It's a way of saying hello. That's why we sing, say hello. So today is Smokeyville Day. Wow, I'm going to tell you guys a story. You ready for a story? Yeah. Good. I'm going to tell you a story. A story about fire. The what? I didn't hear. What did he say? You like firemen? I didn't see it. Yeah, they put the fire out. That's right. Very good. Well, this is a story about a really big, big, So here's the story.

[01:27]

A long, long time ago, at a place far, far away. Five monks were having breakfast. And one of the monks happened to look up and far away on the hillside, far away, she saw a big, big fire being. It was really big. Do you think she was scared? No. What do you think she did? No, she couldn't because this was far, far away in a very, very deep wilderness area. And she was very, very deep in a canyon. And they were all by themselves, just these five people.

[02:30]

There was nobody. That's correct. That's right. That's right. Maybe they could have. That's part of the story. Let's wait. Let's wait. Let's wait. My turn. My turn. My turn. what's going to happen, okay? Let's see what's going to happen. So, here was this really big fire being coming up over the hill, and this monk, she decided to go and talk to this big fire being. And she said, when she met this fire being, she said, why are you here? What are you doing coming up over the hill trying to, you know, I'm scared.

[03:31]

Wouldn't you be scared? A little bit, huh? And she talked to this fire being and the fire being said something. The fire being said, well, sometimes when the forest, they're in the middle of the forest, when the forest gets really dry and they're hurting because it doesn't have enough water, they call on me and I come down from the sky. And I come down to the forest and I burn all the forest so that the seeds that can only open when they're really, really hot can start a new life and be strong. And that's why I'm here. But I think about that. Yeah. Yeah.

[04:33]

Actually, it's part of the cycle. You know the cycle of life from the Lion King? Yeah, very easily. That's why you have to pay really attention when fire is there. I think so. Okay, my turn again. Very good. So then she went back to tell the other four monks what the big fire being had said. It also said, I won't burn up your home if you water all the plants in your area. Then they won't need me and I won't burn them up. So she went back, and she talked to the four other monks, and they decided to do that.

[05:38]

And they did. And they watered all the plants in their area. And just to make sure, they also watered the buildings, and the rocks, and everything else they could think of. And they... Did they water the faces? Well, maybe in the morning to wash. Okay, my turn again. So then they did that for two weeks, morning and night, they watered. Everything they could think of, they watered. And then they waited. And then, guess what happened? Fire, then big, big, big. Bigger than this building.

[06:40]

Well, not that big. But almost 40 feet tall. Fire, really big. Fire came. Came. Came. Close. And so what they did was they took their fire hoses that they'd been watering with And just in case the fire forgot that the fire wasn't supposed to burn their home, they wanted to remind the fire. And the way you remind the fire not to burn where you are is you water their feet. Yeah. That's right. You water the sheep. Sheep. No, it doesn't work. No, that's right. That's exactly correct. If you water up here, it doesn't do anything. But if you water down by their feet, then the fire doesn't like it and they back up.

[07:48]

But we're not talking about letting people. We're talking about watering your feet. Well, well, Exactly. For a fire, you have to water the feet. Sheep. Pretty exciting, huh? So guess what happens? Maybe I went to a fire show and it was so funny. It was funny. I'm going to tell you what happened. I'm going to tell you what happened. But you have to be really quiet. And I'll tell you what happens. So they watered the feet of the fire.

[08:54]

And the fire remembered. And the fire came from the east. It came from the north. It came from the south. and burned all around the home. But they didn't burn where the monks were. They didn't burn inside. They didn't burn the canyon home. It went all the way around, and it went by. And the monks learned something from this. Should I tell you what they learned? Yeah. I think it's good to tell you what they learned. First thing they learned was, they learned that fire isn't necessarily bad. It's just part of life. And the next thing they learned, and I want you guys to understand this really well. Are you ready for this one? Because this is really important.

[09:56]

Shark. Shark. I'm waiting for you guys to look at me, because this is important. When you're around fire, you have to pay really, really close attention. Very close attention. Exactly. Exactly right. You have to be really careful. And when the fire comes, if it comes too close, You have to water its feet. Mind it. Yes. Okay. Let's see. There's something else I forgot. But this is what I want to tell you. This is a true story. Yes, you understand.

[11:02]

It's a true story. So, you guys, it's time... Well, then you have to take care of yourself and you leave. You tell somebody big. You go tell somebody who's bigger than you are. Like the fire department. Exactly. And you leave right away. Okay? So now it's time for you to leave. Yes, you can water the plants. Not too much, just enough. They didn't get it.

[12:10]

What? You know, my name is Tia, by the way, and welcome to everyone.

[13:17]

Welcome to everyone, no matter, you know, big, short, tall, thin, happy, sad, whatever orientation, whatever color, whatever, I don't care. Everybody is welcome. decided to talk about fire this morning because Zen Center, as you probably all know, has been intensely involved with fire for the past month. And not just fire, but we've had two people die recently, Marvin and Michael, in a catastrophic car accident. And babies being born, some doing well and some doing not so well. red bugs, all nature of disasters, big and small, as well as wonderful things, I'm sure.

[14:24]

Life is like this. Life is happy, sad, wonderful and frightening. What we want it to be and what we don't want it to be. But in any event, is how it has come to be. Life is like that. How we respond to what happens is a major practice for us. As a matter of fact, it's a clue. How we react is a clue. And it's a direct correlation how much we suffer. Direct correlation. If we resist how things have already come to be, the amount that we resist is the amount that we suffer. And this resistance happens in emotion-thought, in our psychology for the most part.

[15:42]

It's resistance. We have a mind that wants to manipulate and control life as if we could. I mean, think about it, really. What chance do we have? We're a bug in this giganticness. And we think we can manipulate and control it to make it turn out the way we want it to be. It's futile. So this level of psychological emotion thought that we are identified with as me, most people live there. We have stories. We have beliefs. We have thoughts about who we are. We have a thought that says, I'm a me. This level of living is very superficial. This level, this conceptual level is really superficial.

[16:45]

Actually, it's an imagination. We live imagining the past. We live imagining the future. We live often in delusion, imagining the present moment, not really in touch with what is happening. If we come at it through these ideas, these beliefs that we are so strongly attached to, the way things should be. There shouldn't be bedbugs. There shouldn't be fire. There shouldn't be this kind of life that I am leading right now. It should be different. Maybe it should be. But if you live by the should, you're going to die. First, we have to actually acknowledge things the way they have come to be.

[17:54]

First. With no resistance whatsoever. Total surrender. First. And then you have a chance to see clearly how things actually are and respond with some accuracy to the event. I decided to look up some references that we had in our study of Buddhism referencing fire. And the first one I came upon is a very, very early sutra that the Buddha spoke, and it's called the Fire Sutra. How many of you know this sutra? One, two, three, four, five? Any ones?

[18:55]

Monks, all is burning. And what is all that is burning? The eye is burning. The nose is burning. The ears are burning. The tongue is burning. The body is burning. the realistic consciousness is burning. Burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, the fire of grasping, the fire of wanting, burning with the fire of hate. fire of aversion, burning with the fire of delusion, fire of separation.

[20:01]

It is burning with birth, aging, death, sorrows and lamentations, with lack, dissatisfaction and despair. It's an emergency. Just like the fire in the mountain. It's an emergency. Then he goes on to say, and this is really interesting, he says, seeing clearly is the path to liberation. He doesn't say getting rid of the burning. He doesn't say to fight with what already is happening. He doesn't say to get rid of it. He doesn't say to fight. No more struggle.

[21:01]

That comes from a small line, a line of separation. He says, seeing clearly is the path to liberation. through the direct experience of burning or suffering, you realize emptiness and impermanence of all things. In fact, everything is burning away. It is not graspable. And like the fire, it needs to burn so that life can happen things arise, live brightly, and then pass away. It's appropriate. Just seeing clearly through the burning is the path to liberation.

[22:11]

David, the director of Kasahara's in Mountain Center right now, wrote some wonderful blogs, or I'm not sure if you call them blogs, but they're on our website. This is what he said about his experience as one of the five monks, along with Marco and Graham, Colin and Steve Stuckey. He wrote this. And finally, deep vows to the fire, whose undeniable Dharma teaching of impermanence has earned our odd respect and attention. The fire, like any dedicated teacher, challenged us to constantly be attentive. During the hours that the blaze was finally upon us, the tracking of time gave way to the pure immediacy of the moment.

[23:16]

What was most compelling during these hours, and which in reflection remains the most satisfying, was the constant vigilance and effort that the fire required. It was as a sheen through and through, a retreat, a demanding schedule of pure presence in which one utterly let go of a known outcome. Our monastic training had taught us to simply offer our best, wholehearted effort, unattached to the results, yet still aware of our preference to save our spiritual homestead. We can live life that way. It is possible if we see it as an emergency, which it is. In our lineage, they say sometimes, practice as if your head is on fire.

[24:21]

That would be an emergency, right? If we really took that to heart and believed it, that is the way to practice, we would practice with the same kind of full attention, full attentiveness to how it is that we create suffering, where it is that we are burning suffering. with grasping, burning with hatred, burning with delusion. And pay attention and see through it clearly because when we see clearly the way this superficial, conceptual idea of me is built, maintained, when we see through it clearly, it becomes transparent. It weakens. And we can see this wholeness that we are not a part of.

[25:24]

Katigiri, my master teacher, told me this once when I said we are a part of this whole thing. He said, no, not part. I had no idea what he meant, as usual. But it stayed with me. I never forgot it. It was always a question. Everybody talked that way. A part of the whole. No. Not a part. We are that. Not separate in any way. We are this one life. Constantly changing and therefore empty. And if we all are that, what it means is that from here what I am looking at is me. This is me.

[26:29]

When you look, the tree is us. It's teaching us constantly, all the time, what we are. I had another story, but I'm running out of time. I'll try a little bit. This is another fire story from our tradition. This time it's a koan. It's a koan from the Dendawa, which is a teaching of Dogen, but it's a story from our ancestors. One day, Phayan asked Schwanzer, how long have you been with us?

[27:34]

Schwanzer says, I've been in your community for three years. Phayan, the teacher. How come you've never asked a question? Schwanzer said, well, I don't want to mislead you. I must confess that when I was with Master So-and-so, whose name I've forgotten, I attain the peaceful bliss, so I don't feel like I need to come and talk with you. Fayan asked, by what words did you enter that place? Schwanza replied, when my teacher asked, what is the self of the practitioner? Which means, what is my true nature? You know, who am I? He said, the fire child seeks fire. The fire child seeks fire.

[28:39]

Vian said, good words. But I'm afraid you didn't really understand. So, Schwanza tried to explain. The fire child belongs to fire. fire seeking fire is just like the self seeking the self. Fayan stopped him and said, indeed, just as I thought, you don't really understand. If the Buddha Dharma was like that, it wouldn't have come down to this day. Well, Schwansa was insulted. He was really upset. And he walked out of the conversation. He walked out of the monastery. And he was kind of huffing and puffing his way, you know, down the road. Oh, that stupid t-shirt. He doesn't even understand my inside ring. And then, well, don't you think so?

[29:40]

And then it occurred to him, well, this is this great master. He's got lots of students. And I don't know, maybe he's right. Maybe I should go back. listen and so he dropped his intellectual understanding he dropped his mind that knows something and he opened up a beginner's mind in which everything is still possible and very humbly he goes back to Faiyan and he said bowing, he apologizes and says, I am very sorry that I got up and left. Faiyan responded, well, why don't you ask me what I think of the question? Schwanza said, okay, and asked, what is the self of the practitioner?

[30:44]

And Faiyan, guess what he said? It's a Zen story. So, Pa Yen says, the fire child seeks fire. And of course, you know what happens next? It's his insert, right? So the guy, right, exactly, the guy fully wakes up completely. So what's the difference? What's the difference? The essence of our practice is turning away from the mind of confusion, the mind of duality,

[31:54]

the conceptual mind. Turning away from whatever creates a sense of separation. Bodhisattva lives on that line. Turning away from confusion and turning back toward silence. Returning over and over again to silence. returning over and over again to what we would say big mind, our original nature, or just plain awareness. Like Dogen says, turn the light inwardly. Stop being distracted by all of the... things that our society throws at us now.

[32:59]

I mean, it used to be when I watched TV, at least, you know, you kind of felt like you were watching TV. But now, I can hardly bear it anymore because everything is like being thrown at me all the time. I'm being yelled at. Watch this program and pay attention here and then my computer is there and my cell phone and all of it. It's just like yammer, yammer, yammer, yammer. It's so distracting. It's so painful, so uncomfortable. So turn the light inwardly and pay attention first to the small self, because that's what you're going to see when you look this way at first. But once you see through that, you get past the self-chatter, the self-reflecting light, the conversation that you're having in your head all the time about everything, when you get through that and you allow awareness to simply shine through, it's there already, this receptive, non-dual awareness, then what Dogen means is when you turn the light inwardly is to simply remember, to notice, not remember, to notice

[34:23]

But that awareness is there all the time. That it is what we are. So it is an emergency. Everything is burning. Burning with greed. Burning with hate. Burning with delusion. and everything is burning away. It's empty, ungraspable, evanescent. So with patience and determination and kindness, it is our job to see clearly

[35:25]

this burning is working Eckhart Tolle my brother this morning called me up he knew I was giving a talk and he suggested I mention this quote it's also about fire this is from Eckhart Tolle sustained attention severs the link between the pain body and your thought process and brings about the process of transformation. It is as if the pain becomes fuel for the flame of your consciousness, which then burns more brightly as a result. I suggest that if we want to live on the earth, period, and be able to take care of each other well, that we need to do this work for us

[37:03]

for all beings it's clearer and clearer it's an emergency you know and we don't have to I mean we can be scared and we can tuck our fear under our arm and go forward and face you know the face our little ego self that says no no no I have to I have to manipulate this to be happy. I have to control this if I'm going to be safe. And we can renounce coming from that place of thought and instead come from the place of silence. We can all do this. We just have to keep going together.

[38:03]

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