This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations by people like you. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You have to ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the door sill where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. A few weeks ago I was invited to speak at the 25th anniversary of the International Association of Sufism, which is headquartered in Marin County.

[01:08]

My friendship with the Sufis has been growing over a number of years because I've been participating with the Marin Interfaith Council. So the Council has made its mission to create conditions under which the clergy of Marin can become friends. And it's working. And our secondary mission is to help all the congregants become friends, which is part of why I'm talking about them today. On the council, there are Sufis, more orthodox Christians, Islamists. There are lots of Christians, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, Presbyterians, Congregationalists. There are Brahma Kumaris, Baha'i, varieties of Buddhists, Native Americans, and Wicca.

[02:26]

And within those groups, some are some are Latinos, African-Americans, Pakistanis, Indians, indigenous people, mixed breeds like myself. But all together we are one community. The door is round and open. So I've pretty much learned that we are not a like-minded group by listening to the readings from various texts. We've had readings from the Torah, the Koran, Book of Mormon, evangelical texts, the New Testament, and I've brought some koans, which always amazes everyone. Actually, the Buddhists are a bit of a mystery because they're all some form of theist.

[03:32]

And they try to be very polite to us, but they're not quite sure what we're up to. But it's also very clear and very true that we are like-hearted people and that we all want the same things for our communities and for our families and for our world. We want peace and justice and good schools and clean beaches. And we want there to be an end to homelessness and capital punishment. We want enough food and shelter for everyone. Just like all of us here, I have no doubt. you might say that we're on a mission. This Interfaith Council, we have a mission to share this global vision among ourselves and with other circles of friendship around the world.

[04:41]

We're actually also a circle of friendship as part of the United Religions Initiative out of Grace Cathedral. And there are circles that are dotting a map. Dear Reverend Charles Gibbs is Caring with him as he flies from country to country, getting people together, getting them to talk, getting them to be friends. So along with this global vision, we have a commitment to enacting that vision in our own communities with each other and to making every effort to see past our obvious differences. to our core values and our shared humanitarian concern. In other words, we will endeavor to work together in harmony at the door sill where the worlds touch. So when I arrived at the sous vide dinner, I wasn't at all surprised to feel welcomed.

[05:50]

However, I was surprised to find myself standing there at the door sill looking out at a group of people who were, in some sense, not my own. For one thing, the men were wearing suits and ties, the women were in dresses, and everyone had on shoes. The music was Middle Eastern. We ate chicken, and they had a slideshow that was transcendental. So in the course of the evening, we chanted the name of Allah hundreds of times, and at one point we danced together holding hands in circles for a long time, during which I felt somewhere between giddy and ecstatic. And actually at one moment I thought, maybe I'll convert.

[07:01]

Allah is such a beautiful word. Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. But so is Buddha and Dharma, Sangha, Krishna. Beautiful words. Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, Isaiah. So when it was my turn to speak, I told this story. Many years ago, when I had just been newly ordained, my teacher gave me a box of chocolates. And on top of the box, he had written, The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell. Don't go back to sleep. I thought he'd made it up. So as I was looking for some words to share with the Sufis that evening, I went to my bookshelf and I had some old books of poetry that I've had since college.

[08:11]

And one of them was a collection of poems by Rumi called Open Secrets. So I took Open Secret down and I started looking at the verses. And it was very like the box of chocolates. Very hard to pick just one. They're all beautiful, different and sweet. So then I got to page seven and there, almost as if by some transcendental magic, was verse 91. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the door sill where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep.

[09:15]

This verse calls forth the greatest challenge of our human life. How are we going to meet one another at the door sill where differences arise and begin to vibrate? Differences of gender, of race, of status, of class, ethnicity, ability, sexual attraction, just to name a few. So I told them that night how grateful I was to have been invited to join them so that we could experience together as one community that which our enlightened teachers saw so clearly and expressed so beautifully. That the door is round and open. And then because I... I'm a priest. I gave them a blessing. May all beings pass through this doorway again and again as we are doing here tonight in friendship, safety, and celebration.

[10:29]

And because the Rumi verses are so like a box of chocolates, I offered them another one. This is number 158. And I think... You may have heard this one. It was, as many of them are, familiar. I think it's like reading the Bible. It's like, oh, that's where that line comes from. Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, Even the phrase each other doesn't make any sense. Do you know that one? So what I remember most about that evening was seeing all of them who were sitting there looking up and smiling warmly at me. This is not a very Zen thing to do.

[11:42]

I'm not criticizing all of you. But usually when we listen to one another in formal settings, Monday sittings and sessions and so on, we have our eyes cast down. So you can't really tell if a Zen student is crying or bored, asleep or thrilled. There's just no way to know. But I have to admit that I was really appreciating seeing the smiles on their bright Sufi faces. It warmed my heart and made this feeling of communion even more true. So what I want to talk about this morning is this door sill between the worlds. You know, both today and tomorrow and the weeks to come and through all of our lives, we are going to, as individuals and as members of society and community, come to a crossroad between the worlds.

[13:00]

Sometimes it'll be in memorial, sometimes in celebration, sometimes we're just plain stuck. So this morning, right here at Green Gulch, we have a group of young people who are standing at the crossroads. They're seventh and eighth graders. Can you remember that? Thirteen and fourteen. This is our coming-of-age program, and it's the second meeting of this group for this year. We have eight girls and nine boys meeting with their lively Zen mentors. And what goes on inside those groups is confidential, which causes some discomfort for the parents. Parents want to know what the kids are talking about, particularly if they're talking about them, which I can assure you they are. But I was thinking that it's really not such a secret what's going on in there.

[14:10]

It's more like the title of Rumi's book. It's an open secret because all of us have passed through these invisible doorways. We were all born and we were infants and children and adolescents. We became young adults. Now we're aging adults. And soon we will be, as we like to say, passing away. What was that? Will we ever know? So I was thinking that probably all of us can imagine how nice it would be to have adults who are skillful in accompanying young people on this passageway to adulthood themselves. I don't know how it was for you, but I don't remember having, other than my parents, adults who really saw me as an individual and helped advise me in various ways.

[15:15]

points in my journey I actually experienced my school years as being herded from one grade level to the next until finally I arrived at the ultimate herding of probably 2,000 people at my college graduation which I declined to attend I told them to send my diploma in the mail there was something about that whole experience that had so little to do with me So we at Zen Center have accepted the responsibility, or beginning to anyway, to accompany these young people as they pass through this doorway to becoming adults. I was thinking about the image of the folks along the trail of the Dipsy race. You can't run for them, but you can blow kisses and hand them energy bars. And it's the same thing we can do for the kids.

[16:18]

We can see them and listen to them and cheer them on. But we can also dip into that experience that they're having at this age, one that we still have inside of us as memory of those tangible upwellings of both sweetness and pain. It's an open secret. And all of us... All of us big kids and little kids need our parents in various forms that they appear, whether it's the mom and dad or aunt or uncle or grandparent or teacher or neighbor down the street. We all need that friendly face smiling at us, telling us how well we're doing, whether we are or not. It's not the point. So glad you're here. It's you.

[17:19]

You're home. Who, me? Yeah, you. My therapist reminds me often in that I'm raising a teen myself that it's not uncommon in our culture for adults to abandon their teenage children for one very good reason. They're afraid of them. And I can testify they're pretty scary. I mean, how many ways can you say, I hate you? My daughter has been saying, four more years. I'm out of here. So we breathe a lot in our family. The problem with abandoning the kids is that it gives them a lot of power.

[18:21]

But it also leaves them alone and afraid. We know that. That's an open secret too. Alone and afraid in a world I've not made. Is that Yates? I think so. So our job as parents, as mentors and as guides is to stay close and to stand firm like a seawall. so that these crashing waves can land on us and then roll back in great relief. Great job. So last week I told a story on myself to my therapist that I'm going to share with you. I was sure he was going to roll his eyes in unveiled contempt. I guess it was Tuesday evening.

[19:25]

I was left alone with my teenager to supervise homework. And a part of that was a half hour of reading. So I got my book and my glasses and I sat on the couch and I said, OK, honey, why don't we read together? And for the next hour and a half, she couldn't find a book that was interesting. She couldn't stop throwing the ball to the dog. And she questioned the value of reading at all. So after about an hour and a half, I ran out of patience. And I blew. And I swatted the pile of books off the dining room table. I stood to my full height. And I turned to her and I said, Fine, do whatever you want. And I left the room. I wasn't quite sure where to go.

[20:27]

Fortunately, she came in after me and said, what was that all about? You know, you're going to have to clean that up. Which I did. Anyway, I told this story to my therapist and he said, good for you. Good for you. She knows you're human and she knows you have feelings, you're passionate and that you're there. I can never figure him out. Good for you. That's the way to go. To be fierce and energetic and to stay close. So he again encouraged me. enthusiasm, energy, and kindness all at once, like the seawall. We're there to protect them. And in that protection, we're protected as well. A lot of energy. Well, events at the doorway get very real very fast, as we all know, the doorway between the worlds.

[21:48]

And yet it's only there beyond right doing and wrong doing, out in that open field where we can finally and truly meet. So recently, here on the farm, we also shared an opportunity to study together the crashing waves between the worlds. And these waves were full of bunker oil. So I'm not going to go into a lot of detail, but a very elaborate story began to evolve concerning the worlds that we share and touch with the National Park Service, the monks of Ringgelt Farm, and our good neighbors in Muir Beach. In our local story, there were

[22:51]

handcuffs, a taser, wheelbarrows, shovels, a truck, a rising tide, great globs of toxic oil, at least one desperately injured seabird, and several people. So, Being the director at Green Gulch Farm, I received a number of telephone calls. And I also bore witness to inconceivably contradictory stories about one event that we could assume was the same reality. Each of these stories, as I heard it, seemed equally valid equally righteous and equally incomplete. Something was being left out or added, and I could never quite tell what.

[23:57]

So I realized at some point that it was my job to stand there with everyone, like the seawall, and to receive the passion, the anger, the frustration, the confusion, the pain, as open and as able as I was. And to not lean toward one side or the other. It's ironic that in this story, it became more and more clear that we are one whole community. And we have been damaged. Our sweet little beach here, that each of us feels some... Great responsibility for the park does, the neighbors do, and we do. This is our beach. There was junk coming in from the ocean.

[25:01]

And we were all wanting to do something to help. And we didn't know how to meet there at the doorway in harmony and in peace. Even though I think everyone tried. I saw a button once I thought maybe we should all start wearing. It said, I didn't say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame you. So I think we all know that we humans rarely, if ever, agree. We don't agree here on the farm, nor at our corporate headquarters in San Francisco. We don't agree in my family, and I certainly don't agree sitting by myself on my cushion with my various thoughts. And I think we all know that there are huge media industries that are devoted to presenting what we call the news in contradictory form.

[26:12]

There's Fox. There's KPFA. There's CNN, there's NPR, which I'm sure is in the middle. And if you only pick one, then you also choose your companions. Unfortunately, it's my experience and my belief that these companions, These media industries are by design neither round nor open. So I wanted to read to you a passage from the Samdhi Nirmajana Sutra, which was recorded thousands of years ago as conversations between the Buddha and his disciples, the Bodhisattvas.

[27:15]

And this sutra, which... is subtitled Essential Questions and Direct Answers for Realizing Enlightenment. So this is the one to own. And chapter 2 is called The Questions of Dharmodgatha. I was thinking about what I was going to talk about today and I remembered this chapter and went back to it and I thought, yeah, this is pretty good. This might help us. So the Bodhisattva Dharmogata spoke to the Buddha. Bhagavan, this is a term of honor. Bhagavan, in a distant epoch of ancient times, passing beyond this world system, as many world systems as there are grains of sand in 77 Ganges rivers. In other words, long ago and far away. I lived in the world system, Kirtamath,

[28:19]

Buddha land of the Tathagata Visala Kirti. So while there, this is again the disciple talking, while there I saw 7,700,000 teachers and others of various heretical systems. Heretical in this case means non-Buddhists. Wouldn't be a very popular phrase in the Interfaith Council, I'm sure. They had gathered together at a certain place to begin considering the ultimate character of phenomena. Now the ultimate character of phenomena is extremely important in Buddhist teaching because by experiencing, realizing the ultimate character of phenomena, for example, an oily bird, you can become enlightened. And only...

[29:21]

by experiencing the ultimate character phenomena. So these heretical teachers were gathered together to consider the ultimate character of phenomena. And although they contemplated, weighed, closely examined, and sought the ultimate character of phenomena, they had not realized it. They had divergent opinions, doubts, and misconceptions. They debated and quarreled. They insulted each other with harsh words. They were abusive, deceitful, and overbearing. They attacked one another. This is 2,000 years ago. Having seen them so divided Bhagavan, I thought, alas, Buddhas arise in the world, and through their arising, the realization and actualization of the ultimate, whose character completely transcends all argumentation, is indeed marvelous and astonishing.

[30:27]

The Buddha replied to the Bodhisattva Dharmagata, So it is. I have fully and perfectly realized the ultimate, whose character completely transcends all argumentation. I have taught... Can you stand this? Is it okay? Okay. So far? Okay. Just a little one. I have taught that the ultimate belongs to the signless realm while argumentation belongs to the realm of signs. I have explained that the ultimate is inexpressible while argumentation belongs to the realm of expression. I have explained that the ultimate is devoid of conventions while argumentation belongs to the realm of conventions. They have explained that the ultimate is devoid of all disputes while argumentation belongs to the realm of controversy. Dharmagata, for instance, because beings have devoted their energy to dispute for a long time through strongly holding on to mine.

[31:38]

This is mine. Manifestly delighting in dispute. they are unable to imagine, infer, or appreciate the absence of dispute or the absence of strongly holding on to mine. Accordingly, Dharmogata, all disputants are unable to imagine, infer, or appreciate the ultimate whose characteristic completely transcends all argumentation. So my hope in reading this passage to you is that all of us will remember once again that the teachings of the Buddha, of Rumi and of baby Jesus were guidance systems for us to lead us to a world, a new world perhaps, a world of beneficence, of gratitude and of peaceful abiding.

[32:45]

This is the world of ultimate reality where no thing and no one is outside of yourself. No thing and no one is outside of yourself. That's me, that oily bird. That's me, that upset park service ranger. That's me, that upset Muir Beach resident. That's me, the director at Gwingle's Farm. And we all know that people do make bad mistakes. Don't skip over that at all. You know, tugboat captains and oil tanker captains and police captains and coast guard captains and directors of Buddhist communities and oil executives and Need I say, presidents and senators and congressmen, they all make mistakes, terrible mistakes.

[33:57]

And so does everyone else. There are no exceptions. But I am very sure that all of us, in order to get what we truly want, will not get there by fighting against each other. We all need to be the peacemakers, both within ourselves and with everything that we touch and everything that we see. It's our job to be the mentors, the mediators, the communicators and the healers of this very damaged world. That's our job. And that's our vow. We've said it once and we'll say it again. We are here to live for the benefit of all beings, without exception. If we were to make exceptions, where would we start? Who would we leave out first? And then where would we stop? So in this very same spirit, and a week from now, I'm going to stand at the doorway with the abbot of Zen centers, Steve Stuckey, and former abbot of Zen center, Rev.

[35:14]

Anderson, and with many of the people here in this room, and we are going to witness and cheer for one of our very own. Reirind Alhaides Gambo, who is sitting over here very quietly, is going to cross over the door sill from layperson to Buddhist priest. And during the ceremony, we are going to ask this new priest to embrace the Buddhist teaching moment after moment, to set aside greed, to let go of anger, and to transcend self-delusion. Did you know that? In other words, we're going to ask her to stand side by side with all of the enlightened ancestors at the doorway between the worlds, to stand with energy, fierceness, kindness, all at once.

[36:15]

like the seawall. And my gift to her on that occasion, you need to plug your ears now, thank you. I'm going to give her a box of chocolates. And I'm going to write, I'm going to write, the breeze at dawn has secrets to tell. Don't go back to sleep. So I want to end this talk today by sharing with you a few more Rumi poems as a tribute to the dear enlightened poet and master on the occasion of his 800th birthday. September 30th, 1207, a little baby was born in what is now Afghanistan. Jalaluddin Rumi. Actually Rumi means Roman because his family fled the Mongols. And if you haven't read about Genghis Khan, it's very interesting.

[37:20]

Lots of people ran away from the Mongols. Rumi's family is one of them. This is verse 630. Stay in the company of lovers, those other kinds of people. They each want to show you something. A crow will lead you to an empty barn, a parrot to sugar. Verse 686, the Sufi opens her hands to the universe and gives away each instant free. Unlike someone who begs on the street for money to survive, a dervish begs to give you her life. 82, today like every other day we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer.

[38:20]

Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. Verse 914 Come to the orchard in spring. There is light and wine and sweethearts in the pomegranate flowers. If you do not come, these do not matter. If you do come, these do not matter. Verse 1078. Think that you are gliding out from the face of a cliff like an eagle. Think that you are walking like a tiger in the forest. You are most handsome when you're after food. Spend less time with nightingales and peacocks. One is just a voice, the other just a voice. We are the mirror as well as the face in it. We are tasting the taste this moment of eternity.

[39:25]

We are pain and what cures pain. Both. We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours. And last, verse 794. At night we fall into each other with such grace. When it's light, you throw me back like you do your hair. Your eyes now drunk with God, mine with looking at you. One drunkard takes care of another. Thank you very much. Our public programs are made possible by donations by people like you.

[40:16]

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