This podcast is offered by San Francisco's Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning, everyone. And welcome to our third day of Rahatsu Sashin. Let me know if you can't hear me well enough. It's a joy and honor to be with all of you, this extended period of sitting. especially in the light of the somewhat atypical format and circumstances we're all negotiating in this time of pandemic. At this point, those of us who are sitting in Sushin might be feeling more or less settled in and perhaps beginning to relax, open, and touch some deeper currents in our own karmic conditioning. as far as our unconditioned being.

[01:01]

This is often the time in Sashim when things become a little bit more, you could say, complex, particularly around the certain karmic energy patterns of the body and mind asserting themselves. Maybe some deeper knots or habitual obstacles. making themselves known, yearning perhaps to be released. And if we're experiencing difficulties, either physically or emotionally, it's a time when we need to be particularly compassionate and gentle with ourselves. It's a time to generously extend to ourselves encouragement, loving kindness, tender care, and as the Chusot suggested yesterday, curiosity.

[02:06]

Even as we continue to make a determined effort to stay with whatever experience is arising, doing our best to meet it with an inherent spaciousness and receptivity. the spaciousness and receptivity of our Buddha mind, our fundamental boundless mind. When we can do this, we allow the awake mind to be the spacious container that embraces and liberates all experience. So on day one of Sushin, Abbed Ed offered us some recommendations for how to engage the three primary aspects of Zosin posture, those of body, breath, and mind.

[03:11]

And yesterday, our Shuso, Sosan, spoke on three things to help us embrace the practice of Sushin. Trust, control, and curiosity. Now... Over the next four days, and as part of our ongoing study of Bodhisattva principles, this practice period, Ed and I will take turns speaking on one of Dogen Zenshi's beautiful and inspiring essays called Bodhisattva Shishobo, or The Bodhisattva's Four Embracing Actions. And the Bodhisattva's Four Embracing Actions are giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and identity action. And there are specific tools and practices for cultivating and manifesting our life as bodhisattvas, as people committed to the welfare, liberation, and enlightenment of all living beings. And not just acting as such in our temples and homes or doing a week-long sashim, but as we engage with the wider society,

[04:24]

once we get off our cushion and go into the world. So in this morning's talk, I'll briefly introduce the text and outline the four actions, and then delve specifically into Dogen's thoughts around the embracing action of giving. Bodhisatta Shishobo is one of Dogen's shorter texts and was written in the summer of 1243. It's said shortly before Dogen's community, he abruptly left Kyoto for the remote mountain forest of Ichizen, where he eventually founded Eheiji, the monastery which remains today as the head temple of the Seltur school. Eventually, this text became chapter 28 in the 60 classical version of Dogen's Sobich Genzo. It has different numbering in the other versions, the 95 version and so on. And there are also many translations of this fascicle, along with a number of varying titles.

[05:30]

For example, Nishijima and Cross call the essay, Four Elements of a Bodhisattva's Social Relations. And Kaz Tanahashi calls it, The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance. And Thomas Wright calls it, Four Dimensions of Living a Bodhisattva Spirit. particularly resonate with the title as Shohaku Okamura translates it, the Bodhisattvas for Embracing Actions. And Okamura gives an explanation of the title's Japanese characters. Bodhisattva, of course, is the Japanese for Bodhisattva, a being whose vow to awaken and free all living beings. And in the Mahayana view, we're all aspiring Bodhisattvas. The Shi part of Shi Shobo, means four. Show means embracing, unifying, or integrative.

[06:31]

And bow means way or method. So technically then, Dogen's essay is the Bodhisattva's four ways of embracing or unifying. And what is the Bodhisattva embracing or unifying in their actions? Living beings. living beings which are clearly the object of the bodhisattva's concern. The 17th century Japanese Zen master, Manzen Suihou, says that when a bodhisattva wishes to guide living beings and transform them, then without fail, he or she should embrace and accept living beings and allow them to trust him or her. Then he or she guides them to the true, Mahayana way. Now, as is often the case, these methods aren't original to Dogen. The four embracing actions are actually referenced as foundations for social unity in early texts, in early polytext, such as Sagaha Sat Sutta, and it's translated there as the four Sangaha Vata, Vatu, excuse me.

[07:51]

And they're listed in that particular text as generosity, khani speech, helpful action, and cooperation or impartial audi. And Sangaha Sutta, for example, it says, there are these four grounds for the bonds of fellowship, giving kind words, beneficial help, and consistency in the face of events in line with what's appropriate in each case. These bonds of fellowship function in the world like the linchpin in a moving cart. And because the wise show regard for these bonds of fellowship, they achieve greatness and are praised. So these four grounds of the bonds of fellowship, as I described here, the full social teachings, present non-selfish ways of being in the world. And they're actually also referenced in a number of Mahayana sutras, including the Lotus Sutra, the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra, and the Vimalakirti Sutra.

[08:58]

Now, these four grounds of social unity might make us think of the four Brahmaviharas, that's also known as the divine abiding, so the divine abodes. And the four Brahmaviharas are goodwill, or loving kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. However, these are different from the Brahma Viharas. The Brahma Viharas are about the state of heart-mind we should cultivate with respect to being beings. So they're an internal practice, while the four embracing actions about what we actually do. So they're an external practice. So these methods are four ways that bodhisattvas can help beings by actualizing compassionate regard in all of their relations. Of the four embracing actions, the first three are more apparent as to why they'd be listed or be on a list of beneficial actions that bodhisattvas engage in.

[10:12]

And the first action is dhana, which is Sanskrit. you know, or fusei, which is the Japanese version, which can be translated as generosity or offering or free giving. And the second action in Japanese is ego, loving words or kind speech, which Dogen says means we, at the very least, refrain from rude or unkind speech. The third action is rigyo, beneficial action or helpful conduct, which Dogen defines in his text as acting skillfully to benefit all classes of sentient beings, that is, to care about their distant and near future, and to help them by using skillful means. The fourth action, doji, what Dogen calls identity action, is actually not as straightforward to translate as the other methods. In some ways,

[11:15]

Doji is less of an action than a principle to follow. Doji can literally mean identity of task, but it could also be translated as identity of purpose, or sharing the same aim, or even the colloquial expression, being in the same boat. And Charlie Bacorni says that Doji means non-difference, intimacy. dynamic and i think this points to the ground from which these each of these actions arises that of our profound intimacy and non-separation in fact each of these practices is a method for connecting and a way to manifest the truth that we are not separate from each other now there's There's much more to unpack in the translation and meaning of doji, identity action, but I'll leave that to Ed to do in his talk on Friday.

[12:19]

Since you don't have the luxury of having this facet go in front of you as I talk, I'm going to read the section on giving to you and offer along the way some commentary and reflection. So Dogen begins... bodhisatta shishobo, rather bluntly. He simply says, the bodhisattva's four methods of guidance are giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and identity action. And then he dives immediately into unpacking his thoughts on giving. Giving means non-greed, he says. Non-greed means not to covet. Not to covet means not to curry favor. Even if you govern the four continents, Dogen says, you should always convey the authentic path with non-greed. So while Buddhist practice is vast and profound, one of the key practices, especially at the beginning of the path, is that of giving or generosity.

[13:29]

As you may recall, giving or dhana is the first of the paramitas or the perfections and includes all the other perfections. A bodhisattva expresses the perfection of giving in a myriad of ways. And giving is considered the antidote to stinginess, and is also one of the methods for undoing attachment, especially attachment to self. And traditionally, there are three types of giving, material giving, the giving of fearlessness, and the giving of dharma. I think it's interesting, however, that in Shishobo, Dogen first defines giving negatively as non-greed. And this makes sense if we recall that from the Buddhist viewpoint, all harm we might cause arises from the three poisons. What are the three poisons? Greed, hate, and delusion.

[14:31]

We endeavor to practice non-harming and liberate ourselves. from these poisons by becoming aware of them in our minds and in our actions. And we also work actively to free ourselves of the attachment of the self-attachment that they promote. So giving here begins with a form of renunciation or letting go of attachment. And this letting go is not so much a letting go of material things, but primarily letting go of attachment to the egoic self, the most insidious form of greed. Because the greed of self-grasping is what obscures our already liberated true nature, which is naturally kind, generous, and selfless.

[15:33]

Van Dogen goes on to name two additional versions of greediness, which are meant to illustrate how greed manifests in our life through coveting and curing favor. Greed is fundamentally craving for more than we currently have, and usually more than we really need in order to be happy. If we study our own tendencies towards greed, we might see the ways that we take various actions to fulfill our greed through mindless shopping. Just this weekend, it was Black Friday. Did you go shopping? Or accumulating stuff or status and even manipulating others to get what we want. Has any of us ever done that? The word covet suggests that inordinate desire or longing for something that belongs to others and or that we don't have yet.

[16:49]

And carrying favor points to a manipulative use of other people for our own gain. So even if we have great power and influence and resources, or as Dogen says in his text, even if we rule the four continents, in order to convey the authentic path of a bodhisattva living, for the benefit of all beings, we nevertheless need to let go of greed and greed-centered actions. Dogen continues his exposition, saying that the method of giving is to give away unneeded belongings to someone you don't know, to offer flowers blooming on a distant mountain to the Tathākara, or, again, to offer treasures you had in your former life to sentient beings. Whether it is of teaching or of material, each gift has its value and is worth giving.

[17:58]

Even if the gift is not your own, there is no reason to keep from giving. The question is not whether the gift is valuable, but whether there is merit. So Here, Dogen is doing what Dogen often does, turning our usual way of interpreting and seeing things on their head. And while we might typically think of giving us something of a, you could say, a transfer of ownership or control of something from one person to another, and in the process, engaging either in kind of some form of sacrifice or kind of benefit gaining, For example, I'm giving to you in exchange for something in return, your favor, your love, or some other form of reciprocity in our relationship. Dogen is suggesting an embracing method of giving in which there is no real exchange.

[19:05]

So no sacrifice, as well as no merit or other form of gain. He suggests to give freely what is not yours, such as flowers blooming on a distant mountain. Wait a second. What kind of giving is this? He even suggests you offer treasures you had in your former life to sentient beings. Really? How's that possible? Where's the gift in this case if it's from your former life? And how could you possibly give it? Dogen goes on to say that even if the gift is not your own, there is no reason to keep from giving. What a strange thing to say. Dogen goes on to say that each gift has its value, but its value is not a matter of ownership, but of merely existing in its own right.

[20:11]

Furthermore, given that we are not separate, but profoundly intimate in our interconnectedness, everything is thus already freely given to us. Dogen continues. When you leave the way to the way, he says, you attain the way. At the time of attaining the way, the way is always left to the way. When treasure is left just as treasure, treasure becomes giving. You give yourself and others to others. The power of causal relations of giving reaches to devas, human beings, and even to enlightened sages.

[21:13]

When giving becomes actual, such causal relations are immediately formed. Here again is Dogen doing what Dogen loves to do, play with words and meanings in such a way as to point to a deeper realization of our relationships. He says, when you leave the way to the way, you attain the way. At the time of attaining the way, the way is always left to the way. So way here means truth or dharma or reality. So Dogen is playing with the relationship between you and the way. And the idea of leaving alone, leaving alone the way and attaining the way. And this points back to the meaning of giving as letting go or letting be that I mentioned earlier.

[22:16]

If you leave reality just as it is, then you have already attained reality or truth. Reality just is. It's complete in its fullness. And you are already part of that fullness. So there's nothing you need to do or get or obtain. And besides, there is no separate you that can get another object or phenomenon outside of what it really is. There's nothing more to get. When we see this, Dogen says, we get it. And we get it. Because suddenly we've given ourselves over to the truth, over to reality. You could say we have entrusted the Dharma.

[23:19]

In their translation, Shahako Gamora and Thomas Wright use the word entrusting rather than the phrase living alone or letting go, which I think helps point us to this idea of entrusting or trusting. or putting ourselves in the care of the Dharma, in the care of reality, in the care of things as it is. And in his Dharma talk yesterday, that she so mentioned how one way to practice trust during sushin is to give up control and just follow the schedule, completely letting go and giving yourself over to the request of the moment. when we give ourselves over to the fullness of the moment and what it requests of us, then nothing is lacking. It's only when we don't trust our lives that our lives and the world seem to be lacking.

[24:27]

When we come from a place or a mind of lacking trust, that we already have everything we need, then we fail to see the treasures of this life as given. But if we're able to entrust, then we don't relate to these treasures from a place of self-concern or self-gratification. And not relating to the world from a place of self-concern allows gratitude to and appreciation to naturally arise. And with it, the wish to share freebie with others, the many treasures already provided us. Now, what does it mean, as Dogen says, to give yourself to yourself and others to others?

[25:37]

In my mind, it points to a radical act of generosity to allow yourself to be yourself and to allow others to be themselves. To be just as we are, but at the same time, allow there to be space for cultivating ourselves. Whereas Suzuki Roshi reminds us, you're perfect just as you are, and you can use a little improvement. This allowing and giving of ourselves is what is happening in Zazen. In Zazen, we're simply accepting and embracing not only ourselves as true treasures, but also cultivating the capacity to accept and embrace others, which then gives them in turn, the gift of permission to be who they are.

[26:45]

Dogen says that the power of the causal relations of giving reaches to devas, human beings, and even enlightened sages. When giving becomes actual, such causal relations are immediately formed. show how Kokomura offers an alternative translation that I think helps to impact this. He says, the karma of giving pervades the heavens above and our human world alike. It even reaches the realm of those sages who have attained the fruits of realization. Whether we give or receive, we connect ourselves with all beings throughout the world. By simply giving compassionately witnessing ourselves and others, we see, experience, and we see the profound gift of our intimate connectedness and into being.

[27:54]

This, I suggest, is the heart of Saza. That profound intimacy, experiencing it, realizing it, recognizing it to be true and resting in that. So when we get up, we act from that profound connectedness. In the next paragraph, Dogen writes, Buddha said, when a person who practices giving goes to an assembly, people take notice. You should know that the mind of such a person communicates subtly with others. Therefore, give even a phrase or verse of the truth. It will be a wholesome seed for this and other lifetimes. Give your valuables, even a penny or a blade of grass.

[28:57]

It will be a wholesome root for this and other lifetimes. The truth can turn into valuables. valuables can turn into the truth. This is all because the giver is willing, he says. So the first line again, when a person who practices giving goes to an assembly, people take notice. From all the descriptions I've heard about Suzuki Roshi, he seemed to be someone who exemplified the practice of giving in such a way that people felt his gift just by the way he listened to or was with them. I've heard so many of his students, including my own teacher, Thea Strozer, speak of how they felt completely seen by him. What a gift. And Suzuki Roshi subtly communicated the mind of generosity and kindness in his way of being.

[30:02]

There was a felt sense to it. the way he moved through the world. And he communicated this, of course, in his Dharma teachings, which I think all of you can recognize. So through his presence, his words and actions, he had a powerful effect on others. Planting, Stogan says, wholesome seeds that nourished others in his lifetime, as well as beyond, will still be deeply nourished by... the wholesome seeds that Suzuki Roshi planted just by his being. Also, we can think of beginner's mind as a very generous mind. It's completely receptive to others and to what is. Receptivity, which relies on openness and radical acceptance, is the nature of

[31:04]

of the beginner's mind. The power of giving in this way melts our sense of separation from others and strengthens intimacy. Dogen writes, give your valuables, even a penny or a blade of grass, It will be a wholesome route for this in other lifetimes. There's another reference later on in this paragraph about a time when the Buddha was on his alms round with his begging bowl. And a child ran up and reverently and joyfully made an offering of a handful of sand to the Buddha. And this, it said, led the child, this offering, led the child to be born in a later birth as King Ashoka. And I'll say a little bit more about that in a few minutes.

[32:09]

So it's not the size of the gift, but the fullness of the expression of wholehearted giving that makes something valuable and which lays the seeds for future fruition. Then Dogen says, the truth can turn into valuables. Valuables can turn into the truth. This is all because the giver is willing. How might we interpret this? Perhaps Stogen is suggesting we give up our usual ways of categorizing the difference between the giving of material possessions and the giving of the Dharma or spiritual truth. It's not a matter of what's giving. but how it's given that expresses value and true generosity.

[33:10]

Dogen goes on. A king gave his beard as medicine to cure his retainer's disease. A child offered sand to Buddha and became King Ashoka in a later birth. They were not greedy for reward, but only shared what they could. To launch a boat or build a bridge is an act of giving. If you study giving closely, you see that to accept a body and to give up the body are both giving. Making a living and producing things could have been nothing other than giving. To leave flowers to the wind, to leave birds to the seasons, are also acts of giving. So this paragraph begins with a reference to several traditional stories. The first comes from an old Chinese belief that beard hair had medicinal properties.

[34:19]

And so a king or emperor in this case, learning that some of his subjects needed the medicine, cut his beard so it could be used. And I've already referenced the other story about the child offering a handful of sand to the Buddha. In both instances, due to the sincere acts of generosity that had no attachment or any hope of merit, it's said that the king's family and the child were reborn in fortuitous lives. And then in the rest of the paragraph, Dogen continues to offer other ways to perceive acts of giving. of giving, widening the ways that we understand the meaning of giving. For example, to launch a boat or build a bridge is an act of giving. If you study giving closely, you see that to accept a body and to give up the body are both giving. Making a living and producing things can be nothing other than giving.

[35:26]

To leave flowers to the wind to lead birds to the seasons, are also acts of giving. Now, we might personally have a hard time seeing our deliberate acts of labor, of creativity, sport, or study as willing expressions, as Dogen says, of giving, because we just do them out of either necessity or enjoyment. Dogen implies that willingness... is not a real factor here in giving. And this is also true in the face of something we, he says, have essentially no control over, our birth and death. He says, accepting a body and giving up a body. Furthermore, he says that even the turning of the seasons are all expressions of giving. I think he's suggesting here

[36:29]

that the cycle of life brings benefit whether or not we're conscious of it again all these unfolding personal and universal activities are an expression of bodhisattva giving just by virtue of our profound interconnectedness everything is already given Dogen continues, King Ashoka was able to offer enough food for hundreds of monks with half a mango. People who have practiced giving should understand that King Ashoka thus proved the greatness of giving. Not only should you make an effort to give, but also be mindful of every opportunity to give. You are born into this present life because of the merit of giving.

[37:30]

In the past. So I'm. I'm running a little short on time. So I'm just going to say that this reference. This references a myth. About the ancient Indian. Who said gave up welfare. Converted to Buddhism. And became a great benefactor. And a social and political propagator. Of the Dharma. And the story goes that. By the end of his life. He had donated so much of his wealth. to the order of the Buddhist monks that his ministers finally cut him off from having any access to his treasury. And all he could give then to the monks was a half-eaten mango for their soup, which was still deemed a magnificent gift nonetheless by Gogan because of Ashoka's earnestness. Dogen adds that you were born into this present life because of the merit of giving in the past.

[38:35]

And this, of course, is a reference to the idea of reaper, that if you have experienced fortune in this life, then it's because of past generous actions. On to the last paragraph. Dogen begins this paragraph on giving by noting that Buddha said, if you are to practice giving to yourself, how much more so to your parents, wife, and children. Therefore, you should know that to give to yourself is a part of giving. To give to your family is also giving. So how often is it that we refrain from giving to ourselves? We might feel that to give to ourselves is somehow selfish or that we're somehow undeserving. And I think of the word for forgiving, for the giving, to generously release any sense of debt or shortcoming.

[39:49]

Can we begin by forgiving ourselves for our own myriad mistakes, faults, and limitations. To forgive is to offer the possibility of returning to wholeness, a relationship that was once deemed incomplete, inequitable in some way. I found that I couldn't forgive my own parents for the ways they abandoned me as a child, as well as later when I came out to them as a gay man, as an adult, until I was able to give myself the loving presence and affirmation for which I yearned for from them for the first several decades of my life. And I realized in time that they were simply incapable

[40:54]

of truly seeing me. Not that they didn't want to, but due to their own conditioned limitations and their own internalized lack of self-worth. So while I remain sad about this, I no longer feel they owe me a debt in regard to acknowledging my sense of worth and self-love. And in fact, at this point, now that they're both dead, They could never repay it. So what do I give to myself in truly seeing myself completely? Our whole being wants to be seen. It's really only us who can do that. Not us, the separate self, but us, the Buddha mind. Dogen next says that even when you give a particle dust, you rejoice in your own act because you correctly transmit the merit of all Buddhas and for the first time practice an act of a bodhisattva.

[42:10]

How do you give a particle dust? And why would we rejoice in such an apparently meager act of giving? Maybe Maybe we can recognize and celebrate that through our interbeing, our interconnectedness, we are continually engaging in the activity of giving. Maybe it's when we recognize this, that we come to recognize our bodhisattva endeavor. We give because the liberation of all beings depends on each one of us freely giving ourselves. to the vast interdependently unfolding of life. Recognizing our part in this unfolding is truly something to rejoice in. So we're almost at the end.

[43:13]

Finally, Dogen ends this section on giving by saying that the mind of a sentient being is difficult to change. You should keep on changing the minds of sentient beings from the first moment that they have one particle to the moment that they have attained the way. This should be started by giving. For this reason, giving is the first of the six paramitas. Mind is beyond measure. Things given are beyond measure. Moreover, in giving, mind transforms the gift and the gift transforms mind so it's probably obvious to most to most of us that the mind of sentient beings isn't difficult to change yet our bodhisattva vows compels us to continue to make our best effort to change our own minds as well as the minds of others

[44:20]

And this change is always one of leaning the mind toward liberation, leaning the mind toward wisdom, compassion, and skillful means. And to initiate this change of mind, the Buddhist tradition suggests we start with the paramitas, beginning with the perfection, the paramita of giving, as well as ending with giving. It's just a cycle of giving, a circle of giving, the end zone. This act of giving, just like the Bodhisattva vow, has no end. Dogen counsels, you should keep on changing the minds of sentient beings. From the first moment they have one particle to the moment that they attain the way. mind of a bodhisattva is boundless, limitless, beyond measure.

[45:28]

The whole universe throughout all space and time is already freely given to you. Rejoice, rejoice. And don't be meager in giving it back. I'll end there. As this section on giving is the longest of the fascicle, and I went maybe a little longer than usual, and I want to thank you for your gift of patience, presence, and attention. And tomorrow, Abbed Ed will walk us through the section of Bodhisatta Shishalbo on kind or loving speech. So as we return to our practice of Zazen, See if you can sit with a feeling and a spirit of dhana, of generosity, of boundless giving.

[46:34]

Give yourself the gift of witnessing and accepting yourself and your experience as it makes itself known. And do this by not clinging to any thoughts, feelings, body sensations, or other experiences. Simply let them go. Let things be as they are. And recognize that you are simultaneously giving and receiving life and liberation just by virtue of being alive. being right here. And you can't help but further extend this immeasurable gift to all of us through your sincere practice.

[47:46]

Thank you again. 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 sfcc.org and click Giving. May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[48:13]

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