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. In this beautiful hall, Mother Retreat Hall, you can feel the practice coming up from the floor. The soles of my feet are yogically warmed. Whatever you've been doing, continue. Katagiri Roshi used to love to remind us that when difficulties arose, you just continue under all circumstances. You make a positive effort for the good as you know it, and don't be tossed away. Wonderful advice. Don't be tossed away. So it's a real pleasure to come home to Tassajara and to be in the midst of this vibrant... vibrant matter, the great matter, vibrant matter.

[01:03]

And to be able to practice together even for a very brief moment. So my name is Wendy Johnson and I've lived and practiced at the San Francisco Zen Center for almost four decades, more than four decades actually, 40 years, beginning practicing here in the early 1970s and continuing then to live at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. for 25 years in residence and now since the year 2000 for the last 13 years in the world working. And as my friends love to say, endeavoring to apply Zen practice to the work of the world. So as an organic grower and practitioner and a lay person and a mother and a partner, very much in the heart of the world. It's wonderful to reflect a little bit about what has, what are the issues that really animate life and practice, as I know it, and in particular, recently, a strong call went out across the Buddhist networks, asking places of practice to gather

[02:21]

to gather our hearts and minds together and to respond to the challenges that we're facing now as the climate of the world changes. And, you know, I propose that we in the Bay Area are somewhat buffered as our friends on the coastal areas. The place least affected in this country, we say, by the effects of global climate change is Portland, Oregon. For some reason, the coastal, the west coast... and particularly those of us in the influence of the ocean are less influenced. So we practice as if somewhat in a dream. No, I really feel this. And particularly having just returned from an annual pilgrimage to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and to practice with Upaya Zen Center to do a three-day retreat, I... really submit to you that we are somewhat sheltered from the real emergency of our times. 10 days, solid practice, deep practice at 7,400 feet, and then up to 10,500 feet in the high mountains, looking at vast stretches of the Aspen wilderness, burned out, sudden Aspen death, SAD is the acronym.

[03:39]

Seeing whole sections of the world burned out from drought, And also feeling the upwelling of great rivers and lakes and waters, even while we're very dry right now here and even more dry in the Southwest. This is a time of great volatility and challenge. And our friend and teacher, Joanna Macy, loves to remind us we're looking at five challenges right now. The challenge of... economic decline, the depletion of resources, social division and war, loss of species, and particularly climate change. In the 1980s, there were 300 events that were catastrophic events. In the 1990s, about 480, this and this country alone.

[04:40]

In the 2000s, or the aughts, 670 events up until 2007 where the recording actually stops. It's still in process. In the year 2007 alone, 800 catastrophic events. And they are escalating, as we well know. And it's our business, those of us who have the stomach and muscle and intention to sit still and really look deeply at the world and not turn away. It is our business to take in the truth. We're made of the elements that are now under such siege by the way we live and not only the way we live. So it's not an evening to have an argument about that, but just to say we notice with our body-mind, we notice what is happening and we respond, a call and response. All meditation practice is based, united,

[05:45]

dedicated to sitting still in the world, taking a look, and then getting up and responding. As an organic gardener, as a brilliant, wonderful cook, and as an artist, we sit still and get up and respond. And we respond with full heart. I have the privilege of working with many young people from all different parts of this country. I love that the children of Vermont and the Mad River Valley took 1,000 used plastic bags and created a prayer flag, a rope of prayer flag that would reach from where we're sitting tonight, probably down into the creek below the student housing, past the swimming pool, a long line of 1,000 plastic bags. That's what we generate in one second in the United States, plastic bags. It was powerful to look at this snaking rope of prayer flags.

[06:48]

They looked at them as prayer flags. We're praying that the world can turn this around, praying that this will be responded to. So how do we respond to the times we're living in? What is our particular application of mindfulness? You know, it's really quite enough to just ask that. My words are tied in one with the great mountains. This is a prayer from the Yoko tradition, a prayer collected by Alfred Kroeber, great anthropologist. My words are tied in one with the great mountains, the great rocks, and the great trees. Tied in one with my mind and heart. Will you all help me with your supernatural powers? You day, you night. You all see me one with this earth. Today, you know, as we walk the mountains and receive the good tidings of this beautiful, extraordinary, young, radical piece of land, I thought of this prayer.

[08:00]

My words are tied in one with the great mountains, the great rocks and the great trees. So feeling this, how do we respond? And I submit this evening that it's so important to give ourselves the gift of coming together, of gathering. The gift of gathering, in particular, to gather around and celebrate the gift of beautiful land and good food because it is such a precious offering in our times. And to have a place like Tassajara, or Green Gulch, or the city center, which are the three tines of the great fork that lifts up the work of San Francisco's end there. Good, strong tines, picking up the manure, turning it over. Really, because we're looking at... We're looking at... We're looking at the great... Vibrant matter is made of brokenness.

[09:14]

And we're looking at an extraordinary time in our lives, and it is so essential that we begin to act our age, three and a half billion years old. Lynn Margolis reminds us, beautiful line from a great scientist, four billion years of evolution in concert with microbial ancestors. And those microbial ancestors are turned over. as we handle the brokenness of the world and respond. So to have a place, places of practice where we can take refuge, come together and examine our deepest intention is essential and to be nourished, which is why I love working with Annie Somerville. We've been friends and Dharma practitioners for many seasons and practicing shoulder to shoulder, the working class, we love to call ourselves, practicing in the heart of the matter, and growing food and serving beautiful food to a hungry world.

[10:21]

So much can happen when we gather around the table and sit down together and listen, and then to enjoy the long relationship that Susan and Annie have also had in bringing forth food and serving it and making sure that all beings in the Ten Directions are nourished. So I am here tonight with a real sense of gratitude and ferocity coming together and clear knowledge and information coming home from the Southwest where for 10 days fires burned in the Jemez wilderness and on the steep, dark flanks of the... great mountains there. My words are tied in one with those burning mountains at the end of 10 days, breathing smoky air, watching soil itself burning, seeing many plants not be able to germinate for lack of rain, the great aridness so pronounced there, and practicing with it, not turning away, finding a way to dedicate food that could grow in that kind of drought to the ground, asking the earth to give forth the miracle of food

[11:34]

So my resolve is very much strengthened and in full force to actually find a way to practice both in a settled, quiet way and also in a responsive way, in a responsible way. So these are times that call that out of us. And, you know, gratitude to a place like Green's Restaurant where for decades... There's been a place for organic growers and farmers to gather together and to consider the great matter and how we might be more responsible. Twenty elements make up our body-mind, four of them from the air, all the other elements from the living earth. We are made of the earth that supports and sustains us. To come to the table and enjoy that truth and all of its richness is our practice. Tonight we're sitting together to talk a little bit about that and how we respond.

[12:36]

So since 19, I remember in the early 1980s, Green's restaurant welcoming a whole bevy of organic farmers for a tasting of summer produce. Farmers that had been growing and sending food out into the world and had never had the opportunity to sit down together at the table. Great chefs. from Green's Restaurant, from Chez Panisse, from all the wonderful restaurants that we love so much in the city. Remind me of the names. Zuni. Zuni Cafe. And others. Anyway, the chefs got together. They received the ingredients from us and cooked for the farmers. And we had a feast in the cavern and in the... in the beauty of Green's Restaurant. So, so much can happen when we bring our practice together, sit at the table, and find a way to respond. Thank you. This is how I'd like to open and then just pass to Annie. Well, as Malcolm Margolin would say, I'm not sure what I have to say.

[13:44]

I think that, you know, I'll just... Speak right now and then wait until we have a discussion, until we have a conversation. Happy to answer questions and be engaged. I was so struck listening to the group of people that came to work with Annie and Wendy. Is this working? Is it reaching you? Wow. Nice. Having... having the evidence of our friendship blossom when we get together. And then hearing from this group of people how many people had come in friendship, long friendships, family relationships, to be here at Tassajara and to work with these two people. I was very moved by that, especially since I'd been thinking about the power of these types of friendships.

[14:46]

how Annie, when we worked together when we were very young, I always felt like if two people work together, that's like one plus one. And somehow you made new math for me. One plus one was some completely different energy. And so when I'm hearing you talk, Wendy, I'm realizing a lot of the times I think, well, what can I do? But of course... So one of the things I love so much about Zen practice is the stories. I just think the stories are great. And when I think of Annie and Wendy, I think of two of my favorite stories. One is the one where the young potential monk is going up the hill to find the monastery and the teacher. And there's a nice little tea shack along the way. And he stops in for a cup of tea and asks...

[15:48]

well, am I going the right direction to meet the great teacher? And she serves him a cup of tea and says that way, or something along those lines. At least that's how I've translated it in my mind. And another story that I love is the one where the enlightened Zen master decides to heck with it all and decides to move under a bridge and hang out with the... the various characters he meets there. But when someone hears, there's actually this Zen master, someone who very much would like to meet that person. He realizes that he can't figure out who it is unless he brings this very particular delicious melon that he knows this person likes. And he goes to the bridge, and there's just ruffians under there, nobody looking exactly like a great teacher. But one... but one of the people, when he sees the melon, his eyes sparkle.

[16:53]

And so sometimes I think with the two of you, people might come to Green's restaurant and you might give them any directions, right? Over to Green Gulch or to City Center. There's a map to Tassajara right inside the door, which I thought was great. But to work and to study and to be in conversation with these two people is, um, the real thing. So I feel fortunate to be able to do that in this time and also to try to say something. So I was thinking about, um, uh, being an artist. Sometimes the, sometimes, sometimes the real work the artist does is not actually seen, uh, doesn't actually manifest in the world. And, um, I was thinking about Annie and Wendy and food and gardening and the earth. And I remembered this story from a time when I was living in this really dilapidated old warehouse with a man who is now my husband.

[18:02]

And it had been artist warehouse for decades. And somehow we ended up there with some other artists and we, In Seattle, it was in the middle of 28 lanes of traffic. And it was this complete anomaly. Actually, you and Zach stayed one time, right? And my husband, my now husband, immediately jackhammered up a big chunk of the cement out in the parking area so we could make a garden. And that dirt hadn't seen the light of day for probably 100 years. It was this old cement. And so we... made a garden back there, and a friend had given me one fall this absolutely beautiful pumpkin. It was one of the most beautiful squashes I had ever seen. I just fell madly in love with it, and I had it on the table, and it was there for a good month, maybe two months, until it's one day started to get some little dark spots on it, and my husband said, you know, you cannot let that squash

[19:08]

you cannot let that pumpkin rot on our table. So I thought, well, I'll get some of my worm compost, which I spoke to you about last year. I'll get some of my worm compost. I'll put it in a big plastic bin. I'll put this pumpkin, which was still quite beautiful, onto the compost, and I'll take it in my studio and set it on my table because the great thing about being an artist is you can have this space where anything can happen. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what happens there. And so it was in my studio and it was still doing just fine, just fine. You could see it was caving in on itself and the worms were underneath it. And then it really started in the middle of winter. It was not so good. And one morning I went in and it had exploded. It had exploded. And the entire studio was covered with pumpkin. except for this big mass that was still in this bin.

[20:09]

And I thought, I was very sad because I truly loved the pumpkin. And I was sad not to be there at the moment that it had its big explosion. But I thought, well, okay, let's see what happens next, right? And so it was a big, it was rotting and it was fetid and the... Worms were really happy. And, you know, pumpkins have a lot of seeds in them, right? And I think I cleaned some of the stuff up, but I left it there. And a lot of things were going on in there that you couldn't really see. But it was pretty interesting over time. And then the lights started changing in the spring, and that entire bucket just sprouted. And it was so beautiful that I... I couldn't bear to part with any one of them. So I did take them and I planted them in the garden and I did have a great crop of pumpkins that year.

[21:11]

But I was just struck by that cycle of, as one of the great sit-down comedians that many of us know and love says, Mel Weitzman says, Susan, life, it's not life and death. Life is birth and death. And I say that over and over to myself when I forget and say, life, life, what? But... I think this activity, however, whether it's internal or external, if you can... I think of it lately as this kind of veil that we are moving both ways in. And that's enough.

[22:18]

Let's see what you'd like to bring up. Either in response, call and response, or just on your own, anything you'd like to bring up. Don't be afraid. Yes, Greg? What's your hope for the biosystem? What do you pray for? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. What's your hope for the biosystem? What do you pray for? That's big. Service of peace.

[23:18]

That's, I think, pretty basic that we are doing it right now. We're extinguishing ourselves, life as we know it, on this planet. And I really agree with Wendy that we are buffered by it. For some reason in California, or at least on this side of the state, it's like, is this happening, or is this just another California weather cycle? But of course, my hope is that we can turn things around. In these really fundamental ways of not being so dependent on fossil fuel, and getting out of cars, and riding bikes, and when we can, using public transit, walking as much as possible, eating closer to our food sources. And for me, too, I think it's more of just being connected to our communities and living closer to the place where we live, kind of having our activities be closer.

[24:28]

However, that's not always possible. And I think that if you live in a place like the Bay Area, a lot of things are possible that aren't possible elsewhere, that are much harder to realize. So it does seem to me that it's upon us who live in this region, these regions of California that are so abundant, you know, that maybe we can be taking these steps to create change. And I want to know, had people seen this wonderful film called Rebels with a Cause? That is such a fantastic movie. It's about how individuals on their own, because as I think we all know, these changes don't come from government. They come from the activity, what individuals do, and individuals and groups of people working together do. And I could not believe how fantastic this movie was. It's about how the Point Reyes National Seashore, how so much of West Marin was saved from development,

[25:29]

how we created the Golden Gate National Parks, you know, how we kept Shell Oil from developing a giant housing project called Maroncello right there in the Red Handlands. And this was the work of individuals. And it wasn't people necessarily working together. They were just working for what they thought was the right thing. And it's given me a lot of heart for how it is that individuals make such a difference. And, you know, if you... believe in something and can work with other people as well. It always seems like you can't do it, but it does make a difference. So I guess I'd say that I do believe in the power of individuals who have a vision for change and not waiting for it to come from the system because it does not come that way. It has to come from us. And one of those individuals was Huey Johnson. who established the public land and worked for years in the Nature Conservancy, and is the person that introduced George Wilwright to the San Francisco Dent Center and made possible the purchase of Greenville Florence.

[26:41]

And he has been on, he also served as Secretary of Natural Resources for California in the first administration of Jerry Brown, and has been a true, deep and dedicated friend of the Zenfana, but also a fierce friend watching us. His work is defensive place. And if you veer and forget and let the original intention of a place not be fully expressed and have voice, then you better watch out because this fierce human being will come forth no matter how friendly he seems to be. So I guess I'm encouraged by that kind of effort as well. And by real generosity. Generosity of an exploding pumpkin. Generosity of an artist who can stand that fetid stink. Anybody ever smell an exploding pumpkin? No, no, no. But curiosity and conviction and...

[27:47]

And presence is so important. And then the opportunity to have a place where you can come back to life, a place like this, a retreat place, gives me great hope. What else wants to be brought up? Yes. What are your thoughts about cell phones, cell phone towers, the proliferation of them, especially in our urban areas? I mean, you're not so affected by that green gulch, but I live in a really urban area, and I know it affects me deeply. What are your thoughts about what we can do? I mean, we're not going to give it up. It's too darn good. But what can we do? My daughter gave my husband, her father, and me, each of us, a smartphone because we're so stupid with these phones on.

[29:05]

I look at this piece of technology, in my case, mine is bright red and slender, and Peter's is a big heavy, it looks like an armored truck. She's put a casing around it to endure an organic pharma. and what he will do to this phone. We hardly know how to turn them on, but I look at this piece of technology and see the practice of a brilliant engineer, Steve Jobs, and I look at the phone, and I remember this as a practitioner, when you had to sit still, not turn away, couldn't stay in school, couldn't stay in the organized world, and yet created something that would disorganize the world. and reconnected in a fresh way. And I admire and venerate that capacity. And I pray, you know, when we have an opportunity like we have during this time at Tassajara, to let our devices rest, to not be so much with the world. I feel that it's vibrant matter in that cell phone, and it needs rest as much as I do.

[30:09]

So to know how to use these tools in moderation and with intention seems really important. We do not have a world where we can go back. And so then let's go forward with conviction and care and capacity and recognize if we're using the technology too much, that it's using us and that there is a price to pay for that. So, you know, there are many ways we can have this conversation, but on an application of mindfulness, just to be aware of the beauty and complexity of this creation. And also to be aware of not just the virtual cloud, but the clouds and mountains and rivers. Our words, whether they travel by cell phone or through our hearts or through the living ground, are tied in one with the great mountains. So because of that care and attention,

[31:13]

We have the capacity to act our age, to be fully awakened human beings, to remember the network that ties us in one to the world and to respond and use these tools in a way that is appropriate and in scale. That is very much... tied to Greg's question, there's a real hope that we will find out how to do that and know the real connections. I want to read this poem, not poem, but a very simple statement. It makes me think of Annie. And I love it. It's called A Meditation on Money by an anonymous citizen. I'm thinking about a day 40 years ago when we were down to our last 50 cents, and our friends drove up with a month's rent and groceries, and after we ate and talked and sat together on the edge of the dock, saying nothing, watching the barnacles, wait, excuse me, and after we ate and talked, we sat together on the edge of the dock, saying nothing, and watched the barnacles slowly open

[32:35]

their feathery lips and slowly close them. Why I think of Annie is because the friends got to nourish the ones who were down to their last 50 cents and also knew how to sit still and watch the world come back and to recognize that there was real communication without any interference. To be at the table, which is sometimes nothing more than a doc. overlooking the water. So if we find our real wealth, then we're not really as hungry. We find just enough. What it means to eat just enough or to take just enough. And somehow it's connected to your question. Somebody ask Annie something. Come on. Come on. Ask us. Come on. Jane. I'm... Deeply admiring the maturity of your play practice, and then wondering if you can speak to what sustains you in this maturity of your practice, in this way that you've been practicing not in the Zen or as much in the Nanjing.

[33:56]

And what is it that, how do you see it expressing itself in your work and also in your I've been assisting this bit. Yeah, hi. And I'd love to get them all through. No, please. No. Nice back. When Annie and I were comedy with me, you have this great capacity of... of making a space. I was thinking about this today. Annie was talking about Greens at the end of the class, and she was talking about what she does there, which is such an ephemeral. If you had to write your job description down, I think it would just be an empty piece of paper on some level. But I think when someone, I was thinking, when someone has an actual experience of the complete interconnectedness

[35:04]

of all being, then their activity just reflects that. I play music with someone who gets very excited sometimes when we're playing classical music and she says, take it off the page! What she means is that classical music, and we read ancient written forms, but she means it's so alive, you just throw the music away and you play bop or Mozart or something. And you do that And you also have this ability to make this space where others can shine. You see the value, the unique value in, you know, that, I'm trying to speak a little bit to that, like, to be able, once one has this deep experience and is able to continue to develop it among great friends, Dharma friends and Dharma teachers, but, you know, it, It has its own life, and it continues to mature and delight, you know.

[36:10]

But I think I would say about you... Silence is going with you. Cracking me up for so many years. Is this amazing ability to actually meet each... situation, each person, each tragedy, you know, delightful experience directly. And without making a big deal of it the way I would do, I think, you know. But no big deal, I think. It's so lively. And you just get up and go there every game, pretty much. I have very engaging work. And I have a lot of responsibility, which is basically to run a restaurant that, you know, we serve the public and we make good food and we support the San Francisco Zen Center.

[37:22]

And we've been doing it for a long time. So it's a lot to do. But, you know, some days it worked very simple. And I go through periods where I think, wow, this is great. I don't have much to do. And then other times, a lot of what goes on. And I work in an environment that was all, when I first came to Green's, everybody at Green's was practicing. Everybody was part of the Zen side. And then over the years, of course, many things have changed. And now there are, I think there are three of us, two of us who are directly connected with Zen Center and Zen practice. And then another Tibetan wonderful person who's been working at Greens for many years is a Tibetan Buddhist. So I'm out there in the world, just working with people and really working with all kinds of people and engaging. I think that the most important thing

[38:26]

at least in my work, and I think for so many of us, is to be able to engage and engage with people and just meet, you know, just have these encounters. Somehow figure out a way to always, my goal is always make it work. Somehow make things work and keep things going. I always say to people at work, we have a big safety net here. We won't let, you know, we'll help you and we won't let things fall apart. make it possible for you to succeed in your work. And I really also feel that at Green's, I really think of, we really are a beginner's kitchen. Even though we have this, you know, long, you know, reputation of many years and somehow, you know, it's kind of amazing and it's crazy restaurant culture to have, to continue. Because it's really life and death out there. But again, I think for us, the best thing is in terms of pretty much bringing people who are beginners, who are very fresh.

[39:35]

I think of it as like being beginners buying kitchen, where you can be a beginner and you can learn it and do well and then move on. And the other thing I'm so committed to is the work that Wendy's doing and much what Susan's doing and what so many people in this room are doing, which is just supporting in my case it's working with small growers and people who are growing our food and producing our food and knowing those people and knowing their stories which is really incredible really pretty remarkable and all of that I get from going to the farmer's market just kind of just as they say show up when things happen and showing up at the farmer's market twice a week I have It's a very enriching experience. But again, I just want to see that these people can keep doing this because here we are in this world facing agribusiness.

[40:40]

And where's our water going? And are we growing crop? Why are we wasting our precious resources growing these crops that are laden with chemicals and are going, you know, maybe off to another country or whatnot, you know, is it necessary? So for me, I just try to, again, work, stay local. And another thing that's been really great is I'm not, I don't have a lot of time to garden, but I do a little bit of gardening. And I can't say how many people I've gotten to know on my street. I just, I'm out there watering, I'm out there pulling out some weeds, I'm cleaning up after homeless people, And, you know, the amazing conversations that strike up around gardening, you know, just the fact that somebody's out on the street in San Francisco taking care of their little section of the street. And, you know, that's been really great to get to, and again, to engage with all different kinds of people who are just like, wow, that person's cleaning up the street, you know, kind of making it a nice place for other people to walk down.

[41:52]

I'm lucky because I live on a street that is just narrow enough that cars cannot be parked on. So we have this pedestrian, but it's not a narrow alley. But it's kind of like it's a pleasant walk. A little scruffy. You know, it's got various elements, but kind of nice urban, a little bit of urban grit. But it's great. And then we have other people on our street who are gardening and who garden a lot more than I do. So it... It's a nice thing. People walk their dogs. People bring their kids down. And, you know, for living in a city, it's a nice thing to get to know people that way. Thanks, Rachel. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[43:11]

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