This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. It's an honor and a joy to be with all of you, and whether you are here in the Buddha Hall as a residence of Beginner's Mind Temple, or if you are at the virtual Buddha Hall online. Thank you for being here. And really, it's touching for me to be here in this seat. I realize it's been over two and a half years since I gave a Dharma talk in the Buddha Hall. And I confess, I'm still getting used to actually being in person again. I got used to being on Zoom and You know, there's a part of me that works on Zoom, right?

[01:02]

So I have to get used to not being able to see all of you immediately in front of me like I did on Zoom. So please bear with me. Anyhow, it's a treat to be with all of you in this way again. Just to feel our limbic beingness connecting and holding the space together in this way. So before I get started on the main topic of my Dharma talk, which is the future of American Buddhism, I first want to connect with the past and briefly mention two important historical celebrations that are happening this month. And the first is Juneteenth. which has been observed traditionally on the 19th of June and which was just last year officially made into a national holiday, thankfully, finally, after so long. And Juneteenth is a day in which we, as a nation, took a very significant step towards the potentiality of collective liberation.

[02:14]

So this 150-year-old holiday. It's also known as Freedom Day or Jubilee Day. You may know this already. It recognizes when the United States and its historic practice of slavery, both legally and actually in the real world. So although the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Lincoln on September 27, 1862, the It freed the slaves in the South, but for technical reasons, which I never quite understood, it couldn't actually be enforced in many places until the end of the Civil War. So Juneteenth marks the moment when the Union soldiers marched into Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of slavery. And this was two and a half years after the original proclamation was signed.

[03:16]

And unfortunately, despite this momentous event, various forms of systemic racism have continued in our country in the century and a half since the formal end to slavery. And so there's still a lot of work that our country and our society needs to do to address anti-Black racism. While Juneteenth is seen by many as an African-American celebration, it's really... about our collective freedom and the freedom that comes with acknowledging and healing our past. So if you live in the Bay Area, you might be interested in the Juneteenth Freedom Celebration that's happening in San Francisco Historic Fillmore District today. I think it starts around 11, just 11 or 6, something like that. And it's intended to, what I read on the website, reignite the city's 72-year-long history of celebrating black freedom, culture, and resilience.

[04:20]

So if you're interested in learning more, check out the website, juneteenth-sf.org. And I know there's many other celebrations around in the Bay Area as well. And June is also Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month, or just Pride Month for short. This is a special time. was intentionally set up in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots in 1968, which happened in Manhattan in New York. And so next Saturday is the 52nd Annual San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration, and that will happen here in San Francisco. And the theme for this year's celebration is, Love Will Keep Us Together. So it's a... Tony Tenille song. Anyone remember that from dating myself? Anyhow, given the isolation that was created by the pandemic and other kind of divisive foldings of the last couple of years, it's a good reminder for us to return to love as that quality of being which can help you reunite and heal our relationships.

[05:39]

Thank you. And after a hiatus of a few years due to the pandemic and other factors, Surfaces of Zen Center will be once again marching in parade next Sunday, June 26th. So if you're interested in joining the Zen Center contingent, go to our website. It's listed on the calendar. Just hit, I think it says Pride Parade or something like that. And they'll tell you how to... get more information. So if you're in the Bay Area, I hope you're joining us. It's lots of fun. I personally find it very meaningful to be able to acknowledge and participate in these two celebrations, honoring the efforts to undo histories and systems of oppression in the service of personal and collective liberation. And I also want to acknowledge and gratitude to our innumerable ancestors. However we may identify them or name them, whether or not as people, as lands, as beings, as spirits, who have made it possible for us to be here today in the ways that we are here.

[06:53]

So commemorating and honoring their hearts, their minds, their bodies, their joys and sorrows, their accomplishments. their failures, their strengths and their weaknesses, their character and their vision, and their struggles and losses and their grief. All of these are woven into the tapestry that makes for this world and for this present moment. So let us not forget, in everything that we do today, that we are ourselves ancestors for those He will come after us. Can we live in such a way that we constantly have their happiness and welfare and liberation in mind? Can we live in such a way as to do the bodhisattvas of the future proud? So I'll turn now to my main topic for this morning, which I mentioned earlier, is the future of American Buddhism.

[08:17]

And I was prompted to speak on this because I recently attended in early June a conference titled The Future of American Buddhism. And this was held at Garrison Institute in New York. And a number of Sangha members have been curious what it is, what were some of the takeaways. from the conference, and also maybe some of my own reflections. So I thought I would kind of just say a few things about the conference and what came from that for me. The four-day conference was a collaboration between Nairobi University, which is in Boulder, Colorado, where I went to live for a while, and also the Lens Foundation. And it included over 100 people in person and 100 people online, participants from various traditions, geographical and social locations, as well as different age groups, ethnicities, and racial groups.

[09:22]

So the panelists and presenters included over 40 well-known American Dharma teachers and Buddhist scholars. And they were all offering their particular reflections on the future of Buddhism on this continent. and how the various constituents and organizations that were present at the conference could be relevant to the unfolding of American Buddhism in the coming decades. And you might recall that Arnold Toynbee, the noted British historian, remarked that the most important event for the West in the 20th century was to be its encounter with Buddhism. And I still think that has to play itself out, see if that's really true. So we in the so-called West are still in the early days of this encounter. And there are so many facets of this that have yet to be worked out or made evident.

[10:23]

And to my mind, Buddhism in the West is still in its adolescent stages in many ways. I think it's still awkwardly growing and navigating it. a rapidly changing body, mind, and social environment. I don't think, maybe it's on the cusp of becoming a young adult. I'm not quite sure. I still think it has that adolescent attitude to it. But by examining some of the challenges and concerns that have arisen in this encounter of Buddhism with the West, perhaps we can be able to discern a possible trajectory of the future of Buddhism. And then, as you probably well know, in the process of moving from one culture to the next over its 2,500-year history, Buddhism has always adapted to its new environment, absorbing aspects of its host culture, even as it has changed the culture it found itself in.

[11:27]

So this was very apparent as Buddhism migrated to China. Korea, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries in Asia. And in the last 150 years or so that Buddhism has formally made its way into the United States, it's already had a significant impact as it adapts to and evolves on this continent and among the collection of communities and cultures that it has encountered. So the Future of American Buddhism Conference was built on the premise that that American Buddhism is once more in a time of major transition, instigated in part by rapid social change, as well as the aging and passing of many of its founding members. And while many of our Dharma communities have provided a much-needed refuge for personal spiritual growth, many others have been sidetracked by challenges, challenges that are related to

[12:28]

issues of privilege, issues of cultural insularity, sexual impropriety, and spiritual materialism, to just name a few. So there were obvious various challenges and issues facing contemporary American Buddhism prior to the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. And to my mind, the last two-plus years of the pandemic have merely served to accelerate and intensify many of the problems and questions that American sanglers will have to face sooner or later as Buddhism continues to inform and be integrated into the nervous system and structures of American society. And I think this is certainly true here at San Francisco Zen Center. This uncertain liminal time post-pandemic is likewise asking us here to consider, what are we doing?

[13:29]

How are we doing it? And for whom are we doing it? And of course, many of the issues and challenges Dharma communities are grappling with are, in many cases, simply echoes, or you could say smaller versions of the many challenges and tensions that are found in the wider society and world. So you might ask ourselves, why is it that people are so interested in the future of Buddhism? And two reasons immediately come to mind. One is the fear of losing something very precious in one's life. It's life-changing when you find the Buddhist path, at least I found it was, and a spiritual practice that's meaningful, that increases your happiness and reduces your suffering. So I've come to love the Buddhadharma.

[14:32]

I've come to love Buddhism. However, having found this precious thing, then it's often common that we fear losing it. And this is a very natural, psychological thing for us to feel. What's going to happen if we lose it? What's going to survive once it goes away? And the other is that we want to know what's going to happen to us specifically. What will happen to me if this thing I love or rely on changes or goes away? So we look for some kind of assurance or security that will be personally okay as Buddhist practitioners. And of course, the speculation about the future of Buddhism started the moment after the Buddhist Paranabhama, after his passing. And his followers at the time had to grapple. with both the reality of the heartbreaking loss of their teaching, but also what it meant in terms of the future of their practice and lives and the continuation of the Buddha Dharma.

[15:41]

So what's going to happen next to the practice itself? How long is Buddhism going to last? There were many questions about that. In some cases, predictions will last 500 years after the Buddha's death. Others said it will last 5,000 years after the Buddha's death. Who knows? I understand that at the time of Suzuki Roshi's death, many of his students and members of the Mahasanga here had similar questions and similar concerns, in particular about San Francisco Zen Center as an institution, as well as the still-nationed expression of American Buddhism. And as more of the founding generation of San Francisco Zen Center passes, and a new generation of Sangha members step forward, this continues to be a deep inquiry for many of us. And speaking of founding members passing, I think you might know that Zen Center will be hosting at Green Gulch tomorrow for Sojanel Weitzman, one of Zen Center's former abbots and also a founding member.

[16:53]

All this impermanence continues. How do we honor it and flow with it? Okay, so back to the conference on the future of American Buddhism. The invitation was for participants to take up the inquiry of what we personally and collectively envision for the future of American Buddhism at this time, right? You might want to take up that inquiry for yourself. What is your personal vision for the future of Buddhism? What things do we want to transmit onto, into the future, as we support American Buddhism to evolve, as we engage in our practice together? And what things do we want to leave behind that no longer serve the development of Buddhism in America? I appreciate some of the key questions that the panelists over the duration of the conference invited the assembly to consider.

[18:00]

And one of these first inquiries is to ask ourselves, who or what are we talking about when we use the phrase American Buddhism? Who or what is America now? Who do we mean when we say American Buddhism? And when you think of American Buddhism, what kind of Buddhists come to mind? Who's included in your mental bucket of American Buddhists? And who's left out? And why? Do you think of individual practitioners? Or do you think of sanghas when you think of American Buddhism? a sense of spaciousness and honesty rather than becoming defensive or fearful about what it is we might discover in the process of asking ourselves these questions.

[19:01]

And another question is, what are we transmitting when we speak of Buddhism, of conveying, transmitting Buddhism? What is it that's uniquely Dharma-centered in what we are conveying? And how might this dharma help us to shift our cultural context, which is based, maybe you'll share with me, this idea of on greed, hatred, and delusion. And obviously this is no longer working for us. We're no longer working for our society, for our world. It's actually killing us, these three poisons. As Larry Ward so perfectly noted in the opening session, we are confused about what it means to be a human being and to live as a human being. The practice of Buddha Dharma helps us to transform our hearts and minds.

[20:06]

So to guide the direction of the conference, the organizers asked the wider Buddhist community through a survey. What are the most important and pressing topics to address when thinking of American Buddhism in the future? And so out of the responses that they got, they came out with six primary themes around which they organized a series of conference panels. And these panels had three to five people of diverse backgrounds and traditions and social locations on them. Each of them shared their particular thoughts. They were short presentations. They weren't in-depth by any means, but really more I get some kernels to consider and reflect on. So the first of these six themes was tradition and innovation. How is Buddhism effectively and appropriately innovating in an American context?

[21:17]

and without losing connection to its Asian transmissions and roots? How do we adapt and innovate how we hold and express the Buddha Dharma in ways that keep the essence of the practice alive in the changes that we seek to make? And furthermore, how do we prevent what sometimes is referred to as the dumbing down? of the power of Buddhist practice as aspects of a new culture are incorporated into it, or it's into the culture, such as we're seeing sometimes with the mindfulness movement entering into secular environments. For some time now, I've been thinking about the question of what's formal Sothe Zen training for the 21st and 22nd centuries might look like for us here. in the U.S. And many of the forms that we practice today at San Francisco Zen Center obviously have their roots in Japanese and Chinese cultures going back many, many centuries.

[22:29]

And in many cases, they still surprisingly hold tremendous power in terms of their effectiveness in training kind, awake, and compassionate bodhisattvas. The thing is, many of these forms and ceremonies were developed to address the minds and bodies of those who were encountering Buddhism and Zen at that time. And in many cases, often for young men. And these minds and bodies of people conditioned and shaped by their particular cultures, the social and political systems and environments they were embedded in, and other circumstances specific to their times were all shaped by these. So the teachers of their times made the effort to design Zen training forms that were skillful and efficacious ways to point people to the awake mind, and then to live from the awake mind.

[23:35]

And so some examples of these training technologies, if you will. include, of course, koans, you know, literary foundations, and also the use of physical and emotional, I would say, aggression, you know, shouts, hits, so on, to shock the mind of the practitioner out of its normal conditioned views and open the space for a deeper insight to come forward. such technologies aren't so appropriate for our contemporary society and sensibilities. So we have to come up with new novel approaches that help us break out of our conditioned mindsets and views. The second theme was on leadership, power, and empowerment.

[24:37]

And this theme took up the question of how American Buddhist communities are addressing abuses of power to create healthy communities. So how are leaders and teachings being held accountable for how they weld power and authority? And how is power being shared is another question. How are leaders and teachers across countries diverse social locations and identities, particularly women, BIPOC, and queer folk are being empowered. One more, can we do more to address the structural factors and conditions that continue to perpetrate suffering in our communities and world? For example, how many of our predominant and prevailing social systems are deeply shaped by patriarchy, hierarchy, sexism and capitalism in ways that leave many people marginalized, disempowered, under-resourced, and physically and emotionally harmed.

[25:45]

How do we change this? By examining our understanding of leadership and power. The next focus was on Dharma for the environmental crisis. So how is American Buddhism contributing to solving the critical environmental issues? of our times. How are we using the teachings of the Dharma to not only take actions to address the climate change crisis, but also help us work with the various emotions that we might be having in the face of climate devastation, including fear, despair, grief, and helplessness. And the healing of our will begins with the healing of our heart-mind. The fourth panel was on engaged Buddhism, and it explored examples of initiatives in America that bring contemplative methods to social, educational, and political issues.

[26:49]

So the question was, how might we take, or how might we do more to take Buddhism out of the individual practice realm, where it's just about me and my practice, my happiness? and actually apply it to all areas of our lives and our society, to really manifest and engage Buddhism, as Thich Nhat Hanh would call it, by applying Buddhist principles on a wider scale to social and civic areas. So one thing to ask, for example, is what would it mean to apply the teachings and practices of the Buddha Dharma to school systems, to city planning, to corporations, to support them, as thy word said, not to necessarily become Buddhist, but to become wise. BIPOC wisdom and skillful means was the fifth theme, and the past panelists spoke about how BIPOC, Asian American, and other Buddhist communities are being,

[28:02]

are bringing innovative new structures and modalities to American Buddhism. There's recently been an explosion of wonderful books by BIPOC Dharma teachers and practitioners, particularly those of African descent, that speak to what Buddhism can teach us about race, resilience, transformation, and freedom. And at the same time, it's important to remember that two-thirds of American Buddhists and this was based on a survey a number not too long ago, are Asian American descent. And that many so-called heritage Buddhist temples are tied closely to immigrant communities that attempt to foster cultural religious expressions of their countries of origin, while also, at the same time... engaging in interesting evolutions and experiments that are expressing Buddhism in new ways, you know?

[29:07]

And not unlike many of the predominantly white convert Buddhist communities, how can we all learn from each other rather than kind of being somewhat insular in our cultures and our communities? And then the final... exploration was on digital dharma and virtual sangha. And for this, the panelists spoke about some of the new platforms and menus that are propagating dharma in America and how this has actually changed the face of American Buddhism. Obviously, the pandemic has accelerated the use of video streaming tools such as Zoom for making dharma offerings more accessible. and for creating online sanghas, particularly for many people who have no access to nearby sanghas or teachers. But there are actually many other technological advances that are groundbreaking and new and exciting and actually unsettling ways.

[30:14]

For example, I've seen a few articles and videos recently about how Japanese Buddhists are using robot priests, right? And bodhisattva figures such as Kanan to lead Zen services and teach the Dharma. So there'll be a room that Buddhist practitioners come to, and there'll be this robot figure in the front leading a service. And the practitioners will listen to it and chant with it and engage with it just as they would a human being, right? So there's something practitioners are finding beneficial. in engaging with these forms of practitioners, if you will. And there are also new AI programs that allow practitioners to either access or create virtual reality zendos and digital avatars of, for example, Dharma teachers, right? Including those who have died. So I understand they're taking snippets of video and voices.

[31:18]

from Dharma teachers that have passed and creating these digital avatars, which you can engage with as kind of practice modality. So in other words, in the near future, you could attend a Dharma talk and a practice discussion with an AI version of Suzuki Roshi, right? Maybe with one of those called the... VR things, you could kind of come in here and sit here and actually watch Suzuki Roshi giving a Dharma talk, or even from your own home, right? So what a strange and brave new world is this realm of digital and virtual Dharma. Besides the panels focusing on these six main themes, there were also a number of smaller workshops that were dispersed throughout the conference that kind of touched upon or further unpacked these different themes.

[32:20]

And they had titles such as Transformative Justice and Repair in Dharma Communities, Shared Leadership, Engaging Sangha Toward Collectivizing Healing, Care, and Empowerment, The Inner and Outer Work of Divesting Organizations of White Body Supremacy, Female Leadership and Empowerment in Buddhist Communities, opening pathways for deep practice for young people, and monasteries in between worlds. So many of these workshops offered informative case studies and specific approaches to addressing the various tensions and challenges that many Dharma communities and organizations are currently grappling with. Now, many would say it's simply folly. who tried to predict the course of the future of American Buddhism, much less Buddhism in general.

[33:22]

And my overall take of the conference was that it didn't so much outline a particular vision of the future of American Buddhism in the coming decades, but rather offered more of a beneficial overview and temperature check of what many key tensions and concerns that are alive for Dharma practitioners and communities at this time. Thich Nhat Hanh said that if you want to know the past, look at the present, because everything you see is a product of the past. And if you want to know the future, also look at the present, because the future is being created right now. So in other words, the future of Buddhism is now. We make the future in the present moment. You and I are co-creating it today. through our practice and engagement with the triple treasure, Buddha Dharma Sangha, and within the various contexts in which we find ourselves inhabiting and navigating.

[34:27]

The question, hence, is one of how are we now engaged in Dharma practices in such a way as to lay the foundation for a desired future in which the essential teachings and practices of Buddhism and continue to bring great benefit to many. Throughout the conference, the very last paragraph of Zen Mind Beginner's Mind kept coming to mind for me, and in it, Suzuki Roshi offers us some wise counsel regarding American Buddhism that I think is still apropos today, particularly the advice that we cultivate a beginner's mind that flows and doesn't grasp. He says, I feel Americans, especially young Americans, have a great opportunity to find out the true way of life for human beings. You are quite free from material things, and you begin Zen practice with a very pure mind, a beginner's mind.

[35:35]

Maybe that was a little more true in the 60s than it is today. I'm not so sure. But he went on, you can understand Buddhism... understand Buddhist teaching exactly as he meant it. But we must not be attached to America or Buddhism or even to our practice. We must have a beginner's mind, free from possessing anything, a mind that knows everything is in flowing change. Nothing exists, but momentarily in its present form and color. One thing flows into another and cannot be grasped. And so the spirit with which we address the future of American Buddhism should be one of sincere and open curiosity, of genuine exploration, of allowing change not for the sake of change, but for the sake of expressing something that is true and authentic for us right here and right now.

[36:37]

And because of this right here and right now is continually changing, we need to be flexible. and adaptable as a means to keep the spirit of Zen practice, the feeling of aliveness, available to us. So we must not be attached to our ideas of Zen, to the forms and the rituals or the garb, to the traditional structures through which practice has been communicated and transmitted to us. And at the same time, it's foolish to get rid of the traditional forms and ceremonies just for the sake of change or innovation. Many traditional forms have a wisdom, a purpose, and an efficacy that has been tested and found sound and to be transformative over and over for many people. So there needs to be a wise and thorough discernment about our deepest intentions in changing the forms.

[37:39]

Is our intention based on, I don't know, an egoic wish? just to be innovative for innovation's sake, or is it in the service of the ongoing effort to touch and express our true nature in this very moment? To express, as Suzuki Roshi says, the true way of life for human beings. Our world is calling for new ways to meet the challenges of our times, including that, you know, climate change, of war, of entrenched systems, of racism, misogyny, oppression. And so many of us are longing for meaningful engagement, really wanting to understand what it means to be fully human. And I think another guide for us as we address the present moment challenges in service of the future can be found in John Master Jungmann's

[38:44]

replied to the question the monk asked him, what are the teachings of a whole lifetime? And Yunman said, an appropriate response. And this wish to express the true way of life through our practice is at the heart of what it means to have an appropriate response. A response that comes from an open heart and mind that seeks to connect rather than divide. that aims to see things as it is, that aims to see the Buddha nature of each being, and to acknowledge and mirror and bring forth the Buddha in each of us. And of course, we're going to make mistakes along the way, and probably lots of them. We're going to make changes and try on new approaches and forms, and some of them will work, and some of them will fail, and perhaps sometimes spectacularly. As Dogen said, there is the principle of the way that we must make one mistake after another.

[39:51]

And this is how we learn and grow and develop wisdom. A wisdom that's based on real life experiences. Not our ideas of what should be, but actually how we discover what is true and efficacious through our personal endeavors. So the life of practice is one continuous experiment. what it means to be fully human. The mind of not knowing is the ultimate doorway to the wondrous awakening. I think as we continue to lay the seeds for our future of American Buddhism, I think we need to keep at the forefront of our minds the core endeavor of Buddhism and Zen. And as I see it, the principal purpose of the sometimes I think of the Zen project, if you will, is awakening. Zen is essentially about awakening through a transformation of consciousness. And when we speak of awakening, it's in the form of liberation from a conditioned, dualistic consciousness and limiting views that keep us from seeing who we really are and from seeing more clearly the true nature of reality in which we are embedded.

[41:09]

And so to my mind, the gift of the Buddha, Dharma, and Zen is a path to awakening. And the emphasis on the importance of the integration of our insights into our everyday life. And so everything else you could say is just upaya or skillful means. And throughout the 2,500-year history of Buddhism, there have been endless conversations. experiments and arguments about what might be the most skillful means and efficacious practices and forms to support awakening. And the transformation and liberation of the human mind in service to the alleviation of suffering. And most of these are rooted in the traditional threefold training practices of sila, which you can translate as discipline or ethical living, samadhi, concentration, and prajna, which is insight or wisdom.

[42:13]

And I think that any formulation of a Zen path of the 21st century and beyond needs to continue to be rooted in these three pillars. Now, there are a number of particular and uniquely Western orientations we might consider in terms of establishing an authentic Zen in America, in the West. And some of these I've already pointed out when I covered the themes of the conference. And there are more to be considered. And one of these orientations is an assumption of the equality of people as full practitioners beyond the categories of their sex, their gender, expression. And another orientation is to equally recognize and embrace the priest path and the lay path. And this means fully acknowledging and honoring and empowering lay transmitted dharma leaders and teachers that are in our sanghas.

[43:16]

We need to see them as equals in terms of their commitment to the dharma, to awakening and to supporting the sangha, rather than seeing them as somehow less than. And just last weekend, we had here in this very room a lay entrustment ceremony for Nancy Petruan. And this was both an initiation and a recognition of her full and mature capacity as a dharma leader in our tradition. It's also necessary for our sanghas and our dharma leaders to be mindful of the ways that people are included or excluded in our communities. Zen is going to prevail and thrive in America as it must find reasonable and appropriate accommodations. with the society within which we live. And so examples of this might include doing away with the use of incense, you know, to be able to welcome those who have chemical sensitivities, supporting a variety of Zazen postures in the Zendo to acknowledge different bodies and needs, and welcoming other cultural expressions that aren't necessarily Asian or European into the forums and ceremonies that we hold, right?

[44:33]

For example, maybe our ceremonies could include African drumming instead of just a makugyo. Of course, this whole process is not necessarily straightforward or easy. It can be very messy, and it also entails recognizing in particular who it is that doesn't feel welcome or met and who feels somehow harmed or diminished by simply engaging in our sanghas. So our task at hand as a Sangha is to create a spiritual community, an institution that is inclusive and welcoming, a diversity of people and expressions, and makes its best effort to support everyone who wants to participate and sincerely take up Zen practice to be able to do so. I think we also need one more point. to have the orientation that questions the narrative, that awakening can only truly happen in a monastic setting.

[45:41]

Now, I'll confess that I think monastic conditions provide a better container for stillness, silence, and inward inquiry, for the transformation of consciousness, than the fast-paced hustle-bustle of our contemporary everyday lives. But awakening in a monastery is frankly, worthless, unless they can find accommodation within the larger cultural world. Awakening is not separate from either our personal lives or our social lives. We are interdependent beings who are profoundly embedded in our social and collective lives. We don't exist outside of the collective, and as such, we need to equally address the conditions that support collective liberation to the same degree as we do personal liberation. Okay.

[46:42]

So there's more I could say in regard to the future of American Buddhism. I'll stop there for today. My fundamental wish for the future of American Buddhism is that it be able to offer a positive vision of the world and for a world and a very real possibility of liberation. That it be engaged constructively with the world, rather than simply turning its back on it. That it enables us to use our understanding of the Buddha Dharma and Zen to inform how we perceive and engage each other in the world. To allow it to provide us a way to live with integrity, insight, compassion, and great care. And finally, that it supports us to live and present as whole people endowed with whole lives, while also seeing ourselves and our sanghas as continually changing, flowing as works in progress.

[47:51]

Okay, so I'll stop and thank you very much for your patience and kind attention. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[48:30]

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