welcome today's dharma talk will begin now if you would please stop your video um you'll find an icon red camera to stop video and we'll all turn our attention to our speaker today steve weintraub first if you would please a chant together with me the opening verse can chant at home along with me If you don't know the verse, it should show on your screen. An unsurpassed penetrating and perfect dharma is rarely met with even a hundred thousand million kalpas, having it to see and listen to. to remember and accept.

[01:20]

I love to taste the truth of God's words. Thank you, Steve. Good morning, everyone. Though I can't see you, I know you're out there. Thank you so much for joining me for this Zoom Dharma talk. City Center has been doing this for quite a while. broadcasting Dharma talks, but we haven't been doing it so much here at Green Gulch, where I'm speaking to you from and where I live.

[02:30]

This is just the third Dharma talk broadcast by Zoom that we've done. So it all seemed to go very smoothly, which is nice. I hope that continues to be the case. Last week, senior Dharma teacher Linda Ruth Cutts gave the talk. And the week before that, the Green Gulch farm, Abbas Fu Schrader, gave the Sunday talk. Last week's talk was broadcast widely. Fu's talk the week before last was just the Green Gulch residence. I very much appreciated both what Linda had to say and what Fu had to say.

[03:44]

Linda began her talk by expressing appreciation, gratitude, very widely. Gratitude close to home, so to speak, to the Green Gulch leadership and San Francisco Zen Center leadership that has done such a thorough and thoughtful and careful job of taking care of the residents of our three practice places, Tassajara, City Center, and here at Green Gulch, and providing opportunities for the Dharma to be heard and practiced. And appreciation more widely to

[04:47]

first responders and doctors and nurses and all those who are helping in myriad ways. I won't enumerate all of them in as much detail as she did, but I want to echo the feeling of appreciation and gratitude that is coming forth. in these times. And Fu, part of Fu's talk was reading a Pali sutta. Sutta, for those of you not familiar, that's simply the the Pali language word for sutra.

[05:47]

So this is the Pali suttas, which are part of our heritage as Buddhist practitioners is the I think we could say it's the most ancient sedimentary layer of the teaching that other teachings have built on. composed approximately 2,000 years ago. Not during Buddha's lifetime, but in the hundreds of years following his life. So she read the Sutta, which is brief, as many of them are. the title of which is particularly appropriate in these days of social distancing, isolation, and so on.

[06:58]

The title of the sutta is A Discourse on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone. And many of us are living more alone than usual. A discourse on the better way to live alone. But I feel that it could as well be a discourse on the better way to live. I'd like to speak about different parts of this. sutta today and comment on them. But based on that, based on my understanding of it, it really is on knowing the better way to live on knowing a good way to live, never mind better, never mind the comparative, knowing a fundamentally good way to live.

[08:12]

Or we could say, knowing the way to live from our practice perspective, from our practice orientation. Suzuki Roshi once said, If someone asks me why I practice, I may answer, it is to have a well-oriented mind. The point of practice is not to lose our well-oriented mind. I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that statement.

[09:20]

A well-oriented mind. The point of practice is not bliss. The point of practice is not to go off to some dusty realm of other lands where things are always a lot better, where the grass is greener. That's not the point of practice. The point of practice is to have a well-oriented mind. oriented in our current circumstance, whatever that may be. So again, particularly relevant now when all of us, all the human beings on the planet are experiencing disorientation big disorientation i looked yesterday at the um uh at the uh what's it called the uh

[10:46]

statistical count. And as of a certain point yesterday, as of a certain time yesterday, there were worldwide 1,200,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. And 65,000 people worldwide who have died of Coronavirus. And I'm sure that number is larger today and will be larger tomorrow. So of course, There's this enormous, deep disorientation of people around us, sick and dying.

[12:01]

Even though for myself and perhaps for some of you, I hope for many of you, Everyone in my family is good. No confirmed cases of COVID-19. And in my family, my sisters and their children and children's children and Linda and my own children and Linda's family. And also here at Green Gulch and at Tassajara and City Center, at least so far, no one who has become symptomatic with coronavirus.

[13:09]

Of course, as we know, that doesn't mean I don't have it, we don't have it. So that's good, of course. Yes, understandably so. It feels good. And yet, even for those of us in that much better situation, the disorientation is great just in our daily life. You know, I came back to Green Gulch from San Francisco where I work March 11th. And since then, I haven't left the grounds, beautiful as they are, lucky as I am to be here. But that's very disorienting. And of course, we know, waiting on lines six feet apart and wearing masks and many, many, many, many things, very big disorientation.

[14:20]

So to have fundamental orientation, to have, as Suzuki Roshi said, a well-oriented mind, particularly important, particularly useful, and also, I guess we could have to say, particularly difficult, not dangerous, but difficult to have such a well-oriented mind. when the winds of fortune are blowing so strong, the winds of misfortune. But that second part of what he said, the point of practice is not to lose our well-oriented mind, indicates not to lose. That must be there already. Our well-oriented mind, our Buddha nature, our deep human goodness is there already.

[15:34]

Is there, just don't lose it. That's the encouragement. We don't have to create it, but don't lose it. That's what this sutta that Fu read is about, which I'll get into shortly. So I do feel that our practice, our practice way, our way, way seeking mind, way, has something very valuable to contribute to orienting us, to helping us, always, but especially in times of difficulty.

[16:42]

I'm always interested in design, the design of things. And I feel our practice is designed for difficulty. Specially designed. I say that because as we all know, Buddhism begins with the Four Noble Truths, and the very first truth of the Four Noble Truths is the truth of what's usually we call suffering, in Sanskrit dukkha. And this has given great primacy in our teaching and in our understanding and in our practice and in our actions. It's also given primacy in, how shall I say, in the mythic story of Shakyamuni Buddha himself.

[18:05]

I say mythic because historically, we're not so sure. Maybe scholars would say, oh, no, this so-and-so didn't happen, this didn't happen. But mythically, it's important. Mythic truth. and maybe truer than historical truth. So mythically, as we all know, Shakyamuni Buddha, at a certain point, sat down beneath a tree and said, I won't get up. I'm going to stay here until I understand the way things work, how this world works. And the story, which is a lovely, lovely story, goes that he then sat down under the tree of enlightenment, the Bodhi tree, for seven days and seven nights.

[19:19]

And on the morning of the eighth day, seeing the morning star. Wow. What an image. Seeing the morning star, his understanding was complete. The first thing, more or less, the first thing that he did in this story is teach his friends from before, the five ascetics, the five fellows that he had been practicing with. He went back and taught them. This first teaching is called Dharma Chakra Pravartana Sutra. The Sutra of the turning of the wheel of the law. And many hundreds of years later, there was a second turning of the wheel and a third turning of the wheel.

[20:28]

But this was the first one. The first one. Primacy. And in that sutra, he first speaks about the middle way. And then he speaks about the four noble truths. The first of which is dukkha. For a long time in English, we translated dukkha as suffering, the noble truth of suffering, and still that's done, and it's not unreasonable. But it's not really exact, it's not clear enough what that's about, I think, or it could be more clear. So other translations, dissatisfactoriness, dis-ease have been offered.

[21:37]

Anguish. I'm not so sure about anguish. It's a little too anguished. There's an Englishman named David Brazier, a practitioner, a Buddhist practitioner. And he's written a number of books. And his translation is one that I appreciate a great deal. The first noble truth is the noble truth of unwelcome things happen to us. I think that's a good translation of dukkha. It's very down to earth, very ordinary, very, oh yeah, that's right. Unwelcome things happen to us. And it's incontrovertible.

[22:54]

No human being that you might speak with will disagree. In the course of our life, unwelcome things happen to us. Maybe not so many, that'd be great. Maybe many, many, many, that would not be great. But in any case, unwelcome things happen to us. And now, in the face of uh in the in the situation in the catastrophe in the cataclysm of coronavirus a gigantic unwelcome thing is happening to us That's what I mean about it being designed for difficulty.

[23:58]

Right there. The truth of that, the noble truth of that. This should not be confused, however. This noble truth of unwelcome things happening to us should not be confused. I think, I'm not sure. I think Buddhism or maybe Zen, not so much Zen, but Buddhism and the popular culture, I'm not sure, maybe has a reputation for being pessimistic, you know, morose. You know, they're always talking about difficulty, pain, and suffering. What a bunch of... You know, morose people. This is not morose.

[25:02]

This is not pessimistic. This is not, you know, a negative view of life. Why he said that, why he said that is the first noble truth is to allow us to deal with it, to allow us to meet it. That's how we, how shall I say, that meeting of it, that way of living with it, rather than, you know, pretending it ain't so or running away or trying to only have welcome things happening to us. Good luck on that score. But if we can need it, then that meeting of that first noble truth is the basis for actually, surprisingly, is the basis for contentment, for peace, for joy, for appreciation.

[26:18]

That was a word Suzuki Roshi used to like. To appreciate things, appreciate an apple. Appreciate two teacups touching. Appreciate even looking at this screen that you're looking at now. Meeting our life forms the basis to allow us to appreciate things. People have been sending around things on the internet. You may be aware, you know, trying to cheer everybody up or, you know, that sort of thing. And someone sent me, a friend sent me, I don't even know what the name of it was, but it was an orchestra. I believe a German orchestra.

[27:21]

But I'm not sure who. And the beginning of it was, you know, each person with their instrument, you know, bassoon, you know, violin, bass, et cetera. They would say in German, I'm so, at least I assume that's what they were saying. I'm so-and-so, you know, et cetera. And then shortly thereafter, there was a version of the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth symphony, which I would sing you the melody of, but that would be an unwelcome thing happening if I attempted to sing the melody. But the melody is, I don't know the words for it. It's astronomically beautiful.

[28:25]

It's excessively beautiful. It's more than beautiful, beautiful. And I listened to it, and I was crying because it was such a knockout. So needing our life fully, including the difficulties, can provide a basis for joy and deep satisfaction. And the Four Noble Truths is structured in that way, particularly the first one, unwelcome things happen to us, and the fourth, which is in Sanskrit, marga, the path, the Eightfold Noble Path.

[30:01]

Eightfold Noble Path is a response. How do we respond to unwelcome things happening to us? And turns out to be a response that as well is the better way to live. A good way to live. So Let me speak about this sutta and quote some portions of it. There's an initial portion that I want to quote. It's brief. And then say a few things about it and then go on to some other parts of it. Oh, so a footnote is... that in this initial portion, the word bhikkhu is used.

[31:15]

So bhikkhu means ordained monk. That was presumably how Shakyamuni Buddha addressed the monks who followed him. And in that early Buddhist tradition, ordained monks were called bhikkhus. And even now, those who... who have continued that earliest tradition. I think the ordained monks are called, excuse me, bhikkhu. But for our purposes, I think bhikkhu, for us, when you hear bhikkhu, I think we can substitute practitioner or follower of the way. That's our modern equivalent, as it were, of bhikkhu. So here's this first portion. Thus have I heard. One time, when the Buddha was staying in the Jetta Grove in the town of Savati, he called all the monks to him to instruct them.

[32:32]

Bhikkhus, he called. Practitioners. And the bhikkhus responded. We are here. The Buddha said. Now I will give you instruction. About knowing the better way to live alone. Please listen carefully. And the bhikkhus responded, we are listening. And then it goes on, which I'll tell you in a minute, a few minutes. But it sounds like, you know, this is just the introduction, you know, kind of setting the stage.

[33:39]

And now we're going to have the teaching. But I don't think so. I think this is already the teaching before the teaching. We are here. We are listening. what does it mean to be here? What does it mean to be listening? Yes, it was specific to those circumstances. They meant we're here, you know, wherever they were. And we're listening to you. But still, most widely, I think we can understand it.

[34:43]

You know, that sutta was written that, again, that It's unlikely that this is an exact historical record. It's very likely that this is a kind of literature. So whoever wrote that sutra, whatever woman or man wrote that sutra or group wrote that sutra, they put that in there. We are here. We are listening. It's not in every one. So I understand it to be the sutta. It is the teaching. It is the teaching. We are here means not avoiding, not denying, not trying to get around, trying to escape, trying to slip around reality.

[35:47]

We are here. This is very, very powerful. Maybe if we sit in meditation, I have felt particularly sitting cross-legged, if it's possible to do so. We are here. I am here. rooted, grounded in reality. And we are listening is the feeling I get from we are listening is readiness to be ready. That's what when you're listening. You haven't heard it yet.

[36:48]

You're listening. You're ready. We are here. We are listening. And of course, listening is, where is she? This person right here, this archetypal bodhisattva, Kuan Yin. I'm not sure you can see it so well. It was given as a gift to my wife. Kuan Yin, Kanzayam, Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion, who is she who hears, listens and hears the cries of the world and comes. She who hears the cries of the world and comes. We need her now.

[37:52]

And as archetypal, what I mean by that is she who hears the cries of the world and comes to help in us. That one in us. So we are here. We are listening. I don't know. I don't think it's such a casual thing to say. Oh, this is just the introduction. I think it's very, very important. The basis of wisdom. Wisdom seeking wisdom. So that's the introduction.

[39:23]

And then... the sutta continues. So, the sutta continues by saying it's really an expansion of we are here and we are listening. It's really an expanded reflection of that. This better, he calls it or somebody called it the better way to live alone, knowing the better way to live alone. But it's about being here and listening, being present and ready. And it's done in a very kind of formulaic way.

[40:24]

There are three obstacles to the better way to live. Three obstacles to being here. They are pursuing the past, according to the sutta, which I think is pretty good. pursuing the past, getting lost in the future, being swept away by the present. So maybe you have felt at times, I certainly have felt at times in these last few weeks, at other times in my life as well, to be sure, but very pointedly and strongly swept away by the present.

[41:41]

With difficulty coming back, you know, getting knocked over and coming back. Like bamboo when the snow falls on it. It bends, it bends, it bends, it bends. And then the snow comes off and then it springs back to being upright. So pursuing the past, getting lost in the future, being swept away by the present. Then the form of the sutta is, there's a section on what it means to pursue the past, what it means not to pursue the past, what it means to get lost in the future, what it means not to get lost in the future. And then the section on the present is not exactly the same, but similar to get swept away by the present, not to get swept away by the present.

[42:51]

This is what Shakyamuni Buddha in this sutta is offering as the better way to live or using Suzuki Rishi's language as a good orientation. So here goes about, so I'll just do the part about the past because it takes a while to get through it all. So I'll just do the part about the past, but please understand it's also about the future and the present. And one other detail you need to know, kind of a technical thing, is you don't have to know. And I think it makes sense if you didn't know about this, but I'll mention it anyway. So it has to do with the five skandhas. The five skandhas, the shape of what he has to say about pursuing the past, et cetera, has to do with the five skandhas. The five skandhas... So the five skandhas are form or body, feelings, perceptions, karmic formations, and consciousness.

[44:08]

So the five skandhas are when you put these five things together, what it looks like you've got is a person. when you put form, feeling, perception, karmic formations and consciousness together, you get Bob and you put them together a little bit differently and you get Mary and you put them together a little differently and you get Steve or Suzanne or Joe or Sam. I won't say more about it, but just so you know, that's what, That's what's being referred to are these five skandhas. So the way this goes is, let's see, how does it go? Bhikkhus, what does it mean to pursue the past?

[45:29]

How her body was in the past. How her feelings were in the past. How her perceptions were in the past. How her karmic formations were in the past. How her consciousness was in the past. When she considers these things, And her mind is burdened by them. Her mind clings to them. She is imprisoned by them. Then that person is pursuing the past. Because. What does it mean? Do not pursue the past.

[46:32]

When someone considers how her body was in the past, it's the exact same thing. Changes at the end. How her feelings were in the past, how her perceptions were in the past, how her... karmic formations were in the past, how her consciousness was in the past, when she considers these things but is not burdened by them. Her mind does not cling to them. She is not imprisoned by them. Then that person is not pursuing the past. the way to be present, our orientation, how we meet our life is not to pursue the past, not to get lost in the future, not to get swept away by the present.

[47:47]

So, I hope you could follow that. It was a little bit long there, but I'll try to say something about it. It's interesting, you know, speaking to you this way, because when there are live bodies out there, you get a sense, I get a sense, people aren't getting what I'm saying, or I get a sense, hey, we're gone, you know? We're on the train here, we're going on the same tracks, you know. So I can't really tell whether you, I hope, you kind of get what I'm trying to say here. So let me say a little bit more about not, so what's the difference between pursuing the past, not pursuing the past, getting lost in the future, not getting lost in the future, et cetera. Oh, that's lovely.

[48:59]

Someone just sent me a message or sent it to everybody. We are here. We are listening. It's beautiful. So what is the difference between those? That's very important. That's our orientation, the difference. What's not the difference? What's not? So one of the reasons I appreciated this so much is because this ancient sutta, way before Nagarjuna, way before the Tang Dynasty Zen Masters, way, way, way before Dogen, way, way, way, way, way before Suzuki Roshi, is how much it had the same, how much it says the same, how much The Sutta, Shakyamuni Buddha, or whoever it was who wrote it, is saying the same thing, which is we do not need to leave our life.

[50:05]

We do not need to leave our actual karmic everyday life. That's not the point. Just like Suzuki Roshi saying that the point is to have a well-oriented mind. The point is not to go somewhere else, not to do something else, not to be somebody else. That's not the difference. We're rooted in our karmic life. We're rooted in this very life, which now we could say we're rooted in this very life where the coronavirus pandemic is making its way. We're rooted there and we find our freedom in this life. Not by trying to go away from this, not by leaving for some place we think is better, some place where there is no hot or cold.

[51:11]

Ain't no such place. We find our freedom in this life, now, here, where we are. So the difference between getting lost in the future or not getting lost in the future, being swept away or not being swept away is not, in one case, you consider, you know, body, feelings, perceptions, etc., and in the other case, you don't consider those. No, in both cases, you consider them. The difference is burdened by them. not burdened by them. A mind that clings to them, not clings to them. A mind imprisoned by them, not imprisoned by them. That's the difference. Which is, I'd say it's pretty much exactly what Suzuki Roshi meant.

[52:25]

When he used to say, don't get caught by things. Don't get stuck. Don't get caught by things. Don't get caught by our own ideas. There's subtle difference. We need to, you know, whatever it is, go to the grocery store and put a mask on and... Or, you know, if you're a medical person, help someone medically, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We need to do these things. This is our life. And our practice is to do them and be...

[53:27]

and not be caught by them, be free inside of them, as it were. And that doesn't have to do with wishy-washy or a weaker strength. This is strong, strong action, strong action of body, speech, and mind, but not caught by it. How do we proceed? I don't even know how to say it.

[54:30]

Instilled in freedom or something like that. How do we proceed with this very life that we have? With some freedom. The first thing. To say about that is, how? Well, with great difficulty. That's how. You know, we're kind of programmed to use that metaphorical world language to be caught. I'll speak about that in a little bit concerning uncertainty and anxiety. We are catching machines. We're caught machines. That's the way we perceive. That's the way I can tell the difference between the screen I'm looking at and the shoji screen behind me.

[55:39]

I'm caught by that difference. So to not be caught is... Let's admit it. It's difficult to not be caught. More extreme forms of being caught is like compulsion, like being compelled. I've got to look at the news. I've got to have a drink. I've got to eat that chocolate cake. I've got to eat the second chocolate cake, et cetera, et cetera. That's being caught. The world of addiction is the world of being super caught. Lock, stock, and barrel caught. So it's difficult to not be caught.

[56:42]

But it's worthwhile to make the effort. How do we make the effort? By making the effort. I don't know, you know. I'm very much a non-shortcut person. I don't know of any shortcuts. Other than, so to speak, I feel like it's kind of, you know, flat-footed kind of. trial and error. What I mean by trial and error is when you notice that you're caught, stop and see if you can help yourself not get caught, get uncaught. Being aware of being caught is a moment of uncaughtness.

[57:57]

That's why we emphasize awareness and mindfulness. And in more ordinary language, we emphasize keeping track of what I'm doing, keeping track of what I'm saying, keeping track of what I'm thinking. Oh, yeah, what is that? Is that stuck? Is that caught somewhere? Am I caught? Is there some way for me to open up that which is caught? And that's the second thing. So first of all, trial and error, awareness. And then when you see it, do something about it. It's very much like Zazen. We say, count your breath or follow your breath. When you find that you're not doing those things, Start to do them. It's very simple, straightforward, difficult.

[59:00]

And then shortly thereafter, when you find yourself again, not following your breath, and notice it, oh, then now's the time to follow your breath. The other way, I'm not sure I know how to talk about this, but the other way, I feel it, but I'm not sure I know exactly how to talk about it. The other method by which one gets uncaught, that's an awkward way to say it, but is big mind. Big mind. Oh, like Okamura Roshi uses this analogy. Maybe it's, you know, other people use it, but I know it from him.

[60:09]

He says we're like a frog at the bottom of a well. When the frog looks up from the bottom of the well, the frog sees a circle of blue. And says, oh, that's the sky. I know what the sky is. The sky is this little circle of blue. That's being caught. Big mind is, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, [...] no. The sky is vast. The sky is unbounded. The sky is enormous. The sky is everywhere. I can only see some little portion of it. That helps us get uncaught from our idea that the sky is this little circle of blue.

[61:20]

That helps us get uncaught from some idea that our life is some little nothing circle of blue or some particular thing and helps us realize oh no our life is is endless our life is boundless our life is the universe whatever that is we don't know what it is totally do not know what it is That recognition helps us in the project of uncaughtness. Uncaughtness getting. So I did want to speak about particularly because I think it's coming up for many of us.

[62:26]

And maybe we can apply maybe i can apply some of what i've been saying to this particular topic namely anxiety which both gets us lost in the future and gets us swept away in the present anxiety our anxiety connected to, among other things, uncertainty. We don't like it. We don't like being uncertain. We don't like being anxious, the feeling of it. And I've said before, I've spoken about this kind of evolution

[63:28]

You know, it's evolutionary. It's evolutionary psychology. As I said before, we are in the gene pool of the warriors, of the ones who were anxious, of the ones who were sitting around the fire in the cave and were worried about the saber-toothed tigers that might or might not be outside the door. We're not in the gene pool of the ones who weren't worrying about that. They're gone. So it has this, you know, powerful, God knows where it is in the brain or the brain stem or the spinal cord or the solar plexus. It's somewhere in there, but it is really strong. And it's survival. It's what it's about. So it's got healthy, you know, it's there for a good reason. It's got healthy roots. but it also can rip us up.

[64:34]

Chronic anxiety, chronic, you know, cortisol levels, et cetera, et cetera. That's not good for us. And it's really, we really don't like it. However, we can, first of all, we are here, we are listening, we can admit our anxiety, meet our anxiety. Admit is such a lovely word in English, you know.

[65:45]

I admit I'm anxious. There's that, admit. But then there's also like, you know, you're admitted to the movie theater. You get in. It allows you entry. Admitting confession allows admitting entry. Admit has both of those. I don't think that's an accident. If we can admit it, then we can enter. And if we enter, then there's some possibility of movement. There's some possibility of unstuckness, uncaughtness, unoverwhelmedness, unlost in the future-ness. Not with false hope, not with Pollyanna, everything will be okay.

[66:52]

which is not true, but also not overwhelmed by it, not burdened by it, not our mind sticking to it, not imprisoned in it. And as we are anxious, we are also Kuan Yin, who hears our anxiety and comes to help with our breath, with our upright sitting, with our stable,

[68:01]

mountain-like mind, even if it's not mountain-like. There is a mountain in there. So, let's see here. I wrote something down, kind of a invocation to end my talk today. May the world heal. May the world heal in all ways that it is possible to heal. May we continue on the path of peace and healing. May we meet our life, be encouraged to meet our life with a good enough orientation.

[69:19]

This is the better way to live. This is a good way to live. This is what there is to do. Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. We are here. We are listening. Thank you. Please join in the closing chant. May our intention equally extend to every being place with true merit of Buddha's way.

[70:39]

Beings are numberless. I vow to save them. Delusion is more inexhaustible. I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. I vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. I vow to become it. Buddy, please feel free to turn on your camera and unmute yourself if you'd like to say goodbye. Goodbye.

[71:42]

Goodbye. Bye. Make it the best for you. Bye, everyone. Good night. Thank you for your teaching. Thank you. Bye, everyone. Thank you, Steve.

[71:57]

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