Good evening. Good evening. Wow, Tassajara is packed this weekend. Nice. I'm really happy to be here. I'm really happy to be speaking to all of you. A special welcome to our friends from Santa Cruz Zen Center and Monterey Bay Zen Center. Welcome. Welcome. My name is Greg Fane. I'm the Tanto, or Head of Practice, here at Tassahara. I'd like to begin by thanking and acknowledging my teacher, Sojin Mel Weitzman, habit of Berkeley Zen Center, and to say that my talk is just to encourage you with your practice. In Song, China, there was a man who called himself Laman Dongpo.

[01:15]

A literary genius, he studied the way of dragons and elephants in the ocean of awakening. He descended deep chasms and soared freely through clouds. One night, when Dongpo visited Mount Lu, He was enlightened upon hearing the sound of the valley stream. He composed the following verse, which he presented to Changsong. Valley sounds are the long, broad tongue. Mountain colors are no other than the unconditioned body. 84,000 verses. are heard throughout the night. What can I say about this at a future time? This is coming from the opening paragraph, one of Teacher Dogen's essays.

[02:29]

He wrote a number of these essays compiled together to make, basically, his life's work, the treasury of the true drama I, the Shogunza. We call them fascicles. This essay is called Keisei Sanshoku, which means Valley Sounds, Not in Colors. So he takes the title for the essay from this poem, this famous poem. And it's a It's an essay about listening to the Dharma as being preached by the mountains, the flowers, the rivers, the natural world. And since I'm currently co-leading this retreat with Diane Renshaw and Flip Didner,

[03:36]

We're having so much fun. This retreat is the birds and wildflowers of Tassajara. And I thought, oh yes, valley sounds, robins, orioles, jays, the creek, mountain colors, Testament, Sticky Monkey, Larkspur, Indian Pink Brush. Actually, I could go on a long time. I've learned a lot. I've really learned a lot this weekend. We're very lucky, I feel, to be able to

[04:39]

come to a place like this and practice here and be supported in our practice by these mountains, these birds, these wildflowers. I hope I may never lose sight of that. When I first came to Tassajara in 2000, There was a young man here who was very senior to me in Tazahara because I was brand new in my first summer on the dining room crew. This person was in his late 20s, but he was on senior staff. And I saw he had a blue rakasu. When we take the precepts, we sew one of these rakasus.

[05:40]

So, like, cool. You got a blue rock suit. I got a blue rock suit, too. Nice. Who did you sew that rock suit with? And he told me. And I said, oh, so that's your teacher, huh? And he said, no. I was very surprised. I said, you took the precepts with that person and you don't consider them your teacher? He said, no. I just... took the precepts with him. And I said, well, who's your teacher? And he said, these mountains are my teacher. That was a big revelation. He wasn't just kidding. He wasn't yanking my chain. He wasn't just being all Zen with it. No, he was quite serious. Valley sounds are the long, broad tongue.

[06:44]

The long, broad tongue is one of the marks of the Buddha, the 32 visible marks of the Buddha's body. I can't name them. I think webbed feet is supposed to be one of them. The long, broad tongue is for preaching the pure Dharma. It's said that whenever the Buddha preached, whenever the Buddha gave a Dharma talk, everyone in the assembly heard exactly what they needed to hear. Everyone heard a different Dharma talk. They all felt like he was talking just to them. and they heard exactly what they needed to hear. So I wonder, can we listen to the Dharma being preached by Tassahara Creek, the bird song, and the wind sowing through the pines and the chaparral,

[08:08]

and hear exactly what we need to hear. So, Sojun Roshi always says, talk about what you're practicing with. What I've been practicing with lately, say so far this year the main thing that keeps coming up for me over and over again is appreciation and gratitude and how appreciation and gratitude open the door to generosity that's what I've been thinking about a lot so easy to appreciate western tangers, bullets orioles, a northern flicker, a red-tailed hawk.

[09:31]

They're stunning. But you see a robin. For a bird washer, they might see a robin and go, it's just a robin. Oh, that's just a robin. Robins make the most beautiful music. They're so liquid. Their song is so amazing. And stellar jays. If you live in Tassajara, you might find stellar jays really annoying. Some people say, we don't like stellar jays because they remind them of us. They have too many of our attributes. They're greedy and noisy and obnoxious. Way too territorial. They steal. They lie. They do. Stellashay will mimic a red-tailed hawk to fool the other birds.

[10:36]

And then you look at it and be like, what? I'm a hawk. You got a problem with that? But if we only saw a Stellar's Jay, like once a year, we would be like, whoa, look at that plumage. That's crazy. That blue. That crest. That beak. They're amazing. And a funny thing about them, we're so used to it. They make such funny noises. But they can also sing like a nightingale. Did you know that? Celestia can sing like a nightingale. If they feel like it. If they feel like it. If they're in the moon. It was so beautiful.

[11:39]

So beautiful. Like any salt bird. So. It's not always easy. to appreciate our life. It's not always easy to summon gratitude. But if we look, if we examine our life carefully, We find many things to be grateful for. Many, many things. Just this breath. Form and color. Suzuki Roshi used to say all the time, we should be grateful for our problems.

[12:45]

I think, what? Grateful for my problems? grateful for my problems. I'm annoyed by my problems. I'm fast by my problems. I want my problems to go away. But if you didn't have problems, you would have no life. You would have no practice. There'd be nothing going on. Our problems are a ground of enlightenment. that is annoying you lives in your heart," said Suzuki Roshi. Right now, I'm really feeling a lot of gratitude and appreciation for the community meeting we had last night with the summer work practice students.

[13:53]

just gathering together in the retreat hall and seeing each other. And you might think, well, what did we do? A kind of ceremony where we just read our guidelines for practice for the summer and everybody took a turn going around. Every voice was heard. But in one sense, it was quite mundane. There's opportunity to ask questions. Very few questions were asked. It seemed like everyone was like, we get it. We're on board. It was one of the fastest Shingi reviews I've ever seen. But it didn't feel like anybody was in a hurry. So in that sense, maybe kind of mundane. And in another way, I just felt so much love and warmth in that room.

[14:59]

In particular, some people offered comments after we were done. I felt all the comments and questions came from, how do we take care of each other? How do we take care of each other as a community? What's the best way to take care of each other as a community? I feel like it was coming from a place of pure love. And I have a lot of appreciation for that. Taking care of each other, it's giving. In Buddhism we say dana paravita, dana meaning generosity, paravita meaning the perfection, perfection of generosity. Although actually, as I said in my class, paramita is an intentional pun.

[16:02]

It has two meanings. In Sanskrit, it's a pun. Because paramita also means crossing over. And there's a lot of talk of crossing over in Buddhism. Crossing over from samsara to nirvana. From suffering to liberation. From the relative to the absolute. but we're always crossing over. Sojourn Loshi says, maybe we have one foot on both banks all the time. Every breath we're crossing over. It's about connection. Appreciation. Begets connection. Connection opens the door to generosity, to giving.

[17:04]

Having a generous heart. Cultivating a heart of generosity. In a different classical, teacher Dogen talks about giving and he offers some advice which might seem kind of strange. I mentioned this to the retreat group today as we were walking up to the helicopter pad and looking at the many, many wildflowers. Dogen says when we practice giving, we can give flowers on a distant mountainside as an offering to the Buddha.

[18:21]

How would I give flowers on a distant mountainside? as an offering to the Buddha. They're not my flowers. I don't own them. They're not mine to give. And how even can I give them to the Buddha? What, I'm supposed to go over there and harvest all that larkspur and lupins and poppies, gather them up as an offering to the Buddha? No. We do this in our hearts. In our hearts. In your heart. Appreciating the beauty of flowers on a distant mountainside. You open to that.

[19:27]

And opening to that, you realize it's not yours, it's not Buddha's. The flowers just belong to the flowers. The mountains belong to the mountains. But in our appreciation, in our gratitude, our hearts are opened. So we offer it to the Buddha. The Buddha being our awakened hearts. The heart that sees connection. The heart that sees the emptiness of the three meals, giver, receiver, and gift. as Thich Nhat Hanh says, we inter-are.

[20:35]

We only exist interdependently. Practicing generosity, we cross over. We make that connection. We know without a doubt We're not alone. With total trust, we know we are not alone. This is what we're doing here in Tazahara. This is what we're doing here in Bodhisattva Training Academy. In case you had any doubts, all year round, Practice period. Guest season. Guest season is Dhanaparamita 24-7.

[21:40]

Believe it. Believe it. Guest season is the emptiness of the three wheels. Who is nourishing? Who is being nourished? Good question. Some of you are very familiar with the vows of our old ancestor, Eihei. Eihei kosou hotsugamon. We're chanting that in noon service. Did you know that the Eihei kosou hotsugamon comes from this festival? In case you wondered, it is parts of this Valley of Silence Mountain Colors put together as a sort of litany of devotion.

[23:05]

Dogen was very much devotional type. We think because he was such a genius and literary giant, had the entire Buddhist canon at his fingertips. Well, how could he possibly also be a devotional type on top of that? But he was. He was very much a faith type. and says we vow with all beings from this you want to share with me just a little bit we vow with all beings from this life on throughout the countless lies to hear the true dharma that will be near and near no doubt will arise in us more will be lack of faith

[24:14]

Thank you. Wow. How beautiful. We vow to hear the true Dharma. We need to commit. We need to commit to gratitude, to generosity. We need to commit to hearing the Dharma being preached by the mountains and waters. It's not always easy. We have to remind ourselves, even in such a place as Tazahara, we can get blasé we can forget in the midst of cooking your 345th guest meal you might forget whatever it is

[25:40]

how precious this life is, how rare the opportunity to appreciate this life and then share that appreciation with others. In the Ehe Kosohotsugamon, it goes on to say, Although our past evil karma has greatly accumulated, indeed being the cause and condition of obstacles in practicing the way, may all Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way be compassionate to us and free us from karmic effects, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance. So, indeed, our past evil karma has greatly accumulated It has greatly accumulated.

[26:46]

People say that we are now living in the geological epoch called the Anthropocene, a time in the history of this planet where human activity has created so much change that it will affect the composition biology of life on earth long after our species is gone. It had that much effect on the planet. Past evil karma is catching up with us. The obstacles in practicing the way are not accumulation of greenhouse gases or acidification of the oceans or plastic and concrete everywhere or accelerated species extinction.

[28:21]

Those aren't the obstacles. Obstacles are despair, hopelessness, cynicism. One of the scientists said, the problems that we face, climate change, are solvable. Science has the answers to addressing all these problems of climate change and income inequality, tearing up the earth for all its resources.

[29:22]

That's not the problem. The problem is greed, hate, and delusion. Science doesn't have the answers for that. The practice of generosity, Dhanaparamita, in the Lotus Sutra, talks about how bodhisattvas practice generosity. It says that bodhisattvas give three gifts. They give material aid, things such as clothing, shelter, food, medicine. Bodhisattvas give teaching. They offer the teaching of the Dharma to help the eons. And the third gift that Bodhisattvas give is non-fear, confidence, not giving in to despair and helplessness and cynicism.

[30:50]

All Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way, Free us from karmic effects. It says, if you are in Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. When to practice the heart of generosity, When we open our eyes to the reality of our interdependent life, we can offer this confidence to others. And that's a great gift. Well, thank you for your attention.

[31:54]

That's all I've got to say tonight. There is time for a question or two, if there is a question or two. Any bird stories? Bird stories? I forgot. I set a dinner with my retreat. I said, the only question about my talk is how many bird stories do I limit it to? I'm pretty much always bird watching if I'm outdoors. Not even, because I can be in my cabin right now. There's a nest of black Phoebes. They've been, what's the word, brooding? Mama has been brooding on these eggs for a little while now. So pretty soon, there's going to be little nestlings any day now.

[32:59]

It could happen tomorrow. I'll have a retreat. Wouldn't that be awesome? Yeah, so I don't even have to leave my cabin to bird watch. I can lay in bed on a personal day and watch Papa bring insects. Fly catchers, you know, they catch insects in midair. And then he's bringing him up and feeding mama. He's feeding up to mama. And our bedroom window is like streaked with... Which is all full of Isaac parts. It's very interesting. Okay. Here's one. In... In... Practice period, we do this rather strange ceremony, which I love. It's not everybody's favorite. The ceremony is called Nenju, which is at the end of the practice week.

[34:01]

Maybe that's why I love it. It means personal day is coming up. We all have the same personal day in practice period. The ceremony, we do this thing. We line up on this wooden walkway in front of the Zendo, facing each other, and we stand there. If you're a new monk, if you're a Tangaryo monk, You're standing there for like 20 minutes wondering, what the heck is going on? Later on, you'll learn a little bit more about what's going on. But your part of the ceremony, to begin with, is you're just standing there, absolutely quiet, maybe wondering what's going on. And so, roughly 10 years ago, I was in Nanju, and it was dusk. So it's the evening. And it must have been late fall. The days were getting shorter. It was just twilight, just twilight, as we were doing the ceremony.

[35:06]

Just standing there, perfectly quiet, this great horned owl came and landed on that maple tree right there. what are you doing? Temple Grandin says, curiosity is the main animal emotion. So while the Tandaria must be wondering, what's going on? Here comes this gray horn now. What's going on? Just looking at it. Nobody freaked. People are just like, kind of looking with, you know, And it flew away. How convenient, we're out of time.

[36:09]

Thank you very much for your attention. Good night. May our intention equally extend to every...

[36:24]

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