Welcome to the Saturday Dharma Talk at San Francisco Zen Center. We're in a seven-day sesheen, and this is the final talk of that seven-day sesheen, or intensive meditation retreat. As such, we will not have a question and answer session at the end of the talk, but today's talk will be given by both of our practice period and sesheen leaders, Christina Lenhair and Paul Heller. I will chant the opening verse and we can begin. An unsurpassed penetrating and perfect dharma is rarely met with even an hundred thousand million galvas having it to see and listen to to remember

[04:36]

except I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. And welcome to the Saturday morning talk. And as Brian said, the final talk of the Shishin and the practice curator. practice period on the refuges that Christina and I have been leading together. As maybe not surprising, these talks during the Shishin have been sort of the main content, the main topic that we've been talking about have been the three refuges. And the commentaries we have in our formal practice on those refuges.

[05:43]

Before all being. Immersing body and mind deeply in the way. Awakening true mind. That's the commentary on taking refuge in Buddha. Taking refuge in Dharma. entering deeply the merciful ocean of Buddha's way. And then the third one, which will be the topic of today, taking refuge in Sangha, bringing harmony to everyone, free from hindrance. I think of Sashim, especially in its initial stages, while we're all trying to recover from the shock of the usual world we live in has changed and obliging us to change along with it.

[06:59]

I think of the initial phases of Shishin as an undoing, an unlearning, that way in which our mind knows exactly what reality is and likes it and dislikes it and plans it and remembers it, comments on it and judges it. Something in all that is undone, unlearned. We immerse in the Buddha way and we enter deeply the merciful ocean. And we realize something around these two quotes. The first one is, there is another world and it's this one.

[08:08]

And then the second quote is, we have two lives. And the second one begins when we realize we have one life. Maybe intellectually, we could say what both those statements are about is reframing how we're considering our life. Maybe we could say it's a radical new relationship to what in the past we've taken for granted, a conscious, awake relationship to it. So in a way, the first two refuges refuge in Buddha, refuge in Dharma, as setting the stage for refuge in Sangha.

[09:17]

I remember many years ago, hearing Thich Nhat Hanh say, maybe the next Buddha will be Sangha. And at the time, I must say, that stirred up within me a certain concept and curiosity. But somehow, in this machine, that phrase has echoed back again in a more substantial and persuasive way. you know, in early Buddhism, the term sangha was a term to describe the ordained men and women who had entered into the practice that we now call Buddhism.

[10:33]

But over the years, over the centuries, and I think maybe we could even say in particular for us living in the western part of the world and the whether what where wherever that is europe and united states mainly are thinking of sangha as an inclusivity that this interesting process we're going through as humans that we're discovering that science is teaching us in a sort of irrefutable way that all life is interconnected no matter what form it's in it's that our well-being is interconnected

[11:35]

I was thinking of a statement by Martin Luther King that, if I remember it correctly, says, Injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere. That mutuality with the singularity is inextricably part of the abundance of interbeing, that it's all included. So what is it to bring harmony? What does that look like? What does that feel like? And I think After this immersion and entering deeply, and something's undone, it's like we're more available.

[12:50]

I started Shashin by reading part of this poem, and I'd like to read again the part that I read before, and then I'd like to continue. reading the poem. To pray, and I added in at that moment of reading it for the first time, to pray, to do zazen, to be zazen, to sit shashin, to enter the present moment, to be aware, any one of those or all of those. To pray, you open your whole self, to sky, to earth, to sun, to moon, to one whole voice that is you. One whole voice, one whole breath, one whole heartbeat, fully present with one thought, fully present with all being, that one whole

[14:08]

voice, that is you. So this undoing, this unlearning, this reframing, this experiencing the world with beginner's mind, it's a very interesting process. Of course, each of us who have been sitting feel the consequences of it. Maybe we will feel lighter. Maybe we'll feel more present. Maybe we will re-enter our version of the world with an eagerness or hesitancy. Who knows?

[15:09]

But I think it's also helpful to recognize that we can't know all the influences that have come to bear on our being through Shushin. In fact, however you spent your week this past week, I would suggest to you, you can't know everything about how it's influenced you. And in the poem, Joy Harjo goes on to say, and know that there's more you can't see, you can't hear, can't know, except in moments of steadily growing and in languages that aren't always sound, but other circles of motion. We can't know how we've been influenced by the week we've just had.

[16:25]

But if we pay attention, we can see it being enacted in how we're being now. And we can remind ourselves that our life exists, our so-called personal life, our so-called individual life, our so-called me, exists as part of a web of existence. It's not just in the realm of injustice and justice, although... That is a very helpful one to keep in mind. A while back when I was reading an article on the war in Ukraine, I read something saying like, oh, and many Russian tanks have been destroyed.

[17:37]

And I had this kind of notion of oh, that's a good thing. And I felt a certain kind of relief and satisfaction. Virtue is triumphant over evil. And then I started to think, ah, but those tanks, those Russian tanks, that were virtuously destroyed. They'd be driven by young men who may have been conscripts or joined the army because their options were very limited. And there they were, driving into a country, maybe reluctantly,

[18:40]

whether they were or were not reluctant. Were they deserving of having their life destroyed? This is our world. For us to reflect upon it. And in our formal practice, we would say, bringing harmony to everyone. At least as an attitude. And when I think of Martin Luther King and many of the wonderful activists today, not simply pausing at just having an attitude or a reflection, but making it a lived expression, bringing harmony to everyone.

[19:54]

This is our challenge. And certainly within the Zen school, We don't take up this challenge because our way of thinking, our way of dividing the world into good and evil is the correct one. And others who disagree with us are deserving of whatever punishment we give them. someone here from Northern Ireland where I grew up and he grew up in a devout Protestant family and I grew up in a devout Catholic family and probably that doesn't mean much to you but to us in in Northern Ireland that is a definitive statement you know

[21:08]

We battled violently. The other guys called Paul, too. Neither Paul nor myself were part of the battling, but our societies were. And yet, in the spaciousness of Zen practice, we look at it together. How could it be? And yet it has, I would say, made all the more relevant bringing harmony to everyone. We've seen what it's like when there isn't harmony. We've seen what it does to a society. And then for each of us,

[22:13]

to do like a personal inventory. Where do I hold negative thoughts and feelings? Against who? And how tenacious are they? Is there something still for me to unlearn, to undo, that I can be more available? And I'd suggest to you that as we take that up, that practice, it softens our mind. impulse to judge others for their ways of holding on to fixed views and negative feelings.

[23:25]

It seems to be part of the human condition to do such things. And we're all in it together, and we are challenged to resolve it together. In this interrelatedness, this is where we will find harmony. And when I think that way, I think, oh, is that what Tikhar Han meant when he said the next Buddha will be Sangha? Could it be that when we approach global warming when we approach approach you know structural racism when we approach you know the inequities of our economic system when we approach the wars of the world when we approach the kind of

[24:43]

we're experiencing now in the many wars the the tribalism of global politics any or all of them can we approach them as our formal saying is without hindrance the root of the word hindrance It's like there's a wall that's keeping us walled in. It's like knocking down the walls that keep us walled in to a limited way of thinking, acting, associating with me and mine versus them. And I'd like to read, I'm going to pass it over to Christina in a moment.

[25:51]

And I'd like to read another part of this poem by Joy Harjo. It's called The Ego Poem, by the way. Can't know except in moments steadily growing, and in languages that aren't always sound but other circles of motion, like Eagle, that Sunday morning over Salt River, circled in blue sky and wind, swept our hearts clean with sacred wings. We see you, see ourselves, and know that we must take the utmost care and kindness with all things. We see you, we see ourselves, and know that we must take up the utmost care and kindness with all things.

[26:57]

Breathe in, knowing we are made of all this. And breathe, knowing that we're truly blessed because we were born and die soon within the true circle of motion. White eagle, grinding like the morning inside us. We pray that it will be done in beauty, in beauty. Joy, Arjuna. I take refuge in Sangha. Before all being, bringing harmony to everyone, free from hindrance. Thank you. Over to you, Christina. Thank you, Paul. Thank you for setting the stage so beautifully and with such a broad brushstroke.

[28:08]

I have been thinking about the same thing about taking refuge in Sangha. And what has come to my mind, sorry, For a moment, I'm going to gallery view because I only see myself. That was very inspiring. Well, now much better. Thank you all for being here. What I keep discovering in new ways and continuously is that we have... a wonderful situation as human beings. And that is that the cells of our bodies actually live in interbeing. They know deeply about interbeing.

[29:13]

They are never outside of interbeing. It's mostly our... The floor, if I think of the mind as a building, it has different floors. And one of the floors is the floors where language and concepts live. And a lot of us spend an enormous amount of our time on that floor. This kind of riveted to it, thinking about the future, thinking about the past. being disturbed in that by what we actually have to do, and then immediately going back to thinking about the future or the past. Our bodies live in the present. Sometimes something gets awoken that's from the past, but our bodies are always exactly where our life is happening.

[30:15]

It's never happening somewhere else than where our body is. We had just recently one of our residents tested positive for COVID, which then changed again how we moved in the building, that we were wearing masks again. And the group of people, the kitchen crew, who the person was a member of, was kind of limited in their actions. They were not permitted to come sit with us in the meditation hall. They were not allowed to come sit with us in the dining room. We barely saw them in the hallways. And we could feel it. It was like we had lost some limbs. The body of the residents and the practice period that shares the space here at City Center

[31:20]

becomes an energetic body that includes everybody. And we become very interestingly, very intimate with each other, with barely knowing anything about our personal lives. Our bodies become intimate with the other bodies. So this morning, they start to reappear. And it's such a joy to see Claire, to see Ariane, to see Sasha, to see Rin May in person again and bow to them, be able to bow to them. It's like, oh, your whole body again. And it's bittersweet because tonight the practice period will end and this body will change its shape. Because a lot of us are going to leave and go back home to where we have come from to spend this time together with the practice student.

[32:31]

I also have a memory of many years ago, 1993, I had a surgery. And I had a full anesthesia. And somehow must have been a little too strong for my body because I was in the recovery room and I could hear everything. And I could hear them yelling at me, yelling my name. And I felt to respond, my voice would have to travel like 5,000 miles. It was like... Too much effort. I was totally fine where I was. I had no need to go anywhere. And they kept yelling and they kept yelling and I kept thinking, you don't have to be so loud, but the distance is too much. I didn't feel any, not drawn to travel with my voice that distance.

[33:42]

During the same time, there was Another being I didn't see was behind curtain also in the recovery. And he had some trouble breathing. So I heard the nurse talk to him and say, no, you get enough oxygen, you are okay. So in my mind, I knew he was okay. When he became anxious, my body became anxious. I was like plugged into his thumb. When he felt he was not sure if he got enough oxygen, my body felt like it's not sure if he gets enough oxygen. He went back and forth. I knew in my head that my body was totally connected to what was going on in his cells. So they brought in my boyfriend at the time, whom I was living for many years, a practitioner, Taiyo. an absolutely good-hearted, kind person who would always tell him all your troubles, everybody a gringo, he would always say, how can I help?

[34:54]

What can I do? So he had a big sense of interconnection and sangha to call me back, and it succeeded. They felt it needs something, but... brings me back because I probably would have been okay staying there for the rest of for a long time. So this physical knowing of the body, this cellular knowing about interconnection of actually living through interconnection is what I've been thinking about. What can we do to move forward in our everyday life. And ritual came to mind, which is creating a ritual that is an embodiment of an intention that actually involves your body and also involves the energetic truth that our bodies are interconnected, that giving something a shape,

[36:09]

A form like bowing or offering flowers or incense or sitting in meditation or chanting something or is creating an energetic field container for energy in which transformation may occur. And it can express our wishes. For the well-being of all beings. Our wishes to contribute to the harmony of all beings. And it will create a refuge for you. It will create a tangible manifestation of your intention. And it will spread through the world.

[37:11]

and other bodies will feel that energy. Like we are all profoundly affected what's going on in the world, and we have to actually remember not to numb ourselves. You know, when we started the practice period, we created a peace service, and Paul said, I mentioned Ukraine, and he said that was good for that one time, but then he said for our everyday, noon service, we have a meditation that sends out our wishes to people that are suffering. And he said, it's important not to just say Ukraine, there is Yemen, there are all these other places which we then forget, but are still affected by. So Ukraine just topped all the others and shocked us out. Also, probably because it's in Europe, so it kind of feels closer to home, certainly to me.

[38:18]

But I think to the whole world, it's like, wow, this is another dimension of warfare. But for the people that are affected, it's not another dimension. It's always their total life that's affected. So we have been every day, we have been chanting the loving kindness meditation. And I will ask the online person to put it back up on the, put it with the talk later online. So you can all have it. We did it once during the practice period, but for you who are maybe here for the first time, later when you go and want to, look or listen to the talk again, you might find it there.

[39:20]

I hope it's possible. Because it's a wonderful instruction. Because it tells us how to live, what are the key points of living in harmony with all beings. And they are... gladden our hearts and they gladden our bodies when we read them because deep inside, that's who we truly are. If we were all awake, this is how we would naturally live. They're not foreign tools we have to acquire. They're actually how our human awake heart would be all the time if it wasn't so covered up by conditioning. And so I want to read a little bit from it.

[40:23]

And many of us now know it by heart because we've done it so often. Let one be strenuous, upright and sincere without pride, easily contented and joyous. Let one not be submerged by the things of the world. I think that's really important that we pay attention. And as Thich Nhat Hanh always said so clearly, you know, not intoxicating mind and body, self and others is one of our Buddhist precepts. He said, we have to pay attention to everything we take in. Also news, how much news are we listening to? When do they start to overwhelm and become undigestible to us?

[41:24]

And can we then refrain from taking them in or be on a healthy diet about them? Let one not be submerged by the things of the world. Let one not take upon oneself the burden of riches. That too is so... Tangible to me. When we travel, when I traveled in countries where people have very little, they just had enough to live by, I was always overwhelmed with their generosity. They knew about what's needed for living and they had enough, they shared it with you generously. And here we are hoarding our, in our culture, the hoarding of our resources and the being afraid that we don't have enough is creating a stinginess. So let one not take upon oneself the burden of riches.

[42:30]

Let one not desire great possessions even for one's family. Let one do nothing that is mean or that the wise will prove. May all beings be happy. May they be joyous and live in safety. All living beings, whether weak or strong, in high or middle or low realms of existence, small or great, visible or invisible, near or far, born or to be born, may all beings be had. What I love about this is we can feel it. We can feel in our body what that is like when it's like that.

[43:32]

And we can apply this also to our inner multitude of beings that we all carry. We have babies inside us and wise people and handicapped people and harmed. We have so many aspects that we can apply that to ourselves, to whatever we experience as an expression of this being. Let no one deceive another, nor despise any being in any state. Let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another. So for me, this dovetails so beautifully with what Paul has been sharing with you. Even as a mother, at the risk of her life what she's over and protects her only child, So with a boundless mind should one cherish all living things, suffusing love over the entire world, above, below, and all around, without limit.

[44:53]

And our hearts are capable. That's actually our true human nature. That capacity lives in each one of us. That's when Ignatant says, I take refuge in Buddha in myself. Helping in their culture, that's how they say it. So that helps to kind of stop us from thinking, oh, it's somewhere else. I have to get there rather than I have to just... on some level, relax enough so that this can be felt from within because it's living within us. So I would like to really encourage all of you, if you haven't already, a little ritual that you find one in your life and engage it with your body and manifest it, give it a shape.

[45:58]

Give it a sound. Give it a smell with an incense. Just see how that supports you to return to your true self and feel connected to the universe, to everything that's in it. And to also feel you have some agency. You tap into that interconnection and into being. That's having... agency, having a way to influence the world, even though it's not visible, but it's tangible, it's felt, it can be felt. And I want to share one more experience I had once at Tassajara. So Suzuki Roshi's son, Boitsu Roshi, would come for many years, once a year to Tasahura to sit the Sesshi.

[47:00]

He said he didn't like to sit Sasa and didn't like to sit Sesshi, but he came to Tasahura to sit Sesshi. And he's a wonderful, wonderful person. When he walked on the path, he would always suddenly make a skip. You know, he was so joyful. He would walk and skip and then walk and then skip like a child. And he's a fantastic artist and a very joyful being. And so one day he's the officiant priest in the Sendua Tassahora and we are doing evening service, and he is the officiating priest, bowing, going up to the altar, offering incense, returning, bowing, and we're all standing there chanting the Daihi Shindran. And all of a sudden, all the Daihi Shindranis that have ever been chanted in this universe, and all the ones that will be chanted in the future,

[48:14]

were chanting now. I was in that space where all the past and all the future, the Iranis in this world were happening. The moment I noticed that, I was outside. The moment I went, wow, look at that, I was again in the world of separation. But it was a moment of realizing, and it keeps influencing me to this day and will continue to inform me through the rest of this life on this planet in this form. So to know also that what we do now has repercussion. I can't get the word.

[49:15]

Anyway, it has influences in all directions, backwards, forward, but it's happening in the present, but the present includes everything. So a ritual also helps you come together, gather yourself in a present moment, which is when your life or each of our lives is happening. It's the only moment our lives are happening, is now, now. So I want to send you off with those wishes that you find something that does it for you, sitting in a chair and looking at the tree in front of your window, seeing how it changes through the season or doing a more elaborate thing. But that gives you a place to return to. place of refuge, a place of intentionality that is enacted with your body, that's not just happening on the floor of language and concepts, but involves your body, which is absolutely intimate, has complete knowledge of the interbeing of all things.

[50:34]

Thank you very much. taking refuge in Sangha, bringing harmony to everyone free from hindrance, together with all beings. Thank you. our ino can't oh sorry okay they are intention equally extend to every being and place with the true merit of buddha's way beings are numberless

[51:38]

I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Thank you all for coming. The folks in 300 Page Street, the next period of meditation will begin at 1120. Until then, you may have a bathroom break or join walking meditation in the meditation hall. But the next period of meditation will be at 1120. Thank you.

[52:34]

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