This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. I often ask if I can say something I've said before. May I say something I've said before? I propose that what we call the Buddha way is primarily concerned with living beings. And specifically and especially with their suffering.

[01:03]

Another way to put it is that the Buddha way is, yes, volume, you like me to speak louder? Did you hear what I said before, somewhat? A little bit? So I'm proposing that Buddha way is concerned with living beings. Can you hear that okay? With their suffering. And another way to put it is, the Buddha way is concerned with the happiness, the welfare, of all living beings that okay one might assume that everybody here is quite aware of all the all the suffering that is arising again and again in this world but still I feel like it's so important it's so primary that it it should be acknowledged and witnessed at the beginning and then app with that acknowledgement

[02:39]

as I've been saying the last two Sundays at the beginning of this year and in a way at the beginning of each day under such circumstances of living beings of concern for the welfare of living beings is there an aspiration that lives in our heart that were taken care of and I have been speaking about an aspiration to realize authentic, correct understanding, enlightenment, in order to be of the best service to all beings. This aspiration to attain enlightenment, to attain actually Buddhahood, to realize Buddhahood for the welfare of all beings, is called often the mind or the heart or the spirit of enlightenment.

[03:45]

This is something which a human being can feel, can think. It's something you can think and talk about. You can think, I wish to offer my life to enlightenment for the welfare of all beings. I wish... I wish to be to be devoted to a training program which will culminate in Buddha hood and throughout the training program this training this is for the sake the welfare of all living beings human and non human and of course since living beings create a world together for the material world also the whole earth and all living beings that they may be free and at peace one one can feel that and think that and say it and then I also have been emphasizing over and over that this aspiration great as it is in order to be realized

[05:09]

And the training that I've been speaking of for the last two Sundays is the training in ethics, the training which takes care of this aspiration and develops it. And taking care of such an aspiration in developing it, one becomes what's called, what can be spoken of as a bodhisattva, or the bodhisattva becomes you. The spirit of enlightenment takes over our life as we train in bodhisattva ethics. And bodhisattva ethics are taught as threefold. It can also be taught more than threefold but the threefold includes the more than threefold so the threefold is the ethics of presence or the ethics of restraint the next one is the ethics of gathering all wholesome activities assembling all wholesome activities and the third

[06:37]

is the ethics of maturing living beings. And the first one, and they're done in order, or rather, yeah, they're done in order. The first one is the foundation of the other two. The ethics of restraint is the basis for effective wholesome action for really wholesome action for undefiled whole wholesome action and for undefiled service to beings it seems possible that human beings can be distracted from being present.

[07:43]

And human beings can be distracted from what they're doing, from what they're thinking, from what they're saying, and the postures that they are enacting. These are three kinds of actions which living beings perform. Actions of thought, and posture and it seems easy for us to not be present with them as we're enacting them the first form of training is the training of being present with what we're doing for example now we're almost all of us here in this room are sitting so to be present with our sitting posture is one of the main disciplines of bodhisattvas especially in the Zen school. We spend a great deal of time sitting and taking care of the precept of being present with our posture.

[08:48]

And when we stand up, we also train ourselves to be present with the standing posture. And when we walk, we train ourselves to be present with our walking posture. And even reclining, we to be present with the reclining posture. So this practice of the discipline of restraint is the restraint or the stopping of distractions from presence or the training of stopping what we call outflows from We use forms, we use ceremonies, we use regulations, we use procedures for action. And by practicing with these forms, our distractions, our deviations from presence are revealed and ended.

[10:03]

By practicing these forms, like practicing the form of sitting, it is revealed to us that we're concerned for something other than sitting when we're sitting. For example, we're concerned about... Rather than being concerned and taking care of this present moment of posture, we might be concerned with past moments of posture and future moments of posture. Rather than being concerned and taken care of and being present with our present discomfort, we flow into concern about our past discomfort and concern about our future discomfort. And when you're practicing with a form of sitting, for example, it becomes revealed to you when you start thinking about future discomfort

[11:13]

and past discomfort. And you notice what that's like. And what it's like, it's like suffering. We learn that present suffering is enough to be present with. And that if we start thinking about how long this suffering is going to go on, it doesn't really, it isn't very beneficial. Matter of fact, it just makes us more uncomfortable so now we're in an intensive meditation retreat and this afternoon we start intensifying it by having more sitting and people will be practicing the procedure they will be performing the procedure of sitting upright and still and silent they will be noticing perhaps because some of them are not completely enlightened they will be noticing some discomfort and some of them will be present with it and realize enlightenment by performance of presence with their discomfort others will think about how much longer this discomfort is going to go on and they will they will learn that that

[12:42]

is a waste of precious human life. To think about how much longer I'm going to be suffering is a lack of presence. All of us in this room have an opportunity being human to find some kind in our life perhaps even on a daily basis to practice a form called being quiet and still or two forms being quiet and still and practice the stillness with your body in a posture standing or sitting or walking reclining so now again the some of the people in this room are going to be probably spending quite a bit of time in the next few days practicing sitting still but all of you can practice that in your life and you can learn it can be revealed to you by using the form of sitting or standing still

[14:13]

being quiet it can be revealed to you you can see the mind which struggles with that form so going away from the present in terms of time is one way to be distracted from the present another way to go away is to go away in terms of what you're going to gain from being here meditating. Or what you're going to lose by being here meditating. Someone told me that they would like it to rain during this retreat because then they wouldn't feel like they were losing the opportunity to be out in the sun. And maybe the person didn't say this, but maybe they think we'll also gain the beautiful music of the rain while I'm sitting here, so I have and I won't be sorry that I'm not in the room.

[15:16]

So the rain will make it easier for me to... Yeah, my wish to gain the nice sound of the rain and avoid losing the sun, that'll be accomplished. living here that the community activities support us when we're here to sit and be present with our sitting to speak and be present with our speaking it's like a great value of the community and we don't always do it but we feel supported to try and we also feel supported to confess our regret when we're not present and in this way to be more and more present over years of practice and from this presence we then try to practice all kinds of wholesome positive activity and work for the welfare of beings but without this presence doing wholesome things can be defiled and undermined

[16:46]

by some lack of restraint of trying to get something by these good acts. And it's difficult for human beings to understand the performance of good or the performance of enlightenment as opposed to seeking the good or seeking enlightenment. Seeking the good sounds, it sounds good, but actually the proposal here is that performing the good is more effective than seeking the good. Now, right now, perform the good. Right now, perform enlightenment.

[17:48]

Right now, be present for the welfare of all beings. Right now, be generous towards all beings. Right now, care for your greatest aspiration by being present with it, which means not trying to get anything from it or being afraid of losing anything from it or with it. And be patient with this moment. And calm down with this moment. And open to the wisdom of the moment. Not some other wisdom than this wisdom. This wisdom. This one. And if your mind gives rise to a thought like this wisdom is really good or not so good, then be present with that thought.

[19:07]

Be generous towards that thought that this couldn't be wisdom or this really is wisdom. Or I don't know where the wisdom is. Be present with the thought, I would like to understand what wisdom is. I came upon a piece of paper, fell out of a book on bodhisattva ethics. it's a story a story about a master musician a Japanese musician a flautist somebody who is a master of playing the flute and he went to China to

[20:27]

no he went to China and while he was there he he found a new flute that had been devised in China and he brought it back he brought a number of them back and together with the method of making them He lived in the capital of Japan, and I don't know whether this was, at what time in history this was, whether it was Nara, Kyoto, or Tokyo. But he lived in the capital, and he traveled around Japan doing recitals with this flute to make the instrument known throughout Japan. And on one occasion he went to a music center a long way from the capital and he was introduced as the last performance of an annual concert which a guild of musicians was giving.

[21:54]

So this master musician sat in the center of a great gathering of musicians and music lovers just like now you are sitting in the center of a great gathering of meditators and lovers of meditation. Some of you may feel that you wish to be meditators. Some of you may feel that you are meditators. And some of you might just be fans of meditators. Fans of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

[23:05]

Yay, Buddha. So he sat at such a center. And he played one melody on the new flute. When he was finished, he sat still. And the whole assembly sat still. After some time, the oldest master musician said, Beyond beauty. transcending all praise.

[24:08]

The next day, before the master left the town, the guild of musicians asked him whether he would accept a pupil from among their ranks. They would gather themselves a sum of money needed for his training. They discussed how long would the training be in the case of a student who was already expert on the flute. About three years, it was agreed that they should choose one person to learn the new flute so that he could come back and teach it to the others. They selected a young man or a young woman.

[25:21]

Probably one of the two. A brilliant musician. And she set off for the master's house with money entrusted to him part for an honorarium to the master and part for living expenses. When he arrived he gave the master the honorarium and set to work. The master gave him only one piece He practiced it all day and played it to the master in the evening. At first, he was given considerable technical instruction. But after a few months, the master made no comment except, not yet,

[26:31]

The young woman redoubled her efforts. But the comment remained the same. Not yet. She knew she was technically perfect. But she. Could not return without the certificate. Of the master of mastery. Sealed by the teacher. She was in agony. Alternately elated by the hope of success. And then tense at the thought of the disgrace. If she failed. She asked that the tune be changed.

[27:44]

She asked that the form of training be changed. But the master would not do it. After a long time, the pupil gave up in despair, and one night he slipped out of the house. He could not face the guild of musicians in his hometown without the teacher's certificate, and he took lodgings in the town. He tried practicing other tunes on the new flute, but he felt himself that there was still something lacking.

[28:48]

Though he could not find out what it was, he began to drink heavily and finally came to the end of his money. She drifted back. And reading this story, I thought, it's kind of unfair that people feel it's okay for men to drift around not knowing what they're doing, but that women can't. It's okay for men to go around in tatters, but not okay for women, some people feel. So I'd like to say she drifted back as a semi-beggar to her own part of the country, but was too ashamed to show herself

[30:08]

to the musicians. They made no attempt to get in touch with her. She lived in a little hut well away from the towns. Some neighborhood farmers had heard the flute and sent their children to him to take beginners lessons he still occasionally played the new flute but without being able to find any new inspiration in it early one morning two messengers came to him from the guild of musicians They found him.

[31:09]

One was the oldest past master and the other the youngest apprenticed. Today, we are holding our annual assembly and we beg you, every one of us, to take part. The past has never been. There is only today. We ask you you today to join us. We are all resolved that we will not hold our assembly without you. They overcame his feeling of shame and he picked up a flute and went with them. as if in a dream. When they arrived, he sat fearfully in the shadow of a pillar in the hall.

[32:19]

No one broke in on his thoughts. At last, the last item on the concert, the announcer called his name. And in his tattered clothes, he went out and sat in the center, He found that the instrument he had picked up was one of the new flutes. Now he had nothing to gain, nothing to lose. He played the piece which he had played so many times to his teacher in the Capitol. When he finished, There was silence. No one moved. Then finally, the voice of the old past master was heard in the still air.

[33:27]

Beyond beauty, transcending all praise. We can speak about suffering. We can think of it and know it through our thinking. we can have painful thoughts and we can have painful speech and painful posture we can speak a bodhisattva training and we can say that these three bodhisattva ethical trainings

[34:43]

the performance of enlightenment these the practice of the ethics of restraint is not seeking anything it is an exercise in not seeking anything it is therefore the performance of enlightenment to sit and speak or be silent without seeking anything is the performance, is the ritual performance of enlightenment. And I propose to you that there's no other enlightenment than the ritual performance of enlightenment. And I can say that. But I'm also being silly because I'm talking about something which cannot be spoken.

[35:48]

And those who have realized this enlightenment for the welfare of all beings, which is beyond anything they could say or we can say, they speak to us so that we can realize what is beyond their speech. boundless, endless, beginningless, inconceivable freedom and happiness of Buddha's enlightenment. We speak of it even though it's beyond our speech. And I feel silly doing so. but I become used to feeling silly so I can continue to perform a practice someone gave me a note a few days ago which was something like

[37:14]

Respectfully addressing me, he said, how does bodhisattva ethics practice relate to zazen? Zazen is a Japanese way of saying sitting meditation. In Chinese, it's swachang. What is it in Korea? Yeah. That's what it is in Korean. What is the relationship between these bodhisattva ethics trainings and the sitting meditation of the Zen school? And then he said, what's the relation...

[38:19]

of the sitting meditation of the Zen school and the three ethical trainings of bodhisattvas. You may not be surprised for me to say that they are the same thing. But sitting in meditation in this school is bodhisattva training and bodhisattva training is sitting in meditation. Walking in meditation is these three bodhisattva trainings, and these three bodhisattva trainings are walking in meditation. And this meditation is unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment. practice that we practice presence we try to do wholesome action and we try to benefit beings not to seek enlightenment but to perform it we may not be good performers but we attempt to perform enlightenment by these bodhisattva trainings by sitting in meditation training in presence

[39:52]

Sitting in meditation, practicing generosity. Sitting in meditation, being careful. Sitting in meditation, being patient. Not thinking about how much longer we were going to be sitting. Sitting in meditation and noticing that we're thinking about how long the meditation is going to be going on. And confessing that and letting go of that. Until we realize Buddhahood. Sunkiroshi, the founder of Zen Center, said, the job of a Zen priest is to encourage people to practice Zazen. The job of a Zen priest is... That's what he said. Now I'm going to say, the job of a Zen priest is to encourage people to practice sitting meditation of the Buddhas. The job of a Zen priest is to encourage people to practice enlightenment.

[40:55]

The job of a Zen priest is to encourage people to help others. Enlightenment is helping others. Enlightenment is developing all the skills in order to help others. That's the job of a Zen priest, is to encourage people to be enlightened, help others, understand that others are themselves. That's the job. 11 exactly is the time. That would be a good time to stop. All outflows. This is a good time to stop trying to get something out of life and perform enlightenment.

[41:59]

This is a good time to go to the kitchen and make lunch the welfare of all beings I just recently read an article in the New Yorker magazine it was about an American man who I think was from the state of Missouri and he went to Japan some time ago, to practice Zen. People from Missouri go to Japan to practice Zen. Sometimes. And he went there for a while, and in the process he started to... He didn't know any Japanese when he went, but within five years his Japanese got good enough that he got a job as a reporter for the largest...

[43:08]

newspaper in the world that has a subscription of 13 million. Yomiuri Shimbun. And not only did he get a job, and he passed all this, the very rigorous, he's the only Westerner to ever pass the rigorous tests of Japanese language to be able to get a job at this great newspaper. And the type of reporting he did was investigative reporting in crime. And Japan is a highly organized society in many ways, so also their crime is organized. The mafia in its heyday in the West, in America, had 5,000 members. In Japan, the organized crime has 80,000 members. So all the criminals actually had to join these organized groups. There's almost no free-floating... In America, as you know, we have lots of independent operators.

[44:13]

In Japan, these big organizations eliminate the independence. So they have this huge organized crime system. In Japan, it's very influential in the government. And this man investigated it. And I think perhaps at the time of the article, still alive, investigating it. And one of the leading, most influential people in Japan and also most influential criminals is a man whose last name is Goto. And this American, his name is Adelstein, Jake Adelstein. He wrote some articles about this billionaire criminal. And this billionaire criminal... said he was going to kill him. And so now Adelstein is under police protection, but it's kind of low-key police protection.

[45:22]

And he was originally interested in Zen, but now he has now entered Zen training again in order to be somewhat more protected from the organized crime people who... are supposed to, are wanting to kill him. He also has a bodyguard who is a former gangster, who is also his driver. So he's in Zen training because the yakuza, the gangsters in Japan, respect the general sentiment of Japanese society is that... it's really bad karma to kill a Zen priest. And also, this man named Goto has somewhat retired. He was kicked out of his organization. He was kicked out, although he still has great influence.

[46:27]

He was kicked out, and he's also afraid of what they would do with him, so he also is studying to be a Zen priest. So one might think, what is the motivation of these two Zen priests in training? Are they just trying to protect themselves? Or is that just a minor selling point? Jake Adelstein appreciates the Zen teachings, the Buddhist teachings of karma. They make sense to him. But he doesn't believe in reincarnation. And he told his Zen teacher that. And the Zen teacher says, don't worry about that. Zen is not about faith. It's about doing. But when I read that, I thought, well, that's faith in doing.

[47:28]

Zen is about faith, I would say. And I would say all human beings are about faith. We all believe in something. We all think something is good and something else is bad. We all think something's most important. We may not know what we think is most important, but it's in our heart. There's something in our heart which we actually believe is really good, and we really want to live for that. But I think giving the Zen teacher the benefit of the doubt, a better translation of what he said was that Zen is not about seeking something that you believe. It's about performing what you believe. Although my words cannot reach it and never will, I would say

[48:39]

Now that it's past 11 o'clock, I would say that those two people who became Zen priests, who are becoming Zen priests for whatever they say, those two people will become, will realize Buddhahood. And so will every person in this room. Everybody is heading towards supreme, perfect enlightenment. Everybody is, all living beings are asking, are requesting the Buddhist teaching. All living beings are trying to be present and do good and benefit all beings. We're all heading in this direction of complete devotion to all beings. And we will. We're heading in the direction of practicing to realize that aspiration. We're all heading in that direction. No words can reach this place we're heading towards, but that's where we're going.

[49:44]

We're going to the greatest realization that this universe can sponsor. And we're going to enter training in order to get there. Even gangsters are going to enter training. and become great Bodhisattvas and not worry about how long it's going to take in the meantime before we understand that we are going to become Buddha what is our aspiration and what is the training that's appropriate to our aspiration if you have an aspiration and you have some comrades who have similar aspiration you can get together and talk about what kind of training would be appropriate to what you wish to devote your life to each person is room as a slightly different aspiration but it may be that our aspirations are similar enough

[51:07]

so that we can have a similar practice and help each other practice being present practicing good benefiting beings practicing performing enlightenment this is what I came to Zen Center to practice. This is what I've been trying to practice, and this is what I aspire to continue to practice. And I do sometimes get distracted. But I don't change my heart. My aspiration hasn't changed in the 40-some years I've been practicing here. And I feel blessed that this aspiration has arisen, and I'm really joyful to take care of it I'm so happy to take care of it I'm so grateful to you who support me to take care of this aspiration you really help me I hope I help you I want to help you develop your aspiration and become Buddha

[52:33]

And I, again, always try to remember that when we forget, that's part of the process. And then we express our regret and our remorse and our embarrassment to the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas and our co-practitioners. And this is the turning of the wheel of truth. Such a practice is the practice of a Buddha, the practice of confessing, forgetting, is the practice of Buddha. Buddhas don't forget, but the practice of confessing our forgetting is a practice which makes Buddhas. Forgetting isn't the practice of Buddhas. Buddhas don't forget, but bodhisattvas do forget. And the clearer they get about what the training is, the more they notice that they forget. And then they joyfully confess their forgetfulness.

[53:42]

They joyfully confess their regret and embarrassment because they know they're doing the practice of a Buddha, of a Buddha-producing being. By the way, not... Nothing could be finer than to hear the Buddha Dharma in the morning. Nothing could be sweeter than the Buddha when you meet her in the morning. Don't you ever forget that. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. 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 sfzc.org and click giving.

[54:49]

May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[54:52]

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