Good morning, teacher. from Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. When we practice Zazen, our mind is calm and quite simple. But usually our mind is very busy and complicated, and it's difficult to concentrate on what we're doing. This is because before we act, we think. And this thinking leaves some trace. In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, You should do it with your whole body and mind.

[01:00]

You should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ash. This is the goal of our practice. So recently, I have found myself drawn to the study of what we commonly call our energy, our life force. In Chinese, I think the word qi, I said tai chi. Sanskrit, jivita. In Spanish, la vida. And I think it's Hebrew, maybe Yiddish, lahaim. You know, it's a toast. that we make, sometimes with a glass in one hand, to life, to life.

[02:06]

So in this talk that Suzuki Roshi gave to his young American students back in the 1960s, he's saying that we should live our life like a good bonfire, without any smoke. Everything completely combusted, all the fuel used up. except for some tiny residue of ash, a little carbon ash, the substance from which it all began. So in order to renew my own study of my own life, I began to look at some of the ways I use energy throughout the day, such things as the food I eat, periods of rest, of movement, the time of day, I can't do anything at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Completely hopeless. But also the robber barons of my life force, those energies that are taken away by the arising of anger or of lust or of confusion.

[03:20]

So this study of the life force is a pretty tall order. Basically, it includes all that I think, all that I feel, and all that I do. So I haven't gotten very far in this study and that's because I forget to do it. I just go about the day taking care of things as best I can and I remain pretty much oblivious and unappreciative of the very fact that I am alive, which seems to me to be the most important fact of all, for all of us, this fact of life. Here we are at the edge of a galaxy where a stone mortar has burst into bloom. How amazing is that?

[04:26]

and go about my day. Now, it may be that this renewed interest in studying my life has nothing more to do than the fact that I have recently become eligible for Social Security benefits. So it seems like the writing is on the wall. And it's also on my skin. And my eyes and my ears, my hair, my memory. And what it seems to say is, you are going to die. Now, we know that, right? Don't we? We've heard about it anyway. We are going to die. And yet, you know, I'm not really sure what that means.

[05:33]

I have seen things die. In fact, I've killed a great number of them myself simply by going out to hoe in the garden. And I've seen people I love die. You know, but still, what does it really mean? that we're going to die. What is it? And yet this thought gives us cause for alarm. So I seem to believe it, sort of. And I seem to be trying to avoid it, sort of. And yet I really don't know what it is. I thought one time that You know, life and death are basically like two different species. You know, they can't really mate and they can't communicate with each other.

[06:38]

And at the same time, they completely depend on one another. One side is illuminated, the other side is dark. They're conjoined twins, but facing in opposite directions. Life and death. Death and life. So what is the referent to this amazing word, death? What is it referring to? I think since we've been very small children, we've had the experience of death hiding from us, like in the closet or under the bed. Or both. Sometimes I still hear it there. And although now, as an adult, I have come to understand that death is a word, it's an idea, a concept. But still, even as a concept, it's pressing in on me.

[07:45]

And it's heightening my appreciation of the art and craft of being alive. So in some ways, the life force is starting to push back. I remember Steve Stuckey saying to someone of the students a few weeks before he died, he said, I'm not dead yet. Not dead yet. The sky is blue. A bird flies through. How amazing is that? Zen master Dogen wrote this homage to life as he grew closer and closer to dying. Fifty-four years lighting up the sky, a quivering leap smashes a billion worlds. Ha! Entire body looks for nothing. Living, I plunge into the Yellow River.

[08:48]

That's my favorite line. Living, I plunge into the Yellow River. That's the only way we can go. We go alive into the Yellow River, the great mystery. And, of course, that's just what life does. It leaps out of the darkness, out of the inconceivability that we call the universe, and then it leaps back in again. great fish. From Case One, the Book of Serenity, the unique breeze of reality, do you see it? Continuously, creation runs her loom and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. But nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. Manjushri is the large figure in the center of the

[09:54]

Nothing can be done about Manjushri's leaking. Bodhisattva of wisdom. The unique breeze of reality. Do you see it? Continuously, creation runs her loon and shuttle, weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring. So while I was thinking recently about how my life is coming to an end, you know, at this time it wasn't in such a horrifying way, like those bad dreams we have, driving off of cliffs or whatever it is. But I thought about it more like you might think about taking a trip to the dentist, you know. Kind of inevitable. Gotta go. And I actually had this dental image of my life. And I saw it as a kind of tube of toothpaste that I'd been rolling up very carefully from the bottom for quite a long time now.

[11:05]

And so now that I'm at the top of the tube, there's still quite a bit of paste and pressure in there. But at the same time, there is going to come the time when I need a new tube. The tube will be finished. So where does one begin when it's about to end? One of the things that I have learned about myself is that when I want to try to understand something, I like to have a plan, like a lesson plan. you know, a way to go about it. And I also like to have a teacher or a mentor, you know, someone who has done this thing that I'm interested in thousands and thousands of times. So this is one of the reasons of late I've become good friends with a lot of very old people.

[12:13]

I like old people, meaning older than me. And I'm watching them. I ask them, how old are you? And they say, well, I'm in my late 70s. Oh, that's not so bad. How about you? I'm 85. Oh, I don't know. That's getting a little difficult. 94 is amazing. And then there's Mrs. Suzuki, who last year reached the pinnacle, 100 years old. And she's radiant. She's just like a great bonfire, as her husband recommended it. burning completely bright, bright as a flame. So having a plan and having teachers is the main reason that I found Buddhism so compelling in the first place. We call these teachers our ancestors, and many of them we give an honor by name, you know, like Mahapashapa, Nagarjuna, Asanga, Bodhidharma,

[13:19]

Dogen, Suzuki. And each of these names represents a life force that has devoted itself to the practice and study of the Buddha way, the plan. They're following the plan. The Buddha, as the first ancestor, laid out the plan for all of us of how human life can come to study itself. to learn itself, to know itself. And among the many lessons that he gave in the course of his long teaching career, the one I'm going to talk about today is called the Six Paramitas. Six Paramitas. So the Paramitas are also known as the Perfections. Six Perfections. And they're basic training for those humans that wish... to distill from within themselves a great joy, the great joy of being alive.

[14:27]

This basic joy that creates for us something that's worth living for. And those who practice the six perfections are called bodhisattvas, enlightening beings. And they work in the world in service to others. Pro bono. Pro bono publico. For those of you who are attorneys, it means pro bono for the good of the people, for the good of society. And usually it's free or at a reduced rate. Pro bono. And the best thing that the bodhisattvas have to offer is this practice themselves, the practice of the perfections, the six perfections. And this makes a kind of perfect Zen circle, that the bodhisattvas become joyful through the practice of the six perfections, and then what results from their joy is the wish to share this practice with others.

[15:38]

These practices made me very happy, and therefore I wish to offer them to you. That's their motive, bringing happiness to others, which makes them even more happy. It's kind of selfish at the core. It's going to make me so happy when you're all happy, and then you're going to make other people happy, and it won't end forever and ever. There's a little boy who lives next door to me who's right now in the back of the room with his daddy, and his name is Miro. Hi, Miro. Hi, sweetie. It's your neighbor. Anyway, Miro, who's just a little, how old is he now? 14 months? 14, yeah. 14 months old. And I remember the day when he first noticed that I was something other than him.

[16:44]

He was kind of like a little foggy thing, like a little, just a little wiggly grub, you know? He wasn't really relating. And then one day, he reached out for my face. It was amazing. Have you all seen that? My parents have all seen this. It's like, oh my God. He's here? He's here. Anyway, that was an amazing, wonderful day. So he's gone on to learn other things. Now he reaches out for leaves and pebbles and toys. And he likes to hand them to me. It makes him happy. He gives them to me. And it makes him even more happy when I give it back. And we do that sometimes, back and forth. Very happy. So this is kind of a natural thing for us humans, especially when we're really small. Giving and receiving gifts. But this is really what the six perfections are all about.

[17:48]

It's about this illusion of sharing that we have created by giving and receiving gifts from one another. And the six are listed in a particular order, with each of them serving as a platform for the one above. So I'm now going to tell you what they are. Number one is generosity. That's Miro giving me his toy. Number two is ethical discipline. That's me giving it back to him. It's a little harder. Number three is patience. You're not expecting anything from Miro or him from me. In fact, sometimes we don't play the game at all. We do something else. Or we wait. Number four is energy. Energy. So we rest when we're tired of playing, and then when it's time, we leap out of bed and go looking for our friends.

[18:51]

Number five is concentration. We turn around and make our bed before we leave the room for the benefit of all beings. And number six, wisdom. The sky is blue a bird flies through, leaving no traces. Wonderful. Wonderful. So this number six wisdom is the realization that there is no giver, no receiver, and no gift. That's what it means. No traces. No traces. Did it happen? Are we dreaming? Yeah, pretty much we're dreaming. okay. So the Buddha said, you know, still, even though it's a dream, give it your all.

[19:57]

One through five. Do your best. Until you have an understanding of number six. Until you see that there really is nothing that's the way it seems. Nothing at all. except perhaps for nothing itself. So once again, the six are generosity, ethical discipline, patience, energy, concentration, and wisdom. And this word energy is the number four of the perfections, and that's the one that I am hoping to get to in this talk today. But in order to get there, we have to start with the practice of generosity, with giving. Giving. The perfection of giving. And again, from Zen mind, beginner's mind, to give is non-attachment.

[21:00]

That is, just not to attach to anything is to give. So as with all of these other practices, they're much easier to say than to actually do. Our conditioning since childhood, and for a great many reasons, has led us to a growing conviction that we are separate individuals. And then at some point away, those toys, some point along the way, those toys become harder to share because They're now mine. I own them. I'm attached. So even though it's just an idea, I own them. They're mine. Still, it's an idea that's the opposite of giving. You know, it's called getting, hoarding, saving, keeping, protecting.

[22:08]

all know about that. So in this society, we individuals have gone so far as to endow ourselves, along with our possessions, with certain inalienable rights. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You know, which on the surface sounds very Buddhist, doesn't it? Life, Jivita, liberty you know liberation full complete perfect enlightenment and the pursuit of happiness for the benefit of all beings I added some of that so I think we know that there's a slight problem with this endowment of ours as citizens of the United States of America And mostly it has to do with the fact that these rights are fundamentally protective.

[23:16]

They're protective of individuals and their possessions. And they're protected against other individuals. As one Supreme Court justice declared, the most important right is the right to be left alone. Sounding less Buddhist all the time. Those are my toys, that's my house, those are my children, my rules, right or wrong. My country. So as a result, the enforcement of these rights require many of us to either call the police or to hire an attorney. Because it seems to be true that my rights rarely fit perfectly with yours. I like it noisy, and you like it quiet. You call that a lawn, I call it nature.

[24:27]

And so on. In Marin, simply saying the words affordable housing or homeless shelter can draw an entire mob Angry citizens. How dare you? Someone even was overheard saying, if you can't afford to live in Marin, then move somewhere else. I thought that made sense. How about San Francisco? Oh, dear. Can't afford to live there either. Oh, well. So, unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer places for us to go, to move to, to make our homes. Maybe Detroit is all that's left at this point. Anyway, here we are, a few centuries into our life as a nation, and now we have not only property rights and marriage rights and the right to religious freedom and the freedom to speak, sort of, but we also have gay rights and civil rights, animal rights,

[25:40]

And of course, we have the left and the right who argue endlessly about what all of this means and who of any of us has any rights at all. So we all know that we're still in the heat of this battle as a society, as a people, as a nation. And fortunately, for the most part, except for these horrifying exceptions, This has been a war of words, of anger, of attorneys talking to attorneys about honor and about money. So I really don't know what's going on in my country, my county, or my community for that matter. But these are impressions I have. Maybe we've gone too far as individuals. Maybe we might have to give that idea up. a while I'd actually thought myself of going to law school right after college you know seemed like a perfect fit I was argumentative opinionated happy to take sides and I love to win so I thought well I must be a lawyer you know so why not well why not was because

[27:09]

there was something fundamentally wrong with what has already had been a self-centered approach to my life and my idea of liberty and my pursuit of happiness. And all of that wasn't making me very happy at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I wasn't inspired by material wealth. I was bereft of a vocation. of a community, and of a meaningful way to live. So having been a political science major, which maybe you can hear some tones of that, I began to suspect that there might be something fundamentally wrong with the plan that was created by our well-intentioned founding fathers back in the 18th century. There were simply too many important things about people that they had left out for the sake of the union.

[28:14]

For example, slavery. They skipped over that. So, as a result, compassion was optional. It wasn't written into the Constitution. And so too with generosity, with ethics, with mercy, and with wisdom. So personally, I've always been drawn to social theories which are based in mutual and collective responsibility. I haven't really seen one in action so much. Maybe a little bit when I was in Sweden many years ago. Don't know. Can't tell. Hard to see. But I like the idea of sharing cooperatively. So it's OK with me if we begin with ourselves and our families, as long as there's an ever-widening circle of regard for the welfare of others until basically, at least in our hearts, we've included the entire world.

[29:30]

You know, when I say that, I know that it sounds religious. And I thought, oh, that's the missing piece. That's what I've been looking for. I'm religious. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a high school teacher. I'm a spiritual being. And I want to be a priest. There weren't so many models for women as priests when I was a girl. I was even an Episcopalian. Those priests were married, but they were men. And so I didn't aspire for a holy life until much later. But I did like reading and talking about things like love, respect, generosity, so on, wisdom, faith. And I especially like thinking and talking about miracles, like the Big Bang.

[30:39]

The Higgs boson. Evolution. Oh my God. If that's who did it, fine. It's amazing. We are in an amazement. Stone mortar bursts into bloom. So where does one go to look for religion in this day and age? It's kind of old-fashioned, you know. What do we listen to and what do we trust? So being that you are at a Zen center, what I'm going to say next will not come as a great surprise to you. We trust Buddha. That's a word that means awake, alive. And we listen to Dharma, the teaching of awakening. And we live together in this widening circle called Sangha.

[31:41]

You know, community. Everybody can play. Which brings me back to the first part of my talk this morning. When the Buddha awakened, he saw that something was missing. Something was missing that had been there the night before. He couldn't find it. And it was himself as a separate being, as an individual. something he had cherished and protected for his entire life as separate from everything else. Gone. Gone. Gone beyond. Completely gone beyond. What a relief. He was very happy. Finally. So he became overwhelmed with joy, and from that realization, he saw the bird fly through the sky,

[32:42]

And he heard the sound of the gurgling stream, the grass waving in the summer breeze. He was alive, a happy man. And he knew what life was, and he knew what death was, and he knew what he had been born to do. He'd been born to love and to care for all of it. It was his own true self, fully alive. And so he gave himself and what remained of his life for the benefit of living beings. And with that, the first paramita brought light into the world and a bonfire of giving. And then he got up from his seat, he bowed to and away, And he went to find his friends. And then he taught them.

[33:44]

He taught them ethics and patience and energy, compassion, concentration, wisdom. The six most natural ways for human beings to celebrate life on this beautiful earth as givers, as receivers, and as gifts. The sky is blue. A bird flies through, leaving no trace. How amazing is that? Finally, once again from Zen Master Dogen, speech and silence, absolutely the same, extremely subtle and profound. A good remedy was prescribed a long time ago, piercing the sky. embracing the earth, no end to it, an immense escarpment glowing with mysterious light.

[34:48]

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.

[35:19]

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