Today, I want to address our concerns about the state of this world threat that is being perpetuated by our government. As you may have heard, yesterday Senator Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash. Senator Wellstone was one of the most honest and straightforward people in our government who was always advocating for peace above profits and was never corrupted by fame and

[01:13]

gain, which are wonderful Buddhist attributes, not to be persuaded by fame and gain. Dogen is always talking about, don't practice for fame and gain. So Professor, I mean Senator Wellstone was one of those people who could not be corrupted. So people who are advocating peace have lost one of their most valuable leaders. Senator Wellstone was the one person, besides Byrd and Kennedy, who people could feel they could rally around, who presented some leadership.

[02:14]

Sometimes people say, you shouldn't be giving political talks as a Dharma talk. I'm not. I'm simply talking about truth and reality. I think it was a few days ago, Friday? Yeah, Friday, yesterday, no, day before yesterday, Thursday, that I got a call from Vicky who said there's a hastily called press conference at Grace Cathedral of spiritual leaders in the San Francisco community or the Bay Area community to say something, make a statement about a preemptive attack on another country,

[03:22]

if that's really what people think of that. So they said, the call was at 9.30 and she said it's at 11 o'clock. So I had to make a quick decision and I drove over there. And there were six panelists and I was one of them. I was the Buddhist representative, there was a Jewish representative, and Bishop Swing, and O'Leary, and a Muslim. And then there was a little audience of mixed people. And so we gave our opinions and everyone in the religious community said they didn't think it was a good idea, basically. The Congress has given the authority to our president

[04:32]

to make a preemptive strike under certain conditions. But what this does is makes our president, gives him the authority of a monarch. It's undermining the Constitution. It's totally un-American. I was talking to someone from the South. And we said, well, there's going to be a peace march today. He said, oh, against going to war with Iraq. He said, what is this thing about going to war with Iraq? And I thought, boy, you haven't even heard about this. You haven't even heard about this. People don't know, really, what's going on. Most of the country is totally uninformed.

[05:33]

In a country where we talk about education, where we say most of our people are educated, they're really not. We're totally, really uneducated people, except in certain places where we read newspapers and so forth. So it's really very discouraging that all this can happen. To give someone the authority to make a preemptive strike against another country means that if you suspect somebody of something, it's okay to go in and conquer that country. Or if you trump up something, it's easy to make a story. You can make a story about anything.

[06:36]

You can take a photograph and make it say anything you want. Photographs are no longer really legitimate storytellers. As far as facts go, everyone knows this. You just create photographs to show what you want to show. So it means that with this kind of power, you can legitimize any kind of offensive strike against anyone you want. All you have to do is say, I think that they are... and then you have the justification. So it's really a... if you read between the lines, it's a great power grab. It has nothing really to do with Saddam or Iraq. There's no threat there. It's not a threat to us,

[07:39]

a little country that really has no atomic weapons. Everyone says, where are the atomic weapons? Under the throne. I think they're in the palace. We want to go over to the palace. Who would store atomic weapons in the palace? It sounds like a fairy tale, doesn't it? So, first Iraq, then Iran, then Kuwait, then Saudi Arabia, then rearranging the whole Middle East. That's the plan, isn't it? Everyone knows that's the plan. So... So when I gave this...

[08:50]

I gave a five-minute talk at this press conference at Greece Cathedral. I don't know if we'll ever see that or hear it, but what came out of that was that war and peace are always alternating with each other. You know, as a Buddhist, we want to bring peace into the world, but war and peace are always alternating with each other. Have you ever seen a time in this world when there was only peace? Not for very long, because war and peace alternate with each other. There's a period of peace, and then there's a period of war. And that's the way it goes on. But as Buddhists, or as human beings, it's important to always work for peace, without being attached to the results of your work.

[09:54]

If we're attached to the result of our work, then we'll always be discouraged. I worked all my life for peace, and here we have war. But war and peace alternate with each other. You know that's going to happen, but you have to work for peace anyway, without being discouraged. And the only way you can do that without being discouraged is to not be attached to the results. Just do the work. You know, Hakuin, when he's in his talk on the Five Ranks, the Tozan's Five Ranks, at the very end, he says, the work is like the work of foolish, old foolish wise men filling up the well with snow. And he says, well, the snow keeps melting at the bottom,

[10:56]

but you just keep filling it up anyway. That's the work of our practice. Without looking for results, we simply do the work, we simply do the practice. And then, another factor that came to my mind was how, as people who follow some religious path, deal with the world, or relate to the world. Even though I am a Buddhist, I'm not a Buddhist. I'm not a Buddhist. Even though I'm a Buddhist, I'm not attached to being a Buddhist.

[11:59]

And I think that all religious people should be respectful and follow the religious path without being attached to their religious path. This is, you know, religion is one of the worst problems in the world. Religion is a big problem because everyone is attached to their own way. And they, under the name of that attachment, well, great problems are caused in the world. And by hanging on to that attachment, it doesn't allow people to relate to each other as human beings. I think it's important to be a human being first than a Buddhist. Bottom line is

[13:05]

just a plain human being that relates to other human beings as human beings, not as Christians or Buddhists or Muslims. We have to cut through those entanglements. And I know what the bottom line is. The wonderful thing about Zazen is that it cuts across sectarian lines, borders. Anybody can sit Zazen. There's a Christian Zazen, Buddhist Zazen, and a Muslim Zazen. I have a student, a Muslim student, who is in Iran. And he wants to introduce Zazen to Iran, but he has to do it as yoga. He can't do it as Buddhism. Difficult.

[14:09]

And even that's a little suspect. I think that as we create a world, a one world, there will emerge, there has to emerge a unified spiritual community. Because what happens is that the sectarian religious communities become involved with the governments, the state. And then they become manipulated by the state. One nice thing about Buddhism in America is that we don't have any ties to the state. So we can't be manipulated by the state. But

[15:14]

if you look around, you'll see how Christianity is manipulated by the state. In Japan, Buddhism is manipulated by the state. And in the history of the world, religious practices have always been manipulated by the state. They start out very pure, but then they become easily manipulated because of their attachments. So it's very important for us to stand up for what we believe in and not allow ourselves to get manipulated or sell out in some way. Simply keeping our practice pure is the most important thing in order to see clearly in an unbiased way

[16:15]

what's happening in this world. I made some notes on my way over here on the bar. So I'll be back One thing I wanted to say about you know, one of the people are always saying

[17:22]

Saddam is this butcher, you know, he's this really bad guy. Every time anyone talks about whether they're pro or con to this Iraqi invasion, they always say, we know that Saddam is this butcher, you know, he's gassed his people. But, and it just makes me sick every time they say that, because we've done the same thing. We have irradiated our people. It's well documented. I mean, everybody should know this, that we have irradiated our people without them knowing it. We have irradiated our soldiers. We have put toxic materials in our roadbeds and irradiated whole towns. Do you remember Love Canal? That town, great name, that was

[18:24]

totally contaminated and the people were getting cancer and all this. And it's happening still, still happening. There's a new permission, people have permission now to put certain kinds of toxics, toxic materials into toys and garbage cans and products as a way to eliminate, get rid of some of the toxic waste. Did you know that? It's true. They say, well, it's very low level. We're poisoning our own people. It's totally hypocritical. We've been doing it for a long time.

[19:28]

It's a case of the pot calling the kettle black. As we used to say when we had cast iron cooking ware. So all of this is very frustrating, very frustrating. So another factor is that the whole world is against what we're doing. The whole world is against

[20:31]

what we're doing. And we have the arrogance to think that we can do whatever we want without no matter what anybody else thinks. And you know we've always had a secret weapon but we've never used it. It's called diplomacy. It's never used. Never used. Because if you use diplomacy it would mean that there would be some kind of compromise or some, you know, why don't I just go and talk to the president of North Korea instead of making a case against. So divisiveness, divide and conquer is the program. If there was diplomacy it would be

[21:33]

include and see the interdependence of this world and how it works well. We're going into some terrible times. The results can be devastating. It's like ancient Rome. It's the Roman Empire all over again. But the world will be changed. You know President Bush when asked what his ideal was he said I would say I would ask Jesus what would you do? And

[22:37]

I think Jesus would say ask Mr. Cheney. Cheney is beginning to look a little more God. Anyway that's just a kind of I couldn't help saying that. Well today this weekend there's going to be a peace march. So this is you know the only voice we have really are representatives

[23:45]

have deserted us mostly except in California. Here and there there are some but pretty much they deserted us and we're on our own. I mean if you for those of you who agree with me and peace march you know put your body out there say something with your presence. So I encourage us all to do that. Starting right after this talk. Maybe you have a question. If you have a question I'd be happy to address it. Yes? Marching for peace. Yeah. You know I don't think that Suzuki Roshi

[24:47]

was against marching for peace. There was an incident one time in the Zendo on Bush Street when we had the Zendo on Bush Street and it was at the time of the Vietnam War and one of the students during his talk said well why are we sitting here in the Zendo? Why aren't we doing a peace march? And then I can't remember exactly the way it all was kind of ad libbing but it's as I remember. And then it was taken up by some other people and one other person kind of

[25:50]

voiced it again in a different way and then Suzuki Roshi got up off his seat and started beating this guy with his stick and he said dreamer, dreaming, dreamer. So it was an interesting interchange. And he wasn't against doing that but I think the thing was why are we doing this and not that? And I think that Suzuki Roshi felt that this is what we're doing now and this is an important thing. This sitting is the most peaceful is the most accurate way to bring peace into the world. Zazen is the most peaceful act

[26:51]

and that energy radiates into the world in ways that we can't follow but it does. This is my humble opinion is that when we sit in Zazen the strength and power of Zazen the power of that pure activity influences the world. And marching for peace is another way to do that. But when you're doing this, you're doing this. When you're doing that, you're doing that. It's not like one, you shouldn't do one or the other. So it was like why are we doing this instead of that? That's what I think he was complaining about or making a statement about. I want to say a situation that's discouraging

[27:52]

and disheartening. Where is the all-rightness in the thing that they are in a situation like this? Where is the all-rightness? What makes you think they're all right? There is an all-rightness. If things are the way they are everything is the way it is and that's... Well, it's easy to see it's easy to see that the samsara is difficult to see the Buddha nature. Yeah, okay. There are two aspects. One is that everything is just the way it is. In reality, everything is just the way it is and it's not good or bad and that's so. But in the human world in the world of pain and suffering

[28:54]

it's not okay. From the human point of view it's not okay because human beings want to live they want to be free of suffering and when we're causing pain and suffering all around us it's not good. So we want to eliminate the causes of that pain and suffering. That's a Buddhist practice to eliminate the causes of pain and suffering. So we have to look at what are the causes of pain and suffering? Well, in this case, they're greed ill will and delusion. They always are. And then, where is the greed in this? Where's the ill will in this? Where's the delusion in this?

[29:54]

All three are just right out there. So how do we deal with the greed, hate and delusion? That's the human realm. The rest of the universe doesn't care. But as human beings we do care because this is our state. So those form an emptiness. Yeah? What do you think would be a good guideline for a moment of attitude to the rest of the march? Well, peace. A peaceful attitude. I think peace begins here, as we always say. And we need to keep finding it in ourselves. So we should have peaceful authority.

[30:55]

Each one of us should have peaceful authority which means that we're authorizing our peace. So when we find this true peace within ourselves then we have authority. We have peaceful authority because it's coming from within not just an idea. So we have to continuously practice it. And then we'll know what to do. We don't have to be told exactly because whatever situation you meet, you meet it with that peace that's within you. So it's self-cultivation. Yes? Actually, both questions were answered ten years ago. There was a very ugly demonstration down in Redwood City when

[31:57]

the various anti-abortion groups began picketing the Planned Parenthood clinics and the people who did clinic defense had to come out to protect the clinics and I was standing on the steps of one of the clinics and I was rather shocked when I found out that the psychological attitude of both sides was identical only the t-shirt slogans and the signs were different and I was feeling kind of sick and when I looked down into the street and I saw something very different and it was Naomi Scott who did peace fellowship and she was doing something that I did not yet know the name of and she was the only sane person in the entire place and it was obvious that her sanity was grounded in something that was stable not the result of a lucky move that she woke up with that day and the only thing that she was doing in the middle of that

[32:58]

penthouse was that she was walking to the end and it seems like nothing when you do it in the window but when you're in the middle of a hell realm you're offering you're offering an alternative to anyone around you looking for a way out even if they don't know that there's a way out there's a lot of her mentality mass psychology indoctrination chanting nasty emotions that swirl around in a demonstration and we the organizers of demonstrations don't care what they want for our bodies so that they can make their moves we are the only ones who care about what kind of intention each person is going to bring so if we can make if we can show without what it's like to be sane and grounded that's quite an offering in and of itself

[33:59]

and people will pick up on it if they're willing for it not everybody is well I think that's good I appreciate that Maylee was a really wonderful peace advocate and she spent lots of time on vigils in all over the place we really miss her how do you respond to people who are I'm not sure there are some who may feel that taking matters into their own hands and taking a threat is taking care of life at a greater level those who might feel that going to war is going to take care of life are great about it

[35:01]

in the moment we need to kill well Einstein said you can't prepare for peace and war at the same time although there is often peace after war it's at a great price and it's not necessarily the peace you want it's not real peace it's just pacification which is not real peace real peace is something that you can only create through peaceful it's the law of karma the law of karma is when you create aggressive actions they lead to aggressive results when you perform peaceful actions they lead to peaceful results

[36:02]

there is some interchange there but basically that's the way it goes we don't try hard enough to make peace we just don't try hard enough we don't try hard enough we don't we alienate those who we want to conquer that's what it is and we cultivate those who we want to have share power with it's called the balance of power and it's always shifting and it's always been that way you know in the olden days a king would send his daughter to marry the other country's prince

[37:06]

so that they would have some kind of peaceful negotiations you know we should keep doing that even then of course they had wars but it's a way you know the jews and the muslims should intermarry that's the only way that they will ever come to peace there's no other way they have to each one has to let go of its attachment to its tradition and what the attachment to the tradition is the tradition of exclusiveness my god is right oh my god is right I mean come on folks

[38:06]

it seems that the attacks of september of last year has created a lot of fear and now the government is trying to assuage it by taking care of all the bad people in the world and I was just wondering how to break that cycle well I don't know that's a good point that's it playing on the fears and I think education you know but a lot of people don't realize and it looks like paranoia I don't want to make more fear but the media and there's this noose that's surrounding the country and people don't feel it yet they feel it a little bit

[39:15]

but it gets tighter and tighter and tighter and by not realizing this we didn't allow it to happen and so we have to maybe there has to be an anti-fear campaign somehow a truth campaign to speak the truth but the truth looks like an American unfortunately as Miss Saunders says anyway you should read the newspapers it's all there I have to say people say oh I don't read the newspapers well then you don't know what's going on it's not on the television I would say

[40:18]

that the Chronicle is about B minus B minus pretty good though if you read it every day you will know what's going on because you read between the lines and you have enough history to know how it adds up so it's all there it's all there but you have to read it and if you don't read it you don't know what's going on and then gee how'd that happen yeah there's somebody I have a quick question for you how do you develop a peaceful mind in the world you were talking about you met a person and that person was uneducated she was an uninformed person but to me I go to school every day

[41:18]

it's time truth shall make you free but it seems to me that we see all the world's problems suffering and feel pain how does it make you free the burden the hurt being that there is some kind of advantage in living on earth living in a world freedom doesn't necessarily mean that you don't suffer the more you the more freedom you have the more knowledge and understanding the more you suffer but you suffer with your freedom it's different than going to sleep thinking that you're okay thinking that everything's okay yeah the truth will make you free

[42:19]

and it will also make you suffer but you have some freedom within suffering within that suffering you'll have some freedom because you know that your what you your actions are based on truth and that's freedom freedom doesn't mean that you're not going to this is always going on it's always going on it's going on forever the same problems and they get better and worse but they're always there and you have to find your freedom within your suffering you're not going to eliminate suffering that's never going to happen sometimes people say well Buddhism means to end suffering well end suffering is just a kind of way of speaking

[43:22]

to actually confront your suffering to actually accept the suffering that's how you become free of suffering and this is what you learn in Zazen how to accept pain so it doesn't become suffering you know I come from a country where in the last 30 years people have given a lot of thought about the idea of complicity between the people the nation and the Nazi government so do you think that would be an appropriate question to ask in this country in our situation what's the question? maybe for us to look at but for us to look at

[44:25]

our own complicity with the current American government oh yes, oh absolutely you should ask any question that comes to mind what comes up for you when you think about complicity what comes up for me when I think about complicity is that I think that people are caught the people the financial community is caught with their pants down if you look at Enron and the corporate world which controls the country the corporate world controls the country and everybody knows it's corrupt but they can't do anything about it everybody gives wonderful speeches about how we're going to put these guys in jail nothing will happen nothing will happen

[45:26]

somebody will go to jail that's it as a matter of fact if you study if you read the newspapers you will see that it's over nothing happened so you know people are in a helpless position because the government is the corporations everybody on the cabinet is a corporate head and they are all corrupt if you read their biographies you'll see every one of them even a president and I don't want to say this and I'm not going to say that it's just like it's just like Nazi Germany in 1939

[46:27]

I'm sorry but I'm sticking my neck out to say that that's a really interesting question because I don't think it was asked as a corporate level I think it was asked individually what is our responsibility at this point for me my wonder is how do people for everybody else how do they know when the money when is it that we cross over the line that people no longer have any power let's not forget all the people who could have voted and did not that's right good point

[47:32]

good point even those that did did it it was taken away it was a stolen election well I think we are historically at a little different point actually just from what I found out in the military budget of the United States is as big as the military budget of the 15 biggest nations and compared to Germany even with a completely over powered military sector this is a different set and also the information world with access to internet and what is going on is impossible actually to inform a connection of immediate connections around the world it's really very different

[48:34]

so I think you cannot compare this this is America the superpower yes you can only go so far with that but in the sense of world domination at any cost that's the way I see it it's ten after eleven and I'm supposed to stop but this is an interesting conversation so a little bit longer five minutes yes what do you think about when you talk about being helpless and I feel a little powerless because the government has always been something that represents do what I vote for I feel that if not I don't share the same values

[49:35]

that my government is making decisions based upon so I have my community what do I do now that I feel like the power which is supposed to be my government is no longer responding how do I get what can I do about that yeah that's a good point I can say some things but I'm not sure because there's no outlet there's no or inlet you write to the newspapers I think with this kind of say like peace march today I think a lot of people are feeling

[50:36]

the same way that you are and something will come out of that some avenues will come out of that so just keep your ears posted that's all I can say yeah I didn't get the first part of what you said the benefit is that we're not connected to the state in a way that makes us manipulative but we don't have the advantage yeah I see what you're saying but I think we do anyway maybe not from inside but from outside but yeah it's true by not being by the separation

[51:39]

of our church and the state we don't have the advantage of affecting things from inside but we can affect things from outside just by as my own mother used to say where there's a will, there's a way and as long as the will is there the way will be found but not to give up yes and on that note I don't think we should forget that in the Vietnam era a massive nationwide peace movement brought an end to that war yeah that's true it's totally possible to do that again in fact if we don't do that we have a continuing series of wars that you referred to before because if we go to war with Iraq the peace movement can continue right through that war and put an end to the next war yeah yeah

[52:41]

I think if that movement is going to grow and swell eventually to the same proportions that the Vietnam anti-war movement was millions of people in the streets, in Washington and what have you this is also happening in Washington and all over and it has to spread throughout the nation and eventually it will if enough people get out of there yeah who are clear-minded and not following purge mentality what? if enough people get out there who are clear-minded and not just follow the purge mentality that's the crucial difference yeah you were talking about reading the news and getting a lot of positive information and I think it's very important our suffering and maybe it's because

[53:41]

we started reading the news in the last couple of days and there was not only the Iraqis but tons of information about terrorism and and we were talking about fighting in our own minds like how since those informations are kind of confronting our country but there's so much work in different countries so how to work in my own mind fear fear of insanity loss of control human beings have control but there's loss of control and and basically that's and actually that's the point that Buddha's teaching could come yeah I think so that's right so

[54:42]

maybe just the last one you know at some very personal level I feel a little responsible I feel like in some even though I practice and you know Buddhism and believe in some secret place I deserve the right to preemptive strikes in my personal life you know I know I do know you know it seems like this horrible nightmare of the human mind manifesting that part of us that really actually holds that little part where we cause harm and have a reason to do that and just like

[55:47]

a beautiful soaring building is a manifestation of a human mind or many minds this is also a manifestation of the human of everything those places I look at it and I feel like you know every moment I watch my logic in my situation but you know I wrote Christian Bush about this and I am telling you my personal experience with this you know also that it never comes out well it never ever comes out well it's satisfying at the moment and it never ever comes out well on a personal level on a grand level it never comes out well you always get the effect of the karma that's the problem thank you on that note

[56:47]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ