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. Hello. My arm might get tired, but I'm really happy to be here. And my name is Zen Chin Greg Fane. You can call me Greg. I think I should start the way I usually start when I give a Dharma talk, which is to thank and acknowledge my teacher, the old Buddha of the East Bay, Sojin Mel Weitzman Roshi. The late, great Sojin Mel Weitzman Roshi. And to say that this talk is just to encourage you in your practice. I would like to thank my dear friend, Zen teacher, Reverend Sho Ren, Heather E. Russo, for inviting me to give this talk.

[01:10]

I would also like to thank Heather for reminding me that I said yes to giving this talk. Very good. This talk is going to be a little bit all over the place. So I apologize in advance. It could be, well, hey, I'm newly retired from San Francisco Zen Center, so congratulate me. Linda, my wife, Reverend Linda Gallion and I, we're going to take it on the road. We're going to be unsui, clouds and water monks. Hmm, clouds and water. Yes, indeed. Going hither and thither, wherever the winds blow us. For a while. Yeah. So, it's not a swan song. You know, I'm not saying goodbye.

[02:14]

I'm not saying this is it. Because, as we all know, the practice goes on forever. Mel used to say, as we all know, a lot... And the people would say, we don't all know that. My past summer was pretty eventful, to say the least. That's one way you could say it. And I'd like to talk a little bit about some things. But I'll start with something that was pretty cool that happened this past summer. which is I was so happy to be part of a reading group with my dear friend Ken Nabb, pillar of the temple at Berkeley Zen Center and a true polymath. He's the most lively intellect of any person I have the pleasure to know personally.

[03:15]

So widely read. So he leads these reading groups and we read Herodotus, The Histories. It's pretty cool. And he was introducing me to the group because he thought it was kind of great that I'm from Tassajara. Mostly I've practiced at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in my life of practice. And so he was talking about Tassajara a little bit, because Ken practiced there in the 80s. And yeah, he knows so many different people and so many different origins in the group. This woman spoke up. She's from Quebec. That's all I recall. And she says, oh, that's very nice. What has that got to do with the climate crisis? And I thought about that. And I said, well, as I see it, our practice

[04:22]

cultivates a felt sense of connection. We can understand intellectually that we're all connected. We can understand that our actions have impacts that are very wide ranging and far beyond what we can know. We can understand that intellectually, but I believe that the practice gets that in your bones. It gets that in the body and the bones. And, yeah. And she was like, oh, I see. I think it makes a difference, actually. I do think it makes a difference that you actually feel it. You feel this connection. Like, all the time. And that influences how you relate to things. It influences what you do in this world.

[05:31]

Just, you know, handling things with two hands. Taking care of whatever's in front of you, as my teacher always used to say. Just take good, very good care of whatever's in front of you. Cultivating that way of life. And I believe that Zazen is very, very good for that. That's what I think. You're sitting a lot of zazen. I think you begin to get that. You begin to get that in the body. Zen is body practice. Body, body, body. And that's what is cultivated. However, zazen alone won't do it. No. I'm sorry to say. Um... It is possible to become very adept.

[06:34]

As we all know, it is possible to become very adept at sitting quite still for hours on end and still make horrible decisions and hurt people. Be cruel even. I'm sorry. but I think that is so. A Dharma sibling of mine left San Francisco Zen Center many years ago. She said, well, I felt like I didn't have a place there because I felt like Zazen was the coin of the realm. What was valued. And she felt like She wasn't very good at zazen. It just wasn't her main thing. And therefore, she would be passed over or not appreciated, not valued, because she wasn't good at zazen, whatever that means.

[07:47]

I am happy to say I do not believe that is the case. If it was the case then, I do not believe that that is the case now. In San Francisco Zen Center, that is. Yeah. A change for the better. This sense of connection, Thich Nhat Hanh calls interbeing. may have heard that expression before. Great Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh coined that word interbeing. He would say we inter-are. We exist together interdependently. And it's also how I understand what we talk about

[09:01]

When we talk about thusness or suchness, which is a kind of a strange concept, something that is difficult to talk about, I would say you know when you know, when you feel that connection in your body. Thusness. Another really groovy thing that happened this summer was Reverend Linda and I were so happy to lead a Sangha Week in Tassajara, where branching streams, small sanghas from across the country come and practice together for a week in Tassajara. And we led a group from the Mid-City Zen Sangha in New Orleans. where we will be going next year.

[10:06]

We'll be leading another practice period there next spring, our second practice period at Mid-City Zen in New Orleans next spring. And only one of the people had ever been to Tassahara before, and only one of them had ever chanted the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi by Dongshan Liangzhi, alleged. our great ancestor, our great Soto Zen ancestor in China. And they really liked it. And so we had this really sweet ceremony where they invited me and Linda to lead the practice period next spring. And they said, let's study the Song of the Jewel of Mira Samadhi. And Linda and I were like, okay. We can do that. should be pretty joyful.

[11:16]

Yeah. And it's a lot. We love to teach together. Linda and I do. We have a lot of fun. And lately, when we've been teaching together, we've been doing more of what I would say, I would call practical Buddhism. You know, we're really emphasizing the basic teachings. The paramitas. That was the last practice period we led in Mid-Cities and we were teaching the paramitas and and the Brahma Viharas and so forth. And Linda said, well, you know, this could be fun, you know, do something a little different, a little more esoteric, a little more far out. And I thought, yeah, it is. Actually, the teaching of thusness, that's how the song of the Jewel Mirror starts out, the teaching of thusness has been intimately transmitted.

[12:29]

By Buddhas and ancestors. Now you have it. So keep it well. It's really a practical thing. It's really a necessary thing. How to approach it. Well, we're working on that. And we're going to have fun with it. I'm getting tired of this. Oh, it's backwards. This way. I'm going to break it. Yeah, cool. Yeah, we're good. We're good. Thank you. I... On this note, I wanted to talk a bit about a very important Dharma book.

[13:39]

It was recently published. It's called Home Is Here, Practicing Anti-Racism with the Engaged Eightfold Path by my friend, Reverend K. Ryu Lian Shutt. This is a really important book. It has helped me So much. There's a lot of things that have been sort of simmering in my consciousness for a couple of years now, which when I read this book were clarified, crystallized. I was like, hmm, yes. Right on time for me. It might be right on time for you. It might be. I think so, actually. Very helpful. And... She teaches, writes about these old school teachings from, you know, the Pali canon.

[14:41]

That's the first language that Buddhism was written down in. It's Pali. And Theravadan teachings. Theravadan actually means old school, more or less. That's not a bad translation for Theravadan. The old school teachings. the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Brahma-Viharas, the Precepts. I wasn't going to read it, but over here on page 148, she says, in Western convert settings, Meditation is seen as the main aspect of Buddhist practice. However, in most of the Buddhist world, which is predominantly made up of Asian heritage practitioners, it actually begins and is grounded in the precepts.

[15:46]

The precepts can be seen as essential core values. And when you have studied and are living in accordance with your values, then your heart and your mind are naturally more peaceful and at ease before you go to do the mental training of meditative practices. I feel that so strongly. And as I sort of hinted at, I do believe that San Francisco Zen Center has more and more been heading in that direction, which is a really helpful thing. I'm going to hold up the book again. There's a lot of Dharma books out there, right? Which is a good thing, I feel. Go to the bookstore. There's so many. Really, go to the bookstore. And we got quite a few copies of this one. Highly, highly recommended. Lien brings up the image of Indra's net from the Avatamsaka Sutra.

[16:57]

If you don't know about Indra's net, it's this sort of... Indra is this god, I guess I'd call him. This net is this sort of cosmological... What? In the cosmos, there's this net that is a net of jewels. And each jewel in the net perfectly reflects and transmits to every other jewel. You know, this is the... teaching of the Avatamsaka Sutra, the mutually unhindered interpenetration of all space and time, which is as cosmic as it sounds. And Indra's net, you know, talk about it, think about it. Lien says, let's think less about the jewels. Well, that's each of us individually, maybe, huh?

[18:02]

And more about the net. What connects us? What brings us together? I think that in Western convert Buddhism, I get what she's saying. I don't want to make broad sweeping statements, but I'm going to anyway. I feel like in Western culture there's a lot of rugged individualism, personality, I, me, mine. And it's sort of, it's in there, like a lot, like pretty strongly. And it needs to be worked with. So I really, really, yeah, this less about the jewels, or as somebody once said to me in a practice discussion at Tassahara, she said, boy, we sure talk about ourselves a lot here, don't we?

[19:03]

I had to agree. more about what connects us, what brings us together in community as one body of practice, the whole world as one body of practice. the engaged Eightfold Path. Check it out. Check it out. I think you might be pretty amazed. She has drilled down into this. She has thoroughly absorbed and penetrated these teachings and then brought them to us in a fresh, creative way that reminds me of no less than Thich Nhat Hanh, actually.

[20:14]

also very creative. Bringing them to life. Bringing them to life and making them relevant. And touching the human heart. Speaking of the human heart. Suzuki Roshi often, according to Mel, what I gather is that he talked a lot about sitting zazen with a warm-hearted feeling. Bring a warm-hearted feeling to your practice. I think that's so important in the practice of zazen and in the rest of our practice. And Leanne, in this book, she talks about metta practice a lot.

[21:20]

Metta is a Pali word as well, and it means loving kindness. Here in San Francisco Zen Center, we chant the metta sutta. May all beings be happy. May they be joyous and live in safety. All living beings, whether weak or strong, in high or middle or low realms of existence. May all beings be happy. Extending this wish to everyone and living it. Above all, living it. That's all I want to practice anymore. Actually, I still enjoy Zazen. Don't get me wrong. Metta. Metta, metta, metta. That's what I want to practice these days. That's what I'm trying to practice these days. I engage in petitionary prayer. I say, O Bodhisattva Mahasavas, I, Ikfu Zenshin, Buddha's disciple, beseech and implore, please help me to be a kinder person.

[22:31]

Help me to be a more loving person. That's all I care about these days. The world's a pretty grim place these days. I feel. I feel. If you were hoping for a world where you could watch a hospital being invaded in real time on your phone, Congratulations, here it is. If you're hoping for a different world, maybe let's get to work on that. You all do know who Stevie Wonder is, right?

[23:42]

Anybody here not know who Stevie Wonder is? Very cool. when I was a teenager Stevie Wonder was what was happening for me and my friends 1972 talking book 1973 inner visions 1974 fulfilling this is first finale boom boom boom he was on fire Those last two I mentioned won the Grammy for Best Album back-to-back years. Yeah. Deservedly so. They're masterpieces. In 1975, Paul Simon won the Grammy for Best Album for his album, There Goes Ryman Simon.

[24:47]

He came on the stage and he said, I would like to thank Stevie Wonder for not releasing an album this year. What was he doing? Was he resting? Did he run out of steam? Oh, heck no. No, no, no, no. Stevie was working on his magnum opus. In my opinion, the greatest album ever recorded. I refer to Songs in the Key of Life, 1976. It's like, here's your Grammy, Stevie. Oh, here's another one. And here's another one. Yeah. Just amazing. I remember so well when that was released in 1976. I was living over on 51 Octavia Street, actually. Right near here. Just amazing. It was too much for some people.

[25:48]

Anyway, the first track on that album Anybody know? Anybody want to tell me? Do you know? All right. That's it, baby. Yes. That's it. Thank you. You win. Yep. And it was intentional to set the tone for the whole album. Love's in need. love today don't delay seniors in right away hates going round breaking many hearts stop it please before it's gone too far really sweet

[26:57]

sort of mournful R&B ballad. And it meant a lot to Stevie. He said, see if I can remember this. I don't know if I can quote him word for word, but something like, thank you, Wikipedia. He said it was really important to him And he came up with the title first. And then the rest of it just sort of followed. But what he said was love by itself is hollow. It's not effective unless it is fed. Unless it is nurtured. We have to bring In my opinion, this is our literal job as human beings.

[28:03]

It has to be, we have to bring our bodies and minds and hearts to the fore and do it. You can't just say, oh, love. Love is everywhere. That's not enough. That's not enough. I understand that in the practice period that's going on right now, you are studying the Genjo Koan of A.A. Dogen Zenji. And I thought, oh, This is a lot like near the end of the Genja Goan, Token says, Zen teacher Baucha of Mount Mayu was fanning himself. A monk approached and said, Hey, teacher, the nature of wind is permanent.

[29:15]

There's no place it doesn't reach. Why are you fanning yourself? Baucha just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply. You have to bring some skin in the game, is what I'm saying. We have to love. We can't just say, yeah, love, it's great. I support that. I'm in favor of it. No, it's something we do. Something we practice. Metta practice is essential in Buddhism. Well, and I hope I made it clear it's become very essential for me. That's just all I want to practice anymore. And I really thank Leanne for emphasizing that as well in her amazing, amazing book. Yikes.

[30:17]

Okay. So I would like to take a few minutes to Speaking of love, I think I'm finally ready to eulogize my student, Curtis Fabens, a very loving man, a gentle man, a gentleman and a gentle man, one of the best. Another thing that happened this past summer in the last week of July was I gave Dharma transmission to Curtis. I ordained him. in 2013 at Tassajara with Abbot Steve Stuckey on one side of me and Soja Mel Weissman on the other side of me. Oh my. And just the most amazing, joyful thing you can do is to give or receive Dharma Transmission.

[31:26]

Just an incredible thing. Yeah, the most joyful thing. Well, anyway. Anyway. Two weeks later, he passed away. Curtis had a very rare condition called probably mispronouncing it Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which affects the body's ability to produce collagen which is how he was able to sit full lotus like no problem just because he was hyper hyper flexible I don't see Eli here this morning but recently Curtis did the practice period here so I think some of you know him and I understand that Curtis was routinely dislocating his shoulder, and Eli would just pop it back into place.

[32:34]

And one of these splints on his hands, just to keep his hands in the right position. Anyway, another thing that it affects is the integrity of major arteries in the body, and if one of those ruptures. That's it. What happened in his sleep? Curtis loved formal practice so much. Something we had in common. Just geeking out on Zen. Loved it. And we studied. and practiced together for Dharma Transmission for a couple of years. And I was really moved by the depth of his practice and preparing for the actual ceremony with my dear friend and mentor, the abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, Hosan Allen Sinaki, you know, finding a way for Curtis because it really became so evident

[33:59]

how much ableism is baked into the forms and ceremonies of Soto Zen, along with the patriarchy and hierarchy. But you know, we changed it because everything changes. Everything changes. That's Buddhism. If you say San Francisco Zen Center is like this, Too late, it changed. Everything's changing. And that's a good thing. Especially when you are feeling a little down about how things are. Mahatma Gandhi, right? Be the change you want to see in the world. Bring it. Get skin in the game. Be love. I miss him so much.

[35:08]

I drove down the coast to visit with his widow. Linda and I are taking transition time here at City Center, which is almost over. Monday, we're going to hit the road. I thank you. Thank you for this time here. I think we've taken very good advantage of it. I was really happy to be able to go and visit with Caitlin and their lovely daughter, Layla, who is seven years old, has type 1 diabetes and leukemia. Such a great kid. And Caitlin, now she's a single mom. lot to do so I actually taped a screenshot of a GoFundMe page for Caitlin over there in the lobby and I think also paste that into the chat on the zoom and you can also find it

[36:34]

in San Francisco Zen Center's memorial pages. There's a memorial to Curtis on the website with a link to that GoFundMe page. I'd appreciate you taking a look at that, if you wouldn't mind. talk is to encourage you in your practice, right? I want to share something Suzuki Roshi said in this very Dharma Hall, Buddha Hall, a long time ago. All-time favorite Suzuki Roshi quote. But after you attain complete liberation from this world without escaping from it, you will have all the money there is.

[37:41]

So there is no problem. If every one of us, oh no, one out of ten people have this kind of freedom, we will have no war, no social problems. We will all be happy. With this kind of understanding of practice, we practice zazen. Practice zazen with a warm heart. with a loving heart, with a heart of metta. You know, I love the way he says, just one out of ten. Just one out of ten. Yeah. He believed that, you know, it's possible. We can do this. Humanity can do this. In the Mahayana, which is the beginnings of Zen Buddhism, comes from Mahayana Buddhism.

[38:48]

They don't use the Pali language so much they use Sanskrit. And the Sanskrit word for metta is maichi. And Maitreya Buddha, the future Buddha, his name, Maitreya, means the loving one. And what if Maitreya Buddha is just one out of ten? The teaching of love has been intimately transmitted by Buddhas and ancestors. Don't delay. Send yours in right away. Because love's in need of love today.

[39:49]

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, please visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[40:17]

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