Good morning, everyone. Good morning, and happy winter solstice. Curious, how many of you are here for the first time? Just a few of you. Welcome to Green Goals. Thanks so much, all of you, for coming out on this rainy day during a busy time of year for many. So, my name is Hakusho Yuan Aslan. And I'm currently the Tanto Head of Practice at Tassahara, our Zen Mountain Center in the Ventana Wilderness, close to Big Sur. I've lived here at Green Gulch for many years. So I want to appreciate all the Green Gulch staff and residents for taking care of this place. I was standing out in Cloud Hall here. just appreciating the clean skylights, just the maximum daylight coming in there.

[01:07]

So it takes a lot of work to care for this place and to run this program every week as well. So thank you all. A special thanks to Jiri, who had a practice here, for inviting me to give this talk and with very little effort convincing me that This is what I wanted to do today, rather than have this be the beginning of my vacation, to come up right here to give this talk. We just finished the day before yesterday, the 104th practice period at Tassahara. So for three months, there were a small practice period, 35 of us, in the mountains there, studying, led by City Center Abiding Abbot. Tenzin David Zimmerman is leading us in a study of the Mountains and Water Sutra, which is a text by our 13th century Japanese ancestor, Eihei Dogen.

[02:18]

So for the past three months we've been swimming in these paradoxical Zen phrases such as The blue mountains are constantly walking, the east mountain moves over the water, and a stone woman gives birth to a child in the night. There's a couple of people in the room who were there for the three months, so I'm not meaning to repeat so much of what was said there, but I have been inspired by this study and want to just share a little bit of this. Not to offer you my understanding, because as much of Dogen's writing is not, this is my take currently, it's not so much about making us understand something, but rather to question what we think we understand and what we're holding on to as true, to loosen up our views and not to believe so firmly in things as they appear to us.

[03:25]

Is it that what we're experiencing is really true, objectively speaking, or is it just what our world looks like at this moment from this unique and particular point of view, that it's me? So for Dogen, even when we seem to all agree on something, that still can be a one point of view, actually. He uses the example of water, which is in the title of the sutra text, which we think we might all agree more or less on what water is. Have any of you ever found yourselves in an argument with somebody about what water is? It's not too controversial a topic, it seems. But according to Dogen, he brings in the perspective of fish and dragons and heavenly beings and hungry ghosts and how each of these beings see water in a unique way.

[04:42]

So fishes and dragons see it as a palace. It's a place where they're living. And other mythological beings, such as heavenly beings, which from the heavens see oceans as glittering jeweled necklaces, or hungry being, hungry ghosts, which are these beings in Buddhist cosmologies that represent beings for whom everything is unsatisfactory. They see this water as pus and blood. It's something to get away from. I think the point is that even what we all seem to be agreeing on actually is still limited, and in this case, anthropocentric view. Of course, we don't need to look beyond our own species to find examples of how a group of people holding on to the same view seem to reinforce this view for each other and make it seem true, not just

[05:59]

for us, but as mapping onto reality in some way. There's a lot of ways in which the Internet and information technology has helped bring people closer, and there's also a lot of ways in which it's used to reinforce the kind of tribalism, where we're bonding with the people that hold very similar views and opinions as we do. Those are the new sources and internet sites, et cetera, that we gravitate towards. And so it's a reinforcing and a solidifying of views. And from there, it's a very small step to go into quite harsh judgment about those who hold different views in our world. So the refrain that Dogen's using time and time again in this Sutra and many other places in his writings, is that we should study this thoroughly.

[07:04]

So to look deeper into our own experience, to study our own views, to start to see them as our views, acknowledging that they're not all that they appear to be. Also that there are different views out there to be discarded. So this kind of inquiry is an essential element of Zen practice. It may seem threatening to start to question the most fundamental aspects of our knowing. What gets left when we start to study everything and not taking anything for granted? Do we run the risk of sliding into some extreme relativism, where everything is equally true and equally false?

[08:07]

Yeah, well, that's just like your opinion, man. And that's it. For example, would the signs for or against rapidly rising global temperatures caused by human activity somehow become equally true all of a sudden? And on what conviction can we ever take action if what we're perceiving is inherently subjective in some way? So these questions are slightly beyond the scope of this talk. And I think the Buddhist approach is largely to avoid the establishment of objective truth and to instead focus on what's most helpful, actually.

[09:12]

And if some action, as far as we can see, leads to lessening of suffering for ourselves and for others, then it's our responsibility to and act on it. And so to hold less rigid and fixed views becomes very important in this practice if we take this outlook because it's entirely possible to hold some very wholesome views in very unwholesome ways. I'm just reminded in thinking about this talk. going to listen to Lama Surya Das lecturing in San Francisco. And somebody in the question and answers session asked him about Buddhism and vegetarianism. If you believe in not killing, then you should all be vegetarian, right? Something like this. And his answer, which impressed me and I had been and still am a vegetarian, he said, it's very good if you're

[10:24]

Your vows to not kill and to not harm inspires you to stop eating meat and to maintain that. And if you're then moving to judging other people as being bad or wrong in some way, you're creating a separation between you and others. And that's against the Mahayana, the spirit of this practice in our tradition. So it doesn't mean the fact that somebody can hold another point of view or acting in a different way does not negate or invalidate my own conviction about how I want to live my life. And can I hold that without separating myself from others? I'm right and they're wrong. Similarly, we might hold some very similar views about how we want our household space to be.

[11:35]

Maybe both wanting dishes to be cleaned up after a meal, to not have any dirty dishes left in the sink. And you might hold it lightly in a way that then when this vision you have isn't realized by the people you're living with, you might find that you have actually a number of approaches to try to inspire them into your vision of how to live together or to really share your needs and how this is really important for me, actually. It means a lot. Would you be willing to do your best or something like this? I see some other approaches, too, whereas if I'm holding very tightly, when the skyline isn't being followed, I'm likely to get quite angry and upset and also likely to feel justified, to have the sense that I'm justified in letting these strong emotions out in some way to let my housemates know how their way of caring for our shared space is wrong.

[12:51]

My paternal grandfather, who I loved dearly, he's a wonderful man, not perfect. He did have this great argument that he would win all arguments with. It was whenever one of us in the family would disagree with a statement that he was making, and then we would continue to differ in view even after Grandpa had elaborated further on why he was right. wield his Trump argument. It's a fact. And he'd used the old Latin to back them to really put some weight in this. And it was at that point, there was nothing any of us could do to bring forth a different point of view. Grandpa had won yet again. He was the family patriarch. And with it, apparently, what I learned from an early age, with that came the right to decide what was factually and objectively true.

[14:06]

So when we think there's just one truth out there, who is it that gets to decide what that truth is? Who gets to state what is true, not just from their subjective perspective, but what is really true. So as we're about to head into New Year, I'm wanting to share with you my vows for 2020. I think the Buddhist approach is not so much of New Year's resolutions, but we're very much about vows. So for 2020, I vow to encourage myself to loosen up my own views. I vow to get to know them as my own, to not be fooled into thinking that they map onto reality, and to consider when meeting other views, what's an appropriate way of relating to them.

[15:25]

What way Can we meet to create less suffering, to heal suffering rather than create more? I also vow, studying all this, not to become incapacitated by the enormity of my own subjectivity. And I vow to find skillful ways of encouraging others to loosen up their views. to get to know them as their own, not equating them with reality, and to learn ways to meet others' point of view with kindness and compassion, not falling into passivity. And so I want to suggest that rather than leading us into a nihilistic outlook, there are actually great opportunities for change that open up to us

[16:30]

when what is looked set in stone, this approach with lightness and curiosity, and when we're able to take responsibility for our own mind's involvement in the seemingly immovable situations or relationships that we're finding ourselves in. As the writer Anais Nin famously said, we don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. If we can wake up to how our mind is an active component in what we think and what we're seeing, what we think we're seeing, it gives us infinitely more to work with, actually, especially when we want things to change. Another metaphor that Dogen uses in the Mountains and Waters Sutra is a comparison between looking at the mountains from the city or from outside versus being in the mountains.

[17:50]

When we're looking at it from a distance, or looking at anything from a distance, it's easy to see a permanency. You travel to another part of the city, it still looks like the same mountains to us. And so there's a close correlation between objectivity and separation, let's say, and how we approach what's true. When we're outside of something, we place ourselves apart from someone or something else. With that comes this belief that what we're experiencing is really the way things are. When we, on the other hand, find ourselves in the mountains rather than looking at them, then mountains are changing with every step we're taking. It's constantly changing scenery, different mountains every step. It becomes clear that what we're seeing and experiencing is actually dependent on us

[18:58]

Of course, it's tricky to enter into that close relationship to what's really going on for us, especially as most of us live in a society that tends to value most highly this sort of removed, detached, outside positioning. We stay apart from things. Things seem clean. care about them so much. As if we enter into some intimate relationship with another person or a situation without knowing, letting go of our views, then also let go of some sense of control we might have. So just to give an example of how to might apply this in our personal lives, in our relationships.

[20:09]

Some years ago, I was the early new leader of a work crew here at Zen Center. And somebody was being assigned to work on my crew. And I practiced just a little bit with this person before. And from what I knew, I could see this would just be really difficult to work with this person. It just made me anxious, and I anticipated them challenging my authority, which didn't seem so firmly established to begin with. I would be getting upset with me and others. I could see a lot of things going wrong, and I think I did a half-hearted attempt to see whether there was any space for them to move to a different crew without success. not knowing how to meet the fear that was coming up for me somehow by some grace, perhaps.

[21:12]

What came through was just, you just had to love them. And so I decided I was going to love this person. I was going to care for them, show them my respect. give them my attention, and so forth. And what I found was quite remarkable, actually, because once I started looking for their virtues, it was so clearly apparent. As a very hard-working practitioner, really devoted to practice, pouring themselves into whatever task, pretty much. And there were times when there was disagreement about how something should be done and some strong opinion. And with that happened, I could see that I had firmly settled into, I have so much appreciation for you that I saw passion and care, not challenging my authority being challenged in some way.

[22:29]

And what I found when I could meet that energy with patience, there was just actually a total respect for going with my instructions at the end, even after a conversation. And so we ended up actually working really well together and establishing a good friendship that lasted beyond our time of working together as well. Of course, it's... It's probably helpful. I imagine that this person might not have had a strong affixed view of me as I had of them coming into this, or if they did, less than strongly negative, which made it easier for me to be successful in my approach. It was remarkably easy to love them, actually. Had it been more of a charged dynamic, established between us already.

[23:31]

Or if I had represented a group in society that a person had a dynamic with fixed ideas about it, of course, it would have been a much bigger challenge and acknowledge that. And even so, I think there are miraculous stories out there of people with very hate-filled views changing their minds when somebody representing the group in society that they've invested so much of their lives into being against, when that person refuses actually to step into that dynamic and find some way to... I think there's always some possibility of melting each other's hearts, actually. hope and belief.

[24:32]

And we need more of these stories of relationships changing in these ways and healing happening in these ways. So I think one question I had after working with this person on my career and reflecting on it was how much was actually just just me having an incorrect idea going into this on my part, did my positive treatment of them really change their behavior? Or would it have been just exactly that? It was just that I could see their virtues when I was looking for them. And I'm convinced that Well, that was certainly some of it. There was this more to it that there was virtue there already, and me looking for it, actively looking for it, helped to bring it out, helped to bring it to the surface, helped to bring their best self forward.

[25:45]

So there is this deep-lying human tendency to exclude ourselves from the world that we're in. So when we take the view that what we're seeing is really the way things are, then at the same time we separate out there from in here. And in Buddhism, this is actually the root cause of suffering in the world, believing this separation of me and not me to be true. And so while it seemed satisfying to not question our ideas about things, to be going about our life with some feeling of certainty that this is really what things are like, actually we've We make ourselves kind of unhappy and lonely when I cut our experiences up into me and others.

[27:06]

And again, with regards to our capacity to change things around us, it doesn't leave us with many options, actually. When we're holding on to a story that there's something or someone out there, then this sort of solution, but the only one there is force or coercion, if you want to try to change something. It seems about the only tool we have. When our minds have gotten in the way and we've settled into these fixed views, it also deadens us to the world around us and it blocks thriving and transformative relationships from occurring. You're not doing what I want you to do, so I'm going to apply some force, maybe threaten with some consequences. Maybe I will express some very strong emotions so that you will be uncomfortable and not want that to be repeated again and just obey and do as I say.

[28:21]

That's the sort of acting from a place of separation. and so conversely if we can avoid getting stuck in fixed views and about how things or other people really are there's new possibilities for how to actually work with the seemingly unpleasant or undesirable situations that we find ourselves in At the very least, we can change our internal orientation. That may or may not have a significant impact on the world around us, but it will have a significant impact on us. If we're able to do so together with others, actually, then the impact on a broader scale will be more significant. was remembering a story from my life 20 years ago.

[29:44]

It seemed to fit into this talk. I was living with two of my closest friends on an island in Greece for the summer and working there during the tourist season. And if you're living down in the Mediterranean, touristy areas. What the activities, nighttime activities, is you go out dancing. We went out dancing a lot in our early 20s and just had a lot of energy to let loose. So going through a season of working in the days and out and about and dancing in the evenings, late nights was a long before my period of practice ever begun, I should say. But that was our lives that summer. And so we found ourselves towards the latter part of the summer as the season started to die down a little bit in a disco.

[30:57]

And it was kind of late, but it wasn't that late. And the people had started leaving. The energy had gone down a little bit. And then the song... came on that was played every night. We'd gotten so tired and fed up with and never liked from the beginning. And it was just collectively, just our hearts sunk. And it's like, OK, I guess it's time to go home. The DJ ruined the night. And from somewhere, I'm not quite sure from where, but it was like, no, we're not ready. Let's just go for it. So we just, instead of going to like, oh, that's some undecidable music out there, bad DJ, you destroyed, you know, I'm now having a negative experience because of you. It was like, just pour ourselves, full selves into this for just a little longer. So I think the three of us just started dancing with as much joy and exuberance as we could muster.

[32:04]

And it was... I would say it was a spiritual experience, actually. Because soon enough, that initial effort to go against my inner emotional whatever, going against the grain of that just dissipated. And it was just some joy in just being silly and just fully going with the flow and with what was happening. And seemingly, again, how much of this is my personal experience and how much was objectively happening out there and things changing. But it seemed like all of a sudden people were pouring into this discotheque again. And there was a joy and exuberance in the whole place. And the music got better.

[33:05]

People were up dancing on the bars. It was like things really just came alive. And that happened. That was going on for, I don't know, a little bit, 45 minutes, an hour, and then started to lie down. Our energy dropped, and we went home and went to bed. But there was this real experience, like, wow, the three of us just not... not acting on that impulse of, like, this is bad, this person destroyed our night, just giving ourselves fully to what was happening really radically transformed our experience. And it seemed to have a real impact on the people around us as well, actually. Yeah. And so, of course, it helps to have, if we're trying to effect change in any situation that we're finding ourselves in, to have a little bit of help from our friends.

[34:16]

Had I started this real energetic, joyful dancing just by myself, I might have been seen as a bit of a lunatic and had people, I don't know about this guy, three of us were doing it together, seemed to have had a less threatening impact, those around us. leave you with some encouragement to act, to find ways to act together with others in situations that we find ourselves in that are not to our liking, however mundane or dire they may seem. So during the Paris Climate Summit a few years ago, a lot of conversations among environmental activists going on at the time as well. And Bill McKibben, who you don't know, is one of the foremost environmental activists, specifically around climate change, was there and on some panel.

[35:30]

And one of the people in the audience asked him, what can I do as an individual? And his response was, stop being an individual. So often we paint ourselves into this box that I am this small little being who cannot do anything to change the way things are. And so I just encourage us all to question, thoroughly study that story and to see when we're finding ourselves in situations that are not to our liking. Who are our allies? Who can we actually connect with? And what might it be like if we can apply some little play, some little dance, some little something to just lighten up this unpleasant situation that we find ourselves in?

[36:36]

Where will we find ourselves then. Thank you very much.

[36:50]

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