Welcome everyone on this beautiful evening. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Tova Green. I use she, her pronouns. And I'm a Zen Center elder. I live at Enso Village in Healdsburg, which is a Zen-inspired senior living community. And I moved there in March after living here at City Center for many years. I'm happy to be back every time I come back. And I'm very appreciative to Artanto for inviting me to give this talk tonight, and also my teacher, Agent Linda Cutts.

[19:22]

And I really appreciate all of you who are here tonight to co-create this Dharma event, and those of you who are... tuning in from your homes. So the title of my talk tonight is Responding to the Cries of Our World. And I came to offer this talk due to a conversation I had with one of my students. But just before I get into the topic of my talk, I want to Just mention that tomorrow is Juneteenth. Is there anyone here who doesn't know why we celebrate Juneteenth? A few of you. It became a national holiday recently, and I can't give you all the details, but it's because on June 19th,

[20:26]

About two years after the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in the U.S., the word finally got to Oklahoma. People in Oklahoma did not know that slavery had been abolished until two years after it was officially abolished. And so there were celebrations on that day, June 19th. It's widely celebrated in some parts of Oklahoma still, and it was made a national holiday so we can all remember and celebrate that event. So I was having a conversation with a student who recently received the precepts in a Jukai ceremony. And I gave her a Dharma name.

[21:29]

Part of her Dharma name was Courageous Caring. And she was curious about how she could bring that more deeply into her practice, care courageously, not only for her family members and others in her life, but for the wider world. And she wondered. whether activism might be a way to deepen her practice. And partly she had that question because she knew that I have been involved in various forms of activism for most of my life, including recently. And she hadn't participated in any demonstrations for several decades and was considering going to She lives in the East Bay to the No Kings protest in Oakland.

[22:32]

And she was a little apprehensive about going. And she wondered what I thought about whether... I mean, I would not advise her one way or the other, but I did talk with her about... my experience with some protests and recently an interfaith pilgrimage that I'll say just a little bit about that I participated in. Anyway, she decided to go to the demonstration with her husband and it turned out to be for her an experience of deep connection and people were very friendly and she appreciated all the creativity of the signs people made and it turned out to be a very I would say an important step for her in thinking about how she might respond to her concerns about what's happening in our country and the world and she wanted to know more of

[23:50]

about my own experience as an activist. And I realized that I have been really supported in recent decades by people in my life who were mentors for me, Buddhist mentors who were very socially engaged. And so I thought it might be of interest to some of you to hear some of my own experiences, and particularly with three teachers who really inspired me. One of them is Joanna Macy, and the second is Maylee Scott, and the third is Alan Sinaki. And of those three people, two have died.

[24:50]

And Joanna, who's 96, recently fell and broke a hip. And she's in the hospital. So I want to dedicate my talk to Joanna Macy tonight. So I'll start by talking about Joanna. And I'll also try to... as I talk about these people and what I learned to share how this might be relevant for all of you as you, you know, practice here and also, you know, I imagine most of you have some concerns about the world we're living in now. How do we practice with that understanding or awareness of what's going on.

[25:52]

And there are many ways of responding, including, I think for us who are practicing Zen, meditation is a really important way responding to the cries of the world. And I'll say more about that. So Joanna Macy, someone I met in 1982, I was living in Boston, and she was doing a three-day workshop in the Boston area. And a friend told me about it. It was called Despair and Empowerment in the Nuclear Age. And I had been concerned about nuclear weapons for a long time, ever since I was in college, actually.

[26:56]

And so I went to the workshop. It was a three-day workshop. And I was very inspired by it. I went with two friends. There were about 40 people. in that workshop. And her work is now called The Work That Reconnects. But it's a way of starting, she describes a spiral, starting with what we love about the world, and then some of our concerns, our fears, our anger, grief about what's happening. And then understanding how we are part of a long stream of life on this planet and she calls that deep time and tapping into the legacy of our ancestors and our own strengths and then ending with she calls it coming forth and identifying something that we

[28:14]

we could do that might make a difference. And I thought I'd share some of the questions from that last exercise. Here it is. No, it isn't. OK. I will just say some of the ones that I remember. So one of them is, what are you most concerned about that's happening in the world? What skills do you bring that might make a difference? What skills might you need?

[29:15]

And then what is one action you could take in the next week that might make a difference? Here are the questions. I just appreciate her wording. So if you knew you could not fail, what would you do in service to life on Earth? Here is our chance to pull out the stops and think big with no ifs or buts getting in the way. And then in pursuing this vision, what particular project do you feel called to undertake? What resources, inner and outer, do you now have that will help you do that? What resources, inner and outer, will you need to acquire? How might you stop yourself? What obstacles might you throw in your way? How will you move through or around with those obstacles?

[30:19]

And what can you do in the next week, no matter how small the step, if only a phone call that will move you along this path? So starting with something small makes it seem easier. but it is a way of moving towards some vision that you might have of what you'd like to see happen in the world. And after one of the workshops that I attended, so I will say that that workshop inspired me to start a support group, an activist support group, That was my action with my two friends who had come with me. And I continued to, and one of the other things I decided to do was to learn how to lead those workshops myself.

[31:20]

So I studied with Joanna Macy, and I continued to go to workshops. And at the end of one of those workshops, what I decided I wanted to do was to go to Japan. and offer despair and empowerment workshops in Japan, and visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And it took six months to make connections with people in Japan. My support group helped me raise funds to go, and I was able to make that trip, which was life-changing, I would say. just realized how much I felt strangely at home in Japan, but also I was so moved by the visit to the Atomic Bomb Museum in Hiroshima and meeting Japanese peace activists. It was something that

[32:31]

I will never forget. So that's just a little taste of Joanna Macy's work. May Lee Scott, has anyone here heard of May Lee Scott? I would expect you might not have heard of May Lee. She was a priest at the Berkeley Zen Center And I got to know her through the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in the 90s. I moved to the Bay Area in 1990, and I had heard of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, which was based in Berkeley. And I was on their board for six years, and then I worked for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship for several years. And I met May Lee there. She was a... a social worker and a mother and very passionate about social justice.

[33:37]

And she started going to the women's prison in San Francisco on a weekly basis to teach yoga and meditation. And I was curious and found a way. I went with her and then started going with her every week for a year. So I got to know her very well. And she had a practice of reading the newspaper every day and doing one thing, that one action that she felt might make a difference, might be writing a letter to the editor or calling a congressperson to asked them to vote a certain way about an issue that was important at the time. And she wrote a beautiful version of the loving-kindness meditation, the Metta Sutta.

[34:42]

And I thought I would share some of that with you. The Metta Sutta is based on a meditation, a loving-kindness meditation, where you start by sending loving-kindness to yourself and then to someone you care deeply about, and then to someone you have difficulty with, and then widely to all beings. So her prayer, her metta, sometimes called Meili's prayer, metta sutta, starts with herself. And this is the part that I think is so relevant to our practice, because we do need to start. I think it's helpful. to do anything. Currently, I did not start out as, when I started out as an activist, I was not a Buddhist.

[35:44]

And I feel that my activism has really changed over the years that I've been practicing. She starts this way, may I be well, loving and peaceful. May all beings be well, loving and peaceful. May I be at ease in my body, feeling the ground beneath my seat and feet, letting my back be long and straight, enjoying breath as it rises and falls and rises. May I know and be intimate with body, mind, whatever its feeling or mood. calm or agitated, tired or energetic, irritated or friendly. Breathing in and out, in and out, aware moment by moment of the rising, risings and passings. May I be attentive and gentle towards my own discomfort and suffering.

[36:49]

May I be attentive and grateful for my own joy and well-being. So that's, I think, a way in which we can pay attention in zazen to not only to our breathing, our posture, but to the thoughts and feelings that arise and pass by, both the ones that are painful, uncomfortable, and the ones that bring us joy. So then she moves on. May I move towards others freely and with openness. May I receive others with sympathy and understanding. May I move towards the suffering of others with peaceful and attentive confidence. And when we can take that feeling of kindness towards ourselves and awareness of our own suffering to

[37:57]

the way we listen to the suffering of others, it can really help us be more present and more available. And then she goes on, may I recall the bodhisattva of compassion, that's Quan Yin, her thousand hands, her instant readiness for action, each hand with an eye in it, the instinctive knowing what to do. May I continually cultivate the ground of peace for myself and others and persist, mindful and dedicated to this work, independent of results. May I know that my peace and the world's peace are not separate, that our peace in the world is a result of our work for justice. May all beings be well, happy, and peaceful. So... I was thinking last Saturday of all of you who were sitting in Sashin and thinking of that as you may not have had any thoughts at all about it being the day of the No Kings March, but that was another way of generating

[39:25]

loving kindness of being peaceful together in the Zendo. And my feeling is that radiates out beyond the Zendo walls. And so lastly, I'd like to say a few words about Alan Sinaki, who was, when I joined the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, he was the director of it. He was also a priest at Berkeley Zen Center. He later became their abbot. And he died just early this year. He was a very important teacher and mentor for me. And one of the things, he was very skillful at organizing events for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship that spread the message of the interconnectedness of practice and working in the world.

[40:36]

He was also a songwriter and guitar player and frequently played with others and wrote songs and that for me was also inspiring to know that someone could be as active as he was, working for peace and justice, practicing as a priest. And he and his family were residents of Berkley Zen Center, so he spent a lot of time there, and also a lot of time traveling internationally doing peace work. And also, I think it was a source of joy for him devoting himself to music. He made several recordings with various groups that he played with. They're still available to listen to. So all these people, the three, Joanna Macy, Maylee Scott, and Alan, were people who I experienced as warm, friendly, caring, and with great integrity.

[41:49]

They were people who kind of walked their talk. And so I want to close. I really hope there's some time for discussion. On Monday, I received an email from another Buddhist priest who I admire greatly. His name is Duncan Ryokan Williams. He grew up in Japan. His mother was Japanese. And he wrote a book called American Sutra, where he researched the role of Buddhism in the Japanese internment camps. It's a beautiful book. And he has turned more towards activism in recent years.

[42:51]

as have many Japanese Americans when recognizing the similarities in what happened to them during World War II and what's happening now with people being detained and incarcerated. And so he did attend the No Kings protest, and I want to read a few words of his story. During times of uncertainty and hurt, it's easy to be blinded to the small kindnesses and acts of imagination and even humor that can help us. At the Note King's protest on Saturday, he went to the one in LA, I saw so many creative signs that people held up as well as spontaneous chants. songs, and dancing that demonstrate the type of appreciative and joyous community we are trying to create.

[43:53]

The web of life is vast and interconnected. Yes, we all suffer together, but we are also mirrors that show each other possibility, transformation, and joy as we actualize freedom together, as we affect one small part of our interlinked web. In Buddhism, we call this the jewel net of Indra. Every small act of kindness can resonate throughout the entire network. There's no need to be overwhelmed at the immensity of the suffering in our world if we can do our part in alleviating suffering in one section of the web at a time, starting wherever and whatever we happen to have a karmic connection to. And then he ends by saying, power does not just reside in displays of military strength by governments. It lies in creating refuges, small acts of kindness and joy that reverberates through the web of our lives.

[45:02]

And that, I think, is what we do here at San Francisco Zen Center. And I know the recent intensive was about Refuge, taking refuge, providing refuge. And the many small acts of kindness and joy that we all do for each other every day really make a difference. So I will end there and see if you have anything you'd like to share about your own experience or any questions, comments. Hi, Tova.

[46:05]

I'm wondering if you could share anything you know about the history of how Buddhism and political activism have been entwined and what that's looked like in the past. Just curious. Thank you. Well, that is a huge question. You know, there's some sense that the Buddha himself was an activist in the sense that there were many people who became, who he ordained as monks from different walks of life. He didn't distinguish between the different castes, which was very strong system in India. And there is actually a book that has collected some of the suttas that talk about the Buddha's teachings about social justice.

[47:08]

So that's where it probably started. And then there have been engaged Buddhists in many different countries, not just in the U.S., before Buddhism came to the U.S. even. I don't think I can encapsulate it in a brief way, but I would say that the Buddhist Peace Fellowship came into being I think it was after the Gulf War. And Alan himself was involved in a group called INAB, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists.

[48:09]

And he connected with Buddhist activists in Sri Lanka and in Japan. There were many different Asian countries. And that is not such old history, but there are a couple of books about engaged Buddhism in Eastern countries and engaged Buddhism in Western countries that I could point you to. It's a strong tradition. So you mentioned that you were an activist and then you became a Buddhist. So I have a very curious question. From the point of view of activism, how did that change once you became a Buddhist, you started meditating?

[49:15]

And basically, you know, once one meditates, one understands the realm of thoughts and possibly in your daily experiences, how are fixed conceptions, as well as our mental patterns, volitions, how they play a part, and pretty much, more or less, those could be roots in the politics, power, et cetera, and it could go on. So from the point of view of that, did you start seeing activism differently? Or how did that change pretty much? Just to end, I'll quickly give an example. I think this is from the Pali Canon or something where the Buddha mentions there was one lady who had a servant and the servant used to behave very nicely, do all the work as expected.

[50:18]

So the whole town used to say, oh, look at that lady. She's so peaceful. Now, once the servant said, oh, it's because of me that everyone's praising, so I'm not going to follow her now. And then she smashed something on the servant's head. And everyone's like, oh, look at her. She's so violent. So Buddha said she was not peaceful because there was peace. It was more like the conditioning were such. So more or less like, is it just a matter of time where peace changes back to violence? Violence changes back to peace and the cyclical cycle of like the cyclical pattern of samsara. So I hope you can share how your view on activism changed after you started meditating, all of that. Thank you. Well, I can give you an example of one thing that when I, after I did that workshop with Joanna Macy, I also joined with a group of women to do civil disobedience.

[51:20]

and we trained in civil disobedience, and then we went as a group to a big encampment in upstate New York. It was an encampment that was surrounding a place where nuclear weapons were being stored before they were sent to Germany and England. And we decided with, there were many, many people who showed up for that action, we were going to climb over the fence and be arrested just as a way of expressing how we did not want these nuclear weapons to be sent abroad. And it was the first time I did civil disobedience and it was very powerful to kind of put my body on the line, so to speak.

[52:21]

But I was really angry at all my friends who didn't come. And when I began to see that, you know, that was not a, you know, I didn't have any understanding that they had different priorities for me. And at that time, I was aware of other peace activists who were really angry. And since when I did the work with Joanna Macy, I also realized that the strength comes from our interconnectedness and a way of just acknowledging that, and I think this is where our mental conditioning comes in, we're all conditioned in different ways by our families, by experiences in school, what we read, what we listen to.

[53:22]

And I think that's part of the reason why we're so polarized in this country today. We don't get the same information. We don't have the same beliefs. But I think my activism now comes from a place of feeling caring and love rather than anger. That's one way I feel practice has changed me and maybe my motivation. I don't think I answered all of The second part of what you were saying about karma. Yes. Thank you for the question. I wanted to know, as the priest and also activist, what should the boundaries one should realize all the time?

[54:37]

Because you have the boundaries which you can't. cross and it always come around that you have your own as precepts and you take it another level as a priest. But activism asks something more than that. So in that condition, what boundary should a priest as activist should realize or should follow? I'm not sure I understand the question fully because I don't think there's any contradiction in practicing with the precepts and being an activist. I don't see that there's any boundary that I would cross. I would not do harm. I would not, yeah, I would not lie. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. as an activist if you are doing something in the normal world and as the samsara and the society goes there are different things in different ways you adjust and do but as a priest you have your own moral moral boundaries you have put yourself into it but it finds in the times to and very tempting to go beyond that to do certain things which you feel seems to be right but as a priest it is not right

[56:04]

I hope I'm able to explain. I would not be drawn to do anything as an activist that I wouldn't do as a priest. That makes sense. I don't know if that answers your question. So I think we're out of time. We're out of time. Thank you, everybody. Thank you all for your kind attention. And I hope this is helpful in some way as we navigate This complicated world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. without the letters of strength, even in his own life, I've been not lost, but I've been proud of what was the same thing, for the reasons of my life, it's possible, and I've been proud of what was the same thing, not for my life, even in his own life, I've been lost,

[57:29]

Good step. They're coming tonight.

[59:50]

If we can bring this out, put this back to the shelves.

[59:54]

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