This podcast is offered by San Francisco Zen Center on the web at sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. And welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple. You know, often... In fact, I think we could say we have a tradition of seeing anyone here for the first time. But I want to offer you this thought this morning. Heraclitus, a Roman philosopher, said, you can't possibly enter the same stream twice. It's a different stream and you're a different person. So guess what? We're all here for the first time. So welcome. So now I got that off my chest.

[01:02]

As I was sitting down, that particular thing I wanted to do today, and I thought it was my own invention, but just as I was sitting down, this thought came to mind. Someone told me once that he was instrumental in initiating poetry slams in high schools. Poetry Slam is where you have literally a poetry competition and you have winners. And if you've never been to wine, I strongly recommend them, especially high school ones. Teenage years are a passionate, transitory period of time. So he said, here's how I did it. I'd walk into the classroom, I'd take out a $20 bill and I'd say, one of you is going to leave today with this $20.

[02:08]

And that sort of got their attention. Several of you are going to leave today with one of these. Maybe I got the idea from that person. It didn't occur to me until right now. But I'll get back to it. You can remind me if I forget. It's an interesting time of year, almost the winter solstice. It's particularly interesting within spiritual traditions.

[03:14]

To me, to my mind, it's not a coincidence that Christianity, Judaism, and Mahayana Buddhism all make this time of year have some importance. Hanukkah, Christmas, and then in the Buddhist tradition, the awakening of the Buddha. This, the darkest time of year. If you think about it, the darkest time of year, we bring some light. In the spring, we bring some rebirth, some renewal. In the summer, we open up to empty skies and sunshine. In the fall, we give thanks to the bhakti, this sort of culmination

[04:26]

of the industry of the harvest. In how each spiritual tradition, seemingly through its own devices, creates cause for addressing the darkness in a certain way. It brought me to think of the opening lines of Stanley Kunitz's poem where he says, I've walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I was. Though some principle of being abides from which I struggle not to stray. Some principle of being abides from which I struggle not to stray.

[05:33]

It seems to me in practicing together, to put it in the terms we use, we're supporting each other not to stray. Maybe not to be afraid in the time of darkness or lose the light. Or maybe reminding each other that something about going deep, getting in touch with something that is our north star, our guiding compass, the word that's been occurring to me recently is heart, you know, hridaya. In Mahayana Buddhism, there is a sutra that's we commonly call the Heart Sutra.

[06:43]

The heart of the matter. And then the other side of it, wholeheartedness. It seems to me it talks about getting in touch with something and then living it. Get to the heart of the matter and then live it wholeheartedly. And then what is it? What is it we're getting in touch with? And what is it to live it? How do you do that? What's its relationship to darkness or light or any season of the air? It's very interesting. talking about the Romans, there's an interesting Greek word. I don't know why these classical ideas and words come to mind, but they have.

[07:52]

Eros. We almost think is eros erotic. But actually the word eros also has a meaning in terms of preservation of life or furtherance of life. Or sometimes it's translated as self-preservation. And one of the notions I'd like to talk about is the notion that we talk about in Zen where we say the big self in contrast to the small separate self, the big self. inclusive self. And that's what the money's about. Many years ago, I was introduced to someone, and he was a Christian minister.

[09:06]

But he was also... the financial advisor to the Rothschilds, very old and very wealthy family, going back centuries and centuries. And it intrigued me. How could you combine both of those worlds? And I asked him. And he said, money is God in action. It stuck with me. At the time I thought, really? I've heard lots of phrases that came after the word money. Money is the root of all evil. Money is God in action. And it's the inaction part that I hope to illustrate.

[10:08]

But before we go there, I'd like to say something about the notion of eros. This preservation of whatever it is that leads us to bring light to the darkness, celebration to the spring, Thanksgiving to the fall. Whatever it is, whatever part of the planet we're on, it's somehow the seasons are not irrelevant. In a couple of days on the winter solstice, we will do our own version of a solstice ceremony. I'm not quite sure how that came into being, whether our finding teacher

[11:11]

that you've got to do that. Or as sometimes happens in community, sometimes you just end up doing something and nobody quite knows how. And I would suggest to you that each one of us is persevering with this life without quite knowing how. There is a Zen koan that says, when the bell rings, why do you go to the Zendo? Of all the other things you could do with your life, how come? And equally mysterious and challenging for us, what is the heart of the matter for you?

[12:13]

What is it that makes you tick? What is it that stimulates your intentionality? Not in a narrow, fixed idea sense, but your impulse to live, your eros. What is that? And how do we get in touch with it? And then how do we live it? And of course, As I think probably everyone in the room knows, in the Zen world, there's something about being upright, staying physically present, and bearing witness and experiencing what's being experienced. Noticing.

[13:22]

Is the sound of the plane an annoyance? A flight of fantasy? Or does it add a notable touch to the moment? How do we get in touch with the heart of the matter? And as we get in touch with the heart of the matter, something's realized. And then very interestingly, as is a standard teaching in Zen, the realization is not based on intellectual understanding. It's something more thoroughgoing than that. It doesn't exclude intellectual understanding, but it's not simply that.

[14:29]

It's something more all-inclusive of human life. How do we get in touch with the heart, and then how do we live it wholeheartedly? And in Mahayana Buddhism, the sutra of that, the Heart Sutra, is both an intellectual teaching and in a way it's what's called in Buddhism a dharani. But in the enactment of it, in the recitation of it, something is actualized. So we have the realization, and the actualization. Get in touch with the heart of the matter and then live it wholeheartedly.

[15:33]

So this notion. Okay. We're not having a poetry slam. So you can relax. You don't have to remember your high school poetry. So Dylan is going to give these out. Unfortunately, there wasn't one each. So you're going to decide. But let me tell you. First, it's only dollar bills. It's not 20s. And you're only getting one each. But there isn't even enough for it. So Dylan will just pass them out at random and then hopefully they'll spread out around the room. So there's a teaching in Buddhism.

[16:44]

Well, he's doing that. There's a teaching in Buddhism that we say, interestingly, in our meal chant. May the three wheels of action be pure. Giver, receiver, and gift. And each one of these, the giver, the receiver, and the gift, is a kind of hub of activity. It's not just an inert thing. It's a hub of activity. And the word pure, there means... May it be complete. May it express something of the all-inclusiveness of being. May the three actions, giver, receiver, and gift, be all-inclusive.

[17:45]

You know, there is something extraordinarily iconic about the dollar bill. For a whole variety of reasons, the dollar has become an extraordinarily significant item, assessment, in our global economy. Many currencies relate to the dollar. Many global economic indicators are influenced by it. And then you can think for yourself. This one I'm not going to claim credit for. I got it from a Jacob Needleman, a lovely, thoughtful, eccentric philosopher who teaches at the university here at San Francisco.

[19:14]

And he wrote a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. To ask yourself, what is money for you? Is it power? Is it prestige? Is it safety? Is it freedom? Is it authority? Is it the opportunity to do all sorts of things? What is money for you? In some ways, the dollar bills are to remind you of that. that these little pieces of paper, we imbue them as having authority within the workings of our eros, the preservation of light.

[20:29]

They come to represent... all the things they represent for us, and they represent it being enacted. Just the same way as we say in our chant. Giver, receiver, and gift in action. Or as the Christian minister said, God in action. in the language of Zen, heart and action. Action as its own authority, its own activity. Action as that impulse within us.

[21:32]

that we don't quite know what it is, but we watch it come to the surface as we do certain things. I went to the bank a couple of days ago when I was thinking about this talk to get dollar bills. And I got 25. And then I came home And then yesterday I noticed I had four. And my first thought was, but they're mine. Which is a very interesting thought because aren't the words I got from the bank mine? But in a way they weren't mine because I'd already decided I was going to do what I did with them, give them up. And I thought, oh, but these are mine.

[22:37]

These four are mine. And then I looked at that and I thought, hmm, well, so what? Allow them to the other 25. So, now for those of you who have a dollar bill, could you hold them up? so we can all see where they ended up around the room. Yeah. It's a lot more money over here than here. Thank you. So, here's, what I want to suggest in relationship to the dollar bills. And then, of course, those of you who didn't get a dollar bill, if you have one of your own that you can afford to give away, you can follow this exercise too.

[23:49]

And here's the exercise. You give the dollar bill to someone else. And I think this is what was taken away inside of me when I got them from the bank. They weren't really mine. They come out of my bank account, but they weren't really mine. They were an aid to this talk. There's what we might say, the logic of the situation. But they came from your bank account, they're yours. That's the logic. But inside, there's a certain, the word that came to mind was mythology, but there's a certain mysterious workings for us in terms of our eros, our preservation, you know.

[25:00]

four dollars that I realized were in my pocket, they were mine. Maybe for me, something that goes into my pocket verifies my ownership. So it's not so much that it was a reasonable thought. In fact, the fact that it was not reasonable is what makes it intriguing. notion about money, like to hold up that dollar bill and think, this is money. This piece of paper, you know, is what I call money. And I have all sorts of feelings and ideas and associations with it. And despite all that, I'm going to try to persuade you to give it away. And then as if that wasn't bad enough or difficult enough, I'm going to suggest to you that the person you give it to, you ask them to give it away.

[26:17]

Because if money is God in action, well, let's keep the action going. There's a certain economic notion that... the money in circulation is how we all prosper. It's when the money sort of stagnates and this person has 60 billion and this person has 6 cents. Then we've got problems. So, to look at it to reflect with yourself and someone else, if you wish. What is money? And then to give it away.

[27:25]

I would make a distinction for you, the difference between, just in obvious terms, if you give it to a homeless person, asking them to give it away is a big challenge. Although wonderfully intriguing is that because people are homeless, it doesn't mean they're not generous. I don't mean that by any means, or mean to imply that, that they're not generous. I mean that their need is such But maybe it's kind of diminishing their need to say to give it to someone and ask them to give it away. And then I would ask you to reflect for yourself that despite all your

[28:34]

ideas about money and emotions about money, in the midst of that, maybe even despite that, can you give it away? Or maybe because of that, can you give it away? Our eros and, in a way, renunciation, are intertwined. Even though the word eros, literally sometimes you look at the definition and it will say self-preservation. Well, surely in terms of self-preservation should keep the money in your own pocket. But there's something in the giving that creates interbeing.

[29:43]

It creates an acknowledgement and enactment of the fact that life is a collective. That singularity, separation, and living as if I am an independent, entity is inaccurate. It's misguided. And I would suggest to you, it doesn't bring us a deep happiness. What brings us a deep happiness is when our heart feels connected. And in the realm of practice, we actualize that connectedness. It's not an abstract philosophical motion. When we enact it, I would suggest to you, we feel it more thoroughly.

[30:56]

We engage it more thoroughly. Giver, receiver, and gift. They're all an essential ingredient. Sometimes with the giver, sometimes with the receiver. And the gift is our medium of exchange. It may be a dollar bill, it may be a hug, it may be a kind act, it may be a sense of connection. So now I want to add one further thing, which is a little bit edgy, I think, to do from the dormit seat.

[32:02]

And here's why I would say it's edgy, because the basic principle One of the basic principles of our practice is an all-inclusiveness. So be very careful here at Zen Center to not propose this political party or this point of view in contrast or in superiority to some other one. I am going to make a suggestion with regards to climate change. But to make it as an issue of our collective all-inclusive being, that we as humans and the plants and the insects and the birds and the animals and the slugs, that it's an all-inclusive intention.

[33:11]

And it's even an all-inclusive intention that includes the welfare of the people who might think, well, climate change is a hoax. It's just a kind of a, or just simply a misguided notion. And this came up for me in relationship to an extension of this notion of giver, receiver, and gift. of how we use money, how we connect. Is money singularly God in action? Or is money capable of being something other than God in action? In person, I would say yes. I would say one of the intriguing things about being human is we seem to have the capacity to mess up pretty much anything.

[34:16]

You know, you can give away that dollar bill and then walk down the street thinking, I'm such a great guy, I'm so wonderful, nobody's as good as me. I need to go back to Zen Center and tell them how great I am. Here's my edgy and radical notion. There's an organization called Green America and what they're endeavoring to do. They're endeavoring to harness our collective clout as people who use dollar bills, who spend them and buy stuff, to use it in a way that touches the heart of

[35:24]

of our collective welfare, which is that we support the well-being of our planet. And that we remind ourselves and each other just as Cesar Chavez did in the 70s when he organized the farm workers' grape strike, which is that, you know, maybe we think, well, I just spend a dollar. My participation is irrelevant. But our collective participation is what makes the whole system work. And I thought, how wonderful that as we endeavor to include and continue our own expression of being alive and needing to buy clothes and food and shoes and whatever else we need to do, that it be part of...

[36:54]

Giver, receiver, and gift. All acting in an all-inclusive manner. I just know this organization. I don't know quite how I know them. I've known about them and I've engaged them for quite a while. But I don't mean to say they are the only organization doing this. But I thought, wouldn't it be great for us as a community. And I sense, you know, it's just my own notion that every single person in this room, and probably every single person who listened to the podcast, has in their heart this aspiration of all-inclusiveness. as Stanley Kunitz says, you know, though some principle of being abides, from which I struggle not to stray.

[38:04]

Well, don't we all? Don't we all struggle not to stray from that all-inclusiveness? And I would add, Wouldn't we enjoy the notion that how I am in this world as an economic entity is furthering all inclusiveness? I don't know about you, but it gives me some kind of joy. So here's my notion. Put out a piece of paper outside. You write your email address on it. And if anybody wants to collaborate with me on this, I'd be happy to do it.

[39:08]

I think these things are more fun when we do them collectively. And then negotiate with Green America or maybe somebody knows. a better organization. Or maybe it's not a matter of better, it's just another. But that somehow, just as Cesar Chavez discovered when he organized the farm workers, that the more people say, yes, this is how I will engage the world of commerce of which I'm part. But the more people who engage that collectively, the more authority with which they speak. And I know all this is already happening.

[40:14]

Many large corporations are already shifting to their policies. But there's more to be done. And I think to do it with the spirit of all-inclusiveness is a wonderful way to actualize the ethos, the vow of practice. So if you write down your address, at some point you'll receive an email saying, here's ways you can help, however that might be. My own notion is that, and I don't mean to diminish

[41:25]

or critique even, large corporations. There is and I think can very well be a healthy interplay between those of us on this end of the economic activity rather than being told through advertising what to buy, that we are on the other end, that we can say, ah, but here's the principles I would like to have observed in the process of creating them. So if you write your name,

[42:27]

your email address. That's sufficient. And we'll see what it creates. Isn't life always an experiment? And I hope for those of you who got a dollar bill or tick one out of your own precious pocket, I hope that you can also explore. what it is to actualize the three wheels. And just one last notion to offer you in the midst of this odd talk. The notion of renunciation. Like when I got those $25 from the bank and I thought they're in my hand They came out of my bank account, but they're not mine.

[43:31]

They're ours. Isn't this the interconnectedness of our life? Isn't that what it's saying to us? This is ours. I mean, if you paused for a minute, would any one of us say, yeah, but I want that person to be impoverished, to suffer, to not have enough food, to not have clean drinking water? And how the nourishment of our singular life and the nourishment of our collective life are intertwined. And something in us, as Stanley Kunitz says, struggles.

[44:36]

Because there is part of us that struggles with the deep impulse of self-preservation, that aspect of eros. And that when we turn it around, there's something in us that yearns for, that feels nourished by the intimacy of interconnectedness, however we express that. And I would say that our practice to get at the heart, the core, asks us to examine that deeply. And then the wholeheartedness is to bring it into action.

[45:45]

Because if it's just an abstract notion, We can think of all sorts of things, wonderful things. But when we live them, something else happens for us. When you discover, oh, but those four dollars are mine. What is it I'm telling myself? Without those four dollars, my life won't be enough. It'll somehow be diminished. Without reinforcing my separateness, my security, my survival won't be ensured. Somehow when we step into action,

[46:51]

we activate that too. But it's our teacher. How wonderful to see your own stuff appear, to watch your own glimmerings or raging torrents of fear, of hesitation, of uncertainty. This is how we discover more thoroughly the heart, the core, the source. And then as we live it out, reckless joy. Thank you. For more information, please visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[48:12]

May we all fully enjoy the Dharma.

[48:15]

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