Good morning. How are you all doing? I saw a town meeting. It was actually on my phone. And everyone had a sign. On one side it said, agree. And the other side it said, disagree. I thought that would be good for us to have here. You could say, OK, or not OK. You can check in. So I'm going to start today with a story from the Book of Serenity, Case 12, called Ditsang, Planting the Fields. This story is really popular at Green Gulch, you know, being a farm and all. And we know we have the same commitment as Ditsang to cultivate plants and to cultivate human beings. Ditsang asked Zuesang, where do you come from?

[01:08]

Zui-san replies, from the South. Di-san says, how is Buddhism in the South these days? Zui-san replies, there is extensive discussion. Di-san says, well, how can that compare to me here planting the fields and making rice to eat? Zui-san says, what can you do about the world? Ditsan says, what do you call the world? I recently heard something that Winston Churchill reportedly said during the Second World War. When you're going through hell, keep going. So that's what I want to talk about today. And how do we keep going when there's been a big shift in how we imagine the world? and ourselves. You know, a sea change.

[02:12]

Personally, I first noticed a sea change in what I call the world, my view of the world, while I was walking through Whole Foods a few days after the inauguration. I'm very fond of words and the origins of words. So I looked up inauguration. And it's from a Latin word, augur. And it refers to the rituals of ancient Roman priests who read the signs in nature to determine if an official was worthy to assume public office. Kind of wondering what the signs in nature might be these days. So Whole Foods is a very familiar place. I've been there many times. There's nothing unusual. There wasn't that day. Vegetables and crackers and cheese and so on.

[03:19]

And then suddenly I was standing in an aisle and I felt like I had popped into an alternate universe of alternate views and alternate points of view. a new paradigm of reality, one that didn't seem to really reflect my own values, feelings, or the way that I think. And what was really interesting to me about that experience was that I didn't sense any change. There was nothing that I saw or smelled or felt, just a change, a sea change. There wasn't anything really unusual. The same crowd of mostly white people pushing carts around the aisles. And yet at the same time, I had this feeling that my internal navigational system had been shut off.

[04:21]

I didn't really know where I was or what I was doing there. And particularly, I didn't know who those people were. It wasn't exactly fear. But who are they? Who am I? And what are we doing here? That kind of thing. And I reflected later, and I thought, well, it seemed as though everything were literally groundless, that the experience I was having was totally disconnected from the actual earth, from the soil and the seeds and the water. the sun, and the labor, the hard labor by which all of that food had been produced. You can see the calories on the packages, but not the hard labor. And although it didn't look like hell, some part of me was pretty certain that that's where I was.

[05:29]

I was in hell. And regardless of what side of the sideless universe I imagine myself to be on, you know, whether it's blue or red or white or black, you know, it doesn't really matter. It's just walls within walls within walls of my imagination. So lacking anything better to do, as I said, I'm fond of the origin of words, I went home and I looked up sea change. hoping, I think, for some kind of a clue. A clue about how to think and what to say in the dark shadow of a dark lord. The very same lord that terrorized the Buddha under the Bodhi tree as he struggled in his own quest for sanity. In the sutras, the dark lord is called Mara, the evil one, also known as the great deceiver or the master of illusions.

[06:32]

So this term, sea change, originally appears in Shakespeare's The Tempest. And it's a song that's sung by Ariel, a supernatural spirit. And she sings it to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, following his father's death by drowning it. So Ariel has seen Ferdinand, as he has seen Ferdinand's father, 30 fathoms, I'm sorry, five fathoms down below the sea. That's about 30 feet under the ocean. Ariel's been down there and seen him. And so she sings, full fathom five thy father lies. She sings of his bones. His bones are coral made. Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea change into something rich and strange. Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell. Ding dong. Hark.

[07:38]

Now I hear them. Ding dong. Bell. This term, sea change, in storytelling is often used to mean a metamorphosis that takes place within a literary character as a result of various trials and tragedies that occur in their journey through life, changing them into a better person. It's like the changes that take place with Scrooge at the end of The Christmas Carol, or the changes that the young prince, Siddhartha, undergoes in becoming a Buddha, an awakened one. So in hopes that the sea change taking place in our world today are positive, a positive metamorphosis, I'm going to share with you some of the recommendations of the Buddhas and ancestors and other renowned teachers of the world's great religions, recommendations that have been sent forward to us, the living generation, who are now here doing our best on planet Earth.

[08:50]

As we all know from our exposure to ancient and modern history, cruelty, ignorance, and avarice are not new on our planet. Again and again, humans of all stripes have taken from their neighbors, have killed or exiled those who resist them, and have built colossal monuments to themselves. Again and again, we humans have told each other lies, and we've used tricks or violence to win this seemingly endless contest for control of the planet, its people, and its limited resources. This is nothing new. Having been a young person during the years of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, I and my like-hearted friends at that time were faced with two choices, rage or rage management.

[09:57]

And I think we were very lucky in those days, as we are now, so very, very lucky, to have teachings of the great ones, you know, of noble ones. honorable women and men who can tell us what is right and what is wrong, and who themselves have walked through hell and gone beyond it. So here are words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from a beautiful sermon given in 1966, the year before he was assassinated. The sermon was called, The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life. It's a very long and lovely sermon, as are all of his sermons. So I've taken out a small section to read today, which is a story in which he's talking about the Good Samaritan. Those of you not familiar with that story, it basically has to do with a reply that Jesus gives to a religious scholar who's asking about how he himself might come to inherit eternal life.

[11:07]

And Jesus asks the man, what is written in the law, in the scripture? The man replies, love the Lord with all your heart and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. The scholar then asks, who is my neighbor? So Jesus tells the story of a man who's been beaten and robbed and left for dead at the side of the road. two travelers, kinsmen of the man, come along and pass by him. But a Samaritan, who was not of his tribe, came where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He bandaged his wounds, lifted him onto his own donkey, and cared for him. And he took him to an inn, and he told the innkeeper, any expenses for this man, please give them to me when I return. Jesus then asked the scholar, which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?

[12:18]

The expert in the law replied, the one who had mercy on him. And Jesus then said, go and do likewise. Here's what Dr. King adds after recounting this story. And don't forget that in doing something for others, that you have what you have because of others. Yes, sir. Don't forget that. We are tied together in life and in the world. And you may think you got all you got by yourself. But you know, before you got out here to church this morning, you were dependent on more than half of the world. That's right. You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom, and you reach over for a bar of soap, and that's handed to you by a Frenchman. You reach for a sponge, and that's given to you by a Turk. You reach for a towel, and that comes to you from the hands of a Pacific Islander. And then you go on to the kitchen to get your breakfast, and you reach on over to get a little coffee, and that's poured in your cup by a South American.

[13:29]

That's right. Or maybe you decide that you want a little tea this morning, only to discover that that's poured in your cup by a Chinese. Yes. Or maybe you want a little cocoa, and that's poured in your cup by a West African. Yes. And then you want a little bread, and you reach over to get it, and that's given to you by the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. That's right. Before you get through eating your breakfast in the morning, you're dependent on more than half the world. That's right. That's the way God structured it. That's the way God structured this world. So let us be concerned about others because we are dependent on others. Yes. This is the very same teaching of interdependence that the Buddha gave at the moment of his own enlightenment. with newly opened eyes that had grown kind and merciful.

[14:31]

He said, the entire world in the ten directions is the true human body. The entire world in the ten directions is the true human body. That's right. It's this body and that body and each body sitting here together in this room right now. You know, once our human eyes can see what's hard to see, then there are no others who are not our neighbors, our family, our sustenance, and our responsibility. Dr. King had eyes like that. And so did Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Suzuki Roshi, and many, many others whose names are not well known, but whose lives have been a blessing to those around them. Maybe you had a parent like that. Or maybe a teacher or a friend. Or maybe you're like that. There's a verse from the Lotus Sutra that we chant on New Year's as we process down to the garden, each person holding what's called a lotus boat of peace.

[15:45]

They're paper lanterns with candles in them. Sometimes there are over a hundred people chanting together. Eyes of compassion observing sentient beings, assemble an ocean of blessing beyond measure. Eyes of compassion observing sentient beings, assemble an ocean of blessings beyond measure. So what do we call the world? How do we keep going when there's been a big shift in how we imagine the world and ourselves to be? The only answer I can give, and the only one that I know, is to keep on studying the teachings of the awakened ones with a commitment to awaken ourselves and to awaken those around us, which is, as the Buddha saw, the only appropriate response to the suffering of this world. We call it the bodhisattva's vow, to live for the benefit of all beings.

[16:50]

This week on Valentine's Day, February 14th, we began our spring practice period here at Green Gulch Farm in order to do this very thing, to study the teachings of the awakened ones. There are about 20 people gathered here together to follow the meditation schedule, early morning, zazen, temple cleaning, service, chanting, bowing, work, meals, study. Rest and sleep. And then every once in a while, there's a day off, and we all know what to do with that. The theme for our practice period is the host within the host, which is the last line of a lovely poem written by a 9th century Chinese Zen master who is also the founder of our school. The niece's name is Tozan Ryokai, so Soto Zen. This is Tozan.

[17:53]

Chinese name is Dongshan Yangjie. So we pay quite a bit of attention to what Dongshan had to say as our founder, our inspiration. So this morning, I want to talk a little bit about Dongshan, his teaching of awakening as an introduction to this theme for the practice period students, but also because Dongshan's teaching is relevant to this particular kind of suffering that is arising in our world today. Nothing new. The poem which Dongshan is most famous for is called The Song of the Jewel Mira Samadhi. It's one that we chant here weekly at Green Gulch and also at other temples of the Zen Center. Within this poem are embedded Dongshan's elaboration of the relationship between what he calls the host and the guest. The host and the guest.

[18:55]

And this relationship he describes in five different ways, called the five ranks or positions or degrees. I'm not going to get into it too much. I will be talking about it during the class and the practice period. But basically, just imagine yourself as the host and I'm your guest. So that's the first rank. The guest is within the host. You're receiving me. So if you think of the host also as Buddha's mind, the big mind of Buddha, and then here comes Fu, this small person, an individual arriving and included in the large mind. So that's the first rank. The guest is within the host. The second rank is kind of an inversion where the host is within the guest. Inside each of us is this Buddha mind.

[19:59]

Tiny me. Inside me is the great mind of Buddha. So it works in these two ways. Pivot. The third of the five ranks is called coming from within the host. And that's when you kind of have a lot of host going on. You know, everywhere you look is host. Awesome. Great, wonderful world, great universe, stars spinning through space. Nothing outside of the one mind. A little giddy, perhaps. The fourth one is arriving in the guest, where each single thing is precious, is the host. Each one of you is that miraculous presence. this vastness of existence, present in each flower, each drop of rain. And then the last step, the host within the host, kind of forget about all of that. You just go through the day, daily life, have a cup of tea, good morning, good night.

[21:09]

Integration of these two points of view. So these five ranks are five perspectives on enlightenment. Other names for host and guest are the ultimate truth and the relative truth, the real and the apparent, the upright and the slanted, or the teacher and the student. So just what is it that the teacher is trying to teach to the students according to this master of Zen. Well, the teacher has three things to teach. Ethics, concentration, and wisdom. Ethics, concentration, and wisdom. Shila, Samadhi, and Prajna. These are called the three trainings. The three trainings.

[22:12]

And they run through all of the Buddhist teaching. In fact, these three things make up the entirety of the Buddha's own pathway to awakening. Beginning with ethics. So ethics basically is the development of good character, which includes deportment or manners, how you behave, how you treat others. As a young boy, the Buddha was taught good manners. by his parents, the king and the queen. And we often, in our culture, disparage good manners as overly fussy rules of etiquette, and for good reason. They can be that. They can mask an insincerity about how we really think or feel. As with all human endeavor, manners can become a means of cultural oppression for the enforcement of caste systems

[23:13]

privileging a very few, like a cultural elite. We know that too. Interestingly and insidiously, the word for caste in ancient India is vana, which means color. Caste means color, implying that the darker the color of a person, the lower the caste. This is no accident. India was invaded from the north by... Caucasians from the Caucasus Mountains. They were light-skinned people on horses. They also called themselves the Aryans. They're familiar terms, aren't they? It's no accident. It's just history. And yet, without setting aside the dangers that are inherent in rules of deportment, it's essential for humans to find some agreement on how to live and work together. the rule of law. If those laws are unjust or unfair, and they're not founded on principles of compassion and wisdom, then we only have endless conflict.

[24:26]

And I think that's what's being highlighted in this nation and in this world today. It's always there, but it's highlighted right now for many of us. Kind of forgot to look. So this isn't dissimilar to what was happening in the Buddha's day as city-states were transformed into empires by the privileged few. Manners for the Buddha were the primary means by which he taught his community of young monks to survive without owning property or carrying weapons of self-defense. He taught them to walk slowly and quietly, to enter into donors' houses with warm smiles and deep bows. to show their gratitude for food and shelter, and like the Good Samaritan, to devote themselves to the welfare of all those in need. Love your neighbor as yourself. Or as the Dalai Lama has said, my religion is kindness.

[25:30]

So the golden rule is not about accumulating great wealth. It's about the development of good character. Character, dignity, or one's attitude, as Viktor Frankl called it in Man's Search for Meaning, is the one thing that cannot be taken from you. It's not portable. It can't be stolen or burned. In the retelling of his survival under the Nazi regime, having been deprived of his family, his property, and even his own clothing, Frankl deeply understood what was at the core of a life truly worth living. He had developed his character, his dignity, and it stayed intact. He was often afraid and quite certain he would be killed, but he discovered that by not losing his dignity, he did not succumb to the bullying of those who had taken command of his society.

[26:38]

He looked at them He looked in their eyes, and they looked away. Developing our character, becoming respectful in our personal relationship to the world, meaning to the other, is the first of the five ranks that I just mentioned, which are presented in Dong Shan's poem. The guest, or the student, enters deeply into a relationship of mutual respect with the host, as personified by the teacher. At this stage of practice, the first of the five ranks, the meeting appears to take place in utter darkness. Who is the teacher? Who is the other or the universe? How will you find them? Where do you look? In the very formation of our personal life, as it is differentiating from the rest of the universe,

[27:42]

You know, right there within our mother's womb, we are faced with a profound darkness. There is nothing there to be seen at all. And yet we have this strong sense of intimacy with the ancient wellspring from which we were born, mother. And so the question remains before us throughout our life, who is the other? Who are my neighbors? This is Dengshan's verse that accompanies the first of the five ranks, the guest within the host, the guest within the host. At the beginning of the third watch, that's very late at night, maybe after midnight, just after midnight. At the beginning of the third watch, before moonrise, don't be surprised if there is meeting without recognition. One still vaguely harbors the elegance of former days. the elegance of former days, that union with big mind, non-separation.

[28:48]

We want to hold on to that unity, oneness. So yummy. This stage of awakening reminds me of a children's story. I don't remember the name of it, but it's about a little animal that's lost in the forest. And she goes around asking all the forest creatures, are you my mother? Are you my mother? I think she finally finds her mother, as I remember. It's a happy ending. In the second stage of practice, the second of the five ranks, we have emerged from the darkness into the light of self-awareness, what we call the world, the world of color and sound and odor, taste, touch, and thought. There's a person, a baby. In the verse for this rank, the second of the five which the host within the guest, within the guest, each of you is the host.

[29:51]

Having overslept, an old woman encounters the ancient mirror, the ancient mirror that we're gazing in right now. This is clearly meeting face to face. Only then is it genuine. Don't lose your head by validating shadows. Fake news. Red herrings. Don't lose your head by validating shadows. Through thinking, we discriminate preferences among the multitude of appearances, and we learn how to negotiate a complex world that appears to come toward us either as a friend, or as an enemy. And with that discrimination comes the arising of greed, I want it, or hatred, I don't want it.

[30:54]

Or we're confused, we're not sure if we want it or not. So we hesitate. The danger at this stage is how we think about the world, what we call the world, what we settle on as being the world. reified beliefs. This is true and nothing else. Kind of like the conversation going on in the news. You're wrong. No, you're wrong. No, you're wrong. No, you're wrong. Echo chamber. Nobody's right when everybody's wrong. I forget what song that's from. So What do we call the world? So the next three stages of the five ranks are descriptive of the spiritual journey through which we come to integrate the darkness of the universe with this single human life that we have just a very brief time to explore.

[32:01]

We're in the light for a little while, not so long. It's a privilege and responsibility. By integrating our understanding of the world, of the universe, and of our place in it, we too can come to find that dignity that cannot be taken from us by any means. The biggest choices within this human life are encompassed in the teachings by the Buddha, who is said to have awakened to his own dual identity, his own dual citizenship, both as the universe itself and as a single person. Or as Dongshan said, on the occasion of his awakening, as he gazed into his reflection in the water, he was crossing a stream and he looked down and he saw his face. He'd been asking questions like, what's going on here? Going from teacher to teacher, seeking, seeking. He looks in the water and he sees his face. And he says, just this person.

[33:04]

Just this person. The ancient mirror. Host within the host. So the three trainings that I mentioned earlier, ethics, concentration, and wisdom, are tools or practices for realizing a fully awakened life. Tools which are used continuously in our exploration of these five different facets of awakening. Guest and host, host and guest. The first training, ethics or deportment, requires the support of the other two, concentration and wisdom. Concentration allows us to study and recognize the elaborate workings of the human mind. If you've spent any time sitting quietly, you know what I'm talking about. The elaborate workings of the human mind.

[34:06]

Amazing. Non-stop. like NPR on steroids. And by holding still, by slowing down, we can actually begin to deeply consider our own motives, our own actions, our own thoughts. What am I up to? Why? Why did I do that? What's going on here in Whole Foods? Where are we? What are we doing here? We even call such a person considerate, you know, considerate of others, a well-considered person, reflecting, concentrating, considering, careful. But it's the third training itself, wisdom, that is seeking wisdom, a search that we undertake with our own body and mind.

[35:08]

Turn the light around. Wisdom is sought here. inside ourselves. How do we do that? Well, we don't move for a while. And we don't talk too much. And we don't kill. We don't steal or lie. And we don't sexualize other people. And we don't hate anything or anyone. It's just rage management. And it's not so easy. Zen Master Dogen called this practice just sitting. Just sitting allows us to explore the workings of our own mind until we discover its hidden truth. That we are not alone, we are not separate, and that we are here in this world to live in harmony with everyone. And those who know that do not fight against each other. There is no other. It's just

[36:11]

our own face reflected in the mirror, the ancient mirror of reality, just as it is right now. Always right now. Nothing separate from you, ever. As students of the Buddha's teaching, this is our commitment, this is our value, and this is our vow to follow a pathway of truth, of nonviolence, and of respect for all beings. And yet I, for one, am greatly challenged in this commitment on this very day. The sea change which has taken place in our society through the rhetoric of hatred and exclusivity is utterly frightening. And yet, like Viktor Frankl, I have great faith in the power of human dignity and a great, although thinning hope that those in power will awaken from their selfish interests.

[37:17]

And until they do, our mandate as people of conscience is continuous vigilance and a well-reasoned response, ethics, concentration, and wisdom. I'm going to end with a poem. by Juan Ramon Jimenez. I feel that my boat has bumped into... I feel that my boat has bumped there at the bottom into something big, and nothing happens. Nothing. Quiet waves. Nothing happens. Or has everything happened? And we are already at rest in something new. Thank you very much.

[38:24]

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