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. I offer this morning's event as a kind of commencement ceremony. A ceremony of beginning our practice again. And a ceremony of beginning an intensive period of formal meditation. So many of the people here, particularly the people up on those platforms and some people down here, quite a few people have come from all over the world.

[01:04]

I think from all the continents. Except Antarctica. To come and practice together to. Embrace and sustain each other. And support each other. To practice the Buddha ways. For the welfare. Of this world. We begin. Today is the beginning. of this intensive. We're so fortunate to be able to be mindful and present for the welfare of this world. To be peaceful and loving to each other.

[02:06]

from the welfare of this world. Also, as part of this commencement, I want to acknowledge the inconceivable, immeasurable suffering that we see hear, feel in this world. I want to do justice to all this suffering, but I'm not sure I would ever be able to. It is so immeasurable. I want to acknowledge it as a kind of starting point for our practice because our practice is for the liberation of all beings, all suffering beings.

[03:28]

So we might dwell in peace together. That's what our practice is for. That's what the teaching is for. beginning last time people have had problems with old age sickness and death and now we also are concerned with not just death but the death of species of mass extinction of the threat of an uninhabitable world Under these circumstances, I wonder, what is our aspiration? Do we aspire under these very difficult times?

[04:40]

Do we aspire to embrace and sustain all living beings? to realize awakening so that we will be able to open up and embrace all beings with great compassion. Many people tell me over the years that they have a difficult time actually saying that they aspire to Buddhahood. I welcome and accept anybody who is not sure that they aspire to Buddhahood or even is sure they don't aspire to become authentically awake so they can be really, really helpful in this world of suffering.

[05:52]

In a sense, what we mean by Buddha is what's really, really most helpful. Dare I aspire to it? Maybe since I'm a fool, I could aspire to authentic awakening so that I could be moment after moment devoting my life to it for the welfare of all beings. We call people who are maybe this foolish, to aspire to Buddhahood for the welfare of this world of suffering. Sometimes we call them bodhisattvas, awakening beings, heroes of awakening, who perhaps, again, foolishly have the courage to embrace all suffering beings.

[07:03]

the sake of awakening so that they can embrace them more and more beneficially to bring blessings to this world of suffering. We may not be able to end the suffering, but we can bring blessings even while there's still great suffering. We can still bless suffering beings and encourage them to do the same with each other. I have confidence that it is possible for sick people to bless sick people, for frightened people to have the courage to embrace their fear. I have confidence that that is possible. And I aspire to it. I aspire to it and I aspire to be that way every moment of this life. Now, those who do have such perhaps grandiose aspirations, there are teachings to help them attain, realize this aspiration.

[08:34]

one of the great scriptures which offers teachings to beings who wish to make an effort to free suffering beings so that we can live in peace. One of the great scriptures is called the flower adornment scripture, avatamsaka sutra. Hua Yan Jing. Flower Splendor Sutra. And during this intensive period, we will be exploring this great ocean of teachings. It's a very large sutra.

[09:43]

2,600 pages in English translation. We will, I think, enter the ocean and swim around in a little bit of it. And then get back to the shore, perhaps, as quick as we can. Because we might become overwhelmed by the radiance of this teaching. blinded by the light, the wisdom in it. One of the great parts of this sutra is the last part, the last 400 pages, where there's a very elaborate and detailed story. about a young person.

[10:47]

A boy. And it could be a girl. But it's a boy. And his name is Sudhana. And in this story, Sudhana met a great, wise, enlightening being named Manjir Shri. And we have a statue in the center of this room, devoted to the idea of manjashri, which means pleasant splendor, the bodhisattva of perfect wisdom. This boy in this scripture met this bodhisattva and was deeply inspired in the meeting. And somehow in the meeting, this wish to realize that true awakening for the welfare of all beings. It arose in this boy.

[11:50]

And it can arise in us. Again and again, it can. Somehow. And in his case, after it arose and he was so joyful, to have this thought arise in his body and mind, he really wanted then to learn the path, the bodhisattva path, to realize awakening for the welfare of all beings. But he didn't know how to practice the bodhisattva way. And he said so. I really want to practice this way. but I don't know how. He met this great teacher. He had this great aspiration arise in him. He wanted to practice to realize it, but he didn't know how. And the great teacher, Manjarshi, said, Go see Megasri.

[13:06]

Go see the great teacher, Megasri. So he did. He left magnificent Bodhisattva Manjur Sri with tears in his eyes, both of separating from Manjur Sri and joy of what he had awakened in himself in that meeting. And he set off on a long journey to meet this great teacher. And the whole journey was filled with joy. of this aspiration to learn the Bodhisattva path of embracing and sustaining all beings. And he meets the teacher. And what does he say? He says, I want to learn the Bodhisattva way, but I don't know how. Please teach me. And the teacher teaches all kinds of practices that he has realized.

[14:15]

And he listens to the teaching. And then after he gets all these teachings, the teacher says, basically, he praises his bodhisattva path. And then he says, he praises and praises and praises. And after he praises, almost inconceivably praises, he says, so how would I know what the bodhisattva path is? He didn't know either. Even though he gave all these teachings, even he, this great teacher, didn't know. So he sent him off to see another teacher. And he goes to see the other teacher and he says, I want to practice the Bodhisattva path, but I don't know how. Please teach me. I've been sent here by the great teacher Megashri. And the teacher gives him all these wonderful, concentration practices, all these great liberation practices.

[15:20]

And after he finishes, he again, he also praises this path and says, so how would I know what it is? He didn't know either. So he sent him to another teacher. And this happened 50 times. He visits 50 teachers like this and gets 50 great teachings from 50 great teachers who don't know what the Bodhisattva path is. but they practice it. This is a sample of how great, how vast the sutra is. But now I'd like to take a step back from this vast journey that this baby Bodhisattva went on and come back earlier in the sutra. which is the first word of the sutra. The first word of the sutra is thus.

[16:21]

And it's not just the first word of this sutra. It's the first word of almost all sutras. They start with thus. That's the first teaching. Of the sutras. And then it says. I have heard. Thus. I have heard. I have heard. Thus. And then it says. At one time. So this sutra is partly saying that we can hear thus, and when we hear thus, we hear it at one time.

[17:29]

When we hear the teaching, we hear it at one time. We hear it now. And everything happens at this time. When we hear the teaching, thus. I just told you a story about this boy who spent like a really long time visiting all these teachers. The beginning of the sutra says, all those, every moment of that journey was at one time. At the same time, it's the beginning of the sutra, thus. So this sutra has everything synced. everything at the same time, and all times, all times are contained in the time of reality, thus, now.

[18:33]

And then, to again, focus now, concentrate now, on thus, And thus, now, on page 129 of one of the translations we're studying, it says, clearly observe the Dharma of the King of Dharma. The Dharma. of the king of Dharma is thus. For any of you who aren't familiar with the word Dharma, we could also say, clearly observe teaching of the king of teaching, the Buddha.

[19:39]

The teaching of the king of teaching is thus. The teaching of the Buddha is thus. Thus is the teaching of Buddha. The sutra says that. And I kind of feel like saying, in our little Zen school, little Zen school that grew up in China and involved millions and millions of people over many centuries. This little school, because in this sutra, the Zen school is just a little speck of dust in the whole picture. But we have this nice little school and we're very happy to have this nice little school in our little Zen school.

[20:44]

which is one of the lineages of the Zen school. We have an ancestor who wrote a song. The title of this song is The Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi. The Song of Concentrating on the Precious Mirror. So one might wonder, what is this precious mirror? Well, maybe it's Maybe the precious mirror is thus. Maybe thus is a precious mirror. And this is a song about concentrating on this mirror. This precious mirror is given in this ancestor, Dungshan Liangji. This ancestor gave this song to us to help us Practice the Bodhisattva way.

[21:49]

It's for people who have the aspiration to bless all beings in this world. Here's a precious mirror. This might help you. I have a song about it that might help you. What is the song? In English it goes like this. The teaching of thusness. The teaching of thusness, and we translate it like this, the teaching of thusness has been intimately transmitted by Buddhists and ancestors. And that's a nice translation. However, I would like to translate it differently for you rather than saying the teaching of thusness has been intimately transmitted. I would like to say the teaching of thusness is intimately transmitted. It is intimately transmitted.

[22:56]

And again, even say it another way, the teaching of thusness is intimate transmission. The teaching which helps us be of service to this world, in a more and more consistent and wholehearted way, this teaching of thusness is an intimate transmission. It is an intimate communion. It is an intimate conversation. It is a conversation to help us do this really hard work of respecting every living being and being devoted to every living being. Even the ones who we think are really harmful.

[24:08]

Bodhisattvas, the Buddhas, are devoted to every living being, even the ones who are often, sometimes, or always harming. A thought occurs to me that somebody might say, I don't want to hear that teaching. I don't want to be devoted to all beings. And that's fine. The bodhisattvas are devoted to anybody who doesn't want to be a bodhisattva. They're devoted to all those people. But they do actually want to help everybody embrace and sustain all beings. That's our third pure priesthood, to be embraced and sustain all living beings. And we have a practice for that. The practice for that is an intimate conversation.

[25:19]

I just want to mention right now that this conversation is sometimes really difficult. A conversation which is the transmission of thusness, which is the teaching of the Buddha, which enables people to be awake and helpful. This conversation is sometimes, not always, but sometimes really difficult. Just like when we look at all the suffering in the world, we might feel like putting our head in our hands and sobbing. We might feel like I can't stand it. I give up. I can't go on. I can't go on. It's too much. And we might say the very same thing in the middle of our conversations, which are where the teaching is transmitted.

[26:39]

It can be really difficult. I heard some advice about how to have a conversation, which I thought was nice, which is, this is advice about how to be if you want to have a conversation. Particularly a difficult one. It goes like this. I don't know. Like that boy? I don't know. I need help. Just like that boy. He needed help. He didn't know. He needed help.

[27:42]

And he said so. I don't know. I need help. I'm sorry. I feel that those are good things to check in on in these difficult conversations. Wherein Buddhahood is realized. Buddhas and ancestors are this conversation. And this conversation can be scary when people frown. people are afraid, when people are angry with each other or with us, or when we're angry, a conversation can be difficult.

[28:54]

One time in China, one of our ancestors met one of our ancestors. I think it was, how was it? Nanyue Huirong, Chinese ancestor, met the sixth ancestor of Zen. And the sixth ancestor said, they're going to have a conversation now. This is one of the famous conversations, which maybe doesn't sound too difficult, but anyway, this is the story. They met, and the ancestor, the teacher said to the student, the newly met student, what is it that thus comes? What is it that thus comes? Or you could say, what is it that comes as thus? Now, someone might say, well, that's the Buddha.

[30:04]

Simple answer. But the new student didn't say, it's the Buddha. What is it that thus comes? He didn't say, well, Buddha. Which is the right answer, right? No, he didn't say that. What is it that thus comes? What is it that comes thus? And this new student said, to say that it's this misses the point. And the teacher says, well, then is there no possibility of practice and awakening? And the new student said, I don't say there's not any practice in realization. I just say you can't defile it. Defile it how? By saying it's this. This rather than thus.

[31:07]

To say it's Buddha. Rather than, it's thus. Rather than, he didn't say this, but rather than, I don't know. I need help. I'm sorry. That's another way to say, to say it's this, and this is the point. I'm not going to say it's this. I don't know that it's this. But I do know. that this thing, this thusness, and what comes that way, cannot be defiled. In other words, you can't separate it. You can't separate it between this and that. It cannot be other than thus. Not this, but thus. It can't be other than thus. It can't be other than our life. Our life is not just this.

[32:12]

Our life is also that and not this and not that. Our life is actually thus. That teaching of thusness cannot be defiled. And if you make a hair's breadth of difference, if I make a hairbread difference between this and that, between my practice and your practice, or your practice and Buddhahood, if my mind makes that, and I go for that, I don't accord with thus. Thus, turning away, Or touching it.

[33:14]

Touching it like this. Or not this. Turning away from it. Or touching it. Is not appropriate. You heard about thusness today? Okay. You heard it. Thus I have heard. You're like that. You're like the scripture. You have heard thus. Now. song of the ancestors says. Turning away from this thus or touching it are both off. Because this thusness is like a massive fire. It warms the universe. It gives life. How can we be with it? I don't know. I need help. I'm sorry. I'm mistaken. Please help me. But I'm trying to remember anyway what I don't know about.

[34:21]

And we can aspire to this path that nobody knows about. But all Buddhas, even though they didn't know about it, they did aspire to it and they practiced it and they realized it. We can realize what we don't know. We can realize what we want and which we don't know. I don't know what it is, and I'm not going to say it's this, but I'm confident it cannot be defiled. It cannot be other than this conversation. Which I... I'm guessing it's going to be really famous and last for thousands of years. People are going to be talking about this conversation. But even when we feel like this is not a good conversation, this is hard, this is a below average conversation.

[35:24]

There are no below average conversations. They are all thus. But we may feel like this is not a good conversation. Okay. OK. I feel like it's not good, but I don't know. Maybe it is. Who knows? Who does know? Well. Thought pretty long time. Maybe that's enough of this. Teaching of lessness. Turning away and touching. Both missed the point. Also, if you're excited, you fall into a pit. So we're also warned, don't get too excited about this teaching, this great teaching.

[36:30]

And also, if you hesitate, you'll be sorry. So don't hesitate. Find a place between. Not hesitating and not jumping into it. Don't touch it. Don't turn away from it. Be thus. Even though I don't know what that is. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've been talking about something and I don't know what it is. And I intend to continue. Unless you stop me. which you might do. I'm ready for that. 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 sfzc.org and click

[37:35]

giving may we fully enjoy the dharma

[37:39]

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