This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Zen Center, those of you who are new and those of you who have been here before. I hope that Zen Center can be a place where everyone feels welcome all the time. So let's all work at making that happen, please. I was really stressed out a little earlier today, I just couldn't think of anything to talk about.

[01:02]

I had nothing new to say. No. And I said, okay, well then say what you always say. I couldn't think of anything else to do. And I will begin once again with... a quotation from the Dalai Lama, which is very inspiring to me and which I try to remember to do each morning. He says, every day, think as you wake up. Today I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive. I have a precious human life. I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

[02:05]

I'm going to have kind thoughts towards others. I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I'm going to benefit others as much as I can. That has been a great inspiration to me since I first read it. That has been a great inspiration to me. Suzuki Roshi's teaching, which he demonstrated to us more than saying to us, though he did say it, to see Buddha in everyone. And you can see that he did. And that's the direction, that's the direction I'm going in. I'm not sure that I can live up to it all the time. But it's where I want to go. And seeing Buddha in everyone, of course, means also seeing it in yourself.

[03:14]

You know, one, I wasn't there. My mother used to have a saying, Was you there, Charlie? I wasn't there when the Buddha spoke his first words after his enlightenment, but it is reported that he said, I now see that all beings, without exception, have the wisdom and compassion of the awakened ones. Only because of their delusions and self-clinging, they don't realize it. to understand that the possibility of awakening is in everyone including you and including someone who has an irritating habit that you wish they'd stop and various things like that everyone has the capacity has the by their birthright

[04:22]

has the essential nature of awakening. And we're all working toward bringing that into full flower, however we can, whatever impediments we notice, working on letting them go so that we can fully flower. as the benevolent being that we are. There's another quotation that is very encouraging to me. This one from Pema Chodron, a teacher whom I much admire. It says, the journey goes down, not up. She says, spiritual awakening is frequently described as a journey to the top of a mountain.

[05:27]

We leave our attachments and our worldliness behind and slowly make our way to the top. At the peak, we have transcended all pain. The only problem with this metaphor is that we leave all the others behind. Our drunken brother, our schizophrenic sister, our tormented animals and friends. their suffering continues unrelieved by our personal escape. In the process of discovering bodhicitta, the journey goes down, not up. It's as if the mountain pointed toward the center of the earth instead of reaching into the sky. Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we move toward the turbulence and doubt. We jump into it, we slide into it, we tiptoe into it. We move toward it however we can. We explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain, and we try not to push it away.

[06:36]

If it takes years, if it takes lifetimes, we let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed or aggression, we move down and down and down. With us move millions of others, our companions, in awakening from fear. At the bottom we discover water, the healing water of bodhicitta, the mind of awakening. Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die. So my feeling is that we come to practice because we have realized in ourselves the fear and the suffering.

[07:47]

And we want to do something to alleviate it. We want to be there not just for ourselves but for everyone else who shares this human life, this human, precious human life which we value so much and which is impermanent and without self and in which there is suffering, unsatisfactoriness. And we aspire to find love, peacefulness, joy, companionship, friendship in the midst of the impermanence. We learn to

[08:54]

really appreciate this opportunity to be alive because it's so rare and so precious. And this mind of the bodhisattva, well, let's see, I'd like to share, I can't go by without sharing a couple of quotes from Brother David's website, gratefulness.org. From Rabinadrath Dekor, life is given to us. We earn it by giving it. And Aesop, who said, no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. So we work on our own places where we forget that life is a gift and forget to be grateful and forget that we're all in the same boat.

[10:22]

We pay attention and notice what's happening. in us and what may be separating us from the warmth and love and interconnection of all beings with all beings. We have some work to do. We pick up bad habits. along the way, we need to have some compassion for ourselves and our bad habits and for others and their bad habits. But when we notice them, we see that if we can relinquish them, we'll be a lot happier and so will the people that share our lives with us. None of us

[11:29]

You know, there's this kind of conundrum here that Suzuki Roshi gave us, you know. We're all perfect just as we are. And he meant it. And yet there are always ways in which we can improve. And if we can notice what's going on in ourselves... we have the possibility to let go of some of the things that cause us grief, that cause grief for those around us who care about us. So we need to practice this kindness that I'm talking about with ourselves. It's pretty hard to be kinder to others than you are to yourself.

[12:31]

So it's important that we begin this practice being kind to ourself. In the traditional meditations on loving kindness and compassion and empathetic joy and equanimity, these things that are called the four brahma-viharas or abodes of the gods, those traditional meditations always begin with ourself. May I be happy. May I be at ease. May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May I have ease of well-being. We begin here. And as we begin to open our heart, we include others. And we include those close to us and keep moving to those a little farther out until we can include others. everyone without exception.

[13:34]

Recognize our connection and interdependence and love for everyone without exception. And offer that love, offer that friendliness, offer that kindness wherever we go. I'd like to share with you something from a talk by my Dharma brother, Gil Fronstal, who trained here and in Japan and in Southeast Asia and at Spirit Rock. And he got a PhD in Buddhist studies at Stanford. He's a very diligent young man.

[14:37]

Love him. Anyhow, he's talking about heartfelt practice. The English word mindfulness is the usual translation for the Pali word sati. Most generally, sati means to hold something in awareness. When the Chinese translated Indian Buddhist terms into Chinese characters, sati became a character with two halves. The top half is the character for the present moment and the bottom half is the character for heart. The combination suggests that mindfulness is connected to the heart, to being heartfelt in the present moment. It points to the possibility of holding our experience in our hearts, to having an accepting soft and spacious awareness

[15:39]

toward whatever is occurring. And he goes on to talk about how awareness of what's happening in the present moment strengthens the heart. At times, mindfulness practice can feel a bit dry. It can seem to involve a detached, objective, or unfeeling attitude toward our experience in the present moment. However, such an attitude arises when mindfulness is confused with subtle fear, distance, resistance, or judgment. Luckily, the mindfulness practice is self-correcting, the continual effort to notice what is actually going on. in the present, will in due time reveal the subtle tension that underlies an attached attitude.

[16:48]

If we can clearly recognize the dryness of practice, it can be a signal that helps us reestablish a softer, more tender presence. Or alternatively, it can be an indication that we need to hold the very dryness with soft acceptance. Many of us have hearts that are encrusted with anxieties, fears, aversions, sorrows, and an array of defensive armor. The non-reactive and accepting awareness of mindfulness will help to dissolve these crusts. The practice has a cyclic quality. It is self-reinforcing. At first, the practice will allow us to let go of a small amount of defensiveness. That release allows a corresponding amount of openness and tender-heartedness to show itself. This process encourages us to drop even more armor.

[17:49]

Slowly, a greater sense of heartfeltness supports the further development of mindfulness. As our neurotic thought patterns drop away layers of judgment and resistance atrophy, and the need to define ourselves through hard-headed identities relaxes. As this happens, the natural goodness of the heart shines by itself. The impulses to be aware, happy, compassionate, and free all come from the goodness of our hearts. As we connect to these intentions and allow them to motivate our mindfulness practice, the practice becomes heartfelt. The Thai meditation master, Achan Cha, said that everything occurs within the heart. In mindfulness practice, we let our hearts hold whatever arises within itself.

[18:54]

So we've been talking some about awareness of our body during practice and how our body is involved in practice. Well, of course, the first thing is, if we didn't have a body, we couldn't practice at all. So we depend completely on this body as it is to support our practice. We've been sitting for a little while now, and some of you may be a little tired, so let's try to refresh ourselves by sending energy up your spine, all the way up the spine to the crown of your head, holding up the sky with the crown of your head, as Suzuki Roshi said. Feel a big stretch there in your core as you make yourself tall. Take a couple of deep breaths, inhale and exhale.

[20:03]

And now see if with that energy going up your spine and your head right on top of your spine, not stuck out in front, can you now release some of the tension in your shoulders, in the middle of your back between your shoulder blades. Can you let the tension and tightness just drain out and feel the refreshment of that support from the inner core of your body? Can you appreciate how great it is to have this body. How it provides us with the opportunity to practice.

[21:08]

How it provides us with the opportunity to love and be loved. And can you notice Where in your body you still feel yourself holding a little tension? Can you let it go? Can you soften your face with a smile? I don't mean a big grin, just a smile, to see how it softens your whole face. you be really grateful that you have this human body? And can you be grateful to this body for carrying you around, taking you where you want to go, letting you be right here, right now, with all of us?

[22:20]

It's great to have a body, isn't it? Even one that's wearing out is very nice. So in our effort to find out how we can benefit beings... we find that we want to develop these qualities of bodhisattva, which we call the six perfections. The first is generosity. The giving of yourself

[23:29]

with open-hearted attentiveness, being attentive to the person you're with. Generosity and gratitude are very closely connected, I find, in my own life. Somehow, gratitude engenders generosity. most important thing is to give of yourself. To give your full attention to what's happening right now and to the person right in front of you. To be there for them. To listen. To smile. To see them, each one, for the Bodhisattva that they are.

[24:32]

or the bodhisattva they can be. The second of the perfections of a bodhisattva is morality. Understanding and actualizing the deep meaning of the precepts. The precepts are just about how you live in the world. How you live in the world benefiting beings and not causing harm. We have been given not only this body but also the capacity to choose how we live in this world.

[25:35]

Again, many times I've quoted Kobanchino Roshi who said, when you realize how rare and how precious your life is and how it's completely your responsibility, how you live it, how you manifest it, it's such a big responsibility that naturally such a person sits down for a while. The third of the bodhisattva qualities or perfections is patience, steadfast perseverance and cheerful willingness no matter what the circumstances.

[26:44]

And the fourth is enthusiasm, practicing with vigor, with diligence. assiduously. So patience and endurance and energy or effort, enthusiastic engagement with your life as it is. And the fifth is zazen, with one-pointed awareness. attentiveness, opening to the vastness of being, opening to our connectedness with everything. And the sixth is wisdom, lucid insight into the fundamental nature of this great matter.

[27:46]

And this list ends with life is short, mystery is profound, vow to awaken. This is... So, once again, as I say, I have nothing new to say. It's all about how you live your life. It's up to each one of us to make that choice and to make that effort and to choose friends who will support us in that effort. You know, at one point, Ananda said to the Buddha, having good spiritual friends is half of the holy life. And the Buddha said, oh, don't say that, Ananda.

[28:58]

It's all of the holy life. So with the help of your good spiritual friends and your own enthusiastic engagement, please live your life as though it mattered, because it does. how you live it matters to the whole world, not just to you. So once again, recognizing that life is a gift, celebrate it. Celebrate it by how you live it. Please join with your friends in that celebration.

[30:05]

Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered at no cost and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Domo.

[30:35]

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