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. Right now, there's a group of trained Zen students that have gone through a firefighting training. and each of them individually is certified as a fire person. And we're really taking it day by day with lots of input from the professional firefighters, CAL FIRE, and all these different agencies about what the risks are. But the spirits are very high, and people at Tassar

[01:00]

Aside from this trained group, there were others that worked for many, many days, weeks now, clearing around the cabins. There was a leaf blower at Tasara that was busy getting leaves out from under cabins. We have all new equipment and hoses and the Dharma ring, which many of you contributed to, which are these kind of whirligig sprinklers on top of all the structures, and they turn around and just throw water all over the structure and create a damp, humid, mini microclimate in the Tassara Valley. So that's what's happening. I'll be going down. The road is open right now on Tuesday with other Zen Center leaders, that abbot and abbess, president, et cetera. to see for ourselves what's going on. So we're trying to keep people updated on it.

[02:02]

So what I've noticed in reading the updates on the fire, listening to people talk, the words that people use and the importance of speech is just this whole year I've been working on, as a theme, write speech. what is right speech, and just noticing how important it is to be completely clear, completely, you know, nothing extra, no romantic, you know, one might think about the Tassar fire, you know, world saved Tassar this time. It's our turn, you know, but we don't want any heroines and heroes We don't want anyone to be hurt, and if all the structures, if something happens, it will happen. So this speech, clarity around speech, and what you say and to whom, what we say to all the friends of Zen Center, is really important.

[03:13]

Clear speech. this theme of right speech seemed extraordinarily important with the level of discourse in our public life right now and not only political but what happens on the internet, the way people use speech with a casual that has great repercussions great consequences and especially the public dialogue and discourse that we've been hearing is it I've been trying to study what is this all about and do I contribute in any way do I join it even without my knowing it by judging and comments and

[04:19]

I don't know, joking, sarcasm, passing on things. Does that contribute to the whole atmosphere, really? So the Buddha has a lot to say about the practice of right speech. There's many things you can find in the Pali Canon, as well as other teachers throughout the ages down to Suzuki Roshi. about the importance of speech and what is right speech. So I wanted to talk about that today and also a little bit about silence, speech and silence, and listening, which is all part of language communication and the strong, strong effect that speech has on us. Speech, there's only three Karma.

[05:20]

Karma means voluntary action. And the three are the actions of the mind, how we think, and then those thoughts and the way we think animate us to speak and also to act. So body, speech, and mind. There's just three ways in which we act in the world. And when I say speech, there's verbal speech, there's also body language, right? Actions of gesture, both gentle and harsh kinds of gestures, the way we express distaste, disgust, dismissiveness with body language. So speech, the actual speech, and also, excuse me, a written language Whenever anyone drinks during a lecture, it's not going to be magnified, this swallowing, so get ready.

[06:32]

So the power of speech, the power of communication, and it's... It's up to each one of us. This kind of karma, these actions affect our own body and mind. And anyone who comes in contact with us is affected by our speech, as well as how we think and our actions. But speech has enormous power, as we know. Power to, as Dogen, 13th century, Zen master says it has the ability, kind speech has the ability to turn the destiny of a nation.

[07:43]

And I think I agree. And harsh, abusive speech has the ability to turn the destiny of a nation also. So the Buddha, in the first teachings, he... talked about the Four Noble Truths, which many of you are very familiar with. And the fourth of the Four Noble Truths is the Noble Eightfold Path. And that's a group of eight practices. And each one starts with the word that we translate in English as right. So right view, right intention, right speech is the third, right action. right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. Those are the eight. And this right, the word right is a translation of samyak in Sanskrit.

[08:49]

And samyak doesn't mean the opposite of wrong. Samyak means more like upright, balanced, firm, and complete. That's the meaning of this. right. It also has the meaning of everything going in the same direction, in alignment, in accord. So that's the kind of speech that we're talking about, is right speech that is complete, is upright, is in accord with conditions, in accord with the situation. And so then what is samyak, vak, that's the Sanskrit for speech, samyak, vak, or right speech, and the Buddha does describe the definition of right speech, and it has to do with what it is you let go of, or abandon, or restrain yourself from.

[09:51]

So there's four things that define right speech. One is abandoning false speech, abandoning lying. letting go of false speech, restraining from false speech. The second is abandoning divisive speech, speech that is set up, is meant to divide people, talking to this group so that they'll not like that group. Maybe that's like grade school or something, but factions, this is what happens all the time, either on the... school or at home or families that have work in the nation. Divisive speech. And along with divisive speech comes things like slandering, tail-bearing, gossip, I think, can go into that. Hearsay, you know, passing on hearsay, which the intention to...

[10:55]

break people apart so that they don't come together in unity, but there's discord. This is the second part of the definition of right speech, is to abandon divisive speech. The third is abandoning abusive or harsh speech. And I think we're pretty familiar with what those terms mean, speaking. in order to hurt, really, harm, hurt, with harsh words. And just picturing the political stage right now, figuratively and literally, and the words that have been bandied about, you know, in order to, well, that's a good question, in order to what? But, you know, what is it? What is it really? This is a good question.

[11:57]

But there's harsh and abusive speech that for right speech, for upright samyak bak, we let go of that. And the last of the four is to abandon frivolous talk and idle chatter. And one might think, well, that's kind of... you know, what's the big deal, frivolous talk and idle chatter? But when the Buddha talks about it, this is a way of holding and practicing these four, abandoning these, is a way that the Buddha calls that we purify ourselves through verbal action. Now one might think, well, I'm not interested in purifying myself. But often we do want to make our lives as spiritual be the best people that we can, to live a life that we stand by, that we don't have remorse and regret about. During the Buddha's time there was a person who was a silversmith, Chunda the silversmith.

[13:03]

He's an interesting person in the Buddha's life story. He served the Buddha his final meal, Chunda the silversmith, which happened to be It was food poisoning and the Buddha died. Anyway, Chunda was his devoted lay disciple and he said to the Buddha, I've noticed that these other religions, Brahmins, they do all these things to purify themselves. They do these things with water and fire and they touch the earth and they eat certain things. This is right at the beginning. There was no such thing as Buddhism. There was the Buddha who had people who were living and studying with him. There wasn't an ism. You know, there was just this teacher. So what do you teach about purifying? Chudna asked. And the Buddha, do you have a way of purification? Because these other religions do. And he said, yeah, we do, but it's very different. And then he talked about the four, the karmas of body, speech, and mind.

[14:06]

And the purification of verbal, through verbal action is abandoning false speech. If someone asks you, did you see something or hear something, you answer truthfully. And if someone, you know, is speaking in a harsh way, you respond to that in an appropriate way to help the situation. This is how we purify ourselves, through verbal action. So these four things, abandoning false speech, divisive speech, abusive and harsh speech, and then frivolous talk and idle chatter. Frivolous talk and idle chatter just... The Buddha says to say words that are treasured. So things that you say are treasured by others rather than, I don't know, words that are frivolous, right?

[15:11]

That's... What's it all about? Are you alive to what you're even saying? Often if you're not, people you're around aren't alive to it either. You know how when you lose somebody and they're kind of, where are they? The eyes glaze over. It may be because it's just idle chatter and no one's really engaged, yourself included. So that's the fourth. That's the definition of right speech. So then how do we know whether we're practicing right speech? And the Buddha also gives us these five keys to check out. Well, is what I'm saying truthful? Is it harsh? Because you may not know sometimes. Is it frivolous or is this worth saying? So there's five ways to check. And the first is, is it true?

[16:12]

Is what you're saying true? And that usually, if we ask ourselves, we can answer. Sometimes we don't know. Well, then if we don't know, we should check it out rather than passing it on. That's where it moves into slander and hearsay, because we didn't... No, for sure. We kind of heard it or read it on the Internet or something, and then we pass it on. So is it true, number one, for these five? The second is, okay, so I'm going to speak now, and it is true, but is it the right time and place? That's the second little key. Yes, it's true, but right in the middle of work or in the middle of, I don't know, getting ready for dinner or in the middle of a theater, whatever it is, it's not the right time and place, so I'm going to wait.

[17:14]

So is it true? Is it the right time and place? The third is, of these keys, is it beneficial? It may very well be true, and it's an okay time and place, but it's not going to help anybody. It's not going to help the person. It's not going to help the situation. There's no benefit to actually saying that. And the Buddha refrained. He didn't say every single thing that he saw and heard just because he saw and heard it. There might be a little arrogance there. Well, I saw it and I heard it, so I'm beholden, I'm obliged. No, if it's not beneficial, then you let it go. So, is it true? Is it the time and place? Is it beneficial? The fourth one, is it affectionate and gentle, loving? And that one, you know, there may be a time when you need to say something and all the other things are in place.

[18:19]

It's beneficial. It's the right time. It's true. But you can't say it gently and affectionately because you have to shout, get out of the way, or grab somebody and yell no or whatever. That may not feel so gentle and affectionate, but it needs to be done. So that really, according to circumstances, it may not be gentle and affectionate. However, the last one, where is it coming from in your own mind? Is it coming from the mind of goodwill? If it's coming from the mind of good will, but you have to shout, get away, or whatever, that's okay. That's right speech. So this is, you know, there's always lots of lists, things, when you read Buddhist teachings, and this was because all this was learned by heart, all the whole canon,

[19:21]

was passed on orally for centuries. People learned these things, and so there were lists to help us. And I find that those are helpful, because when we have it in our... When we know something by heart, we can draw it up. And at a moment when we need it, like, should I speak? Should I say this? And if we have our... Is it the right time? Is it coming from the mind of goodwill or am I just totally annoyed and want to just get this off my chest and kind of tell him this thing which is true and it might be beneficial but it's coming from a place of anger. So maybe I need a little time out so that I get in touch with, no, this is for benefit. It's beneficial and it's coming from the mind of good intentions.

[20:22]

This is the detail of our life of practice. We may have kind of a, I don't know, romantic maybe sometimes view of what practicing is, but it actually is that we embody and become the teaching so that all of our actions of body, speech, and mind are flowing in accord with these teachings that are based on non-harming and compassion and wisdom. So to learn something by heart, like those five keys, that will help us to orient, especially at times when there are strong emotions or we do feel in a vortex of not knowing what to do, what to say. So in our practice, when we sit and practice zazen, which means seated zen, and zazen, really the meaning of the word zazen is the mind of zen, whether we're seated or moving or acting or speaking, to be in this wide

[21:54]

inclusive mind of Zen, but it's hard to understand what that is until we have an experience of our body-mind in a more calm way. So when we sit and take an upright posture, and I would say that upright is Samyak, you know, upright, full. in accord with not only our spine and what's healthy for our spine in space, but it allows us to relax the body but yet be alert and aware and to settle, settle the body-mind. There's a kind of illustrative, something that's used in the schools.

[22:58]

There's these mindfulness in the schools, and you bring a jar of water with glitter in it, and you shake the jar, and all the glitter goes all over. And then eventually, though, the glitter stops swirling and goes down, down, down, settles right in the bottom of the jar. This is a kind of illustration of what happens for us each time we said because there is a certain amount of settling to be done. Even if you've been sitting for a long, long time, for many, many years, still we, just in our daily life and activity and all the input we receive, we can get unsettled. So to sit down quietly, like you're all doing now, just sitting, listening, sitting, not doing much. There's a kind of settling.

[24:00]

And this is very conducive to hearing the teaching. You know, sitting for a Dharma talk in an upright posture and actually practicing zazen during the talk is one kind of royal, royal way to receive the teachings. We don't even have to remember what the speaker said. In fact, mostly people don't. You know, someone will say, oh, I missed the talk. What did they talk about? It's like, let's see. Maybe there's a story that we kind of, oh, I remember they told a story. I remember the story. But that isn't to say that it doesn't come in in some way and meet us. Almost in a way that we don't quite understand. So I don't think you have to remember, although these, like learning five such and such and the four will support our practice, I think, too.

[25:03]

Both are helpful. So when we do this, if you picture the glitter kind of settling down, [...] and then when we're common of what can happen, and I would say maybe for everybody, is things will, and Suzuki Roshi used this term, bubble, a bubble will come up in our body-mind. And those bubbles may have been coming up, but because there was so much swirling of glitter, we didn't even notice it. But when we're quiet and more calm, a bubble that... is something we need to look at may arise. And it may be something we're not so happy about. We may remember something we said or did or some action that when the bubble arises we feel regret, we feel sadness, we feel like that wasn't in alignment, that wasn't upright.

[26:16]

with how I really want to live. But we hadn't thought about it because we're moving around so fast. So that won't come up. And we may need to act on that, make amends. Maybe we can't do anything about it. It's too late. Often it's too late. But the fact that that bubble arose and we see it can change, can help us to say, that's not how I want to live. I want to live in a way that where at the end of my life I have no regrets. That's how I want to live. So this settling can help us to study our life in a more subtle way, a more detailed way, and honor, actually, our efforts to live upright. So it's important.

[27:20]

I think we sometimes think that Zen practice is being in the Zendo like this or sitting meditation. That's Zen and that's our Zendo practice. And I think that is a gate and that's wonderful and to practice that throughout our entire life is of benefit. in ways that we can never know. However, our life, the life of Zen, spreads beyond these zendo walls, you know, or if we sit at home on our cushion only. What is Zen, really? What is our practice? And there's this wonderful quote from Suzuki Roshi where he says, are our Zen-go. Then he says, that is true.

[28:21]

So our very problems, the very things that we encounter, the difficult situations, the difficult conversations, the loss of our loved ones, our pets, the environment, places we love, all these things are, you might say, these are problems. These are terrible problems. to hear that problems actually are our zendo. Not just sitting here in this space doing the formal practice, but meeting the problems of everyday life is really where our practice takes wings, or I don't know if that's even the image, but goes deep. when we bring our practice to the difficulties of our life, the problems, not only of our personal life, but all those that we love, that we encounter, that we hear about, know about, to widen that.

[29:34]

So often we think, well, I want to get rid of my problems. I want to get... get those out of here, then I can practice. The problems are the obstacle. The problems are the problem. That's why I can't practice. And to turn that into problems, this is the exact quote, problems are actually your zendo. That changes things quite a bit, to step into a problem as you would into a meditation hall with that much quiet, quiet of the mind, even if you're speaking, and attention and listening and upright and posture to meet the problems of our life. Problems are actually our zendo. I wanted to read something about speech that comes from this 13th century Zen master, Dogen Zenji, who died at the age of 53, which, you know, when I was younger, I thought that was so old, you know.

[30:52]

But it's not very old. And he wrote an enormous amount, and this was, you know, wrote means calligraphed, you know, volumes, so much and gave so many talks. And we have those translations now more and more, and he's been studied more and more. For a long time, his teachings were really just kind of treasures that were put away in his monastery, weren't really studied. And just in the 1700s, they were kind of a revival, really. began to be studied in Japan and then translated into Western languages and studied in depth. So he wrote a piece that are called The Four Methods of Guidance for Those Who Want to Live for the Benefit of All Beings, which the term for that is bodhisattva, bodhisattvas, and bodhisattvas,

[32:04]

take any shape, any activity, any profession. They're not, you know, teachers of Zen or priests necessarily. You can't tell what they are. They're the lady at the corner selling newspapers. There's bus drivers. Anybody, anybody or any form can teach. So in this four methods of guidance, how bodhisattvas guide. And there's four methods. Oh, we've got more things to memorize here. One is generosity, that's the first. And the second is kind speech, which is what I want to talk about. The third and fourth have to do with beneficial action and identity action, or identifying with all those who you think might be outside of yourself, the objects of your consciousness, you identify with as not separate from you and act accordingly.

[33:11]

So in kind speech, Dogen says, and I know some of you know this, some of you have memorized this, it's not that long. Kind speech means that when you see sentient beings, you arouse, the heart of compassion and offer words of loving care. It is contrary to cruel or violent speech." So right away, Dogen, and this is, you know, many years after the Buddha lived, it was 500 BC, this is now 1200, when he was, I don't know how old he was when he wrote this, But he's taking the Buddha's teaching and turning it again. When you see sentient beings, that's all beings, and that includes people, animals, and plants, and I would say the sentience of mountains, rivers, land mass of all kinds.

[34:20]

When you see anything, you arouse the mind of compassion. and offer words of loving care. This is how we guide beings. And it's contrary to cruel or violent speech. And then he says, he's speaking to monks here who are practicing with him. In the secular world, there's a custom of asking after someone's health. In the Buddha way, there's the phrase, please treasure yourself. Can you imagine if instead of saying, hi, how are you, you said, please treasure yourself when you met someone. Kind of neat, right? It'd be surprising, but it might catch on. It might be a meme. Might it be a meme? Please treasure yourself. And then to your seniors, and this is in the monastery, but all of us have seniors and juniors. We all are on different places in the mandala of our life.

[35:22]

So to your seniors you say, may I ask how you are? It's very respectful. It is kind speech to speak to sentient beings as if they were a baby. And that's not like condescending, but with that much care and gentleness and affection, the way you talk to a baby. And I think some of you, have had babies. Some of you have brothers and sisters or little cousins. And how do people talk to babies? Often the voice raises actually, oh, you know. And you don't yell at a baby or I should say that does happen. That's a great sorrow if that does happen. But mostly there's a way you speak with babies that flows pretty naturally. So what talking with our friends that way, with that much care, gentleness, lovingness. Praise those with virtue, pity those without it.

[36:26]

If kind speech is offered little by little, kind speech expands. And I think this is true. I think when we're around people, we are strongly influenced by the way they talk. We pick it up. We're made that way. And if people are... sarcastic and, you know, there's a kind of wit that is a sharp wit or a sharp tongue, right? Verbal daggers is a phrase that's from the Buddhist canon where people use verbal daggers to get back at someone or using wit and everybody laughs but it's at someone's expense. So we pick up on that and then we try it out. sarcasm or making fun of someone or that kind of thing. But when we hear kind speech, we learn that. That comes in, too, and we reflect that.

[37:29]

So we're very influenced. Thus, even kind speech that is not ordinarily known or seen comes into being. This is, if you practice it, it expands in ways that you have no idea. You speak to someone kindly and they're affected and they pass it on without even naming it. It just, they speak that way too. And it goes into the world. Be willing to practice it for this entire present life. Do not give up. world after world, life after life. This is very strong. Practice kind speech. Don't give up, meaning if people treat you in a way that's unkind, don't give it back to them in the same way. Try something different. Protecting yourself.

[38:30]

But world after world, life after life. Kind speech is the basis for reconciling rulers and subduing enemies. And, you know, this, you know, Japan and the time of the Buddha, there were wars, as always, you know, and right now, how many wars are there going on all around the world, as well as warring families and warring friends and warring political parties and, you know, So how do we reconcile, come into accord? It's not by using hateful speech. That does nothing to bring about reconciliation. And Dogen says it's the basis for reconciling rulers and subduing enemies. Those who hear kind speech from you have a delighted expression and a joyful mind.

[39:35]

This brightens the countenance. When you speak kindly, or when people speak kindly to you, we feel joy. Our countenance, we have a delighted expression and a joyful mind. And then this is very interesting. who hear of your kind speech, they weren't there, but they were told about it later. Those who hear of your kind speech will be deeply touched. They will always remember it. So even to hear a story of when someone was kind to someone else and that gets passed on, we're affected by this deeply. Know that kind speech arises from kind mind and kind mind from the seed of a compassionate heart. Ponder the fact that kind speech is not just praising the merit of others.

[40:37]

It has the power to turn the destiny of the nation. And I think I brought this up in lecture before. Maybe you've heard me bring up this particular little essay on kind speech. And especially right now, it's like the destiny of a nation How do we turn things in a way that's a benefit? Not divisive, but a benefit. And it's up to all of us. It really is. And if we can study our practice around speech and notice before we speak some of these things, where it's coming from, what's the purpose of me saying that? Often we can't. But in the middle, while we're saying it, we might have one of those bubbles come up like, this is really mean.

[41:39]

And then right in the middle of it, you can stop. It might kind of be confusing to the person, but it's up to you. You can actually just like mid-sentence. And if we can't do it right in the middle, Afterwards, we might reflect on, that was really kind of, I didn't feel so good about that, actually. Actually, I feel kind of sorry that I spoke that way. So then you can do something. It's in our realm. It's in our power to turn this and work with this. And it does take practice. We're not born kind of with the ability to do this Because we are strongly affected by others' words and actions. We are hurt. We do get angry. And then there's, you know, I wanted to bring up silence as well. Maybe we weren't allowed to speak when we needed to speak to say our side of it or how we felt.

[42:52]

And maybe only certain people who looked a certain way were the ones that, you know, were invited to speak. There's all sorts of studies about, you know, in grade school, who raises their hand, who gets chosen to answer the question. And the kind of, yeah, there's bias, you know, who gets to come up to class and be the one or who... And I suppose that bias, you know, the effect of that kind of unconscious bias about who is chosen, that affects everyone's consciousness in a way that's distorted, you know. And that goes all through school and our culture. So to have a voice, to be able to speak, to speak our truth, to be asked, what do you think?

[43:54]

And this is, you know, there's all sorts of micro ways in which this is distorted. It's not like an even playing field here. And it's different in different cultures, right? So to be aware at that minute level and to be studying our own, you know, Have we been silenced? Are we silencing others just by our assumption that we are the ones that people want to hear from? They always have wanted to hear from me, so I'm sure they do now. It's a kind of assumption that we do well to study because the effects of it, the consequences of it are actually far, far, far reaching. So, having a voice, having the ability to speak and speak our truth and not be silenced by either within our families or workplaces or on the broadest, widest arena is

[45:18]

is something to take very seriously. And if we're dismissing others who are coming forward to speak, are we or aren't we? So, I had wanted to end with a story, a koan, which if I tell the koan, if I tell the story, there won't be, because it's getting a little bit late, and I know what it's like to feel like I want to leave and have some tea like she's gone on long enough. It's time. I understand. So let me just sit here quietly for a second. Yeah, I think I'll leave it for another day. You can ask me about it maybe in Q&A. It's a story about when the Buddha didn't speak and there was silence.

[46:28]

But he wasn't being silenced or oppressed or kept from finding his voice. He was trying to express himself in the fullest way possible. And in that case, he just sat. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. 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 sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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