephews that you love dearly and miss seeing probably,

[10:45]

And if we ask ourselves, what is the feeling that we have when we talk to children, talk to babies, when we see them, what happens to us? And I think I would venture to say, biologically, we're kind of built to have an opening, flowing feeling feeling of tenderness and compassion towards these beings, towards babies, without trying, without saying, oh, I should feel this way, or it would be a good thing if I did, but without any effort even on our part to feel this flowing of... tenderheartedness and compassion and love, that comes.

[11:49]

And in the Sutra of Loving Kindness, the meditation on loving kindness, there's a phrase there, just as a mother at the risk of her life watches over and protects her only child, should one cultivate this same feeling for all beings and all things, actually. So it's a very down-to-earth kind of teaching, I feel. It's not kind of a rarefied state that only certain people who have done a lot of work meditation or something, have access to or something. It is part of our human life, our shared human life.

[12:51]

And for both the Buddha, I had not come upon the Buddha saying this, that we should have a tender heart or to wholesome awakening or virtuous realization. which is how we want to wake up to the reality of our life with a wholesome realization and awakening, is to have a tender heart for all sentient beings as if they were babies. So I'd like us to just turn that and reflect on that, the kind of groundedness and simplicity of that. And also, I would also add the difficulty of that.

[13:54]

Because when we say all sentient beings, all sentient beings, not just our adorable nephew or, you know, a family member or... that we feel so easily, but all sentient beings. Think about some of the sentient beings that we have in our lives, in our world, or the sentient beings that we have inside of us that we may not have a tender heart towards. We may be extraordinarily harsh with and judgmental. and mean to within us and also outside of us. So what would it be like to take this up as a practice?

[14:57]

Having a tender heart towards all beings or compassion for all beings as if they were babies. And I do remember, you know, after I had my daughter, I began to see beings as just giant babies, really, like everybody's. I was opened in that way through my caring for her. And I think there's plenty of science around this, the caring for a child. and all the things one has to do, sets off or is conditioned for a whole chemical change in the body for both men and women, not just the person who's given childbirth, but the one who does caregiving, takes care of, and oxytocin and other dopamine and other kinds of things

[16:08]

Full body events happen when we care for others. And it opens our heart. Creates, you know, makes, we co-create this tender heart. The baby and are taking care of the baby or the sentient being and are taking care of the sentient being is causing conditions in this field. of our life together, our interconnected life, for tenderheartedness and compassion to arise. So we make one another in this way. So speaking to someone as if they were a baby to me is not condescending or talking in baby talk or or not taking someone seriously.

[17:16]

Instead, it's listening, speaking, caring for someone with great tenderness and allowing for who they are to come forth and listening and meeting them where they are, which is what we try and do with babies, right? My grandson right now is... turn to, and he says words, many, many words that you can understand, and others that by listening carefully in the context of what we're doing and what just happened, we can practically intuit what he's saying. And his mother can really, she can really hear, mother and father, both his mother and father, can tell what he's talking about by this deep listening and treating with respect and care and being there completely with tenderness.

[18:24]

And this tenderness is in voice, in touch, in our bodily posture. And this strict teaching of all sentient beings, all sentient beings being cared for this way, having this tender heart. I think it's a very strict practice. So I wanted to bring up this description of Buddha's mind, which resonates with these teachings, these very simple teachings. In the 90s, we hosted what are called tokubetsu sessions. These were kind of special sessions where a teacher from Japan came, and many other teachers were invited to come to Green College for a month for this special session.

[19:36]

We studied various things, and all these teachers who had their own temples and were, you know, fully teaching in their own right, came together and practiced together and served as attendant and did the services, some things that they may not have done for a while. Anyway, in this particular Tokubetsu Sesshin, we had invited a Roshi Japanese teacher a priest named Narazaki Tsugen Roshi. And he gave a long, month-long teaching on the Dharma Transmission, in Soto Zen Dharma Transmission Ceremony. And one of the things he said also, and I think this is, you might say, the mind of anyone entering an initiation, you know, Our four baby bodhisattvas will be initiated tomorrow. I think this is also something to think about.

[20:39]

He said we must become like an infant. So now we have caring for people and relating to people with a tender heart as if they were a baby. And then we too. becoming like an infant. What does that mean exactly? I think the... Sorry. I don't know why that rang, because it's turned off. Excuse me. So becoming like an infant. And then he gave us a description... of the Buddha's mind. And in Japanese, it's Jihikishamuryoshin.

[21:40]

Jihikishamuryoshin. So those are the characters for this phrase, which he said describes the Buddha's mind. And I remember thinking, oh, I was very excited, I don't know, to hear a description of the Buddha's mind. So G is often translated as compassion. It's one of the characters in my name. He described it as sometimes compassion, sometimes love. And he said it's the kind of love as if for your only child, the way you love a child. So I think this is resonating with What the Buddha and Dogen said about wholesome realization is treating each person, having a tender heart towards each person.

[22:41]

So the first of Buddha's mind, the first is the love or compassion love combined that you would have for an only child. Your only child, even as a mother at the risk of her life, watches over. And protects her only child. So with a boundless mind should one cherish all living beings. There it is. Again, the same teaching in the loving kindness meditation. With a boundless mind. This is Buddhist mind. So, gee, this love. And if you turn that and can imagine that, or maybe that's true for you. The second G, he, this he is translated as concern, compassion, again, the worry and concern, and it never leaves you, this care and concern for a child, if you're a parent or a grandparent, or this is what the admonition is to, just like that.

[23:58]

to care for sentient beings. So this, you know, the worry you have, that never ends. It doesn't matter if your child is 60 years old. I was reading where someone was saying that this wanting to protect, wanting to save from harm and suffering never ends. And the pain that we have for all of the world's children, of the world that were leaving them, you know, denuded of forests with animals, you know, having been species, untold numbers of species being, you know, disappearing. And our beloved, you know, the animals we know and love will be in storybooks. This... pain of this when we think of our world.

[25:03]

And do we have enough time to turn that around? These last years, as Joanna Macy said, these last 20 years, this will tell whether or not we have a world as we know it in any sense of the word. So this worry, concern, caring about so deeply is the he. Ji, he, ki. The ki is joy, joyful mind. And this joy, Narazaki Tsugen Roshi, described as the joy you have when seeing your children, are having fun or their well-being or that they're happy. This is sympathetic joy, which is, you know, it's one of the four Brahma Viharas, one of the four heavenly abodes.

[26:12]

Sympathetic joy where you are suffused with joy for another person's good fortune, another person's... It's not that it happened to you personally, but... It is personal because of our interconnectedness. And this is sometimes not so easy to practice with our adult, you know, family members or work partners and office mates. But with children, to see a happy child running and... doing what they do and laughing, or when a child begins to walk, you know, the sympathetic joy flows unbidden, you know, it just unreservedly flows. Nobody's thinking, well, nobody's, you know, clapping for me when I walk or having jealous and envious feelings.

[27:18]

It just doesn't happen. It's just plain old, joy and happiness when you see a child having joy. So this is, under this description of Buddha's mind, it's saying that's the kind of joy, that's Buddha's mind. The joy of seeing children who are happy. And the next, so we have Ji, He, Ki, and then Sha. Sha is giving. It's a kind of spirit of giving where you want to give everything. You want to just give it all away. Take it, please. It's yours. It's kind of a throwing away for beings, this kind of generosity. I remember the first time I gave a Dharma talk.

[28:20]

When I was the head student at Tassajara, this was in 1980, I hadn't given a Dharma talk to a public group, and the practice period gathers for the Dharma talks, and the head student, the shuso, gets to give a talk for the first time. And what came up in me was wanting to tell the assembly, the sangha, the group that was there, wanting to tell them every single thing I could think of that had been helpful for me in my practice that I had learned that, you know, supported me. It's just like I wanted to give that to people, which I think would have been a kind of disaster had I even been able to or tried. But I... In reading this today, I remembered that feeling of just, I mean, this description, giving, like in the spirit of giving everything away.

[29:25]

Truly wanting to give everything away. Sometimes this happens where someone thinks they want to give everything away, and then they have giver's remorse or something. it was some idea they had maybe about what that would be or that that would be a good thing. So this is different. This is unreservedly no remorse, you know, no regrets. Ji-hi-ki-sha. And then the next part is mu-rio. The mu is no, and the rio is is measure. So it really means without measure, no measure. And then the shin at the end is heart or mind, heart-mind shin.

[30:33]

So ji hi ki sha murio shin in the... So I've gone through the characters and the translation is, this is Arazaki putting it into a sentence. This is now again, just to say again, a description of Buddha's mind. The heart mind is the shin, the heart mind of love, concern, and compassion, filled with joy and giving beyond measure. And this was another attempt at translating that phrase. loving, compassionate, concerned, joyful, generous, beyond measure, heart, mind. So this way of accessing it or entering,

[31:42]

what this is, what this could be, how I might practice this, or feel it or recognize it even, I think for me was helped by this careful going through the parts of this phrase, the description of Buddha's mind, and having the focal point, the turning center of it be this connection with babies, child, children, and what we do know about from our own experience that's not reserved for bodhisattvas of some lands far away or something like that. This is very much grounded in in our life, our life's experience.

[32:45]

So, you know, the first Sunday of the month, for years, I've lived at Green Elch 27 years, for 27 years, we've had, unless it was a sachine, kids lecture, you know, kids talk. And it's, I always have found it to be really fun, really joyful to see. And in these last years, actually, in the last couple years, we've had 50, 75 children show up of all ages, babes in arms and toddlers and little older. I think somehow at around eight or nine, I think the kids don't want to come anymore to the talk. But we haven't done this now since the lockdown. And I think the adults enjoy it too because the children come and you get to watch them scooch around in the Zendo trying to be quiet and the bells are ringing.

[34:01]

And then we tell a story after the speaker comes in. Then they tell a story trying to relate it to the kids program that's going to happen. After they leave the zendo, after about 10 or 15 minutes, they go down to the farm. So, kind of in honor of this theme of this Dharma talk today, and also because it is the first Sunday of the month, and because I've been thinking about this year of the ox, or year of the water buffalo, I wanted to tell... A Jataka tale, these are, they're like a cross between a fairy tale and a myth. And they're tales of the Buddha's past lives. When he was a Bodhisattva, Shakyamuni Buddha's past lives. And they have teachings embedded in them, wonderful teachings of...

[35:07]

and they're perfect for the kids. Many of them, some of them are a little difficult. But this one is called, which I wanted to tell you, Great Joy, the Ox. So this is a story about an ox. This is in honor of the new year, the lunar new year. So once upon a time, a long time ago, the Buddha was reborn. as an ox when he was a bodhisattva. And a farmer, in payment for a debt that he was owed by another farmer, received this baby ox as payment. And he cared for this ox, fed him, groomed him, and the ox grew into a very big, strong, beautiful animal. with big horns, as oxes or water buffalo have.

[36:12]

And he was very powerful, very strong, and the farmer just loved him, and he named him Great Joy because he was such a joy to be around, and they worked together. So one day, Great Joy was thinking to himself, this farmer who is... you know, takes such good care of me, is so poor. I would like to do something to help this farmer. He's so kind to me. He's always been so kind. How can I use what I have, my great strength, to help this farmer? So he thought about it, great joy, thought about it, and hit upon an idea. So he ambled over to where the farmer was sitting in his little hovel, his little farmhouse, with its... It says a kind of crooked table. He was sitting there, and the ox put his big head kind of inside the window, and he said, Dear farmer, you have been so good to me and so kind to me.

[37:18]

I'd really like to do something for you, and I have an idea. And the farmer said, Well, how wonderful of you. What is your idea? And he said, Tomorrow, Go to the town and tell people that you have a marvelous ox and a very strong ox that can pull 100 carts filled with gravel and stones. 100 carts. And the... The farmer said, but that's impossible. How could that be? And he said, trust me. Great joy said, just trust me. And it can be done. The farmer said, it can't be done. And he said, no, no, it can be done. So the farmer thought, oh, great joy has been so wonderful and working with me and always done his work so well and taken good care of the land and his life.

[38:26]

plowing in. So I'm going to go to town and do what he says. So he goes to town and he enters the marketplace and he sits down at a little table and a wealthy merchant comes in into the square, the town square, and they sit down, they have some tea. And the farmer said, I want to tell you something. And the merchant said, well, what is it? And he said, I have a very strong ox in the Merchant said, well, you know, oxes are really strong. I have a whole team of oxen. I have strong oxes as well. And the farmer said, no, but this is really a strong ox. Well, how strong? What do you mean, really? And he said, your ox could not be as strong as mine. It can pull 100 carts loaded with gravel and dirt. And the merchant said, that is impossible.

[39:27]

And the farmer said, do you want to bet? Because great joy said, bet on this. Make a bet that I can do this. And he said, I'll bet 1,000 pieces of money that my ox can do this. And the merchant said, well, you're on. You've got to bet. I'll see you tomorrow. when the sun rises above the highest mango tree in the square. So they came, he got up in the morning, and the farmer did, and he groomed great joy. He rubbed him, and he combed him, and he fed him, and they walked into the town right when the sun was right above the highest mango tree. And they came into the square, and they saw, The farmer saw those hundred carts, big carts filled with gravel and stone. And he thought, oh, no, he really had second thoughts.

[40:33]

What have I done? I don't know if this is possible. So the wealthy merchant was there. They took the great wooden yoke and they put it around him and they tied on all the carts and everything. And the great joy stood there, and the farmer went up to him and took his whip and began beating great joy. Move, move, move. And great joy looked at him and couldn't understand what was happening. And he dug his four hooves into the ground. And would not budge, would not move no matter what. And the townspeople laughed, oh, such a strong ox, ha ha. Well, and he lost the thousand pieces of money. And it was a very, it was a travesty.

[41:39]

And they walked back home to the farm. And... And the farmer was so angry and so sad, and he said, how could you let me down like this? How could you do this to me and make a fool of me and lose all this money? Why did you do this? And great joy said, I did not let you down. Have I ever done anything to hurt you? Have I ever... you know, toppled over things or run wild in the fields or done anything? Have I ever done anything to merit how you treated me? And the farmer realized and said, oh, you did not let me down. I let you down for treating you this way.

[42:42]

And I'm so sorry. He realized. that it was he who had lost faith and turned on his beloved great joy. So great joy with his generous heart and patience said, well, how about this? Why don't you go back to the town and again say, make a bet again, make a wager again, Again, for 2,000 pieces of money that I can pull 100 cards. And this time, the farmer went back filled with a kind of faith. And he was laughed at. The merchant laughed at him. You want to do this again? Are you nuts? Sure, I'll take your bet. Fine.

[43:43]

So the next day, they came back into the square. And this time, he had groomed and brushed him and taken good care of him, and they put on the heavy yoke, and a big crowd was there. And there were no threats and no yelling and no hitting. He just took a big wreath that he had made of flowers, and he put it over him. Great Joy's neck, his big neck. And he just allowed him to make his effort. And Great Joy began to strain and pull and pull and pull until creak, creak, creak. The wheels started turning and turning. And the hundred carts began to turn. And he pulled. walked and then trotted around and around the square with pulling the hundred carts.

[44:52]

And the townspeople were amazed. Everyone was amazed. And not only that, but this Bodhisattva, the Buddha, as this ox, in their eyes became bigger and bigger and shinier, and the horns became wider and wider, became... a huge and powerful ox. And the crowd laughed and followed them and cheered at his great strength. That is the story of the Buddha when he was great joy, the ox. I think the last thing that I want to say kind of ties up something for me.

[45:56]

And one of our Zen teachers, Chinese Zen masters named Guishan, who was a wonderful teacher, and he and his Dharma brothers started the Guiyang school, one of the first of the five schools of Zen. This is from 700s. said to his community, he taught on Mount Gui, his name was Guishan Lingyu. He said, after a hundred years, meaning after I have died, I shall become a water buffalo at the foot of Mount Gui. This is what he's telling his students. And on my left side, which I think of as the heart, where the heart is, there will be five characters on my body saying, meaning on this water buffalo will be these characters.

[47:09]

saying Guishan, monk Lingyu, his name in the mountain where he taught. At that time, you may call me the monk of Guishan, but at the same time, I shall also be a water buffalo. When you call me water buffalo, I am also the monk Guishan. What is my correct name? So this water buffalo that is both just the monk Guishan, just a patch-robed monk who practiced and lived and tried to bring his practice into his everyday life, taught students, tried to help awaken them, and cared for them. He was just a simple and wonderful teacher.

[48:14]

But when it comes down to it, it's a simple human being. And at the exact same time, he is water buffalo. He is water buffalo and a simple monk. What is water buffalo here? What am I talking about? He's a water buffalo. He's going to be born as a water buffalo. And I think my understanding of this is, this is, you might say, the reality of his being, his suchness, his thusness, his big mind, as Suzuki Hiroshi would say. We say, we're saying ox or water buffalo. And at the exact same time, that big mind, which is formless, empty of separateness, he's also that big mind, that water buffalo is being expressed as Monk Goishan.

[49:22]

What is his true name? What are our true names? Because each of us is sentient being and Buddha. Our Buddha nature is sentient being at Buddha. This is Lotus Sutra. This is our deep teachings. I've always gotten tears in my eyes somehow when I've read this about him saying to his community, after I'm gone, I'll be reborn as a water buffalo, but my name will be on it inscribed. Each of us has our names inscribed on the field of our being.

[50:24]

And the baby bodhisattvas tomorrow for their... their precept ceremony, will have a chance to bring this vow and wish and their practice of sauzend into the practice of the precepts as everyday life. This virtue cannot be denied, it says in the precept ceremony. This virtue cannot be denied. So I think I should leave you there. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center.

[51:35]

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. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[51:56]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_98.06