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. I am a little nervous because I don't have much of the experience giving a Dermatalk in front of a camera. As you know, this year after Suzuki Roshi passed away,

[01:29]

It is the 50th anniversary. It is December the 4th. There is a, there is a, there is a, there is a, um, background scenery. Probably he's watching me and worry about me.

[02:30]

The prayer of the [...] prayer. Every morning I sit there and every Sunday I talk about 賛同会。 賛同会。 大丈夫。賛同会。 皆さん。 皆さん。 賛同会の I'm going to talk about it.

[03:42]

I'm going to talk about it. I'm going to talk about it. I'm going to talk about it. So when I talk about 三道会 or harmony of difference and equality, I go forward and backwards and a story itself doesn't go further so quickly. However, I always try to talk about it with other people. 三道会というのはもう皆さんも I'm going to study it. I'm going to study it.

[04:45]

This is one, two, three, different things. This is the story about one, two, three. Three different things go to one, come to one things or blend it together. Today, I would like to talk about this story, Sandokai, as well as a story about my father, Shun Liu Suzuki Roshi.

[06:01]

This is the mind of the Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha's voice, the mind of the Shakyamuni Buddha. The mind of Shakyamuni Buddha is the enlightenment, the mind of enlightenment. The enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha's mind is not only Shakyamuni Buddha's mind. Not only his mind. This is a mind which is filled with heaven and earth.

[07:26]

When I sit with everybody, I understand that I was held by everything between heaven and earth. In the past, when I read the Bible, I read the Bible, and [...] I read the Bible. When we study or read this ancient text of Sandokai, we are not reading or studying for something or somebody.

[08:52]

We are reading for ourselves. How the mind of Satyamuni Buddha is related? What is the relationship between Satyamuni Buddha's mind and our mind? we think about when we study this text. Satsamuni Buddha enlightened long, long time ago.

[09:54]

However, his mind is here right now, beyond time and beyond location. This mind, Shakyamuni Buddha's mind is over the time, beyond time, and beyond location, always is here, and always filled in heaven and earth. Therefore, next sentence, this is filled with east and west.

[11:15]

What did you tell me? So, he said to me, [...] One monk asked to Chinese monk Joshua.

[12:44]

Question was... The mind of Bodhidharma, what is his mind is telling us? Joshua answered, there is a tree over there growing. The mind of Shakyamuni Buddha is filled with east, west, south and north.

[13:50]

Everywhere his mind is filled. The big mind which is filled with heaven and earth, that's the teaching of Shachamani Buddha and Bodhi Dharma's teaching. I just wanted to talk to you and talk to you about it, but... I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

[14:51]

I don't know. Since I was young, I visited San Francisco and also sitting with some of you. And when you think about the path, there is no such a thing. It's we are studying together and practicing together. Last year, I visited the Australia Ekaizu Temple. Many, many people were sitting together.

[15:56]

It was a ceremony ceremony, or a ceremony ceremony. It was a ceremony ceremony, so I went to Japan. I talked to them, and I talked to them. They asked me to give a Dama talk, so I did. I thought, where is this? So I asked the audience, where is this place? This place is not Japan.

[17:00]

Everybody said this is Australia. So when I was giving a talk, everybody else was sitting in Zazen. So for me, I was not sure this is Japan or Australia. And then I thought about it doesn't matter. Zazen is not the things which flow from one place to another. Like Joshua said, the Zazen is something like, it's over there, and it's right here.

[18:26]

When we sit dazen, we are beyond time, beyond location, beyond... What is it? [...] It's beyond our differences. It is not something flowing from over there to here. or here to over there.

[19:39]

When I was second year in the college, my father, Suzuki Roshi, went to America. I went to the airport with him. Suzuki Roshi had many experiences in Japan such as war and many many difficult

[20:55]

He had a dream. That dream was he wanted to go to America. So when he was at the airport, he was walking to the airplane and he was stepping into the airplane.

[21:56]

He looked like a the world which are expanding his wings. I don't think I was able to teach you something. I didn't think he was trying to teach something to somebody. He didn't have that kind of mind. I had a lot of money for everyone.

[22:58]

I had a lot of money for everyone. I had a lot of money. [...] He was like a regular father who is bringing lots of souvenirs to the children and thinking about my children's waiting for me. And he was so happy to bring in so many gifts. So, he believed the mind of the Great States of India.

[24:20]

This Shatamuni Buddha's mind is in America. He believed so. He was not trying to teach something, tell you something, but he wanted to go to America and do zazen. Like he thought, even no one was telling Zazen, Zazen already existed in America.

[25:31]

The electricity... When we have electricity... How... [...] When electricity goes to one place to another, first, electricity has to exist. Yes. Yes. The heart of the Lord has been in this world. The mind that is already here, already exists, already filled everywhere.

[26:45]

The Shachamuni Buddha awakened that reality. So, the word and or action from that point. That word and that action is Well, my teachers, all of you, my teachers, from the beginning,

[28:04]

My teacher, like a Suzuki Roshi, is not like a very very well-known person or wise person. It's not like a very very well-known person or wise person. So there are many people, many different character of people in the Sandokai. It is in a phrase of Ninkong-ni-li-don-ari.

[29:17]

It is in a phrase of Ninkong-ni-li-don-ari. [...] Everybody is different. At the same time, when I think about myself, there are many, many different characters within myself. My teacher had many different characters. Very... very sharp at some point. At the same time, also not pay attention sometimes.

[30:32]

He was also short-minded. At the same time, he was very patient and didn't care. When I was a kid, my neighbor told me that your father is very patient and very kind. You are so lucky. However, I thought Suzuki Roshi, my father was very strict.

[31:41]

Be quiet. And he used to scold me like that. Suzuki Roshi was very relaxed when he goes to the public. When I think about my father right now,

[33:05]

In order to other people see him as a very patient person, he, Suzuki Roshi, had to be aware of an impatient person and has to deal with it, dealt with it all the time. That was a lot of work. There are many, many different kinds of people in the world. There are short-minded people and very patient people. Those patient people are also held by impatient people. They are holding each other.

[34:06]

It's not helping to each other. Just the impatient people as a dare is already holding and helping the patient people. Because there is a short-minded people, other people understand the patient people. There is an opposite story too. In a Sandoka, there's a phrase, ridon, which is the li is the smart people, don is the slow people, and they're talking about there is a, there is ridon, or smart and slow, but at the same time, there is no such things.

[35:34]

My teacher, my father, seems like slow on the surface. At the same time, he had a very sharp and witted place. When you judge the world, instead of judging the world,

[36:49]

look at their own mind and take a look at these two different aspects of our natures. The Zazen, there is no South teacher or North teacher. In the prayer of the prayer, there is nothing in the north or north or north.

[37:56]

I'm just standing on my feet. [...] Zazen itself doesn't have any north, south, west or east, just a Zazen. We hold together, put together our body and sit. I visit Toshouji Okayama once in a month.

[39:09]

These days, because of the coronavirus, I don't go, but I used to go once in a month. Sometimes there are about 30 people who were practicing during the practice period. In that temple, there are many people come to different parts of the world and many different languages were spoken. Luckily, we don't need to have words to do Zazen. However, once we start speaking with words,

[40:18]

There is a difficulty arise. When I talk, Diva Dama talk, somebody translate to English. Then in the background, there is another person translating to French. The word is difficult. The word is difficult. However, then we just tell people, past people, how to sit and how to breathe.

[41:42]

There is no south and north, east and west. It is just like when we drink water. Once I went to the temple in Poland, there was a question. There was a question. He asked me, I am a Christian.

[42:55]

Can I still do Zazen? 私は誰でも座禅して構いません 座禅をすればその時にもうすでに座禅の人です Anybody, everybody can do 座禅, I said. If you sit, you are the person who is doing 座禅. 座禅の人だ。 どんな人でも 区別なく 座禅の人になる。 Everybody can be the person of Zazen without any difference or distinction. This Zazen is directly connecting to the

[44:14]

Big mind which is filled with heaven and earth. How disconnected this dozen and big mind? When I sit, there is a person who is watching, there is a mind or a person who is watching when I'm breathing. Even I'm forgetting what I don't think about, or there is a power who let me breathe.

[45:43]

Even I think about something seriously and forgetting something, there is a person who reminds you. The old sage Kanzan was walking around the wild place and didn't know how to get home. And the friend Shittoku Hold his hand and brought him back.

[46:45]

Kanzan and Jitoku were the best friends. That was a Japanese phrase for what he was explaining. Kanza lost and jittoku hold their hand and brought him back. Thank you. When I was at...

[48:12]

I was supposed to study Buddhism, but I did Kendo. So I didn't study so much. So I asked my father, my teacher, so what is Buddhism? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah.

[49:15]

So harmony, right? So, harmony, right? Ah. So, that's what I thought. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. So when my teacher answered, I felt like I understood something, one thing. That is in the Sandokai. When there is something, That there is something in the shadow, there is another thing that exists.

[50:42]

When I ask something to my father, he never answered, this is it. Like, not definite. He never gave me a definite answer. That itself has something more fukumi. Something more... without using a definite word. There's something different meaning in the answer he told me. Now I think about my father, he always thinking about this Sandokai's meaning and he spoke

[52:14]

The word and he act. In order to be able to do

[53:15]

We need a big mind. This big mind is the mind always watching what I'm doing, what I'm saying. We need a big mind. Through Zazen, we realize what we feel and realize this big mind, the mind which watching Our own mind.

[54:19]

This is not something you can be taught by somebody. You cannot be stuck in one place or one thought. And this is, I am not telling you, you go to the middle road. I'm saying that you can take Any road, any path.

[55:48]

Every Sunday, I talk about Sandokai because my mind is always moving. My story itself doesn't stay. Sometimes it goes forward and sometimes goes backwards. So my mind is maybe becoming bigger and deeper with your mind together, maybe. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center.

[57:18]

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

[57:29]

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