This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. It's good to see you. Thank you. I feel your warm support and our shared glimpse or call to some kind of... Could you turn it down a little bit? Quiet. So maybe just arriving here together, each of us from some place now, inconceivably, miraculously sharing this room. Still maybe down a little.

[01:01]

That's okay. Thank you. Just coming into the body, coming into the breath. Finding that energy, the bottom of the breath at the low belly center. Breathing all the way out from that deep belly. Breathing all the way into the deep belly. letting the spine, upper body, the trunk find its place, upright and open. And if there's anything that can be let go of in the mind, how about let it go?

[02:08]

And then opening our eyes and our ears and our pores, our being, and just feeling in the light and the sound and the sensation and the presence of each other, feeling this aliveness. The aliveness is always with what's here. just being this intimacy with what's here. Does anybody know what this is? What's happening to us? Human, his so-called human life.

[03:19]

Somebody might think, you know, I certainly have thought that if I practice hard enough, I'll be able to get a little hold of it, right? That's what you think that Buddhism is saying. You can get a handle on this thing. But we can't get a handle on it. It doesn't have a handle. It's the only thing happening. Your being alive, our being alive is the only thing happening. So how could you, where would you be to get a handle on it? Plus, it's flowing like a great river. Even if you could somehow get outside of it to get a handle, it's moving too fast. It's gone. We can't grasp this thing that we're all in, that we've been in the whole time. And it's insane that we live our whole day not mentioning this miracle that's happening. that everything is our own life and that we don't know what it is.

[04:26]

And that part of not knowing what it is is like allowing ourselves to soften or forget that we know that it's like I'm over here and it's over there. Entering that gate, the reason it's a Dharma gate, a wholesome inquiry of who is this? What is this? is because as we soften and open to that, we notice, well, I have no idea, and I also have no idea about that there's an inside and an outside of it. You'd have to know, like, well, I don't really know what it is, but I know it's got an inside and an outside, and they're outside and I'm inside. That's like too much knowing, you know? So we want to dissolve that thing that we know, but to dissolve that, we kind of just say, you know, let's just dissolve the whole thing. Let's just dissolve all the knowing to make sure that we get that one. Because that's the main one. I'm over here, you're over there. It's just not true in the immediate fact of our sitting here, breathing, feeling the aliveness.

[05:36]

Everything that's here is just your own life. We are each other's life. So that's what I always say. Thank you for your patience with me. as I keep discovering that and wanting to celebrate it with people. So feeling this aliveness and feeling this intimacy and having a language for it or ceremony for it or a gathering place for it is what this tradition is, I think, for. So subtle and hard to talk about, again, because it's the only thing. So Zen activity, the Zen way of life, you could say, is about living in or being fully.

[06:39]

You know, we can't grasp hold of this thing. We can't know it. But we know that there's a difference. We can feel the difference between half-heartedness and whole-heartedness, you know, between just being this thing that we don't know what it is and the kind of hedging or holding back. stepping into the intimacy fully being this aliveness together so the zen teaching about our activity is that our activity we also don't really know where our activity comes from except that it unfolds together with each other so zen activity is about coming into the body this embodied and then letting go of the thoughts, this kind of intuitive, embodied wisdom where our life, we're just flowing together with things, with each other, letting our life emerge and unfold in that way from that aliveness and the intimacy of that aliveness rather than from strategizing or knowing or self-centeredness or other-centeredness or anything.

[07:53]

to be present, to come into the body, to let go of what's in the mind, and then to let responsiveness live. There's lots of stories about that in our tradition. The main texts, the koan tradition, that's kind of the core of the teaching of the canon of Zen, is just these stories of people doing that. Just these examples of people living totally intimate with their own aliveness, not confused by like the flashing lights, you know, just in touch with, grounded in the aliveness, and then the natural intimacy of that. And then... letting life unfold, letting life surprise from that intimacy.

[08:59]

So if you don't know, here's an example. This is from a story that Dogen Zenji, our founder, Soto Zen founder in 13th century Japan, tells this story in the chapter of his book called Jinzu, or Spiritual Powers. or supernatural powers, or performing miracles. This wonderful chapter that I was recently reminded of. And as I was rereading this, I remembered this story that I wanted to share today. Also, it was in Norman's book, When You Greet Me, I Bow. Some of you have seen the wonderful book. And I thought, okay, If Dogen Zenji and Norman Fisher like the story, it's got to have something in it. So it's about these three spiritual friends in the Tang Dynasty, China, the 9th century.

[10:09]

Hard to imagine, you know, 1,200 years ago or so. So Guishan, it's about Guishan and Yangshan. Guishan is a teacher and his most prominent disciple is Yangshan. And Guishan and Yangshan together created a lineage of Zen, one of the five great houses of Zen called the Guiyang School of Zen. So very important Zen figures. And good friends. Xiang Yan is also in this story as another disciple of Guishan and a younger Dharma brother of Yangshan. So I'm sure, you know, by the time this story happens, they've all been practicing the way for a long time. They're mature and deeply appreciate one another.

[11:16]

So then they can have... This exchange that demonstrates the kind of harmonious, embodied, intuitive intimacy that Zen is pointing us to. Look at this example. Can we live like this too? So one morning, while the teacher Guishan was still lying down, his student Yangshan came to see him. So I think it's early morning in the temple. And Guishan is still in bed. Maybe he's the abbot or something. And Yangshan is coming to see him, maybe to wake him up. So Yangshan comes in. Guishan is still in bed.

[12:16]

Guishan, seeing Yangshan come in, rolls over to face the wall. You ever do that? Five more minutes. And then Yangshan says, I am your student. Please don't be formal. Or it's like, it's just me. You don't need to be so polite. So he's still lying down. He's still snoozing. His friend comes in. He rolls over and faces the wall. And then the student says, no need to be so polite. So then Guishan started to get up. Like, okay, you win. And then Yangshan also gets up to leave. So I think he was just there to wake him up. So now Guishan's getting up so Yangshan can leave. You may have had a similar interaction this morning.

[13:23]

That also... you know, maybe a gate for you about what this offering, at least, of the Zen way of life is. Were you strategizing? Were you thinking? You were just alive in harmony with this person who was trying to wake you up too early. So then, so Guishan starts to get up fine. Yangshan also starts to leave. Then Guishan said, Yangshan. Yangshan comes back and Guishan says, let me tell you about my dream. And Yang Shan gets in close, lowers his head to listen. And then Guishan says, will you interpret it for me? Yang Shan stepped out and came back with a basin of water and a towel. Guishan washed his face and sat up.

[14:29]

That's the first half of the story. Let me tell you about my dream. And his friend leans in. He never says anything. His friend just leans in and then he says, will you interpret it for me? I thought maybe I could tell you my dream. Green Gulch Sunday Assembly, let me tell you about my dream. Will you interpret it for me? It'd be too much to say, I dreamed I was in an old barn full of loving-hearted and deeply sincere human beings longing for intimacy and harmony with all beings.

[15:55]

But it'd be too much. That's clear, right? Thank you. So there's a lot in the story, even just in this first half. And Dogen emphasizes the second half. So I really try not to go on too long so I can get to the heart of what Dogen Zenji is offering as the kind of turning word of this koan. But just this... I mean, both of these, let me tell you about my dream and this together in the dream. And now what's your interpretation? Yangshan brings a basin of water and towel. In our Zazen practice, this is a great, a beautiful expression, pointer to our Zazen practice, our practice of meditation.

[16:57]

Moment after moment, letting go. Moment after moment, starting fresh. There's another story where a person arrives at the temple and is greeted by someone who says, have you had breakfast? And the traveler says, yes. And the greeter says, wash your bowls. Did you have a dream? Yes. Wash your face. Did you have breakfast? Yes. Wash your bowls. How about now? How about now? How about now? That's Zazen practice. The great river of our life doesn't stop. There's no time. There's no time to wonder about the last moment because there's something inconceivably bright and alive and intimate happening right now.

[17:59]

It's like even if it's pretty important to think about the last one, The next one is already here, and it's calling for us. So this kind of no looking back, just now and now and now, living with no trace, no shadow, as Suzuki Roshi says, of our previous activity, beginner's mind. I had a dream. Lovely. Wash your face. Now what is it? And of course, you know, this is easy to misunderstand or easy because we're just like always grasping and clinging for something. We grasp and cling to this and then it gets twisted and becomes a problem for us. You know, the medicine becomes the disease. So you can relax with this teaching, but it is Zen.

[19:01]

And it also invites us to relax with it. Of course, there's a lot of things that would be good for us to reflect on, right? It's not just like, you know, somebody wants to tell you about how you hurt them yesterday and you say, now, now. I don't do yesterday. I'm just in now, man. Why are you like burdening me with yesterday? Don't you see the brightness now? These people just carrying around the past. So that's called immature. But still. The Zen path is pointing to something so important. When we're reflecting, when we're interpreting, when we're wondering, when we're ruminating, when we're dwelling in the past, when we're looking ahead, are you sure? I mean, if that's like, you know, you're with your therapist or your friend and you're like working something out, okay. But like 90% of the time, what is it actually doing anything for you?

[20:08]

So then we say, well, Zen, that's too much. You have to be able to think about the past. Okay, but like, how's that going for you actually? So now and then, you know, and this I think is where like psychology, Western psychology and Zen are so deeply complimentary and have so much to offer each other. And many of us in practice, you know, rely on kind of the wisdom, whether in the Buddhist psychological, kind of more investigative traditions. What is my conditioning? What is the structure of my mind? What is my deep story that I'm kind of obscuring from myself? We do that study. But when we say they're complementary, they're not the same. That's why they're complementary. The Zen part is now. Now. There's no following a thread. There's no like, what does that remind you of? There's no like... Following anything back, there's no mining for anything.

[21:09]

There's just now. You had a dream? You had some drama? Wash your face. And now maybe, you know, from that ground, maybe your life unfolds and it's time to have some conversation. Totally included. That is the great activity. But the belly, the body is in the present moment. So Yang Shan, so playful, right? Like, you get the sense that he's kind of nodding, yeah, I'll interpret your dream. Just give me a second, you know? He comes back with the towel and the water. So then the story continues. So Guishan's lying down. Yang Shan comes in. Guishan rolls over, faces the wall. Yang Shan says, don't be so polite. Guishan... Gets up, Yangshan starts to leave. Guishan says, Yangshan, let me tell you about my dream.

[22:14]

And Yangshan leans in to listen. Guishan says, will you interpret it for me? Yangshan brings a basin of water and a towel. Guishan washed his face and sat up. Then in comes Xiangyan. another student of Guishan. So now Xiangyang shows up. And Guishan turns to Xiangyang and says, Yangshan and I just used our great spiritual powers. They aren't like the minor ones. This is a little technical, a little complex, but beautiful statement. Or you could say... So he's greeting Xiangyan, this other friend, and saying, welcome, Yangshan and I were just in the middle of performing some great miracles.

[23:15]

We weren't, not little stuff, we weren't doing little stuff. That's what it says, not the little stuff. That's one of the, actually the most academic translation, actually put it that way. It's not like the little stuff. So Yangshan and I, welcome. Yangshan and I have been performing great miracles, not involved in anything small. This most ordinary morning that probably many of us had, you know, five more minutes, ah, really, okay. Where we were performing this great miracle, and Xiangyan says, I know all about it. I was next door and I heard you. So... resonates with the residential temple life here. The walls are very thin. We hear all about each other's miracles next door. And it has this sweet little, you know, he also says, like, I was nearby and I heard you.

[24:20]

I know all about it. I'll get into what these spiritual powers, you know, Guishan is saying, we were using supernatural powers. I think the best way to put it, actually, it's about supernatural powers. Saying, welcome, like, we're into some, like, serious supernatural powers over here. Welcome to our morning. And Xiangyang, one of the supernatural powers is you can kind of, like, hear things that are happening elsewhere, right? So Xiangyang's like, I know. I could hear you guys. So Xiangyang's just jumping right in, playing along in this intimacy. And so then Guishan says... to Xiangyan now you try to say it you say something so Xiangyan made a bowl of tea and brought it to him Xiangyan answers and says I know all about it I heard you Guishan says well what about you you say it

[25:29]

Xiangyan made a bowl of tea and brought it to him. Guishan praised them both, saying, The supernatural powers and wisdom of these two masters surpasses even that of Buddha's great disciples, Shariputra and Margalyayana. Margalyayana, known for his supernatural powers, And Shariputra, of course, for his wisdom. So Dogen really likes this story and he really likes this line about we're using our great spiritual powers. We're performing great miracles, not minor miracles. not minor supernatural powers. So he hones in on that line and he turns it over and over.

[26:37]

So there are, in the Buddhist tradition, you know, Buddhism is this ancient tradition, and like any ancient tradition, there's all kinds of supernatural stuff in it because that's just the world back then. And even though the Buddha's always really clear that none of that is really the point, occasionally he plays along, you know... Okay, fine. And then he like spews fire through his shoulders and pours water out through his feet, like through the whole cosmos and multiplies his body and like countless times. And then, okay, okay, is that enough? Now can we like get back to meditation? So the Buddha would sometimes play along. These six spiritual powers are the ones that you'd expect, you know. You can see through. You can see everywhere. You can hear everywhere. You can sort of know others' states of mind and being. You can recall, you know, passing.

[27:41]

And you can pass through solid objects. You can go into the earth. Walk on water. You can fly. Apparently you're flying. Somebody was saying tends to happen in the Lotus posture. It's not like Superman flying, you know, it's like, so, and, um, you can shake cause earthquakes. And then, yeah, this fire and water emitting from the body is strange, like the fire or the water up from the shoulder. You do the fire from your shoulders and the water from your feet, and then you switch it and do the water from your shoulders. So you might think, what does that have to do with my life? And Dogen wants to tell us. So the turn is that Dogen is saying, these great spiritual miraculous powers, those are the minor ones. That's what Guishan is saying, and that's what Dogen's NG is saying. That like flying through the air and like spewing fire from your shoulders and hearing people's thoughts and seeing your past lives, duplicating your body, those are minor powers.

[28:51]

Impressive. Cool. You want to know the major spiritual, the major supernatural power? Yangshan brought a towel to his friend Guishan. Xiangyan served some tea and Guishan accepted and drank it. That's the great miracle. But that's super impressive, that fire from the shoulder stuff. So Dogen then quotes a line maybe many of you know, a famous line from Leiminpong, another great Chan ancestor of that Tang dynasty. My daily activities are not unusual. I'm just naturally in harmony with them, grasping nothing, discarding nothing. In every place there's no hindrance, no conflict. Who assigns the ranks of vermilion and purple this great status who assigns these ranks of great status the hills and mountains last speck of dust is extinguished my supernatural power and marvelous activity drawing water and carrying firewood

[30:14]

Then Dogen says, you know, emitting water from your shoulders or feet is a miracle. The great miracle is to carry water. Pretty cool to shoot water from your feet, but to carry water is the great miracle. The great miracle is to make tea for your friend. The great miracle is this aliveness that is throughout and all around and is everything. There is a great miracle happening. Suzuki Roshi and I always repeat this. I'm sorry that you may be more concerned with your problem than with the fact that you're alive. The great thing happening is that you're alive.

[31:21]

The minor important but minor thing happening, it's like about as important as it is cool to shoot fire from your shoulders, is your problem. Your problem is important, but it's actually not as important as the fact that you're alive. So it's not a miracle to have a problem and then solve the problem using any kind of power. This supernatural activity of being alive and intimate. And there's something this, as I said, you know, that this story so beautifully expresses about the wordless intimacy. It could have words. It could have words, but it's not depending on the words. It's embodied presence. Letting each other's, letting our life unfold in relationship with everything. And you don't need like... It's also not that they were great people. You look at these stories and you say, wow, great people doing ordinary things.

[32:25]

Actually, ordinary people doing ordinary things is the great miracle. It's just you and me getting in our car, bringing coffee to our friend, washing our face. It's right in front of us, the miracle. Dogen also talks about Yunyan and Dongshan. Yunyan asks Dongshan, what are your spiritual powers and marvelous activity? And Dongshan joins his palms together and steps forward and stands there. And Yinyan says, okay, but what about the spiritual powers and the wondrous function?

[33:25]

Dongshan says farewell and walks away. You know, I've come to Green Gold's Farm. I've come to Green Dragon Temple. Like, where's the spiritual power? Where's the enlightenment, you know? No, really, where's the enlightenment? Are you breathing in? Are you breathing out? Is there light? Is there sound? Are you kidding me? Where's the miracle? A story that was the favorite story, one of the favorite stories of Mel. And from this seat, actually, his last Dharma talk before he died here at Green Goats, he told the story and he wept, telling the story that meant so much to him about this disciple and master, disciple Long Tan and the master Dao Wu. And Long Tan, there's a little bit of a context, but the heart of the story is Long Tan comes in frustration to the teacher, Dao Wu, and says, I've been here for years, and I haven't received any instruction.

[34:33]

See, the residents are nodding. And even probably the people who came to Zazen instruction this morning are like, yeah. Yeah. Did I get any instruction actually this morning? I think you might have missed the part where you tell me what to do. And Dao Hu says, I haven't been giving you instruction. When you bring me tea, don't I receive it and drink it? And this is in the title of Norman's book. When you greet me, I bow. I haven't been giving you instruction. That's all I've been doing for the last three years is giving you instruction. It's just so close, you know, it's so close. Where's the supernatural power? It's closer than your own nose.

[35:39]

It's this being alive, this miracle. So I think what's important about this story, you know, is what do we think is great and what do we think is small? And so just as I've been sitting with it, how am I evaluating my life in terms of what's big about it? What are the big things happening and what are the small things happening? And then these stories like this are just saying, you know, at least for a little while, like you could just flip that a little bit. Like that big career change, that's a little thing happening. That you washed your face this morning, Like, that's the big thing happening. And it's actually sort of true. That's the real thing happening. So I thought, you know, it's... I imagine that it feels...

[36:44]

Pretty good to do supernatural powers. You know, it's kind of like this feat that you've accomplished. And I wonder if just thinking not so much of supernatural powers, but of accomplishments, you know, the great accomplishment. What's the great accomplishment? What have we accomplished? What have you accomplished? What have you accomplished? List your accomplishments. No less than 10, no more than 15. So what if the story was, you know, when Xiangyan, I think it could just as easily have been when Xiangyan walked in that Guishan might have said, Yangshan and I just accomplished something great. Not like the little accomplishments. So Guishan and Yangshan founded a whole lineage of Zen that we're talking about a thousand years later. That's like a pretty big accomplishment, right?

[37:46]

I mean... And they are saying, yeah, no, that's the little thing we did. Founding a lineage that lasted a thousand years, that's the little thing we did. You want to know the great thing we did? Yangshan once brought me a basin of water to wash my face, and Xiangyan... Brought me some tea and I received it. So how about you, you know? What's your great accomplishment? I helped my friend down the stairs. I drove without hatred. Yeah. from Green Gulch to San Francisco. And that if we have to evaluate our life, you know, if we have to think about our life, can we be clear about what's great and what's small?

[39:01]

So maybe the last thing I'll close, that Dogen Zenji also closes with in his text on this, he says, Master Linji, Master Rinzai, looking at these six supernatural powers, says, oh yeah, I know six supernatural powers too. Seeing and not being confused by the stuff you see. Hearing and not being confused by the stuff you hear. Tasting and touching and smelling and not being confused by the things you taste and touch and smell. Thinking and not being confused by thinking. Those are my six. great supernatural powers to just be in the aliveness, not confused by the flashing lights, not pulled out of this intimacy that our life is by all of the invitations, all of the temptations to do so.

[40:05]

Thank you for your kind attention this morning. We have a few minutes if anybody would like to offer a comment or question. Or as Guishan said, now you say something. Thank you. Is that John? Oh, please. Good. No, no, here. There's somebody here. And then John. Thank you for that brilliant Dharma talk. Related to what you were saying, I was thinking that why is there so much striving and tradition and practice if it's all kind of there right now anyway? Yeah. I've been wondering that too. in the tradition, why is there so much striving, you mean?

[41:25]

Why is there so much structure around realizing something so simplistic? Yeah. I see, not striving, but structure. Structure. You mean like Zen forms, for example? Yeah. Why? I guess because some of us are kind of dense. Why do we need so much help? I often... share this line. I think it was maybe in Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton. He has some kind of about his kind of monastic call. And he has this insight where with great tenderness and love.

[42:30]

Sometimes it does. And sometimes it's terrible. So, you know, we do this practice, we enter this aliveness and we open to this intimacy and we let our life unfold together so that we might live in harmony and we practice and we study the teachings with the spirit of dedicating the merit. May our study and practice bring benefit to others. Thank you. 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.

[43:40]

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

[43:52]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_97.53