This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening. I'm very happy to be asked to speak at... Tassajara on Bastille Day, actually it's Bastille Day today, and our Tanto's birthday. It's a very auspicious day. 54. Mudra usually refers to a hand posture. different statues, figures, make hand postures which mean something, which convey something.

[01:10]

And the definition of mudra that Patricia gave us, which I found really helpful, is making a shape or taking a shape with your hands or your whole body, actually. And in yoga, the asanas or the postures are you could say mudras, which invoke or invite a particular energy, taking a posture, taking a shape or form that invokes or invites a particular energy. And I saw this as not confined to zazam posture or a particular asana, but taking shapes and forms in our life that invoke and invite particular energies that we deem beneficial. So I had this image while working on this talk of Tassahara, Tassahara's summer in particular, as a

[02:27]

taking a shape, you know, being one big mudra that invokes and invites particular energies which the guests receive, anybody who comes to Tassara receives, and the students who are working, working all summer, supporting the guest season, supporting the practice, they receive this as well. It's a giving and a receiving through a particular form of the summer practice. And it reminded me of this article I read in a book called, I think it's called Sensitive Chaos, about bird formations. Maybe some of you have read about this, but when this scientist studied birds flying in V formations, and it's a very fascinating and applicable study so when the birds fly in this formation the lead bird is flapping away and creates a kind of airwaves a shape it makes a shape of the air you might think that how can the air be a shape but it creates these waves and then all the other birds are supported and their wings

[03:56]

they're not just flapping, making this giant effort. There's a wave of air that's supporting them to go up and down, and they're supporting everybody else. And everyone's contributing to this shape, the formation, the V formation, as it's flying long distances. And some of the birds who have more energy, who are younger, perhaps, can put out more energy, and that contributes to the shape. And the ones who are getting kind of tired, they can rest a little bit more, but everybody stays in the shape and is receiving and employing the energy. Now, this point I found fascinating. The front bird at the apex, you would think, is having the most trouble, you know, the leader going through because the waves are going behind him.

[04:56]

And everybody else is receiving. But the apex bird, it turns out that this shape that's being made travels at the speed of sound. And so the birds are not going that fast. So they're traveling at bird... bird... speed. Bird speed. Bird speed. And they meet this wave that has gone before them that's traveling at the... speed of sound, that reverberates back and supports them. So it really is a self-employing and a self-receiving event as one body, one body going, creating this form. And they go on to say that the air is like a muscle that holds the birds together, this one body, and they're like organs in this body. And they rely on, they can completely rely on the air, are supported by the air together.

[06:03]

I think the last thing that the author said was really kind of poetic, the scientists. The bird is a creature of the air. It is born out of the air and entrusts itself to the air. It cannot possibly be abandoned by it. And this is very reminiscent of one of our pieces that we read. It's a chapter in a major work we read it, we recite it in service, where it talks about the bird is life and the air is life and the bird can never leave the air. And somehow this description, this scientific description, verified that in a very clear way for me. And in thinking about Tassajara flying the formation of the, not the Green Dragon, of the summer guest season, everyone in their spot, everyone flapping and supporting the effort and receiving the support of others.

[07:17]

And everybody matters. And if someone is not flapping in their spot, it matters. We, others in the formation, will feel that. So how do we, this is the midway, this is right halfway. We have, we finished two months of guest season, we have about two months to go, right about midway. And there can be some tiredness and some flagging maybe in our energy and maybe even in our enthusiasm. or our joyous effort. And enthusiasm or joyous effort is one of the six perfections that Tanto in his talk on Saturday I heard brought up the six perfections and one of them is virya or joyous effort or enthusiasm. Now

[08:24]

do we practice enthusiasm? Don't we have to just feel enthusiastic in order to practice? How can we create enthusiasm or joyous effort? And what might be coming in the way or a hindrance? There's a wonderful poem by Jane Hirschfield who was a student at Tassajara here while I was here in the 70s and has gone on to be a wonderful and well-known poet. And this is a poem that she said, when I asked her about it, is about Tazahara. And I'll see if I can recite it. Even now, decades later, I wash my face with cold water. Not for discipline or for memory, or the icy awakening, or for the icy awakening slap, but to practice choosing, making the unwanted wanted.

[09:50]

Lori said it again. Even now, decades later, I wash my face with cold water. not for discipline or for memory or for the icy awakening slap, but to practice choosing, making the unwanted wanted. So all of us have areas in our life that are the unwanted and And we don't want them. We really don't. And yet we can't avoid these kinds of things in our life, be it a work situation with an unpleasant co-worker or the big-time old age sickness and death. How do we practice with making the unwanted wanted?

[10:59]

Not wanted. We don't want illness or want But we want to practice with it because there's really no other way that will serve us and serve others and help us to wake up. And I feel that right in this poem and in this is a kind of joyous effort rather than our habit shape. I suppose we can have habit mudras too that invoke and invite particular energies, like one of the main energies, if you can call it an energy, I think you can, that gets in the way of joyous effort is laziness. And there's teachings around laziness and what is laziness and how to practice with it and discover it, because not every time we want to lie down and take a nap is lazy.

[12:00]

In fact, there's a story of the Buddha, many of you know it, where the sun, it was the middle of the day and he was lying down. I think the Buddha's back, he had trouble with his back. He was resting, taking a nice yogic pose and resting. And Mara, who personifies the shadow, you might say, comes up to the Buddha and says, what are you doing? The sun is high, you should be out there teaching. or working or something. What are you doing lying there? You gold-bricker, you know? And the Buddha said, for the sake, out of compassion for the many, I take my rest. Out of compassion for the many, I take my rest. There is time for naps. There is time to rest. We have days off, you know, built into the schedule, rest time, built into the seven-day intensive meditation weeks, we have rest time.

[13:01]

And yet, there may be some other thing, some other energy, some other habit energy that says, I don't want to get up. I'm just going to stay in bed. I'm not going to come to work, or I'm not going to come to doksan, to personal one-on-one interview, or I'm not going to go to zazen. or I'm going to be late to work, you know. Can't quite get myself back on time. What is that? What is that energy? What is that mudra? What's that shape we're making? How does that affect the arrow of flying birds? So usually we think of laziness in a kind of one-dimensional way. I always did. I thought laziness was what's called indolence or not wanting to feel anything too uncomfortable or painful or disagreeable and and just averting all the time and also you know combined with a lot of sleep and a lot of not doing much you know and that's the first kind of laziness but there's more

[14:19]

Sometimes that's called a comfort orientation. Pema calls it comfort orientation. Or indolence, you know, no pain, no dolore, no disease, no pain. However I can make that happen. So that's one kind of laziness. And there are two other kinds of laziness. One is the laziness of discouragement. the laziness of, oh, I just, I really, I can't do this. I'm just not up to this. You, you're younger, you've got more energy, you can do it, but me, I'm just so, you know, I'm just over the hill. So this is a kind of discouragement or Pema calls this loss of heart. You know, where is one's wholeheartedness? And this comes up in practice situations where we think, you know, yes, the Buddha taught that everybody is Buddha nature, everyone is endowed abundantly, but, you know, not me, I mean, everybody else, but... Which is, you know, if you look at it longer, you see there's a kind of arrogance there, right, a kind of reverse, like, oh, I'm so bad, you know, that...

[15:46]

This is what's called laziness in the teachings. And it can lead to a kind of depression, you know, and low self-worth and thinking in that way. And it's a habit of mine. It's not the truth. The Buddha Dharma and our practice does not rely on age or energy level or intellect or sharp or dull-wittedness. Anyone, anyone. So to say, oh, it's too much for me, or about our sangha work and life, I'm so hot, I think I'll just go. So that's the second kind. The third laziness is a kind of attraction to non-virtuous things, or an attraction to things that aren't really going to serve you or others.

[16:52]

And at Tassajara there's fewer of those, but there's plenty. There's plenty here, you know. Rather than eating kind of just what feels good, where you're satiated and just right amount, We, as I did, I remember one practice period, made, you know, three sandwiches for lunch, just in case, just in case. I might, you know, kind of, and being attached to it, like if anyone were to say, too, that's a big bag lunch you're making, it's like, what's it to you, you know? This is... So there's a kind of energy of, Pema calls it, couldn't care less. She goes on, you know, making a certain mudra towards the world with one of your fingers, which I won't do. I will refrain from Brindy Mehta. But that kind of attitude, that kind of attitude towards the world, there are lots of mudras, you know, not just... There's this mudra, or this, and others.

[18:04]

lots of them in Italy, right? That convey and invoke. So this attitude of an attachment to these non-virtuous things that aren't going to support you, and there's a kind of arrogance there too, I think. The word arrogant, which I find really interesting, is It's very close to the precept of taking what is not given. It's gathering to oneself or arrogating to oneself that which really doesn't belong. And with haughtiness and self-importance, overly convinced of one's importance, overbearing, proud, and haughty, and it kind of, I don't have to do that, and I'm going to do this, without joining in... and not realizing the effects of our actions on others. It's a kind of arrogance, I think, that others, not realizing that others care about us, that others are putting out for us, that others are doing their best to help us, you know.

[19:18]

And it's like, you know, this is, for me, this is a confession, this is one of the It's one of the hardest things for me to work with, with a one-on-one student. It's very hard to get at it, you know, arrogance, because one is puffed up with one's own self-importance, and it's hard to have someone kind of see it because they really couldn't care less, you know? So it's a difficult one. So these are habit energies, shapes, shapes of body-mind, shapes of our cetana, you know, takes a shape, and it invokes and invites particular energies. And it will get in the way of joyous effort and right enthusiastic practice. But often if you look carefully and

[20:23]

softly and gently, when this comes up, we see there's something behind it that the laziness is covering. Often this is the case with various afflictions of the mind. There's something there. There's something we're turning from, running from, afraid of, don't want to look at, don't want to open to. And it takes a kind of courage. actually ask what's going on here how come I don't want to get up or I'm not coming back to work on time what's going on now there's this wonderful book called Guide to a Bodhisattva's Way of Life the Bodhicaryavatara and it's a long poem except for one of the chapters looking for my watch here so I don't go over time it's gone [...] Okay.

[21:25]

Anyway, somebody tell me what time it is. It's not there, is it? Oh, it's under here. Thank you. So, the Bodhicaryavatara was written by a monk, a most fervent and enthusiastic monk named Shantideva, who wrote this poem in the 8th century. And he talks to himself all the time and encourages himself and asks himself questions and You know, so in this, and he brings up the perfections, the different perfections, you know, giving and morality and patience, et cetera. And in the beginning of the chapter on right effort, he says, well, I'm not going to read all the different ones. So there's two things I want to say.

[22:34]

One is that our Buddhist practice and this practice of enthusiasm and effort comes along with, rises up with, virtuous activity. When I say virtuous, I don't mean goody-goody-two-shoes. I mean wholesome, beneficial, upright, which support us and give us energy so they come together. And so part of the laziness is a turning away from these kinds of actions. And yet we do need encouragement. We do get discouraged. And how do we encourage ourselves and others? Now one thing that Before I came down to Tassara, I watched one of the games of the World Cup, and I saw little clips on the Internet.

[23:37]

And in 1970, I was in Italy. When Italy played the World Cup, I was in Florence. And I had never experienced such a thing in my life. The talk about one body of kind of a mudra of intense... interest and enthusiasm for the gain. And the streets, I remember, they were empty. Everybody was in the cafes or in the bars watching TV together. And it was amazing, kind of as a community event. And so this time, I wanted to watch, and my husband didn't want to watch. He was totally uninterested. And so I set off looking for a game. I set off into Sausalito to find a sports bar where they were showing the game. And I found an Italian cafe. And it was filled with people.

[24:39]

And they had two big TVs. And there was hardly a place to sit. And I scanned the room looking for a place to sit. And who should I see but the director of Green Gulch and his daughter, Jeremy. And he had come also because he can't get TV at Greenville. There's no TV reception. So there we were and our eyes met each other across the crowded room and we enthusiastically sat down to watch the game. And it was what I was hoping it would be. It was a kind of communal, spiritual event. And with lots of expression of enthusiasm and joy and sadness, we... If we lose, we lost. But the event itself was worth it, definitely worth it. And I got caught up in this spirit. And Shantideva brings up, why I told that story is because Shantideva brings up the feeling we have about sport is similar to this joyous effort that

[25:48]

and enthusiasm about our practice. And I wanted to read you that verse about sport, which I think is pretty interesting. So Shanti Davis says, like a bodhisattva, a bodhisattva is someone who's dedicated their life to... the welfare of others. Like a bodhisattva, I should long to work for others with the same enthusiasm as that possessed by someone who thoroughly enjoys playing a game. I should never tire but experience uninterrupted joy. And I think for those of you who, I think as kids, we knew what that was like to be completely involved in the game, where it's like... They're calling us to dinner and saying, just wait a minute, we're in the middle of something, you know. And in our adult lives, many of you may have, you run or you swim or you do yoga and you're enthusiastic about it.

[26:55]

You want to talk about it and you want to, you know, gee, I got the greatest yoga mat. It's really thick. It doesn't have a terrible smell. Oh, really? Where'd you get it? You know, it's like you can talk about it forever. Blankets and props and different things you realized. But that's the same with running or rock climbing and with zazen too, with our practice. That same spirit of to have that kind of enthusiasm that feels like it's never ending. How could this wane? That's the feeling I think they're talking about here with this birya and effort and enthusiasm. So just one last thing and then maybe there's a couple minutes for questions. The working with these, with laziness in particular, has to do with being willing to open to what's there, the unpleasantness that's there, the fear that's there, the longing and yearning for something that we're trying to fill with that one kind of laziness, with all sorts of things that don't really satisfy

[28:10]

and actually can cause more trouble. Shantideva calls that like honey on a razor's edge, a very apt description of going for something that we feel like it's going to be exactly what we needed and we end up getting hurt or causing difficulties. And then we do it again. This is habit energy, these lazinesses. So to be able to look at the habit energy and see what's there, what's the longing, what's the empty in the sense of feeling of lack that we're trying to fill in these ways with work, being a workaholic, with all the overdue that we do or the underdo. This is under and over are both seen as resistance and laziness and the middle way of upright, you know, And how do we find that balance?

[29:13]

The last thing I wanted to say is just to share something with you. Yesterday, the Tanto Greg brought to me a miraculous thing. And we witnessed something that really, it was, I'll just preface this by saying, Last May, a year ago May, I went to China where my son was teaching English for a year. We met him where he was at a school in Xi'an. Xi'an is the city of the terracotta warriors, and it's also the city of the Wooden Goose Pagoda. And the Wooden Goose Pagoda is a huge structure. It's slightly leaning, sort of like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It's a little bit off kilter. That was... made to house the sutras that Xuanzang brought back from India. This is a Chinese monk who, on foot, right, or cart or whatever, went to India and stayed for decades and brought back the precious sutras, the Mahayana sutras, and copied and brought.

[30:23]

And they were stored in this This building, there's two buildings there, these pagodas, for safety and protection and veneration. The teachings of the Buddha come. Well, yesterday, Greg brought to me a thumb drive about this big. And on this thumb drive was, you know, all of Suzuki Roshi, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, all the Prajnaparamita, all the Lotus Sutras. many translations of them, other sutras I'd never heard of, all the Buddha's early teachings of the Pali Canon, and I can go on. And it was on this little thing that we plugged into my Mac, and in two minutes it had been copied, you know, and was there. And my Mac should really be on the altar, I think, right? We should build a pagoda, you know.

[31:27]

It's so, I mean, thinking about having seen that wooden pagoda and feeling really the awesome trip and, you know, people lost their lives bringing the teaching to countries and still are losing their lives trying to protect and care for and pass on the teaching in Burma and Tibet and so forth. And this miracle of unbelievable Really, I'm still like awestruck. So I wanted to share that with you. And that last little story brought us right to 920. So in the interest of staying with the schedule and to not abrogate anything, you know, or feel like, well, gee, doesn't anybody... It's more important for you to ask me questions than to end on time. I will actually end on time.

[32:30]

And if anybody wants to ask me things, if you see me tomorrow... Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge, and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[32:51]

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