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 from people like you. Good evening. I'm very happy to be giving a talk this evening at Tassajara. And I realize now with our audio Dharma that on the Zen Center website, we now receive between 45,000 and 60,000 hits a month on our audio Dharma, people listening to Dharma talks from all over the world, 45,000, average of 45,000, I think, yeah.

[01:00]

So although it feels like it's a very intimate group right now of Tazahara practitioners and guests, just the thought that someone in New Zealand will be listening perhaps as soon as it gets posted, and it's kind of amazing to think about. It brings a new sense of what intimacy is, what face-to-face practice is, what relationship is. So I'm here at Tassajara co-leading a Yoga Zen retreat with Patricia Sullivan, and we are having a wonderful a wonderful time together.

[02:03]

As happens in retreats of all kinds, the group forms their own sangha, or their own community of practitioners, sharing a schedule, sharing practices, being close together in body to body, and sharing each other's joys. with humor and also difficulties. One thing Patricia mentioned was how yoga works with changing the patterns of our body-mind, actually changing long-held patterns. And when we change, when there's change, There can also be difficulties or we need to re-stabilize. And I think this is true in Zen practice as well, the changing of old, deep patterning.

[03:17]

And it takes time and it takes effort. I wanted to mention something at the beginning of this talk, which is that one of the great Zen teachers in the West, Robert Aikenroshi, passed away last week at 93. And Robert Aikenroshi began practicing, I think, as a prisoner of war during the Second World War. He was a prisoner of war in Japan. And he wrote, he was a social activist, was one of the founders of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and had a Sangha, a Diamond Sangha in Hawaii, and was very influential in many, many ways. In the preface to one of his books, he thanks Green Gulch Farm, the students and the staff of Green Gulch Farm,

[04:23]

and Reb Anderson and Mel Weitzman and Yvonne Rand and Bill Sterling, people who were at Green Gulch at the time, he thanked them for giving, thanked us for giving him a three-month sabbatical where he had the time and the support to write the commentaries for this book of koans, the gateless gate or the gateless barrier, the Mumon Khan. He also was very helpful to Zen Center, or I would say, I don't know if we were as receptive to him at the time, but when there was some great difficulty in the 80s at San Francisco Zen Center, Robert Akin Roshi came and gave of himself to be a support and help the community. So I think his...

[05:26]

his actions and the results and fruit of his actions in many different areas will live on through his disciples and his writings and his influence in social activism. I also really like the fact that whenever he referred to his wife, he never said, my wife, Anne. He always said, Anne Aiken. did such and such, or Ann Aiken and I were visiting the museum in Kyoto. He always called her Ann Aiken. Somehow I found that very respectful. So I wanted to mention which I mentioned to the yoga retreat, Yoga Zen retreat, which is a dream that I had, a very short dream.

[06:32]

And the dream was, I also mentioned this at Green Gulch, I realized, so it's going to be on this tape for all these thousands of people. You can hear it again, folks. So the dream was I was sitting in the Zendo in robes, And I was carrying a large box, a big box, of the candy that I used to like when I was a kid when I went to the movies, the licorice candy coated with sugar called Good and Plenty. And I was just holding this big box, Good and Plenty. That was the dream. And it... It really is the Dharma teaching. There's the teaching that the Dharma is abundant in each of us. It is abundant in each of us.

[07:34]

However, it is not experienced or realized unless we practice it. It's not actualized unless we practice it. It's not experienced unless we realize it. although it's abundant, good and plenty, abundant in each of us. And the practice has been passed on and transmitted from... to buddhas, to buddhas, to ancestors, buddhas to ancestors, in a long succession through time and space to our time and space. And the excellent method, they call it, the excellent method of realizing the abundant, the good and plenty of each of us, that each of us are.

[08:41]

We are good and plenty. And this excellent method is zazen, but I think when that's mentioned, it's not the zazen of just cross-legged sitting, although one might start there. That's a good place to start. And how that expresses itself in all activities. not just cross-legged sitting, but all activities as an expression of Zazen. So about two weeks ago, or last week, ten days ago, we had a big ceremony at Green Gulch. It was a long ceremony, three-week ceremony, ending with a week of many smaller ceremonies, smaller and bigger ceremonies.

[09:46]

This was the ceremony of dharma transmission for one of the long-time practitioners named Kokyo Henko, Luminous Owl Henko. There's a traditional story about dharma transmission, which is a koan. Actually, it's in case number six of the Mumankan, the gateless barrier. And I recently read Aiken Roshi's translation of this. And basically, the story is pretty simple. This koan, or case, or Zen story that's used for students to study awaken one's practice. So the story goes like this. The World Honored One, that's Shakyamuni Buddha, the World Honored One, one day the World Honored One was on Vulture Peak, which is a real place in India that it's said that the Buddha spoke from and gave Dharma talks and Lotus Sutra teachings and so forth.

[11:08]

And he was with an assembly of monks and nuns and bodhisattvas. And he picked up a flower, and one translation says, an udambara flower. An udambara flower is a flower that only blooms every hundred years. He had an udambara flower, and he twirled it, twirled the flower. And the assembly was silent, except for... Oh, he twirled the flower, and he winked. And the assembly was silent, as you are, except for a couple of laughs. And then Makakashou, Makashapyai, one of his foremost disciples, the Chinese is... cracked his face, but it means broke into a smile or a smile.

[12:15]

And the Buddha said, I have the treasury of the true Dharma eye and the wondrous fine mind of nirvana. I now entrust this to Makashapya. There's some longer translations where it says, I have the treasury of the true Dharma I, the subtle wondrous mind of Nirvana, the form of no form, and the teaching outside of the teaching. And I entrust this now to Makakasho or Makashapya. And this story is the story of the Buddha's transmission, the Buddha's entrusting to his successor the whole of the Shobo Genzo, the whole of the treasury of the Dharma eye, the eye that sees truth, the treasury of the eye of truth.

[13:23]

And one might think What did he entrust? What did he give to Makakasho? What did he get? Did he get something? Does that mean he's going to do whatever the Buddha did and he now has something that the Buddha had and gave it to him? What does it all mean? One might wonder, one might ask. Every morning we have a part of the morning service where we repeat a great teacher after each name of the seven Buddhas before Buddha, before Shakyamuni Buddha, and then each one of the disciples and successors all the way down. And at Tassajara we chant through India, China,

[14:33]

Japan, and we end with the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center, Shogaku Shundryu Daeyosho, great teacher. And we also have a chanting of the names of women ancestors, which are not exactly a lineage, and the male ancestors are also not exactly a... confirmed lineage from one to the other. But there may be some legendary people in there. And we also have a list of women from India, China, and Japan who are, it's more of a circle of names rather than a list this way. And I think the list of the men is really a circle of names, too. You could say these are both circles of unending transmission of the treasury of the true Dharma I and this fine mind of, we don't use the word nirvana so much, but nirvana means peace.

[15:48]

You might say a quieting and an uncovering of one's true nature. which is abundant in each one of us. Whether we experience it or not, it is abundant, but unless actualized, we don't realize it, we don't experience it. So in this story of this twirling the flower, this is very intimate communication. This is face-to-face understanding between two people, between a teacher and a student. And Suzuki Roshi, in a lecture, brings up the misunderstandings that we have about downward transmission, of something that's being given or passed on.

[16:56]

And Suzuki Roshi talks about Each one of us is a lamp unto ourself, which Shakyamuni Buddha said. Be a lamp unto yourself. Each one of us is a lamp unto ourselves. And we realize or understand our own light, our own lampness, our own illumination with the help of or through the relationship with or the face-to-face intimacy with another person, with a teacher. And many things can be our teacher. Sometimes we don't even know something's our teacher, but we understand something through a face-to-face encounter. So,

[17:57]

Suzuki Roshi says, transmission of Dharma or Dharma transmission means to find your own lamp through your teacher, to realize your own nature, your own lamp. This is Suzuki Roshi. And in this process of finding one's own way, when you have found your own way and can depend, can be dependable, can be trustworthy, to trust another enough to find one's own trustworthiness in relationship, then there's a ceremony. Then there's a Dharma transmission ceremony.

[19:00]

So when Shakyamuni in this koan says, I now entrust the entire Shobo Genzo, the entire treasury of the true Dharma I to Makakasho, what came up for me, reading it today, was Makakasho was trustworthy. That's how he could entrust him. He was worthy of trust. And this communication, this twirling of the flower and winking and his smiling, what is that? What kind of language is that? What kind of relationship is that? What did he see? What did he understand? What did they understand together and share? relationships with our teachers, whatever kind of teachers, whoever's been a teacher for you in your life, if you look carefully enough, you see you were able to understand their teaching, their dharma.

[20:32]

Whether it was the dharma of yoga or the dharma of art or the dharma of physics, their way of teaching, their way of expressing and their sincerity allowed you to hear something and to take it up on your own. And there are many wonderful teachers, but there has to be some kind of affinity or, as I've found over the years, there are certain people I can't understand them, actually. I mean, they're speaking a language I understand, English, but for whatever reason, it doesn't connect. Other people seem to understand them beautifully and make life commitments to be with them, to learn from them. So it's not exactly mystical, it's karmic.

[21:36]

It's due to all our past experiences and ways of living and thinking and shared life. There's a way of understanding and responding to some people, and we don't respond necessarily in the same way to everybody. And I think this is the way things are. So with our teacher or our teachers, we don't take on their teaching wholesale and just mouth it, because that's not respecting their teaching nor respecting ourselves. We have to find our own way of expressing our understanding from our own unique experience.

[22:41]

Each one of us has to find our own path and our own way, and yet there will be some shared feeling, perhaps. Some intimacy or way of doing things, way of talking about things that will be like a family way, an intimate way. family way. And sometimes we discover long after, maybe it's even too late to say thank you, who was really there for us as a teacher and who met us. Maybe we weren't ready to acknowledge it. So this dharma transmission is a great celebration, someone becoming a successor in their own right and able to pass on the dharma.

[24:09]

And Tenshin Roshi, after his dharma transmission, Suzuki Roshi's wife, Oksan, wrote a haiku on that occasion, which I have with me. It was in December, I think. Receiving Dharma Transmission, his whole body glows. Frosty morning. Winter, 1983. looking for the clock. There it is.

[25:23]

I realize I have something on my mind which is there is a couple of Actually, someone left our retreat because their family member, their son actually, this person's son, is gravely ill and she had to go to the hospital. And there are close Dharma friends who are facing illness right now or facing possible illness and I have been greatly encouraged and greatly I think confirmed in this efficacy and great support of the practice by listening to what these people have to say

[26:30]

The ability in a difficult situation like that to find one's grounded, practice legs, practice feet, touch the earth, and out of that coming great gratitude and great appreciation for each moment, each person in our life, each for the weather, for our relationships. And the returning from flinging our mind forward into an unknown future and stories about what might happen and what could happen and what will happen and being able to come back, come back, come back to this moment, this moment right now, this body-mind right now.

[27:37]

Not knowing. And there's a koan that says, not knowing is most intimate. And I think we fling our minds forward to maybe protect ourselves. I'll think the worst, then when the worst happens, then I won't be so surprised. So this is a way of protecting myself. But actually, by thinking in that way and imagining in that way, it sets up a whole... body-mind set of reactions that may not be so supportive, may cause anxiety. So coming back, coming back to this moment, taking care of this moment, opening fully to this moment, whatever it is, So I'm so encouraged by these practices, the ability to come back to what can be trusted, where we can take refuge, taking refuge in awakened mind, awakened one, the teachings of awakened mind, and the community of those practicing this way.

[29:14]

taking refuge over and over. So each of us holding a big a big carton of good and plenty. Good and plenty, whatever happens, whatever unfolds, whatever loss, whatever gain. If it depends on loss and gain, or getting something or not getting something, if our practice depends on the eight wins of profit and loss, praise and blame, pleasant and unpleasant, good reputation and bad reputation, those eight wins, if our practice depends on that, we won't find our feet on the ground or we can't find our seat.

[30:27]

And we won't be present enough to see the twirling flower and the wink. We'll be racing and running and hiding. So I think I would like to... We have about five minutes, actually, if anyone has a question or anything they'd like to bring up. Yes? I'm really struck by the way you hold yourself up. Always watching you and never kind of have a doubt or seem to show insecurity or anything.

[31:34]

It's just very... great way to hold yourself present and with a lot of dignity. I just wondered how you would develop that or if you could think of something about that that you could share. Well, what I would like to share is that whatever you see that feels like it's out there or here, something is resonating in you of dignity, stability, and confidence that's resonating in you.

[32:34]

That's your life, too. And the fact that it's encouraging to you, whatever you see, you know, find it. Find it in your own body. What kind of body, what kind of posture expresses that fully? Can you find your seat on Bolter Peak? Everybody smiled. So I wanted to share that and also, you know, making practice at taking an upright posture in every single activity, whether it's driving a car or sitting at a baseball game. I haven't been to the giants yet this summer.

[33:36]

Every place is your bodhi manda, your bodhi seat, not just the zendo. So if you practice in that way, then it becomes like seamless. And also time for resting. You know, the Buddha rested. I mean, there are some practices where you never lie down, you know. And in fact, I was just reading about these contraptions that was like a tablet with holes that you strung up and hung around your ears. And then you fell asleep. This tablet, I can't even picture what it was, would fall and make a noise because I guess it'd fall off your ears. And you'd wake yourself up and the rest of the monks probably. Anyway, I just read about this. But we don't have that practice of sitting up. You get to lie down, but you can take the lion pose, even lying down on the right side. Yeah, thank you.

[34:44]

Let's see, maybe one more? Yeah, we have time for one more or two. Yes? So, the story about Maha Kasha, the flower, strikes me as well, and maybe I'm projecting this onto it, but that Ananda, who was the Buddha's global cousin and disciple and natural successor, I just wonder how he felt about that, being fine past with the guy who brought the wing thing to the water. Yeah, yeah. Hard-working attendant. Did he then have to, was he then, did he then get transmission from... Makaka's show, yeah. So Ananda was the Buddha's close attendant and relative for 20 years, 25 years, heard every talk he gave, memorized every talk. All the sutras start, thus have I heard. The Lord was at the Jedha Grove.

[35:48]

And that's all Ananda saying, thus have I heard. Ananda could recite volumes and volumes. However, Ananda didn't He didn't wake up in the Buddha's lifetime. The Buddha died and Ananda hadn't realized his true self. And Ananda's enlightenment story or succession story is very interesting. Do you know it? Let's see, how does it go? Makakasho, let's see, Ananda says to him something. What did he say? He asked him a question and Makakasho says, Ananda. take down the banner. And Ananda says, yes. And he says, take down the banner pole. And at that point, the banner pole, there's a banner put up with a flag when there's a Dharma talk that's being given. And this exchange where, I can't remember, does anybody remember what Ananda asked?

[36:52]

Oh, yes. Yes, he asked about the succession. What did the Buddha give you? And he said, Ananda. And he said, yes, yes. take down the banner pole. That's their succession story. And Ananda wasn't invited to the council after the Buddha died. It only had realized beings, and Ananda couldn't go because he wasn't an arhat. He wasn't one of the noble ones. And so here's all his friends, plus he memorized everything. And they're all going to the meeting And Ananda's like, hey, can I come too? Anyway, he like was trying to wake up and did like right before that night with the help of Makakasho who just called his name. And he responded, yes, that was their intimate. He was awake for that.

[37:55]

So, yeah, Ananda does... You know, he feels bad different times. Ananda's so adorable. Okay, we have time for one small question. Or one question. It doesn't have to be small. I'm gazing around the room. Yes. Yes. Could you possibly talk about Pratyekha Buddhas? Pratyekha Buddhas? Yes. What interests you about Pratyekha Buddhas, may I ask? Some of the first books I read about practicing the way they were from a self-enlightened being. Yeah. So Pratyekha Buddhas, there's... Buddhas, Pratyeka Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Pratyeka Buddhas are, they're just walking along one day in the forest or in the parking lot, and they have a realization of selflessness, but they don't teach.

[39:16]

They don't teach, and the reason they don't teach is they don't know exactly how it came to be. They can't teach anybody because they don't know. It's just their own karmic event. So they do have the understanding, they have an awakened understanding, but they don't, they can't pass it on. So that's, but they're, you know, often in the sutras it will say there are Pratyeka Buddhas who are in the assembly but they don't have a succession in that way. They can talk about what happened, but they can't help somebody to walk the path. Thank you. Well, thank you all very much for your attention. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge.

[40:17]

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.

[40:30]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_95.92