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. It's gotten very complicated. Our ritual. So I want to welcome everyone in this room. It's nice to be in this room together. For so long, we've been just online with each other, and it's really great to come back into Nazendo. Especially I want to welcome the farm and garden and land apprentices who I had the good fortune to meet with yesterday. And so hoping that you'll be able to join us for the summer. Those of you who wish to, thank you for coming. And I want to welcome... through this small aperture here.

[01:02]

I was thinking of this as a peephole through time and space. All of you in the online Sangha, the Sunday Sangha, I'm so grateful you're able to join us as well. I can't see you, but I have some faith that you can see us. You look a little like E.T. as a matter of fact. I'm grateful for the magic. So what I want to talk about this morning is magic. You know, inspiration. What inspires us? I think we've all been going through a lot of challenging and pretty uninspiring news cycles the last few years. Maybe our whole lives. You know, illness, warfare, political confusion, very kind, racial violence, starvation, losses, personal losses in our own lives. These are hard times. Maybe always hard times.

[02:03]

But it seems that within the darkness of the bad news, a light has always arisen within our species. For the Buddhist tradition, that light we call awakening. This word Buddha means to be awake. So awake is a quality that humans have. born with this quality. And sometimes it's just a brief glimmer we have for ourselves of what that is, what that might be. And other times it's a mind-altering transformation as it was for Shakyamuni as he sat under a tree 2,500 years ago. So I want to propose that those times, whether they're brief or long in duration, take place when we are inspired by life. Awakening takes place when we are inspired by life.

[03:04]

And I think that inspiration, as I said, comes in a great many forms at surprising times. One of the students was talking about how he saw a banana slug crossing the road. And another student mentioned taking a walk in the snow at dusk. And for both of them, Those were moments that surprised them. And they felt something really new happened at that time. Some glimmer. Some awakening. Where have I been? Banana slugs have been here a lot longer than we have. Where have we been? So the reason I want to talk about inspiration this morning is because of one such surprising moment that happened to me the other day while I was reading the news cycle. Most of it, the bad news cycle. But along with that, there was an article about a world-renowned chef by the name of Massimo Bottura.

[04:09]

Any of you know Massimo Bottura? No, I didn't either. However, he is Italy's most famous chef, and his three Michelin-starred restaurant, Osteria Francescana in Moderna, He's the two-time winner of the best restaurant in the world. But that's not the part about the story that was inspiring to me. That was interesting. But what was inspiring is what I read about him. It was in this article, what he did next. It said that despite his standing as one of the world's greatest chefs... Massimo Bottura says to this reporter that the pinnacle of his achievement is his Refrittorio Ambrosiano, excuse my Italian, and its 12 global spin-offs. At Refrittorio Ambrosiano, dinner guests are greeted by name and served a three-course meal prepared by volunteer chefs who have been trained in the finest restaurants in the world.

[05:14]

The set menu changes daily depending on what comes in with the morning's delivery. That morning, the delivery contained wilted arugula, chicken very close to its sell-by date, two ugly-to-be-sold oranges, and only enough shrimp for about half of the anticipated guests. And yet by dinnertime, the supermarket castoffs had been transformed into a feast. The shrimp sautéed with the arugula for a pasta starter, and the roast chickens slathered in fragrant orange glaze. Dessert was a rich mousse made from donated chocolate and almost past its prime whipping cream. The 100 or so guests at these nightly offerings are living on the streets of Milan. They're homeless, they're runaways, unemployed, and refugees who are treated with kindness and respect. Bottura thinks of this restaurant, as he says to the reporter, as a catalyst, not only affirming the dignity of the guests,

[06:19]

and drawing light and art into neglected neighborhoods, but also focusing attention on the growing global food waste crisis by turning surplus food, otherwise destined for landfills, into nutritious and tasty meals freely given to those who have been cut off from the vital resources of their planet. So what I found so inspirational about this man was not his talent as a cook. And although food was a medium in which he was doing his work, it was his action in the world at that moment when he was being spotlighted for his gifts and the choices that he made about how to function in that light. How to turn the light of attention away from himself and toward those people in this world least likely to benefit from his special talent. least likely to eat in a restaurant or to be served by kind and courteous waiters.

[07:22]

So somehow his exuberance for food and for life was wide enough and inclusive enough to break through the cycle of his own privilege, one that most of us share. And to share that strength and talent with the greater gathering, the human family and the more than human family. of living beings. So this story was for me a lot like the Jataka tales which are told in the Buddhist literature about the bodhisattvas, the beings who are devoted to awakening and who shine their light into dark places, in the case of Massimo, and set a table there, a banquet table, for the benefit of others. A long time ago I heard a description of the difference between heaven and hell. Maybe some of you know it. In hell, there are banquet tables that are set with scrumptious food, and the sound of moaning fills the halls of hell, as the hungry guests are given chopsticks too long with which to feed themselves.

[08:38]

In heaven, the table is set the very same way. However, the guests use their long chopsticks to feed the people across from them. How kind and simple is that? So here we are living on a farm that grows delicious vegetables, bakes and prepares delicious meals. And since our earliest days of receiving the use of this valley, it's been a real question for us, too, of how to make the best use of this land. this coast, Miwok land, in the light of our Bodhisattva ancestors and in the spirit of feeding those across the table from us. You know, we've always been giving food away. We give leftovers away at vegetable starts to our neighbors for their community gardens. We've always composted our food scraps and produced...

[09:39]

Vegetarian lunch for what used to be a rather large Sunday gathering. And yet we need to always ask ourselves if we are doing enough. Can we ever do enough to rebalance what is so dreadfully out of balance among the living beings of this world? And of course that starts with ourselves. With the humans, as we call ourselves. And it starts with our sincere effort to be kind and to be wise, so that perhaps we too can be catalysts, as Massimo has been making use of our skills to feed a hungry world. I don't know, I really don't know, of course, and I don't think any of us will live long enough to know whether these trends toward ever greater inequality and irresponsibility among humans is going to slow or reverse. to see how this species, with its great capacity for invention and creativity, could combine those talents with our great capacity for wisdom and compassion in order to turn toward a greater good, toward a greater inspiration for our human world to feed and protect and care for all beings as if we truly are one family of biosphere.

[11:05]

For me, the greatest catalyst for changing the world lies within the way that we humans think, which of course includes the way that I think. There was a time not so long ago when I was in despair of somebody coming along to fix all of the things that were going wrong in this world. Where were the politicians, the scientists, the philosophers, or the priests, mechanics who could fix things? What are they doing? Why is it taking so long? So somewhat out of that despair, I became a Zen student. And I took a vow to save all beings. I vowed to save all beings. And I thought, well, I'm just going to have to do it myself. Like the bunny in the moon. There's a Jataka tale about how the bunny got in the moon, which I had heard on my arrival at the city center 40-some-odd years ago. The bunny throws herself into a fire to feed a hungry mendicant.

[12:12]

And so I thought to myself, well, I'm going to leave this sorrowful world and throw myself into a monastery until I figure out what to do next. And so I did. Toward the end of the article about Massimo Bottura, he says something very insightful about that very error in my own thinking. He said, in the beginning, I thought I was going to change the world. And then he said, now I realize it's all about getting everyone to change the world together. Everybody has the ability to contribute to positive change. It starts with all of us. In our own kitchens, it starts by looking at an old carrot or a stale crust of bread and catching a glimpse of gold. So this shift in thinking Massimo had is from a self as the center of it all to a self as part of a whole.

[13:16]

And I often think that Zen practice has to do with making that same shift from a shift that's about me to about we, about us. I've often overheard newer students shifting at times in their conversations about themselves, you know, where they went to school and where they grew up and so on, to saying such things as, well, we grow food at Greenwald. We drive tractors and we do dishes and we sit together pretty much every day of the year. And we care about this world and we wish to do something to heal what can be healed. And we are going to do this together. So we wish. So stories about helping the world in the way that Massimo and many others are doing is part of the cycle of news that I think needs a little more visibility. You know, the good news. And the Buddha's awakening was good news.

[14:18]

Awakening of generations that follow his inspiration. The Buddha gave teachings about awakening, the how-to that traveled the Silk Route, and now the global airways for the benefit of those who listen. and who openly share what they have heard. He said that enlightenment is already here. It's right here, right now. He said that justice is it. Justice gathering of life seeking after itself and seeking to benefit each other. Enlightenment is the wish to benefit others and the how-to And yet Suzuki Roshi said that enlightenment is a very tricky thing for us to think or to talk about. If we talk about enlightenment, it turns into a concept or an idea, a product of our thinking mind.

[15:25]

Enlightenment. There I did it again. And although... Enlightenment is an okay thing to say. It does tend to lead us to think it's something other than the thinking mind itself, other than just this is it. And then he suggests the best thing we can do as students of awakening is to just sit before we say anything about what we think is out there or who is out there. So this just sitting in Japanese is called shikantaza, Just sitting. Just this is it. And yet it's not only while sitting, as Dogen Sanji says. It is every moment of awareness. Is just this. Just this is it. Got that? Sudik Roshi then says there is no need to be bothered with fancy explanations of Buddhism.

[16:35]

If you say Buddha, [...] that is the way. Everything is Buddha. Sitting is Buddha. Lying down is Buddha. Each word is Buddha. That is our way. That is Shikantaza. When you practice Zazen with this understanding, that is true Zazen. When someone then asked him, Are there any differences between the way you practice Zen in the United States and the way you practice in Japan? Roshi replied, Zazen practice is the same. I don't feel much difference. Wherever I go, I feel as if I'm in Japan. And then he laughs. So it's difficult to answer your question. American people or Japanese people, we say, but if we start to practice Zazen, it's nearly the same. And that's because we all have the same problems. And again, he laughs. So I would say that along with wisdom and compassion, the other most inspiring thing that I found among the Zen Buddhists, beginning with our founder, Shinmyo Suzuki Oshii, is a sense of humor.

[17:50]

Kind humor. That liberates us on the spot from a certain tightness in our practice that signals self-centeredness. such as my opinion, my view, my preferences. We all have the same problems. Roshi says, and those problems are a result of a primal ignorance about ourselves and about our place in the world. For some, that primal ignorance brings suffering to those around them. And for others, ignorance of how the human mind works brings untold suffering to themselves. But in either case, we are separated. From each other by laws and by walls and by violence of every kind. Which brings us back to the new cycle that leads many to despair. Which is why the Buddha said to all of us. There are four truths about this human life. The word truth is also understood to mean that which is in accordance with reality.

[18:57]

As in the four true things. The first truth or the first true thing is the truth of suffering, dukkha. In some translations, the truth of discontent or the truth of our incapacity to be satisfied, just like those dinner guests in hell. Discontent comes in a variety of forms, as we all know. There is the discontent of aging, of sickness, and of death. There's the discontent of being with things that we don't like. And there's the discontent of being separated from the things that we do like. Both of which are examples of not getting what we want. So this first noble truth or first true thing arises together with the second noble truth. The origin of suffering. The origin of suffering. So suffering is caused. The cause of suffering, according to the Buddha, is desire or craving.

[20:03]

In Sanskrit, tana, which means thirst or wanting. Mostly wanting things to be different than they are. Too hot, too cold, too salty, too slow. The third truth is called the cessation of suffering, which is the beginning of the how-to. For living a life of greater ease and joy. Not only for ourselves, but for each other. Bringing joy and ease to others. And in this way, we think of those guests at the banquet table in heaven. After you, would you care for more dessert? Giver, receiver, and gift arising together in each moment. What you give, what I receive is the gift. The cessation of suffering is the ending of craving. The cessation of suffering is the ending of craving.

[21:04]

The craving that's based on one's self-centered view of the universe. Craving that arises from ignorance, from regret, and from fear. Fear about the future, regret about the past, and ignorance about this very moment that we are in together. causes of suffering are overcome through the arousing of what tension Roshi was calling during the January intensive, our grandmother mind. A mind that says, I will try my best not to let anything bad happen to you right now. I can't promise, of course, but I will try. Grandmother mind moves the banana slug off to the side of the road and rescues those who have slid off the side of the snow covered now. Grandmother mind awakens us from our bad dreams about ourselves and about others while helping us decide what to wear as we greet the new day. Grandmother mind is wise and kind and yet doesn't put up with too much fooling around.

[22:12]

As she says on the Han out there in Cloud Hall, don't waste your life. The fourth noble truth is called marga, meaning the path. Or the way to the cessation of suffering. This path was outlined by the Buddha in his very first sermon. Called the turning of the wheel of the law. The Buddha later said that the path is enlightenment itself. And enlightenment is the path. It's the way you live your life. Right here. Right now. There's no other place. There's no other time. So easy to say and so very hard to realize. So the path that the Buddha outlined in the first sermon is called the Eightfold Path. And you can think of folds the same way you think of folds in a piece of cloth. They're all part of the whole. Just as each of us is part of the whole. The whole to which we belong, the whole of life, and the whole work of life.

[23:16]

So the first fold is right view. The second, right intention. Right speech. right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation. Those are the eight. And all together, they cover the three main teaching categories of the Buddhist tradition, ethics, concentration, and wisdom. Shila, Samadhi, Prajna. Each of these holds help us to make sense through reasoning about what we are, where we are, and how we might best behave now that we are here. Zazen helps to make sense by doing it, by being it, being what we have reasoned to be true, that just this is it. So here are a few of the ideas behind each of the folds as were outlined by the Buddha in his sermon on the path of liberation.

[24:20]

So right view, the first fold. is a result of an inspired insight into our profound connection to this world. In each and every moment, without a gap, without a break, since the first living thing, oh, we wouldn't be here. We are very old, each of us. And right now, each of us, without giving it a thought, is taking a breath, and without giving it a thought, is exhaling. It's amazing and simple. And yet without that simple and profound connection to the world, life as I know it would quickly end. The primary insights included within right view are impermanence, life will quickly end, no self, no separate self apart from the whole, and suffering. as addressed through an understanding of the four noble truths, the four true things.

[25:26]

So right after right view is right intention. Right intention. Intention is based on knowing that our actions have consequences, that what we do matters and has an impact on others. By knowing that, then we can choose to follow a path within this lifetime to awaken ourselves and to help others to do the same. This is called the Bodhisattva's vow. I vow to live for the benefit of all beings. How? By trying to help them awaken and them help me to do the same. Are you awake? It's very easy to say, but it's not so easy to know what to do. Even grandmother gets tired after a while. I've heard grandmothers say that the best thing about being a grandmother is sending the children home to their mother or their father or whoever it happens to be that takes care of them and provides them with a home. So these first two folds, right view and right intention, come under the heading of wisdom, of prajna, of knowing, understanding.

[26:36]

The next three have to do with ethical behavior in this world. And for us, practically speaking, our behavior is within this community. And those three are right speech, right conduct, and right livelihood. These three folds are the way that the Buddha taught his monks good manners. And without good manners, those young mendicants would not have been welcomed in the villages through which they traveled, and would certainly not have been fed. And without the community of monks, the teaching of the Buddha would not have gotten any further than the sight of his awakening. So to this very day, how we treat each other through our speech and conduct will determine whether or not this community will live, will inspire others to take a chance on just sitting in this old hay barn. The story that Tenshin Roshi told during intensive about the two Dharma comrades who questioned each other about the teaching while one was busy sweeping the pathway,

[27:43]

is a story of friendship, as he said, about, excuse me, but I think you're too busy or too noisy or too angry, greedy, or confused. Can we talk about that? Can we open ourselves to be in question about our speech, our conduct, and our work practice? It's a very hard thing to do, and it's embarrassing, and it's irritating, and I can testify. Without that conversation between myself and my teachers and my Dharma comrades, I think I would have left this valley and this practice a long, long time ago. So here again are the three folds that come under ethical behavior. Right speech, not lying, not speaking rudely, not telling one person what another says about them in order to hurt their relationship. Right conduct is not killing or injuring others, not taking what hasn't been given to you, no sexual misconduct, and no possessiveness of any kind.

[28:52]

Right livelihood is not letting food go to waste, not letting humans or other living things go hungry, not giving poisons to anyone, no toxins, intoxicants, and of course not damaging the environment on which all life depends. Right effort is the sixth fold and applies to everything that we do. Our wholehearted effort when speaking, when resting or playing, when sitting, when working, when studying, all day long. Wholehearted. Fully engaged. Traditionally, right effort included noticing the arising of unwholesome states of mind and refraining from acting from there. This is called a wise restraint. And then in turn, generating wholesome states of mind and endeavoring to practice the path of awakening by acting from there, which you like coffee with your dessert.

[29:57]

The seventh fold, right mindfulness, is obviously being in your right mind. As the Buddha kindly said to a young woman who had gone mad with grief, over the death of her child. Regain your sanity, my dear sister. Regain your sanity. Mindfulness, which is a well-worn notion these days, is also being aware of what you're doing with your body and your mind, of your actions and your thoughts as you do them. I began to study tea ceremony years ago with Suzuki Roshi's widow, Mitsu Suzuki, in order to practice mindfulness. That was my idea. well, I'll do something really pleasant and study tea. I don't know about the pleasant part, but it was required a great deal of mindfulness, which I don't believe I had much of, as Suzuki Sensei helped me to realize. She would say to me every week, Fusan, how many times have I told you little front side to side?

[31:06]

Fusan, little front. Side to side, meaning first you pick up the tea bowl with your right hand a little toward the front of the bowl, and then you hold the bowl with your left hand at the side, and then you pass it back to your right hand at the side before you set it down. How many times must I tell you? Well, apparently every week. So I can testify. And mindfulness is challenging, and yet what else would help us to know where we are and what we're doing while we're there? And if you really want to know, Amaya Sensei is one who has become a master of the craft of how to put things where they belong. Check with her. I know she'd be happy to help. Developing mindfulness can help us to see the four true things. which in turn help us on the path of liberation from suffering for all beings.

[32:11]

This is the mission that we are on for the Buddha. And I'm afraid we're going to need a little extra help, but no pressure. So lastly, there is right meditation, which for us here at the Zen Center is what we're doing right here and right now. Always here and now. Calming the mind and discerning what's real, what's true. What is the true thing? And so to repeat what Suzuki Roshi said to us before he went away, there's no need to be bothered with fancy explanations of Buddhism. If you say Buddha, [...] that is the way. Everything is Buddha. Sitting is Buddha. Lying down is Buddha. Each word is Buddha. That is our way. That is Shikantaza. When you practice zazen with this understanding, that is true zazen. So may true zazen be an inspiration for all of us.

[33:13]

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 Dorma.

[33:38]

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