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. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming to Green Gulch. No? Yeah. May I? Sure. How's that? Well, we'll see how this mic functions with me. Good morning again and welcome those of you who are streaming the Dharma Talk and those of you who've come to Green Gulch on this beautiful spring day.

[01:01]

A Green Gulch spring day, foggy, cold, chilly. This morning I wanted to talk about with you a teaching that's put forward in a number of places, but in one place is the Avatamsaka Sutra, the flower ornament scripture or flower garland. And this scripture I'm studying with a group of people led by Tenshin Roshi, and he's beginning to offer this more widely, I think, in different venues.

[02:06]

The scripture itself is... very long, very large scripture, and it basically expresses the mind of Buddha and the mind of Buddha helping sentient beings, manifesting and helping sentient beings. However, it does so in ways that are very challenging, I'm finding. So I'm just going to take one small teaching from this huge scripture that was also taken as a koan in our koan collection, the Book of Serenity, Case 67, takes this teaching, just a paragraph, and

[03:14]

puts that forth for us as a koan, as something out of compassion for us to turn and look at and learn by heart. So before I enter that, I just wanted to say a few words about the last six months or so. was invited to lead the Tazahara Practice Period Zen Mountain Center and have been gone from Green Gulch. I was gone for a full three months plus some vacation time, so I haven't given a talk here since November or December of last year. In the Tazahara Practice Period, the theme of the practice period through studying a particular chapter of a work.

[04:21]

The chapter of Dogen's was called Bowing to the Marrow. And so the practice period, we looked at the practice of bowing itself and practice bowing. There was the offering of the possibility of doing 108 boughs every morning before zazen, which lots of people took up as a practice, either coming to the zendo before the wake-up bell, or doing it in their cabins, or if not, early in the morning, later in the day. So we practice 108 boughs. And there were many teaching stories about bowing and the practice of bowing and the importance of bowing. Which I wanted to say a few words about as well.

[05:27]

And just briefly, coming back from Tazahara in April, I took some time visiting family. And during that time, While I was away, I got a phone call from my son about my husband, Steve Weintraub, who had been in a serious bicycle accident in West Marin near Olima. And I was in Vermont. I was on the East Coast, or not coast, but far away. And the first thing my son said was, Dad's not going to die. Just hearing those words, it was like, okay, I'm ready. Tell me. And as Steve describes it, it was like a hair's breadth deviation while he was riding the bicycle.

[06:31]

He was on a route he's done many times, Green Gulch to Point Reyes and back. Coming down near Olema, this wonderful hill, From his, how he tells it is, he was going too fast, but just a little too fast. And when the curve came, he wasn't able to make the turn and went off the road. And then, through the kindness of strangers, people who were driving and saw it, people stopped. The paramedics came, the fire department, police department, and he was... taken to Olima and helicoptered to the trauma center in Walnut Creek in the East Bay, about an hour and a half from Green Gulch, with punctured lung and broken ribs, broken clavicle, fractured vertebrae, and just...

[07:38]

And no head injury and nothing that he couldn't recover from. So that experience of hearing the news, being far away, and traveling back, not that I could do anything besides be present, was practicing with that. which for all of us, you all probably have your own story of getting a phone call or a doctor's diagnosis or coming upon an accident. This is our life together. This is our shared life. Yes, I know. I know you want to go out. I wonder if we... Should we open more doors? I don't know what will be helpful. Come, come, come.

[08:43]

Anyway. So there's a poem just I wanted to recite. Kind of about the practice of meeting whatever comes. And Steve was very present. He didn't get involved in why me and everything had to stop, all our vacation plans and his work and my work and no regrets or just what's next. How do we meet this? So this is a poem by Dogen, which seemed very apt for me. and also for this season, for this season. The bright green color of the peach and plum trees, so shining and lustrous, manifesting in these very branches the same spring of hundreds of generations.

[09:56]

It is foolish to despise what is close by. Or to value something that is far away. Right now. Remove all doubts. By seeing what you see. And hearing what you hear. I'm going to read it again. I used to be able to recite it. The bright green color of the. peach and plum trees so shining and lustrous, manifesting in these very branches the same spring of hundreds of generations. It is foolish to despise what is close by or to value something far away. Right now, remove all doubts.

[10:59]

By seeing what you see and hearing what you hear, So I find that a kind of wonderful admonition or practice teaching for not just everyday life, but our Zazen practice, of course, and all of our encounters, all of our activities. despising what's close by, and grass is always greener, and I wish it wasn't, and why me? And, you know, I'm, I have the worst luck, or all of that can be just, right now, just see what you see, and hear what you hear, and meet, and accord with the conditions of your life, whatever, whatever is being,

[12:05]

and being offered. So I really felt Steve practiced in that way, just meeting the situation and no wasting time with poor me or denigrating I'm so stupid or things that people sometimes do. And just to let you know, he's doing great. He's recovering. Slowly, slowly, it's going to take months probably, but he can do daily activities. He started driving and taking down the compost and, you know, daily life. But for a while there was, you know, he needed a lot of support. So just now we chanted three different things. three times, a verse or a gatha in Sanskrit, verse is gatha, G-A-T-H-A, gatha.

[13:13]

And in the gatha, there's probably, for some of you, some of you know, but some words you may not know what they are. One word is tathagatha, and another word is kalpa. So, This verse is, and we're doing it three times now, which is a new practice, helps us to focus on the Dharma words that are coming through whoever the speaker is that day, or the Dharma words that are coming through you and occurring for you and rising up for you. Because each one of you is having your own unique... your own unique meeting with these words, and also your own bodies, and this room, and this bird.

[14:16]

So in the gatha we say, an unsurpassed, penetrating, and perfect dharma. And I don't think that's... that each person who speaks here has, you know, some ultra-perfect understanding or way of teaching or anything. It's the Dharma itself is unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect. And it's rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kalpas. And this reminds me of different sutras that... measure things in ways that are beyond our human, beyond our ken, outside of our ability. And a kalpa, just to tell you, if you don't know, is the time it takes for a hundred mile high iron mountain, hundred, you know, John is maybe some measurement, but a hundred miles, let's say, high iron mountain that once

[15:29]

Every hundred years, a little bird, maybe this bird, flies by with a piece of silk in its mouth and runs it across the top of the mountain. How long it takes for that mountain to be worn down to the ground is one kelpa. So, you know, our mind begins to kind of reel. You know, it's like we can't imagine it. But we also can't imagine, really. how far away the galaxies are in the sun even, right? We can imagine it, but it's kind of beyond our ability to grasp and hold it conceptually. So the Dharma is rarely met within a hundred thousand million kalpas. Wow. And then having it to see and listen to. So having... This chance to hear the teaching.

[16:31]

And not just hear, but to remember. So it comes in through the ears or if we're reading through the eyes. And then we remember, we reflect and turn it around. These are different kinds of wisdom. Hearing, reflecting on, remembering. Having it to see and listen to remember. and accept. And then there's a vow at the end, which all of you who chanted said, I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words. And the Tathagata, that word, Sanskrit, means the thus come one. It's an epithet. It's one of the titles or one of the Names of respect and praise for the Buddha is Tathagata.

[17:34]

And it comes from the Sanskrit Tathata, which is thus come. Thus come and thus go. So this is another name for the Buddha. Or Buddha nature, you could say, even. Or suchness, or thusness. The Thus Come One. The Tathagatan. So that brings me to this Koan 67 in the Book of Serenity. And the Koan takes this... paragraph, as I said before, from the Avatamsaka Sutra, and puts forth this teaching.

[18:38]

It's, you know, those of you who have studied koans or read them, often there's a dialogue. There can be a dialogue with a teacher. There can be, you know, an anecdote, a story, or a teaching from scripture, or So koans, as the case, the case for a koan can be a lot of different things. It doesn't have to always be these dialogues, either short or long. It can be a pithy saying. In this case, it's from the Avatamsaka Sutra. And I'll read the case. The flower... Ornament scripture says, and this is the Buddha speaking. This is a chance to hear the utmost right and perfect teaching really rarely heard as an encouragement to your whole life.

[19:44]

Are you ready? I now see all sentient beings everywhere. fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the enlightened ones. But because of false conceptions and error and attachments, they do not realize it. That's the case. And that's the teaching. So this is the Buddha. And the Buddha says this in a couple different places. In the Maha Pari Nirvana Sutra, it's said that he said something like this, not in English, of course, upon awakening under the Bodhi tree. Marvelous, marvelous, wonderful, wonderful.

[20:46]

All beings and the great earth are completely and thoroughly enlightened. That was his enlightenment. That included all of us and the great earth. except for their delusions and illusions, they don't realize it. So that's this goal, this teaching for us. And I'm going to read it again. I now see all sentient beings everywhere. This is, you might say, oh, no, no, you can't mean so-and-so because, or, you know, we might, begin to discriminate and pick and choose and gauge whose... No. This teaching is all beings. I now see all sentient beings everywhere fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the enlightened ones.

[21:50]

But because of false conception, And attachments, they do not realize it. So this is the Book of Serenity pulling this paragraph out of the Avatamsaka Sutra. So in the Avatamsaka Sutra, I found the place where they drew that from. It's in Chapter 37 called, manifestation of Buddha. And before I read that, because I don't want to just do lots of reading, I wanted to say something more about what we studied in Tassajara, which was the importance of bowing

[22:53]

and how that practice supports our practice of sitting, our practice of wisdom and compassion. There's a quote from Suzuki Roshi Zen Center's founder who says, someone asked, and there often is resistance to bowing. When you're first introduced to it, if you come, for Zazen instruction and you're showing, you know, we bow to the cushion and away. We bow all in a practice place. There's many, many opportunities for bowing. There's altars that allow us to stop and show respect for the practices of everyday life in front of the bathhouse, bathrooms. at the kitchen altar, and of course in the meditation hall.

[23:55]

And also when you go to speak with someone, there is bowing, which expresses one's respect, one's gratitude. And Suzuki Roshi, when asked about bowing, I think the person said, why do we bow to the Buddha? And he said, because there is no Buddha, we bow to the Buddha. which I think baffled the person probably, I'm not sure. What was Suzuki Roshi pointing to or expressing? So this teaching from the Ava Tam Saka Sutra that I now see that all everywhere, sentient beings everywhere, are completely endowed with the wisdom of the enlightened ones.

[24:58]

Meaning, there's no... sentient beings and Buddhas are not two. Except for these attachments and conceptions, they don't realize it. But it's not that it's not true. So when we bow to Buddha... And I want to say something about that bowing. There's a verse that expresses this that was given probably to Dogen. Dogen is the founder of this school in Japan whose teacher was in China. And that teacher gave him a verse, which is translated different ways. During this practice period at Tazahara, when I was doing the 108 bows every morning, I would also do this bowing gatha, this verse. And this is the verse, the one who is bowing, the one who is bowed to, their nature, no nature, my body, others' bodies, not two.

[26:14]

plunging into the inexhaustible vow, with a V, living in harmony with all. So this is a bowing verse, where right there while you're bowing to another person or a practice figure, we have the wonderful Bodhisattva of Compassion, Jizo Bodhisattva, the tall one behind me, And right behind me, I'm sorry, my back is to these practice figures, is Tara Buddha, who is also a compassion figure, a green Tara, who is fast-acting, you can call for help. When you bow to, let's say, a practice figure, or your neighbor, or bowing to your cushion, or into the room when you come in, the one who is bowing, the one who is bowed to their nature, no nature, meaning no separate objectifiable phenomena here.

[27:28]

Their nature, there's no separate self. There's just a Buddha nature, interconnectedness, thusness, tathagata, the thus come one, whatever form that's taking. So the one who was bowing, the one who was bowed to their nature, no nature. That no is kind of wisdom speak. You know, it's the kind of, when you put no, often it means no separateness. Or the teaching of interconnectedness or emptiness. Know something out there. So the one who was bowing, the one who was bowed to their nature, no nature. My body, others' bodies, not two.

[28:29]

It's a very strict and difficult teaching and kind of amazing teaching. Who I'm bowing to is not separate from me. Whether it's a being or a practice figure or a sentient being of all kinds, like this bird. Did it just go out? No. I heard it calling. My body, others' bodies, not to... So this, to me, this practice of bowing also works with our conceptions, these false conceptions and attachments like to I, me, and mine and possessions and stuff and fame and gain and all the attachments.

[29:38]

In this koan, it's saying all sentient beings, without exception, have the wisdom of the Buddhists, except they don't realize it. How come? Because there's attachments and false conceptions. The basic false conception is separateness. I'm separate rather than I am. completely interdependent with all beings, past, present, and future. These are very basic Buddhist teachings that we've maybe heard many, many times, and somehow noting that in our bowing, my body, others' bodies, not two. And then the last line is, plunging into the inexhaustible vow. And for many years, I have trouble hearing the difference between B's and V's.

[30:44]

So I thought it was plunging into the inexhaustible vow since it was a bowing verse. But no, it's the inexhaustible vow living in harmony with all. And that inexhaustible vow is the vow, is the bodhisattva vow to live for the benefit of beings. which are not separate from us. So we're included, even. And living in harmony with all beings. That doesn't mean complacency, living in harmony. It means according with condition. And being a person of suchness. or a person of thusness. I wanted to say a little bit more about this word, thusness, or suchness.

[31:49]

It's the Tathagata. So, in the Avatamsaka Sutra and commentary on it, the word Buddha itself, in the sutra, is commonly used for thusness, or suchness, or the reality, rather than a specific Shakyamuni Buddha who taught, and it's more the reality body of the Buddha, or thusness, suchness. And This reality body of the Buddha, this suchness, manifests in a way for each sentient being in a way that's according to their unique breeze of reality.

[32:55]

They're unique. Each of us are on the path and are unique. We share many, many things, and we also have a unique past, present, future, karmic consciousness. And so this reality body of the Buddha and the teachings take the forms that we can receive according to where we are right this minute, what's going on with us. And, you know, coming out of a Dharma talk, sometimes people say, oh, Not all the time, but sometimes it's wonderful. People say, oh, that was such a wonderful talk. And I always want to know, what was it that you found wonderful or that was useful? And they'll pick out something that I can't even remember saying. It was like not the focus. It wasn't part of what I was thinking was the main kind of topic.

[33:56]

But there's something there that met them uniquely. This just occurred to me. I was leading a sesheen, and I gave this talk. It was about the Lotus Sutra, and I had had a kind of insight, actually, to something, and I was bringing it forth. It was like a fifth day in sesheen, the seven-day retreat, with a lot of, like, warmth and kind of... I guess invested maybe, come to think of it. But anyway, like really wanting to convey something. And then it was time for Q&A. And this person raised their hand after I'd given this, what I felt was really an important teaching, you know. They raised their hand and they said, are we allowed to have pink oreochi cloths? Oreochi is the ceremonial eating thing.

[35:00]

with nested bowls and these cloths. We asked people to have white cloths. Is it okay if we have pink or yoki cloths? And I remember feeling like, whoa, are we in the same Dharma talk? Because I had just, like, thought that something, you know, had gotten passed on there. But anyway, so... Each person receives the teaching through the ears and eyes and body language and uniquely what you need. In the Lotus Sutra, the chapter on Dharma Rain, where the rain comes down and covers the earth, the Dharma Rain, and the shrubs and the trees and the grasses and the flowers, each takes what they need according to their own karmic life. Another name for this is skill in means, where the tathagata, the person of suchness, meets people where they are.

[36:11]

And this is really how the teaching is conveyed. It's not a one-size-fits-all, actually, which sometimes looks like, well, that's contradicting, or I read this, but this looks... So we can ask who... who the Buddha was talking to, that this was the teaching that he gave. Thank you, kitchen. The kitchen is leaving. So, I'll be closing in just a moment and opening for questions and answers, but I just wanted to add something to this. In the Avatthamsaka Sutra, the Buddha says again how one translation is wonderful, another is how strange, how strange, how it is that these sentient beings have the knowledge of the Buddha.

[37:29]

but in their folly and confusion do not know it or perceive it. And then the Buddha says, I should teach them the way of the sages and cause them to forever shed deluded notions and attachments so they can see in their own bodies the vast knowledge of Buddhas, no different from the Buddhas. So the Buddha having this, I now see that everyone, all sentient beings, are filled with the wisdom of the Buddhas, but don't realize that out of that comes this vow to the Bodhisattva vow to save all beings. to bring beings into, to enter the Buddha's way, to help beings to enter the Buddha's way.

[38:38]

This vow comes out of, rather than, oh, well, everybody, so they don't get it, but they really are, so I don't have to worry about it. Because all beings already have the wisdom of the Buddha, so it's all done. But the Buddha sees that they're suffering. There's suffering because of not understanding these teachings and not realizing it and feeling separate and the anxiety and the suffering of loss and the suffering of all the afflictions, jealousy and anger and greed and why me? Pity, you know, pitying oneself. So the Buddha sees and says, I will teach and help. This is the Buddha mind. And I think this is the mind of the Bodhisattva as well. This is the mind of a person of suchness.

[39:40]

So I'm going to end with this. One of our ancestors, the disciple of Dungshan Tozan, the founder of this school, once said, you're trying to attain thusness, yet you already are a person of thusness. As you already are a person of thusness, why worry about thusness? You could say suchness or thus. And Jogen, who comments on many teachings in his chapter called Thusness, Imo in Japanese, he says, it means that one who aspires to suchness, and I would say everybody here, well, how come you're here?

[40:52]

We aspire to live in accord with the way. One who aspires to experience thusness is immediately a person of thusness. And then, because of thusness, you arouse this boundless aspiration for enlightenment, which includes other beings and wanting to help other beings. And then Dogen says, how do I know that you're a person of thusness? You know it because you want to attain thusness. As you already have the face and the eye of a person of thusness, do not worry about thusness now.

[41:54]

Even if you worry, it is thusness. Not to be worried about. So. This. I now see all beings. All beings are persons of thusness. And how do we know? Because we want to practice. And that is not our own separate self. That wish. That aspiring to practice. Comes out of the whole. interconnected web of thusness. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[42:57]

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