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. Welcome to Green Gulch, to our Sunday morning program and our special Sunday celebration of of Buddha's birthday. How many of you didn't know it was going to be Buddha's birthday today? It just showed up, many of you. So, I'm going to tell the story of the Buddha's birth, which is a story that's been told and retold for centuries, for millennia, and And the lecture is a little bit shorter this morning so that we can go out to the lawn for the celebration and ceremony and pageant which we'll be performing.

[01:13]

First of all, I wanted to thank you all for making your way to Green Gulch. I know with Doyle Drive closed and dire warnings about crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. Anyway, those of you who set forth and made it here this morning from across the Golden Gate. Thank you very much for coming. I just wanted to say something about this pageant that we're about to see. This, I'm not crying, my eyes water. The pageant is a poem was, It comes from a poem written by the former abbot of Zen Center, Norman Fisher, and I think he wrote it over 25 years ago, and we, with the help of Annie Hallett, who's a wonderful mask maker and customer and director and actor, we enacted the poem, which is the poem of the Buddha's birth, but with a very particular

[02:27]

wonderful slant to it given by Norman Fisher. So I want to thank Annie for all her work and Norman and everyone else in all these years that have helped with the pageant from children who then grew up to help other children and participate and all the different directors and people who've donated their, volunteered their time to work on this. So I hope everyone enjoys it. So this is the story of the Buddha's birth, and it's a legend, a kind of legend and teaching story all rolled into one. And I think the meaning for us today, I'll try and bring forth after I tell you the story. So... Once upon a time in India, there was a king, Suddhodana, and his queen, Queen Maya, and they were the leaders of the Shakya clan, or tribe.

[03:43]

And one night, Queen Maya had a dream, and the dream was that a large six white elephant came to her, came to her closely in the dream and went in through the side of her body and kind of disappeared. And when she told that dream later to King Suddhodana, she then realized that she was with child. which was a very, very happy occasion. They were very happy about it. And when she got closer to the time to give birth, as was the custom, she wanted to return to her family's house. And she set out with her waiting women and a whole caravan to go back some distance to where her family lived.

[04:45]

But on the way... she actually went into labor, and it was in a kind of grove of trees, a forest called Lumbini. And she entered Lumbini, it was a beautiful place, and you can actually visit Lumbini, it's in Nepal actually now, what we call Nepal. And she gave birth standing up, holding on to a tree, This is interesting, the Buddha was born with his mother holding a tree. He was enlightened under a tree, and he died between two trees. This is a noted detail in the story of the Buddha. So Queen Maya standing there gave birth to the Buddha from her right side, and it's wonderful to see some of these figures of Queen Maya with this little baby coming out of her right side. Nepalese statues. And at that, when the baby was born, it was very unusual.

[05:54]

There were very unusual signs. First of all, his eyes were wide open, and in the sutras it says he had long eyelashes and limpid, dark eyes. And he looked around, and he actually stood up and walked. And he took seven steps. They say seven steps. Sometimes they say in the four directions. So seven steps. Or seven steps in the ten directions. And then he spoke. And he pointed to the heaven. And he pointed to the earth. And he said. In heaven and earth. I alone am the world honored one. Now somewhat. One might think, well, that's sort of arrogant, you know. This little baby. So this is a teaching story.

[07:01]

What does that mean? I alone, between heaven and earth, am the world-honored one. The world-honored one. So... At this time when the Buddha was born, he came out of her side very fresh and kind of purified. And even so, the Nagas that are like dragon-like creatures who live under the water, Nagas poured water, both cold and warm water, cool and warm water, came pouring down to bathe the baby Buddha and bathe Queen Maya, I think, as well. And all sorts of fabulous things happened. Flowers flowed and poured out of the sky. And people who were arguing stopped arguing. And animals, does this sound familiar? Animals who usually would be at odds with one another laid down together in peace.

[08:02]

And all sorts of peaceful, quieting, happiness rose and covered the earth. to cover the world at the birth of the baby Buddha. So there was all sorts of rejoicing. So soon after that, about seven days later, Queen Maya died. And in the story it says she was so filled with joy. But I think 2,500 years ago, Dying in childbirth or children dying was probably not so uncommon. And her sister, who was the second wife of King Suddhodana at that time, there were more than one wives, took over. She became foster mother as well as aunt to the baby Buddha, to Shakyamuni Buddha, he was called.

[09:07]

And, you know, the story proceeds into, you know, the Buddha's childhood or Shakyamuni, Siddhartha, actually he was named Siddhartha, became Shakyamuni, the kind of head of the Shakyamuni clan, the wise one, the Muni of the Shakyamuni clan, but he was named Siddhartha. And some of you may have read that story of Siddhartha. And all throughout his childhood, the stories that are told about him are stories of compassion. I'll just tell you one, which was his cousin was hunting, and he learned all the arts of a royal son. And his cousin was hunting and shot down a bird and was looking for it and couldn't find it, and Siddhartha found it first. and said, this bird belongs to me, and took the arrow out and was caring for it.

[10:10]

And when his cousin came around, he said, but I shot that bird. I shot him down. He belongs to me. And they brought this to the king, this fight over the bird. And the king said, because Siddhartha brought compassion and kindness and is caring for the bird, the bird belongs to Siddhartha. So these... Even as a very young child, compassionate actions were part of how he lived. So today, for the pageant, we'll retell the story in verse and then enact each of the verses. And as I usually like to say, because I often am invited to give this lecture, you will see right before your very eyes the six tusked elephant come and meet with Queen Maya and all the rest of it you will actually be able to see and enjoy.

[11:13]

So what is the meaning of all these celebrations around the birth of the Buddha? And what is Buddha? Who is Buddha? I think it's really important to understand right from the beginning that Shakyamuni Buddha was human being, even though this legend has this kind of miraculous birth. It may have very well been, you know, birth coming out of her side could have been some kind of C-section or something. It's hard to know the legendary and the actuality, but not to misunderstand these tales to mean other than that he was born of human parents into this world, into a human world, to live as a human being and suffer with the suffering and the joys of a human being.

[12:13]

So this is Shakyamuni Buddha's life, which is the same, not different from our lives. The potential to wake up, which is what Buddha means. The word Buddha means the awakened one, or... The root of the word Buddha, bud, means awake. So the Buddha was the awakened one, and Buddhism is awake-ism, if you wanted to call it that. This is the practice and religion of waking up to our true self, which is later on what happened to Siddhartha. He said, entered into a life of practice. And what were the reasons that he entered into a life of practice? He was born into this beautiful, loving family with everything you could ask for, you know, in terms of material needs and education and delights.

[13:20]

But that wasn't satisfying. There was something missing. And also... How it is that he came into this world is said that he entered this world, I alone am the world honored one, he entered into this world out of compassion for beings, out of a vow to live for the benefit of others. And this vow, the strength of this vow, the power of this vow, just like the power of any vow, created the conditions to enter this world and live and work and wake up in order to help beings. So this is the Buddha's vow. This is the only reason Buddhas appear in the world, to help beings out of compassion for the many. All beings, people, animals and plants.

[14:22]

I think in other languages rather than English, there isn't the categories of beings are not so separate. Like in Chinese, it's just living beings, and in that category are people, animals, and plants. They're not people as a separate kind of subsection. It's living beings. And in the case of the Buddha's vows, it was to be of benefit to all living beings. So this strong vow brought him into this world. So this is, this birthday is not just the birthday of Siddhartha, Gautama, who became Shakyamuni Buddha, but it's the birthday of our own potential, our own Buddha nature of which we partake, or that which we are already, whether we realize it or not, which is what the Buddha realized,

[15:30]

All beings, without exception, are completely and thoroughly awakened in their nature. But because of confusion and delusions and grasping and all sorts of difficult states that we find ourselves in, emotionally and mentally and physically, we don't realize it. So this is what he realized. and what he then taught, how to realize this, how all beings can realize this, this, what is our true self, the awakened self. So this, I would say this is why we all celebrate this. It's not just the Buddha's birthday, but it's the birth for all of us of this,

[16:32]

of a way to live and practice that is in alignment with our true nature. The first celebration of Buddha's birthday at Zen Center was in 1970. There may have been earlier celebrations at Sokoji, the temple that Suzuki Roshi, in Japantown that Suzuki Roshi was the priest for. But when he started with a number of students that wanted to practice with him, a new group called the San Francisco Zen Center, the first Buddha's birthday was April 8th, 1970. And there's a Dharma talk that he gave about this. And I just wanted to read a few excerpts. Actually, I just listened to it this morning because you can hear them as well as read the transcripts. So these stories about water falling from the sky and flowers and all these things, I understand as celebratory images and stories that delight, that actually meet how we might feel internally.

[17:56]

And then we tell a story that describes that, whether it's True or not, what's true? The great happiness upon encountering a teaching that wakes us up, it has an immeasurable quality. So how do you describe that? Well, you say flowers flowed from the sky or water, but we don't actually know. And he mentions this, that we don't actually, we just know that for hundreds of years, thousands of years, People have poured, as part of the ceremony, poured sweet tea over the head of the baby Buddha. And we'll have a pagoda covered with flowers out on the lawn that you're pleased, you're welcome to sometime during the day, during the morning, during the afternoon, there's little ladles and you can come and pour scoops of water over the baby Buddha who's standing like this so you can celebrate by pouring the water

[18:59]

So they were doing that at Zen Center. And usually the baby Buddha is a little tiny figure. It's not a great big giant like this figure we have on our altar. It's usually a little guy. And so that's what we have too. So Suzuki Roshi is mentioning that they're preparing for the ceremony and doing all sorts of cleaning and decorating the altar. And he says that they sang... happy birthday, you know, those are happy birthday to the Buddha. And he laughs, you know, and says that's the first time that's ever happened, that the Buddha was sung happy birthday to. He got a big kick out of that. So he says after we, you know, clean things and make this flower shrine and do all these things, he thinks it's a meaningful thing to do. However... It would be awful, he says, if we lose the spirit behind it, if it just becomes, well, I guess it's time for Buddha's birthday and get out the old pagoda, you know, and I guess we've got to gather flowers.

[20:14]

Okay, Buddha's birthday, you know, bathe the Buddha. Okay, done, got that one done, you know. So he mentions that it's very meaningful, the flower shrine and altar, we have, I think this is very meaningful, but if we lose the spirit, maybe this could be very, you know, awful thing to just decorate without taking care of things. So the thought of not taking care of our whole life, and then Buddha's birthday comes and we take care of that too, but to somehow emphasize, oh now it's time for the ceremony, but not take care of everything else, and cleaning and attention to the details of our life throughout the day, throughout the year, then we'd lose, really, the spirit of what it's all about, of what our practice is all about.

[21:14]

And it wouldn't have any sense anymore, any meaning. And then he says, but if we practice, continue to practice like we have been practicing, something which is very meaningful and beautiful will result. And then he mentions that he received a gift from Japan from the kind of headquarters Soto School, which is the school this lineage comes from, the Soto School, gave him a gift kind of acknowledging that he was bringing Zen to the United States in this way, they gave him a gift of a yellow robe, which is a very fancy robe like this, but probably brocade or, I don't know, silk or something. And he says, and he wore it to Buddha's birthday. So he said, they allowed me to wear a yellow robe. I think it's a ranking of some kind that he was allowed to wear this robe, and they gave him this gift, and he said,

[22:17]

That is the robe I wear, he said, I wore for the first Buddhist birthday in Zen Center. I don't know why, but I do not like that kind of, you know, beautiful. Some things too beautiful. And I read in some notes that I had that he was given this yellow robe, this very fancy robe, but he didn't really like it. You know, Suzuki Roshi... he was really concerned about the real meaning of our practice in life together, not fancy altars or fancy robes or the trappings of so-called spiritual life. He was interested in how we treat one another, whether we wake up to our true self, whether we wake up or not to our true self, that we make the effort to live in accordance with the teaching as we understand it, as far as our eyes of practice can see.

[23:30]

These were the important things. How we get along together, how we speak to each other, and I think that way of practice has been, the effort has been made to pass this on year after year, just the way it had been passed on to Suzuki Roshi, from Shakyamuni Buddha. The teaching has been handed down, passed on, cared for and passed on from generation to generation to generation. So this birthday, you know, you could almost say that the birthday really is happening today in each one of us. the birth of an awakened, an inclination or turning towards awakening, turning towards practice, turning towards wanting to live in enlightenment with our truest nature, which is a nature of compassion, actually, and kindness and caring.

[24:34]

So I feel very grateful. to have been exposed to this teaching and been given a chance to practice and to continue to make a place where people can come to practice and to make an effort to not get sidetracked, not be distracted by all the distractible things that are possible, but to come back over and over again to... the most simple things, really, of compassion and kindness and generosity and living upright, just like our posture and sitting, whether it's in a chair or on a cushion or standing, for that matter, a kind of uprightness in this world and readiness to meet whatever happens, whoever is there. So Suzuki Hiroshi was saying, you know, how he didn't like this kind of beautiful, super, super fancy beautiful.

[25:52]

Some things are too beautiful. But then he said, but today I felt something quite different feeling. I felt something quite different feeling. I appreciate their appreciation of our effort. The fact that they gave him the robe meant people saw the effort that was being made. carry on the teaching. This is the most meaningful thing. If we make our efforts, something will result in this country. And the Buddha and Bodhisattva's vow is to continue our way forever. With this spirit, we should celebrate Buddha's birthday, passing on the teaching and continuing it forever. So this vow that catapulted, you might say, the Buddha into this birth is a vow that each person can take as well, the vow to live for the benefit of others, to live with compassion as the center of our wisdom.

[26:59]

The word compassion, karuna, the etymological word means dented happiness, which is kind of an interesting concept actually and I think the you know when we suffer with compassion there is in some way that's hard to describe a kind of joy and happiness when we are with beings in this way so our happiness the dampness is that there's also suffering you know understanding of suffering being with suffering but what else what other what else do we want to do in this life besides be with one another when we when when we're needed you know when when we need one another what higher happiness or joy might there be so karuna or compassion has dented happiness

[28:03]

The talk is supposed to end a little bit early, so I'm gonna check my watch if I can read it here. So the Buddha, upon awakening, we call this taking the backward step. He kind of turned away for a time from being in the world and doing the regular worldly activities and really concentrated on practicing his meditation. And so each of us can benefit greatly from the restorative practice of meditation finding a quiet place, taking some time every day, either at work or home or with others in a group, to just sit quietly.

[29:19]

This has great benefit, not just for yourself, but for everyone who comes in contact with you, everyone who lives with you and speaks with you. And this has benefit for all beings. when you are taking good care of yourself and turn the light inward, take a backward step for a time. But our practice is not just backward step. If it was, we would just fall over backwards. We have backwards and forwards and forwards and backwards. So we take the backward step and then we take the forward step. And the forward step is... coming forth with gift-bestowing hands. So in the story of the Buddha, he took the backward step and woke up. And for a moment there, for a few days there, he was just enjoying his realization.

[30:22]

His realization that he was not separate from every single thing and thought and being. It was just one thing. one reality of existence. I alone am the world honored one. I alone am the world honored one. There was just one. There was just one reality of existence that he realized. And each of us is also one with this reality of existence, whether we realize it or not. So in this backward step, when he actually realized what he had stepped forth as a baby to announce, there was a time there when he thought, nobody will understand this. Who will understand it? There's nobody. And they're already completely part of this reality of existence anyway, so they don't really need to know, because whether they know it or not, they are, and everything's okay.

[31:28]

But then... there's all this suffering you know so there was a request from various heavenly beings the story says please teach there are beings who are ready whose the veils over their eyes are very thin you know they're they're ready please teach so this request to teach was you know fell on fertile ground and he decided to come forward, taking a forward step. He had taken the backward step, and now he took the forward step to come forth and teach. But that doesn't mean there's no more backward steps. You need the backwards and the forwards and the backwards and the forwards every day, actually. You know, to think that we can go forth with gift-bestowing hands without, you know... Taking care of our life in the most thorough way is a kind of dream.

[32:31]

So we take the backward step and the forward step, and this is a balanced life. So each one of us has a chance, has almost the, you know, once you've heard the teaching, now you've heard it. Now you have it. So keep it well is the beginning of a poem. Now you have it. So keep it well. And you might think, I wish I didn't hear it, you know. Because maybe that means I have to practice differently. Maybe I've got to change my life, which as we know is pretty hard. At any rate, now you've heard it, that you are not separate from the complete reality of existence, that all of us could go, I alone am the world honored one. That was his realization. But it's not enough to just hear it.

[33:36]

We have to practice with this. We have to put this into our daily practices of body, speech and mind. It can't be just some idea. Even though the Dharma is abundant in each one of us, it's not realized unless we practice it. So I think the Buddha's vow to live for the benefit of beings, his skillful means, the skillful way he set this forth was to teach, to walk the earth and encounter whoever he encountered and teach them according to what they needed. He dispensed medicine according to what a particular person or group did. was ready to hear and needed. That was his skill. He is sometimes called the great physician. And this is not a kind of God-like quality.

[34:37]

This is our human quality, this potential to meet thoroughly each person, each being. But we have to meet ourselves as well. can't be just forward step, backwards and forwards. So I'm going to end now, and I think the next thing that happens, probably Carolyn will be saying a few things about the schedule, but we'll be ending and then repairing to the lawn to see the marvels of the story of the birth of the Buddha. 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.

[35:39]

Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[35:56]

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