This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzz.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. been hearing from a number of you about your practice and zazen and some fresh ways of practicing and also I've heard some concern about complacency

[01:03]

maybe becoming complacent in practice? And what might that be? Is that, how would I know, and is that dangerous, complacent? I looked up the word complacent. I had a kind of inkling of what it might mean, and I wanted to say it's contented. what its etymology is, and also the definition, contented to a fault, self-satisfied, and pleasing. It seemed very close to compliant, almost, but complacent, spelled A-I-S-A-N-T, showing a desire or willingness to please, cheerfully obliging.

[02:08]

And it comes from the Latin, in Italian, but that's how it's pronounced in Latin, to please or be agreeable. And in the kind of... deeper root, the kind of Indo-European root plaque, P-L-A-K, that's connected with being flat, to be flat, to become as of a flat sea, and it's connected with a flat and plank and a flag, like flagstones, you know. So contented to a fault and self-satisfied might have a kind of flat quality to it.

[03:12]

And although being contented is one of the eight awakenings of great beings, to be contented, be contented with whatever we have, to a fault, may mean not wanting to be ruffled or moved or disturbed from this contentment, like a flat seat. And then self-satisfied, how contented I am. So I appreciated the person bringing that up as a concern, and I thought, That would be something to share with you. Are we overly contented with our practice, which seems a little bit like loss of beginner's mind maybe, or I'm all set.

[04:22]

What's your problem? wanted to return to today, divisive speech for a bit, and also this theme of words can't say it all. Our reality of our existence is not able to be encapsulated in words and phrases or concepts. And there's a koan that Some of you know very well that brings this up, so I wanted to bring that up. But first, about divisive language as something to be abandoned. And I read from Chinda, the silversmith, that sutta where the Buddha describes people who are a delight in factionalism, delight in telling people

[05:29]

something over here that will divide people over there and keeping that going. And then the verbal purification of working towards unity and concord and bringing harmony, which is sangha when we chant, bringing harmony to everyone rather than bringing disharmony and breaking a part of a fellowship. So one of the maybe quintessential or kind of emblematic stories of someone trying to divide and divide the Sangha is the story of Devadatta. And some of you know who Devadatta was. And I wanted to talk about that as divisive speech. And then with the Lotus Sutra, a kind of bringing full circle this conversation So Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin.

[06:34]

And in an earlier story with the Buddha who was younger, I believe it was Devadatta, his cousin, who shot an arrow and killed a bird that was flying and was looking for his quarry, you know, looking for the bird. And the Buddha, Gautama Siddhartha, found the bird and... the arrow out of it and said, you know, this bird belongs to me. And Devadatta was really angry. I shot that bird. That's mine. I'm the hunter and that was the hunted and that's my bird. And they came together to their father or uncle and said, you know, I found it, and I shot it, and whose does it belong to? And the adult that they talked with said, because Siddhartha found it and wanted to care for it and not cause harm, and Devadatta was causing harm and wanted to kill life, the bird belongs to Siddhartha Gautama.

[07:56]

And maybe that was the beginning, although I imagine there was some other situations where Devadatta was angry with Gautama Siddhartha and jealous and resentful and not fair. And so this maybe was the seeds of it, but later he did join the order after Gautama was awakened and established the order, Devadatta did join it. but in the kind of archetype maybe of Devadatta. It's like the 13th fairy or something in Sleeping Beauty. Not part, you know, causing disruption, causing difficulties, and actually going so far as to try and kill the Buddha and try to hurt the Buddha to such a degree that he would be harmed completely. And he set, I think, or beset an elephant, goaded an elephant to attack Shakyamuni, you know, a rampaging elephant, which is a very formidable animal to go after and, you know, kill Buddha.

[09:21]

And the Buddha was able to calm the elephant. You might know that story. And Devadatta also wanted to split the Sangha. This is where the device of speech comes and gathered followers to come with him and to break the fellowship apart. And you can imagine just thinking, for our own lives, when have we wanted to break up a clique or break up people or split people? And, you know... What's at the bottom of that? Dissatisfaction, jealousy, envy, these kinds of... It's leaves, right? Autumn leaves. So Devadatta, I think he drew blood. I think the Buddha was, with this elephant story, actually...

[10:24]

was caused to bleed, and that was, you know, kind of a big deal to hurt the teacher in that way. So Devadatta was persona non grata a little bit in the Sangha. He tried to split the Sangha, actually tried to hurt the Buddha. So he's known as, you know, this character archetypal, I would say. I mean, these are the teaching stories. to disrupt, not have harmony, and that part of ourself that wants to disrupt, shake things up, rebel, and hurt, actually. Get back down. Revenge. Show someone a thing or two. So this is divisiveness in the Sangha, and splitting the sanghas is one of the precepts you know that has grave results so skipping ahead you know 500 years or so to the lotus sutra and this chapter 12 in the lotus sutra called devadatta was probably a later you know that the lotus was not finished all in one piece it was added to

[11:52]

different chapters were added, like this open canon, you know, you had this thing called the Lotus Sutra, and different chapters were added all the way from B.C. to Common Era, there were additions. And in the Devadatta chapter 12, the Buddha tells a story of his past life, and in this story, Shakyamuni Buddha was a king, and this was at a time many, many eons earlier when people's lifespans were very, very long, like a thousand years. And Shakyamuni Buddha was a king at this time, as often happens in the stories. And he had many, many, you know, he had lands and possessions of all kinds, and he gave them all away as alms because he had been, he wanted to practice and study the great vehicle, the Mahayana.

[12:59]

And he did as best he could. But then this king said, if there's anyone who can teach me the Mahayana, the great vehicle, I will be their servant. I will give alms to them, provide for them, bring shelter. I will do everything. I will serve them for my entire life if this teaching, someone can teach me. And so along came this seer, seer, wise man, and said to him, I had the great vehicle, Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma, and I will teach it to you. So, you know, the Lotus Sutra, has been taught in the past and is taught again. And in our version of the Lotus Sutra, it talks about an earlier time when this seer came forward and said, I will teach the Lotus Sutra to you. And the king was overjoyed and served him as a servant for a thousand years.

[14:08]

It's these long lifespans. And did everything for him. to be able to hear this teaching, this wondrous Dharma, Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma. And in telling this story, then the Buddha said to his disciples, and that king from ancient times, that was me in a former life, Shakti Buddha, and that seer was Devadatta. I think the impact of that is maybe lost on us in 2016, you know, who Devadatta was, and this, as I said, persona non kratta, this, you know, look down upon as, and then for, in the lotus, the Buddha to say, you know, I am forever grateful. This person taught me, and it's due to him that I'm here now, and teaching the lotus, and forever grateful. And then, On top of that, he predicts, you know, this happens in the Lotus, where Shakyamuni predicts the awakening of different disciples, and he predicts that Devadatta will be a Buddha in a future time, and he names them with this pure land, and so on.

[15:29]

So it comes around full circle, this, not just, well, I forgive you, but I owe you. you know, it is due to you that I've been able to practice. And for me, this story is, you know, it has a kind of deep and far-reaching effect on, even if we have, you know, people who have tried actively to hurt us and destroy us and destroy our work and kind of, at a level of active enemies, you know, there is a way that through, you know, with our practice and our understanding of

[16:37]

the teachings of the lotus really that all beings without exception are Buddha nature are and so there's a almost difficult to accept actually possibility here of forgiveness of understanding of compassion for ourselves who have been hurt and for the person who perpetrated terrible things. So this lotus, you know, offers that. And so divisive language, and I should just mention, were buffered, I think, from it being in Sashin and at Dasahara, the eruption of demonstrations and active pushback and trying to do actions that will counter, you know, counter what's happened in the United States right now due to the election.

[18:03]

This is going on, you know, and lots of writing and hand words to this effect and how do we negotiate you know with without more divisiveness and the level of pain I think I mentioned this before but this is just to say this is ongoing and I think at Zen Center it's happening as well So in addition to this, this Lotus Sutra fulfillment of the full circle of divisiveness and coming together in a way that's kind of hard to imagine. How do we take care of ourselves when we have been hurt, when words have hurt us, words and actions have hurt us?

[19:07]

And the often it's very hard when we have this kind of thing in our background and in our life, and everybody has it to different degrees. No one's immune from painful experience. No one. The the necessity for self-compassion, which is different from building self-esteem and that kind of thing. Self-compassion is a gentle caring for ourselves that is not indulging and isn't kind of overdoing it and exacting something for ourselves. And it's hard to negotiate what real,

[20:09]

self-compassion is, but without it, without finding compassion for ourselves, it's very hard to feel compassion for others. So we start with ourselves, you know, and loving kindness for ourselves, and this quality of self-care, which we've been talking about during the practice period. Each of us has, you know, one person's indulging is another person's, you know, self-compassion, self-care. Exactly right on. So there's no way to look at someone else and say, oh, that's indulging. It's not for us to judge or evaluate. Each person, it reminds me, what just came to mind was being in yoga class when I was...

[21:14]

pregnant with Devi, and we were doing an asana where a forward bend, and I think I could go about an inch, you know. And that was like full-on effort. And the teacher said, are you practicing, you know, are you doing this forward bend? And it was, yes, you know, I am, like full-on. And then, of course, there were other people who were like down, hands on the ground. That's just like... But for me, that was full engagement in a forward bend. And let's see, were my feelings hurt? Let me just think about that for a minute. Oh, yeah, I never went back to that teaching time. Because I thought they couldn't see me.

[22:22]

They couldn't see my effort, and they had an idea of what I should be looking like. And that, you know, I wanted to be with a teacher who would say, you know, if you think you're flexible, I'll show you somebody who's more flexible. If you think you're stiff, you know, I'll show you somebody who's more, you know. It's like, so forget about it. Do your breath. That's the kind of deter that I, you know, stop comparing. Just do your practice fully. And it would help me, you know, to do my practice fully. So the self-compassion connected very much with compassion for others. Completely connected with what we feel for others and our commitment to others. So in our zazen, you know, someone asked me about, you know, in this world of suffering, why does it matter, you know, whether we do the forms, you know, tilted this way or that way or the bells are rung a particular way or the drum?

[23:30]

What does that have to do with this world with its suffering and pain and cruelty? And I think that's a valid question, you know. And if we attach to the forms as if that's the most important thing, rather than what happens to our own consciousness, presence, mindfulness, ability to be there with each thing that is before us, which is part of how we work with forms or what they're all about, but if we get attached to it, not right. It should have been this way and you did it wrong. Oh, we lose our way. We lose our life, really. So the fact that we take care and remember Kadigiri Roshi asked us to put the incensors straight, you know,

[24:41]

in line with the nose of the Buddha, because I think he'd come to offer incense, he offered incense at that time, and the incense would be kind of off there, you know, to the side. And what he said was, that's your mind, your mind, where are you? You know, so, but if we get attached to the incense, it would be, it's hard to talk about, isn't it? I think the word attach is good. We take complete care in putting the incenser right smack dab in the middle because that's our full effort of being present. That's what it's all about. Rather than I am the straightest incense putter of anybody. Nobody can talk me. I'm the best. It's like, wait a minute. Who cares? And put the incense or the water bowl in line with the nose of the Buddha.

[25:54]

So you can't say it all. You say, don't move, and people think you mean don't move. So our zazen and our practice here is not us shut away in this beautiful place practicing for ourselves and to get rid of our suffering. Although we may enter through that gate, and I know, I admit, I entered through that gate because there was no other way to meet my suffering, and that's what it was about. and despair. You know, this was the gate that I found, that I was exposed to and took up. But it was not about everybody else.

[27:01]

And in fact, not that they were in my way, everybody else, but like I didn't care so much, you know. And actually, some people I was pretty angry with. The person next to me in Tangario, we sat on the floor, Tom. I sat on the floor, Tom. And we pushed the meal towel along. And this person, when the meal towel came to him, he would just shout. And sometimes it was like, well, you know, and then I'd take it and push it along. And this was... five days of this, three times a day of this. And I read it as anger and aggression, and I don't know what it was, but it, oh, it just, and I was angry at that person. Probably for years, for years, you know, and they were obstructing my practice, they were ruining my practice.

[28:05]

And my stage line was missing. This poor person also carried, when we carried the Kiyosaku, come to think of it, hit like with all his might, you know, just like wailing. I should mention that this person is now not alive, so may he be fully awakened and be teaching in the six realms. Anyway, just to say, I was not so interested in compassion for other people or even compassion for myself. I don't know what I was doing exactly besides just follow the schedule. That's the only thing you know. And trust in the teachers. So that thing of this is about me and my practice and my suffering and...

[29:07]

However, you know, when we read the teachings, Suzuki, Hiroshi, Dōgen, anybody, you know, it keeps coming up. This is for the benefit of all beings. This is out of compassion for the many. This is how Buddhas appear in the world. This is the one great matter is, you know, to open, demonstrate, enter, and realize Buddha's wisdom for all beings. You know, it's like... So I think slowly, slowly as my own suffering shifted and transformed, I think, I had enough room to open to another being, other beings. And being able to hear the teaching in a different way And I do trust, I have a lot of confidence in that, the transformative power of our practice and this life, simple life, which doesn't, right about now, it doesn't feel like we're doing much of anything.

[30:36]

We're just, you know, and as someone said, it's, maybe it's too easy, you know. Someone outside of the Kassara Sangha right now would say, what do you mean easier getting up at, you know, pre-dawn, but for us, we might feel like, ah, this is just, this is wonderful, you know. And we can take three or four baths a day, you know, and the food, and the quiet, you know. So we can't see it anymore, you know, as... So are we becoming complacent? Are we... tempted to a fault? I hope not. I think, you know, what is our edge? Where's our frontier? Where's our frontier of stretching? You know, stretching into areas that we're unfamiliar with, be it self-compassion or compassion for others.

[31:47]

The sound of rustling of rose. One thing I wanted to mention, this is just maybe a foreign thing, which is, and I'm bringing it up because one thing is Sashin, Ed Brown was the Shiso, and we had been sitting a lot, I don't know what day it was, and I was in a kind of concentrated state of some kind, and he was going around the room, and he whispered in my ear, your sleeve is coming off. He said, your sleeve is falling off, I think. And I remember I heard that, and I thought, I thought, maybe my arm is coming off. I had some like, Is my arm coming off?

[33:02]

I was kind of confused, like, why is he telling me this? Anyway. And I mentioned it now. It's so funny to me right now. Because I've noticed that some of your sleeves are falling off, ripped, and might need mending. And... Our sleeves sometimes fall off when we sit down and swivel around and sit on our sleeve and then just it rips off. Sorry about these eyes. So one way to remedy that, you know, is the form of, and Dogen describes it in fushiku hampo, when sitting on the tan for meals, you, you know, tuck up your left sleeve, tuck up your right sleeve, And, you know, holding those under your arm, like clamping down so they don't fall down, kind of take the skirt of your robe and kind of make a smooth place in back so you sit on that.

[34:09]

And then when you swivel around, you can arrange yourself more easily and not rip your robes. So that's just a fourth thing if you want to try it. Save your robes. So the koan that I wanted to bring up is illustrates, or not illustrates, brings up words do not reach it. And yet, how do we live together, practice together? Some of you know the koan, it's called... Dawu's Condolence Call. And Dawu's Condolence Call is, it's a koan that is, was, talk about open canon, it was told in a certain way, then it was added to, and then the two were put together, like the edition, which in the Blue Cliff Record is part of the commentary, in another empty hall,

[35:35]

koan collection it's put together as one and then there's another rendition that doesn't have the second part of the story at all so in some ways the koan different teachers or commentators continue to work on it to make it more and more meaningful or helpless to help us out of compassion and maybe, maybe all of you know, do all of you know the canola skull? Dao'u's canola skull, some of you do, some of you don't. So the protagonists or the people in the koan are Dao'u, who, you know, Dao'u comes up, you know, Dao'u swims the ground, and Dao'u, and his Dharma brother talking about Avalokiteshvara, what are the use of all those hands and eyes.

[36:39]

Dawu, there's lots of stories about Dawu. He was a type of Yaku-san Iken Daeyosho, and Yaku-san Iken and Ungan Donjo were Dharma brothers, and Ungan Donjo was Tozan's teacher. So it's, this is it. Dawu was 769 to 835. So the story is his disciple, John Wan, who in one of the renditions was the Tenzo at the monastery. At any rate, he was Dao Wu's disciple. And he goes with Dao Wu to a home of a person in the... a parishioner, a person in the temple membership. And parenthetically, just to say, when I was in Japan in January, last January, after Suzuki Roshi's wife, Oksan, passed away, and I went to and so in Suzuki Roshi's temple with Huizu Suzuki and Shippo-san and the family at Oksan's funeral and the different ceremonies were there,

[38:04]

during one of the days I was there, Hawitsu said, come with me. He and Kumisan, which is his son's wife, Shungo's wife, Kumisan, he said, come with me. And I said, shall I wear robes? And he said, he said, yes, bring your robes. And I had no idea where I was going. We just had done, I think it was the day after the funeral. And we drove for quite a while, and came to another temple, a smaller temple, I think it was a sub-temple over in Sowien, and I thought we were going to visit the temple, how nice, and we go in, and we were paying a condolence call. The priest of that temple had just died and was lying in state, somebody I didn't know, I didn't know his name, I didn't... And we were ushered into the room to pay our respects.

[39:12]

And it was one of those, you know, he... It was kind of great, you know, because he did not say one word to you, just come on, we're going somewhere. And there we were doing full prostrations to this person and offering insats and then spending time with his wife and son. They brought tea. I was very surprised, you know. I was very surprised to all of a sudden be visiting and helping with this condolence call. So this is a practice, you know. You go and make a visit. As, you know, it is in all cultures, probably. Go and make a visit. So Dao Wu goes with Chang Huan to this to make a carnival's call, and the body is in a casket, and John Wan hits the casket and says, alive or dead?

[40:18]

And Dawu says, won't say. And he says again, alive or dead? And Dawu says, won't say, won't say. And then on the way home, John Wan, he's really like, no, I want an answer. And he said, teacher, give me an answer alive or dead. And he said, yeah, I won't say. And he said, if you don't say it, I'm going to hit you. And Dao Wu said, you can hit me if you want to, but I won't say it. And so Zhang Wan actually hit him. He hit his teacher. So they arrived at the temple, and Dao Wu said to Zhang Wan, you know, I don't, I think the Shusō and the other officers of the temple are going to be so happy about you beating me up, basically. I think it's better that you go. And so he left the monastery and went to a smaller temple further away.

[41:20]

And this is where the story kind of shifts, but I'll tell this one rendition. So he was staying at this smaller temple, And one day, he was out by a kind of a shrine, and he heard a word, chanting the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Kanonkyo, the Lotus Sutra, has a chapter all about Avalokiteshvarapakwanyin, and it names... Basically it says, by the power of Guan Yin, you will be saved. And Guan Yin can take any form. If you need her to be in the form of a priest, she'll come in the form of a priest. If you need her to be in the form of an animal, she'll come in the form.

[42:25]

If you need her to be in the form... So this is this listing of all these different forms, which are just... a little handful of forms, because Avalokiteshvara and compassion itself takes infinite forms. Guan Yin is the bodhisattva of infinite compassion. So whatever you need, compassion will come like that, in that form. So he's out and hears this person chanting this 25th chapter and comes to this place where it says, if you need Avalokiteshvara to come in the form of a Bhikshu, which is, you know, a monk. Avalokiteshvara will come in the form of a monk. And at that point, Chanduang Yurang, Chanduang Yurang, had a great realization. And in one of the stories, this form of it, Dao Wu had died by then, had already died, and he went back to

[43:30]

another disciple, Dharma brother, who was a Dharma heir of Dao Wu, she swung and told him what had happened. And also, she swung, when he asked him the same thing, he said, won't say, won't say. And what John Run said was, at that time, I was wrongly suspicious of my teacher. How was I to know that this affair isn't in words and phrases? Even someone great beyond measure can be whirled around in the stream of words. So he was asking for, tell me the truth.

[44:40]

Say it. Say it. What is life and death? And Dabu, at the risk of even being hurt, would not fall in to either side. Death is an expression complete this moment Birth is an expression complete this moment. Alive or dead in the fullness of our interconnected whole. You can't land on one. You can't say it all. And now we're refused. But we want the answer. Just like David Chadwick, you know that story, driving Suzuki Roshi somewhere and saying, Suzuki Roshi, I really want to be enlightened.

[45:43]

I want to wake up. I'll do anything. Anything you tell me, whatever it is, if I have to stay up all night and sit down, whatever it is, tell me what I need to do to be awakened, Roshi. And he looked over and Suzuki Roshi had fallen asleep. Reminds me of this. Tell me, tell me. I don't think anyone could tell us. But later he understood, and supposedly he's Dao Wu's disciple, so another rendition Dao Wu hadn't died, you know, in the lineage. He, out of compassion, you know, out of compassion he wouldn't and couldn't. He wouldn't and couldn't. So this story, you know, turning this story, may we turn this story, and how do we personally know?

[47:02]

Won't say, won't say. to know that this affair isn't in words and phrases even someone great beyond measure can be whirled around by the stream of words so I'd like to end our never talk today now and I thought it would be nice to take an outside key and walk Also, I wanted to mention that and say that I haven't done posture suggestions yet, and when I do, I would like to bring the Kiyosaka with me, not to use it as a kind of way to relate to as an upright.

[48:22]

Sometimes... to feel like a wall behind you. The kiyosaku is upright, and we can find where our head is in space by touching the back of the kiyosaku. So I just wanted to mention, I might be bringing that with me, but I didn't want you to be concerned about using it in its more traditional way. Thank you very much.

[49:22]

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