This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. I'm so grateful to be here this morning. You can't imagine. It's been almost two years since being in this room. I can close my eyes and be in this room fresh and strong wherever I am, but I can't be with you. So this room is a beautiful breathing room in every way, but it is extremely alive this morning. Thank you for inviting me to come home to Green Gulch and speak to you this morning. I'm extremely grateful. And I've got a lot of stuff in front of me, as you can see or not see, but all the better to turn the wheel.

[01:05]

I want to, excuse me, we want to dedicate this morning's talk to my root teacher, Zen master and monk and poet. Thich Nhat Hanh, who died this January at the age of 95 in his 10th decade, peacefully passing in his root temple in Hue, where he was ordained as a 16-year-old. And Abbas Fu, may I put him on your next? Yeah, good. So that you can really. So here is Tai in the era that I want to talk about this morning. A calendar from the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Blessed are the peacemakers. Many years. I want to talk about the art of being a peacemaker in extremely troubled times.

[02:13]

And of course, welcome. I think there are some newcomers to Green Gulch also coming to work in the fields and the garden and a kitchen. Fresh, fresh practice, which is beautiful. And welcome. Welcome from an old practitioner. I think I want to say today is April 10th. And on April 18th in 1976, my husband Peter, who is Ukrainian in ancestry, and we're feeling that truth very deeply, comes from Ukraine. So my husband Peter and I were married in this room 46 years ago. in a week. And I want to just acknowledge what an extraordinary event that was for us and our families to gather together. It was so long ago that when Zen Tatsu Richard Baker offered us our wedding vows, the Jisha was Kenshin Roshi.

[03:19]

So for some of you that will know what that means. It means that just as Caroline this morning carried incense for me, so did Tenshin Roshi carry incense for us when we were married 46 years ago. And I'm feeling very much the great circle, the great circle that is never closed, always a semi-permeable membrane open and available to all of us. So gratitude never for one moment become too comfortable or used to what it means to be in this breathing room and to keep the doors open. for all beings in the 10 directions, as has been happening for decades at Green Gulch. And gratitude to the first people of this area, this region, this biological extraordinary region, the Coast Miwok people, who are the traditional ancestors, and the line of continuity. I'll be talking a lot this morning about continuity.

[04:21]

So the line of continuity, gratitude to the first ancestors of this. Extraordinary place and time. When I arrived this morning and stopped in the parking lot, I remember the last time I was with you, which was on the occasion of the vernal equinox, when we gathered around the great cypress at the gate and offered incense and chanting and prayers. for this being at the threshold. And we are in threshold times now. So for the friends who are in the worldwide and larger community at the gateway leading into Green Gulch, at the threshold of the parking lot and the temple is an extraordinary, is, not was, is an extraordinary Cyprus being from the bottom of time, more than 100 years old.

[05:27]

at least more than 100 years old, planted, who knows, who can say, a seed in the ground and this extraordinary tree rising up out of the ground like a flame, roots deep and top in the, reaching the base of the sky, and spreading now, teaching for so many decades. And just recently, shortly after the vernal equinox, it was necessary to to ask this being to take a different form because of drought, because of human-caused climate disruption, because of all the difficulties that we are feeling and experiencing in this being time. This tree was very faithfully and ceremoniously, I know, ceremonially, not ceremonious, ceremonially cut and Lay in state for a good long while.

[06:29]

Beautiful experience to come up and see the tree laying in state there at the gateway. And now still a flume of wood rising up, reminding me of the Gandharan Buddha at Tassajara in the early years before the fire in 1976. That beautiful tree had, excuse me, that beautiful Buddha had a flume of wood behind him. So when I see the cypress tree now and step across the threshold to enter Green Gulch, I see the Buddhas and ancestors continuously teaching, continuous practice, the circle of the way for all beings. And human and more than human. So how significant to stop and be stopped by this being at the gate? Being at the gate, the gateless gate. When you cross the threshold, you enter, and there is no gate, really.

[07:30]

You cross the threshold with intention and come in to this peaceful place. And this is a time of peaceful abiding in extraordinary, violent times, as you know. So gratitude to the teachers, human and more than human. who are with us this morning, and gratitude to the ceremonies and celebrations that mark this being time. Buddha's birthday, Hana Matsuri, on Friday, the 8th of April. Shopkeepers, home carers, people in hospitals, people all over Japan set up little altars, no larger than this table, covered with flowers, honoring the birth of the baby Buddha and celebrating the brevity and significance of the life of flowers. So for a long time in this temple and continuing today, this time has always been marked, the birth of the baby Buddha.

[08:38]

So I love that the baby Buddha is behind me on the Jizo altar, facing Manjushri and all of you, to remind us, be refreshed, be a child. Put your finger in the air and say, I will work consistently and fully for the welfare and benefit of all beings. This is the gesture of the baby Buddha behind me and the vow that we make. And in this time, are we not living by vow and in vow in every way? Are we not living by an in vow as we mark these festivals of spring? Passover. Easter. Not long ago, the Persian New Year. All of the festivals, full moon, Earth Day. As we take our place and vow to be renewed, secretly, holding one finger in the air, saying, may I, with all beings, work for the awareness.

[09:48]

an awakening of all life on earth and for the benefit of all life on earth. This is a time of great refreshment and freshness. We're as tender as the flowers. Remembering, as Dogenzenji taught, that flowers fall with our attachment and weeds grow with our neglect. So as much as we love them, they fall, and so do we. And as much as we rue the weedy world, we are entangled in its wealth. So I want to be clear, first of all, that today's talk is not nostalgic. Nostalgia, nostos, home, nest, alge, suffering, pain, longing for home and for the nest. No, I have a fiercer intention when bringing up

[10:49]

or longing for a healthy and full, fully lived world. Nostalgia from the author, Minnesotan author, wonderful author, Patricia Hempel. She reminds us that to be nostalgic is really a kind of loyalty. a kind of commitment to detail and the protein of accuracy. And in this nostalgia or longing for all beings to find home, to come home, and to settle, to have the kind of spaciousness we have this morning in this breathing room, in that longing, we meet, the call of the world.

[11:49]

And, you know, not long ago, a philosopher, ecological philosopher from, I believe from Australia, Glenn Albrecht, philosopher, a professor of sustainability, coined the word solastalgia, which means the pain of seeing your place of heart's ease and tranquility be dismembered. And taken apart. So we live. In a soul nostalgic. Nostalgic. Willingness to examine. The protein of accuracy. The detail of our lives. Detailier. To stitch together. To cut into pieces. And stitch together. Detailier. To look at the details of our life. Take them apart. And see what we're made of. The voice. Of the great pine, a clap in the light.

[12:52]

And, you know, in this, in this time, it is so important to remember. I love these words from poet, actress, and very free pantomime teacher, the founder of Theater of Quarantine, Theater in Quarantine. Her name is Heather Christian. I've been following her extraordinary work. If you're called, do check theater in quarantine and the work brand new emergent work of Heather Christian. She reminds us, let yourself get unused to how it was. The night will wipe your memory. If you let it, we will not be going back. Let yourself. Get unused to how it was. The night will wrap, will wipe your memory if you let it.

[13:55]

We are not going back. We're going forward into these times, and these are grave and terrifying times. I need not tell you. Your business is to sit still and take it in and get up and serve, and you are doing that. So when it's been a long time, since I've been with you. So I wanted this morning to go to essence to bring up what is most essential for me. And it's not been long, maybe three months, four months since Thich Nhat Hanh's passing. Again, he died in Vietnam. And as I mentioned in the very beginning, in his home temple, where he was ordained at 16, at the age of 16. He was ordained as a monk and practiced as a monk fully for 80 years until dying at 96, in his 96th year. Didn't quite make it to his birthday.

[14:56]

And in that temple, there have been ceremonies that have extended all the way through the 49 days of Kai's passing. In particular, when I consider this teacher who was so... Searching for the word. So formative. I'll go there. That's easy. It's not quite right. So protein in my life. When I first met him here at Green Gulch Temple, Green Gulch Farm in 1981, he came to offer a talk. I met him outside and walked with him. let him know that he had a deep influence on our life. Some of you know. My father was working as a publisher during the Vietnam War, and when he read Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Lotus in a Sea of Fire, he left his job and became a full-time draft counselor, maintaining a vigil every week until the war in Vietnam ended, often by himself in the town square.

[16:11]

So our life was very affected by Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching, and it was beautiful to meet him here and to hear his teaching in this temple. He said to us, you have the most beautiful walking meditation path in North America out to the great ocean, and you are the grimmest and most serious people I've ever met. Can you not enjoy life? Yes, he said, there's been immense suffering in our lives, but suffering is not enough. And suffering is made of non-suffering elements. And our friend, Lane Olson, who was married to Mjogan Steve Stuckey, is still married to Mjogan Steve Stuckey, although he has crossed to the realm of the ancestors. Lane reminded me that when Thich Nhat Hanh came and offered a retreat here at Green Gulch, people said, and so the schedule is this, we get up at 340. He said, no.

[17:13]

Oh, yes, we get up at 3, 4. No. I said, no. Get up at 6. Let's be a little bit more gentle. Let people sleep in. Lane said there was quite a tussle. But in the end, we got up later. And I remember what a joyful time that was. I remember, excuse me for going back in time, I remember Reb and Rusa sitting on the con over there holding hands during zazen. It was a different kind of experiment with... with our practice for a bit. Not saying, oh, we're going to change our practice. But no, just let's experiment with a little bit softer, more open experiment, different experiment. And in this very room, one of the first early teachings from Being Peace, the teaching of in a single sheet of paper, you see the whole universe in this very room. And I remember him in the spot holding up a sheet of paper. and encouraging us to see the whole world in a sheet of paper.

[18:17]

For me, there was a recognition that was very strong. I continued deeply and fully to practice here, and I do very deeply respect and honor a double lineage with San Francisco Zen Center as a lay and trusted Dharma student, and also with Thich Nhat Hanh as one of his students who receive the lamp of transmission as a lay person to offer the teachings in the world. So it's a double duty, double helix, double ice cream cone, double taste of truth. And so I want to honor Ty this morning, and in particular by looking back at his teaching of precepts in a time of war. So the 14 precepts of the Order of Inner Being, and I am a member of the Order of Inner Being as well as, actually, I'm beautifully dressed this morning to exhibit the truth of this.

[19:20]

So this wonderful polyester robe, which is worn and shining with its age. Let's see, it's, I don't know, 30 years, 1990 until now. How long is that? 36 years, 36 years. So, and then my rock suit. from this temple, Lay and Trusted Roxy from 2006. So coming together and looking at how do we practice in a way that is deeply settled, settling the self on the self. As Katagiri Roshi said, let the flower of your life force bloom and also engage with the world. So I go back to my vow when I receive the precepts of the order of inner being. And, you know, Thich Nhat Hanh and... The Order of Intervene community asked me, won't you join us and help us do our work of peacemaking in the world? And I said, yes, but I don't want to do that in France. I have to go home. I want to be with my home community. And so that ceremony happened in Mount Madonna Center in central California right during or in the run up to the Iraq war.

[20:32]

So in a time of war. I received the 14 precepts of the order of inner being, and it was beautiful to have some in this room be present with me there as that transmission happened. So nostalgia, not only. Let me go down. So I want to talk a little bit, and then with your permission, I'll close. Close the teaching just by reading the precepts, not offering them, but reading them. So you can hear them. 14 primary precepts that were forged in a time of war in 1964 on Buddha's birthday. 1964. In the, as Thich Nhat Hanh said, the turning point of the war in Vietnam. And as a peacemaker, he is also not only very definite. I'm not going to say not only very definitely a Buddhist monk, a poet.

[21:32]

a writer of the highest order, a troublemaker, good troublemaker, and also a person dedicated to making peace. So he is the founder of Van Han University for studying the extensive range of Buddhism and also the founder of the Youth for Social Service, which was an organization set up during the war in Vietnam to rebuild bombed out cities. And every week, members of the Youth for Social Service would come together to recite precepts and to have a day of mindfulness, or at least half a day of mindfulness, sitting in the height of war. So 1964, Ty describes as a turning point in the war, in that the violence was accelerating, things were getting very tough. One village was bombed three times, and three times Youth for Social Service came in and rebuilt the village. I'm not speaking metaphorically. Of course, you're making the connections as I speak. Of course, you're making the connection, what it takes to rebuild a village.

[22:36]

And then they would practice these precepts. And at the, excuse me, at the force bombing, they wondered if they had the wherewithal to rebuild. And they did four times. The head of the Youth for Social Service, a beautiful student of Thich Nhat Hanh's, dedicated young student in his early 20s, was on his way to work. when a United States Army convoy moving too fast mowed him down in the streets. Was it deliberate? We don't know. But what was deliberate was the refusal of the American-based hospital in Saigon to treat this young man. So in this kind of suffering, what will you come up with? How will you meet the challenge? And in his case, he sat down with Penn. I like to hold up my clippers because he cut through to the base, but pen and paper and wrote these 14 precepts.

[23:41]

And they're beautiful precepts. Tiep hien is the order. Tiep hien, we say in English, interbeing, but that's a word that was crafted that was ritually taken apart and like d'étalier, sewn together different parts to create a new word, interbeing. Chiep Hien Order, the foundation of the order. Six people received these precepts in 1964 on Buddha's birthday. They were between 22 and 31 years old, and they made a commitment to experiment with these precepts for a decade before they would be offered any wider. So these six people were a living laboratory, and they practiced. They also made the commitment to recite the precepts even in the thick of war, Once a week. To see how they might be adapted. And might come forth. Tip. To be in touch with. The reality of heart and mind.

[24:45]

And then to discover true mind. To go down to the source of true mind. That is both cyclical. Like sun and moon rising. Jane Hirschfeld reminds us of this. Two roots. Original mind. True mind is both cyclical, repetitive. Sunrise, moonrise. Sunrise, moonrise. And then absolutely fresh. Coming up from the ground like fresh water. That kind of mind. Be in touch with that kind of mind. And also to continue. So to be in touch with and to continue. Tying two strings together. In order to make a longer line. Extend. And perpetuate. Says Thich Nhat Hanh. The career of awakening. Extend. Perpetuate. Stitch together. The broken out pieces. And continue under all circumstances.

[25:47]

The career of awakening. Try not to be caught up by the world. Yet bring understanding and compassion to life. Transform yourself. Bring joy to others. Feel it in yourself. Live in vow. Live in vow was how Katagiri Roshi described living by vow. Live in vow. In fact, his home temple, Katagiri Roshi, for those of you who are new and fresh, is a primary teacher here at Zen Center, although he died in 1990 on the first day of March at 63 years old. Young, like Suzuki Roshi. Of cancer, like Suzuki Roshi. He helped Suzuki Roshi establish San Francisco Zen Center. Primary teacher. And his call to us was to live and vow. His temple, Gan... I'm going to get this right. Gan Shou... Gan Shouji, living in vow.

[26:51]

Cultivating the clouds, living in vow. His death poem, he knew death was coming. His death poem, living in vow, silently sitting 63 years, plum blossoms begin to bloom. The jeweled mirror reflects truth as it is. So to continue to be in touch with and to continue. And also, the second word, hien, means to realize. And to make that realization true in the present moment. The aim of sitting meditation in this room, and from my old notes, Thich Nhat Hanh saying the aim of sitting meditation is to be peaceful during sitting meditation.

[27:56]

Sit in order to be peace. You sit in peace. You don't live in order to make a vow. You live in vow or by vow, as Shohoka Okamura, one of Kadiroshi's students, teaches. In or by. For me, in. Live in the truth. Live in the moment. And be in touch with and continue. So to realize... And also to make it here and now. So that's in the words. Interbeing. Be in touch with. Continue. Realize. In this very moment. In the here and now. So these are precepts. Dedicated. To this work.

[28:56]

And I'm grateful for them. I've really been grateful for them in this time of transition and sacred transition. But, you know, we live in a time now we've been separated from everything we know. We've been threshed and thrashed to pieces at the gate and sifted. Discernment is the process of sifting, winnowing off the chaff and letting the kernels of truth fall down through. So we've been separated, thrashed, sifted. And how are we going to integrate what our work is? They're training here for the long haul. How are we going to integrate? Precepts can help. As you know, this is a precept world, precept deep place. So... To take up these precepts that Thich Nhat Hanh means seeing that each is in the other.

[30:04]

Between us, there is no border. In Buddhism, we have a term that means interpenetration, but interpenetration presupposes there's a border between us. There's South Vietnam and North Vietnam. There's Ukraine and Russia. There's peace and non-peace. There's Buddhism and non-Buddhism. There's a border between us. So pre-interpenetration presumes there's a border between us. But we can create a door. Interbeing means the door is already there and it's always there. We enter our gateless gate. Step through. Come to life. So I love these precepts. As you can guess, there are 14 of them. The first seven have to do intimately with the mind.

[31:10]

Recognizing first precept recognizes knowledge itself can be a problem if you hold on to it too tightly. Don't think that what you presently possess is irrefutable and unchangeable. You've got to be looser. Beautiful to begin a precept study with this awareness. And then the second precept, truth is found in life. You're going to hear them in a moment. I'm looking at my watch and thinking, holy mackerel. Shut up and hurry. So truth is found in life. Third precept reminds us to respect freedom of thought. I love this precept. Respect freedom of thought as much as you love your children. Don't force them to practice the way you practice. It will not work. I can testify to that. I'm living proof. One reason my hair is so white. From knowing that you can't force a child to be anything other than a truth teller and an avatar of the next world.

[32:13]

Fourth, willingness to see suffering. Fifth, commitment to not accumulate wealth. Sixth, to be aware when anger arises. And seventh, the seven is the hinge precept between body, speech, and mind. Mind, speech, and body in the case of these precepts. The hinge precept. Be aware of what you're doing. Be mindful. So when we overly accumulate, we're greedy. When we're angry, we can burn ourselves up. And when we lose ourselves in dispersion, the door doesn't open. There is no hinge. So the seventh precept is mindfulness. And then the eighth precept and the ninth kind speech, the ninth true speech, and then last of all, the precepts of the body.

[33:16]

With your whole body, do not allow your community to be lost. In the quest for profit, speak out against injustice. With your whole body, do not live with a vocation harmful to animals and nature. It doesn't work, as you know. You wouldn't be here if you didn't know that. At the 12th precept, do not kill. Do not let others kill. 12th precept, not the first. Be first. Clear your mind. Know your mind. Shape your mind. Ancient teaching from the Theravada tradition, know your mind, shape your mind, free your mind. Know your mind, shape your mind, free your mind. Twelfth, do not kill. Do not let others kill. Thirteenth, possess nothing that should belong to others. And fourteenth, find a way to live.

[34:26]

Conscientiously and vividly in your sexual life. You'll hear them in a moment. This is a big feast. But you're hungry, I can tell. I can feel the hunger. You feel the hunger. Hunger for memory. Hunger for freedom from the cruelty we're experiencing right now. in human or maybe all too human cruelty. You know, more bombs were dropped on Vietnam than were dropped in all of Europe during the Second World War. Agent Orange continues to release its code. And so do practitioners. Secretly and fully continue to recite these precepts.

[35:29]

So with your permission, I'm aware of how much I blessedly did not say, but regrettably did not say. I would like very much to just read these so you can hear them. Okay? And then I'll close with... a proclamation from senior Dharma teacher, senior, retired, not retired, senior, Dharma treasure, Norman Fisher, Phoketsu Norman Fisher, in honor of Buddha's birthday. It was a beautiful part of the poem of the pageant that we played with for many years here. It continues to resonate in the hills, mountains, and rivers. So there's a beautiful... Am I still hooked up? Okay. Feels like you're sure. Okay.

[36:32]

It feels that way often anyway. Doesn't think. Okay. I digress. Who's Caroline? Caroline, can you help me? Good. Can you just stand near me and just. That's all right. It's just a microphone. Okay. So what we're going to do is a beautiful thing. I'm going to read the precept. And then, oh, travesty of travesties, you're going to hold this bell in your hand like so. And then when you see me stop, you're going to ring the bell. And then you're going to stop. And when you stop, I'll read the next one. This is not a transmission. This is an offering. This temple has beautiful precept tradition.

[37:34]

I honor, receive, and continue in this precept tradition. And it is enlivened and vivified this morning by these precepts that were written in a time of war by a poet and a Zen teacher. Well, let's have a sound of the bell, Caroline, and then a stop. And you can do a nice stop. Yeah. This is the first precept. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means. They are not absolute truth. Now, next time, take a breath, Caroline, before you ring the bell. Let's take that breath now.

[38:35]

The second precept. Do not think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless knowledge, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views. and practice non-attachment from views in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints. Truth is found in life, not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times. The third precept, do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education.

[39:47]

However, through compassionate dialogue, help other beings renounce fanaticism and narrowness. The fourth precept. Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering by all means, including personal contact, visits, images, sound. By any of these means, awaken yourself and others to the realization of suffering in the world. The fifth precept. Do not accumulate wealth while others.

[40:52]

Excuse me. Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. Do not take. As the aim of your life, fame, profit, wealth, or sensual pleasure, live simply. Share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. The sixth precept. Do not maintain anger or hatred. As soon as anger and hatred arise, practice the meditation on compassion in order to deeply understand the persons who have caused anger and hatred. Learn to look at other beings with the eyes of compassion. The seventh precept, the hinge precept.

[41:59]

the joining precept. Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Learn to practice breathing in order to regain composure of body and mind, to practice mindfulness, to develop concentration and understanding. Do not lose yourself in dispersion. Moving towards speech. The eighth precept. Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve conflict, however small. The ninth precept.

[43:08]

This is their link together, eight and nine. Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things that you are not sure of. Always speak truthfully and constructively. Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety. The tenth precept, moving to the body. Do not use the Buddhist community for personal gain or profit. Or transform.

[44:11]

your community into a political party. A religious community, however, should take a clear stand against oppression and injustice and should strive to change the situation without engaging in partisan conflicts. The community as body. The body of community. The 10th Precept. The eleventh precept. Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation which helps realize your ideal of compassion. The twelfth precept.

[45:12]

Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and to prevent war. Just repeat it one more time. Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and to prevent war. The 13th precept. Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others, but prevent others from enriching themselves from human suffering.

[46:16]

Or the suffering of other beings. And the 14th precept. Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect. Do not look on your body. As only an instrument. Preserve vital energy. Sexual. Breath. Spirit. For the realization of the way. Sexual expression should not happen without love and commitment in sexual relationships. Be aware of future suffering that may be caused. To preserve the happiness of others, respect the rights and commitments of others. Be fully aware. Be fully aware of the responsibility. of bringing new life into the world.

[47:20]

Meditate on the world into which you are bringing new beings. One more. Perfect. So beautiful. Good job. And so the hand, I mean, Thich Nhat Hanh said a cushion is so, Nice, but if you're in, you know, if you're in a village in Vietnam, you may not have a cushion. You can hide the bell in your coat, in your pocket, close to your heart and bring it out. There may not be a cushion for what's needed. And so to hold it right on the very edge of the hand and just as you did. Thank you. hope that was as strong for you as it is for me. Thank you for letting them be read today.

[48:27]

Thank you, Caroline. You know, beginning with passing the threshold and acknowledging the Cyprus elder, yesterday I went down to the ocean preparing for this talk for meeting you and walked to the end of Little Beach where a young whale is beached Against the cliffs, she is the 353rd marine mammal to have died in this pandemic time from being struck by container ships in the shipping lanes, bringing goods to feed our rapacious appetite for things. She was struck head on. Her head was... destroyed. And she washed up on your beach as a young whale did about nine months ago. A Marine mammal center came respectfully, uh, carefully, uh, did a vivisection so they could understand what her situation.

[49:36]

There is a whale right now. Also that was killed in the shipping lanes in the San Francisco Bay being, uh, they're preparing to bring that whale out to sea. Um, And it was amazing to stand. If you have the time to go to Little Beach, check the tide when the tide is low, and you go all the way to the end of Little Beach and visit this being, practice with her. She's beautiful in her dismemberment and painfully alive in her death. Her organs fanned out on the beach. Meditate on the world into which we're bringing beings. What do we really need to live? And this is a day of refreshment. Buddha's birthday, you know. With Karagiri Roshi reminding us years ago, I remember being with him in Minnesota Zen Meditation Center at Hokyoji, their temple out in the wilds of the edge of the borderlands.

[50:50]

near the Mississippi River, and there was a vase of flowers that was expiring on the altar, and I went to change it. Oh, it's my work. Get my clippers, fresh flowers, make beauty. These flowers, he said, are not a decoration. He also said, you can veer and break your promise now and then, but if you live in vow, you can never break your vow. So I vow to offer flowers to the altar and let them go their full life cycle. Change the water. You don't need fetid water to prove that everything is of the nature to come apart. We know those remarks. But change the water and let them have their full story. Let them fall apart right in front of you. Treat the young whale on the beach. As a flower bouquet, as the resident from the community laid a bouquet of flowers at her head yesterday.

[51:53]

Don't turn away from suffering, and yet it's not enough. It's made up of non-suffering elements. So we're not, I'm not here to further a grim community that is not what I see when I look out, but a community of joyful, committed, fierce intention. So let's close by listening to some of the lines from senior Dharma teacher, Norman Fisher, Abbott of Everyday Zen, who adapted this story of the life of the baby Buddha from Ashwagosa, created a beautiful poem. And we enacted this poem on the lawn for many years. Embodying, not impersonating, embodying Buddha, dragon, king. Wicked ones, sweet ones, ducks and tigers embodied them all.

[53:02]

Fourth, the baby Buddha came. I'm going to put it in the present tense. This is what writers do to each other. Fourth. He, she, they came and come, not from earth or cloud or spirit, but as if from an open sky, an empty sky, pure of being as breath itself, long or short, without beginning or end, fully aware, and like a brilliant sun in the summer sky, his beautiful gaze held all eyes, like a full moon in autumn. For like the sun, baby Buddha awakened all life on earth, trees, children, deer, little fish, waking up stars in the night that whisper to one another, waking up seas and breezes, tall mountains that nail the universe shut, and the streams and the mountains that flow to the rivers like tongues, and standing straight like a mountain, attending above and below.

[54:14]

Seven silver steps, feet lifting up, unwavering, straight strides, spanning heaven and earth. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And like a lion in charge of the forest, like an elephant ruling the grounds, proclaimed the truth and saying, I'm here for awakening. I'm born for enlightenment, for the good of all beings. I'm going to jump a bit. Dragons of the earth and air flew and blew the air for baby Buddha. And the dragons of the seas tipped purple waves with points of silver. Dragons of the houses flapped the houses like nightgowns, bedsheets or banners. And animals stopped eating one another to take a look. And people stopped killing one another to take a look.

[55:18]

And noxious creatures and ghosts. stopped haunting one another to take a look. And they all looked and wept with unconsidered joy. For he will give up his kingdom to be a light, to remove darkness from all beings. And she will be a boat to carry the beings up from the oceans of suffering overspread with the foam of disease and the waves of old age. And the flood of death. And the world will drink of the stream of their law. To shake. To slake. The ageless thirst. Thirst. Born of affliction. And so in this world. And in the world beyond. In time and space and out of time and space. Baby steps and the song.

[56:21]

can end struggles that have no end, and all beings be permanently disordered with the light. Permanently disordered with the light. Permanently disordered with the light. With the light and the darkness. So let's just hold that. and the offering of 14 precepts forged in a time of war for the duration of three deep breaths. And then we'll chant and this talk will finish. Thank you very much for your practice. Three deep breaths. We can... Three deep breaths. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center.

[57:23]

Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost 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. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[57:43]

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