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. There's a few things I want to talk about with you today. And one is, I think, a rather difficult teaching. It's really the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. difficult and wonderful, both. So I'll find my way to that teaching with some examples and koans, koan, a koan, and yeah, some stories. I wanted to start this morning by noting, by mentioning, by commemorating that yesterday, February 19th, was the 80th year, the anniversary of Executive Order 9066 that Roosevelt signed.

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1942, which authorized the surveillance, displacement, and incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese people living in the United States. And two-thirds of those people were American citizens. who one would expect would be protected by the laws of the land and the constitution, etc. Yes, so this incarceration was solely based on ethnicity and fear. of various kinds and lack of trust.

[02:35]

And a vast majority of those 120,000 people were Buddhist. Just to think about that for a moment. The Japanese internment was not something that was taught to me in history class. I learned it as an adult. Maybe the same with you. or maybe it's more known now, but Duncan Ryokan Williams, who's a professor and a Zen priest who's spoken here, wrote a book called American Sutra, which studies what happened in depth with stories and accounts. And his book, right at the beginning in the prologue, it starts out with a poem written by the Zen teacher Nyogen Senzaki.

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Nyogen Senzaki had been living in Los Angeles teaching... kind of an unusual teacher. He didn't have any successors. He wasn't dharma transmitted and didn't pass on to a successor, but he taught and he was gathered up in this roundup. And this is the poem that he wrote called Parting. It was written May 7th, 1942. Thus, Have I heard? Just to stop for a moment, as you may know, that's the beginning of the traditional beginning of sutras, all the sutras from whatever school. If they're a sutra, they start off, thus have I heard, which is the Buddhist Jisha Ananda, who was at every talk and learned them by heart.

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He recited for others later after the Buddha died. So they all start off, thus have I heard. So that's Yogan Senzaki's poem starts out, thus have I heard. The army ordered all Japanese faces to be evacuated from the city of Los Angeles. This homeless monk, has nothing but a Japanese face. He stayed here 13 springs, meditating with all faces from all parts of the world and studied the teaching of Buddha with them. Wherever he goes, he may form other groups. inviting friends of all faces, beckoning them with the empty hands of Zen.

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He lived, by the way, 1876 to 1958, Yogan Senzaki, and he was born in Siberia. This is just part of his biography, and was found as a baby or a little toddler baby next to his mother, who had frozen to death. And a Japanese monk found him, and he was trained as a Japanese monk. that part of our history, history of ignorance, delusion, fear, cruelty, brutality, I would say.

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Nyogen Senzaki, before they built concentration camps, was taken with thousands, like 18,002 people. places where a horse race, Santa Ana, I think, and they lived in stalls, etc. So I don't want to dwell on the cruelty and what people went through, but I didn't want to not bring it up. And this flows into this teaching of the Lotus Sutra that I want to bring up. That is, as I said at the beginning, Not an easy teaching and very strict in a certain way. Before I go to that, I just want to read what's on Yoga and Senzaki's tombstone. Friends in Dharma, be satisfied with your own heads.

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Do not put on any false heads above your own. Then minute after minute, watch your steps closely. Always keep your head cold and your feet warm. These are my last words to you. That's a Zazen instruction. Head cold, feet warm. So the kicking that's hard, I think, and wonderful from the Lotus Sutra is that there is just one path, universal path, that we are all on together. Nobody is excluded.

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Nobody is like, there isn't any beyond the pale or some place where no, you don't get to be. And I, This is a difficult teaching because immediately you can bring up, but wait a minute, what about all this cruelty and brutality and, you know, the perpetuating of war and genocide and racial et cetera, et cetera. How can you say that? How can the Lotus Sutra say that? Recently, someone was telling me how terrible they think they are and how terrible their zazen is.

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And also, they confess they don't even want to sit zazen anymore. They don't like it. They can't imagine sitting as a sheen or one day sitting and they feel horrible, you know, because, you know, it's somebody who's been practicing for a while. And as we say in the Fugan Zazengi, you know, in general, this world and other worlds, both in India and China, equally hold the Buddha's seal, which is, overall pervades the character of this school, which is total devotion to a movable sitting. So this person knows this well, has chanted this thousands of times, and then to feel like, I can't sit and I don't want to sit. And then how the conflict of that is just,

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tearing them to shreds almost, you know. So this was, you know, it was not an easy conversation. There's no easy fix, like, well, have you tried yada? Yeah, like trying to fix it, you know, or this person has practiced long enough, and this is what it's come to for all people. Who knows all the causes and conditions? I think there's physical things, there's mental, emotional things, there's... And sometimes Zazen, sitting cross-legged Zazen, that kind of Zazen, is counter-indicated. For certain kind of depressive states or certain kind of difficulties, one becomes re... sometimes so it's even zazen we can't say oh zazen you know some universal panacea even though there's universal instructions for it it may not be the time for someone to sit or to continue sitting and they have to know this however whether you sit zazen or not

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whether you get up to sit and your partner or friend doesn't, that is not what's important here, what we should be focusing on in terms of measurement or quality of a person's life or whether they're, you know, In the one vehicle. Or on the one path. Everyone is on the one path. This is the Lotus Sutra. And you can't get off it either. So. This. For us to look at that teaching, to study that, and see and notice whether either the judgments are about ourself or other beings, we are measuring who's right and who's wrong.

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It's such a big, vast, covers everything teaching, which is, I think, why the Lotus Sutra is so revered, really, because it is... All inclusive. No one is left out. And in the Lotus Sutra, I think by way of illustrating this, there's the chapter which was added a little later in the creating of the Lotus Sutra over a number of hundreds of years. There's a chapter about Devadatta. Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin. And they, which happens sometimes with family members, There was some, I think on Devadatta's part, some envy and some jealousy of the Buddha and some ill will. There was a harboring of ill will to such an extent that Devadatta planned to try and kill the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, his own cousin.

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It's like, how bad can it get, right? And he sent a wild elephant who had been, I think, frothed up and angered, sent it to go and trample the Buddha who was walking. And the Buddha calmed the elephant. And he also, Devadatta, told untruths about the Buddha and tried to split the Sangha. and have factions come with him and, you know, creating great disharmony and unrest among the Sangha members, et cetera, et cetera. So one would think, well, Devadatta, you know, tried to kill the Buddha, and he also drew blood one time of the Buddha, you know, from the Buddha. I don't know what he did. I can't remember. But in the Lotus Sutra, Turns out, this is a very turning point for people, that the Buddha talks about Devadatta, thinks Devadatta, is grateful to Devadatta because eons before, in another lifetime, you know, the Lotus Sutra has many stories about past events and past Buddhas,

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who then became the disciples of the day. Anyway, Devadatta was a teacher for the Bodhisattva who became Shakyamuni Buddha and really helped him, really taught him well. And the Buddha harkens back to that and thanks him and is grateful. So even someone who is so filled with anger and You know, disharmony in terms of the Buddha's life, these stories, these are teaching stories, is on the same path as the Buddha, walks the same path. There's a story about one of our achayas, one of the women ancestors, Utpalavarna.

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And she tells us a story about, it's Dogen Zenji, in two different fascicles, brings up the story, maybe more, about when she was an entertainer, like a courtesan or an entertainer in past lives. And for a joke... She put on nun's clothing in Oquesa, this outer robe that is received upon ordination. She put that on and was dancing around, making jokes, and fooling around, right? And one could say, well, how disrespectful is that? However, in her story, that fooling around and putting on robes was this tiny... moment in her life that turned everything and eventually she was in the next life you know these are teaching stories about karma etc she became ordained and so she's acknowledging this and saying to people

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Receive the precepts. And they say, but I can't follow them. And if I can't follow them, I'm going to go into states of woe. And she said, don't worry about it. Just take them. Don't worry about falling into states of woe or not observing them. Just take the precepts. This karmic event of receiving Buddhist precepts is powerful enough to eventually. read that it's like we're all on the same paths, the same path, and in different places on the path, right? And working out our own causes and conditions for our liberation. And each person is unique and unrepeatable. And it will look different. So we are not in any position. to judge anybody else or to even know.

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Just bowing to each person as Buddha. Each thing as Buddha Dharma. So last January intensive that Tenshin Roshi led was on the Lotus Sutra. And there's a Chapter 7 of the Lotus Sutra has a couple of things in it. One is the parable of the magical city. The other is this long and involved story about this Buddha whose name translates as penetrating wisdom, great penetrating wisdom, excellent Tathagata. That's one translation. Who we chant. He... he or she shows up in our dual mirror samadhi.

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When about to fulfill the way of Buddhahood, one gazed at a tree for ten eons. You know that line? Some of you, we've chanted that now a number of times. When about to fulfill the way of Buddhahood, one gazed at a tree for ten eons. That's this particular Buddha from the Lotus Sutra. So this Buddha... When I say an elaborate story, it's like sometimes in the Lotus Sutra, it's like you can't follow. He's got 16 sons, and they all are practicing, and then they become, anyway, and he's a king. He's sitting. He sits on the Bodhi seat, the Bodhimanda, which is the name, the seat of enlightenment, which translates, by the way, into, in Japanese, dojo. which was used for zendo, but has become, you know, it's secularized for Aikido, Kendo studios and so forth.

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They're called dojos. But as we know, like in Aikido, when you enter, you bow. And it's that place of practice and training. It's not just like a gym. Heading off to the gym, you step in and bow and think. the teacher in a certain way and all. So anyway, Bodhimanda is dojo, seat of enlightenment. And we take our seat like the Buddha did under the Bodhi tree to sit. So this is our Bodhimanda. Wherever you sit is your Bodhimanda, your Bodhi seat, your seat of enlightenment. So this, he sat for 10 eons gazing at the Bodhi tree. flowers fell, and all people came. But, however, he tasted a tree for ten eons, and the Buddha Dharma did not appear to him.

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So this part of the Lotus Sutra, Chapter 7, is taken out and becomes a koan, Case 9, in the Gateless Gate, the Bhuban Khan, collection of koans. So Tenten Roji was teaching the Lotus Sutra last year, and this came up about this Buddha who sat under a tree, daisy under a tree, for 10 eons. We're talking kalpas here, eons. And, you know, there's minor and major kalpas, but we just chanted about kalpas, right? 100,000 million kalpas. The Dharma doesn't appear rare, how rare it is. A kalpa, for those of you who may want to know, there's different measurements, but one is that there's a mountain, an iron mountain a mile high and a mile wide.

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Iron. And a bird with a little piece of silk in its beak flies by. every hundred years, drags the silk across the top of the mountain. And by the time that mountain wears down, that's one kalpa. This is these wonderful measurements. This is kind of coming out of India. In the sutras, these kalpas. So he sat for 10 eons. And so I'm going to read the koan to you or just say it. A student of the way. This is a student asking his teacher. The name of the teacher was. Ching Yang. Ching Yang. Ching. You're wrong.

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So the student asks his teacher. The Buddha, excellent, every time I put my head down, it gets very, I'm going to lift this up. The Buddha, excellent and great penetrating wisdom, practiced meditation on the seat of awakening for 10 kalpas. Nonetheless, he did not experience great awakening. Why? The student asked with a full heart, why? Why not? And this is the question I asked Dench Nershi. It's like, here's this wonderful teacher named, you know, Buddha, excellent in great penetrating wisdom, sitting on the Bodhi seat for 10 eons, and the Buddha Dharma did not appear. Don't you find that unusual? And flowers are falling and everything. People are coming, paying homage. The Buddha Dharma did not appear. And I asked,

[26:19]

read that, and he said, oh, that's this koan. So I've been thinking about this for a year. How come this wonderful practitioner practicing this, how come the Buddha did not appear? So this teacher says, there's a couple translations. One is, your question is exactly to the point. Another translation is, your question touches the intimate matter. And another was, what a splendid question. So the question was basically, why didn't the Buddha Dharma appear to this practitioner? And the teacher says, that's exactly to the point. Splendid question. And the students didn't get it. He or she said, right, again, but he sat there for ten talpas.

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Why didn't he attain Buddhahood? And the teacher said, because he is a non-attained Buddha. Because he is a non-attained Buddha. So this is a Kohan, right? So... I've been turning it for a year myself. And what I, so I'll just share with you some of my thoughts. You know, my commentary, you know, we read these cases and there's commentary. Different people have comments to make, you know, and anybody can do commentary. You don't have to be a big scholar. You're just, what are your comments about this? What does it activate for you? What kind of thoughts or questions do you have? So I was thinking for this past year, how come the Buddha gazed at a tree for ten a yans, this Buddha?

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Aiken Roshi translates this Buddha's name as supremely pervading, surpassing wisdom Buddha. So these are wonderful names. How come the Buddha Dharma did not appear to him? How come he didn't attain Buddhahood? And this response, because this Buddha is a non-attained Buddha. So for me, in turning this and in turning the teaching, Our teaching, this is also a very strict teaching, that our practice and attainment, our practice and realization is one thing. We're not practicing in order to become Buddhists. And if we keep on practicing hard, then that is not...

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The Lotus Sutra says already everyone is in the great vehicle, on the same path, is a Buddha to be, is that very being right now is awakened nature. Already. So the Dharma didn't manifest or... And with this person who's saying, I'm a terrible sitter and I don't want to sit, and that means I'm left out, you know. I remember once after 10 years, this is a story about me, of involuntary movement in zazen, shaking and swaying and all sorts of physical difficulties. I remember saying to the abbot at the time, Zendatsu Baker, just... Put me out to pasture.

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Just send me away. I can't do the practice, which is total engagement in a movable sitting. It was like, I'm outside. That way of thinking, we may think. I'm outside. I don't belong. I'm a terrible person. And we may have self-loathing and not be able to accept ourselves and feel like we're outside of the community of practitioners, of the community of humans. And we should just be sent out away. This kind of thinking, this is delusive thinking. This is like... gathering up 120,000 people and putting them somewhere, you know, out of total ignorance and misunderstanding of our shared life that we are ignorant of, you know.

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So our nature, And the way and the nature of all things, this is the Buddha mind seal, is awakened nature. And it includes ordinary and, you know, it says in that same or one of our chants, you know, because there is the ordinary, there's jeweled pedestals and fine clothing. Because there's the startlingly different, there's house cat and cow. Those are all, you can't pull those apart. You can only say, oh yeah, that old cow or that old house cat that I know so well. Because of startlingly different things. That's all one thing. And our ordinary mind is the way. And our struggles, these struggles and self-denigration and depression and all of our challenges, you know, that's not outside the way.

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Somehow I go, those are over here. And then once those are taken care of, then I can enter and be on the path with all these wonderful people that I want to practice with. That's, we may think that way. I think I thought that way. You know, send me out to pastor. I don't belong. I'm not, I can't do it, what other people do. And that makes me a horrible person, you know. We do think this way. I think, I know I do. So the Buddha Dharma is not like that, which when I say it's very strict, it's like right under your feet right now, however you're manifesting and however you're appearing in this world, with all the difficulties and all the what we call faults and, you know, the word fault in earthquakes, you know, at the fault line is where things move, right?

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where the plates of the earth move. Those faults, so-called faults, is where we learn, where we understand through that, not bypassing that, you know, spiritual bypassing, suppressing it, pretending, making up stories, and having a kind of false self to the world. We accept completely. And it just so happens that we can't, the non-attained Buddha, this Buddha in the Lotus and the Buddha in this Case 9 called the non-attainment Buddha, why he or she can't become Buddha, Buddhahood doesn't manifest because Already. It's already manifesting.

[35:42]

They are already awakened. You can't put a head on top of a head like Nyogen Tsunzaki says. You can't add to what's already there. It's like, it doesn't make sense. So it didn't appear because already he was manifesting. fully, completely. So I think the only thing I wanted to include in today's talk was that in the liturgical year, February 14th and 15th, or 1516, right there, 1415, is when we commemorate the Buddha's pari nirvana, meaning the death when the Buddha died.

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And we'll be doing a ceremony. We actually decided to do it next week. When we didn't do it on the exact day, I think we're choosing a day that will work better for our schedule. So in the traditional old wisdom school, the Buddha died and went to Pari Nirvana, it's called, you know, and gave teachings, you know, Yogan Senzaki on his tombstone said, this is my last teaching. Keep your head cool and your feet warm. These are my last words. So the Buddhist last words were basically not saying, you know, I'm not going to be here anymore, so you're going to be bereft of any teaching or dharma.

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Instead, and this is... The Buddha brought up impermanence. And also, in the ceremony, that will be repeated. We'll read the Buddha's last words. But basically, the Dharma will be there, whether I'm there or not, for all of you. The Buddha Dharma... And some of you may think we've lost our teacher. And there's grief. And grief is part of it. We do feel grief when we lose our loved ones. That's part of our practiced life. It's okay. However, the Dharma has been given. And this Dharma says...

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You, too, your nature itself is Buddha nature, awakened nature. I'm going to leave it there. There's much more to say about Buddha's Parinirvana. Maybe we'll be talking about it come this week to prepare for the ceremony. I think the more we know about the ceremonies, when we enact them, there's meaning. And it may be surprising how touched we might be by certain ceremonies if we know a little bit more. Sometimes, even if we don't know, of course, we're touched. So maybe we'll do that this week for the practice period here. Well, we'll be chanting the dedication, which comes, by the way, in this chapter seven of the Lotus Sutra about this Buddha and this particular may our intention equally.

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That's from the Lotus Sutra in that chapter. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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