This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations by people like you. Good morning. Good morning. I wonder if anyone in this room is 13 years old. Anyone or close? Anyone, anyone? Would you mind standing up? Would you mind standing up just for a minute? You're 11? 11's good. Anyone too? Are you? Could you come up just for a second? Could you come up just for a second? Could you turn around? You don't have to look at me. So I want to tell you, is there a two-year-old here? Could she please come up? Could he come up? Thank you. He or she. Okay. I've been working for 11 plus two years on a book, and today it's finished.

[01:11]

And, you know, it's perfect that young people are here because the book is really dedicated to you guys. So I'm really happy you're here. So now you can sit down and no longer be embarrassed. Thank you for propping me up. So welcome. March 2nd. March 2nd. March 2nd, sit first. Sit first, March 2nd, and go to the world. So I'm really happy. We're coming up to the spring equinox, the best time of year to plant seeds. And I wanted to begin this morning's celebration, because it really is a celebration. by talking a little bit about seeds, planting seeds. How many of you like to plant seeds or have planted some seeds recently? Fantastic. This is a good sign. Well, this morning, I want to give you a gift, especially to the young people who are here, of seeds from the heart of the world for you to plant.

[02:19]

And luckily, you'll be able to go outside pretty soon. You won't have to stay in here too long. And when you do, when you do, I have a special little collection of seeds that has a story. Who knows what kinds of seeds these are? What do you think? Olivia might know. You don't know? That is pathetic. Please, Olivia, show how well-trained you are. Yeah, the bean seed. And in Spanish? And in French? Yeah. And what about in Swedish? Let's just hear, how do you say bean in Italian, please? Anyway, in all languages of the world, the great bean is an incredible plant. And I want to show you a drawing.

[03:25]

One of my best friends did. Have a bean. It feels amazing. Want to meet the guy who did this drawing? Come on. I feel about 11. Am I holding it the right way? You are. Hallelujah. Everybody, this is Davis Tassel, who's one of my closest and oldest friends and the illustrator of the garden book. So... Anyway, we're carrying on because it took so long to write this book. But if you draw like this, it takes as long as it takes. And do you know the bean is one of the most ancient of all seeds? 9,000 years old. Beans have been grown for 9,000 years. And in the old times, the ancient people of Peru didn't have newspapers or radio or the internet or iPods or any of that stuff.

[04:27]

Instead, they carried the news of what was happening in their world in a handful of beans. So they would run on the great long highways along the edges of the Andes Mountains carrying a handful of beans to convey a story. And in some ancient art, beans have actual legs to indicate that they carry the story of the world. So, you know when we say, you know the story of Jack and the Beanstalk? And you know the story, there's a story in the Bible of Esau and Yaakov and the beans. Jacob and Esau, one sells his birthright for a handful of beans. So beans are important and they make you do kind of crazy things. Anyway, these beans come from Central Europe, from a place called Kosovo. And Kosovo has been in the news a lot this last...

[05:27]

couple of weeks because there's been a long struggle, war and fighting in the Balkan region where Kosovo is. And the people of Kosovo, for years, for centuries, supported their life with these very beans that I'm holding in my hands. About 10 years ago, when their country was in a terrible amount of fighting and confusion, One of my very close friends, who was a great gardener, received a handful of beans, these beans, from a family in Kosovo saying, there's war in our country, we can't plant our gardens. Could you grow these beans for us for a season or so until the countryside settles down and then keep a little to eat but give them back to us? Because we, with all the fighting that's going on, can't take care of our gardens. You know how that is? That's horrible, and that's happening in many different countries.

[06:29]

It's really sad. So 10 years ago, we got these seeds, and Janet planted some at the Centrofico Literacy and in her garden, and she gave me a few, and we planted them here at Green Gulch. The deer ate the tops, but we mostly managed to grow them. Remember? They were growing on the back fence, and we grew some at the Edible Schoolyard in North Berkeley, and we gave them to other schools, and everybody began to grow these beans. and thinking about the people whose gardens couldn't be planted. And so the first year we got, I mean, we got about this much seed from two or three bean seeds. The next year, double this amount. The next year, enough to actually taste the beans, and they are delicious. We weren't supposed to taste them, but we did. We cooked up a little bit. And, you know, we kept growing them. A couple of years ago, a wonderful friend who lives in this community and her husband decided that they were going to go to Kosovo and help be peacemakers in that region.

[07:33]

I told her the story of these beans. She got a little bag. Actually, the woman who first got the beans made a bag. We filled the bag with seeds. And Susie went, she's a middle school teacher, great teacher, science teacher. She and her husband went to Kosovo to a camp where kids who've been fighting, kids of families who've been fighting for so many years were actually together in this camp. And they had a ceremony around the beans, where they received back a handful of their beans. Not only the kids from Kosovo, but also from the fighting sides. They all got a handful of these beans, and they made little red bracelets for each other. And they had a pretty good time. But we still kept... a bit of this seed, and just when I heard about what's been going on in Kosovo now, I thought, this is a good time to continue growing the seeds, because we don't know what'll happen this summer.

[08:38]

Maybe they won't be able to plant their gardens, or maybe they will, maybe they'll have great gardens. So this morning, I'd like to invite each one of you, and Shoho will do this with you, to take one of these seeds and really hold it in your hand And imagine what a peaceful world would look like. What would a peaceful world not look like. What would a peaceful world be like? What comes up for you? If you just close your eyes for a minute. I'm holding the beam. Pretend you are. Just close your eyes for a minute and then maybe we'll take two or three breaths. And then the very first image or the very first idea of what a peaceful world would look like, what comes up for you when you think about that? Especially I'd love to hear from the young people.

[09:41]

Pardon me? Children gardening is pretty nice. What else? What makes you feel peaceful? Maybe that's a better, it's not so abstract. Any answers? Laughing? Nice. The beans? Good. The big children can talk too if they want. Walking everywhere. Being able to walk everywhere. No borders between the walking. It's good. Eating together. That's great. One of the things that Susie brought back was a terrific recipe for the bean soup. that they make in Kosovo. So, yeah, eating together. Yes? That's beautiful.

[10:48]

You know, when Thich Nhat Hanh first came back to the United States and visited us here at Green Gulch, He couldn't sleep at night, and he asked if some of his little cousins would come and sleep next to the room where he was just so he could fall asleep. So that's what made him feel peaceful, watching the kids sleep. So these beans are for you, and I hope you have a good time. Each person gets a pot and gets a beans. Please do put a wish for peace, and then you can grow them and either plant them in your garden or give them to a friend, whatever you want to do. Any questions? Yes. Do you have a question? Please. Do you want to say something? It doesn't have to be a question. Hmm? Yeah, it's time to go. Let's get out of here. Thank you very much and have a wonderful time outside in the garden. You're welcome.

[11:49]

Lucky, lucky, lucky. Yes. Pardon me? Yeah. What? Does it look like a Christmas tree? What is this? It's not a Christmas tree. It did it first, right? Yeah, that's good. That's actually interesting that you said that. Did you know those were beans? Please say yes. You're welcome. Thank you very much. You know, there's lots of warm seats up here with little bits of sand on them. There's all kinds of goodness up here. So jam. Guys, there's more seats up front.

[13:30]

Come close. It's good. Goodie, goodie, goodie, goodie. It's always so painful when the door closes.

[14:37]

But the door is so open between the worlds. It's so open. You know, I forgot to say to the young people something that one of my favorite writers, Paul Fleischmann, he wrote Westphalia and Seedfolks and Joyful Noise and wonderful books for children visited us at the Edible Schoolyard this year And there was an assembly for the young people in middle school, and he said, every one of you can write a book. Every one of you can do it if you were to. It's completely possible. And every single one of you can open the world that you know in your own particular way. So fully aware that there may be a book or a painting or a great... actor or actress, or firefighter or teacher, and each one of us just open the gate between the worlds and let that truth in.

[15:46]

This morning is that kind of a celebration. And this morning's talk is dedicated to the children of the world, so it's completely perfect to have them all around in the front. messing up the recto-linear life, reminding us of the Saha world, the great floating world. And you know, yesterday, this whole weekend, we've been celebrating the coming out of the garden book, working with Abbott, Myoga, and Steve, with whom my husband and I and many others of us in this room farmed in the first years of this garden of Zen Center being here, farmed together, growing food, sitting in this hay barn, deepening the question, watching the mountains and rivers without end float all around us.

[16:48]

So we've been celebrating the coming out of a book that is a book that comes very much from the heart of Zen Center. So the Gardening at the Dragon's Gate is the name of the book, and it is a Zen Center book. We've waited a long time for it to come out, and now the time is right. And the work of the book, of putting it together, has been a real labor of love and tremendous support and energy to bring this work into the world. So it's great, and it's fleeting ephemeral. It's already old, even though it's just born. It's a mystery. And yesterday, we were in the Wheelwright Center together with a small, deep gathering of us, and Davis, our artist, reminded me of the wonderful teaching from one of my primary teachers, Joanna Macy, who's been a guardian, a guide, and a great Dharma sister and friend.

[18:01]

And she said, you know, in these times, there are four really important practices we can take up, and they all begin with gratitude. Every single thing we do has to begin with gratitude. And then proceeds to opening to the pain and truth of the world. And then seeing all that is with new eyes. And last of all, going forth, getting to work. And Davis reminded us yesterday that in that going forth, it's really important to act our age, our true age. Not just 60 years old or 11 or 2, but 5 billion years of being...

[19:02]

of the earth in the earth, listening to the instructions at the gate. So I'd like to begin with gratitude. Gratitude for the gift of life. And then at the same moment, gratitude for the brevity and swiftness passing of life. You know, to really take that in, and all prayer, all... Brother David says that gratitude is the heart of prayer. All prayer is grounded in gratitude. Gratefulness is the heart of prayer, that's what he says. So all prayer, all action, begins with a huge gratitude for what is and what's passing, swiftly passing.

[20:06]

Thus we see this floating world like a bubble, a dream, a phantom, a drop of dew, and a shock of lightning. So, you know, thinking of that and just being together in this hall, let's for a moment send out our thankfulness in whatever way is right for you, thankfulness for life and the gift of life, really remembering the many beings who have joined us. So on Roshi, my primary and first Zen teacher, reminded me, he said, you know, when you cross from life to the other side, you join the great majority. So really, with gratitude, or calling up the beings that have made that journey this year.

[21:10]

And we'll begin by just invoking a few deep friends, particularly Edilio, whom we celebrate today, fabulous gambler, strong Zen priest. Edilio's day today. And Ginny. And Sylvia Goldberg, Dagen's older brother, Christian Gomez, Judah Levy, Sir Edmund Hillary, beekeeper, mountain man, Benazir Bhutu. So let's just take a minute, and if you'd want to speak the name of someone you love and know who's joined that great majority this year, this is a good time. How close they are right around us.

[23:25]

The force of life. How close they are. And also calling up grateful for the people who are dealing with sudden illness or accidental illness. Dangerous circumstances. I'm thinking of Ruben, my son Jesse's colleague. Thinking of Callie and Loretta. Incredibly strong women in the mountains of New Mexico. One dealing with brain cancer. One with cancer of the thyroid. There we go. Let's bring them up. Call them up. grateful for them. Keep calling. Call them up. You know, this is not a sad thing.

[24:29]

This is a celebration of thankfulness for the force of life and our connectedness. And they are so welcome here. Dale's mother. beloved neighbor Edna. So we welcome them here to this hall of no regret, no mistake, no shame, and say, you know, come in and be well. We send you our love and our gratitude for life and for the connections. So beginning with that, setting our course.

[25:30]

You know, thankfulness loosens the grip of the industrial growth society that makes us think, I don't have enough, I don't have enough friends, everybody's sick, everybody's dying. It's bigger than that. Thankfulness for the circle of life. As the... And the Iroquois Nation and the Lake Onondaga region say, let us gather our minds and give thanks. Gather our minds, our hearts and minds, and give thanks for our life and the opportunity to live in dangerous times, to meet the challenges of these times, and to know how strong the force of love is. You know, I really feel that today. My sister came all the way from the East Coast to join us, and she's sitting over there in the corner. It just makes me feel so happy. We don't have to fight about eyelash purlers anymore.

[26:38]

It's way beyond that. You know, and moving from thankfulness You know, Joanna describes visiting the region of the great Onondaga, peacemakers. The peacemaker who comes across Lake Onondaga in a stone canoe, carrying the wish for peace. And giving the call, putting out the call for peace. And in that great hall, a turtle on the floor of the hall. I remember a few years ago talking about turtles. It's turtles all the way down to the base of the world and out. Great turtle, turtle island. Gratefulness for the opportunity to live in broken times, to paddle a stone canoe, to meet each other at the dragon's gate and to serve, to work, to do the work. And in that work, we're not afraid to own and welcome to...

[27:50]

toward the pain of the world it's just as welcome as the joy they're made of each other like forward and backward steps front and the back of the hand and from from the from that welcoming we have the opportunity to grow more deeply toward each other and to open new doors into our practice and into our intention. I know from living in the Middle East, the most valuable carpets of the Middle East were the ones with an error woven into the design. Let's call it a brush, a flaw, deliberately woven into the design. So we remember it's bigger than we think. It's more than we know. The work we have to do. I've been studying along with Abbott Steve.

[29:01]

We've made a real pledge this year to fully inform ourselves about how to be more alive citizens with all the challenges of how we live in this world. And we know so well. I'm reading, I'm sure you've seen this article on Bigfoot and the New Yorker, you know, reading about carbon emissions and My son and 19-year-old daughter are really reminding me to look at this, especially Elisa, who's a freshman in college, and is looking at the connection between global climate change and her work in the world. What is she called to do? All day yesterday I kept going back home and talking to her on the phone as she crafts an application to the right programs because she's on fire about the call of the world right now, and it's a beautiful thing. She takes information like greenhouse gas emissions spiking in the last two centuries and levels of carbon dioxide higher than in the past 650,000 years as a call to be more alive.

[30:10]

Not a call to be depressed or destroyed. She's enlivened by the abrash in our life. Enlivened by the flaw. I know that that's a very strong movement in our culture right now, and I'm thankful for that truth and for living in these times. And that means belonging to the world and finding a way to be fulfilled within the flaw. To do this, it's absolutely necessary that we help one another and develop in ourselves the quality and ability to see with new eyes.

[31:25]

Things are not what they seem, says in the Lankavatara Sutra, nor are they otherwise. Things are not what they seem, nor are they otherwise. When Davis took his beautiful, art, which is not what it seems, nor is it otherwise, to the 26th floor of the Bertelsen Building in New York City to a random house, random house. Random as it gets. Right into the heart of corporate America, all dressed in black, nice and sleek, with his attache case filled with subversive art. When he went up to that floor overlooking the great unfolding of the Hudson River, tidal surge moving all the way to Lake Onondaga, carrying the art, and Bantam said to him, you know, we love what you do, and we want you to do it differently.

[32:31]

Isn't that great? So he had to break open and see with new eyes. When my sister taught acting, started our own studio, working with young actors as an actress in New York, reminding people things are not what they see, nor are they otherwise. You can look at the camera, but it's not just this, opening the world. So if, Katagiri Roshi used to say, you know, our work is to dissolve the frame around our lives. I love it, Martha. We've got a picture with a frame around it, but the beans are dissolving the frame at every moment, for God's sake. They want to travel on the road. So we have to see with new eyes and break open the frame. I remember Katagiri Roshi saying, you know, if meditation students can't do it by being too dour and serious or grim, then let the ballerinas...

[33:40]

Let the children, let the football players on the front line break open the frame because they surely will. And don't waste your time. To see with new eyes at the gate is our deepest work and privilege. And we can do this. Each one of us is one and there are many of us. The day is coming, said Paul Cezanne. paintbrush in hand. The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution. And we ate carrot soup yesterday. And I thought, this is revolutionary. Eating carrots, we're eating the roots of the world. Nourished by the roots of the world, may I work for rootedness and the wild and cultivated world. You know, so each object fully seen and appreciated has its own scale and place in the world.

[34:47]

Davis was saying yesterday, you know, in the ancient unrolling of the scrolls of China, the mountains and rivers without end are there and dragons and fish are moving in the waters. And a hut may be as large as a mountain and still be in scale because that hut has a kind of presence and life force that makes its size very much determined by how you see. And in those mountains and rivers, a tiny pilgrim moving across the landscape. So to keep our eyes and minds open and to let them be opened by wonderful art, disobedient children, the truth of global climate change because of the way we live in this world. Without flailing ourselves with nettles or whips, taking on this is the way I live in the world, I mean to reduce that footprint.

[35:54]

I mean for my big foot to be lighter. Alan Chadwick, my gardening teacher, said, walk like a young Chinese woman on fresh earth. You'll leave a tiny trail, not a thick path. A tiny trail. And in so many ways we know how to encourage one another. But even the work is bigger than that. Because we live in dangerous times, we must learn to see with new eyes. And that's the business of gardening at the dragon's gate. At the edge of the known world is where practice occurs. When you find your place where you are, practice occurs. Is that only an insight from the 13th century? from a Japanese child who watched the incense smoke at his mother's funeral and had the world open. Does that belong 13 centuries to the 13th century? It's absolutely current, present, useful, non-nostalgic recognition.

[37:00]

So don't be fooled by the great teachers. They're really problematic. Because you may think, like the Industrial Growth Society, I'll never be as good at teaching. I remember my ex-brother-in-law saying, oh, I'll never be smart enough, so therefore I'm going to give up. I'm thinking, come on, that's ridiculous. You will never be smart enough, so you should not give up. You're a stupid idiot, but don't give up. Give up. You're needed. If you're not stupid, someone else has to be, so please. So I'll be stupid. You know, and then last of all, you know, before I want to just say it, a woman I love so, Leah Matsui, who lives in Japan and does calligraphy, the simple prayer, you've given me great hope, or how are you, or, you know, just a basic greeting.

[38:03]

But she translates it, tell me the story of the world. just in meeting, tell me fresh the story of the world. I don't want a literal translation. No one can translate that deep prayer for our well-being. I don't want a literal translation. None of us do. Where's the freedom and the edge? The dragon is dangerous, represents transformation. The known and unknown world, we're at that gateway right now. You know, Bantam fought a lot about that title. I don't know about Dragon's Gate. It sounds kind of Eastern. I'm thinking, okay, my eldest son Jesse is born in the year of the serpent, representing transformation and beauty and shedding off the skin. And our youngest child is born in the year of the dragon. So I'm living with dragons and snakes. And I'm thinking, they're not Eastern. They're very much California. So I said, I don't think so.

[39:05]

I think the dragon's gate is that place. right at the edge of the known and unknown world. So let's be there. Let's garden there. Not in the known world, not on either side, but at the edge. And the agent of the book said, let them find a better title. And they didn't. So we're celebrating the Dragon's Gate. And last of all, we go forth. And the best way, that I've found from working with so many of you and the natural, I don't like to say the natural world, and the living, the more than human world, the living world, the best way to go forward is to take a backward step. Step back. Turn around. Avert.

[40:06]

Reverse. Go against the tide of what you know. Step backwards into the work. When you're remembering that, you know, turn your light inside. Take a backward step into the blue dragon's cave. And you know, what's so wonderful, and you do this for the love of the world. A very courageous young woman I love and treasure, one of our apprentices sent me this right when the book was coming out, and times were a little tight for me.

[41:12]

For the love of a tree go out on a limb. Sally, could you come read this? I can't read it. You'll be able to see it. Wait, wait, let me give you the mic. This is my sister, Sally. Do you need to click it? Can you hear me? For the love of a tree, she went out on a limb. For the love of the

[42:15]

she made compost. For the love of a good meal, she gave thanks. For the love of family, she reconciled differences. For the love of creativity, she entertained new possibilities. For the love of her enemies, she suspended judgment. For the love of herself, she acknowledged her worth. And the world was richer for her. Oh. God, I didn't realize it was going to sound like some kind of tribute. I had already adjusted it so you wouldn't hear that. That's for each of us. And if my friend can do this, given what she's been through, and she does every day do this, we can all do this. So... We've got just great work to do. And it's what an incredible time, the best and worst time to be alive.

[43:19]

And we know that. So therefore, we get off our butts and get to work. And now we can go outside and have tea and celebrate and have a good time. And I just want to close with this poem. This is dedicated to Patrick and Barbara and everything they've been through this year. by David Buddle. Tomorrow, we are bones and ash, the roots of weeds poking through our skulls. Today, simple clothes, empty mind, full stomach, alive, aware, right here, right now, drunk on music, who needs wine? Come on, sweetheart, let's go dancing while we've still got feet. So let's go dancing at the dragon's gate. See what comes up on the skulls of the world, from the skulls of the world and the eye sockets of the wind. And let's have a good, good time while the world is burning and changing all around us.

[44:21]

That's our practice vow. March 2nd, dance first. Thank you very much for coming this morning. And we really are celebrating this. Great Zen Center treasure. The book helps the work of this organization. Not organization. The book helps the work of this, of all of us. There. That's right. And takes it into the world by, you know, so please enjoy this day. And we look forward to meeting you outside. We're going to sign the book, Davis and I both. And there's beautiful art for sale too. I'm sure Arlene will tell you all about it. And thank you for... So thank you for inviting me to speak today. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support.

[45:24]

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

[45:32]

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