Good morning and welcome to Beginner's Mind Temple with all of your beginner's minds. Beautiful, beautiful morning. No, there's some disagreement. Difficult morning. It's not so easy. And then they have to get all dressed and get over here and into this room. It's not so easy. But now that you're here, or not, see if you can settle and relax and be here for a little while. Now, I know there's some... Smaller people in the room, and there's some bigger people in the room, so I'll talk to the smaller people in the room, particularly for a few minutes, but everyone can listen in.

[01:12]

So I'm very grateful to everything that's made it possible for us to be here right now. A long time ago, on the other side of the earth, in India, there was someone named Siddhartha. Does anyone know that name? Siddhartha? You don't know Siddhartha? What's your name? Berkeley. So we could say he was named Berkeley. But then people called him Siddhartha. He lived in a very nice place and he liked to spend time in the garden.

[02:17]

So one day he was in the garden and he saw these swans flying overhead. flock of swans. You know what swans are? Anyone know what swans are? Yeah, you know? What are swans? Kind of bird. Yeah, what kind? What do they look like? Kind of like ducks. Yeah, that's pretty good. They look kind of like ducks. Yeah. They're a little different than ducks. They have longer necks, usually. And Kind of like a goose. Yeah, they're kind of big like a goose. And when they walk, they're pretty clumsy. They kind of flop back and forth when they walk. Like they almost fall over with every step. But then when they get in the water, then they look so beautiful.

[03:26]

Because they sit there in the water, they float, and then their necks make kind of a nice S shape. So anyway, Siddhartha was in the garden and he saw these swans flying over. And then all of a sudden one of them started flying awkwardly and then flopped around and fell down into the garden. And Siddhartha ran over there and checked it out and saw that it had an arrow. through its wing and he felt very sorry for the swan and so he checked it out really quickly and he figured out that he could push the arrow through and out of the wing but then it was bleeding so then he kind of gathered it up and he was talking to it saying please you know don't worry don't worry I'll take care of you don't worry so he was being very very careful and gentle with the swan, and the swan kind of, it was flopping around there, and then he soothed it, and then it became a little quiet, and he kind of gathered it up, and he was going to take it to where he could put some lotion on the wound.

[04:39]

And just then, his cousin, he has a cousin about the same age, I don't know how old they were, maybe eight, nine years old, something like that. And his cousin came running in to the garden and he said, Siddhartha, Siddhartha, I hit it. I hit it. It's really great. I hit it. It's so great. Where is it? It fell down somewhere. Help me find it. And then he noticed that Siddhartha was holding this thing in his arms. He said, is that my swan? Is that the swan I hit with the arrow? And Siddhartha said, well, this swan was wounded. I don't know. I took out the arrow. And there was an arrow there on the ground. And Devadatta said, that's my arrow. That's my swan. So they started to have this argument about whose swan it was because...

[05:44]

Devadatta said it was hit by his arrow, and it was his swan, and Siddhartha said, well, I'm taking care of it. So they couldn't figure out how to solve whose swan it was. And so they said, well, we should maybe go check with the adults. Some adults, because adults have ways of solving their arguments, right? LAUGHTER So they went and they started talking to various adults, and some people said, well, it belongs to the person who shot the arrow. That's the law of our tribe, that when people go out on a hunt and someone hits an animal with an arrow, the first one that hits the animal with the arrow is the one who can claim it. And other people said, well, no, no, it's...

[06:47]

We don't hunt swans, actually. In our tribe, we don't hunt swans. We actually feed them here in the garden, and we actually appreciate them being here. So they were going on like this, and they said, well, we better take it to the judge. So they went, and they had a little meeting, and they called in someone who was kind of an old person who was regarded as... more wise. And the person then heard the story from each side, from Siddhartha and from Devadatta, these two cousins. And then the judge said, it's true that we have the law in our tribe that when someone's hunting, that the first arrow from whoever shot the first arrow, that is the person who can claim the the animal that we're hunting.

[07:48]

But there's another law. And that law is based on every living being. Every living being values its own life the most. And so we respect that every living being values its own life the most. And so Siddhartha was valuing this living being's appreciation of its own life and has taken care of it, not so he could... so that he could have it, but so that he could help it heal and let it go free, so the swan should stay with Siddhartha. So I don't know whether you agree with that decision or not. Devadatta did not agree. He heard the explanation, but he didn't really like that at all. So Devadatta and Siddhartha over many years of their lives, continued to have many disagreements. So I tell this story not because you should agree with the judgment or not, but it's good to know that each of us has the possibility of being kind or being, say, harmful or being unkind.

[09:12]

Just like I have a hand here, and with my hand, I can pinch myself. We say, pinch yourself and see if you're awake. Have you ever heard that? Pinch yourself, see if you're awake. If you can feel it, you're awake. But if you pinch yourself really hard, you can actually hurt yourself. So you know that the fingers of the hand can be I can be gentle. I can kind of pat myself. Or I can pinch myself. So it's good, and I can pinch myself really hard. I could probably even draw blood. I don't think I'll do that right now. But it's good to know that each of us has the possibility of sometimes saying be kind and sometimes be unkind.

[10:17]

So you might think about all the characters in the story. The swan, the arrow, Siddhartha, Devadatta, the judge. And how do you feel? Do you feel that you can actually have kind feelings to each one in the story? So it may be harder to have kind feelings to one person in the story than to another. So it's good to know. Is there some limit to your own idea, where you should be kind, where you should be gentle, or where you should be critical, where you should be mean? So that's it.

[11:20]

I would just like you to Consider that. Are there any questions from the smaller people in the room? That's pretty clear? You got the story? So now you can go to whatever's next. Is there something happening next for the children? OK. Thank you for listening. So now there's some more spaces sprinkled in here for people who are standing or who just want to move up.

[12:31]

I'm wondering if there's anyone who's here today for the first time. Quite a few. OK. Welcome. So some of you may know that there's many stories, actually, about those cousins, Siddhartha and Devadatta. And that as they grew up, these two cousins were always competing with each other. Siddhartha became known as Shakyamuni Buddha. And Devadatta had a lot of trouble relating to his cousin, the Buddha. And... So I won't go into that too much today.

[14:24]

But there may be some, we could say, some kind of karmic disposition that was established pretty early in their lives. But who knows? This situation may have contributed more to them having difficulty. So I don't know whether anyone counseled Devadatta after this very disappointing decision that the judge had taken away his prize. But it happens that there are many, many troubles in the world among people because someone feels that they had had what was theirs taken away. can be taken away by some judgment like that, or taken away by some circumstances, taken away by some other person's decision.

[15:34]

So it may lead to reflecting on this whole notion of what is mine? Who is it who possesses things? I'm aware that there's news I just learned yesterday. I'd been at Green Gold's and usually I don't hear so much news. And then I came out and I heard that there had been this shooting in Texas. So it raises this kind of specter of how people who may feel wronged in some way then nurse that. and then take it out on others, nursing that feeling of having been wronged. So I don't know any of the details in this case, except that I imagine there's something, some feeling like that behind it.

[16:39]

So I want to actually investigate a little bit this whole notion of What is oneself in relation to the totality of things? And how does one live, say, with some kindness and maybe with some modest, a feeling of modesty and humility in relation to the things that are given to one and the things that are not given to one or the things that may seem to be taken away from one? This applies to, say, material possessions. It applies to the relationships with all living things. It applies to what we may take for granted, the air we breathe. Now we're more aware these days of the, at least some people are more aware that the air that we're breathing is changing by our own

[17:56]

say, our own activity. Recently, there was this, on October the 24th, there was this day of recognition of 350, of the number 350. So I don't know whether people here are aware of the number 350. At Gringold, some of the farm apprentices who'd been there for the summer and were aware of the ecology of the garden brought this to my attention. And so we created a little ritual in the zendo at Greengalch where we made the number 350 with flowers on the floor and then put candles around it and then had a little discussion and conversation about 350 parts per million carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and seems to be some kind of a threshold.

[19:04]

And below that, all the forms of life that we are used to now, including ourselves, our own bodies, evolved over the past millions of years with less than 350 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere. And now, because of our activities that release carbon into the atmosphere, we're now up to about 387, someone told me. So our activities that we may not even be so aware of have an impact. So is that a matter of kindness, of respect and consideration, acknowledging how one is in relationship to the total, say, phenomenal world. So there is a poem which we call, in English, it's a Chinese poem.

[20:16]

This is a poem that was written in the ninth century by Dongshan Liangzhe, who was a Zen master who was a founder, one of the founders of this lineage. So this poem is called The Song of the Jewel Mirror Awareness. In the poem it says, it is like, it, this life is like facing a jewel mirror. So if you're really paying attention, it's like facing a jewel mirror. Whatever you actually see in front of you, or whatever you hear, or whatever you are aware of with all of your senses, this is the suggestion. It's like facing a jewel mirror. Form and image behold each other. And then it says, you are not it. It actually is you. So how did Dongshan, and what did he mean by this, and how did he come to it?

[21:25]

When he was a student practicing with his teacher, Yunmin, he had many questions. They lived together very intimately, closely, day by day. And there was a point at which Dongshan, actually he wasn't called Dongshan yet. That came later. Liang Jie, was ready to leave. He felt okay. He'd understood some things from spending time with Yun Min. So he was about to leave, and as he was about to leave, he said, so if someone later asks me, what is your essential teaching? What should I tell them? And there was this pause, and Yunnan said, just this, sometimes it's translated, just this person, or just this is it.

[22:42]

This is a very interesting phrase, because in China at that time, there was a phrase if you went to the magistrate, if you went to court there, and you acknowledged the responsibility for whatever it was that you had done, you would say, just this person. Just this person of, or just this man of Han, or just this person of China. So it's a way of, say, taking full responsibility. Just this person. So then Dongshan did not say anything for a little while. And then Yunman said, so now that you have taken up this matter, this great matter, please be very careful as you go forward.

[23:50]

Please be very careful. So that was their parting. And so this statement, just this one, it reminds me now of one time at San Quentin working with the inmates at San Quentin State prison. Some of you I know have been there many times, and for a while I was able to go quite frequently, but lately I haven't been able to fit that into my calendar as much. But there was this, a couple of years ago there was this visit from a Tibetan Lama. And right now, I don't remember his name.

[24:52]

But he'd been traveling around, and he liked to visit prisons for some reason, bringing the Dharma, I think, to prisons. And so we made these special arrangements and met him there. And we went in and went into a room where we usually met for our meditation space. It's actually the chapel in San Quentin that's used at different times by Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists. At different times, we use the same space. So we're making interfaith peace right there in San Quentin. But in this case, the Lama came in and sat down and various people came in. And I don't know, we had maybe about 30 people in the room. He didn't know who, I guess he thought maybe he was meeting maybe with mostly officials of the prison or something. He didn't know quite who was who.

[25:54]

And so he asked, how many of you are inmates here? And just about everyone raised their hand. And then he surprised me by the next question he asked. how many of you are not guilty? And then he was surprised. No one raised their hand. No one raised their hand. And that really puzzled him. He said, I've been to many prisons, particularly in India. Lots of prisons in India. And when I ask if someone's guilty or not guilty, most of them say they're not guilty. Not guilty.

[26:55]

But here, then I explained to him, I said, you know, this is a group of practitioners. These are people who are practicing the Dharma. So they are taking full responsibility. Part of our practice is to take responsibility. So Yunnan said, just this person. So he may have been considered a great Zen master at the time. But that really doesn't mean that he's off the hook in any way. To be a great Zen master, a man taking full responsibility. So his answer was suggestive of that.

[28:00]

Dengshan then left, and he was considering, as he was on a pilgrimage, and he was considering, what was the meaning? What was the meaning? And as the story goes, he was wading across some water. And he looked and he saw his reflection. And when he saw his reflection, he had a great awakening. Great awakening. This mirror mind. So then he composed a little verse, which is variously translated. But it goes something like, if you seek from another, if you seek it, if you seek the truth from another, you will be estranged.

[29:08]

You'll be far from it, estranged from it. So I now go on alone in solitude. Meeting it wherever I go. Meeting it everywhere. So it is me. And I am not it. It must be understood in this way. In order to realize thusness, in order to realize the way things really are. So it's a kind of a, you know, it sounds like a paradox statement. To say, you know, meeting it everywhere, I realize that I am it.

[30:17]

I am that. and realize that it is not me. So these two sides. Now, in commenting on this, Suzuki Roshi one time was talking about this particular realization that Dengshan had. And he said, this is some warm-hearted feeling. This is very interesting to me. This is some warm-hearted feeling, he says. So if you meet, if you meet something, if you meet someone with warm-hearted feeling, then this is Dengshan's realization. So going,

[31:23]

you might think, oh, this is, you know, you might think when he says going forward alone, not seeking from another, you might think, oh, that's some kind of closed off mind. But not seeking from another, Dengshan is opening up to his own complete experience, his own mind within, not thinking that this was in the realm of some explanation, that someone else can't explain it. He had been living for many years and practicing and hearing many explanations. But this was not in the realm of explanation. What he was wanting to know, what he was wanting to completely be true to, was not in the realm of explanation. So he was deeply mindful, step by step, walking, being willing to experience the truth of the moment as he proceeded.

[32:41]

Then when he saw his reflection, we don't know what that looked like. He saw something reflected. Was it a kind of a mirror image? Or was it kind of full of ripples, distorted? It doesn't matter. Because from that point on, he said, meeting it everywhere. Realizing that everything that he met was his reflection. Everything that he met was like that, say, mirror image. So if he meets a tree, if he meets a person, if he meets a rock, if he meets just the next step in the road, if he meets a sound, something driving by, whatever that meeting is, that is this mirror awareness. So no longer is he feeling alone.

[33:53]

He's actually going along in solitude, completely connected with everything. Realizing that his own life, his own being, is everything. Completely supported by everything. So this is a wonderful way to live. not necessarily easy and not necessarily free from pain, because then pain also would simply be another meeting. Whether it's pleasant or it's unpleasant, simply another meeting. Realizing this very closely, it says, can you have a warm-hearted feeling towards pain? So when I was asking the smaller people, could they have some kind feeling towards Devadatta?

[35:04]

Could they have some kind feeling towards the one who was causing the injury, the one who lost in the judgment? Or would they hold on to some idea? So I don't know, you know. whether these young minds are holding on to some idea. But you might notice yourself a tendency to hold on to some idea. Oh, it's like this. And that idea then replaces your experience. So then you can't see, blinded by the idea. myself have had this practice or this intention of not believing my own ideas. That doesn't mean to deny my own ideas.

[36:11]

It means even to meet my own ideas in a friendly way. To be willing to meet the ideas that come up in this mind, in this field of awareness, as friends, to appreciate any idea that comes up, but not to believe it. And it's not to depend on it, not to lean on it, not to feel that, oh, that defines the universe or defines me. So this practice then has a kind of lightness. There is nothing then that is so solid. Whatever seems solid is also fluid. So this is a kind of freedom that comes with this practice. But it's very subtle because you might think if you go too far one way, you will...

[37:21]

destroy everything. Because if you think that the whole universe is composed of things and you don't believe those things, then you destroy everything. But that's just having a universe that's based on things. Suzuki Roshi mentioned warm-hearted feeling. What is the feeling of this moment? So when we sit, we have this practice of sitting, sazen, and noticing the way in which we are adding something to experience, adding opinions, adding desires, feeding desires, wanting to have some different experience. Why did I even sit down here? I sat down here and I wanted to be peaceful. Now I'm not feeling peaceful.

[38:23]

I'm noticing that my mind is all full of chattering. I'm noticing that I'm even judging, and I'm actually not even sure I'm doing this right. I want to do it right, and now I'm not even sure. And I'm just sitting here. What could be wrong with that? But then they gave me instructions. And then was I spoken, how do I hold my hands? Do I, you know, am I supposed to actually be following my breath? Someone said, follow the breath. And where's the breath anyway? And then coming back to it, coming, oh. And then getting involved with, well, you know, I really blew it this time. And then the bell rings and, oh, that was a whole period of Zazen and I never even did any Zazen. I spent the whole time worrying about it.

[39:27]

So this is very interesting, how our minds tend to fill up the space with chatter. But with some cultivation, we say it is possible actually to cultivate a sense of being present. To not get so caught in so many things. And it's helpful to realize that everything that you might get caught by is also reality. So one way we say it's a true nature. Or we say it is Buddha. It's being awake. So being awake to chatter is also waking up. It's also being a Buddha. So chattering mind Buddha is is also this practice. And so being present with that, then, is the practice.

[40:29]

So when you realize that, then there's no way that you can do it wrong. You can actually be completely who you are already. And that's completely right. It's perfect. So this is a kind of freedom with this realization. Being completely who you are already, meeting each thing. This is Dengshan's meeting in the mirror. This is meeting it everywhere, means right here. It means not going anywhere, you're already meeting. So I think that should be pretty clear. And I invite you, actually, to continue this way of being right at home where you are, meeting whatever arises as yourself.

[41:53]

And with that warm feeling of that, oh. So if you don't have a warm feeling and you have a negative feeling or a cold feeling or a constricted feeling, then you meet that with a warm feeling. And I have never met anyone yet who doesn't have some capacity for a warm feeling. Just to be alive is enough. Just to be alive already is a warm feeling. So, let's see. I guess all the other stories are just other stories. They're not happening now. But we'll have a little I think, chance to have some tea and then some discussion in a few minutes.

[43:01]

So I hope this has been pretty clear. But if you have some questions, you can bring that to the next room. Thank you very much for listening.

[43:11]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_97.13