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. Good evening. You know, if you want to sit closer, it's fine. you're happy where you are, that's okay too. I'm really happy to be here tonight. Yeah. Talking with all of you. My name is Greg. I'm the Tanto, or Head of Practice, here in Tassajara. I'd like to start my talk

[01:00]

by thanking and acknowledging my teacher, Sojan Roshi, Mel Weitzman, the abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, and to say that my talk is just to encourage you in your practice. This is the 6th of May. So, Yeah, guest season will be a week old tomorrow. For some of you who've been here a month, some of you got here a month ago at the beginning of work period and will be continuing on for quite a while. It might feel amazing to think,

[02:01]

Wow, guest season really is not yet a week old. Yeah, so much has happened. It's beautiful. And it's, I think, for some of us, been kind of rough. Been kind of like finding my bearings. What's going on? Where am I supposed to be right now? But it's beautiful. actually it's beautiful so yesterday I taught the first class of guest season I taught a class on Dogen's Zazen instructions the Fukan Zazengi recommending or strongly recommending Zazen for everybody the ceremony of Zazen for all people.

[03:04]

And people ask me, was I going to talk about Fukan Zazengi tonight? And I said, no, I didn't think so. I don't think I want to talk about that. I kind of had enough of that yesterday. But I'll probably talk about Zen. Probably talk about Zazen. It's fun teaching the class and fun teaching zazen. It's great to give zazen instruction. Every time I give zazen instruction, I'm really encouraged in my practice. I think, wow, that's great. I should try that. This stuff I'm talking about, that sounds great. carries over into my sitting. It's like, yeah, zazen. Nice.

[04:07]

And the same goes for giving zazen instruction instruction, which I'm going to do in four more days on the 10th. There'll be another chance. I'll give another round of empowering instruction. The Ceremony of Empowering Zazen Instructors. So those of you who are eligible, have not had a chance to do that yet, we're going to get to you. And talking about Zen, talking about Zazen, I think of my friend... Ingen Breen, I used to practice with here, who is now teaching in Ireland. And when Ingen gave a talk, he very often used to say, if what I'm saying isn't resonating with you, if you're not connecting with what I'm talking about, that's fine.

[05:15]

Just Sitsazen. Just Sitsazen. So what is Zen? Good question. I was in the airport in Texas on the way back from Kosho McCall's mountain seat ceremony. Linda and I went to the ceremony to install Kosho as the abbot of Austin Zen Center. And on the way back, I'm in the airport. I'm walking around in the airport. And I'm wearing my black denim jacket with a gigantic A.H.I.G. crest on the back. And a black baseball cap that has got the kanji for Zen right in the front.

[06:19]

You know, like the world's biggest Zen nerd. Just like... I'm amazed my wife will be seen in public with me. I'm just... She must really like me. And I'm buying like a coffee and a bagel or something. I forget. And the woman says, that's a cool cap. I said, thank you very much. She said, what does it say? And I said, well, that character means Zen. And she sort of gave me a look. And I said, Zen means meditation. And she said, oh. Oh. thought it meant prosperity. It was close. But, yeah, Zen just means meditation. Zazen means sitting meditation. But what is that? All the great ones, all the great ones over the centuries just emphasize that

[07:31]

Posture and breathing. Posture and breathing. That's the first two chapters of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Chapter 1, posture. Chapter 2, breathing. Zazen is body practice. Zazen is embodied practice. So, there's really not a whole lot to talk about. When I give zazen instruction, a lot of it is kind of like teaching a yoga class. I just emphasize the details of posture. How to maintain this posture. This posture, which many Zen masters,

[08:32]

Equate with Buddha's mind. Not separate from Buddha's mind. Dogen called taking up this posture is the Buddha mind seal. Same thing. One minute of zazen is one minute of Buddha. Upright. Stable. At ease. Poised. Your arms kind of akimbo. Lou Hartman, the late great Lou Hartman, used to say, as though to hold an egg in your armpit. your shoulder blades sliding down your back like two dinner plates sliding straight down in this lift in your sternum with your shoulders rolled back.

[09:47]

You're open. A yoga teacher would say, this is a heart-opening pose. You take up this posture. And as I'm talking about it, I'm noticing my body is just like Lifting up. Feeling that slight lift in the sternum. Open. Exposed. Vulnerable. We take up this posture and we say, just sitting. Shikantaza. just sitting. It's object-less meditation. There's nothing to evaluate. There's nowhere to go.

[10:47]

There's nothing to achieve. It's just being here completely with your whole body and mind completely present. Stay present for what arises. Because it's objectless meditation, it's non-dual. Because there's nowhere to go and nothing to get, you're already there. You already have it. Therefore, this present moment, posture, and breathing is the complete expression of Buddha's mind.

[11:53]

That's my story, and I'm sticking by it. the great Zen master, Kodo Sawaki, said, we don't practice to get enlightenment. We practice being pulled around by enlightenment. And I think that's what we're doing in Tassajara. 24-7. Practice period, guest season, We're just practicing being pulled around by enlightenment. So it starts with sitting. It starts with sitting. It starts with zazen.

[12:58]

But it's not just sitting. Just sitting is not the whole of it. We can't be sitting. in seated meditation all the time. We have to eat and sleep and be with each other and work, share. So in my class I said that the Fukansa Zengi was the first thing Dogen wrote when he got back to Japan from China. The second thing he wrote is the first fascicle, became the first fascicle in the Shobha Genso is called the Bendowa. Talk on the wholehearted practice of the way. And the Bendowa is kind of his manifesto.

[14:02]

Fukan Zazengi is his Zazen instructions and Bendowa is sort of his manifesto. And sometimes in practice period, we chant a section of the bendawa, which has got the kind of funny title of Jijus, excuse me, that's Japanese. Our English translation is, are you ready? Self-receiving and employing samadhi. That's a mouthful. But that's what we call it. The kokyo introduces it. Self-receiving and employing samadhi. Kastanahashi just calls it receptive samadhi in his translation of Bendawa. But that section, the part that we chant, is so beautiful. I never tire of it. If you're curious, we sell the sutra book in the stone office. Shameless plug. It's like Dogen's hymn.

[15:11]

It's like using the most beautiful poetic language imaginable. I like to think it's his attempt to describe what's really happening in Zazen. Outside of your subjective experience. And after all this beautiful poetry, after all this wonderful sentiment... towards the end, the end of what we chant, he says, this is not only practice while sitting, it is like a hammer striking emptiness. Before and after, its exquisite peel permeates everywhere. This is not only zazen, this is not only practice while sitting, It is like a hammer striking emptiness before and after its exquisite peel permeates everywhere.

[16:16]

What could that possibly mean? Our sitting informs everything. A hammer striking emptiness. Our sitting is like a hammer striking emptiness when the striker meets the bell. Jeff. There's the moment of the striker meeting the bell. And there's the exquisite peel that goes out and out and out endlessly outside of space, outside of time. When you just sit, when you're just present for what's happening, it's a mystery beyond understanding.

[17:24]

We just accept it. And it's very effective. Can you hear it? You could hit that bell and go make a cup of tea and come back to the Zendo and still hear it. This is our daily life. This is everything we do, everyone we meet. This is one hit on the bell is one guest season. The exquisite peel permeates everywhere. The allusion to the hammer striking emptiness comes from a poem that Dogen's master in China, Ru Jing, wrote called The Wind Bell.

[18:33]

Ru Jing said, the entire body is a mouth hanging in emptiness. Whether the wind blows from the east, west, south, or north, it joins the whole universe in chiming out prajna. Ting ting, ting ting, ting ting. So when our practice, our life, when our life is informed by not holding on to fixed views, when our life is informed by staying present for what happens, when our life is informed by openness, open-heartedness, readiness, we can meet everything, whether the wind blows from east, west, north, or south.

[19:35]

We're just there. We're just ready. We're present. It's okay, actually. You're free. A few days ago, in the Zendo, I said something like, let this noble posture give you the courage to meet your life completely. This noble posture, the Sanskrit word Arya, noble,

[20:37]

you might think, oh, there's nothing noble about me. Oh dear, you can't possibly be talking about me. I'm kind of messed up. No, I have issues. I've got problems. I've got psychological problems. I'm not a bit noble. Yeah, it's true. among which are self-esteem issues. That's a big problem. Can you give yourself the permission to practice? Well, actually, the beauty of it, the miracle of it, is we come here, we come together, and we take up this posture together. And you can begin to believe it. Okay, messed up I may be, but I'm going to do this. It feels okay.

[21:42]

It feels like my friends are doing it. It might just be okay. So the good news is you're not alone. That's why we say the Arya Sangha. It's the scriptures. They talk about the Arya Sangha, the noble Sangha. Together, together, we take up this noble posture. Together, we are the noble Sangha, the Arya Sangha. It takes courage. Courage is of the heart. Lakul. Encourage means heart.

[22:45]

It takes heart. Zazen is a heart-opening pose. This talk is just to encourage you in your practice. And I'm not talking about like or doing something incredibly dangerous or risky. I'm talking about everyday courage. The kind of courage it takes to meet your life completely. Dogen talked in the Zendo sometimes too.

[23:50]

And Asia was there writing it all down, apparently. The courage of patch-robed monks. Dharmahal discourse. The courage of a fisherman is to enter the water without avoiding deep-sea dragons. The courage of a hunter... is to travel the earth without avoiding tigers. The courage of a general is to face the drawn sword before him and see death as just like life. What is the courage of patch-robed monks? After a pause, Dogen said, Spread out your bedding and sleep. Set out your bowls and eat rice. Exhale through your nostrils.

[24:55]

Radiate light from your eyes. Do you know there is something that goes beyond? With vitality, eat lots of rice and then use the toilet. Transcend your personal prediction of future Buddhahood from Gautama. That's it. That's how patro monks in Tassajara practice. You know, we just do it. We just do it. Get up. We follow the schedule. We work together, live together, eat together, sit together. And that takes a certain kind of courage.

[25:58]

Exhale through your nostrils. Radiate light from your eyes. Are you radiating light from your eyes? Yes, yes, yes, you are. Indeed you are. Transcend your personal prediction of future Buddhahood from Gautama. I told you, those of you who were in the class Lotus Sutra there it is again. Your personal prediction of Buddhahood. It's not about your practice. It's about the Arya Sangha, living together, working together, sitting together, eating together, going to the baths, washing dishes, sweeping floors, playing bachi.

[27:20]

enlightened activity and as Linda said in her talk it's generosity you know it's the practice of dhanaparamita and what is the greatest gift you can give non-fear that's the gift that bodhisattvas give. Courage to meet our life and to meet each other completely. Thanks for your attention. 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.

[28:35]

Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[28:44]

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