Thank you. Thank you.

[02:50]

to remember and accept. I vowed to trace the truth of God to God. I lost her palace penetrated in a perfect dormant. It is rarely seen that with even a hundred thousand million helpers. How do you get to see and listen to to remember and accept. I would like you to taste the truth of the Hakata's words. And I won't surpasses penetrating and perfect dharma. If you swear anything that was even in a hundred thousand million help us, I can get to see and listen to

[03:51]

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome. Welcome, welcome. How do you meet Zen Master Joshu was asked, how do you meet the challenge of environmental destruction and danger in these times? How do you meet this? One of his students asked him, and he said, welcome, welcome. So, you wouldn't be here this morning, but for your willingness to welcome and be welcomed by this place. Of this in a time of unsettled challenge and political upheaval, to say the least.

[04:59]

In this ceremonial season of Ramadan, Passover, Buddha's birthday, Besok, and Easter, Easter morning, we cross the threshold of this green dragon breathing room and acknowledge our presence here in the ancient world, in the unceded world of kin-centric knowledge and continuity, unceded, traditional, contemporary homeland of the Kosmiwok people. This is their home, and we are guests in this house, in this earth household. We recognize the ancestral history and harm to indigenous people, forcibly removed from their lands, separated from breath of life, their language, and from their cultural life ways.

[06:14]

And we commit to moving forward with true words, with honesty and respect, offering gratitude to present-day tribes who are still here, very much here. May all beings in the ten directions find cultural resistance in the medicine of the land. An admonition from Blackfeet leader Leroy Little Bear. May all beings in the ten directions find cultural resistance and resilience in the medicine of the land. So we are here this morning to taste the truth of the Tathagata's teaching together, a sacrament, and to digest and metabolize and activate

[07:21]

our commitment to be truthful, worthy practitioners, followers of the way. We say cloud and water wanderers, patch-robed monks and monkuses. I love that. That was from an old friend, Vasha Fisk in San Francisco Center. She called us monks and monkuses. Patch-robed Monks and monkuses willing to live and die together. Beautiful. Not grandiose, but a vow to live by and in the vow. Patch-robed monks and monkuses. This rice field robe we wear, either the okesa or the rakasu, is modeled after a rice field. tiny patches sewn together, each stitch, each suture with the commitment to maintain continuity, continuous practice, and to be truthful and bold in our practice.

[08:38]

So this is a big day in the life of the world, the Christian world. Not only is it, this is both Greek Orthodox Easter as well as of their traditional Easter. They don't often come together on the same day. And this time also is a time of celebrating and remembering in a kind of aching way. Earth Day, the first Earth Day, 1970, a United States senator, Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin, could not bear the fact that so many seabirds had lost their lives to oil slicks and danger and called on the human community to gather together. And many people came. Let's see, 20 million people took to the streets in 1970. And we've been marking Earth Day ever since 1970, so more than 50 years.

[09:45]

Last year, 1 billion people human beings in 93 countries speaking for protection for the earth. So Earth Day. And also today here at Green Gulch, a celebration of Arbor Day, which I'm very happy to be present for with you. And today we welcome the 31st gaggle of farm and garden apprentices. They don't walk in a straight line, so they're not truly a gaggle of geese, but they fan out in an ever-expanding circle. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. In these dangerous times, to dedicate your practice to growing food and sharing food is a great gift. So we welcome apprentices and we prepare for Arbor Day. It's unusual to plant a tree in April.

[10:47]

Usually we go for the darker time of the year, the wetter time of the year. But today we will dedicate, entrust a single coast live oak tree to offer shade and goodness for the community in ceremony. And we'll be together all day celebrating and dedicating. And this shovel, can you see it? So this shovel, It's a perfect staff. I'm going to stand there with this. It's a perfect staff. So this shovel is a teacher for today, and we will handle it. If you're not staying, be sure at least to come forward and lift up this shovel because it's heavy. We've just observed a season of nonviolence in such violent times, such travesty of violent times. from January 30th, which is the day that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in his garden in Delhi, India, until April 4th, when Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, speaking to workers, to sanitation workers, encouraging them in the direction of peace.

[12:14]

And so, 64 days. Some of us have been offering prayers and commitment throughout these 64 days. A number of years ago, on the anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, young practitioners gathered in Georgia with Dr. King's family to dedicate and plant trees. And they used... 50, actually 50 special shovels were created for that planting. And this is one of the 50 shovels. Why is it so heavy? Because the city of San Francisco Police Department sold back its guns to young activists. Those guns were melted in a forge in Georgia. Dr. King's youngest daughter, who'd never handled a gun in her life, took a little white handgun, put it in the fire,

[13:19]

It was melted and forged into these shovels. So this is a gun, the handle of the shovel. And the shovel says, reminds us, I'll just say what it says on the peace pole in the garden. May peace prevail on earth. With this shovel, may I end war and plant peace. So we'll use this shovel today, or it'll use us. And we'll... It's good and dirty and ready to go. I'm going to leave it here so you can see it. Is that okay? It's good. It's a good abbot for this morning. If it falls, big trees fall, abbots fall, shovels fall, wind falls, rain falls, it's okay. We'll pick it up and dig on. Dig on. Because that is the spirit. So I should introduce myself. Usually you do that when you... when you're in this hall. So my name is Wendy Johnson. I'm a lay ordained.

[14:23]

I have double inheritance in the tradition of San Francisco Zen Center as a lay engaged Dharma practitioner and teacher. So lay ordained in the tradition of San Francisco Zen Center and Thich Nhat Hanh. I'm wearing a robe that Thich Nhat Hanh gave me in 1990. It's my ordination as a lay practitioner. and the order of inner being. I'm really happy to be here. I lived here at Green Gulch from 1975 until 2000 with my husband and our family. And Peter and I were married in this sendo 49 years ago. We're 49ers. Yeah. Passing the ball back and forth. Touching down wherever we can. We... We were married here in this Sendo 49 years ago. And we're also dedicated organic farmers in the tradition of regenerative agriculture, regenerative sustainable agriculture.

[15:33]

We have been well taught and we are ready to go. We celebrate the old growth forest because we are truly charter members. of the old growth forest at this point. In 1970, right around 1976, when we first moved to Green Gulch, Dr. E. F. Schumacher, the author of Small is Beautiful, visited Green Gulch. And I remember walking around with some of the farm apprentices. That's what we were then, 1976. And... our dear Dharma brother, Steve Stuckey, Mennonite farmer. We walked around with Dr. Schumacher, and he is the author of Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered. He's also been called a Buddhist teacher. And in fact, he trained with Mahatma Gandhi in the tradition of Gandhi.

[16:33]

As a young person, he lived in India and wanted to write a book that gave rise to the field of appropriate technology. And... and context in alignment. Extraordinary human being. And he made a special pilgrimage here to remind us that in the Buddha's time in northeastern India, he was encouraged. He encouraged his students, practitioners, followers of the way, to plant and see to the maintenance of one tree every five years. And in that way, Dr. Schumacher encouraged us saying in that way, Northeastern India began to be refoliated, reestablished, and culture was created. Not only planting, which is always fun and a celebration, but seeing to the maintenance, seeing to the life force. Every good Buddhist should plant and see to the establishment of one tree every day.

[17:41]

So on our anniversary, which is April 18th, two days ago, it's also the anniversary in 1906 of the San Francisco earthquake when the land spoke loud and strong and shook and rumbled because of the meeting clashing together of the Pacific and the North Atlantic plates underneath the ocean. 500, just get this right, yeah. 500 city blocks were destroyed. One half of the house residents in San Francisco were suddenly and irrevocably unhoused. One half of the people. And 3,000 people lost their lives. on that morning.

[18:43]

Fire rage to the city. And thinking of that, Peter and I made our way to Muir Woods National Monument to celebrate our anniversary early in the morning because I had a Dharma date with Heart of Compassion Dharma group Friday morning at 8 o'clock and he had a date with Hot Yoga and But we had cool walking in the old growth forest to start our day. And it was remarkable to feel the presence of the ancient ones. Feel it this morning in the presence of this wooden room. Certainly, redwood is part of this breathing room. The floor that holds you up. The understory, the overstory, the inner story, the history, herstory of the place is wooden.

[19:45]

These figures are wooden figures. This behind me, Jizo Bodhisattva, willing to go down into hell, lifetime after lifetime, to protect and renew the vow to be present for all beings and to undo hell. looking in direct alignment to Manjushri, Bodhisattva, on the other wooden altar, sitting strong and long in the meditation seat, the earthly figure, the metal figure in front of that beautiful Buddha here in this hall, one hand on the earth, the right hand on the earth, left, yeah, right hand on the earth, left hand, lifted to show, naked palm of the hand, human hand, saying, I come. without any weapons to do the good work. And listen to me. I plight my trough. I endanger my truth by vowing to speak truth to power again and again to undo hell and regenerate new life on every breath.

[20:54]

And these are wooden figures. And we don't worship these figures. They represent and call up the qualities in us that are needed for this time. Isn't it true? Do you feel it? I do. I do. And, you know, to walk in the woods is each step is contradictory. That's so wonderful. Going against diction, going against common speech, going against routinized words, making words dangerous again because they are so close and guided by truthfulness. and the commitment to be truthful in these times. To honor truth, truth, trough, and tree. They share the same root, obviously. A tree is truthful. I have a picture on our home altar of Thich Nhat Hanh and Arnie Kotler, founders of Parallax Press, sitting underneath a redwood tree.

[22:00]

Tiny, they're in proper scale. The tree is huge and vast. And they're making the pledge to tell the truth. Tell the whole truth and tell it slant, which means tell it sideways and from different perspectives, but tell the truth and be truthful and stand by your words. Dogen's engine reminding us I'm speaking of intimate language, intimate heart, and intimate action. So we walked into the forest to be refreshed, to be renewed, to be reminded, and to be revivified by the old world, by the old gross world. Not by a single tree, but by an ecosystem, by concentric circles. of commitment.

[23:03]

You look in the redwood forest right away, you meet the ancient ones. They're some of the oldest trees on earth, 4,000 years old. It takes a redwood tree, some of them, in your woods almost a thousand years. And that tree grows for that long and it takes it that long to decompose and decay and feed the ground and the whole ecosystem of the forest. And if you inject red dye into the root system, into the lateral, not tapping, into the lateral root system of the feral forest trees, that red dye appears miles beyond the point of injection, showing a web work, a network, a worldwide web, the true worldwide web, worldwide wooden web. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. That's what we hear when we go in the forest. And it was so quiet. In the dark forest, birds were moving.

[24:07]

I was very aware of the fallen trees, respectfully visiting the elders on the ground, coming apart in plain sight. And thinking of all the many years we've walked this forest. you know that there is in the Pacific Rim a ring of fire. We've fallen into a burning ring of fire. Buddha says, everything, oh bhikkhus, is burning right now. Your mind, your hands, your eyes, your intention, and your appetite burning. At the same time, we bring down the cool, long out-breath. of the old growth forest. And in general living systems theory, these two motifs stand up and hold us. The living tree, as above, so below, giant trees with a huge root system reaching into the sky and an underground root system that manifests and mirrors that same connectedness.

[25:19]

And in ancient India, the teaching trees... You look closely at the teaching trees, at Sanchi and some of the other sites in the Buddha's time, and their leaves are burning. They're metabolizing energy and giving off light. But tree representing, not metaphorically, but dynamically standing and representing communication, interconnectedness, networking, dynamic balance. webs of existence, nested reality, contingency. This is important. We walk in the forest slowly enough and quietly enough to take in the truth of the Tathagata's teachings, to taste the truth, and to have it be amplified, magnified, offered in so many different voices. And we're listening.

[26:22]

So the rim of fire. The rim of fire. I mean, this morning I woke up, I thought, the rim of fire. My husband said, what are you doing? Because, you know, you're not supposed to research when you're giving the talk. It's early in the morning and it's cold. And he makes a little fire in the grate and says, never mind. Gives me a cup of tea. The ring of fire. 750 to 900 active or dormant volcanoes ring the oceans in a kind of horseshoe, 25,000-mile circle, which traces the ring of volcanoes, including deep ocean trenches. 90% of the earthquakes of the world occur on this unsettled ground. We can be settled, but we settle in unsettledness.

[27:23]

We can be settled or we can be unsettled and still feel the truth and continuity of fire. Fire and earth together. Elemental truth. 25,000 miles. 90% of all earthquakes occur along this ring of fire. 452 volcanoes. from the southern tip of South America, along the coast of North America, across the Bering Strait, down through Japan, into New Zealand, convergent, transforming boundaries, where plates rub up against each other, subducting and giving rise to new life. And 10% of the world's volcanic action happens in Japan where today Kaz Tanahashi and Peter Levitt and pilgrims traveling with them, including Linda Hess and Stephanie Kaza, other friends who've practiced with us, are in Japan at Koyasan, walking in the old-growth Cryptomeria forest, celebrating the mystery of esoteric Shinyong Buddhism by being in the forest.

[28:42]

And they're in complete alignment with us here on Arbor Day. And many years ago, Masanobu Fukuoka-sensei visited Green Gulch and walked in the old growth forest at your woods and spoke to our teacher, Harry Roberts, trained in the Yurok tradition. And he said, you will never really be able to regenerate new life in the forest until there are some deeper rooted trees. I'll send you seed from a cryptomeria in Japan from the ring of fire. Harry was close to the end of his life, but right before he died, We received those seeds. And we sold them. And Cryptomeria japonica is on the hillsides here, calling, remembering Japan, not only in the temple, but everywhere. The voices. And so the trees that grow along this horseshoe are aligned. They're Dharma family. Coast redwoods, the giant sequoias, the western red cedar,

[29:44]

Sitka spruce, Hawaiian, which colonizes and only grows on active lava flow. Can you imagine? So tree and fire are one bee, marking the rim of the world. And we're in this room today. We're in this ring of fire. And how? And there are marker mountains. You know, in the Bay Area, we celebrate and honor the western mountain, Mount Tamalpais, West Hill Mountain, eye of the turtle, red eye of the turtle. Your tears are red, we drink your tears, from a native prayer. Your tears are red, we drink your tears. And then on the eastern realm, Mount Diablo, common name.

[30:51]

Sorry not to give its native name. The largest and longest viewshed almost in the world after Mount Kilimanjaro. It means you can see in all directions from Mount Diablo. It's a guardian peak. In the south bay, Mount Hamilton, Hummingbird Mountain. And in the north, in the north, the ring of fire. In the north, We have Mount St. Helens. Last erupted in 1980. Fire, speaking. Reminding us it's not all as subtle as it seems. I better keep talking. So for me, going into Muirwood's National Monument... There's years of practice there on Arbor Day. When the apprentices first came 30 years ago, we would spend a morning sneaking into the woods, 6 o'clock in the morning, and just walking in the woods, paying our respects to the elders, as you do.

[32:00]

Do you know the United Nations, which was founded, and I know this is tricky terrain, founded 80 years ago? The original founders... when gathering to establish a League of Nations, realized you can't just be inside to do this, you also have to be outside. And so they came to Muir Woods 80 years ago. Unfortunately, they came at a time very close to the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and instead took the opportunity to honor one of the conveners of the United Nations. So there's a plaque in Muir Woods National Monument honoring President Roosevelt and his work, understanding that you cannot have a League of Nations unless you have peace with the environment and truthfulness. So this spring is the 80th anniversary. After 50 years, in 1995, we gathered, led in by Southern Pomo leader Lanny Panola, who's also a ranger, son of...

[33:13]

Extraordinary mother, she gave birth to 16 children. Lanny was always a teacher. He led us into the woods with clapping sticks because he said, Native people don't like to go into the woods. It's where the spirits are. But I'll lead you because I'm a Native person and I have to be courageous, but it is scary going into the woods. And, you know, 300 children, school children, had prepared bundles of prayers. And they'd been studying with Lanny and working with Lanny. He said, I have to train them to walk like a fox into the woods and to meditate. So they arrived on the 50th anniversary. They went into the woods. I was there, and I remember them going in slowly with their bundles and tying them all around the fence line of Cathedral Grove, where the plaque-honoring founders of the United Nations is. And so as people came in, first there was following, right before Lanny led us all in, there was a convocation of the flags of the world.

[34:24]

And ceremonial way each flag was brought out. Let's say, I want to make sure I get the language right. May there be peace. Let's say it's the Ukraine flag, blue and gold. Ocean and sunflower. Sky and sunflower. The flag of Ukraine. May there be peace in Ukraine. This is 1995. May there be peace in my heart as I carry the flag of Ukraine. And may there be peace in the world. It was a very long ceremony. The children were good. They were quiet. And after all the flags of the world... And we went. And each person in the convocation could choose, at the very end, could choose a bundle of prayer and take it out and consider what a child was offering. And I remember Elana Rosenblum later, also in Muir Woods National Monument, Israeli woman.

[35:34]

Her son, at age 16, in 1996, 1997, Her 16-year-old son was walking through Jerusalem, and suicide bombers exploded a bomb close to him. 100 pieces of shrapnel hit him. He was rushed to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, and a Palestinian doctor saved his life. 1997. They're friends. And Ilana's life changed. She began organizing peace walks. She came to Muir Woods in 2003 and we walked a long, long line of women, only women, offering prayer, Druze women, dancer Anna Halperin, activists, peacemakers. We walked completely silently through the whole length of the woods offering prayer and commitment. And the forest takes in that prayer and gives it back.

[36:39]

In 1905, William Kent, a wealthy philanthropist, spoke to his wife and said, I'm worried about the continuity and protection of Muir Woods. I'm worried about it, and I want to protect Muir Woods. 1905. She said, we can't afford this. He said, we can't not afford this. $45,000. 1905, a citizen purchases the woods. 1906, the earthquake. Had that action not happened, the woods would have been cut to the ground to rebuild San Francisco. Instead, in 1907, through human commitment and interconnection, Muir Woods was given in the Antiquities Act Back to the American people.

[37:43]

Think of it. Think of that act in these times. It wasn't that long ago, 1906. A gift in perpetuity. We're going to name these woods, said President Theodore Roosevelt. We're going to name these woods Kent Woods. Oh, my Lord, no, you're not, said William Kent. I have seven children, you know, and if they can't carry on the Kent name, we're certainly lost. Name the woods for John Muir. For someone who's going to protect, lest there be a logger and a lawyer. This is what he said, the formation of the Sierra Club. Lest there be a logger and a lawyer at the roots of every tree. So that gift stands. When you walk in the woods, go deep. Don't be afraid to go deep. Crisis, says Polish psychologist, psychiatrist.

[38:51]

Kazimierz Dabrowski. Crises are keys for personal transformation. When human codes and established organizing principles are no longer valid, then only disintegration may allow for a more adaptive and resilient sense of inner being. that this emerges from calamity. Calamity is the root system. Calamity, fire, is the home. And out of calamity and unsettledness and old codes no longer working, there is another possibility. A living systems that break down can and must reorganize at a more robust level and incorporate the breaking down experience, be made of brokenness. We have a responsibility to dismantle certain patterns that are no longer viable in this world.

[40:03]

They're man-made or mind-made, monomaya, and we can dismantle them and find trust. Not a single species, but kin-centric commitment, kindness. Trust it. Kaz, who's on Mount Koya, says, you know, no situation is impossible to change. A communal vision, outstanding strategy, and sustained effort brings forth new change. Everyone. can make a difference. No one is exempt. No being is exempt of responsibility. It's his 90th birthday. I had the deep honor of being present with him in Japan, first and only time to Japan, for his birthday. And what did he do? Raised money to protect the Brazilian rainforest. With his extraordinary assistant standing right near him, everyone contributing to protect...

[41:14]

the old growth forest, and keep the world young and new, fresh, as Kaz says. Okay. I think you got it. I'm bludgeoning you, right? But that's good. Thank you for listening. Let me close with a story I always like to say here in the meditation hall, quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald, draw your chair close to the precipice, and I'll tell you a story. So this is from Katagiri Roshi, one of our primary teachers at San Francisco Zen Center. I have a picture that I'll show you at Arbor Day of Katagiri Roshi and Thich Nhat Hanh standing together under a large tree in Minneapolis, embracing and recognizing each other. We've been studying Thich Nhat Hanh's precepts of the order of inner being, which were forged in war, 1964, in this season, Buddha's birthday season. Forged in war, these precepts

[42:14]

Calling on us. Here's core one, the middle one. He and Katagiri Roshi had an incredible time talking about this. Don't lose yourself in dispersion and your surroundings. Learn to practice deep breathing in order to regain composure of body and mind. Practice mindfulness, heart and mind together in the present moment. And develop concentration and understanding. And utterly linked to this precept, do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Don't use poison speech. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve every conflict, however small. Every conflict, however small. So Kadigiri Roshi said, you know, when you go come together for a practice period, and there's a practice period happening here, yesterday, a one-day sitting practice period happening at Upaya Zen Center.

[43:27]

They're in Sashin right now. Practice period is time of ango coming together to practice, living by vow. Kadigiri Roshi said, then we're like so-rin, a forest thicket. And we, all species growing together and creating... a diverse forested ecosystem, a place conducive to life and to death and to life. So here's the story. You know, the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, the tribe of the silent ones, lived in Kapilivastu in northeastern India and nearby was... The kingdom, I don't like to say kingdom, the kingdom of Magadha. And Magadha and the Buddha's homeland of Kapilavastu were fighting with each other. So Katagiri Roshi says, I wish I had his actual writing, but he says the strife was really strong and the residents of Kapilavastu recognized Magadha is arming their people and coming forth.

[44:40]

There's going to be war. Can you do anything asking the teacher, the Buddha. And so a Buddha went out on the road, the crossroads. The bottom of the mind is paved with crossroads. He took his place at the crossroads, sitting under a completely dead tree in the heat of the Indian sun. And the armies came up and found him there under the dead tree and said, what are you doing? And he said, I'm sitting here under this tree. and feeling the cool wind of my homeland. And the army turned around. Not long afterwards, strife rose up again as it does. And the armies headed toward each other. And the people called on the Buddha to serve again and to stand up and to do something.

[45:44]

He just went out and watched what happened and watched as war tore apart his community. What is the teaching? Katagiri Roshi was asked. What is the teaching of this? That real peace is not a matter of discussion. That wasn't a transactional move for the Buddha to sit under a dead tree. That was his response. And real peace has to begin in each of us. So it's a dangerous proposition. You know, the word vow, living by vow and living in vow. Vow, for us in Thich Nhat Hanh's lineage, vow is an acronym for veterans of war. Veterans of war live by vow. They have a light at the tip of the candle. can be snuffed out in a minute because they've seen what it means to not stand by your words and not be peace yourself.

[46:52]

So, yeah. There's so much more to say and it's going to be wonderful to hear from you. But let me close with, I have a poem here. Here's a poem from Linda Hogan, a native teacher and poet. Dr. William Carlos Williams says, it's difficult to get the news from poetry. It's really difficult to get the news from poems. But beings die every day for lack of what is found there in poetry. So let's let the poet, a poet, a native writer, have the last word.

[47:58]

Walking, I can almost hear the redwoods beating and the oceans somehow above me here, rolling clouds, heavy and dark. This is a world of elemental attention, of all things working together. Kataguro, she would always say, total dynamic working. Of all things, working together, listening to what speaks in your blood. Whichever road I follow, I walk in the land of many gods. And they love and eat one another. Suddenly, all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.

[49:03]

You are the result of the love of thousands. So be a true person. Be a true human being. Every one of us, if we pledge anything today, to stand by our words, to be truthful, to be unafraid. to admit who we are, to be renewed, to be broken open, to come apart, and be recombined. We don't do it in order to get that, but because we are the result of the love of ourselves. So, thank you for your attention. It's a little after 11. We have 10 minutes or so. Are we going to chant? Help me. Thank you. We will do what this deep Dharma brother, this patch of old wind and water wanderer, cloud wanderer says today.

[50:16]

That's to me. So we have a chance to harvest. Anything you'd like to bring up. Anything. What's most alive for you? Anything. Put your hand up and you will be found. Please. There. Nice and loud so we can all hear. Thank you, Wendy. You're welcome. How do we settle in unsettledness? How do we settle on it? How do we settle in unsettledness? Yeah. It's not worked out, is it? By being unsettled. There is not a threshold or a gate or a Dharma remedy or a transaction that we can do because it's horribly uncomfortable.

[51:28]

And we don't want Practices that cut the nerve of compassionate action. We need that compassionate action right now. But we're also not striving toward being unsettled. Right? We want to be as still as we can so we can respond. It's really dangerous. And you know what? Everything's out of balance. It's dynamic balance where you Each step, you reestablish. 20 people crossing a bridge, 20 bridges, 20 people, 20 crossings. Not one way. You know this. You wouldn't be here if you didn't know this. But it's dangerous territory, and there isn't a map. Joanna Macy reminds us, you hold up a mirror, and there isn't a map that works. It isn't mapped. The map isn't... Right.

[52:29]

I'm more interested in what that water to the southern part of North America wants to call us rather than what we're calling it. What is it calling us? Let's switch it up a little bit and be a little bit more alive to the dynamism, total dynamic working. Yeah. And not get sleepy. What else? Hi. Yeah. You. You wait for the mic. You will wait for the mic. Thank you. Of course. I just couldn't help but really want to reverberate this little dual poem you two just made. Okay. How do you settle in the unsettledness? It's not settled, is it? Right. It's not settled law. Right. But just all the... double entendre. I'm going to be saying it all month, so I just wanted to say it back out loud.

[53:34]

It was really touching. Thank you. Poet Haiku Master Basho said, you know, the white bait opens its black eyes in the net of the law. It's not settled. The white bait, get this one, the white bait opens its black eye in the net of the law to see a new way. Basho. Yeah. Hi. Hi. Good morning. Good morning. Yeah. I'm always expanded when I hear you speak. Thank you. Thank you. And after my last machine, I felt my being be pulled to the garden every day. Yeah. No matter how tired I've been. And yeah. Yeah. I missed a part where you said Buddhists must find themselves in the garden. I don't know what you said, but were you inviting us to be with the land more?

[54:36]

Yeah, I think, I mean, you know, as I'm a lay practitioner, and one reason my husband and I practice as lay, dedicated lay students of the Dharma is because we're also growing food. We're busy. It doesn't mean that good, beautiful monks can't be ordained and also grow food. But some of us have to really... Keep going. And the garden, it's not... It's... Every day. Yeah. Mealy bugs. And there's no saying, no, I can't come out today. I'm sorry. Exactly. I can't come out today. Strawberries, wild water. I'm busy. I have to pray. I have to pray for you. So true. Because the garden preys upon you to be present. Yeah. You know, so... I mean, maybe that was a little kind of... You know... I think you catch my drift. If it calls you, you will come. Yeah, yeah. If you're called, you will come. And you know you can't ignore it.

[55:37]

That's a very strong call. Yeah. Yeah. And because I know everybody in this Zendo likes it when I sing, the thing that you just, the last sentence that you said about the ancestors. Yeah, from Linda Hogan. Yes. You want to hear it again? Yes. Okay. And then I will sing to you. Yeah. Well, she says, of course, it's connected. Whichever road I follow, I walk in the land of many gods, love and eating one another. Suddenly, all my ancestors are behind me at my back. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of a love of thousands. Thousands and thousands. May I sing a song? Sure. It's very short. It goes, These are my grandmother's legs And I see with my grandfather's vision I am made up of all that came before

[56:49]

Oh, I am made up of all that came before. And I will leave it all behind to you. I will leave it all behind. The church of brokenheartedness. You come in and sing. Sing open the doors. Hi, Wendy. Hi, where are you? All the way. Oh, hello. Hi. I appreciate the reminder to reconnect with nature. Yeah. But I'm really struggling, as I imagine many are. Can you come up here? Oh, my goodness.

[57:50]

Just come up here. Okay. We should see you. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just stand. No, stand is good. Stand is good because you are standing by what your experience is. Okay, thank you. I feel like, well, I'm just going to ask the same question I think I've been asking. every week since our new president has taken over. And I think I'm just, I'm looking for a roadmap for, I'm a mother. And feeling the grief of the deportations of innocent people. How do we live with that? You know, I've been waking up and telling myself not to look at the news and then being pulled to look at it.

[58:56]

And I am trying in my life, as many are, to take tiny actions, but the constraints of life, you know, and it doesn't feel like enough. And I guess I just want to know how do we live with this heartbreak? Yeah. And... And keep going. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. You know, it's so auspicious. Oh, Lanny speaking. Come here, Lanny. Thank you. It's so auspicious that my instinct was to call you forward and I want you to turn and look. Let's just look at each other. Look at all these manifestations. To sit in this seat, you get to see what I see in this seat, which is so powerful. There are so many beings here that are part of you.

[60:04]

We really are part of each other. I was reading Thich Nhat Hanh. this morning as well. And he said, you know, when the Buddha didn't know what to do, full of doubt, full of doubt, putting the right hand on the ground, just asking, I need a witness. Can I get a witness? Just, I'm so lost right now. And afraid. I'm going to get a witness. Right hand on the earth. One story is that the earth spirit comes up and puts, of course, her hand under his hand. It's so boring, that old story. It is so boring. Just please. Buddha isn't even just a human being. So put your hand on the ground. And what happens, Thich Nhat Hanh says, in the 15th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the ground splits open.

[61:06]

And what happens? Bodhisattvas come up out of the ground. He said when they moved from being in exile in France to Plum Village in southern France, they moved in the winter and in the spring. The fields were alive with daffodils coming up, thousands and thousands of daffodils. And he thought of bodhisattvas coming up out of the ground to do the work together. More than human. So please trust that. Trust that truth. We need you. We need each other, especially when we're broken open and don't know where to go. Thank you for the question. And the song. Or comment. Yeah, hi.

[62:11]

Hi, thank you so much. You're welcome. I appreciate your wisdom. You're welcome. This wonderful lady who just came up stole my thunder a little bit. But I just wanted to ask for any thoughts or recommendations when it comes to we have various perspectives in this country right now. Yeah. some that seem to be based in anger or hate. And I'm wondering what you might, your thoughts or recommendations with regard to how we can come together more and build bridges. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a wonderful primary question, right? Primary observation. I mean, really today's talk is dedicated to standing by your doubt, confusion, desire for a question like that.

[63:16]

And then you wouldn't be here if you didn't also share the commitment to find a way to offer intimate language to the world, not just the other human beings, but some kind of pledge vow to the veterans of war that are the plant. in the plant kingdom and the old growth forest. You find some way to connect with intimate language. And then you find a fresh way to connect with your heart. And then, so important, you find intimate action. Practice has to be engaged. Once you see, you have to act. Otherwise, what is the point of seeing? From Thich Nhat Hanh, we're here together to listen to the cry of the earth in us.

[64:19]

So we need intimate language and intimate heart, the capacity to stand by the truth and to find some action that is, however small, Engaged. Yeah. And that's our call. Call to action. And of course it's changing. It's got to change. Otherwise it calcifies. Ancient beings, some of the strongest trees on earth, are growing out of fire. Falling into a burning ring of fire and teaching truth. Again and again. so we can really listen intimately without knowing what to do. Okay. Oh.

[65:24]

It's enough. Thank you. Dayenu. It's enough. And so, a little gratitude to... Really gratitude to the many beings that keep this temple open. They're here. Really thank them. Today's a great day to support them, to support this work and keep it strong and true. And let this gateless gate be your temple anytime you need to be in a quiet place. The doors are always open. You can come at night. You can come anytime. You are the result of the love of thousands. We are the result of the love of thousands. Our intention equally extended to every being at face.

[66:46]

With the truth and the love of grace. Beings are endless. I give God to save them. I don't know if I'm not going to do anything else. [...] ... ... ... ... ... ...

[67:58]

. [...] Thank you.

[68:42]

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