This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzz.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. I have a tendency to blush, and yesterday I got sunburned, so I feel like it might look like a sort of a garden beat, sort of sitting up here speaking. About a week or so ago, I was at Tassajara co-leading a Zen and Yoga workshop, and I'll be going to Tassajara in another week or so to co-lead another Zen and Yoga workshop with Patricia Sullivan, who also teaches here.

[01:17]

One of the foundational in yoga is to work with patterns, patterns of holding the body in unhealthy ways, rigid ways, ways that for so many years we have held to that it's very familiar. We don't even think about it. We can be off balance, out of alignment. This heavy head... held way over our spine. And if it weren't for our muscles, we would fall flat. When we're in alignment, she actually told a story of having a dowel, just a thin dowel, and setting it on the floor, which was level, and the dowel was level.

[02:21]

And the dowel just stood up. with ease and effortless. And our bodies and bone structure is meant to do that as well. But because we have these muscles, we can go into all sorts of postures and the muscles will hold us pretty much from falling on our faces or falling over backwards. But meanwhile, it's not very healthy. So this is working with the body, but not just the body. We have ways of thinking, ways of responding to the world, responding to certain situations that are patterns that we hold, rigid, stuck patterns, actually. A stuck kind of feeling where... We have the same type of reaction over and over that isn't beneficial to us or the other people.

[03:28]

So there's many, many yoga, asanas, yoga postures that begin to work with this stuck body-mind. And also in our practice, I think we're working fundamentally with held held formations of ways of thinking that are not in alignment. And we do that in myriad ways. We work with that in all parts of our life, not just a class or in our meditation practice, but in all of our interactions with one another. our work practice, taking care of our body, our rooms, our life. Anybody we come in contact with, anything we come in contact with, we can approach with a flexible, soft, supple mind-body.

[04:41]

But this is a lifetime of practice. This isn't... you know, from one second to the next, because these ways of thinking and being have been developed over long periods of time. So being stuck in our thinking, being stuck in our rigid ways of approaching, thinking about the world, it's not a neutral event. It can cause enormous harm and violence as we can see in the world today, you know, holding to a view no matter what. And I'm not, this is an equal opportunity holding. I'm not saying this group is holding and this group isn't. This is a pattern we can see and it eventually comes to warp.

[05:49]

So I wanted to bring up... Actually, many things have come to mind in trying to talk about this. And there's two koans that I wanted to bring up, two Zen stories, and then a story from contemporary life, and a movie I saw, something I heard on NPR. So I'll try to restrain myself from... too many things. The two koans, one is a kind of humorous koan called Yunji knocks over the body. And the koan is found in a collection, not one of the more well-known collections, and I found it in this book called Hidden Lamp, which are a hundred koans with women. protagonists with commentaries by 100 contemporary women teachers, Buddhist teachers.

[06:57]

And in this story, there's a brother and a sister, Yuran Ji and Yuran Yue. They both practice with the sixth ancestor, who is very famous. All the schools of Zen Center, of Zen, not Zen Center, a flow from sixth ancestor, Chinese ancestor. And she wrote a book called The Song of Enlightenment and lived in a cave for many years, as well as practicing with community. And her brother had his own temple. His name, again, was Yuan Zhui. So the story starts at the end of Yuan Zhui's life. And he was a well-known master, and he said to his disciples, I've heard about teachers who have died lying down, of course, and also sitting.

[08:00]

Have any Zen masters died while standing up? And one of the disciples said, yes, it's not very frequent this happens, but yes, there have been some who have died standing up. So then Yuran-Jui said, have you heard of any who have died standing on their heads? And the disciples said, no, I've never heard that. So, your Andre stood on his head and died standing on his head. And it says in the koan, his robes draped in a dignified manner. I imagine them sort of staying around his ankles and not falling over his head. And, of course, everybody marveled. And then, you know, people came from far and wide to see him doing this yoga posture, you know, standing on his head, dead. But then it was time to take the body to be cremated and interred.

[09:08]

And they tried to move him, and they couldn't move him. He was like stone, like a stone, big old stone pillar. Well, more people even came to see this because this was even more unusual. His sister, Yuan Ji, heard about this. And she came by the monastery and she looked at her brother and said, Brother, you always made a lot of problems and flouted the rules of Dharma when you were alive and now you're just making yourself a big nuisance. And she tipped him. She gave him a little bop and he fell over and was hauled off to be... So there's a lot of, it's a humorous story, but also this, even though he was a great master, sounds like he was kind of interested in being, you know, really making a big splash at the end, you know, so he would be talked about forever.

[10:09]

And we are, actually, we are. And being stuck, kind of stuck in I'm the most unusual ever, asking ahead of time, you know, to find out. And then unable to be moved, not flexible, subtle, buoyant, you know. And as his sister said, he was like that in life as well and continued to be a nuisance. The other koan which reminds me of this is called Manjushri. I've seen it translated different ways. Manjushri and the young woman in deep concentration or deep meditation, the woman in samadhi, the young woman being brought out of meditation.

[11:13]

This is in the case 42 in the gateless gate. the Mumonkan collection of Zen stories, koans. And in this story, the scene is a place where many Buddhas have gathered. We say there's Shakyamuni Buddha who was taught in this time, and then there's many Buddhas and ancestors who have also realized their true nature. At this place, many Buddhas had gathered, maybe Buddhas of the past. And then Manjushri, who's the Bodhisattva of wisdom, who actually is the large figure on this altar and sits in the Zendo, the Bodhisattva of wisdom, who's a teacher to all the Buddhas, wisdom as the teacher and personified as Manjushri Bodhisattva, arrives.

[12:16]

but all the Buddhas have gone home. All the Buddhas have gone home, except for Shakyamuni Buddha, and next to him, near to Shakyamuni Buddha, very near, is a young woman in deep meditation, or samadhis, another word that's used. And Manjushri says to Shakyamuni Buddha, how is it She, by the way, is sitting in the spot that Manjushri usually sits in, right next to the Buddha. Sometimes you see the Buddha with Manjushri and other bodhisattvas, a triumvirate. And there she was, sitting kind of maybe in his seat. And he said to the Buddha, how is it that she gets to sit so near you and I don't? And Shakyamuni Buddha said, why don't you wake her up? and ask her.

[13:16]

So Manjushri walks around her three times and snaps his fingers three times, takes her and whisks her to a particular heaven, comes back and she's unable to be aroused. She's, you might say, stuck in this state of deep concentration. But Manjushri can't wake her up. So he says to the Buddha, you know, I can't wake her up. And the Buddha said, even a hundred thousand Manjushris couldn't wake her up. But we need to call on another bodhisattva whose name is translated as delusive wisdom, in Japanese called mōmyō.

[14:23]

We need to call on delusive wisdom, and he lives down under the earth, millions and millions of lands, as many lands as there are sands of, you know, grains of sands in the Ganges. And almost immediately after the Buddha says we need to have this other Bodhisattva, whoop, up pops, the lucid wisdom bodhisattva, kind of right out of the ground. And he pays homage to the Buddha and bows to the Buddha and then walks over to this young woman and snaps his fingers and she wakes up. That's the end of the koan. Now often at the end of a koan it's like, huh, what? I don't get it. And for some reason, this particular scene, and in any koan, you know, the glimpse of one aspect of reality expressed in this story.

[15:40]

And you can... Look at all the points of the story, all the parts. The fact that there were no Buddhas there, that all the Buddhas had gone home. Where do Buddhas go when they go home? What is home for Buddhas? And Manjushri wanting to be near or wondering why somebody else took his spot. All these different parts. His attempt, making a good show, a good attempt to wake her. to ask her. And Chakyamuni just watching the whole thing. So there's many questions that come up from this, but the points that I've been turning, and I have been, somehow this particular story grabbed me, or we grabbed each other.

[16:42]

this stuckness. Who is stuck in this story? She may be stuck, but also, is Manjushri stuck? Does wisdom get stuck? His question, how come she gets to sit so near you, sort of in my seat, where's that question coming from? And also, is there an added layer, you know, not just that there was someone in his seat, but there's a kind of layer, a gender layer, perhaps like there's, how come a woman gets to be near the Buddha and I'm not? So are those questions coming out of stuckness? Those are... questions we can ask ourselves.

[17:44]

Am I stuck about my views about all sorts of things? You know, all sorts of distinctions and comparisons and opposites and what should and shouldn't be or who should or shouldn't be here or there. And all sorts of gender issues about what's what and who's who and, you know, do we feel, are we flexible and subtle, supple, supple and subtle in our thinking? Or do we find we, we get stuck when something's brought up or if we see something? And then we have this bodhisattva, delusive wisdom who comes out of the earth and delusive, this particular bodhisattva was a beginning bodhisattva, like a baby bodhisattva, beginner's mind bodhisattva.

[18:59]

And whereas Manjushri, you know, you might say, was the fully developed on the bodhisattva path, you know, teachers of Buddha, a teacher of the Buddha's But here's this baby Bodhisattva who comes, probably has a lot of, I don't know, just trying to practice, kind of an attitude. Hasn't gotten stuck in, I know what's right and you don't, or you should be there and not there. And he pays homage to the Buddha, bows, and then just meets her. Hello. Now, when I brought this koan up recently and someone said, but why delusive wisdom? I don't get it.

[20:02]

How come it's delusive? And I think this is a very important point for us because we tend to think, And we actually chant, delusions are inexhaustible. I vow to put an end to them or cut them. But cutting delusions or putting an end to delusions, the way we cut or put an end is to thoroughly, thoroughly understand and study our delusions, study all the ways in which we set up the world that's not in alignment. And we can feel that when we do that because there's trouble. So Buddhas are Buddhas because they have realized and studied delusion thoroughly.

[21:02]

This is maybe the definition of Buddhas. In the Genjo Koan it says, Buddhas are those who have great realization about delusion, and sentient beings have great delusion about realization. So studying delusion, being delusive wisdom, is a way to enter into our life completely. If we think we can skip over that, we'll be lost. So here comes delusive wisdom to meet somebody who's stuck, and he may feel stuck too. And when I mention this, go on to attention rep Anderson. He said, identity action. Now, identity action is the fourth of the

[22:10]

Bodhisattva guides to a bodhisattva life. The first is giving kind speech, beneficial action, and the last is identity action. And identity action is understanding in the midst of difference, in the midst of all the differences that we have, differences of backgrounds and shape and size and education and everything, still we are rooted in sameness. Still our lives are the same in impermanence, in the codependently, the dependent co-arising of our life together. This is our equal sameness. And out of that, or the other side of that is all the differences. So identity action is, even with the differences, man-woman, you know, rich-poor, old-young, all the really uncountable myriad differences, those are just expressions, different ways of expressing our equality and sameness.

[23:36]

So delusive wisdom met her. Didn't feel like, oh, she's a woman. She's a two-new student. What's she doing there? Just, oh, here's somebody who I can offer something to. A finger snap. Not too much thinking about it. Comparison. There's a wonderful story about Suzuki Roshi that is so illustrative of identity action. He was invited to give a talk at the Cambridge Buddhist Association or Society, Cambridge Buddhist Group, many years ago, probably in the 60s sometime, which was run by Elsie Mitchell, who had passed away a couple years ago. And he arrived. They were expecting him, but he arrived a day early.

[24:42]

And when he got there, they were sweeping and cleaning and washing windows and making preparations for the Zen master who was going to arrive. So Suzuki Roshi got there and he said, what are you all doing? They said, we're getting ready for Suzuki Roshi. He was coming. And he said, oh, great. And he got a bucket and sponge and began washing and getting things ready. I love that story. We're just cleaning up and getting ready for a Dharma event rather than, oh, please bring me tea. He could have said that. He could have also said that. But joining in with enthusiasm to clean and care for a space. It's also this flexible mind rather than, I'm the Zen master. yes, I'm the Zen master, and let's all work together. This is identity action, sameness, and difference right there.

[25:48]

And the warmth and soft mind, new shin, new is this soft, flexible, buoyant, smooth, mature mind that responds to a situation you know, with ease, even difficult situations. Not that things are not painful or there's no loss or grief, but we can respond and turn towards something with flexibility. I saw a movie a couple days ago. Maybe some of you have seen it. I highly recommend it, and I won't be a spoiler. It's called Chef, and probably some of you have seen it. But some of the filming of chopping is just so beautiful.

[26:59]

The use of the knife, chop, [...] and the way the fingers are curled back so that the knife is against the knuckles to keep the fingers safe and how fast and precise, but also this particular chef, the way he slices things and places it on the plate and the care, the preciseness and yet loving care. And he teaches his son some things that were very, to me, you know, they were just practice points. For example, a bunch of men helped do some heavy labor and lifting, and he said, I'll make you sandwiches if you help us. And they helped, and then he made these sandwiches. And one of them that the son was working on, I hope this won't spoil it, it's just a little part,

[28:05]

The edges of the bread got a little burnt, and the son said, that's okay, he's not paying for it. We can just give him this slightly burnt sandwich. And his dad stopped everything, took his son aside, and made the point, this is our life, this is our offering. It doesn't matter whether they're paying for it or not. We are offering something. We do it fully, completely. And if it's not right, we don't serve it. You know, this is the chef, heart of the chef. You don't cut corners. Yeah, they didn't pay for it, so eat it. It's a beautiful, beautiful part of the movie. And there's many parts like that that are just suffused with a practice mind, bodhisattva practice mind. how do we both study our rigid, stuck states of mind and thinking?

[29:22]

We need help because it's like that story of the fishes, you know, swimming along and the old fish says, how's the water? And then as he swims by, one of the little fish said to his friend, what's water? You know, We swim in our thinking, our ways of thinking, and we can look to our body. Sometimes if we're stuck, we actually feel our stomach will brace and hold, will dig in with the body as we're espousing something or holding to something. So we can study and get very good at seeing where we're... where we're wanting something, wanting to be the most famous Zen master who died upside down or the most whatever. We can see if we've got something in it for ourselves that we're holding to rather than opening to each situation fresh.

[30:35]

This is very difficult. So when we're convinced that we're right, holding to our stories, holding to our fixed views, as I said before, there can be great violence, and pain, and I came across a story, a true story that I wanted to tell you about. Actually, I have two more stories. We'll see. There's a teacher in Berkeley, Alan Sanaki, who does a lot of engaged Buddhist work, and I came upon a commentary that he wrote on identity action, this seeing the sameness, seeing non-difference, even in the midst of difference in one another, and practicing identity action as part of our vows to live for the benefit of others.

[32:05]

And Dogen, in talking about this identity action, says, you know, with a gentle face. He talks about having a gentle face in practicing this. So Alan brought up something that moved me very much. And since this is the 50th anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer, this story, which he used as an example of identity action. I was very moved by it. And this is the story of the three civil rights workers. Mickey Schwerner. I don't want to forget the names. James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner, who were all killed in Mississippi.

[33:12]

And they were murdered by Ku Klux Klan members, pulled over to the side of the road. And that night, one of the murderers named Horace Burnett later confessed to the FBI what happened that night. And they pulled the car over to the side of the road, and a man named Alton Wayne Roberts pulled Mickey Schwerner out of the car and put a gun to his head, saying, are you that... N-word, lover. And Mickey Schwerner, this is by the testimony of this other man, Horace Burnett, said, Sir, I know just how you feel.

[34:18]

And they were all shot and buried by the side of the road. This, sir, I know just how you feel. You know, it's a koan in and of itself. What did he mean? That he knew what it was to hate and fear and in his non-violent training he could see sameness even with this Ku Klux Klan murderer. Sir, I know just how you feel. I'm human too. I know we can be stuck and caught and frightened and violent. I know this. I know. So that Alan cites as identity action in the midst of, you know, a horrible, frightening,

[35:34]

deadly event, to actually see right then our shared humanity. And this gentle identity action flowing from nonviolent training and study of the self, I would say, did not save him, did not save his friends, But it did bring, I think, this Horace Burnett to come to confess, having heard this. So this is our task, I think. And in the four methods of guidance for bodhisattvas, all four of them include the other. To give includes kind speech.

[36:40]

To offer kind speech includes giving, includes beneficial action. Beneficial action is giving in kind speech and identity action. They all really interpenetrate one another or can be seen as 16 different ways. So to take up these practices develops, this will develop our life. And not only that, it will protect beings and come into alignment with our home. Where did the Buddhas go when they went home? Was Manjushri home? How do we find our home ground of delusive wisdom that's ready to admit and ask for help.

[37:49]

So may we develop soft and flexible mind and mature our practice and our way of thinking and moving and responding forever. So I think I'll save those other stories for another time. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support.

[38:59]

For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[39:08]

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