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. How many of you are here for the first time today? Would you raise your hands? Great. a particular welcome to you. And I hope that you find something in the time you spend here today that's helpful or encouraging for you in your life or practice. So today is the first day of our late spring practice period. And ordinarily, we would be having a one-day sitting today, and the practice period leader, Abbot Steve Stuckey, would be giving this Dharma talk.

[01:11]

But he is at Tassajara for the weekend leading a retreat, so he asked me if I would give this talk, which I'm happy to do. Thank you. And we'll be having a one-day sitting next week. And he'll be giving the Dharma talk that day. So the practice period theme is about Dharma friendship. How to be Dharma companions for and with each other. And one of the texts that Abbot Steve will be using is Ehe Dogen's fascicle from the Shobo Genso, Only a Buddha and a Buddha. This is Dogen's commentary on a line from the Lotus Sutra.

[02:21]

Only a Buddha... together with a Buddha, can fathom the reality of all existence. Only a Buddha, together with a Buddha, can fathom the reality of all existence. I don't know how you feel when you hear those words, but I think possibly you might be wondering whether that means that you will never be able to wake up because you're not a Buddha. And if that's the case, what are we all doing here, devoting our time to listening to the Dharma?

[03:25]

and practicing. Dogen begins his commentary by saying this, Buddha Dharma cannot be fully known by a person. For this reason, since olden times, No ordinary person has realized Buddha Dharma. Because it is realized by Buddhas alone, it is said in the Lotus Sutra, only a Buddha and a Buddha can thoroughly master it. then later in that same fascicle Dogen says a Buddha's practice is to practice in the same manner as the entire earth and all beings.

[04:39]

If it is not practice with all beings it is not Buddha's practice. All Buddhas realize and practice the way together with the entire earth and all beings. And then he says, do not think that Buddhas are other than you. A couple of weeks ago, we had a Jukai lay ordination ceremony, and 10 lay people received the 16 Bodhisattva precepts. The ceremony begins with the words, In faith that we are Buddha, we enter Buddha's way.

[05:45]

I love those words and that ceremony. It always almost brings tears to my eyes when we say those words. And by the way, a priest ordination begins in exactly the same way. So being lay ordained or priest ordained, one takes exactly the same set of precepts. And in either case, it's considered to be entry into the path of practicing as a bodhisattva. This is a public ceremonial expression of each ordanant's aspiration to be enlightened and to work for the enlightenment of all beings. to be a Buddha. Suzuki Roshi wrote in Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, when Buddha attained enlightenment under the bow tree, he said, it is wonderful to see Buddha nature in everything and in each individual.

[07:12]

What he meant was that when we practice Sazen, we have Buddha nature, and each of us is Buddha himself. By practice, he did not mean just to sit under the bow tree or to sit in the cross-legged posture. Actually, what Buddha meant was that mountains, trees, flowing water, flowers, and plants, everything as it is, is the way Buddha is. It means everything is taking Buddha's activity, each thing in its own way. The understanding that all beings are Buddha is fundamental to the Soto Zen Buddhism that we received from Eihei Dogen through our founder, Shinryu Suzuki Roshi.

[08:38]

So what does Dogen mean when he says an ordinary person? cannot realize Buddha Dharma, but a Buddha and a Buddha can. I think one thing that he means is that we can't see reality as it is as long as we think that we are individuals. who are separate from others or from everything. But we can experience it in and with our deep connection with all other beings. That's how we can experience it. So during this practice period, we'll be exploring...

[09:45]

how we can practice with other people in a way that enables all of us to see our deep interconnection with each other and to see each other as Buddha. In this fascicle, Dogen is talking about the student-teacher relationship. but also about practicing together with everyone and everything. So how do we practice together with everyone and everything in the same manner as the entire earth and all beings? It's particularly easy for me right now to see the earth as Buddha because it's spring and it's beautiful and it's being made even more beautiful outside as we speak.

[10:54]

So Page Street is beautiful. Last Saturday, we had an Earth Day ceremony in which we, what did we do? We sent loving kindness to the Earth and we chanted for her well-being. We bowed to Mother Earth for constantly supporting us. We acknowledged the many ways that we've harmed her. And we renewed our bodhisattva vow to save all beings, including the great earth that is our home. So this ceremony helped me to have a wonderful feeling that

[12:05]

the earth is a living being, a Buddha. Such rituals are one of the ways that we cultivate appreciation for the help and support we receive from human and non-human beings, including the earth. One of Dogen's most famous essays is a set of instructions for the Zen cook, in which he describes how the head cook should relate to the food and utensils in the monastery kitchen. He quotes an ancestral teacher saying, And he goes on to say, As though it were to be used in a meal for the emperor.

[13:31]

So when we treat things or food with respect and gratitude for the way they support us to live, it's natural for us also to notice how these things come to us. In our mealtime chant, we say, innumerable labors brought us this food. we should know how it comes to us. When we consider how things come to us, we see many, many human and non-human beings involved, and our interdependence is obvious. In this way, treating food and utensils with respect, leads to an appreciation of the many other beings who support our life.

[14:43]

When Thich Nhat Hanh teaches children how to bring the mindfulness bell, he doesn't talk about hitting the bell, but rather inviting the bell to sound. So he's teaching little children the ways of nonviolence, love, and respect in a way that they can understand through their own experience. And although we're grown-ups, and we're more or less sophisticated, I think we're just like this too. Our deepest understanding comes from such experiences as these that we know through our inseparable body and mind.

[15:56]

I believe all of these practices of treating the objects of our lives with kindness, love, respect, and gratitude helps us to cultivate kindness, love, respect, and gratitude for ourselves and each other. I really believe that is the ultimate purpose of many of our Zen rituals. We get feedback from the animate and inanimate world. If I invite the bell to sound with some feeling for what it is, it may make a beautiful sound.

[17:09]

But if I hit it too hard, it's likely to make a clanky, unpleasant sound. And if I use the ingredients for a recipe carefully, I may be able to make a delicious dish. But if I'm careless with food, it may not taste good, or it may go bad, or I may spill it and lose it. If I conserve the resources of the planet, maybe there will be enough for everyone. But if I'm careless or greedy, I contribute to depleting the earth and causing scarcity and suffering. We get the same kind of feedback from our human interactions.

[18:15]

And we depend on them to show us the truth about ourselves and all things. We can't see ourselves as others see us or as we really are since we experience ourselves from the inside only and can't see ourselves from the outside as objects of our perception. More than once I've had the experience of catching a glimpse of my reflection in a window glass or mirror when I'm shopping downtown, and being just slightly startled at my appearance. I have some idea of how I look, and sometimes when I see my reflection, I don't look like my mental picture of myself.

[19:24]

I think we mostly form our idea of our appearance from mirrors or pictures of ourselves. And we put our best face on when we look in the mirror or into a camera. So what we see at random when we're out and about may not quite measure up to that picture. We know, and other people also know, act as mirrors for us and reflect our image back to us. We know that a baby or small child early on gets an idea of who she is and of her intrinsic value from the expressions on her mother's face. And if this mirroring is positive, it may have benefits that last a lifetime for the child.

[20:33]

And if it's negative, it may cause pain and suffering for just as long. We're deeply interconnected in this way. So I ask myself, What kind of mirroring do I provide for others? Am I able to see them as Buddha and reflect back to them their virtue and goodness? Ed Brown, who is famous as the author of the Tassajara Bread book, and a bunch of other Zen cookbooks, tells the story of complaining to Suzuki Roshi that the students who worked under him in the Tassahara kitchen weren't practicing diligently.

[21:37]

They were late coming back from their breaks and other terrible things. Suzuki Roshi told him, If you want to see virtue, you'll have to have a calm mind. If you want to see virtue, you'll have to have a calm mind. So I think this is our practice. This is what we'll be trying to do during this practice period. seeing virtue in everyone, seeing Buddha in everyone and everything we meet, even people who annoy us and situations that frustrate us.

[22:39]

To do this, we will cultivate the calm mind of zazen. on and off the cushion. Sometimes it will be our own distracted mind that frustrates us. And when that happens, we'll try to see that mind as Buddha's mind, as just the mind that we have right now. in this precious moment of our life. Here is an example of how this can work in adverse circumstances. The other day, I was on a Muni bus, and there were two women on the bus. They looked to be in their 50s.

[23:44]

They were reasonably well-dressed. They looked pretty normal. And then suddenly they started a fight and they were yelling at each other and hitting each other with their very large handbags. It was a most surprising thing. And there was a man on the bus who's near them who looked like he was in his 60s, and he immediately got up and put himself in between them and said in an unbelievably level and calm voice, Ladies, please stop. And he said it several times. And other people on the bus also got in between them, and pretty soon they were separated and quieted down.

[24:47]

But then one of them started getting agitated again and started yelling again, and the man said, please, let it go. And amazingly enough, she did. Everyone so much appreciated for courageously and effectively stepping in, that he became the hero of our bus ride that day. I felt that he was quite respectful of the women. And instead of us all coming away with this... terrible feeling about this bad thing that had happened on the bus, there was this kind of uplift from our appreciation of what this man had done.

[25:48]

He took a bad situation and made it better. And in speaking to the women respectfully, I think he actually created virtue. So everyone's takeaway from the experience was kind of mixed or maybe a little bit positive. And like all experiences, good and bad, that people have, I'm sure this one radiated outward in ways that we can't fathom. We can't see very much of the world directly at any one time. We can only see the small slice of reality that is in front of our eyes in our line of sight.

[26:55]

We don't see what is behind our eyes. So much of our understanding or our understanding our mental picture of the world, comes from piecing together what we can actually see with what we remember seeing when we were in a different place or looking at the situation from a different angle. I think this is a little bit like creating an extremely wide area panoramic photograph out of several normal-size photographs of the landscape in Photoshop. We fill in the blanks with memory and imagination, and there is inevitably some distortion involved.

[27:59]

This is our view of the world. And it's okay. We have to have that view of the world in order to live and function. I think the secret is to remember that it's all been photoshopped. Another way that we fill in the missing information is to connect with other people and check out our reality with them. So for example, at Zen Center, we have a lot of meetings. Almost everyone would say we have way too many meetings. But the purpose of those meetings is to include all the different points of view. We have a weekly staff meeting.

[29:04]

Because the director, guest manager, head of the meditation hall, head cook, work leader, and head of practice each have a different perspective and something particular to add to the conversation and the collective view of reality. It's also our practice to remember during these meetings that everyone is Buddha. Sometimes we forget. And the good news is that often, with a little luck, there's someone there who will remind us. I mentioned at the beginning of my talk that this fascicle

[30:05]

by Dogon, Only a Buddha and a Buddha. He's writing about the student-teacher relationship. And once I heard someone say, if you don't see your teacher as Buddha, then get another teacher. And I think that's good, but I would add this advice to any student. If your teacher, you should look at whether your teacher sees you as Buddha. That's very important too. I'm very grateful that my teacher sees Buddha in me. and in everyone.

[31:06]

He's been a Dharma friend and companion on the path for a long time, and that guidance and friendship has been indispensable for me. I've felt seen as a Buddha. When we see Buddha in everyone, We contact the Buddha in ourselves and create universal Buddha. We do this not just for the sake of others, but for our own enlightenment. This is our Bodhisattva vow to work for the enlightenment of all beings. to practice together with all beings as Buddha and Buddha.

[32:10]

When we look for the Buddha in ourselves and try to see our individual selves as Buddha, Buddha disappears. But when we practice with all beings as Buddha, Buddha is there in each of us, even though we don't know it. It's not something we can know, actually. I want to end with a wonderful poem by David White that... Abbas Christina sent out to all the people in the Establishing the Path of Practice group. So this came to me at just the right moment, supporting my life, as all things do.

[33:17]

It's called Everything is Waiting for You. Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone, as if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny, hidden transgressions. To feel abandoned, is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array, the swelling presence, and the chorus crowding out your solo voice.

[34:26]

You must note the soap dish enables you. Or the window latch grants you freedom. Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity. The stairs are your mentor of things to come. The doors have always been there to frighten you and invite you. And the tiny speaker on the phone is your dream ladder to divinity. Put down the weight of your aloneness. and come into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink.

[35:36]

The cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and the creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[36:34]

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