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. Recently I've been thinking about homeostasis, the impulse within us promote our well-being. And I was thinking of it in terms of each one of us. I find it helpful to think this person is in the midst of promoting their well-being. Somehow when I think that way it's easier for me to think of each of us just being the person we are, engaged in this process somewhat consciously and somewhat unconsciously.

[01:08]

And then I was thinking of how our society is in the midst of its search for homeostasis. Somehow it seems to me that there's a quickening of examination in our society. Seems to be in the last 10 years, and maybe the world has thought this way since the Bronze Age, but in the last 10 years, looking at the different systems in our society. And with the kind of radical honesty, is this really a fair society?

[02:15]

To what degree has its history put in place unfair systems? I think most of us, well, Maybe that's not correct. Maybe most of the people in the room think of systemic racism as one of the systems of our being as a society that's in need of acknowledgement and correction in terms of our homeostasis in many other systems. And then I think the whole planet, the ecosystem of the planet, and how it seemed for so long, however we abused it, it could rediscover homeostasis.

[03:28]

And now we're thinking, now it's becoming evident to us that that can no longer be how we relate to it unless we want disastrous consequences. Here's a definition of homeostasis that I find on a website. of feedback systems that make evident the degree of control and adaptability that's possible under the current conditions. A complex interaction of feedback systems. I don't know about the make evident. I think that's the aspiration of our Buddhist practice, our Zen practice. Can we actually see what's going on?

[04:33]

Can we learn from it? Can it guide us into a homeostasis that is truly beneficial, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else? make evident the degree of control and adaptability that's possible under the current conditions. But I've noticed in my own mind, and to a degree in my own heart, just considering the notion... Maybe I'm enamored by it because it's another way to say conditioned existence.

[05:37]

An adage that those of us who've been practicing Buddhism are very familiar with. In some ways, what that's saying to us is that these teachings of Buddhism, and of Zen, they're challenging us to not only take them, consider them intellectually, but also take them to heart. Let them touch us in a way that sort of stirs up our being and guides it, that inspires us, that enthuses us. As many of you know, we're in the midst now of a period of an intense practice, both in this one-day sitting and in the practice period.

[06:46]

And I would suggest to you that the request that's being made of us is to take the teachings to heart. And of course, you know, that's a challenge in the midst of all that's going on for us. I suspect many people in this room, like myself, heavily follow the news on the internet every day. I think there's seldom a day goes by that I don't look at the news on the internet. Yesterday when I looked, I saw that the number of deaths now in the earthquake in Syria and Turkey is 40,000.

[07:55]

There's a journalist who writes for the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof. And he says, in one of his pieces he wrote, he doesn't think we're capable of empathizing with such massive tragedy. He says that when he's writing an article about tragedy, he tries to pick out one person, you know, and then go into detail. Oh, that little girl in this village of Turkey lost both of her parents and her two older brothers. When we start to connect in that way, then it's easier for us to take it to heart.

[09:01]

Oh, yeah. I've lost people in my life, and it had a big impact on me. I could feel the intensity of how the world was shifting. I would encourage you as you go through this day, both those of you who are sitting and those of you who are just going about your everyday lives, can you take it to heart? Can something in you be available? Deliberate?

[10:07]

And compassionate for our singular effort and our collective effort at homeostasis. Attempting to rediscover and promote our well-being. And then how that happens... There's one school of Buddhism that says what we're attempting to do is establish or enter into the pure land. Part of what makes the pure land the pure land is that there's no hindrance to practice. That we're just, you know, here's the request of practice. and we give over to it completely.

[11:11]

But similarly, in this world, we add desire and aversion and many attitudes on that theme. We add that to our impulse for homeostasis. not quite consciously, sometimes consciously, but sometimes the impulse is there and it becomes dominant. And part of the challenge of our practice is to watch that, to discover that. And when I read this, it makes evident the degree of control and adaptability. I just said, the making evident is one of our challenges.

[12:19]

And so the theme of this practice period is to study the self. How does homeostasis, how does upholding well-being occur? How does it get hindered in me? Very straightforward notion. And then the first thing I offered in terms of classic teachings was the teaching of Anapanasati. Mindfulness of breathing. The first, it's broken into four quarters.

[13:23]

And the first quarter essentially is saying, just notice. Notice the breath. Notice the body. The breath and the body. Notice the body. Notice the disposition of all three. Like the first step. is to rediscover what it is to pay attention. And as many of you have heard me say, I think each time we do a period of zazen, to start right there. What is the consciousness of attending to the moment and experiencing the moment? Maybe right now, You could see what is the consciousness of attending and experiencing the moment.

[14:30]

And then the second quartet of instructions, they say, and given that, Notice what helps to stabilize your presence. Notice what helps to stabilize the body. Notice what helps to stabilize the disposition of consciousness. And one of the attributes of the breath is that It's very responsive to our state of mind and our emotional being. And then it can work the other way too, that when we engage the breath intentionally and invite it to be afloat, invite it to be soft and open and natural, we're...

[15:46]

that gets extended into inviting the mind and the emotions to be soft and open. And then as we do that, it influences the disposition of mind, but it also influences attitude of our being. Usually, I can remember I was listening a week ago, I was listening to the radio, and right after they did an article on the tragedy of the earthquake in the Middle East, They ended that section, and they started the next section on the Super Bowl, which was coming up.

[16:58]

And there was maybe a 10-second interval between the two. So, how is he... As a human being, trying to empathize with other human beings, trying to take in the enormity of what's going on in our world, how do we cope with a 10-second interval between tragedy and what we do for entertainment? I think we carry that dilemma within us. I think within our search for well-being, something in us rebels against the notion of just always be contemplating tragedy.

[18:16]

It's something in us. wants to nourish our being, wants to discover enthusiasm, wants to discover a way of being that has a positive attribute to it. Not that we're attempting to be indifferent, But more deeply, we want to be fully alive. And then the last quartet, Anupanasaki, it offers four attributes. to being deeply alive.

[19:22]

And I have to tell you in advance that the way I'm going to talk about them is stretching the classic definition of them. Well, let me first tell you the classic definition of the words. The first... is impermanence. And then the second one is usually called dispassion. And then the third one is called cessation. And then the fourth one is liberation. But I'd offer you this translation on them. Yes. I think impermanence. But I would add this to the notion of impermanence.

[20:33]

That everything, everyone, and every living being, you know, plants, animals, birds, fish, trees, Every living being is a complex interaction of feedback systems. Attempting to discover homeostasis and dwell in it. That all the species of the planet and the planet itself. And who knows? maybe the whole universe, are intimately engaged in promoting well-being. I think of this as the definition of the Bodhisattva vow.

[21:41]

We participate in all being promoting our collective well-being. Then the second attribute, which is classically called cessation, I'd offer you this way of thinking about it. Usually, we're immersed in our conditioned being, and usually, we are, the most significant attributes are what we like about it and what we don't like about it. The desires and aversions that arise in relationship to our current set of conditions.

[22:48]

And in a way, sometimes in an utterly blatant way, and then sometimes In a subtle way. There's a kind of a reactivity. You know. Something unpleasant happens. And it stimulates us. In our conditioned way to respond. To unpleasant. And Anupana Psyche is saying. Sit so thoroughly in the present that that deeply ingrained way of being starts to loosen up. Let the breath guide you into discovering a confidence in being that doesn't depend upon getting what you want or avoiding what you don't want.

[24:00]

something loosen up so much that your impulse to reactive response is softened up. And then for each of us to explore, where is my reactivity? What sort of things push my buttons? And when my buttons are pushed, how is that? How does the world influence by that? And how do I practice with that? And Anapanasaki is saying, well, please start by... trying to create a deep-seated benevolence in your being.

[25:08]

As you settle, can you forgive? Karagiri Roshi, a teacher who was here for a while, brought over by Suzuki Roshi. Karagiri Roshi said, That when we settle deeply, we forgive everything, even ourselves. Everything is searching for homeostasis. Everything, everyone is in the throes of attempting to promote well-being. Can we forgive them for being like that? And then, great patience.

[26:26]

But each time you sit down to meditate, to be present in the moment. Quite quickly you discover that all sorts of things happen within your meditation, within the process of simply being present and experiencing what's happening. Can there be great patience with that? When you return to awareness, can the moment of awareness be greeted with a deliberate, purposeful presence? Can there be that kind of forgiveness?

[27:37]

And Anapanasati says, as we practice like this, the reactivity of our being loosens up. Actually, Anapanasati says, when we practice it thoroughly, it ceases. There's a dispassion. And then as we continue that dispassion, there is cessation. And I would say, we have our moments. We have our moments of cessation. We have our moments of non-reactivity. We have our moments when just what's happening, is just what's happening.

[28:40]

That there is a sufficiency to it. And as we contact that, as we engage that thoroughly, it deeply influences our being. In Buddhist psychology, Vedana is visceral experiencing, visceral feeling. And as we contact the moment and have a moment of just being what is, and release the distress, the anxieties, the preferences, the aversions.

[29:44]

That release influences our being very positively. Something in us is healing. Something in us is discovering homeostasis. something in us is discovering well-being. And as we discover well-being, we discover that it's not based on finally getting what we want and finally avoiding what we don't want. We discover in a persuasive way that opening to what is nurtures our being. So in some ways, Anapanasati is saying, this is the yogic journey that gives rise to nirvana.

[31:05]

This is the yogic journey that gives, this is the yogic process. It gives rise to awakening. And then in the Zen school, there was an adapting of particular sayings that encapsulated this within them. And often... It was a little bit cryptic. It's like, then here's the saying, now discover within that saying, the teaching. I heard once that there was a Rinzai monastery in Japan, near Kyoto, and they have 20 koans

[32:09]

about breathing? No. Maybe, I don't know what the cons are, but maybe like, where do you notice it when you let the breath breathe, the body? Where is that experienced? how does letting the breath breathe the body, how does it influence your thinking? So not so much to get caught up in thinking, but to keep attentive in an investigative way how the breath and the body interplay. And in that same spirit, I'd like to offer you two koans.

[33:22]

And the first one is from Basso. And Basso was famous for making this statement. This very mind is Buddha. It's much later. Hundreds of years later, Dogen took the very same notion and he said, when you find yourself where you are, practice occurs. This very mind. Can you contact this very mind? And I would suggest to you, this is the constant heartbeat of a one-day sitting. Actually, This can be the constant heartbeat of our daily activities too. Sometimes it's very helpful when you consider you're in a state that's anything but Buddha-like.

[34:32]

In that state, notice, contact, explore, experience. This very mind is Buddha. Each time in your sitting, when you notice your mind has wandered and now it's come back, can that noticing be an affirmation rather than, you know, Oh my gosh, I was wandering off in my thinking. And then the other con is young men's, every day is a good day. When we think about the turmoil in our society, when we think about the turmoil in our own life, when we think about the turmoil,

[35:45]

in the world, on the planet. Something almost like the opposite of every day is a good day. Something in the category of, oh no, no. And then, just the same way we can say, this very mind as Buddha, to any state of mind, can we bring a willingness to practice with whatever arises for us, whatever attitude, whatever entrenched emotion or disposition arises for us in a particular moment. Yunmin described this as kind of turning the world upside down.

[37:01]

We turn, oh no, into, yes, this is what's happening. Yes, the whole world is engaged in homeostasis. The whole world is promoting well-being. exactly to do that is the con of life. How does any one of us do that? And something in that, the implicit benevolence, is a great asset to our lives. So we can be patient, we can forgive, when we bring in the benevolence as well, we're nurturing life. We're nurturing each other.

[38:10]

And of course, this is always a work in progress. There's always a challenge. are part of the complex systems of being. And for us, the practice of awareness is the practice of making evident the degree of control and adaptability that's possible under the current conditions. Can we hold that up as a guidance? Can we hold that up as every day is a good day, as a benevolent statement about our collective attempt at well-being?

[39:33]

And as we immerse ourselves in sitting and the moments of awareness are more available, then the possibility of what's implied by this coin starts to become more available. we let the body breathe, as we let the constraints in our physical being, in our mental being, in our emotional being, in our psychological being, as we let them soften and loosen, can we invite in kind of nourishing that can come in the moment.

[40:45]

Every day is a good day. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[41:22]

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