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 evening, everyone, and welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. It is not in the right place. How's that? Well, we'll see. So this evening, well, let's just see what happens. I want first to express my appreciation for the life of Peter Matthiasen, a Dharma teacher who was a wonderful writer as well, and a sailor, an all-around guy who died this past week.

[01:22]

And I'd like to share with you A brief quote from Peter. Zen is really just a reminder to stay alive and be awake. We tend to daydream all the time, speculating and dwelling on the past, That practice is about appreciating your life in this moment. If you are truly aware of five minutes a day, you're doing pretty good. We are beset by both the future and the past. And there is no reality apart from the here and the now. So this is a very concise teaching about sasen.

[02:40]

Just a reminder to stay alive and be awake. Notice how much you tend to dwell in the past and speculate about the future. And it will help you to practice more in this realm of appreciating your life in this moment. And Suzuki Roshi said, when we practice zaze, we limit our activity to the smallest extent. Just keeping the right posture and being concentrated on sitting is how we express the universal nature. Then we become Buddha and we express Buddha nature.

[03:45]

So instead of having some object of worship, we just concentrate on the activity which we do in each moment. emphasized seeing Buddha in everyone. It said that on his awakening, the first thing the Buddha said was, ah, I now see that all beings without exception have the wisdom and compassion of the awakened ones. But because of their delusions and self-clinging, they don't realize it.

[04:49]

So Roshi emphasized the seeing Buddha in everyone as an important aspect of our practice. And, you know, we have accustomed here in the temple, bowing to one another as we dance, saying good morning, Buddha bow. It's Buddha bowing to Buddha. But it's helping us to remember to see Buddha in everyone. And of course, to see Buddha in ourselves. I mean, sometimes we get caught up in our delusions and our irritations or our happiness in some way, and we forget that Buddha is right here.

[05:53]

So... Let us remember to bow to one another. Let us remember to see Buddha in each other. Let us remember to express our Buddha nature in our actions of body, speech, and mind. As you know, I've do this quite regularly. I have subscribed on my computer to a website called gratefulness.org or gratefulness, as Brother David says, which is this is his primary teaching.

[07:00]

Brother David is a Benedictine monk We practiced with Suzuki Roshi at Tassahara. There's a Benedictine monastery out just right over the mountain on the coast from Tassahara. And we have some contact and connection with each other. And particularly, we did when Brother David was there. And he wrote a book called Greatfulness, the Heart of Prayer. And he called, he pronounces it that way, gratefulness. And on this website, there is, every night at midnight, there comes out a new quotation around gratefulness. And I'd like to share something with you.

[08:02]

The way I got so involved in gratefulness was, let's see, 1989. I had a heart attack. And as I was leaving the hospital, I stepped out into the sunshine, and I had this sudden realization, wow! I'm alive. I could be dead. Well, the rest of my life is just a gift. And I thought, oh, it always has been from the very beginning. Nobody owed me this life. It's just given to me. Wow. And in that

[09:04]

moment of waking up I I found what a wonderful rich feeling it is be grateful to be alive just right now right here all the time I don't have to have anything more special and just to be alive is enough which is something that that Roshi said to Mel on one occasion they were walking down the hall and he stopped and he said you know Mel just to be alive is enough and then he continued on down the hall and I always was sort of mystified by that and then at that moment I got it yeah this whole experience would be here if I went alive so gee it's a gift from the get go And it's a pretty nice gift.

[10:06]

I like being alive. The great poet Emily Dickinson said, to live is so startling it leaves low time for anything else. Brother David Sadleras says in one issue, the greatest surprise is that there's anything at all that we are here. And from the day I acquired the habit of consciously pronouncing the words, thank you, I felt I had gained possession of a magic wand capable of transforming everything.

[11:23]

So, living this life of gratitude, It's really changed my life. I used to be both quite opinionated and quite ready to criticize anyone who didn't agree. And recognizing that my life depends on all the lives around me. We all support each other. None of us could take care of ourselves in a world all alone. We're so completely interwoven and interdependent. Our life depends on each other. And as you begin to realize that, you can't help but be grateful.

[12:34]

This is Sarah Benton. You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law. The more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you. So along with this gift of life, then comes some responsibility for supporting life, participating in taking care of this fabulous gift that we've been given of life on this earth. And this is a particularly important point now in our history as we find that the way we are living is endangering the continuity of life.

[13:54]

We see that we have to make some changes in the way that we use fossil fuels because we are in danger of poisoning ourselves and changing the climate of this earth sufficiently to make it uninhabitable, at least by creatures such as we are. So there is a responsibility to having received this gift, and that is to take care of it in whatever way you can. Here's another thing. Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.

[14:59]

So we find out where we can make whatever contribution we can to the care of the earth and the other beings with whom we share it. And Swami Satchitananda says, death can come at any minute, in any way. We do not know what is in store. Tomorrow, or whether there is even a tomorrow, or even a tonight. But still, we have the golden present. Now we are alive and kicking. What should we do now? Love all, serve all. This is the main point I want to make tonight. To let our great good fortune and our care for taking care about, taking care of the life that has been given us and has been given to all beings,

[16:14]

is love is a very, very important agreement there. One of my favorite days of the week is the day that we chant the loving-kindness meditation on Tuesday mornings. Do you know something? Do we have meta chant cards in the room? No, I could go get some. I'd love to chant it before we end tonight. So Swami says, love all, serve all.

[17:33]

And then Paramahansa Yogananda said, extend the boundaries of the glowing kingdom of your love, gradually including your family, your neighbors, your community, your country, all countries, all living beings. They're all living creatures. So start where you are with the glowing kingdom of your love and gradually include more and more until all of life is under the umbrella of your love. And then it will help you, as you do that, to smile. It will make it easier to smile as your love extends further and further.

[18:36]

Thich Nhat Hanh, in his community, really emphasized the importance of smiling. Well, you know, those of you who live here, I try to get us to smile when we're all standing in a circle waiting for breakfast while the drum is going. And every now and then, we've managed to get a smile. That's a good time to practice smiling while we're all standing there facing each other and chanting about enjoying the Dharma. Well, let's get in there and enjoy it, folks. But Thich Nhat Hanh, said in one thing of his I read, if I come into the kitchen and you're chopping carrots and I ask you, what are you doing? I'd much rather you say breathing and smiling than chopping carrots.

[19:44]

Because the breathing and smiling should happen. Well, the breathing has to happen all the time. And he would like to have his... smiling as often as they're breathing. And he said here, the source of the true smile is an awakened mind. Smiling helps you approach the day with gentleness and understanding. And Helen Keller, I don't know how many of you know Helen Keller. She was a a sort of heroine of my childhood because I grew up in Alabama and so she, but she was, I think she had scarlet fever when she was about two and became both blind and deaf. But she had a teacher, a caretaker who took care of her who devised a way that she could communicate.

[20:55]

by writing on her hand in some way that she could communicate. It's kind of miraculous when you think about it, because she was blind and deaf from early on, two or three years old. But she had just an amazingly optimistic personality. This quote is from her. Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. And I think it's in gratitude for this gift of life that we end up living a life of vows. As we do, we vow every morning to take refuge in Buddha and Dharma and Sangha.

[22:01]

Vow is the foundation of our life together. And I think that this serving humanity taking care of the gift of the life that we've been given. What sustains this next quote is Shirley Chisholm. Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth. It is the very purpose of life. and not something you do in your spare time. And this is Aesop.

[23:11]

Remember Aesop's Fables. No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. That's what I remember. Winston Churchill said, we make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. This is Elliot and I at Khan. If you dedicate yourself to service, The doors will open. And this is the poet Robert Louis Stevenson. The best things in life are nearest.

[24:15]

Breath in your nostrils. Light in your eyes. Flowers at your feet. Duties at your hand. The path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. Aha. The Eno is going to pass out the loving kindness meditation for those people who don't know it. We'll end this talk with chanting it together. And Rabbi Romney Shapiro phrase here, enveloped in your light, may I be a beacon to those in search of light.

[25:19]

Sheltered in your peace, may I offer shelter to those in need of peace. embraced by your presence, so may I be present to others. For those of you who have a hard time seeing Buddha in everyone, here's one. There's nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly. But that's how caterpillars turn out. So there's nothing in the eluded human being that tells you that it's going to be a Buddha. But that's how that turns out.

[26:24]

So here's teaching from the Dalai Lama. Every day, this is the Bodhisattva vow. Every day, think as you wake up. Today I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive. I have a precious human life. I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to use my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all being. I'm going to have kind thoughts toward others. I'm not going to get angry or think badly about others. I'm going to benefit others as much as I can. This is our essential vow. And, of course, you are all bodhisattvas.

[27:39]

Yogen Sensaki used to begin his talk always as, good evening bodhisattvas. That's what we're here for, is to be awake beings. And awake beings are awake to the deep connection we have with everything, with all living beings. We are all of one life. And we need to take care of that life so that it continues generation after generation. Again, the Dalai Lama's teaching, every day, think as you wake up Today I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive.

[28:41]

I have a precious human life. I am not going to waste it. I'm going to use my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I'm going to have kind thoughts towards others. I'm not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can. And Sri Amratanandamaya Devi Well, that's Amaji. She's my great hero.

[29:45]

She hugs people all the time. The beauty and charm of selfless love and service should not die away from the face of the earth. The world should know that a life of dedication is possible. that a life inspired by love and service to humanity is possible. Those go right together, don't they? Love and service. All of these quotations, love and service. It may appear that I'm just passing along sentiments of other people.

[30:54]

But this is not just sentiments of other people. These are my sentiments, except that I think others have said better. So I want to end with Katagiri Roshi's poem, Peaceful Life. Being told that it is impossible, one believes in despair. Is that so? Being told that it's possible, one believes in excitement. That's right. But whatever is chosen, it does not fit one's heart neatly. Being asked, What is unfitting? I don't know what it is, but my heart knows somehow. I feel an irresistible desire to know what a mishuman is.

[31:56]

As to this mystery, clarifying, knowing how to live, knowing how to walk with people, demonstrating and teaching. This is the Buddha. From my human eyes, I feel it's really impossible to become a Buddha. But this I, regarding what the Buddha does, vows to practice, to aspire, to be resolute, and tells myself, yes, I will just practice right here, now, and achieve continuity, endlessly, forever. This is living in a vow. Herein is one's peaceful life found.

[33:01]

Loving, kindness, meditation. This is what is being accomplished by one. It's wise to seek stability and to take peace. Let one be strengthened, upright and sincere without pride. Easily contented and joyous. Let one not be surprised by the things of the world. Let one not take upon one herself the burden of riches. Let one sense his feet of control. Let one be wise but not love that I had. And let one not die in great possession, see the core most lengthy. Let one lose his nothing that is seen, or let the wise would be good. And I want being sick and weak. May it be joyous and living safety. All living beings, whether weak or strong and high, or middle, or low ground, shall exist this.

[34:14]

All are really visible, or invisible, near or far. Warned to see more, may all beings be high. Let no one deceive another to criticize any being in a state. Let the behavior easily shards look like that. Even as the mother at risk of her mind watches over and protects her only child. So with a boundless son I should want to cherish all living things. Abusing love over the entire world. Of the blood of all around without limits. So that on my own face, the infinite good will absorb the whole world. Send your body, stay your mind down. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the St.

[35:31]

Francis Kuzanssen. 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 Dharma.

[35:52]

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