I have a question for you. Do you believe in magic? There's no magic, but there are some other kind of magic. There are some other kind of magic. There are miracles. That's like magic, isn't it? Okay. Thank you. There's no magic, but there's magic tricks, and there's miracles, and that's kind of like magic. Do you have any comment on that? But not really. when you, when it looks like it's magic, like, something disappears, it's really not real magic, it's just like a trick to make you go, oh, there's that.

[01:12]

Okay, well, here's the deal. I'll do it, I think it's magic, and then you get to the side. Okay? Okay? So... What do you think's in here? I don't know. Guess. Guess. What? Twelve elephants. Twelve elephants. What do you think's in here? Rocks. Okay. First thing. What's this? Is it part of an elephant? A bird foot.

[02:13]

What do you say? Colorful bird foot. What do you say? What's this? Okay. Everybody seems to think that's a bird foot. Let's see. And what would this be? Birdfoot. Birdfoot. Okay, not a pear. Slightly different color. Very good. Okay, then what is this? Whoa. What do you think? What do you think? What's this? A snake. A snake. Okay, so we have two bird's feet and a snake. Or maybe the tail of a Chinese dragon. Hmm, interesting shot. Okay, then what would this be?

[03:15]

A batwing. A batwing. It's a batwing. Or what else could it be? It could be a butterfly wing. A butterfly wing? Jellyfish and jellyfish. Huh? There's jellyfish in here? Like jellyfish? Jellyfish and meal. Okay. Okay, then what would this be then? Another butterfly. Okay. Any other ideas? Okay, so we have jellyfish in an ocean. I'm not funny.

[04:22]

I do. Yeah. I have an ocean with jellyfish, I have butterfly wings, I have chicken feet, and a dragon's tail. All came out of this box. Okay. Okay. So what is it? It's a dragon. Wow. Shall we see if that works? Seems like it. Yes. Let's see.

[05:30]

I have to remember how to do this. It's what? A dragon dance. A dragon dance, okay. Oh, symmetrical links, yes. A piece of the Velcro that holds the other foot on fell off. So it might be a one-footed dragon. And if I can't get the tail on, it might be a tail with one footed there. I can't quite do it.

[06:46]

It's what? To drag his tongue. To drag his tongue. Oh, even better. Thank you. I knew there was something wrong. Yeah. that long tongue thing? What's that dragging thing with its long tongue? Okay. So now, is that alive or what? But is it alive or dead or what? Thanks. So is that magic or what? Is it magic or what?

[07:53]

It's not magic. It's not magic. Okay. Do you think it's magic or what? No. Okay. Thanks. You guys get to take it and think and you finish putting it together. And then imagine, here's what you have to imagine. With a tongue like that, I mean, what would a dragon say if it had a tongue that big? And what if the dragon had lived for 10,000 years? But then what would it have to say? I don't know. You're good to take it.

[09:00]

Okay. Nothing. Now I'm going to talk to the adults. I'm going to tell them a story. Do you want to hear what the story is? I'm going to tell the adults. Okay, here's the story. Tell me if you like this story, okay? Tell what? Tell a funky story about a dragon? Can I just make it up right now? Okay. Once upon a time there was a dragon egg. It hatched. Then the dragon egg hatched. And then what happened? And what was its name?

[10:06]

Dragony. Dragony. How about Dennis the Dragon? Okay, Dragony. And then The baby dragon's parents did a dance because the baby dragon had been born. What did they do? What? Hmm? They did a dance. They did a dance? Dance. Dance. Dance. They did a dance and then they thought, what's the most important thing we have to tell our baby? A baby. [...] How to listen? Mmm. What do you say? How to hunt. Okay, what do you say? What's the most... They've lived for 10,000 years and they said, what's the most important thing we have to tell our baby?

[11:10]

To be good. To be good. What do you say? That I love you. What do you say? Imagine you're a dragon you've lived for 10,000 years and then there's your little baby coming out of an egg. Say it anyway. Anything? Okay, you can think. Oh, go ahead. That it's special. Okay. You're special. So here's the story I was going to tell the adults.

[12:12]

Okay? This person wants to practice Zen. That's why we're all here. And then he comes to the teacher and he asks the teacher a question. And the teacher says, you're special. Listen, we love you. Then they danced. Then they went to the flop room and had some tea. They lived happily ever after. That was a long story. It was a rock story? That was a long story. Oh, okay. Well, thanks.

[13:13]

So it's time to go for tea. You can take that with you and see if you can get the tea all tucked in. I'm sure. Please. You can go now. And you can take your dragon with you. Here's a short poem.

[14:44]

Listen. I listen to what makes you talk, whatever that is, and what makes me listen. So here's the adult story. A monk goes to see Master Ma, a famous Zen teacher from back in the good old days. when we're dragging everywhere. A monk goes to ask Master Ma, what is Buddha? Like the reason we're all here this morning. What is Buddha? Master Ma says, this very mind is Buddha. So I'd like to offer you two poetic commentaries on that story.

[15:54]

But before I do, just notice what did it stir up in your own mind. What is Buddha? This very mind is Buddha. And then notice I'll read two poems, and then notice what they do. Maybe you like one and don't like the other. Maybe you think, oh yeah, that's really it, and that one's not. Or maybe you think, well, that one's it, but that one's more fun. I go among the trees, and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water.

[16:55]

My tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep like cattle. Then what I am afraid of comes. I've lived with it for a while. in its sight. What I fear in it leaves and the fear of it leaves me. It sings and I hear its song. I'll read it again. I go among the trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in their places where I left. Asleep like cattle. Then what I am afraid of comes. I live for a while in its sight. What I fear in it leaves it.

[17:58]

And the fear of it leaves me. It sings. And I hear its song. Okay. Here's the other poem. This poem is called Why I'm Not a Buddhist. I love desire. The state of want and thought of how to get it. Building a kingdom in a soul requires desire. I love the things I've sought. Tongues of cash that lull from my billfold. And love what I want. Clothes. Can a new love suit equal God? And why is desire suffering?

[19:00]

Because want leaves a world in tatters? How else but in tatters should a world be? Here, take my money. I love it to face an agony, the spirit of God. Here, use my money. derives of my love. So, I'll read that one again, too. Why I'm not a Buddhist. I love desire. The state of want and thought of how to get it. Building a kingdom in a soul requires desire. I love the things I've sought. Tongues of cash that lull from my billfold. And love what I want.

[20:02]

Clothes, houses, redemption. Can a new mouth suit equal God? But why is desire suffering? Because want leaves the world in tatters? How else but in tatters should the world be? Here, take my money. A loved face in agony, the spirit gone. Here, use the rags of my love. So what did your mind and heart make of those you choose one over the other did you draw some conclusion that they both reflect the principles of practice how did your mind just go

[21:10]

Some monk asked Master Ma, you know, what is Buddha? You know, if we can get that for pretty good. So much of the time we're asking different kinds of questions. When am I going to get what I want? And when I'm going to stop getting what I don't want. And the versions therein. Often we ask those questions with the fleeting emotion. Over in Berkeley, there is someone who has made a life study of reading emotions on people's faces. His name I can't remember right now. Does anybody remember his name? Thank you.

[22:22]

Paul Ekman. Gee, I didn't make that up. But one of the things, interesting things Paul Ekman says is that emotions last seconds. And I would say those emotions, they have a message, you know. We have an experience. We have that momentary response that speaks of our passionate involvement in life. And what is it to wake up? And let that unfold. Let that fit together like a dragon that can fly in the air. Do you know that dragon can swim in the water, fly in the air, and walk on land?

[23:27]

And, of course, they can breeze fire. Whatever comes up, a dragon can deal with it. Is that amazing or what? Is that what it is to be a Buddha? Is that what the monk is asking about? Is that the accomplishment of a human life? As Wendell Berry says in his poem, is it to sit still? Then what I am afraid of comes. I live for a while in its sight. What I fear in it leaves it. And the fear of it leaves me.

[24:30]

Sometimes it's said in Buddhism that the gift of practice is fearlessness. Is that it? Is that what Master Ma should have said? What is Buddha? Buddha is sitting still until fear in it and fear in me dissipate. And it sings and I hear it some. Is that it? Then what about this other rebellious person whose name is... Molly Peacock. I looked up the bio in the back, and it says, Molly Peacock lives in Toronto and writes poems about love, war, sex, and family with disarming honesty.

[25:39]

So that's Molly Peacock, who, by her own acclaim, is not a Buddhist. When my daughter was quite young, she said to me, organized religion misses the point. Last year, she spent three months on retreat in the foothills of the Himalayas doing Nundrum, a Vajrayana Buddhist practice. 100,000 frustrations, 100,000 mantrams, and 100,000 offerings to the guru. Has she changed her mind? Is that organized religion, or is that something else?

[26:41]

Is the dragon swimming in the water any different from the dragon flying in the sky? What is Maui Peacock trying to say? I love desire. But why is desire suffering? I love the things I've sought. Can a new model of suit equal God? Here, take the tatters of my love. So the monk presents his question.

[27:48]

What do you say to a baby dragon when it's just been born? What have you learned from 10,000 experiences of a human life? What is it to learn from a human life? How does any one of us do that? What is it to unlearn? So the monk is asking about all of this. It's a colossal question. It's so high and lofty, it covers the whole sky. It's so profound and subtle.

[28:59]

It touches the bottom of the ocean. It's so unstuck in the conventional fears and desires of life. It's like a dragon's breath just consuming them. So the monk comes and asks Master Ma, So in a way, end of story. How can you put a tidy finish? How can you draw a conclusion about human life? What can you say to beginner's mind?

[30:10]

to a newborn dragon that can answer every predicament, every situation, every possibility human life can create. So Zazen is to sit with that availability, that possibility, that question that cracks open the dream of assumption, of habit, of knowing the answer. And in Zen practice, we say Zazen, we do sitting still, and we do totally engaging in action.

[31:23]

Okay, that was the preamble to the talk I was going to give, but I have seven minutes. Which is great. I think it's great. The reason I think it's great because I think we all want to, and then what's the answer? No. No. But the answer is dangerous. The answer is dangerous because then it's like, end of story. Okay, now I know. Then what? crawl back inside the egg and pull the pieces back over you. Now you know and you can say what's right and what's wrong.

[32:33]

How to practice and how not to practice. And then we say something about sitting still. But sitting still has to be savored. Because there's no such thing as sitting still. Life is dynamic and interactive and ever-changing. So we say sitting still, but actually... something is being alluded to, something's being pointed at, which is maybe more accurately described as not being agitated by the dynamic interplay of what's happening.

[33:48]

Something about getting from, no, this is not what I want, to, yes, this is what's happening. And it's the intensity of our own questioning that brings the juice, brings the of that question into our life. So one way, one thought I have about Wendell Berry's poem is that we sit until we feel

[34:54]

The no of fear. No, this is not it. I'm afraid. Because if this was it, when will I ever get what I want and not get what I don't want? So we sit with that until, as Dogen Zenji says, we forget ourselves. Until we become more interested in what's happening and less interested in our own story about it. So this is mindfulness. Where we literally become more interested in the experience of the moment. And this process has its own kind of magic, the magic of waking up.

[36:04]

And then the challenge for Master Ma is, how does he succinctly describe this to the monk? Is he just going to give him more information that the monk can take hold of and say, okay, now I got it. What's he gonna do? So Master Ma says, this very mind, what's happening right now? Or that little poem says, I listen to what makes you talk. Whatever that is. And what makes me listen? Engaging that way.

[37:12]

So it's not about changing who we already are. It's not about no. It's about yes. This very mind. is Buddha. But there's a shift in there from the no to the yes. So Wendell Berry draws it into a beautiful serenity. My tasks lie in their places where I left them. like cattle. And Molly Peacock ruthlessly doesn't spare us any of the complexity of being alive.

[38:21]

Yeah, right. Like you're going to live there where your tasks are in their places asleep like cattle. Then they're going to wake up jump around and stampede. I love desire. This very mind is Buddha. The state of want and the thought of how to get it. very perversity of practice. Building a kingdom in the soul, wanting to be Buddha, requires desire. But why is desire suffering?

[39:25]

Because one leaves a world in tatters? How else but in tatters should a world be? Here, take my money. Our love, faith and agony, the spirit God. Here, use the rags of my love. Leaving this is about these poems that are about wisdom and compassion. Maybe these poems are about the virtue of holding still and the courage of total engagement. Maybe these poems are both different facets of forgetting no and becoming yes.

[40:31]

Maybe Master Maz, this very mind is Buddha, shows us the path of how to live a human life. Or maybe no one can answer the question for us. What is Buddha? So as you listen to these words, can you hear where they're coming from? And can you appreciate the mind that hears? Thank you.

[41:39]

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