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 by people like you. Buddhism is often expressed as wisdom and compassion. And the Zen school in particular is known for being on the wisdom side. But nobody's on the wisdom side against compassion. because it's wise to be compassionate and compassionate to be wise.

[01:05]

But this time, for this practice period, which is beginning today, Vicki and I thought we would emphasize compassion or kindness, that side. You know, in the Fukan Zizangi regulations for promoting Zanzang, Dogen in the 13th century wrote, it is simply devotion to sitting, single-minded devotion to sitting. It's not a mental concept, really. Are you calling? Well, several years ago, this was probably around 1987 or 88, I asked Katagiri Rishi at the airport where I was picking him up, and Norman was there too, and I asked him, there's something about Asian teachers, even maybe not so good ones, that has some heart or feeling or faith.

[03:12]

That's what I want to learn from you. How do I learn that? He turned to Norman and said, that's a great question, don't you think? And he said, when people see me, when they say Kategori Rashi, they don't see the years he spent with his teacher just doing stuff together. You know, we can do things with a laundry list or a checklist. and check them off, and that feels great. I know I do that sometimes. But there's something more than just checking it off. It's checking in with it, taking care of it with somebody else, which builds a certain kind of intimacy. And when I said Western teachers have very good understanding, I feel they get examples.

[04:27]

They don't have this so much, but I think that's changed. It's sort of a matter of after you started practicing, even practicing for 20 years, it starts to kick in. And so there are many teachers now, Western or Asian, who have that kind of friends with things. Their understanding may be not any different than it was before. Maybe it's better. But there's something about this opening of the person. So I was thinking about compassion and kindness and I realized that it needs a certain kind of strictness to go with it.

[05:30]

Kindness is not a weak thing. It's a messy thing. It's a big thing. It takes courage. And it takes a certain kind of determination. needs a strictness because if you're strict you need to be compassionate otherwise you'll drive in with yourself crazy and if you're timed you need some presence with it some strength because being kind you

[06:35]

You may find yourself in a rant at somebody else around yourself. And you have to be strict enough to say, that's enough. I'm not going to go with my habits. That's enough. It doesn't lead to kindness, but it helps. Most of our unkindness may be to other people, but it's indicative of how it is to ourselves. And it's not that we're such great, kind people. It's not that. But it takes time to develop a kind of caring and a kind of openness. Several people asked me, well, how are we going to be kind?

[07:37]

What are we going to do? That happens to be a question that's asked in the Koan about how does Avoli Kiteshvara use his or her hands and eyes? And the answer is, it's like reaching for a pillow in the dark. You know it's there, but you don't know quite where. It's not exactly part of you, but it's not exactly separate from you. And we all have plenty of data when we feel we've been treated not kindly. There's commentary going on.

[08:39]

And kindness doesn't mean that you can't notice or even comment about something that you think could be better. But it's not about you. It's not about the other person. It's about learning and doing something right. You know, there are certain people who criticize you and you feel like they can't wait. They're just looking for the opportunity. And then there are people who kind of, a little bit reluctantly say, yeah, but you know you're doing that. You don't have an investment in it. That can also often be kindness. But we all have examples of ourselves and of other people who have done kind things and unkind things.

[09:58]

And what Zen meditation can help you is to be aware of them and be aware of them as they're happening. And you say, oh no, I'm doing that again. Or I'm going to really set that person right. Sometimes we're so critical of ourselves we can't even hear criticism because it's too overwhelming. We need to relax and realize that there's many things we can improve on and welcome the input about it. But not get overwhelmed and say, oh, I think that's enough. I can only absorb so much. Or, thank you very much.

[11:02]

Or, ow! There is no perfect way to be. There are just approximations. There are just efforts that are more successful or less successful. And successful means expressing your heart.

[11:24]

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