This podcast is offered by San Francisco's Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. This is quite the turnout for the last weekend of the year. I was thinking, how many people will come today? So I'm very glad to see you here. My name is Sozan, and again, thank you for being here for this talk. and thank you wherever you are in time and space listening to this. I also want to thank the tanto Tim Wicks for inviting me to give this talk. Thank you, Tim. And, of course, my teacher, Rinzo, Ed Sideson, for many years of compassionate love and wisdom. Thank you, Ed. About 15 years ago, I was still living in Argentina, in Buenos Aires.

[01:00]

That's where I come from. That's where I was raised, born and raised. And at that time, I was practicing Zen in a different lineage, a lineage from a different teacher called Taisen Deshimaru, a very widespread lineage in South America and Europe. And who was my... Partner at that time, we were not married yet, Paula. She went to a talk. It was this talk that the site was called something about Wabi Sabi. And it was Sumie Ink Painting and Ikebana and Tea Ceremony. So she went to this talk because of the ink painting. She's an artist. And then she came back to me and she said, you know what? You need to go there. Go to the... Next talk, not the Ikebana one, but the tea ceremony one. I think this is great.

[02:01]

So I did. I went. And this very renowned tea teacher, Hiurahi Sensei from Mexico, he was giving a talk with Emiko Sensei, who was a teacher there in Argentina, about tea ceremony and wabi-sabi, and there was a tea demonstration, a tea ceremony demonstration. And I just connected so quickly with what was going on. It was some kind of zazen in motion. I would put it that way. It was something else. So I stayed behind after the talk and had a very informal, quick chat with a teacher there about how this related to Zen and can I do it. It was interesting to understand that the Zen connection with the teacher wasn't that deep in the sense of she wasn't a Zen practitioner or meditator, but the connection between tea and Zen was very clear to me.

[03:20]

So, I started going to tea class. For those of you who do not know this, chado or tea ceremony actually comes from Zen. And during the ceremony or the gathering, there's a lot that has to do with Zen teachings. One of the main things that happen is there's a scroll in the tea house and the teacher will discuss this scroll with the In the class, the teacher with the students, but in a tea gathering, the host with the guests will discuss this teaching. And it's called Sengo, which means something around in Japanese like Zen language. And this scroll can only be done, the calligraphy needs to be done by a Zen master. It cannot be done by a calligrapher. It actually needs to be done, the calligraphy, by a Zen master.

[04:21]

Because it's a Zen teaching. So a lot is happening in regards to this meeting of hosts and guests and teachings. And I was completely drawn to it because I felt it was something informing my practice in a different way, in a very deep, meaningful way. And it worked very well. Actually, there is a... phrase in Japanese, which is, which means tea and zen have the same taste. And I think that's pretty accurate. So, among these teachings, one of the things that are key to the study of tea is the aspect of

[05:24]

This doesn't start or ends in the tea house. This is a way to live your life. Practice is a way to live your life, right? We often say that Zen is not a book in your bookshelf, it's actually the bookshelf itself. And tea, as I would say, at least this is the way I interpret it, as an expression of Zen, because I like to call tea an expression of Zen, works that way. The tea ceremony was, at least in the schools of tea that remain today, or the more relevant schools of tea that remain today, they were started by the Sen family, S-E-N, not C, S-E-N family in Japan. And Sen no Rikyu, who lived from 1522 to 1591, was one, or if not the teacher, that actually not only just founded the Urasenke School of Tea, which is the one that I've been studying in, but was very relevant towards making tea more of a mainstream activity and not just for the elite or the samurais.

[06:46]

So Senoriki brought tea. to the front. It's interesting that I realized that Senoriki was contemporary of Dogen, right? So he was born in 1522 and Dogen was 1200 and something. So it's like 203 years. And I think in Zen terms, that's more or less in the same vicinity. So one of the things that Senoriki did or established is how do we how do we do this how do we live our life in a way that represents what happens in the tea house but that has some kind of actionable teaching or guidelines and one of the things he brought forth is this concept of wa kei sei jaku.

[07:49]

And that's what I'm going to focus on my talk today. Wa kei sei jaku. Wa kei sei jaku are the four pillars, let's put it that way, that hold this house, temple we call life, according to Senorikyu. And they would translate as wa as harmony, kei as respect, Se as purity and Jaku as tranquility. So, Senorikius said, if you have harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility in your life, we're good. Those are the four pillars that need to be cultivated and need to exist in order to hold this temple that we call life. And of course, I wish it was... that easy and of course it's not and of course there's a deeper aspect of what case age of of harmony respect purity and tranquility than what we usually think of in our in our daily lives and and that's that's the interesting part the interesting part for me at least was okay how can i explore these four pillars

[09:11]

in my practice, not just in my deep practice, but in my practice in general and in my life. So they start making more deeper meaning or holding this temple in a way that's more robust. Senorikyu wrote something that I really like, and it was very much related to this concept of Wakei Seijaku. And he said, though you wipe your hands and brush the dust and dirt from the vessels, of what use is all worth if the heart is still impure? Again, though you wipe your hands and brush, no, sorry. Though you wipe your hands and brush the dust and dirt from the vessels, of what use is all this work?

[10:12]

if the heart is still impure. And I think that in itself is a beautiful koan. And it's been guiding me and my practice for many, many, many years now. So these profound teachings that we find in the tea ceremony and that they come from or are let's say, borrowed from Zen, I believe there's something that gets informed through this tea ceremony and comes back to us for our daily lives. And as I was saying, there is an everyday or more, I don't want to say superficial, but the usual meaning we give to these four concepts.

[11:13]

And then there's that deeper exploration of each one of these. And we'll start with wa, with harmony, right? And when we think of harmony, usually, or at least I think of things that flow, things that, you know, there's no messiness, there's no tension. No, there's... something is harmonious, something is flowing. And yet, there is a request by Zen Norikyu to explore this further and understand how it's just about harmony between people, but harmony between people and nature, and harmony within nature itself. So, On one side, there is this understanding of harmony as flow, but then, what goes maybe another step forward, and it says, and actually, one of our main teachings is one of the main teachings Senorikyo brings forth, which is a sandokai, the harmony of difference and equality.

[12:35]

So that's the extra step in this first concept, wa, that we are exploring. And the sandokai, the harmony of difference and equality, it's maybe one of the best examples of what we're talking about here. There's a book you might know from Suzuki Roshi called Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness that actually is an exploration of the sandokai and talks... talks a lot about this. And the harmony that we're talking about here in this wah concept is the harmony that happens when the different and the same come together as one. When the difference and the same come together as one. So, of course, different and same sound a bit kind of like a dual concept, so we could say, well, you know, Is there anything that's different?

[13:36]

Is there anything that's the same? And of course, from our daily lives and the relative point of view, yes, there are things that are different. There are things that are the same. And the unity and the cooperation that happens when we understand that this kind of harmony, this depth of harmony, actually becomes true when we can embrace difference, when we can embrace what's different, and hold it as an absolute, hold it as something that's complete in itself, is a wa that Senoriki is talking about here. And of course, the easy way to explain this is with music, right? We say that in music, individual notes that are different come together as a unique sound when played together, and that sound can be harmonious, and there's a harmony there.

[14:45]

Same aspect here. It's how we can connect, embrace, And yes, flow with what's not the same and what actually is the same. Sorry about the koan here, but this concept has a bit of a nuance to explain. So what harmony is, and this first pillar is, can we live, embrace, connect with what's similar or what feels close and what's different and doesn't feel so close. If we can actually connect with that, if we can actually penetrate the depth of this aspect of uniqueness or

[16:00]

or sameness, then that first pillar appears or is there. So that's the first point. Can we harmonize? Can we connect with what's different? When Y is present, when we can... connect with this harmony, we merge sameness and difference in one single body of Buddha. That's not my words, that's St. Ulrich's words. So, first concept, Wa, harmony between what's different and what's the same. Then we have K, respect. This is, for me, a very interesting one, because respect has different meanings for different people.

[17:10]

And maybe there's a common understanding that has to do with authority. And, yeah, sometimes when I say respect, I see some clean. Like, yeah, what are we talking about here? And that's okay. Because respect is, I think, an important concept to study, especially when we go deeper in the meaning. Respect comes from the Latin word respectus, which translates as attention, consideration, and this one is the one I really like, to look. again. Respectus in Latin translates as to look again. And, of course, when we look again, what we're doing basically is paying attention.

[18:12]

We're paying attention. Paying attention, it's a key practice for us. And I've never equated before paying attention with respect. But when we start digging deeper into this concept, to look again, consideration, what we're saying, we're saying respect is connecting, really connecting. And it makes sense. Usually if you don't respect something or... or don't care about something, there's some kind of disconnection going on there. And, you know, it's just, it kind of doesn't matter. When you respect something, usually, your attention goes there, because there's this kind of respect. But, this looking again, this attention, is not...

[19:24]

just for things that are what we would consider worthy of our respect, maybe, in common terms. Because I respect this, but I actually do not respect you or that or this. And the teaching here is no, no, no, no. Absolutely everything that exists in the universe deserves your respect. Everything. Because there's nothing that you shouldn't be paying attention to. And that's part of our teachings, right? We're saying in Zen, what is Zen? One of the thousand definitions. Well, it's paying attention to the moment, to what's in front of you. So is there anything that could be in front of you and you would not pay attention? Well, not according to that definition. And this is what respect K is bringing up here. Everything is... Worthy of and should be respected.

[20:29]

The three poisons, right? Greed, hate, delusion. I don't care. I want to be far away from those. No. If you do not respect them, then there's no attention. And if there's no attention, then you know what happens. They take you by surprise in so many ways. Sun Tzu in The Art of War. the first thing that he says is, respect your enemy. And we could go in all sorts of rabbit holes with that. But this respect that we're talking about is pay attention, be there, keep that connection alive. And of course, when we look again in this K way of living life, Suzuki Roshi taught us to look again, and guess what? With beginner's mind.

[21:30]

So it's not just looking again full of ideas and full of preconceptions of what we are looking at, but just to look again and maybe clean that up before every time this happens. and we look again, and we look again. And that's respect, according to K. And this respect is a deep attitude of humility. Humility towards oneself, towards the elements, and towards others. In this respect that we're talking about here, it's not that common concept of authority. But this respect of looking again, of connecting with everything that has our respect, it's mostly about humility.

[22:32]

And the humility that comes from respect is the kind of humility that makes us great, not small. It's that humility that empowers us and everything and everyone around us. So the humility that comes from respect makes us great. It brings life. So again, from the absolute point of view, everything, whatever in the universe requires and should be respected. And one thing that's important here is what, as a this harmony, and then K as this respect, this doesn't mean we need to agree with everything. I just want to be clear about that. Respect doesn't mean, okay, you're right.

[23:36]

Respect, K, has to do more with being present with whatever is happening, and in that sense, and beginner's mind, as I said, in that sense, letting it in. Of course, you might not agree. Of course, something might be terrible. And you would say, Susan, how can I respect this? If this is horrible, what's happening here? So remember, we're talking about a deeper definition of respect. And if we don't have that K with that horrible thing happening, then we disengage. And if we disengage, change doesn't happen, within or without. So this is why this is such an important pillar, I think, in our lives, in our practice and in our lives. Because when, and as you see, they start kind of working together.

[24:44]

When there is this harmony of wah, where we can actually bring together, embrace absolutely everything, closer to us, similar to us, or completely different, and maybe that we don't even begin to understand. And all of that we can actually respect from this point of view of humility that makes us great. Something really, really starts to transform there. And these two of the four pillars start working together. So this K is to look again and to do that free from our own conditioned self. Free from our own points of view and ideas, beginner's mind, and we look again. And we connect. K. I hope this starts making some sense.

[25:45]

This... This respect we're talking about, it comes from a deep sense of giving and receiving. When we chant about the giver, the receiver, and the gift, this is what's happening here with respect. And one final thing about K, which I think is kind of important, we usually do not learn from something or somebody we do not respect. And Senoriki emphasized this point. You learn, you're open to absorb, to learn from things you actually respect. Now, if you can actually work through your practice to respect everything that exists, you'll be a student.

[26:56]

of the universe. Everything will teach you if you can respect everything. So that's why this is also so important. It's just going back to this idea of closeness, of openness, of looking again, and then, and hence, learning. Next comes se, purity. And the dictionary defines purity, or actually it defines impurity, I'm going to read this, as something adulterated, contaminated, diluted, tainted, or weakened. That's what we say when we say impurity or impure. So, of course, purity is kind of the opposite to that. And I think this is a vivid image that evokes in each one of us.

[27:59]

Yeah, I can understand what impure means and how I can relate to something that's impure. But also, and this is very important, impure or pure has a lot to do with our conditioned self, has a lot to do with our culture, has a lot to do with our everything. Where we were born, our... likes and dislikes. So what's pure or impure to me might be different to what's pure or impure to you. And I think this is an important point to consider. So one of the key elements here in this teaching where we go, as I said, a bit deeper is to go beyond our conditioned selves, our likes, dislikes, et cetera, to go deeper into this definition of what's pure and what's not.

[29:01]

And it's easy sometimes to understand what's pure or not with things that we handle in our daily lives, like water. Yeah, I can, you know, this pure water and pure water, yeah, I get it. Or a metal. That's easy. But then how about... our path of practice? Or how about our practice? Or what is the teaching here? Of course, it's not about knowing what's pure or impure water, but it's what's impure or pure in the deeper meaning, in our practice, in our lives. What does Sai mean in the context of Buddha's way? And this is really interesting because purity is a very aspirational concept. We want to be pure. And actually, in many religions in the world, purity is something to strive for.

[30:02]

Like, we want to try to be pure. And we purify things with water, or we purify ourselves from sins by confession, or there's all this thing around wanting to be pure and needing to be pure in different practices and religions and this is important I think because it can get us to a place of a gaining mind right striving to be pure no matter what and and then we enter this place of dualism where this is pure or you are pure or what I did or what I didn't do is pure or impure and And that doesn't get us anywhere great, I don't think. Every time we go into this dualism and we engage in this, again, gaining mind, and this becomes an objective, and that's a recipe for dukkha.

[31:11]

That's a recipe for difficulty and suffering. So then what is pure? So, great. if we're trying not to enter a dualistic place or approach, and if we know we are conditioned and everything we're seeing is pure or impure according to our idea of purity, what does the teaching say about say purity? And The teaching says that the only thing, the only thing that we can really find is pure is consciousness. The consciousness of the present moment. The attention to here and now, that's the deeper meaning of say.

[32:17]

So, instead of trying to purify or to understand purity or impurity in many aspects of this dualistic approach that we have as human beings, or with this gaining mind, this teaching of Se says the only thing that can be or should be pure is your consciousness of what's happening right here, right now. And then you can ask yourself, what's diluting that? What's corrupting that? So what's making my clear awareness of the here and now not pure? And then it's something that it's not in the future, right? It's not something that I'm going to maybe attain at some point. It's how do I strive, how do I practice to make this particular reality

[33:21]

instant in time, pure, say. And when that happens, then everything else is inherently pure. So it doesn't depend on our own concept or conditioned. concepts of what's pure and impure. As long as we understand the purity of the present moment, everything else becomes pure in itself. It can be pure evil. Don't get me wrong, right? But it's pure. And the way this happens is if we're here. If we're here now. So, if we can embrace the wholeness, the difference, what's different, what's the same, and then really pay attention to this.

[34:28]

Look again, looking again, with respect, with a beginner's mind. And we do this in the absolute purity of the present moment, then something starts to happen there. Something starts to... get realized. And that's the third of these four pillars, of these four teachings. So then what happens? This fourth pillar, yaku, tranquility, actually only can exist if these three first pillars are there. So we talk about tranquility, calmness in our practice as something, a state of being that happens when practice happens.

[35:41]

And I really like these four pillars and what I'm bringing up here because it's very, very actionable. I think. And a good thing to bring into 2025. It's very, very actionable. And this tranquility, this Jaku that we're talking about, as I say, cannot exist if Wa, Ke, and Se are not there. If we cannot embrace sameness and difference, if we cannot respect everything that exists, and if we cannot be absolutely present and pure in the present moment, then there's no tranquility. And when these other concepts start moving us in our practice towards these aspects, then tranquility emerges. Tranquility happens. And this tranquility that we're talking about in this calmness is not a psychological state of dreaminess or...

[36:50]

a state of relaxation. I always like that here in Beginner's Mind Temple, many people come for the first time and we ask them, or I ask them, why are you here? And they say, because I want to be relaxed. So I'm here in the Zen Temple. I want to be calm. And yet this... calmness that we understand in our daily lives and that we read about in different places in social media is not what Jakku is referring to. This calmness is not something that happens but it's a state of being. It's a state of being that that really grounds oneself in the world, as in this teaching, this particular teaching, as a consequence of these other aspects of harmony, of respect, and of purity.

[38:04]

And as Suzuki Roshi used to say, Mental calmness does not mean that you should stop your activity. True calmness must be found in the activity itself. We say it's easy to be calm in inactivity. It's difficult to be calm in activity. But calm in activity is a true calm. And this is the perfect, perfect definition of Jagu. It's that tranquility, that calmness, that happens in the motions in the activity of daily life. And it's interesting. It's not something that we can actually, or I think it's not something that we can force ourselves into.

[39:10]

We can calm ourselves, I don't know, scented candles or bubble baths or whatever you You want to do to calm yourself. Zazen. Great. We're going a step beyond this. It's not just that state of awareness, but it's more this state of being. I hope I'm being not too cryptic about this. But the way we are in the world, that's tranquil. That's calm. And it's actually a consequence. It's not something, as I said, it's not something that we can force ourselves into. This tranquility I'm talking about, it's a state of mindfulness, of bliss, repose on bliss. You've heard that before.

[40:12]

That's what we're talking about. of unity. So, Yaku, this calmness, this tranquility, as I say, is a result of the other three. And it's like a bamboo or a flower that grows strong and that we fertilize with our connection are looking again and are being present in the present. So, at one point I traveled to Japan for six months, 2015, to study tea. And that's the first time I heard these teachings.

[41:16]

And actually, I can remember the moment that that happened. And I was holding a bowl of tea and saying, huh, this actually makes sense to me. And this is something that I can connect with, work with, practice with. Embracing change, embracing difference. With beyond my conditioned self, respecting, looking again, being present, and hence feeding or growing that state of awareness, of mindfulness, of bliss, repose and bliss into my daily life. As I say, something... I feel very actionable that we can bring, we can keep on studying and maybe use in some way in our practice in the year and the years to come.

[42:26]

Wa Keisei and Jakku. I think an amazing, beautiful way to be in the world. Thank you very, very much. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[43:05]

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