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. Good morning. If you're too crowded, just spread out a little bit. Who is here for the first time? Put your heads up a little. Because otherwise I miss you. Thank you for coming. You're coming on an auspicious day.

[01:01]

We just celebrated Buddha's enlightenment this morning. And I was, oh, I so hoped we could still see the altar we had. We had two of those flower arrangements. Oh, they're up there. One is up there. We had a tower of tangerines. We had a birth, a big cake, chocolate-covered cake. We offered Buddha sweet water, rice, and tea. And we chanted the Heart Sutra, And we have the big taiko drum up here on a stand. And two people would beat the drum simultaneously from both sides in a particular rhythm while we were walking up and down these tatami mats and all around circumambulating and throwing carnation flower petals.

[02:08]

Everything was just... strewn with petals and hair and in glasses, they got stuck, and on the floor, everything was covered. And it was such a joyous morning. And it's also, you're dropping in, coming for the first time, and everybody else is just coming this morning, into the seventh day of... which means a seven-day meditation retreat, where we basically sit in the meditation hall and are quiet. We don't talk for almost seven days. Only talk when necessary. And do the same Uttar did when he wanted to understand life, the suffering in life, the joys in life, everything of life.

[03:25]

How is this actually happening? What is this reality we are all in? Miraculously, We appeared, and here we are, each one of us. So we celebrated Buddha's awakening. He decided to sit down and not move till he understood. So we sat down and don't move, and we are all waking up today. Waking up, being awake, is the birth gift of each single one of us. It belongs to this particular body, this particular being, to each one of us.

[04:34]

Nobody is excluded. Nobody has more and nobody has less of it. We all have it completely free, just part of being. It's hard for us to believe often, or to actually, maybe we believe it, but we you know, we know it in our head and think, yeah, maybe that's true, it's a nice thought, or I wish it were true, or maybe it's true, but how do... I don't see it. I don't feel it. So, is it true?

[05:35]

So we have been chanting the loving-kindness meditation every day of the practice period. Oh, sorry, Blanche. So if you can't hear me, raise your hand. Somebody else? Okay. Thank you. I speak up a little more. Can you turn it up slightly a bit? Okay, is that better? Okay, thank you. So we need all the help we can get. So we have been also, the Sashin marks the end of a 10-week practice period where a big group of people came together from inside and coming to join us from outside to live... to practice together and explore how can we and what helps us to live in harmony with all beings.

[07:01]

That was the theme, the topic of the practice period. And to take refuge in the community of beings that actually are living and practicing together and explore how to do that in harmony. How can we return and return to and come from a place where we understand that we're completely interconnected and completely, in that sense, one, and at the same time so diverse, so many different. Everybody is... all home, all universe that actually cannot be shared by anybody else. Your life that you've been given, that this body that you're living in and this mind that was given to you and that you're training and working with and the senses you're having with these bodies and how they function create

[08:18]

the universe, co-create the universe you individually are living and experiencing in. And nobody can be exactly in your place. See it exactly the same way, hear it exactly the same way, feel it exactly the same way, can't. And at the same time, We all share the capacity to wake up and the basic goodness, the absolute basic all-pervading goodness that is in each being. We just forget it in the course of starting to think and try to make sense of our experiences and what we perceive around us.

[09:23]

And so we start having all those stories that then keep co-shaping what we perceive and kind of create an environment in which we keep wandering and not venturing past those boundaries of that environment. in general. So sitting still, sitting still in our body and sitting still in our minds, kind of just being present with whatever it is that's going on helps us to start to see those that we keep having that we created and keep continue to kind of feed and hold and because they have become definitions they help us to feel safe even if it's a safety that's painful or a safety that's overexcited or a safety that's

[10:47]

sad or safety that's boring or but it's safe because it's familiar so when we sit still we start seeing that but we also start maybe tapping or getting connected to what's beyond all that what's beyond whatever it is we think about anything And that's unlimited, and that's peaceful, and that is good. That is loving, that is unconditional, that is just okay. Totally, completely okay. So we can access this in different ways in our everyday life.

[11:51]

We can do it with remembering just to be respectful. Independently of what reactions or responses we have to something, can we just be radically respectful? Can our mind go, this is really you know, a terrible, terrible thing, and I have to get very upset, or I am getting very upset, and can I still make the space bigger and be respectful to the person? So I'm not, I'm, you know, so for example, if somebody's unfriendly with you, When we get hurt, we have our own response to feeling hurt, our own defenses. Either we turn away, or we get mad, or we are mean back.

[12:58]

But can we actually not do that? Even though that comes up, but that isn't the basis from which we react. The basis from which then we respond is to go like this and maybe not speak or just say good morning and go on or ouch and go on or maybe this person is suffering and that's why they are so or abrupt can we continue to be to the other person how we would like to be treated rather than making it dependent on how we think I have just been treated so now I'm going to treat you the same way back

[14:15]

And that, if we practice that way, whether or not we have realized that we are actually so good, that this is actually how we truly are, that we cultivate the behavior that will come from that unconditional love. We can try that on. We can be in the streetcar, in the bus, in the bar on the street, and just really pay attention to the people that are there, that come our way, or are sitting by the side of the street, the homeless people, and really look at them and say, good morning.

[15:39]

in your mind, in your heart, or out loud, and really look at them with loving eyes. We all have memories of having been looked at with loving eyes, maybe one moment, one single moment, but I think each one of us has had at least one moment where they had felt a loving eye resting on them. Maybe from a stranger, doesn't matter, but when it happens, we feel it. We might very quickly turn away from it because it doesn't fit into our self-image, So campy was a mistake, probably didn't mean me.

[16:47]

Something like that, we might want to deflect it or have deflected it very quickly. But if we go back, we can probably all remember a moment where we felt just an unconditioned, not because you did this, or because you just, or because you are, or because, because, but just, just free, just so. I think many people who actually met Suzuki Roshi had moments of that. Being touched by his just meeting them beyond the places they knew themselves, much more complete.

[17:50]

So we can practice that any time. It doesn't cost anything. It's not dependent on whether we are smart or sharp or slow, or fast, or tall, or small, or rich, or poor. It's always available for us to practice. It's not heavy to carry around. You don't need a bag or a suitcase. It fits everywhere. And when we practice it, it actually connects us to the love that is in us from the moment we come into this life. The freedom and the love and the goodness and the kindness and the wanting everybody else to be happy

[19:05]

It's always there. And when we practice kindness, respectfulness, regardless of what categories our minds habitually put things, our minds will still do that. But we can start cultivating something that cuts through all of this. Cutting through saying that's bad and that shouldn't be here. But just, oh, this is here and this is here too. Kindness is here too. And here too. And also here. And respectfulness is here too. While my mind is going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, or something, respectfulness is here too. Not instead. not just also.

[20:06]

And for that, you don't have to move into Zen Center. We can do that anywhere where we are, in our very own particular circumstances. And you still hear me? And it changes the world. It changes your world. If each of us remembers kindness and respectfulness, no matter what, towards ourselves and towards everybody around us, it transforms the our inner environment and it transforms our outer environment. It is incredibly powerful. And that's what we've been doing for seven days.

[21:25]

We've been sitting and practicing respectfulness and kind surroundings to everything that was coming up in us. And we hopefully keep continuing this, even though the seven-day Sashin is going to end very soon. And then we're out and about, and everything is going to be whatever it's going to be. But that we can take with us. And it's a very simple practice. And when we start practicing that despite or regardless indifferent to what our mind is saying, we still are practicing kindness and respectfulness.

[22:26]

What it will do is it will actually open our senses And we will start to see Buddha nature revealed. It will be revealed to us to see in each being. We will see each single being as an awake being. Whether or not that being is in an awake state at that moment. We will... see them that way, we will experience them that way. It will open up our eyes from seeing surfaces to seeing into the heart of all life. And the practice is absolutely non-denominational.

[23:27]

It's not Buddhist, it's not Christian, it doesn't belong to the Muslims or the Jews. It's actually universal. Kindness and respectfulness does not have a particular outfit. It does not depend on robes, on vows. That's the beauty of it. Life and the truth has no denomination. It doesn't belong to any one tradition. And so we can just practice that. And it will undo over time all our limiting habits without us having to be harsh with them or fight with them or beat ourselves up or others up with them.

[24:41]

It is like water that kind of finds its way. It's patient. It's persistent. It's softening. We had wonderful rains this year. Here, not everywhere. But here we had rains that came in a way that they didn't, they opened the earth. They didn't come the first few times so strongly that they just ran off the surface. So we had the, here right in this area, we had the the good luck that the earth could open and really absorb the water. So that practice of kindness and respect is like that kind of rain.

[25:47]

It softens our heart, it softens our bodies, it softens our minds, It softens our environment and opens everything up. And it creates harmony and community. With even people you only see once and never again. The moment you're kind and respectful, there's harmony. Once I came from Berkeley late at night, and I drove through the toll to come over the Richmond Bridge. And for some mysterious moment, the woman I had to pay,

[26:53]

the woman in the toll booth, and I really saw each other. And it's still in my body, that moment of being completely met by somebody I've never seen before, I never will see again, and she is in my heart with such power. Each time I remember it, my whole body responds. It was just a moment. So, I guess it's about time. Because we are going back downstairs to sit in our seats and be still. There won't be question and answer, but is there a little time?

[27:55]

Okay. One or two questions or comments. Yes, Mimi. Yes. So kindness is never to be used to push something down or ignore it or shut it off. If I get angry, the task is can I be kind enough to actually notice that I'm angry and that maybe... and surround the anger with kindness, then I have a better chance to not drop that on the other person, for example, but to actually experience it and be respectful to it and to the other person.

[29:07]

Because nobody can make you feel any way. Our feelings are our own responses. They are not the fault of the other person. They may be triggered by something, but that they can be triggered is because they're here. So can we be respectful to our own experience and kind and completely be respectful to the other person and kind? Yes, and the other person that's on the receiving end of too much that could be contained can remain respectful and kind and see, if we do that, then we can see that actually that is suffering. That was so much suffering that it just came out.

[30:10]

So then there's a lot of space for also healing and forgiveness and... So it's not like there's no, you know, things do happen. And sometimes they happen so fast that it's we have retaliated or we have, you know, said something unfriendly or cold or mean. And there it is. So can we then, too, still be respectful? And maybe later we go back and say, I'm sorry, that was, you know, I... don't want to behave that way, and can we continue to be kind and respectful with everything that is happening? Yes? In that power moment you had in that moment at the forward, did you speak to how you let that moment just be, instead of having a desire to find out more about her, talk a little?

[31:20]

Yes. In the moment it happened, it was so, I think because it was so absolutely surprising, it came so out of the left field, that that didn't happen. There was no movement around, oh, who is she, can I have more of this? It was a very still moment. Totally complete and totally still. It didn't go into stories. And it was just an incredible gratefulness. I mean, it was such a gift and an absolutely loving moment. I mean, I can't really describe it. But it was like it was itself and it didn't need anything more and had no movement. even though it was very expensive.

[32:23]

It was just like, I don't know. But often we do that, and then we can just go back and just appreciate the moment rather than go and take it apart. But that's sometimes not so easy. Okay. Thank you all for coming. Please come back again. Usually we do have cookies and tea and question and answer in the dining room, a little less formal. So please do feel free to come back and you can pick up information and our head of meditation hall will also give you some information, right? Okay, good. So when we chant the vows at the very end on the pages, Could we just say, I vow to save them, I vow to enter them, rather than I vow to enter them?

[33:31]

Because in the original writing, there's no I. Which is interesting, in those original languages, the self, the I, the me, the mine, wasn't so big as in our culture, where it gets really emphasized. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[34:14]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_95.76