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. About 16 years ago, I made a collection of 33 American koans. And 16 years later, I'm doing one of 49 American koans. So it was one a year, like a vitamin or something. Koans are the, I think they convey the culture of Zen. There's a kind of background that is communicated to anyone who's ever been in a monastery. You can understand many of the monastery koans, or at least the context of them.

[01:01]

So it's kind of a culture of passing on the culture of Zen. And we haven't had American koans listed, so I thought passing on the American culture of Zen. So the book is also sort of a history of different teachers and how they relate to each other. And... Koans can be studied in many different ways. In the Rinzai school, you study it during your meditation. We don't do that too much here. We study it outside of the meditation. And, for instance, the way I often study a koan or a koan book is I read a koan a day. And I read the koan and the case and the... commentary and the verse. The verse is the real commentary. The commentary is often a distraction, but the verse really gets at the heart of the koan.

[02:03]

And after I've read it in the morning, I forget about it. And then later in the day I said, what was that about? And sometimes I had some idea and sometimes I had no idea, and then that's enough. Then the next day I'll go on to the next koan. One of my favorite koans was one of Suzuki Roshi. Suzuki Roshi said, each one of you is perfect the way you are and you can use a little bit of improvement. If you don't think that If you don't think you're good, you're never going to get better. If you think you're perfect, you're conceited, and you'll never change. So each one of you is perfect the way you are, and you can use a little bit of improvement.

[03:08]

The first case I used was one of Dinan Kategori, who was one of my teachers. And he says, you take care of your life as if it were a vending machine. You put the coin in from the top and then get the soda at the bottom. You do meditation and you expect something, but life doesn't always go well. The vending machine goes out of order. Then you are mad and you kick the machine. We have a mechanistic view of things, and we're very frustrated when it doesn't go the way we want it to. One of my favorite teachers at Zen Center was Isan Dorsey, and I have a couple of koans of his, which is, he was dying.

[04:16]

And Michael Janvold, who many of you know, went to visit him. And they talked a little bit and then Michael said, I'm really going to miss you. Then his son nodded and said, are you going somewhere? He was still there. He hadn't left. How often we leave and don't stay with being present. Things will change soon enough. Another koan of his that I like, which many people get annoyed at, so it means it must be doing something right. He said everybody gets what they deserve whether they deserve it or not.

[05:31]

This is also if you think you deserve everything you get it could be very depressing or you may think that you're really hot stuff. But things come to you and you have to accept them. But karma is a big thing. Karma is the results of our actions, but it's the result of everybody's actions. So some of our karma is directly personal and some of it is not so personal. So we deserve our karma, but we don't deserve it. It's not a judgment. Koans can... help us to see a situation differently than we're looking at it. We tend to see things in certain patterns. I know I was editing things for the Windbell and I edited some stuff that Tom Cleary wrote.

[06:45]

It was a number of stories and I picked them with those I liked. And he said, oh, you picked those kinds of stories. And he said, what kind of stories were that? He said, the kind that had as the ones I picked which I thought was interesting there's hierarchy and there's equality and if you just see one you're missing something so I was missing something but I was listening carefully when he said you have some habit there's a koan which is in my this is one of the later ones which it involves Reb Reb asked Suzuki Roshi if a teacher suffers the way his students do and Suzuki Roshi says if he doesn't he's not good enough some koans are humorous

[08:00]

Some are humorous about humor. Bateson's sense of humor. A famous writer who was known for being highly articulate and witty, came to meet Gregory Bateson. They chatted for a while, and then the writer left. Bateson remarked to a student, at first I thought he had a sense of humor, then I realized he did not. The student was confused by Bateson's remark and asked him to explain what he meant by a sense of humor. Gregory looked at the student for a moment before replying, it's knowing that you don't matter. commentary, the verse I wrote is, whether you matter or not, throw yourself into the house of Buddha.

[09:09]

The old man there, is he serious? We betcha. Does he have a sense of humor? Nothing in front, nothing behind. This one, I got this story with Oksan, Suzuki Roshi's wife. took me to visit Bishop Ippo, who was a Nichiren bishop, because he said he has some good stories about Suzuki Roshi. So I went and this is what he told me. Bishop Ippo visited Tassahara and asked Junryu Suzuki, what is the future of Buddhism in America? Suzuki said, I don't know. The bishop asked if Americans understood him. Suzuki Roshi said, whatever people understand is okay. by their free knowing they will get it. The bishop said, Zazen is so uncomfortable for Westerners. Maybe there's some other way.

[10:11]

Have you heard that? Suzuki Roshi replied, that's all I know. That's what my teacher taught me. It was really great. He doesn't say that's the best way. It's just the way he's learned. I wanted one which was typically Western. I don't know if it's typically Western, but it's odd. It's hyphen or no hyphen. William Sean, editor of The New Yorker, was going over a long article with the author, Philip Hamburger, at 10 p.m. one evening. The piece ended with the phrase, Stone Cold. Sean said, Stone Cold requires a hyphen. Philip Hamburger said, Put a hyphen there and you spoil the ending. The hyphen would be ruinous. William Sean said, perhaps you had better sit outside my office and cool off.

[11:16]

I'll go on with my other work. From time to time, he would stick his head out and say, have you changed your mind? Philip Hanberger replied, no hyphen, absolutely no hyphen. Sometime around 2.30 in the morning, Sean said wearily, all right, no hyphen, but you were wrong. To hyphen or not to hyphen may be the question. Stay close to your heart in the hearts of others. It's very intimate that arguing about a hyphen. They both cared. This one usually gets the most laughs. It's Woody Allen. Woody Allen remarked, this was at a college commencement.

[12:52]

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and other hopelessness. The other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. My verse is, when there is no way out, breathe. When there is a way out, breathe. What do these things have in common? This is one that I learned. I'm the unnamed person in this one. A student asked, I'm in Kanagiri. Western teachers are very good. Their lectures are excellent, and they are very accessible examples of their own life. But many Eastern teachers, even though it's not such good ones, have a certain warmth or faith or something. That is what I want to learn from you. How do I learn that? This was at an airport.

[13:58]

That's where many of our doke sons were, at an airport. And Norman was there. And ECC said, Norman, did you hear that question? And then he said, When people see me today, they don't see the years I spent just being with my teacher. just doing everyday things. When I was his attendant, I had my job and he had his. And it was our attention together doing things that was really great. sometimes people wonder about whether cultural things that we miss.

[15:01]

And I think that sometimes there are cultural differences, but so much is packed into the culture of Zen and that there's a lot that's carried on, but... Shohaku Okamura was asked, how are you? Shohaku said, I am fine, but my back hurts. At Pat Phelan's mountain seat ceremony, she had her daughter ask her a question. Her daughter was 17 years old, and she asked, in the formal dialogue, what is the meaning of life? Pat answered, keep growing. Azumi Roshi was holding a Dharma dialogue in the Zendo.

[16:10]

A recently ordained monk came forward and asked, Roshi, I want to contemplate the deep meaning of life. Laughing, Roshi replied, for you, the shallow meaning is enough. When Sung Sung met Kalo Rinpoche, they were seated at a table. Now, this is a cultural reference. But in America, Sung Sung was a Korean. and Kala Rinpoche was Tibetan. Sun San pointed to an orange and said, What is it? Rinpoche did not answer. Sun Sanin repeated, What is it? Rinpoche turned to his attendant and asked, Don't they have oranges in Korea? This one involves Kobanchino, who was a great heart teacher, and he died trying to save his daughter, who was drowning.

[17:24]

He couldn't swim, but he went in and tried to save her anyhow. But this is a lighter story. Kobanchino was at Esalen with Shibiyata Sensei, his Kudo archery teacher. Subyata shot at a target and then handed the bow and arrow to Coburn, inviting him to demonstrate his skill. Coburn took the arrow and bow and turned with complete attention and care, shot the arrow into the ocean. When it hit the wave, he said, bullseye. So many of you may have stories that have affected you. People ask me, how did I choose the stories I chose, I don't know, they just had some meaning to me. They just grabbed me. And some of them are... Well, let me say, when I study koans, many koans I don't understand.

[18:31]

A lot of koans I understand pretty easily, and then there are some that I work with, and sometimes I understand it, and sometimes I don't. And I think that's important to to have those three three methods what I also did in this book is I included some of my paintings this is a free stroke and Tom who is my designer and put the book together in a wonderful way picked this on the cover but he put it so that it was wrapped around. Tom, did you want to say why? I just wanted to envelop the book. So I wanted to be sort of wide-rounding, holding it together.

[19:34]

Not like it was a large international one, right? We'll pat on us with it. I don't do so many abstract paintings, but this was one I did. This one, I just did a couple of rough strokes, and then I... It suggested freedom for me. Free at last. And this one suggested rain. I think the paintings are also koans. In fact, I went to see somebody who does raw shock testing, and I'd already done a painting called Raw Shock, R-A-W-S-H-O-C-K. He's got it in his office. He really gets a kick out of it. So is it raw shock?

[20:35]

What's your projection about it? Is it raw shock? Or is it R-O-A-R shock? Many of you may notice that when you study koans, particularly the traditional koans, you're always siding with the teacher, and some of you are always siding with the student. You may feel sorry for yourself to stick up with the student. Or you may feel puffed up and say, I agree with the teacher. But it's not about who's right or who's wrong. A koan needs both sides. Do you have any questions about koans? Yes?

[21:38]

The blue-flat bracket word? Yes. You mentioned the writer sat out. It's like a commentary. Yeah. And then there's sometimes something before the case. Yeah. In my book, I kept it simple. Just the case, commentary, and verse. And as I said, the commentary is some information in the commentary, but the understanding has to be in verse. It can't be in noun and verb so much. I think I should read some verse, just some commentary, just to another one of Issan, which shows his subtlety of mind.

[23:01]

The case. Issan Dorsey every week would host a Sunday brunch at Jamesburg House, the last stop before the 14-mile dirt road into Tassajara. There was a tough outlaw cowboy who would come and let his horse loose where it would graze on the garden. No one would comment about this behavior because they're afraid of him. Finally, Issan said, you should tie your horse up. The thorns on the rose bush might hurt him. The cowboy tied up his horse. He found a selfish motive for the cowboy to do the right thing. Issan was a student of Suzuki Roshi and his disciple Baker Roshi, and his disciple Baker Roshi, in his later life, he founded the Hartford Street Zen Center and the Maitre AIDS Project. Skill and means is no mean feat, even for the skilled. Who chops wood and carries water look out for both the axe and the wood, the rose and the horse, the corrector and the corrected.

[24:06]

Great compassion includes wisdom and great care. Can you tether yourself in a way that all are freed? First, horses, roses, brunches, gardens. So much hogwash. This song cooks them all up. How much will you eat? What is nice is the, what is it called, the introductory, it's called pointer. They're often fun. The commentary often has four or five different points of view in which one person is insulting the other person's understanding.

[25:14]

But actually, when they're insulting each other, they're actually usually praising each other. When they say that was a good answer, they're probably putting them down. Yes? What's your favorite classic color? I think how is it when the leaves tree withers and the leaves fall body exposed to the golden wind how is it when the leaves wither and the tree the leaves fall and the tree withers body exposed to the golden wind I also like simple ones like why do you put on your robe when the bell rings in the morning

[26:33]

Because the answer is you put on your bell when the bell rings in the morning. The question is the answer. Which is your favorite? Don't know. Brian, which is your favorite? On the top of my head, I can't start. Too tiring, Dave. Maybe a dogen. What's that? Maybe a dogen, something from a dogen. A koan from dogen? Dogen is, dogen writes in koan commentary ways.

[27:37]

He says one thing, and then he'll say the opposite thing, and then he'll say a third thing, which includes the wall. Dogen writes about the trajectory of his thoughts. And not to get stuck by any one soundbite. Was there something within that you particularly liked? There's this one.

[28:40]

A student asked the translator, Tom Cleary, what is meant by emptiness? Cleary replied, it is innocent of concept. Emptiness is innocent of concept. Just mysterious enough. My teacher, Sojin Mel Weitzman, asked Shinriya Suzuki, what is nirvana? Suzuki replied, seem one thing through to the end. It matters.

[29:43]

Since I'm interested in sports, I have some sport koans. One of them was John Madden. During a football practice, John Madden was the coach of the Raiders. A defensive end tackled the quarterback. Madden stopped the play and screamed at the defensive player, yelling at him not to hurt his teammate. Quarterback is the most important player, and you don't want your teammate to hurt him.

[30:57]

On the very next play, the other defensive end did the same thing. The coach was so furious, he could hardly speak and ended the practice. Later, he spoke with the second player and asked why he did what the coach told him not to. The player said, I wanted you to yell at me too. And another sports one has to do with Phil Jackson. Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant was asked what he learned from Coach Phil Jackson, to be more aware. It sounds like a minor thing, but it's very big when you're playing at this level, to really be aware of everything around you.

[32:03]

The verse, a small ball spinning in space, billions of creatures on it, circling a burning sphere, moving through space, Kobe. Here's one that happened in this building. Pema Chodron was staying at San Francisco Zen Center. Zen Center priest who had studied with her was about to leave her room. Pema said, goodbye Dharma, sister. Zen priest replied, goodbye Dharma, aunt. Pema said, what is our relationship anyway? Once I was listening to the radio, there was a koan on there.

[33:12]

Swami Satchidananda was talking and he said, when people come to me and say they're disappointed, I asked who made the appointment. Yes? Does the Koan tradition start in China? And if so, why do you think that is the case? Well, I think there are stones similar to Koans in many different traditions and in Buddhism in different circumstances. But it was really honed in China. And because... Zen has a lot to do with not being fooled by the words. And koans are made out of words.

[34:17]

How not to be fooled by them. But there are koans. There are koans during Buddhist time. It's kind of a koan. It's kind of a an explanation of a koan, saying, when you cross the river, you need a canoe, but when you get to the other outside, you don't need it anymore. It's not a koan, but it's kind of the innards of a koan. And as I said, these koans happen in America. And they just don't happen in Zen temples.

[35:20]

They happen in the waiting room of the New Yorker. They happen in the LA arena. They happen everywhere. What is it about that Cohen's, I guess mostly it's in Ray's eye, had a correct answer or a correct response? What's all that about? Because it seems to me that the way that you're presenting them, correct response is just silence and thinking about it and something to work with. There's no sort of a solution. What do you have to say about that? Ah!

[36:32]

Okay. I hope there isn't silence or those other ways that you mentioned aren't an answer because they're not an answer. The answer has to do with the circumstances. The foreground and the background is very important. Now, in case you really want the real answers, you can buy the book. And Stephen over there is selling it. And I will write on it if you'd like. And I'd like if, in the coming days, if you think of stories that you've heard or that you've experienced, I'd like to hear them.

[37:37]

Because each one of us has our own koans, our own secret collection. And it tells a lot about us, what it's like. Yes. On that topic, since you bring it up, I was wondering about how the names that one receives in ordination might function as a koan. And they even, you know, do that, just how the riddle of the self might function as a ongoing koan for us. Well, they are sort of like koans. There are many different ways of naming, but the usual, the most common way of naming is the first two characters are about who you are, a positive framing of who you are. And then the next two characters are what you could grow into. So that's sometimes a koan. Because the positive quality you may have now probably is not where you're going to wind up, or maybe you will.

[38:44]

Yes. Yes. I think so. But don't drive yourself crazy with it either. No, I enjoy it. Okay, 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.

[39:54]

For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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