Good morning. Welcome to all of you. Welcome. As I was coming down the stairs, heading to this room, I had a sudden feeling that this room, this Buddha hall, is the place where Suzuki Roshi talked. This Buddha hall is a room where Many, many good teachers have presented the Dharma.

[01:13]

This Buddha Hall, Dharma Hall, is part of a continuity of teaching in Zen. And in other countries and other places, and I felt suddenly a little bit, I felt the weight. So I offer this talk to all those who have come before and those who will come after. The practice of Buddhism is a great ocean of awakening.

[02:15]

An ocean of awakening that includes our entire life. The practice of Buddhism is a great ocean that accepts everyone. It is a way of awakening that includes everyone, without reservation or limit. And while any one of us, perhaps individually, might feel in some way that our life is limited, any one of us might not agree with the fact that we are actually realized Buddhas. Still, these doubts and reservations that we might have about ourselves in no way reduce the complete truth that absolutely without any doubt we are all launched onto the path of awakening.

[03:32]

And the prediction of our enlightenment has already been made will be fulfilled is our future without doubt. I ask a question which is what brings us to this room today? What reason is there that we all find ourselves together at the corner of Page and Laguna Streets in San Francisco on this lovely fall day. And now I answer this question.

[04:38]

I answer this question by saying that there is basic common fact which we all share. There is a common bond that has brought us together, that brings us together. And this connection, this common bond, this fact we all share is that deep down each one of us has in our heart a desire to live a helpful life. A life that is useful not just to ourselves, but also useful to others. What brings us to this room today?

[05:44]

make it personal I'm here this morning because on another morning some years ago I knocked on the front door of city center I knocked on the door and I asked for some information and The causes and conditions that bring us to practice are, of course, complicated. But I think I can say that this knocking on the door set in motion what has led to me being here right now. Why did I knock on the door?

[06:49]

This might be, if I knew jokes, it might be a time for a knock-knock joke. But they're not in my repertoire. Why did I come to Zen Center that day? when I hadn't yet come, when I first turned up. Well, I think I can describe the reason for me to come here back then as the fact that I was somehow disappointed in my life. And disappointed is a word that sometimes we think of as a negative word, a problematic word. But now I understand that that disappointment was not a problem, but rather it was an opening.

[08:02]

It was a beginning, an opportunity. Not a problem. And maybe... if I don't want to use the word disappointment, another way to frame the feeling I had in me that brought me to this door was that I had lost faith in this sort of happiness that I seemed to be looking for. And alongside of this feeling that I had lost faith in my search for happiness, I had also heard that Buddha had awoken and I didn't know what that meant. And I had heard about something called practice and I didn't know what that meant.

[09:06]

But all of these things I didn't know about seemed possibly an antidote. And so I walked up the steps and knocked on the door. All the fruitus of the past and present and future. They all know that the teaching of Buddhism is a great ocean. And they also know that it is not just one story. This great ocean has many rivers that flow into it.

[10:11]

Many rivers of awakening. and teaching that inform and become our life. And also Buddhas throughout time know that the great ocean of the teaching of Buddhism is not always an ocean. Sometimes it's a hand which reaches out from a crowd and pulls us up to the train leaving the station. Sometimes it's a lattice in the garden which supports the plants to grow tall while their roots get strong. And growing on this

[11:17]

of the Dharma, there might be what seem to be singular teachings like the Four Noble Truths or the Six Paramitas or the Bodhisattva's vow and so on and so on. But really all of the Buddha Dharma use one great sparkling necklace. And within this sparkling necklace, this Dharma weave necklace, rivers flow not just down towards the ocean, but also flow backwards and outwards and upwards. So they surround us, giving support to our life, helping us cross to the other shore.

[12:27]

Each of us has our own DNA. Each of us has our own history. And for some people in this room, there might have been a special moment or perhaps a special teaching that resonates and encourages you. Maybe this Resonating encouragement is some story from the tradition of Zen, or maybe it is some teacher you once knew in school. For others, it might be that we once had an inkling that our actions have consequences.

[13:45]

And from that thought, heaven and hell And maybe some of us are here because we just simply wonder, am I doing the best I can? And I'm also sure that some of you and us are here today because you're curious or because your friend said, let's go to the Zen Center. Whatever your reason to be here today, none of these reasons are better than another one. There are all the many ways that practice begins.

[14:53]

beginning to practice is sort of like finding someone that we like and then giving them a first kiss. None of us can know what the moment of this first kiss will be and none of us can know where that first kiss will end. But all of us can perhaps understand that afterwards our life has changed. I think that actually we, many of us, most of us already know much of what Zen tries to teach us.

[16:02]

We already know much of what practice is there for. The problem, if there is a problem, the problem is in the fact that for deeply seated reasons We fail to honor this knowledge. Most of the time we attempt to make a bargain with the truth and not accept it, not act on it. One of the reasons that Shakyamuni Buddha is our great founder is that within his sheltered household or life, he saw an elderly person.

[17:11]

And from the position of his youth, he wondered, oh, oh. And then he saw someone stricken with illness. And from the place of his health, he thought, oh. And he saw a corpse. And on that day he was full of life and vitality. He saw a corpse and he thought, oh my God, oh my gosh. And then he saw a student of the way. He saw a monk. these four sights, his thought of awakening was aroused.

[18:15]

This human life is a fragile, precious gift which we forget about so often. I think I can say that everyone in this room, everyone who was ever born, will meet someone older and meet someone who's ill, and maybe even see someone who's passed. What will we do with that knowledge? How much do we let it in? Recently, a few weeks ago, I was reading a magazine. I was looking at The New Yorker and I stopped at a cartoon.

[19:20]

There was a young boy and he was with what appeared to be his parents and they were all together at an amusement park and there was in the background a ferris wheel and there was a roller coaster and it looked like something of a midway carnival off into the side of the drawing and overhead in the sky there were enormous fireworks streamers crossing left and right and straight in the air and big columns little firework explosions, dotting the sky. And this young boy turned to his parents and said, I'm bored.

[20:22]

I'm bored. In the midst of all of this. On board is one way to say it. Another way to say it is to call this the first noble truth of Buddhism, the truth of dukkha, the truth of impermanence, which is that when we look for happiness in the things we get from other people, when we look for happiness in the toys we have, or when we look for fulfillment in the conditioned events of our daily life, we tend to become disappointed. There is a truth of dukkha, of impermanence,

[21:42]

is acknowledging the reality of being at the circus with elephants juggling beach balls and thinking, where are the lions and tigers? This truth of dukkha does not require us to be brutalized by life. This understanding that things change is something that we can find in this pure land of San Francisco. There is an expression in our Be careful of what you ask for.

[22:43]

You might get it. And we do get what we ask for. We can possibly get a new car or a new job or a new boyfriend. Or we can go to Disneyland or whatever Disneyland you might lust for in your mind. And maybe this might make us happy. But perhaps also, you might realize that none of these new successes have made the way we relate and connect to people any more satisfactory. It isn't always clear what's helpful.

[23:49]

It isn't always clear what is a hindrance. The gritty stuff of our life can be seen as an irritation or can be seen as a compost. There is a line in the meal verse that we used to chant. I think we've changed the translation. It goes, may we exist in muddy water with purity like the lotus. May we exist in muddy water. And this is the place where we start. The muddy water of our life. this is why in Zen, in the practice of Zen, we don't just pay attention to things that might seem obviously spiritual, like sitting zazen or doing a service.

[25:07]

We don't do this thing called Zen practice in order to make a new world like that new job we wanted so badly. We take up the practice of Zen in order to find out how things already are. We practice sitting in us and so that we can see things without the fog of our selfish instincts. And there is a really important attitude of I'll call it non-duality

[26:18]

at the heart of our practice. Because living our life however it unfolds is also exactly the practice of Sazen. Which means that the time we spend walking down the street is as much a chance to realize our Buddha nature as the time we spend sitting in the Zendo. Many years ago, in a land far away, at a time sometimes called the Golden Age of Zen, in Kang Dynasty, China, there was a young student of Zen who arrived at the temple. temple of a very great Chinese master, Zhao Zhou, in Japanese, Joshu.

[27:24]

And this sincere student said to Joshu, he said, I have entered your monastery. Please teach me about the Dharma. And Joshu asked, have you eaten your porridge yet?" The student said, yes. Joshua told him, well then go wash your bowls. And the story says at that point this student woke up. What would that be? Washing our bowls after eating is the esoteric practice of his ancestors. On another occasion, Joshu entered the Dharma Hall and he said, a metal Buddha does not withstand the furnace.

[28:35]

A wooden Buddha does not withstand the fire. A mud Buddha does not withstand water. Know that the genuine Buddha is within you. And understanding these words is the opportunity that practicing Zen might provide us. in this room today, I think it's likely that not everybody here will continue in this practice. Which is okay. All the lucky ones go out the open front door.

[29:43]

cucumbers that don't get picked. That sometimes are the ones who stay. And Chargyam Trungpa Rinpoche said, Ah, practice. Ah, practice. It's better not to start. But if you start, then please note that you will have to finish. Earlier, early on in this talk, I asked a question. I said, what brings us to this room? What brings us to this spot, to this corner? of the world and for me this question is a new one this is something that has resonance in my life because many years ago about twenty years ago

[31:17]

I think almost exactly 20 years ago. Not to the day, but to the year. 20 years ago, I was living in Berkeley. And I was living as a householder and as a businessman and as someone who had some exposure to Zen practice. And on a particular evening, 20 years ago I was hanging out with a bunch of friends at what I guess was a party. And as the party gained a kind of velocity of enthusiasm, as the voices in the room became more loudly raucous and familiar, I felt within me growing a great distance from something that seemed important.

[32:26]

As people around me became more happy, I felt myself becoming quiet and sad. And at that time, a bunch of words sort of fell into my mind. These words began with a questioning statement, and then, without editing, like rocks rolling off of a cliff, I had a full statement. that I did not have to write down because I knew it completely the very first time I thought it. And these words in my heart were what brings me to this place where strangers' voices strip my mind of memory.

[33:47]

Who are these echoing spirits which teach me in a life that owes no debt to freedom? What lesson is there in a dream that has no end, no end? What lesson is there in a dream that has no end? The practice of Buddhism, of Zen, is a great ocean. A great ocean of awakening that includes our entire life. It includes everyone without reservation or limitations.

[34:53]

to fully swim in this ocean. We have to do our part. Thank you very much.

[35:20]

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