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. Welcome very much. I'm taking a little moment to scroll through the pages to see who's here. Like I would look around in the Buddha Hall... But the good thing about this medium is that more people fit on him than would fit in the Buddha. So there is an upside to it. I see people from all over the world. So welcome, everybody. Lovely to see you all. Just on the onset, you will be part of the Dharma talk that's going to arise because your energy affects what wants to be spoken today.

[01:15]

So as our wonderful Eno, Brian, already said, the topic of our practice period, eight-week practice period is taking and creating refuge. We are, I think, in week six, or start week six next week. And we have been exploring first what provides true refuge in our own lives. Refuge that connects us to our fundamental meaning. Refuge maybe in a daily activity, like maybe I shared with all of you in one talk, that for me, like ironing is a refuge. It centers me, calms me, lets my mind kind of drop everything and engages me fully. So I feel restored after I ironed a pile of whatever needed ironing.

[02:23]

can be, as I said before, sitting down in a chair, looking out, can be your way to work. My father used to always take the route where he could see the mountains when he returned home. And that kind of provided him with a sense of refuge. So we have been exploring that refuge that connects us to our fundamental being. We have also engaged in mindfulness activities and spiritual practices and sitting sasen as refuge. So that connects us to our fundamental being that opens our hearts, minds and eyes and brings ease to our bodies. So we also have been paying attention how those refugees actually affect us on all levels, in our body, in our minds, in our emotional landscape, in our way of seeing and perceiving.

[03:41]

And when we are connected to our fundamental being, we get connected to kindness, compassion, generosity, inclusiveness, capacity to respond appropriately and in helpful ways, because that's part of our fundamental need, those qualities. And we have, as I said before, also engaged in practices that cultivate our capacity of presence, being really fully present, to the moment, to whatever it is we're doing or what is arising, being mindful and aware. So then, last week, on Thursday, February 24th, a whole world got made aware of the invasion of Ukraine.

[04:46]

Since then, a million people have been fled their country, were on the way of fleeing their country. Children, women, old people, the men are not allowed to leave. They are turned back at the border to hand their kids over to their wives. The temperature forecast for this coming week is Fahrenheit between 27 and 35 degrees. Celsius between minus four and minus one degree. For the days, for the nights, the forecast for this coming week is Fahrenheit 14 to 26 degrees, which is Celsius minus 10 to minus three degrees. So I would like us to just

[05:51]

Take a moment and send out wishes from our hearts for these people, for everyone included in this conflict. And to allow ourselves to be open to the enormity of this, not holding it in our body, but letting it flow through, letting it flow, come into and flow through our bones. The enormity of what that means. Each one of us carries in the marrow of our bones and in the depths of our hearts and knowledge the fundamental truth that we are inextricably interconnected, interconnected and interdependent with every human being on this planet, with every animal, every plant.

[07:28]

every drop of water, with the entire Earth, the vast sky, the air, the whole universe. We are interconnected and interdependent in inextricable ways with all of this. And we all know in the marrow of our bones, and in the depths of our hearts, beyond what we may allow into our everyday consciousness, that there is no possibility of true freedom, peace, well-being, and prosperity unless they are shared with all. Dogen Senji, the founder of this school of Buddhism, says, your practice, and that means every action of body, speech, and mind.

[08:46]

Your practice affects the whole earth and the entire sky. Although not noticed by others, but yourself, it is so. interconnection, interdependence of everything is one of the fundamental tenets of the Buddha's teaching. Also, the position that inherently in the foundation of each human being is Buddha nature, that is, the potential to be fully human, fully embodied, fully alive and fully awake. With the onset of the invasion, this truth is now acutely tangible, I think, and felt by a majority of us in many ways in our bodies, hearts and minds.

[09:56]

We may be feeling a heaviness in our bodies, an aching heart, grief, disturbed sleep, anxiety, or fear. There was like, I don't know, maybe 30 years ago, I came across a book that was called The Secret Life of Plants. And there were experiments described where they put electrodes on leaves of plants that measured the energy in the leaf. And in the room next door, they were throwing live shrimp in boiling waters. And the plants went into shock. There was a reaction each time that was measurable. So the plants could feel that life was killed in the next group.

[11:00]

And our bodies feel all this too. In the first part of this practice period, our focus was on discovering what offers true refuge in the circumstances of our everyday lives for each one of us. and to cultivate our ability to access those things that offered refuge. And in the description of the practice period that we had online was, to have a location and a practice of refuge is providing restorative rest, orientation, and support for navigating the overt and pressing issues that are challenging us today to wake up, to align our relationships and interactions regarding race, society, economy, nature, its resources, and climate change,

[12:21]

in liberating and just ways. That was and is the aim of this practice period, this focus. We did put ourselves first, self-care first, not in order to stop there, but to ultimately enable us to respond in appropriate ways to the needs around us. Similarly, as we are instructed in a plane to put the oxygen mask first on ourselves, on our own faces, so that we then can be helping others. We already, all of you, I'm sure, know this. I think everybody knows this.

[13:22]

We know from experience that the energy field of the people around us affect us. Also, the energy fields of animals around us and plants around us. In which proximity calms us down, brings us joy, connects us to our own heart, inspires us, and who or what unsettles us, riles us up, stokes the flames of frustration or anger. That's how we instinctively and our bodies respond to the energy that's around everything. So while seemingly focusing just on ourself in the first part of this practice period, focusing on finding refuge that connects us to the foundation of our humanness, to settledness, open-heartedness, kindness, and peacefulness,

[14:47]

that lives there radiates out and affects the people around us and beyond. So already in the first three weeks, that has been happening and continues to happen wherever we are all the time. It's something that happens all the time. So now in the second half of the practice period, we have been shifting the focus to actively include the world around us into the practice of taking and creating refuge by engaging the six practices of the Bodhisattvas. And so when I say we, I mean Paul Howler, who is my great support, enjoy teaching this class together, teach it together. And all of you that are participating, we all have engaged in this.

[15:55]

Bodhisattvas are beings that are living their lives for the benefit of all beings. That is the vow of a Bodhisattva, that is the practice of a Bodhisattva, that is the manifestation of what in Buddhism is called a Bodhisattva. In other religions, they may be called saints, protectors, or there are other names. Sikhs practices are described as expression of bodhisattvas, or capacities of bodhisattvas, and practices of bodhisattvas, actions of bodhisattvas. Those six are called paramitas, maramis, or perfections.

[17:01]

They are manifestations of Buddha's way, of Buddha's mind and body. Manifestations of a fully awake, fully alive and fully embodied human being. The perfections are both simultaneously intrapersonal and extra interpersonal, intrapersonal and interpersonal practices. They go in both directions. They go inward and outward. That means we have to apply them towards ourselves in the same way as we have to apply them towards others and everything around us in our lives. When engaged, they are profoundly transformative.

[18:06]

When engaged, they are manifestations actions responding to the reality of complete interconnection of everything in this universe. So far, we have been concentrating on the first three. The first one is the perfection of giving. generous heart, generous mind, generous body. This is an antidote to fear of scarcity, to a lack of trust in generosity of ourselves or others, and an opening of

[19:13]

interdependence of all beings, opening us up to the interconnection of everything. The second one is called ethics or virtuous life or morality, and it cultivates the positive qualities of being awake and supports and expresses itself by refraining from harming others or self. The third is the perfection of patience, or Thich Nhat Hanh calls it radiant presence, is the willingness to turn toward Rather, generally, we tend to turn away from it or try everything to make it go away.

[20:18]

So presence means you turn toward it and feel that suffering allows it to be there when it's there, makes space for what is there, and invites forgiveness and acceptance. So these are the three practices of perfection we have engaged for the last seven days or so. And now being faced with the facts of the invasion in Ukraine and by the stream of opinions, commentaries, and of pictures of destruction and suffering that just come in through all channels of communication, how do we skillfully respond?

[21:31]

For today, I would like to posit that they are a call to step up and step more fully into our own work. to continue to take care of ourselves so that we can support and serve the needs of others. We are called both to look inward and outward. So with the practice of giving, of generosity, I can look inward. Am I giving generous and spacious attention to all aspects of my inner life? Or am I at war with parts of myself?

[22:35]

So if we look at this whole universe as one being, then we could say, Invasion of Ukraine is a war of one aspect of this whole being with another aspect of this whole being. Is that happening inside me? Are there aspects in myself that I am at war with? my outwardly generous, giving time, attention, presence, care, care to others, care to the people in my life, to animals in my life, to the plants in my life, to the water in my life, to the air,

[23:45]

in my life? Am I generous in sharing my resources? What and who am I supporting? And how am I supporting that, what I am supporting? So for example, in Marine, there is now this Huge conversation going on since a long time. They're trying to find space for affordable housing, and every place they want to build it, there's a huge resistance. Not here. Not here. Put it somewhere else. Not understanding that there is only one life and one body that we all share. Am I outwardly or inwardly?

[24:47]

Like, as an example, soldiers possibly bound by a family system, for example, to continue a feud, continue with a feud, exclude and scapegoat one or more family members. Am I outwardly or inwardly bound and encouraged by a religious belief system, by an allegiance to a leader, by company rules, to disenfranchise, to exploit, to disparage, to exclude, or to harm, or even take the lives of others? We hear stories that, you know, for a lot of the Russian people, the Ukrainians are family, they're cousins.

[25:54]

They didn't necessarily know that they were sent to fight them and destroy their livelihoods and their homes and their infrastructure and their lives. Am I outwardly and or inwardly bound, possibly bound by a family system to continue with a feud to exclude and scapegoat one or more family members? Am I bound and encouraged by a religious belief system, by an allegiance to a leader? or by company rules, to disenfranchise, to exploit, to disparage, to exclude or to harm or even take the lives of others. Am I willing to examine this, to look at this, to acknowledge what I find in these explorations, to be present with,

[27:13]

and open to feeling my own suffering as well as the suffering that it might inflict on others. Am I willing and capable to make amends? Forgive and accept. So this is all those... are just examples of the three parameters of keeping, morality, ethics or virtue, and patience. At the end of today's Dharma talk and every Dharma talk and in ordination ceremonies, we say, yes, we will. In the ordination ceremonies, we say, yes, we will many times. At the end of each Dharma talk, we say the four Bodhisattva values.

[28:22]

And in the ordination ceremony, we affirm that we will. And those are to save all beings, to end all delusions, the Dharma gates, which are gates to liberation and to manifest the Buddha way. So we will chant this. Maybe you participate in the chanting or you hear it, but that's what we say after each Dharma camp. How do we do that? Most innumerable ways we do it like making a continuous effort of conducting our daily life activities informed and shaped by the fundamental understanding that there is no possibility of true freedom, peace and well-being and prosperity unless they are available to all.

[29:34]

So can we actually take that in so deeply and understand that so deeply that it starts to inform all of our daily actions? Is this helping all beings? Is this excluding some? Is this an active exclusion? Is this supporting peace? Is this supporting division? All of this, are we willing to engage in that continuous effort and intention to honor the reality that there is one life. There are not millions of lives. There is one life that millions of people billions of beings share.

[30:39]

So there is individual life, but it's absolutely part of the one life in this universe that we all share on this planet, and maybe in other universes we are probably interconnected to. We do this making this continuous effort of conducting our daily life activities. Understanding that every single one of our actions of body, speech and mind affect the whole Earth and the entire sky in the end direction. It's like the story of the butterfly that flaps its wings, and then somewhere else on the planet, it starts a process that somewhere else on the planet kind of expresses itself in a big storm.

[31:47]

We do it by being generous and sharing our resources. We do it by appreciating that we are alive and by not taking for granted all we have. And we do it by remembering our intentions over and over and over. So one of the practices we have been engaged during these weeks is to formulate intentions and to speak them out loud in the morning and in the evening. It's a way of helping us remember. Some people have put them on their phone. So each time their wallpaper comes up on the phone, there they are.

[32:58]

So it reminds them. So we participants have all found their own way of doing that and what works in their circumstances and have been engaging that now for several weeks. We have two more weeks to go. And then a meditation retreat of seven days, Sesshi, called Sesshi, gathering the mind where we sit, meditation. So what I would like to do today is to end this talk with the loving kindness meditation.

[33:59]

Sending out our energy, loving, kind energy into the universe. Whoever is hosting the Zoom link will put it up in the chat box. And I will say it. And you can join with your attention into your heart space and join from there. You can put your hand on your heart if that helps you. You can sit. in an upright, supported position, whatever helps you to be present. And you don't have to read it. You can just listen, but it's also there if you want to read it. First, for a moment, feel into your heart space and think of somebody you love dearly.

[35:10]

Feel with your whole body how that energy of loving deeply feels in your body. And then, may I be filled with loving kindness. Build loving kindness. in you right now, connecting to something that you love dearly, dearly. May I be filled with loving kindness. We allow this energy to feel our whole bodies down to our toes and fingertips.

[36:21]

May my heart be awake and free from greed, hate and delusion. I think when we listen with our bodies, we can feel how the relief that is or could be to have a heart that is awake and free from greed, hate, and delusion. May the people in Ukraine, may the people who are fleeing their countries, may the Russian soldiers, may all beings be filled with loving kindness.

[37:42]

May the people in Ukraine, may all the people who are fleeing their countries, may the Russian soldiers, may all soldiers, may the homeless people in this world, may all beings be filled with loving kindness. Feel safe and at ease. May all beings feel protected from inner or outer form.

[39:02]

all beings experience nurturing connection and belonging. May the hearts, minds, and bodies of all beings awaken Be free from greed, hate and delusion. want to end this talk today with reminding you all that your intentions have energy, have a frequency of energy, or energy have a frequency.

[40:35]

So you can send out throughout the day your intentional wishes to whoever We want to send them. They travel unhindered through space, through this universe. So they will arrive where they're intended to go to. So that's the agency we have in the middle of overwhelming situations, situations that might feel overwhelming and that might be overwhelming. So to remember that, that are the actions of mind. If you say it out loud, then it's also an action of speech and body. So these are ways you can affect the entire earth and the whole sky. It's infusing that kind of energy into the universe. And that would be the same when we're frustrated or angry or hateful.

[41:42]

So we can choose. what we send out. May I be filled with loving kindness. May my heart be awake and free from greed, bait, and pollution. May the people in Ukraine, may the people who are fleeing their countries, May the Russian soldiers, may the homeless people in this world, may all beings be filled with loving kindness. May all beings feel safe and at ease. May all beings feel protected from inner and outer environment. Experience nurturing connection and belonging.

[42:46]

May the hearts, minds, and bodies of all beings awaken and be free from the need, need, and solution. Thank you very much for your company today. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[43:32]

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