Good evening. Good evening. My name is Greg Chang. I'm a resident priest here at San Francisco Zen Center. And I would like to start by, I want to say two things. And Trevor Maloney is going to tell you what they are. Two things, yeah. Greg would like to thank his teacher, Sojin Malawaitz-Nagroshi, And he also hopes that this thought will encourage you to practice in some way. Thank you, Trevor. He nailed it. I, before, I'm the Eno at City Center. That means the manager of the meditation hall and, I don't know, supervisor of the most conduct. Um... But I've been doing that for about two months now. Hard to believe it's only been two months.

[01:04]

Prior to that, I was the treasurer of Zen Center for three years. And I had the privilege of working with Trevor in our accounting office. And at one time, I was sweating a presentation to the board of directors, a financial presentation to the board of directors. And Trevor said, just relax, Greg. Here's what you do. First, tell them you want to thank your teacher, Sodom Roshi. And then tell them it's just to encourage their practice. So, as you know, I've been thinking a lot about encouraging people's practice. I've met with a lot of you in my office lately. and had a lot of interesting conversations. So tonight, I want to share, hopefully, a few pointers about Zen practice.

[02:05]

I want to share what I consider to be the secret of Zen practice. And maybe also point out a couple of possible pitfalls in practice. So... Oh, and I want to end on time. It's muy importante. A wonderful Mexican meal. Everyone's in this post-brandial somnolence. Or maybe not. I'm not. Daewon Zenji recommended Zazen. Suzuki Roshi recommended Zazen. I also recommend Zazen. This may be a little loud. I beg your pardon?

[03:12]

But that does not mean I think we should proselytize. I don't think we should go around saying, oh, hey, you, come here, do this practice. You should do this practice. Because seriously, you may not like it. You may decide it's not right for you. And if that happens, I don't want you getting mad at me for selling you a bill of goods. Suzuki Roshi said, I think we should not try to propagate sand in America, you know. That is not Dogen Zenji's way. One by one is enough. Nonetheless... I do recommend Zazen. Dodo Zenji recommends Zazen in the Fuka Zazengi, his universally recommended instructions for Zazen. The first line of which is, we sometimes chant it here in the Buddha, the first line is, the way is originally perfect and all-pervading.

[04:19]

How could it be contingent on practice and realization? So that second phrase, how could it be contingent upon practice and realization, comes from a very, very old Zen story. It was an old Zen story in Dogen's time. Dogen lived in the beginning of the 13th century. The story comes toward the end of the 7th century, the late 600-something, or so, late 600-something or so, a monk named Nanyue Huairong met his teacher for the first time. His teacher was Daojian Huynang, the famous sixth ancestor of Zen, the Chinese Buddha. Nanyue Huairong would eventually become

[05:24]

Huynang's senior student and first Dharma heir. But not a whole lot is actually known about him. But the story of their first encounter is passed down to us. Huynang introduced himself to Huynang and Huynang said, what is it that thus comes? And Huynang couldn't say a thing. He was speechless. And he didn't come back for eight years. You know, what I like about these Zen stories is they're like, you know, ink paintings with just a few brush strokes are very, very evocative because my mind fills in all these details. It's a very short story. But yeah, I can just so see this monk. What is it? And he's like, okay, mine.

[06:32]

See you later. And I imagine, you know, really humble humility. Didn't come back for eight years. I don't know if he left the monastery or not. They don't say that. But he didn't talk to Hway Nung again for eight years. And finally he comes back and he says, he says, well, I understand now. And Hoi Na says, what do you understand? He said, well, you asked me, what is it that thus comes? Words can't touch it. Words can't touch it. And Hoi Na said, Does it, what did he say? He said, does it rest upon practice and realization? Yeah, does it rest on practice and realization or is it contingent on practice and realization?

[07:37]

And Lairon said, it's not that there's no practice and no realization. It's just that they cannot be defiled. It's not that there's no practice and no realization. It's just that they cannot be defiled. So that's a double negative. All right. So maybe in other words, it's yes, there is practice in realization and it cannot be defiled. That's very liberating. We can start worrying about it right now. It cannot be defiled. Okay. A secret of Zen practice. I didn't want to make you wait too long. I was studying with my teacher, Sojan Roshi, for a number of years before I eventually said, maybe I should go to Tazaha and practice.

[08:41]

And Sojan said, maybe you should. And I said, okay. I made my plans and I got all set to move to Tassahara. I didn't know how long I was gonna stay there. I wound up staying there almost six years. And as I was getting ready to go, I asked him, do you have any advice for me in practicing at Tassahara? And he didn't hesitate. He said, just follow the schedule. Just follow the schedule. You just show up for what you signed up for and give it a chance. And attend to your own practice. I think that this attending to your own practice is kind of an important point. So the email, I sit in the corner of the Zendo and I sit

[09:50]

facing outward every period. So, you know, I'm supposed to pay attention to what goes on in the meditation hall. And I see that you all have two eyes in your head and you have to look around before you sit down and when you get up for king in so you don't trip over your own feet. And You may notice that there's certain seats that are reserved and certain seats that are not reserved. And you may notice certain seats that are occupied and certain seats that are unoccupied. And you may be tempted to make a story about that. And that would be a big mistake. A story like, you know, people who know the score... get to pick and choose, or what advanced practice looks like.

[10:57]

Don't believe your stories, or as the saying goes, don't believe everything you think. This is not called Beginner's Mind Temple for nothing. For one thing, you have no idea what another person is practicing with. And that's why we say, when you go into Zen though, don't look left, don't look right. That's an old Zen admonition. That's why we say it. And I remember I was practicing in Tazahara years ago, so many years, it's perfectly safe for me to tell the story. I was, in Tazahara, everybody has an assigned seat, okay? Everybody has an assigned seat. When the officiating priest, the doshi, the dojo-roji, comes in to open the zendo in the morning, and does the jundo, you know, walks around, the ken tan, reviewing the tan, they can see at glance who's there and who isn't, immediately.

[12:09]

So I was seated, well, never mind where I was seated, but... There's a seat next to me, and then the next seat over assigned was my dear Dharma sister, Shoho Kubast. And the seat between me and Shoho was so often empty, it was kind of bizarre to me. It just started to get to me. I was just like, where is this person? What the heck? I mean, it's hard to hide in Tazahara. No, it's impossible to hide in Tazahara. And so, you know, just making conversation, I thought, I was like, outside of the Zendo, you know, at some point, I was like, Shoho, hey Shoho, you know, what about, what about, you know, what do you make of that?

[13:13]

And she just looked at me with this totally disarming smile, and she said, oh, I just always assumed that I'm in practice discussion. That was really a skillful means on her part. She completely diffused it, and she would not play that game with me. Without making me feel bad, She wouldn't play that game with me. She would not play that praising self at the expense of others game with me. And so that was a really good lesson for me. Similarly, don't compare yourself with yourself. So... That's something I talked this with for a long time.

[14:16]

It took Mel a long time to get that out of me. You know, I would come to him and I'd say, Zazen, this morning was great. But yesterday, oh my God. Torture. And he would just go, no, no, no, no. No. Zazen is... What happens when you come to the Zendo, sit down on your cushion, and stay present for what happens? Bowdoin said, do not think good or bad. Do not judge wrong or right. That's good advice. Don't come. the zendo because you're anticipating a pleasurable experience and don't avoid the zendo because you want to avoid an unpleasurable experience just come because the han is going and find out what your experience will be we don't call this beginner's mind temple for nothing

[15:41]

Beating Up Beginner's Mind, the best-selling book on Zen ever. For good reason. So this is Suzuki Roshi on Zazen. This is from the chapter called Experience, Not Philosophy. Sometimes I feel there's something blasphemous in talking about how Buddhism is perfect as a philosophy or teaching without knowing what it actually is. To practice Zazen with a group is the most important thing for Buddhism. I'll repeat that. To practice Zazen with a group is the most important thing for Buddhism and for us because This practice is the original way of life. What an outrageous statement.

[16:45]

I'll say it again. To practice Zazen with a group is the most important thing for Buddhism and for us because this practice is the original way of life. Wow. I really find it interesting that he said to practice zazen with a group. You know, the sangha is part of the triple treasure. Take refuge in the sangha. I'm currently reading this book, A General Theory of Love, which is fascinating. I'm reading it for a class that Reverend Linda and I are teaching together about relationships as a field of practice. this field of liberation. And this book, A General Theory of Love, is all hard science about where emotions come from and why they're necessary and why we have them and what love is from a scientific perspective.

[17:59]

It turns out that higher mammals like people and animals whales and dolphins and chimpanzees and dogs and cats and coyotes, higher mammals have what they call open-loop feedback systems controlling huge chunks of their physiology. So we literally cannot survive as We cannot thrive. And this has been proven time and again, very unfortunately, especially with infants and people who have been confined to solitary in prisons and other institutions. The large parts of our physiology and health are governed by others.

[19:06]

in relationship. So a closed loop feedback system would be something self-sustained. We don't work that way. This is hard science. We are open loop feedback. In order to be healthy and thrive, we have to have interaction with others. We have to. We live to link and we link to live. it's called limbic regulation, that's what they call it in the book, this process, this process of physiologic interregulation. I recall when I lived in Tassajara, in the summer, we were having a CPR training and we were all sitting, maybe 30 of us, mostly continuing monks, mostly people been there in practice period and practiced together, continuing on.

[20:10]

It was the summertime, sitting all around the circumference of the tent yurt, taking this CPR class. And at one point, we learned how to take pulse. And we all took our own pulse. And almost everybody there, I think maybe one or two exceptions, was exactly 60 beats per minute. Almost everybody there. And the people teaching the CPR class were just like... What? And Leslie James was, we've been synchronizing in Resendo. It's true. It's true, actually. It's true. So, at the moment, you know, I'm very interested in that. Practicing together as a group. When... We're sitting zazen in silence. There's something there, something palpable.

[21:13]

Words don't touch it. So city center is a very groovy place to be for many, many, many reasons. Very, very nice place to be. Very nice people, very nice relationships. But it is our mutual commitment to practice that keeps that going. Without that, let out. I first came here in 1975 when I was 19 years old. I was very impressionable. And I remember a lot of Baker Roshi's Dharma talks. He was a great Zen master.

[22:18]

Very charismatic. Very sharp. And I remember a lot of what he said. But I recall one thing that Yeah, I recall it because it was unusual in that it didn't sit right with me. So that was the reason why I recall this one little tidbit from, I think I recall saying it more than once. It just struck me as odd. Basically, Santa Santa was into a lot of enterprises. A lot of stitchery, Green Gulch, Green Gulch, where the seminar is now, the Tassajara Bakery. awesome, Tassajara itself, of course. I think we were into publishing in a small way, and I don't know what else. Grease hadn't started yet. But pretty industrious, you know, pretty enterprising. And I recall, you know, she used to like to talk about our businesses and our enterprise.

[23:28]

And I can recall him saying, you know, if we weren't committed to Zen practice, we could make even more money. You know, if that's what we were only about, we could really make a lot more money if we wanted to. And I remember thinking, yeah, but if all these people, these young energetic people, weren't here for the Zen practice, they could just be here to make money? You know, even at the time, you know, if it's right with me, it doesn't make sense. No, they wouldn't. It's the commitment to practice that keeps it going. It's a mutual commitment to each other, actually. So I had a conversation with someone about this very point. And I wound up saying...

[24:34]

This is a Zen training temple. Are you up for Zen training? And the person said yes. Yes. And then later on, maybe a day or two later, came back to me at the dinner table. What is Zen training? What a great question. What a great koan. So that's my koan now. That's my koan now. The Eno's koan. What is Zen training? I think at the time, what I coughed up was it's maturing beings. and others.

[25:37]

And then, because this was at the dinner table, and Ingen was at the dinner table, we asked Ingen, and Ingen said, just follow the schedule. It's not that there is no practice and no enlightenment. It's just that they cannot be defiled. In the last couple days, I've also been thinking about... how inconvenient Zen practice is, how deliberately inconvenient Zen practice really is.

[26:43]

There's a great story about Suzuki Roshi when he was training as a very young boy, a teenage boy. I think he was ordained at the age of 13, and he practiced with his strict teacher. and so on at his temple. And I guess with the change in the weather that there was these outside shutters around one of the temple buildings that they slide off and with the warmer weather or whatever, they take them off. They can remove these shutters. And he and his brother monk working together as a team, One guy was at one end who was pushing them that way, and the other guy was at the other end taking them off and stacking them, you know, very effectively, very efficiently.

[27:46]

And Giyokud and so on saw them, and he was like, stop. Don't do that. Don't do it that way. Very strict guy. You take them off one by one. It's convenient to walk from one corner of the zendo to the other, taking a shortcut behind the altar. It's convenient to use the Laguna Street entrance to come in and out of the building while practice is going on. It's convenient to... to... be on the way to oryoki breakfast and pick up some guest eating bowls, even though you already own an oryoki set. Shoot, what could be more inconvenient than oryoki?

[28:48]

I mean, why don't we just have a tray line? We could have a tray line, right? That would be very efficient. Oryoki takes a long time. You have to sit there. It's kind of uncomfortable, maybe. What's that about? It's a ceremony I truly love. You know what's convenient? You know what's really convenient are plastic bags. Plastic bags are so convenient. They are lightweight. They're really durable. They're waterproof. They can hold almost anything. They're incredibly cheap to produce. I go to the Civic Center Farmer's Market, everyone's trying to give me a plastic bag. It's amazing.

[29:52]

But they're mighty convenient. So there's this island of plastic garbage in the Pacific Ocean that's 1,500 miles wide, give or take a couple hundred miles. It's kind of hard to measure because it's so freaking big. Like bigger than the continental U.S. Island of plastic bags. in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. So I'm not that I think that Zen practice is doing anything about that island of plastic bags, but I will say that I'm proud to be part of something

[31:02]

That is perhaps in a small way introducing into the culture the idea that it might be good to do things the long way. To take the long view to not do things the easy way. I feel like this practice period that's just begun is off to a great start. And I'm really happy to be working with and supporting the leader of the practice period, Reverend Jordan Thorn, our Tonto. And we had a practice period opening ceremony at the end of the one day sitting.

[32:11]

just last Saturday. And everyone who's in the practice period gathered here in this Buddha hall in a circle. And among other things, we went around the circle and everybody said one word. And I, excuse me, I said consistency. And as soon as I said it, I was like, that was close to what I wanted to say. Consistency. And somehow I knew that wasn't quite it. Consistency. And I thought about it and thought about it. I was like, oh yeah. More just. More specific. book on Zen ever.

[33:14]

The word I was searching for was constancy. Constancy. And that's the name of another one of the chapters in Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. Constancy. I have always said that you must be very patient with if you want to understand Buddhism. But I have been seeking for a better word than patience. The usual translation of the Japanese word mean is patience. But perhaps constancy is a better word. You must force yourself to be patient. But in constancy, there is no particular effort involved. There is only the unchanging ability to accept things as they are. For people who have no idea of emptiness, this ability may appear to be patience, but patience can actually be non-acceptance, right?

[34:23]

People who know, even if only intuitively, the state of emptiness always have open the possibility of accepting things as they are. They can appreciate everything. In everything they do, even though it may be very difficult, they will always be able to dissolve their problems by constancy. Nying is the way we cultivate our own spirit. Nying is our way of continuous practice. It's not that there's no practice and no enlightenment. It's just that they cannot be defiled.

[35:32]

So, nothing to worry about, really. Just enjoy it. Just follow the schedule. for what you signed up for? And it will all unfold for you. Okay. I was wondering if I was going to do this. Yes, I will. I have a new favorite song. It's David Byrne and Brian Eno. They have a new album out, fairly new.

[36:37]

The song on the album is called I Feel My Stuff. The name of the album is Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. The song I love so much is called I feel my stuff. And it sort of builds up to a crescendo at the end. And David Byrne is singing, I feel my stuff. I get enough. I come back to be stronger. I feel my stuff. I change my luck. I come back to be stronger. I feel my stuff. I'm saying I feel my stuff. I get enough. I come back to be stronger.

[37:40]

That speaks to me. I don't know. You sit one period of zazen, one one-day sitting or maybe a seven-day session. Who knows, at some point there might be a time when you say, I feel my stuff. Don't move. Sit upright. Don't move. I feel my stuff. I get enough. I have no idea if this is what David Berman meant or not, but I've always found it interesting in my own experience and talking to others in practice discussion. Zazen will show you everything. Zazen will show you everything. And it seems to be it will show it to you at the rate for which you're ready to receive it.

[38:47]

That, in fact, That's been my experience. If I'm not ready to see it, it won't be revealed. When you're ready, you might be surprised. But I don't think you can have like a psychotic break or anything. I feel my stuff. I get enough. I come back to be stronger. It's not that there's no practice and no enlightenment. It's just that it cannot be defiled. Okay, thank you. Thank you.

[39:48]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_91.58