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. Welcome to this great assembly. These words are offered as homage, as respect, These words are offered as praise for great compassion.

[01:22]

These words and these hand gestures and these thoughts are offered as offerings, as service. rendered unto great compassion. I wish to beat the Dharma drum and blow the Dharma conch for great compassion. These words are offered to invoke great compassion in this meditation hall, in this temple, in this wonderful valley, and throughout the universe. Buddha's compassion, great compassion of the Buddha, is all-pervading. And yet, we have the opportunity to welcome it, to invoke it, to praise it, and in that way, become it.

[02:37]

I wish to be a servant of great compassion. I wish to be a good servant of great compassion. I wish every action of my body, speech and mind, moment by moment, to be a good service to great compassion. That's my aspiration, which I share with you at the beginning of this auspicious practice period in this wonderful temple. As advertised on the internet, Theme of this practice period is compassion and wisdom.

[03:50]

In other words, great compassion of the Buddha. What is Buddha's compassion? It's just to extend tender care to every single living being in the world and within our own body and mind. Every fear, every confusion, every doubt, every happiness, every pain of this body and mind is calling for great compassion. Every being throughout the universe is calling for great compassion. Buddha's great compassion extends tender care. To every single being. Without exception.

[04:58]

It extends it to murderers. So that they can. Become. Good. Bodhisattvas give up their cruelty and become treasures in the world. But they're not going to be freed of their cruelty without receiving Buddhist compassion. I wish to serve great compassion and extend it with tender care to all beings. This, again, is proposed as the topic. This great compassion wishes to care for all beings and it also understands that the hand extending tender care and the one to whom the tender care is extended

[06:08]

They're not two. The deluded, suffering beings and Buddha's great compassion are understood as two parts of the Buddha way. They're not separate. In our beginning of practicing compassion, which is called great compassion, of beginners, we might think that the kindness we give to others is one thing and they are another. This is the beginning bodhisattva, compassion. Through that practice, we will eventually wake up to the non-duality of giver, receiver, and gift of great compassion. Also part of this theme of this practice period is how great compassion is our daily life in this temple.

[07:24]

And how our daily life of this temple is great compassion. For example, in this room, as all of you know, we sit. we put our body into a sitting posture. Right now, everybody's in a sitting posture in this room. Now, some people, for some reason, may have to recline in this room or stand in this room. But right now, everybody here is sitting. Our practice in this room we call sitting. Now, this sitting, this sitting can be, I want my sitting that I sit.

[08:24]

When I sit on that seat, I want the sitting to be. This morning I sat with you. Yes, I did. And I offered my sitting. I rendered my sitting into a gift, into an offering to great compassion. I was sitting at that seat, making this sitting an offering to great compassion. I was making this sitting an act of homage, sitting homage to great compassion. I was praising great compassion. sitting at my seat, and sitting at my seat was my praise of great compassion. This is how some bodhisattvas have taught us how to become great compassion.

[09:27]

We are going to spend quite a bit of time in this room sitting. Every moment of sitting is an opportunity for you, to make your sitting into a great gift, a gift to, for the sake of and as, great compassion for all beings. And this sitting that we do here, we say, is like a hammer striking emptiness. It's like a hammer striking vast space. And it makes a sound that brings joy to all beings. And it extends before and after we sit. So I want us to sit.

[10:32]

I want to sit. I hope you join the sitting and that you let your sitting be paying homage. to great compassion. And in that way, this homage to great compassion will extend little by little to every action throughout your day. Our practice is to make all of our daily activities offerings, homage, and praise of great compassion. Also, our every action is a request of great compassion to teach us. It's a request of great compassion to turn the Dharma wheel. I just thought how funny it is that we have many stories of somebody who we could call great compassion, who is in the world, and somebody comes in the neighborhood of great compassion and sits.

[11:39]

Even though they may not know it, Grace Compassion thinks, hmm, they're sitting with me. Maybe they would like me to turn the Dharma wheel. They're sitting so nicely, maybe they would like me to teach them great compassion. Of course, sometimes when the people sit in the presence of great compassion, they know that's what they want. But sometimes they don't know that they're in the presence of great compassion. But great compassion knows they are. And great compassion starts talking to them until they realize who is talking to them. So some Zen's ancestors have suggested that if we sit in this way. What way? Like this. Upright. Present. And requesting the teachings.

[12:44]

And requesting the teaching of great compassion, if we sit that way, if we pay respects to great compassion, gradually we'll realize great compassion is talking to us right now and has been. But because we didn't invite it, we didn't hear it. We are calling for great compassion. Everybody's calling for great compassion. And great compassion considers everybody worthy of it. Those who think they're not worthy, That person who thinks they're not worthy is calling for great compassion. They want great compassion to hear them crying. I'm not worthy of great compassion. Actually, although I said I'm not worthy of great compassion, I was kind of begging for it. I'm begging for what I'm not worthy of. Wow. Yes. You're begging for what you think you're not worthy of, but you are worthy.

[13:47]

We are worthy. And we are worthy to participate in giving it. So, this seems pretty simple to me. All we, all we, all we, all we. I say all we, because what I'm saying, all we have to do is something extremely vast. All we need to do, is make every action of body, speech, and mind homage to great compassion. So, praise of great compassion. Everybody you meet, hello. That hello is hello, and it's also homage to great compassion. It's praise of great compassion. It's service of great compassion. And it's also acknowledging that sometimes I forget the practice of honoring great compassion.

[14:57]

And if I forget, I acknowledge, oh, I forgot. I forgot that this was an opportunity to honor great compassion and offer it. And I'm sorry. And that too is part of honoring great compassion. Part of honoring this great thing is to acknowledge when we forget to honor. That's what you do with something that you honor. When you don't honor it, you... I'm not saying that's what you do, but part of honoring it is to admit when you don't honor what you want to honor. I've been wanting to honor you... I really want to honor you, and I'm sorry I didn't. I'm sorry. I really want to honor you. I want to respect you. That's what I want to do. And just a moment ago, I was somewhat disrespectful, and I'm sorry.

[15:58]

This is part of honoring. This is part of what bodhisattvas of great compassion do. When they forget to honor great compassion, when they notice it, They acknowledge it and they feel sorry and they say so. And that's part of great compassion. So we have the chance here during this practice period, which we just started. To develop this intimate relationship with great compassion, which is already all pervasive. It's already here. And we have a chance to develop it by offering our body, speech, and mind actions. To it, for it, by it, of it, and so on. I was talking to someone recently in this valley, in this temple.

[17:01]

I'm laughing because I'm thinking of that song. In a cavern, in a canyon, excavating for a mine. lived a minor named 49er and his daughter Clementine. In this valley, in a room, I was talking to a monk, one of the people in this practice period, about how Zazen could be the enactment, the offering, the receiving of great compassion. And he said, well, what about when you're following your breath? So here's the breath. I'm here. I got a body. I got breath. So here's breath. And I'm aware of it. And that breath wants great compassion. That breath does not want to be disrespected.

[18:07]

That breath wants to be respected. So if I'm breathing and I notice I'm breathing, I wish to serve great compassion by extending tender care to that breath, to pay attention to that breath and be kind to it, to pay attention to that breath as an opportunity to pay respect to great compassion at the same time. And the person said, What about if I'm sitting in the meditation hall following my breath and anxiety comes? Should I focus on the anxiety? And I said, I wouldn't focus on it. I would just pay close attention to it for the moment. You don't have to stay on anxiety and keep going back to anxiety. But if anxiety comes while you're sitting, it's coming.

[19:11]

Because it wants compassion. So, anxiety. Hello. At that moment is an opportunity to be warm and kind and respectful of the anxiety. And remember that taking care of this anxiety is paying homage. to Buddha's great compassion. If the anxiety goes away, and then you're aware of your body again, extend tender care to your body. If your breath appears, again, practice compassion towards your breath. If anxiety comes again, so on. Everything that comes is asking for great compassion, and we're here to train. At what?

[20:12]

That's for you to say. I'm telling you, we have an opportunity to train our body and mind into steadfast, relaxed, playful, creative, free, and illuminated relationship with all things by practicing great compassion. when we extend tender care to everything, everything will be a marvelous revelation of the light of the Buddha. When we extend tender care to the darkest, to the dark and the darker and the darkest things of the world, when that is wholehearted, when we wholeheartedly remember great compassion in the dark, the darker and the darkest, that darkness will reveal the light of Buddha's wisdom.

[21:19]

I'm wearing a watch, which I don't wear very often because it's a very nice watch, and I've broken it. And it's very expensive to break it. So I just wear it on times when I'm going to be very careful. So here it is. And it says that I've been talking for a while. So watch. So you've been talking for a while. And I really appreciate what you've been saying. Thank you. I appreciate that what you said was offered as homage to great compassion. It's a Buddhist watch. So anyway. I think that's maybe enough to get you started for the last two and a half months of this wonderful, difficult year. This is the practice of bodhisattvas who live in the world of suffering. And this practice of great compassion is the most joyful practice in the universe. It is practiced in the middle of all the suffering of this world.

[22:31]

And it is a joy to practice it in the middle of it. inexhaustible affliction. It is a practice for a world of inexhaustible affliction. And we have such a world in which to practice. So we can work on this for two and a half months. We can work on this and help all sentient beings. If we want to. This is what I want to do I'm letting you know what I aspire to, and you can join this practice with me and the great bodhisattvas, who are really good at it. I'm not too good at it, but even so, that's what I aspire to. And you could aspire to it, too, unless you have something better to do. Let me know if you do. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center.

[23:35]

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

[24:01]

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