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. It's very sunny in here. My name is Rosalie Curtis. And I'm currently serving as head of practice at Sudhi Center. And one of my responsibilities in that role is to schedule the Dharma talks. So I scheduled myself for today, even though I had a feeling it might be a small crowd because I thought a lot of people would be away visiting their families for the holidays.

[01:05]

That wasn't the reason that I scheduled myself. There are a couple of reasons, and I'll tell you what they are. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I have a special soft spot in my heart for these weekend holidays. holiday weekend Dharma talks. Because I myself came to Zen Center for the first time on January 2nd, 1982. So of course that was a holiday weekend too. And I remember the day, you notice. So that's going on 30 years, 31 years now, ago. And I still remember the talk that was given that day by one of our former abbots, Sojin Mel Weitzman, and its impact on me and my life.

[02:14]

It was a very encouraging talk, and because of it, I kept coming back to Zen Center. And that was the beginning of my practice. So I feel very grateful that I turned up on that particular day and heard that talk. And I also have a soft spot in my heart for the same reason for other newcomers who come on a holiday weekend. And so I'd really love to know how many of you there are here today who've never been here before. Would you raise your hands? Well, great. Welcome. And I sincerely hope that you enjoy your time here today.

[03:22]

And I hope you'll find something encouraging. that will help you with your practice, just as I did. So another reason that I was interested in giving the talk today is that it's Thanksgiving weekend. And I thought the idea of talking about gratitude would be pretty easy for me because I feel a lot of gratitude for my life here. And we're also nearing the end of a practice period that has the theme, taking refuge in sangha. And... There's a particular way that this is being approached in the practice period.

[04:27]

We're seeing taking refuge not as moving into a particular place and taking rest and comfort in the safety and protection offered, but as creatively creating Sanma. So on my first day here, I arrived at a sangha, and so did all of you. But now it's for us to create sangha for the next person, as well as to continue sangha for ourselves. So it's a creative process. And I thought that today I could fairly easily combine talking about gratitude gratitude for Sangha because I am tremendously grateful for the Sangha that I have here at Sun Center.

[05:30]

So I also want to say what Sangha is right at the beginning. Buddhist day, Sangha meant the community of practitioners of four types, laymen, laywomen, monks, and nuns. So today in modern day Zen center, we don't make that gender distinction. So I don't call myself a nun. I call myself a priest. And if I were living in our monastery, I might call myself a monk. So we don't make a gender distinction about the words monk and nun. And in our ordination ceremony, priests and lay practitioners

[06:50]

take exactly the same set of 16 precepts. And the refuges, I take refuge in Buddha, I take refuge in Dharma, and I take refuge in Sangha, are three of those precepts. And they're also called the triple treasure. Then there are ten grave precepts, which include things like not killing, not stealing, and so forth. And the last of the ten grave precepts is not abusing or disparaging the three treasures. So I think you can see from all of this that sangha and taking refuge in sangha is held as a very high value in Buddhist practice.

[08:02]

And in fact, taking refuge is sort of shorthand for being ordained as either a layperson or a priest. And I want to tell a story about Ananda and the Buddha that makes the point of just how important it is for us. So Ananda was the Buddha's cousin. And then when Buddha was enlightened and began to teach, Ananda became his disciple. And he was a long-time personal attendant, so he was with Buddha most of the time. And one day he said to Buddha, Lord, is it true what they say that practicing with the Sangha community is fully half of the holy life?

[09:07]

And Buddha said, no, Ananda, don't say that. Practicing with the Sangha of monks is the whole of the holy life. So once again, this is very important. This is very central to our practice. And then he admonished Ananda to find a Sangha community. And so what we do once we've arrived here, we find a Sangha community and we create a Sangha community. Defining, there are many ways one could define Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And I think the simplest would be to say that Buddha is an example of

[10:17]

of how to live and practice. Dharma is the Buddha's teaching, and Sangha is the community of practitioners. And I'm very aware as I talk today, and I feel a little tender about this, that I'm telling you how grateful I am for my life in Sangha. And it's not possible for everyone to come to a Dharma center. So there has to be a way to create sangha in the life of anyone who practices. And I encourage you to deliberate on who will be your sangha. It can be your family, the people you go to school with, the people you work with, but you live among people, and they are your sangha.

[11:22]

And if you venerate them as members of your sangha and treat them with that kind of care and respect and practice and thought, you will have a rich sangha experience. So you don't have to come here, although... I'm always happy to see you if you do. So one of the expressions of sangha that I'm especially grateful for, that I really love, is our zen forms and ceremonies. And one of the reasons I like them so much is that they always seem to me to point to what's most important for us to see, to help us wake up. So an example is our monthly full moon bodhisattva ceremony.

[12:23]

We usually do that ceremony at service time, unless it happens on a Wednesday, sometimes we do it in place of a dharma talk. But we do it every month. And it's a confession and repentance ceremony. And in it, we avow our karma or acknowledge the actions of body, speech, and mind that have brought us to this place, to this circumstance in our life. And at the same time, we reaffirm our commitment to the precepts. So it's a retaking of the precepts every month, a retaking of taking refuge. And actually, the refuges are the centerpiece of the ceremony. The refuges are the most beautiful part, the most demanding for the kokyo, who is the chant leader.

[13:35]

It's not just a chant. when she chants, I take refuge in Buddha, I take refuge in Dharma, I take refuge in Sanda. That part is actually a melody. And it really showcases the kokyo's voice. So it's the part of the ceremony that gets our attention. It's the most important part. And it's done as a call and response. So the Kokyo chants, I take refuge in Sangha. And the community responds, before all beings, bringing harmony to everyone, free from hindrance. So harmony implies difference.

[14:39]

You don't have harmony if you have all one note. So creating sangha is about appreciating and including difference and accepting beings so it's before all beings bringing harmony to everyone free from hindrance so we're trying to create a safe place for anyone who will come and practice and that's challenging to do sometimes and I really appreciate this monthly reminder that That's what we're doing. Another one of my favorite sangha opportunities in the forms and ceremonies realm is the morning service that we do six days a week here in the Buddha Hall.

[16:00]

because it's such a strong reminder of interdependence, which is a very central teaching in Buddhism, one of the most important teachings. So depending on who you count, it takes something like six or eight people in very particular roles to do morning service. And most of those positions rotate every day. So if you practice here frequently and you rotate through those positions and do them all at different times, you really get a sense and a feeling for how they all work together. Everything is choreographed so that all the positions work together and they all play off each other. You know, this happens when that happens, and this happens before that happens.

[17:04]

One of the instructions that we receive when we're learning to do morning service is that the sound should be continuous from the moment when the kokyo first begins the first chant of the morning through the final chant that ends service. So I think that's probably about 20 minutes of chanting or sound. And the sound comes from the kokyo's chanting, the congregation's chanting, the bells, and the drum. So all these pieces interact with each other. And if anything is missing, it shows. We notice it. So I really appreciate experiencing for myself this web of interconnectedness that it takes to have morning service every day.

[18:13]

And it's just a little microcosm of the web it takes to have our life. So here's a lighter example of a situation where I feel like a mini sangha. experience was created. And this happened just a couple of days ago on Thanksgiving Eve at Skit Night. So Skit Night is a long-standing tradition at Zen Center. It happens most practice periods. And it's a talent show of sorts, and people can do skits or readings or play an instrument or sing a song, whatever they like to do. I'm always amazed at the creativity that comes forth from these events, and I look forward to them a lot. I think we all do.

[19:15]

So one of my favorite skits, there were some wonderful ones, One of my favorites the other night involved a Buddha figure that was actually made out of two people. So what you saw when the curtains went up and the lights were on this figure was a big, beautiful, calm-looking, majestic... Buddha figure on a tall throne that was probably made of Zafus or something. And she looked very calm and she would say things slowly and calmly as you would expect a Buddha to do. And there was just one thing that was a little odd about it all and that's that instead of having her feet in a lotus position, they were stuck out in front of her and they were kind of small and her legs were kind of skinny so it looked kind of funny.

[20:27]

It just had a funny look about it. And she kept saying things and then she would use her arms and hands to gesture And then things really started looking a little funny. So she would go into gaucho and she would be sitting looking very majestic and then go... And some funny things started happening here. So it was actually hilarious to watch. It challenges my descriptive powers. Um... But she was so well-costumed, she had on some kind of jacket that covered her arms and body, so that it took a while to realize that this was actually two people.

[21:29]

That one of them was sitting behind with arms and legs wrapped around the front of the main Buddha figure. And they were doing this together. And there was a third involved who is studying film, by the way. And I think her role was to look at the thing from the front and make it work visually to coach them into getting it right. And she did a very good job. It was very effective. So why am I telling you this story? Well, it's just an example, I think, of a few people who put some energy into creating something that gave them joy and then passed the joy on to us. So we all, I think, enjoyed it very much. And I think that helps us to create sangha and good feeling and nourishment here.

[22:31]

So these are some aspects of sangha that are pretty easy to be grateful for. But I want to discuss some other facets of living in sangha that are more important and more valuable, maybe more valuable, I don't know, but it's sometimes difficult to appreciate them as they're happening. And that's sangha as a mirror. So I don't know how you feel about mirrors. I'm not feeling so good about mirrors these days. And Sangha is definitely a mirror. We see ourselves much more clearly through our interactions with other Sangha members. Others respond to who we are and we take that in. And sometimes it's very difficult to decipher the meaning of what we take in.

[23:42]

We learn about our values, what we want, how much we want it, and how we go about getting the things we want. We really see these things when we practice in a community. And we learn from watching others. What do they do and how does it look? And especially, how does it look when they do something that we know we do too? Do we like the way it looks? We notice what causes us pain and suffering and become aware of our feelings and our habitual tendencies. What do I do over and over in my interactions with people? And we have a field in sangha in which to experience our emotions that we wouldn't have all by ourselves nearly as much.

[24:52]

So we have an opportunity to experience love and friendliness and closeness and happiness and also negative emotions, fear, anger, jealousy. Sadness. These things come up in sangha more than if we were practicing by ourselves. We see our attachment to ourselves, what we want for ourselves. And the understanding that we gain in this way helps us to understand others because we're all human beings and in that way we have something in common. We're all the same in some deep, basic ways. So for all of these learnings, I'm grateful for my life in Sangha, although I'm not always grateful at the moment it's happening.

[25:59]

Sometimes it takes stepping back and being away. for a little while to fully appreciate it. So another challenge that we face in Sangha is that sometimes we have difficulties or disagreements or conflicting priorities. And what do we do then? So a couple of weeks ago, we had a visit from nine Korean nuns and their teacher who came from their university in Seoul. And these were very advanced practitioners. They had all been ordained somewhere between 10 and 26 years. And they were doing graduate studies in Buddhism. So they came to America to look at other sanghas and see what was going on here, see what happened in other sanghas of different types and sizes.

[27:08]

And we had them stay here for three days. It was a real treat. And during a practice period tea that we had with them, our abiding abbess, Christina Lanehair, asked them, what do you do when difficulties arise or when you have disagreements. And the nun who answered said, well, we have a conversation about it. We discuss the difficulty. And then she said, we are 10. You know, there were 10 of them all together. We are 10, so there are 10 ideas. And I wasn't sure, but it sounded to me like she thought that was a good thing. And I was thinking about how that would be. And I know that sometimes when I have an idea that I like, I don't know if I want there to be ten other ideas.

[28:13]

I might want my idea to prevail. So I... admire the ability to think of 10 ideas as a positive thing, which of course it is. Because if you really listen and try to understand where all of those 10 people are coming from and whatever solution you arrive at is going to be more balanced and safer and more moderate and likely to be supported by everyone. So I think that requires a lot of patience and creativity. And we have to bring that to our sangha to be willing to share in the creation in that way, to drop our own idea.

[29:21]

of what needs to be created and let everyone participate in the creation. Particularly here in 21st century America, there are many diversity issues that affect creation of Sangha. We know that we're not very diverse and we'd like to be much more diverse. But even so, there are diversity issues of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, physical and mental abilities, preferences, interests, culture, class that influence how a person participates in our sangha and that need to be accommodated if we want to have a place that's comfortable and safe for everyone to come.

[30:30]

And harmony, as I said before, implies difference and creating harmony is a responsibility. And we don't have harmony with just one note. It takes many notes to make a beautiful song. Making a beautiful song isn't easy, but it's a very creative activity. And it requires attention and careful listening, wise speech, a willingness to make an effort to understand, a strong effort, putting ourselves in another's shoes, self-examination, renunciation of the certainty that we're right, staying present, and a strong commitment and vow to bring harmony to everyone.

[31:43]

free from hindrance as we chant every month in the full moon ceremony. So I want to talk a little bit about cultivating gratitude, circling back to the beginning, to our Thanksgiving holiday. because I think it's actually pretty easy to cultivate gratitude. And then we have a well to draw on when things are difficult. So some of the ways that I cultivate happiness or cultivate gratitude are the same ways that I just cultivate happiness. And I think they're antidotes to any negative state of mind.

[32:47]

And I think the most useful one and the simplest is just to notice the things that make you happy, the things that you're grateful for. So for example, this morning I came down the steps to do morning service and noticed this big basket of pomegranates. And just the way they looked in the light, they were so beautiful. It isn't that I wanted a pomegranate or that I was hungry for pomegranates. They just looked beautiful, and that was a pleasure to me that I could enjoy and be grateful for. And then I came into the room and was doing morning service and looking at this beautiful altar and all the beautiful things on it that were arranged so beautifully. And that pleased me also.

[33:50]

I was grateful for that. I actually like to take what I call happiness walks. And I go as often as I can. I wish it was every day. but it's most days. And mostly I go to the end of the panhandle and back. And it's so beautiful sometimes how intense and vibrant the shades of green are in the panhandle. In all different kinds of light, there are so many shades of green, and I feel very grateful, and it makes me feel happy. and gives me a sort of well of well-being. And I also like to go to the swings and watch the mothers and fathers pushing their toddlers or even infants in the swings and see the blissful innocent

[35:01]

sweet expressions on their faces. It's just something very life-affirming that makes me feel good for a long time. So those are some of the ways that I cultivate gratitude. And then you can use it wherever you want it. You can use it in creating sangha. You can use it When you have difficulties with people or when you're not feeling good yourself, it's your reservoir to use. It's like a bank account or a drawer full of clean socks. So thank you very much for... Oh, there's one thing. I want one more thing. Let me think. So one of the questions that comes up when you're talking about Sangha is you're in a realm where there may be different opinions, and you may have an opinion, and other people may have an opinion, and you want to cultivate flexibility, but you also want to be there.

[36:23]

You don't want to just slide into taking refuge in Sangha. You want to be a whole person. And when I thought about that, I was reminded of our upcoming chiseau ceremony. So next week we'll have a chiseau ceremony. I guess it's two weeks. And this is a rite of passage for the chiseau where she graduates from being the head student to a teacher. And In it, she is given a staff, which is the teaching staff to use during the ceremony. And at one point, she holds it up, and she says, this staff is now in my hands, though I am just a mosquito biting an iron bull. In other words, though I'm completely inadequate to my task, I cannot give it away.

[37:28]

And so that's what I want to leave you with. We can't give away our responsibility or our role or our part in any of this. We have to be there, wholeheartedly present, doing the best we can in the creation of Sangha. That doesn't mean we hold to our view, but we have to be present. So that's what I have to say, and thank you very much for listening. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. 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.

[38:24]

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