This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. It's been several years since I've given a talk at Green Gulch. I'm the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. And at one time, back in the 90s, late 80s and 90s, I was abbot at Zen Center at Green Gulch. And I have many happy memories of that time. The last time I gave a talk here, not the last time I gave a talk, but the last time I gave a talk, kids, for the kids. The electricity went out and the lights went out.

[01:01]

And I can't remember what happened after that. So today, we have the kids called the Kidzendo, where the first 10 or 15 minutes is for the kids, for all of us kids. So I have two stories. The first story is about the wind and the sun. One day, the sun and the wind were traveling over the earth. And they looked down And there was a shepherd on the green grass with his sheep. And the wind, being kind of mischievous, as wind is, said to the sun, hey, look at that shepherd down there.

[02:18]

What do you say we see who can make him take his coat off? And the son said, well, okay, if you insist, you go first. So the wind blew himself up, expanded his aura. And the shepherd started holding his coat tighter and tighter around himself. And the more the wind blew, the more the shepherd kept trying to keep his coat on. And finally the wind gave up. And he said, okay, now it's your turn. So the son said, okay. So the son just shined his warmth down on the shepherd.

[03:25]

Shepherd said, It's really getting warm around here. So he took off his coat. So anybody know the moral of this story? Any of you kids? You're all behind me. You know what this story is about? I'll tell you. When you try to force things, when you try to force your way, it doesn't work very well. But when you are gentle and kind and warm, that opens everything up. So this is our moral for how to get along in the world. When you try to force your way, it doesn't work. It may work a little bit, but in the end it doesn't work at all. So this is a lesson for all of us.

[04:34]

Here's the second story. Ready? Well, one day there was a farmer. You know what a farmer is. He has a farm. Old MacDonald had a farm. And he had three sons, three boys. He may have had a girl too, I don't know. But three sons and a daughter. I'll add the daughter. And he said, children, I'm going to die. And I have this farm. We all have lived here and I'm leaving it all to you. but I want you to know something. I want you to know that on this farm is a buried treasure. Somewhere on this farm, there is a treasure that's buried.

[05:39]

And he said, so it's up to you to find it. And when they started to ask him where it was, he died. So they all looked at each other and they said, well, let's get to work. So they took out their shovels. You know what a shovel is. They took out their shovels and started digging. And they dug up this whole farm. Lots of land. Took them a long time. And when they got finished, they said, they looked at each other and they said... We didn't find it. What do we do now? And they said, they kind of nodded to each other and said, okay, what's more? So they started again and they took out their shovels and they just started shoveling and shoveling and shoveling.

[06:42]

And they got to the end and they hadn't found the treasure. And they looked at each other and they said, one more time. So they took their shovels and they started shoveling. the dirt, turning over the soil more and more. And then at the end they said, well, we didn't find the treasure. They were looking for a big box with gold in it. Couldn't find it. So they looked at each other and they said, well, it's time to plant. Time to plant seeds for the spring harvest. So they planted the whole field. And by the time the spring came, they had the greatest crop they'd ever had. It was just overwhelming. And then they looked at each other and they said, you think this is what the old man was talking about?

[07:42]

I like this story. Both of these stories are from Aesop. But they're both Zen stories, especially the second one. The second story is definitely a Zen story. It's about you don't know what you're going to get. You just do the work. In Zen practice, you just do the work without... without knowing what's going to happen or without expecting anything. And what you get is always different from what you thought you were going to get. So those are my stories for the children. Everybody is willing to stay. Everybody is welcome to stay. Everybody was very quiet.

[08:55]

I was surprised and elated. Thank you, kids, for being so quiet. You're welcome. Thank you for telling me that. I appreciate that. So to follow up on that little story.

[10:19]

I don't know how familiar you are with the Zen koan. These are stories of the teachers of the past, and there are mostly dialogues with their students, which express the essence of the Dharma. And Master Umman Yunman, Chinese name was Yunman, Japanese would call him Umman, was very well known in his time, and today as well. So there's a quote from Master Neumann that is a koan in this collection called the Blue Cliff Record. And Master Ngo, who is the commentator, has an introduction to this koan.

[11:38]

He says, with untaught wisdom, he engages in the subtle action of inaction. With unsolicited compassion, he becomes your true friend. With a single word, he kills you and saves you. In one move, he lets you go and he holds you fast. Tell me, who is it that comes in this way? See the following. So... Here is the main subject. Master Uman said to his assembled monks, between heaven and earth, within the universe, there is one treasure. We're talking about treasures today. It is hidden in the mountain form. You take the lantern entering the Buddha hall and take the triple gate when leaving.

[12:43]

placing it above the lantern. So that's a little strange. With untaught wisdom, I go back to the introduction, with untaught wisdom he engages in the subtle action of inaction. So we talk about stillness and activity. Within stillness is great activity, and within activity is stillness. This is the essence of our practice. Our practice is oriented around zazen, as you know. That's the reason for this room that we're sitting in right now, is the zazen. practice room. So what is Zazam?

[13:46]

When we enter this room, we sit up straight and let go of everything. Pay attention to our breathing. Not attaching to anything. No letting go of all of our conditioning, letting go of our conditioned mind, so that we resume our pure, unfettered nature. This is the subtle action of inaction. No discriminating mind. Discrimination means to divide, to cut,

[14:50]

things into pieces. So our mind is always discriminating, always picking and choosing. And so we miss, because our mind is always discriminating, we miss the unification of our mind with the universe, which is the source of separation. Our discriminating mind is the source of separation. when we let go of our discriminating mind and just let things be as they are, the universe comes together as one piece. This is why we set Sase to resume our true nature, which is not discriminated. The little pieces of our nature are also important.

[15:54]

But because we are always discriminating, it's hard to see the unity or the oneness or the absolute nature of our being. the subtle action of inaction. So when we sit in zazen, it's called great dynamic activity. This stillness contains the great activity of the universe within it. And then when we get off the cushion, go outside and start our discriminating activity, again, that stillness is within the activity. We can experience the stillness within activity.

[16:59]

The activity within stillness and the stillness within activity. This is called being well-balanced. If we're only involved with activity, we're unbalanced. This is why our world is so unbalanced because most people are engaged in one-sided activity. We live from one activity to the next and the momentum is called our life. But actually it's not necessary to live our life just through momentum you know that when you have a bunch of friends together and you're having a conversation a dynamic conversation and suddenly everybody stops and there's that embarrassing silence who's going to say something that embarrassing silence is the place that we all need to be at that moment

[18:16]

but we don't recognize it. We think, uh-oh, the momentum has stopped. I'll die. But it's simply that we come to this place that we're not used to. We're not used to being still. I once did a wedding and When I do a wedding, I have everybody sit still for five minutes before the wedding. And one day this woman came up and she said, that's the longest I've ever sat still in my life without saying something or doing something. So there's no such thing as not doing. Not doing is also doing. So with untaught wisdom, he engages.

[19:22]

He's talking about Master Uman. This is still the introduction, the first line of the introduction. With untaught wisdom, he engages in the subtle action of non-action. So what is untaught wisdom? Untaught wisdom is prajna. We call it prajna. It's the wisdom of Wisdom is not exactly the right word, but it's what we have. It's our basic intuitive nature, which is sustaining the universe. We can't reach that wisdom by thinking. We can only reach it by letting go. It's always there. It's always with us. But it's obscured through discrimination.

[20:23]

As I said, discrimination means to divide, to compartmentalize. Pragya is the wisdom of oneness that arises naturally. It's our endowment. It's our natural endowment. It's the thing that we're always looking for. There was a woman the other day, somebody gave a talk, and she said, well, if I sit in Zazen and I don't think about what's next, if we don't think about what's next, How will we stop all the mayhem in the world if we don't think, if we're not trying to do something? Well, the more we try to do something, the worse it gets.

[21:27]

This is forcing, trying to force something. The only way that the world will stop being insane is for everybody to keep their mouth shut and sit still. That's the only way. Every time we try to do something, it creates the other side. Peace creates war, and war creates peace. You can't have one without the other. You cannot have one without the other because we live in a discriminated world, the world of duality. One thing creates the next. Opposites create each other. Good creates bad. Right creates wrong. So then the pendulum swings. Sometimes, you know, things go this way, and then they have to go the other way.

[22:33]

So as soon as you want something, and whatever we work for, we think it's going, at work, the opposite happens and it goes back the other way. Anybody that's lived long enough knows this. So with untaught wisdom he engages in the subtle action of non-action. You can't teach prajna. You can't teach faith. I mean, you teach it, but... It has to arise from within. So this is Master Uman saying, each one of you has your own treasure. Between heaven and earth, within the universe, there is one treasure. It is hidden in the mountain form.

[23:36]

This is the mountain form. You are the mountain form. And within your mountain, a form, the treasure is there. But you have to do something in order to activate it. This is Master Dogen's teaching. Master Dogen, when he was a young man, very brilliant, said to himself, if all of us have this nature, this oneness, this Buddha nature, the source, why do we have to do anything? What's this thing called practice? So he went to China and when he was in China he realized that unless you do something your treasure

[24:43]

your storehouse treasure doesn't open. So each one of us is a storehouse of this treasure. And we have to say open sesame in some way. We have to actually practice for this to happen. So this is why we have this practice here. The students are practicing, and their storehouse is open so that the treasure comes forth. So, he says, with unsolicited compassion, he, meaning Uman, becomes your true friend. In other words, you know, when your storehouse opens, you become everyone's friend. Even your enemies, or your so-called enemies, become your friends.

[25:50]

Not that they feel friendly toward you, but you are dedicated to helping them. So this is what is the activity of prajna, is compassion. What is the activity of the essence of mind? Essence of mind is prajna. And the essence of mind, or we call it Buddha nature. Many things. We call it big mind. Big all-inclusive mind. And its activity is expressed as compassion for all beings. With a single word, He becomes your true friend. With a single word, he kills you and saves you. Kills you means takes away your self-centeredness, your ego, and saves you from yourself.

[26:56]

In Zen, we often talk about killing. Kill the Buddha. Kill the Buddha. Oh no, what are they talking about? Actually, kill the Buddha means kill your idea. about the Buddha and be the Buddha. In one move, he lets you go and holds you fast. Tell me, who is it that comes this way? So see the following. Master Uman, this is the main subject again, said to the assembled monks, Between heaven and earth, within the universe, there is one treasure. So the one treasure is our essence of mind, our Buddha nature, which we all share. It's not nice to name it, but we all share it.

[28:12]

It's the basis of each one of us. In most religions, there is a deity and a soul. So the soul is like the individual and the deity is like the source. Buddhism doesn't really posit a deity or a soul. You could say, and some have said, that there is just one soul and we all share it. There's just one thing and we all share it. We are like, it's like the ocean and the waves.

[29:16]

The ocean is our nature, our shared nature. I don't care what our religion is or what our beliefs are. It's our shared nature. And the waves are its expression. And each one of us is a wave in the great ocean of existence and beyond existence. we all are part of the same society no matter what our society is, beyond society, beyond religion, beyond belief systems, beyond whatever discriminating thoughts we have. So our teacher, Suzuki Roshi,

[30:21]

brought us this teaching, he said something like, well, I'll read you what he did say. He says, most of us study Buddhism as if it were something that was already given to us. We think that what we should do is preserve the Buddhist teaching, like putting food in the refrigerator. Then when you want to study Buddhism, we take the food out of the refrigerator, and whenever you want it, it's already there. Instead, Zen students should be interested in how to produce food from the field in the garden. we put the emphasis on the ground.

[31:31]

So the ground is our essence of mind, our Buddha nature. This is where we put our emphasis, although we also put our emphasis somewhere else as well. But for this emphasis, we put the emphasis on the ground. I'm not switching things a little bit. This is all related. we stay with the fundamental because the fundamental is so easy to miss because so many things are pulling us in so many different directions that we become confused. It's easy to become confused. He says, all of us have Buddha nature. And the teachings that grow from Buddha nature are similar to one another.

[32:32]

The teachings of different schools of Buddhism do not differ so much, but the attitude towards the teaching is different. When you think that the teaching is already given to you, then naturally your effort will be to apply the teaching to the common world. So what Master Uman is saying, what Suzuki Roshi is saying, is that although we have something like Buddhism, which gives us some direction, is not a belief system. It's a way of guiding, helping us to find our own inner reality. Faith in Buddhism does not mean that to have a belief system. It's more like confidence and to believe in your own reality.

[33:44]

Mr. Uman also said something like, each one of you talking to his students again, his monks. I'll read that to you. He says, everyone has their own light. He says, everyone has their own light, but if you try to see it, everything is darkness. What is everyone's light? Later, in place of his disciples, he said, the temple storeroom, the temple gate, maybe it's better not to say anything at all, rather than try to explain it.

[34:55]

So to say that each one of us has our own light is the same as saying there is a treasure hidden within this mountain of form. So light is another term for Buddha nature or for essence, our essential being. We are all light. which is not the same as our discriminating idea about what light is. Light is also darkness. Don't be attached to light. Within darkness is light. Within light is darkness. Light is dark. Darkness is light. If we try to discriminate them, that's not it. So we say that when we sit in Zazen, we call it silent illumination.

[36:19]

The way that the treasure is expressed is through silent as silent illumination. And this silent illumination lights up the world. How do we save the world? Good question. Good luck. So, Suzuki Roshi said, Buddha tries to save us by destroying our common sense. Usually we're not interested in the nothingness or the bareness of the ground.

[37:31]

Our tendency is to be interested in something that is growing in the garden. not in the bare soil itself. But if you want to have a good harvest, the most important thing is to make the soil rich and to cultivate it well, which comes back to our original story about the farmer and his children. The Buddhist teaching is not about the food itself, but about how it is grown and how to take care of it. Buddha was not interested in a special deity or in something that was already there. He was interested in the ground from which the various gardens will appear. For Buddha, everything was holy. Buddha did not think of himself as a special person. He tried to be like the most common person, wearing a robe, begging with a bowl. He thought, I have many students because the students are very good, not because of me.

[38:34]

Buddha was great because his understanding of people was good. Because he understood people, he loved them, and he enjoyed helping them. Because he had that kind of spirit, he could be a Buddha. The ground has no special shape or form, but all the forms arise from it. So the most important thing for us is to take care of the ground. If you've ever done any... farming or gardening, it's great to have all the plants come up and vegetables and flowers. But when you become mature, you realize that taking care of the ground is not just the most important thing, but it's the most interesting and the most fun. Just taking care of the soil. garbage is so wonderful.

[39:39]

Our discriminating mind smells garbage and doesn't like it. But when we put it back in, when we transform it through compost by composting it, then the farmer at the end picks up the compost and smells it. That's so sweet. So knowing how to take care of the ground is the most important thing. That's what Zen practice is about. We're not so much interested in the product, although secondary product, we always have secondary product. We don't practice to get strong or to improve ourselves. There's no point in practice other than taking care of the ground. But all these wonderful things come out of that. if they're secondary, if you get caught by attachment to what comes up out of the ground.

[40:50]

Although, that's wonderful, but if we get attached to that, we get led astray. So we always have to keep coming back to the fundamental, to the ground. And we get pulled off all the time. We get pulled off and we come back. And we get pulled off and we come back. There's so many enticing things to be attached to. And we get caught in the maze. When I first started practicing, my ideal was to... Sid Zazen and gardening, or farming. And I did that for a long time. That was great. We'd become more and more estranged from the ground, actually.

[41:53]

So Suzuki Roshi also talks about that our life is like a movie. There's the movie and the screen. He says, our everyday life is like a movie playing on the wide screen. Most people are interested in the picture on the screen without realizing that there is a screen. As soon as the movie goes on, you're sitting in the audience, and before the plane, you're eating your popcorn, and there's a blank screen and a little bit of music going on, and you're waiting for the movie to come on, and you wish it would come on. And then it does, and then, oh, good, you know. And then you get immediately caught into the movie, and the screen disappears. But actually, without the...

[43:05]

screen, there's no movie. We don't appreciate the screen because it's just nothing there. Blank screen. But the blank screen is most important because the movie is played on the blank screen. So we're only concerned about the movie. So our everyday life is like a movie playing on the wide screen. Most people are interested in the picture on the screen without realizing there is a screen. When the movie stops and you don't see anything anymore, you think, oh, it must come again tomorrow evening. I'll come back and see another show. When you are just interested in the movie on the screen and it ends, then you expect another show tomorrow or maybe you're discouraged because there's nothing good on right now. you don't realize that the screen is always there. But when you are practicing, you realize that your mind is like a screen.

[44:08]

If the screen is colorful, colorful enough to attract people, then it will not serve its purpose. So the screen has to be blank in order to serve its purpose. So to have a screen which is not colorful, to have a pure, plain, white screen is the most important point. But most people are not interested in the pure white screen. In other words, Zazen is the pure white screen. There's nothing going on. The movie goes on in the screen. When you sit in Zazen, you can see the movie going on on the screen. And we don't realize how much our life is a movie. I think it's good to be excited by seeing a movie. Yeah. To some extent, you can enjoy the movie because you know it's a movie. Like a dream, maybe. But even though you have no idea of the screen, still your interest is based on an understanding that this is a movie with a screen and there is a projector or something artificial.

[45:17]

So you can enjoy it and that's how we enjoy our life. If you have no idea of the screen or the projector, perhaps you cannot see it as a movie. So we don't see our life as the movies often. We see it a certain kind of, that we're stuck in a certain kind of reality called my life. Zazen practice is necessary to know the kind of screen you have and to enjoy your life as you enjoy movies in the theater. You are not afraid of the screen. You do not have any particular feeling for the screen, which is just a white screen. A blank screen. So you are not afraid of your life at all. You enjoy something that you are afraid of. You enjoy something that makes you angry. It makes you cry. And you enjoy the crying and the anger, too. And that's true. Even though we hate it, we love it. We enjoy our emotions.

[46:21]

We go to scary movies. We like the adrenaline. So if you have no idea of the screen, then you will be even afraid of enlightenment. Because enlightenment means that you understand the screen, the blank screen. That's one understanding. I remember Suzuki Roshi saying you should be careful if you want about your desire for enlightenment because when you have it, you may not like it. We think that enlightenment is something that we should like. But when we see the reality of our life, we may be disappointed because it doesn't match our desires.

[47:34]

nothing to do with our desires. So, to actually allow ourselves to let go of our conditioned responses and conditioning. You know, we all have our various postures based on our conditioning. Life is difficult and our postures take their form through the difficulties we have in our life. Because we meet life with our posture. To sit up straight, to sit up really straight, seems unnatural. That's an unnatural posture. Natural posture is like this. But that is natural in a way. but it's conditioned natural, not unconditioned natural.

[48:38]

So our practice is to let go of our conditioning and actually find our true posture, our unconditioned posture as a child. The children's posture is not conditioned yet, so it's very flexible. You don't have to go to a chiropractor. So our mind is the same. Our mind has the same postures and conditioning. And so we have to go to a mental chiropractor to massage our mind. So the mind can be freed up to meet life with flexibility. So he says the white screen is not something you can actually attain.

[49:40]

It's something you already have. It's your treasure. Nothing is your treasure. The reason you don't feel you have it is because your mind is too busy. Once in a while you should stop all your activities and make your screen white. That is Zazen. That's the foundation of our everyday life and of meditation practice. Without this kind of foundation, your practice won't work. All the instructions you receive are about how to have a clean white screen, which you already have. Even though it is never pure white because of the various attachments and previous stains, when we practice zazen with no idea of anything, we're quite relaxed or at ease because it is difficult. To have complete ease in our actual posture, we take the posture of Zazen. To do this, we follow the instructions that have been accumulated from the experience of many people in the past.

[50:46]

They discovered that the posture of Zazen is much better than other postures, better than standing up or lying down. If you practice Zazen following the instructions, it'll work. But if you do not trust your own pure white screen, your practice won't work. So, That's called faith. To trust your pure white screen is faith. You have faith in your true nature. Zen practice and enlightenment is the practice of faith in that sense. So our treasure is the treasure of Zero. And from zero comes all the activities of our life. Thank you.

[51:46]

Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving. by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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