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. Welcome to the final talk on the final day of a three-day sushin and the final day also of a one-month intensive where we have been diligently studying Ehe Dogen's Tenzo Kyokun, which, what is that? The Tenzo Kyokun is the instructions to the head cook. It's one of the first, one of the first early writings of Dogen after he came back from his trip to China, which is an arduous journey. And it is a...

[01:01]

instruction and description of enlightened activity and enlightened mind. This past month, there's so much to cover. We didn't even get close. But we can just trust that... even one dipping of the toe, you know, we entered the whole ocean. So I just wanted to start by thanking all of the former Tenzos that came to give talks during this last month, starting with the first Tenzo in our immediate family, Edward Brown, Tassahara Tenzo, all the way up to the current Tenzos at Green Gulch, and Tassajara and here.

[02:05]

Thank you. And one thing I wanted to say, just remarking on how beautiful and varied the stories that these different tenzos brought, and yet I think the through line through all of them is just how profoundly impacted they were by occupying the position of head cook of a monastery or practice center. So if you ever have a chance and are invited to do so, don't hesitate. I also, in the spirit of gratitude, I wanted to go back to what we started with in the first talk a few days ago, where I was talking about the ehekosahotsuganlon and this line from that Dogen classical.

[03:08]

Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one Bodhi mind. All right, so he starts off by saying, Dogen starts off by saying, you know, Buddhas and ancestors of old Buddha, Back in the day, Buddhas and ancestors were like we, and we in the future will be Buddhas and ancestors. But this pivot point, revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. I think this point comes out in the Tenzo Kyokun as well. So we've been sitting in Sashin for these past few days, and clarifying the great matter and our ultimate concern, which is, what is our ultimate concern? Meeting with various students throughout this time, I would say the ultimate concern is how do I live this life?

[04:17]

How do I be in this body and mind? How do I express awakening through every activity? How do I not cut out any piece of my life or experience and throw it away? So we've been sitting many periods of zazen, coming back to our body and our breath, returning to the present moment after moment after moment, turning towards, not turning away, but turning towards what is happening now. This is continuous practice. Gyoji, as Dogen would say, ceaseless practice. And while we're in the mood of, well, I'm in the mood of thanking

[05:25]

thanking those who've come before. Some of the other descriptions, I think, that Dogen brings up about ceaseless practice and this mind of turning to what's happening no matter what it is and folding it into our practice. Dogen mentions a couple examples of ceaseless practice. One is our ancestor, Barisheba, who started practicing when he was 80 years old. Our sixth ancestor, Huynang, pounded rice for years. As a new student, didn't know how to read. These are Buddhas and ancestors. And then, of course, Dogen brings up many examples in Tenzo Kyokun of Tenzos who practiced this ceaseless practice, like the Tenzo drying mushrooms in the sun.

[06:34]

And we've described over this time the three minds that Dogen mentions as being essential minds or attitudes. to take on the role of Tenzo, to take on, really, a role, the role of your life. How do we turn our life into awakened life? He invites us to try on these three minds. We talked a little bit about joyful mind, and yesterday we heard a little bit more about the caretaker mind. And I mentioned just in passing the magnanimous mind. the mind like a great ocean or mountain, this stable, vast, completely bountiful mind, pure spaciousness.

[07:40]

So I did also, I read you part of a poem on the first day. and got to, like, the last stanza and realized that my printer had kind of... So I'm going to go back to that poem as well. But first, I just want to say something about joyful mind. So Dogen says in Tenzo Kyokun about joyful mind, which says a lot, but I'll just quote this one part. You must reflect that if you were born in heaven, You would cling to ceaseless bliss and not give rise to way-seeking mind. Now I have the fortune to be born a human being and have the opportunity to serve food to the three treasures. Is this not a great karmic affinity? We must be very happy about this. So as I mentioned in the first talk, you know,

[08:49]

In trying out these three minds, it's important to not dismiss any part of one's experience with them. So one thing that comes up frequently with joyful mind is, what is joyful mind when you don't feel joy? How do you try on joyful mind when you're not feeling very joyful? Or happy. Does joyful mind require you to be happy? Maybe. So this reflection that we are all born into a human body and how rare and magnificent is that. Not to say it doesn't come with a strong measure sometimes of suffering. That is what it means. be human.

[09:50]

That's the first noble truth. How we turn this, how do we find joy wherever we are, wherever we look, you know, sometimes a very tall order. So I wanted to, I'll go back to this poem and just read it because I, as I mentioned when I first read it, I love this poem because I feel like it kind of pulls in the different minds in a way that feels viscerally like we understand it. And I hope for those of you who were here on the first day, and I encouraged you to try this on. I hope you had an opportunity to do so with the everyday objects that you encountered over the last three days. whether it be the bowl of soup and the steam rising from it, or the mop that you're given when cleaning the kitchen, or the knife to chop the vegetables.

[11:01]

So I'll read this Billy Collins poem called Aimless Love. This morning as I walked along the lake shore, I fell in love with a wren, and later in the day with a mouse. the cat had dropped under the dining room table. In the shadows of an autumn evening, I fell for a seamstress, still at her machine in the tailor's window, and later for a bowl of broth, steam rising like smoke from a naval battle. This is the best kind of love, I thought, without recompense, without gifts or unkind words, without suspicion or silence on the telephone. The love of the chestnut, the jazz cap, and one hand on the wheel. No lust. No slam of the door. The love of the miniature orange tree, the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower, the highway that cuts across Florida.

[12:06]

No waiting, no huffiness or rancor. Just a twinge every now and then for the wren who had built her nest on a low branch overhanging the water. and for the dead mouse, still dressed in its light brown suit. But my heart is always propped up in a field on its tripod, ready for the next arrow. After I carried the mouse by the tail to a pile of leaves in the woods, I found myself standing at the bathroom sink, gazing down affectionately at the soap. So patient and soluble. So at home in its pale green soap dish, I could feel myself falling again as I felt its turning in my wet hands and caught the scent of lavender and stone. So to me, this is a beautiful description of joyful mind and where one finds it, which is wherever you look.

[13:18]

to be completely intimate with the experience as it's arising, something that we've been diligently trying on. Moving towards magnanimous mind, Dogen says, this mind is like the great mountains or like the great ocean. It is not biased or contentious mind. And then carrying half a pound, do not take it lightly. Lifting 40 pounds should not seem heavy. Like, what is that like? Have you all tried this before? It's kind of amazing how our own, and I think this is kind of encapsulated in what's meant by attitude. Like sometimes attitude is kind of like just your mental disposition.

[14:21]

But I think in Dogen's way, there's multiple meanings of attitude. And this meaning of attitude of how we pick up objects, how we interact. You all know that you're invited not to move your zafu around with your feet. Like pick your zafu up with respect and love. and set it down. These little forms and ceremonies that we do in Soto Zen, as a beginner, it's oftentimes a little disconcerting. What am I supposed to be doing? I feel like I'm making mistakes all the time. Which foot do I use to walk into the Zendo? Oh, I did it wrong. How do we love that, too? maybe it helps to know that part of this ceaseless practice is one continuous mistake.

[15:25]

How do we lean into that and allow that to be where enlightenment is found? One continuous mistake. So going back to, I want to go to the story that... one of the Tenzo stories from Shenzhou Kyokun. So just setting the scene of this particular story that Dogen brings up, he's on the boat from Japan. Who knows how long it took him to get from Japan over to China, but it was not an easy journey, a very dangerous journey to make. And he's on this boat, very excited, right? He's, like, 23 years old, and he wants to, like, you know, go out and meet Zen masters, right? Came here for a reason. But he's stuck. He's stuck on the boat. There's a quarantine, and he's, like, you know, he's stuck on the boat. Poor Dogen.

[16:29]

So eager. So excited. And then a Tenzo shows up. This monk shows up, and he's looking for shiitake mushrooms because the boat just came from Japan. Tenzo shows up, and Dogen's so excited. So he says to the Tenzo, please, let's talk. I want to talk. Come, have lunch with me. We should sit down. It's so rare. This opportunity is so rare. Let me prepare lunch, or not prepare, but prepare a space for us to have lunch together. And as the story goes, the Tenzo declines. He says, I have to go back and prepare the meal. I'm here to get these mushrooms and go. I don't have very much time. Do you know my schedule? I think any Tenzo will tell you. There's soup. The broth is simmering, waiting for these mushrooms.

[17:31]

Dogen's very disappointed. And in his youth, He asks the Tenzo, why, at such an elderly time in this Tenzo's life, would he trouble himself with kitchen work when he could be clarifying the great matter through singing zazen or reading scriptures or talking to him, explaining the Dharma? And the Tenzo declined and said, yeah, if I don't go back, it's not going to be done right. This is my responsibility. And this is this joyful mind, right? I have been given this opportunity to serve the community and to serve the sangha, to serve my practice, to serve the truth of the teachings. I'm not going to just, you know, throw it out because on a whim. But I'm not far from here. And when you get off this quarantine, come and see me.

[18:37]

The description, I love this. This is Okamura and Leighton's translation, right after Dogen says, why do you bother yourself with cooking with this menial labor when you could be sitting profoundly in zazen? The Tenzo laughed loudly and said, oh, good fellow from a foreign country, you have not yet understood wholeheartedly engaging in the way and you do not yet know what words and phrases are." Hearing this, I suddenly felt ashamed and stunned and then asked him, what are words and phrases? What is wholeheartedly engaging the way? The Tenzo said, if you do not stumble over this question, you are really a true person. So I want to pause right there.

[19:42]

There are a number of different translations of this. If you do not stumble over this, you are really a true person. This is what we're studying when we sit. What does it mean to be a true person? How do we be completely what we are, as we are? fully how do we not try to bury parts of ourselves or our experience how do we fully meet head-on our life so a couple other translations of Tenzo Kyokun this this line if you do not deceive yourself about this problem you will be a person of the way If you understand that precisely what you are asking is the most vital problem, that in itself is understanding words and phrases.

[20:50]

That is practice. If you work real hard and don't fool yourself, one of these days you'll understand. Unless you miss the true meaning of your question, you have already realized it. If you do not slip up and pass by the place you ask about, How could you not be a person? If you penetrate that question, how can you fail to become a person of understanding? What you asked is itself words and phrases and the true meaning of practice. So, if you understand the true meaning of your question, you can say that you are one who realizes. If you do not make a wrong step from what you have just questioned, You should be a person who knows the nature of words and letters, realizing their wayfaring. So after the Tenzo says this, Dogen says, I could not understand at that time.

[22:03]

The Tenzo then invited Dogen to visit Ayoong Mountain. A few months later, Dogen did just this. They returned to their conversation concerning words and phrases and wholehearted engagement of the way. The Tenzo said, people who study words and phrases should know the significance of words and phrases. People dedicated to wholehearted practice need to affirm the significance of engaging the way. I asked, what are words and phrases? The Tenzo said, One, two, three, four. Also, I asked, what is wholeheartedly engaging the way? The Tenzo said, in the whole world, it is never hidden. Another translation. To study words, you must know the origin of words.

[23:03]

To endeavor in practice, you must know the origin of practice. What are words? One, two, three, four, five. What is practice? Nothing in the entire universe is hidden. I want to read another translation of this, nothing is hidden, or in the whole world it is never hidden. One translation is, everything in the universe is the truth. Everything in the universe is the truth. Do you believe that? Everything. Well, what about that thing happening over there? Is there anything that we want to cut out of that? Everything? All things are the undisguised manifestation of the truth. All things are the undisguised manifestation of the truth.

[24:08]

The entire universe has never concealed anything. So this principle, nothing at all is hidden. What is it pointing to? That all the myriad phenomenon of the world are just as they are. And then we, you know, we orient around it. We bring all of our stuff with us as we do that. That's part of everything, though. But when we step back and allow the spaciousness to be space that holds everything, then all these myriad phenomenon exist just as they are. There's a term, sho-ho-ji-so.

[25:14]

This is a teaching that each and everything Every unique and individual thing exists as it is but only in relation to every other thing. Nothing is cut out. Nothing is hidden. So what is this one, two, three, four, five? There's another story in Tenzo Kyokun that Dogen brings up about Dongshan, who was asked, what is Buddha?

[26:15]

His answer? Three pounds of sesame. Make sense? This was a hard one for me. Yeah. I mean, is it really as simple as like Dongshan happened to be like measuring out three pounds of sesame at the time he was asked this question? What are words and phrases? One, two, three, four, five. So the story goes on. So Dogen gets to Aiwong Mountain and speaks with this Tenzo more.

[27:23]

He says, although we discussed many topics, I will not record the rest for now. For whatever bit I know about words and phrases, or slightly understand about wholeheartedly engaging the way, I'm grateful to that Tenzo's kindness. I recounted this conversation to my late teacher, Myo Zen. He was delighted to hear it. Later, I saw a verse Shoeido wrote for a monk that goes, one character, three characters, five and seven characters. Having thoroughly investigated the 10,000 things, none have any foundation. At midnight, the white moon sets into the dark ocean. When searching for the black dragon's pearl, you will find they are numerous. Another translation, the black dragon's pearl appears in every wave. And then he says, More and more I realize that this Tenzo was a true person of the way.

[28:37]

Accordingly, what I previously saw of words and phrases is 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Today, what I see of words and phrases is also 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. My junior fellow practitioners completely see this and that. completely see that in this. If you do not do this, you will be influenced. Oh, sorry. Making such an effort, you can totally grasp one flavor Zen through words and phrases. If you do not do this, you will be influenced by the poison of the varieties of five flavor Zen, and your preparation of the monk's food will not be appropriate. So I think these numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, he could have said anything. He could have said oak, aspen, pine, cypress, or ducks, geese, cows, and pigs.

[29:46]

The black dragon's pearl is a metaphor for just truth. Everywhere. It is everywhere. If you imagine looking out at the ocean as the waves are coming in and the moon, the full moon in the sky, each wave right there, moon, another wave, moon. In Genjo Koan, Dogen talks about this moon. Also, although its light, the moon's light, is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dew drops on the grass or even in one drop of water. Enlightenment does not divide you. Just as the moon does not break the water, you cannot hinder enlightenment.

[30:56]

just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky. The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dew drop and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky. He also says, when you first seek Dharma, you imagine you are far away from its environs. But dharma is already correctly transmitted. You are immediately your original self. So in this nothing is hidden, when we come to practice, we feel like something is hidden. I need to find it. Tell me how to do it. Of course we do. And as we stumble on in our practice, grasping and turning about and being turned by things, maybe we find some spaciousness when we sit.

[32:12]

Maybe we find some pure presence of mind as we're sweeping the floor, walking in kin in, walking around the block. Maybe serving oryoki, our zendo, a meal in the zendo. Where do we find it? Three pounds of sesame. The tenzo who traveled for 12 miles to find shiitake mushrooms and got like, you know, pestered by this young Japanese monk. aching knees or lower back seizing up in zazen wherever you are it's right there nothing is hidden nothing can be separated from this and nothing is excluded so this you know how do we find it when

[33:25]

so often it's occluded or we can't seem to, we want to grasp, we want to understand. Gyoji, the ceaseless practice. It is said in Gyoji, the fascicle, that ceaseless practice rolls on in a cyclical manner without interruption. It is never tainted by forcing. it arises naturally and sustains both self and others. You know, when the Buddha was about to take final nirvana, his instruction to his disciples, must be a lamp unto yourself. He said, strive on. tirelessly, ceaseless practice.

[34:28]

And that's what we've been doing, this Sashin. Sitting period after period, showing up, getting up when the bell rings, eating food when the food is served, getting up and walking in Kin Hin when it's time to do that, when the two bells in the Zendo. This is Gyoji. The Buddha, you know, didn't say, well, do this, that, and the other thing, and then you're golden. You're done. No, it's ceaseless. Ceaseless practice. So as we come to the end of our time sitting together and the end of this month-long intensive on the Tenzo Kyokun, I want to return to these three minds, particularly the foundation of joyful mind, this understanding that

[35:58]

we have been given the amazing, incredible opportunity to be right here. The opportunity to fall in love with a dead mouse. The opportunity to feel deeply, so deeply that our heart breaks open Nobody said joyful mind was pleasant always. But if we stay with it and don't turn away from our experience, something settles. Something kind of drops off. And then we may notice what's there all the time, whether it's the sunlight shining into the windows?

[37:01]

A single prop plane maybe flying by? How do we not miss it? How do we not turn away from it? So, is this not a great karmic affinity? This truly precious rare opportunity to be born as a human, to encounter the Dharma, to have friends, spiritual friendships in the Dharma, to have the physical and mental stability to take up practicing, to find a community to practice in. Suzuki Roshi once, well, maybe not once, maybe several times, he said something like how valuable it is to have something to work on.

[38:12]

I'll read this one section from Suzuki Roshi. And we'll chant this at the end. He says, do you know the bodhisattvas' four vows? If desires are inexhaustible, it doesn't make sense to have a vow to get rid of them. It doesn't make sense, you know? But for a bodhisattva, bodhisattvas may like endless desires they have to work on, We understand it in that way. Human life is interesting because there are good and bad things, half and half. So if there are only good things, our life will not be so interesting. So joy makes sense because difficulties make sense. So Dogen Zenji says we should be very glad to be born into this world where there are many difficulties. If we were to be born in heaven, we would not have Buddhist teaching We cannot listen to Buddha because there's no need for Buddha to exist because they have no trouble there.

[39:32]

But I don't think we are very happy if we were born there. The purpose of this life is not actually to accomplish something, but just to continue our Buddha way. So to continue our Buddha way forever is to accomplish our way. To accomplish does not mean to reach some stage where we don't need to work anymore. So the most important point and the most difficult thing is to continue our way and to have good successors for us who may, you know, succeed our way. So to all the Buddhas and ancestors of old and all the Buddhas and ancestors that have yet to come, and all the Buddhas and ancestors sitting right here in this room together. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost, and this is made possible by the donations we receive.

[40:39]

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 Dormer.

[40:54]

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