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, everyone. Good morning, bodhisattvas seen and unseen in the Buddha Hall in the dining room, sitting at home. listening on computers, and people who are not listening, and by that very not listening, contributing to the whatever is the not lecture that supports this lecture. And that's how it is in Soto Zen Buddhism in 2016. What isn't something is... what determines the form of that thing. And today is actually the day after Earth Day, but I would like to speak about Earth Day because I think it's important to do that.

[01:12]

And as Buddhists or as people who are practicing Buddhism or even just curious about Buddhism, I think it's important to understand where we stand on such an important issue that affects our entire life. Not just the social decisions we make, but even how we breathe, how we drink, how we eat, whether we will have another generation, and if so, how healthy they will be, and so on. The earth... as a subject of contemplation, is not new in 2016 to Buddhist practice or to Soto Zen practice. It has been with us from the very beginning of our practice. And in earlier times, there was a very strong connection with the earth as the source of our spiritual life and the enactment of our spiritual life.

[02:22]

And so I almost feel like anything that I can say now, so much has already been said and so much has already been done. So I would like to start with a very simple story about Zen master Rinzai Gigan. Rinzai Gigan? And I happen to be named after him, so you can pass that around if you would. That's a photo of a scroll that was in the Smithsonian for a while for restoration. And Rinzai is the person after whom... the Rinzai school of Zen is named.

[03:26]

And that school of practice is known by its devotion to stories about the lives of the Zen masters, things that they said and did as public cases or public records of different aspects of awakening. And so in this story, Zen master Rinzai is planting a tree. And so, let's see if I can find this story. The master was planting pine trees. Obaku, his teacher, asked him, why do you plant so many pines? in this remote mountain monastery? The master answered, well, first, they make good scenery around the monastery gate.

[04:36]

And then, they're the benefit of those who come after us. So first, they're for scenery. Second, they're for people who come after us. And he struck the ground three times with his hoe. And his teacher said, hmm, this may very well be so. But still, I'm going to give you 30 hits with my stick. And... Again, Rinzai did this. Go ahead. I'm paraphrasing. Do your worst, teacher.

[05:43]

And as he hit the ground with his hoe, he sighed deeply. The teacher said, through you, this school will flourish greatly throughout the entire future. So on the surfaces of it, this is a pretty simple story to understand. Student plants trees. Teacher says, it's a lot of trees in the mountains. why are you doing this? The teacher says, the student who's a teacher says, well, because it's good at the gate and it's good for the future. And then, and he hits the ground with his stick.

[06:54]

usually part of the story that's ignored. The teacher says, yeah, but I'm going to hit you. And Rinzai says, the same thing. Like, hmm. And then the teacher is moved and says... because of you, the Dharma will flourish and not be cut off. And so I would like to say that our relationship with the earth does not have to be complicated every day. It really doesn't. It can be as simple as planting something, feeding someone, breathing and knowing the temperature of the air, planting one's feet, making a sound.

[08:05]

The practice does not have to be complicated to be one with the earth. But simple is not easy. It's not always easy to do the most important thing. So... I'd like to say, well, how many people are here for the first time today? Anyone? Yeah. And how many people have been intending to come for longer than it actually took to get here? Just saying. Okay. So what's simple is not always easy. I appreciate your being here. I would like to... talk about a modern-day planter of trees. And I don't know if you've heard of her. I hope you have. She's a Nobel Peace Prize winner from 2004. And her name was Wangari Matai.

[09:09]

Have you heard of Wangari Matai? And here's a photo of Wangari Matai with her Nobel. Okay? And it was given to her, Professor Wangari Matai, a Kenyan environmentalist and political activist, receives a trophy awarded to her by, I'm sorry, by the Kenyan National Human Rights Commission for her contribution towards humanity. And could you pass this around? She was a wonderful teacher. And she's known for her... Greenbelt movement and how the Greenbelt movement started was that one day she was at home in Kenya and she was walking around and she went to a place where people were cutting down trees and there was a very very large tree probably hundreds of years old

[10:23]

And she questioned the people who were cutting down the trees, the people who were supervising the cutting of the trees. And they said, well, we try to do this in a sustainable and responsible manner. And it's good for the country because it brings in prosperity. And she said, well, what does that mean? And they said, and they proceeded to show her how they were cutting a tree. And notching it very carefully so it didn't disturb other trees when it fell down. And she asked, well, what happens to this wood? And they said, 30% of it will be made into planks and sold in other lands. And she said, well, what about the other 70%? And they said, well, we'll use it, we'll burn it to make coal. and ashes that will fire up the furnaces so that we can make bricks to make modern houses in this land.

[11:30]

And her heart hurt. And she said, why do we need bricks? She said to herself, we need bricks only because it's an image of a modern Africa that needs bricks. Modern houses need bricks. But our traditional houses, we could... have used 100% of the tree and made houses out of that wood. And some of the houses in other countries have lasted hundreds of years made out of wood. The brick houses will not necessarily last longer. So she decided to start something, a movement to compensate farmers for every seedling of a tree that they planted. And they planted millions of trees. And the environmentally responsible loggers were saying things like, there's so many trees here.

[12:35]

There's millions of trees. It doesn't matter if we cut just one. And she said, even if it's just one, a tree is an environment for thousands of trees. birds and insects. And for us, trees are part of our national heritage. Wisdom occurs under trees. Wisdom occurs in the tree. And that's how she started the Greenbelt movement, for which she was eventually recognized internationally and worldwide. And what she recognized that we sometimes don't recognize when we're busy when we're active, is that all of these little changes make a change to the vitality of the world in which we live and that the changes in the vitality affect us selectively, at least at first, but they will affect everyone as time goes on.

[13:41]

You know, we kind of have an idea that, you know, if... the climate gets hotter, we can just turn on the air conditioner. And we can in this country. Or some of us can. Or let's say a few of us can. But some of us can't. And eventually all of us can't because we're all connected in that way. So as we know, in December there was a Paris Accord in which many nations finally agreed to do something minimum about the earth. And that has culminated in a Zen statement about the earth and about climate change that I can read some of now. I've asked that Raven, who's in the office today, has

[14:45]

put the statement on climate change at the front desk and also events that are happening locally for Earth Day. But this statement was developed by a group of teachers, of Soto Zen teachers, who met at the beginning, met a few months ago. And... a subcommittee of that group of Zen teachers developed this statement, which has been adopted by the Soto Zen school community in America, and then also by American Zen teachers who are not in that particular group. So it starts. As Buddhists, our relationship with the earth is ancient. Shakyamuni Buddha, taunted by the demon king Mara under the Bodhi tree before his enlightenment, remained steady in meditation.

[15:46]

So he reached down to touch the earth. Mara had questioned him, saying, Mara's about confusion and illusion. And Mara questioned the Buddha in his search for enlightenment, saying, Every being has illusion and confusion, so I represent everyone and everything. Who is your witness? And the Buddha touched the earth, and the earth trembled in six ways. So the earth itself was the Buddha's witness. The earth responded, I am your witness. The earth was partner to the Buddha's work, and she is our partner as we are hers. And then from that time on, Buddhist groups and monasteries have always been close to nature. The Buddha was enlightened under a tree. And the Sangha, or community, is sometimes called a Zen forest.

[16:53]

And our abbot has the name of that forest, that forest of the Sangha. It's so important in our practice. Each one of us is like a tree standing upright in a forest, breathing in confusion, breathing out confusion, breathing in confusion, breathing out awakening, breathing in awakening. So... I highly recommend that you read this statement. The statement talks about the interconnection of all beings and says that, and talks about the threat to our climate and then takes a stand. Soto Zen Buddha stands side by side with compassionate people of all religious traditions. Our precepts resonate with the natural and universal morality of all beings.

[18:00]

Our second precept is not to steal, not to take what is not freely given. And this precept speaks directly to our climate emergency. And it's our responsibility as living beings on this earth to be mindful of the needs of the earth's being by not depleting the lives of beings with whom we share this earth through our desire to serve ourselves. This greed is the act of taking what is not given. It is the mind of seeing things as existing for our own use. Our world is dependent on the activity of all beings. And if we do not sustain each and everything, we are stealing their life and ultimately stealing our own life. And then it talks specifically about the Soto School and its practices. and the platforms, the five principles of green life of international Soto Zen.

[19:05]

Protect the green of the earth. The earth is our home of life. Do not waste water. It is the source of life. Do not waste fuel or electricity. They are the energy of life. Keep the air clean. It is the plaza of life. And coexist with nature. it embodies Buddha. So, just wanted to tell you about that statement. It just came out last week, so you're the first to know. So, as we sit here, we're sitting on the earth. So the cushion rests on tatami mats, which are made of grasses. which rests on straw, which rests on a floor of brick that's made from clay and sand, which rests on concrete that's made of sand, lime, and water, basically, and a few extra things, which has a framework of

[20:27]

iron which is dug from the earth by people. And that rests on a gigantic teeming world in which we're connected with everyone else. If we... Sit down very firmly on our seat, and you can try this yourself, to sit equally on your buttock bones so that you can feel the cushion and feel the earth and feel your relationship with gravity. You may be influencing the sitting of a person in India right through the center of the earth. Their time zone is exactly opposite to ours. So check it out. Let's see if we can sit so that the sitters in India can feel our concentration.

[21:34]

I would say, actually, it's a half hour off our time zone, but Mumbai is almost exactly a half hour, so let's sit from Mumbai right now. Actually, in Mumbai, they're just probably either having a late dinner... or relaxing before they're going to bed. And so it is a time when some people would sit. And when we listen, can we listen and hear that way? So I don't have time to talk about all the spiritual traditions that respect the earth. But besides the earth as witness in this tradition, we see the earth as elements, the element of solidity, our own bones, our earth. Let's just say that Adam's name, of Adam and Eve, that Eve's name means life, and Adam's name means earth.

[22:43]

So Judeo-Christian spirituality agrees with us as humans. embodying the earth. There's a saying from the Quran, And the earth we have spread out like a carpet, set thereon mountains firm and immovable, and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance. And one of the disciples of Muhammad said, there is none amongst the Muslim who plants a tree or sows seeds and then a bird or a person or an animal eats from it, but that it is regarded as a charitable gift from that person. So here at City Center at 300 Page Street,

[23:45]

There are many people in transition. There are many things happening in the community which people are coming and going. People's jobs are changing. The fiscal year is turning. And programs are starting and ending. So many things are happening. There's a lot of happiness and there's a lot of pain. And in the midst of that, those changes, can we sit with the stability of a mountain? Can we flow with the fluidity of the stream? Can we hold it all in vastness like the sky? I think the lessons of the earth are lessons of acceptance and connection.

[24:49]

Can we hear them? Can we respond in our own bodies and in our own minds? Respond to the part of it that we can take care of, like, oh, I don't know, making stock out of food scraps and using recyclable and hypermiling or whatever we do, but also from the point of view of the vastness, can we respond? Can we be of the earth and on the earth at the same time? So it is meditation. It is our meditation practice. that allows us to actually feel this with our own bodies and our own minds. It is our chanting and our dedication practice that allows us to express it and dedicate it in the simplest possible ways.

[25:57]

It is our work practice that allows us to harmoniously interconnect with other people as we see the big picture and we see our own role. So we embody this in the practice every day. Can we know that? Can we understand it? Can we live it? Can we inspire each other through our presence and through our practice to take care of this very life and its place in the earth? So thank you very much for your presence and for your practice. Thank you for your life when you go home and decide or discern what to do. On this Earth Day, there are events, but maybe the most important event is right at home.

[27:04]

The most important event is what we do with this very life and what we do with each other. what we do with the person in front of us, how we can hear them and respond, how we can understand that we are part of their ecology, we are part of what makes them who they are. Can we hold that with gentleness? Can we express the love of the earth? Thank you very much. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[28:06]

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