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. Well, I always like coming to Green Gulch. Do you? It's pretty great, huh? Thank you to the... current leaders of Green Gulch for keeping this thing going. It's a lot of work. Thank you to many thousands of people over, what is it now, 40, 50 years who have been keeping this place going. It's a blessing. It's a real blessing. And I have a very close friendship with Mr. Manjushri on the altar, so every time I come I'm always startled.

[01:00]

to see him or her up there, watching over us all. I will try to speak up a little. Thank you for letting me know. Yeah, they have the sound system on, but I always, when I give a Dharma talk, I always feel like I'm saying a good night story to a little baby. So I keep my voice very low and mumbly, but I'll try to make sure you can hear. Anybody who can't, just wave your hand and right away I'll speak up. So this morning I want to talk about the question, what is Buddhist enlightenment? A question that, it's a good question, right? And we don't often address it directly, but we're having an everyday Zen conversation. practice period. Our group is called Everyday Zen here in the Bay Area and elsewhere. So we're in the midst of our annual fall practice period.

[02:01]

And for some reason, this is our theme. What is Buddhist Enlightenment? And we're reading a book by Professor Dale Wright, who teaches down south, which has that title, What is Buddhist Enlightenment? And in his book, Professor Wright is trying to think about whether and how Buddhist practice might be beneficial for our time and place. Can Buddhism actually help? Can it make things better? Can it be a strong force for the good? Can it be something that will help reshape our human character and therefore transform our societies? Because, you know, the world is not going to be any better until people are better, right?

[03:07]

People do this stuff. Or is Buddhism meant to be just something that we're doing for ourselves, a kind of a consolation for us, maybe even a pleasant, peaceful escape from trying circumstances. And I guess there's no sin in being consoled or in escaping painful circumstances. But Professor Wright has studied and practiced Buddhism a long time, and so he wants to explore further than this. And also, because his position is not a religious teacher, he doesn't have to defend or justify Buddhism. He's a scholar and a philosopher. He's in a position to be critical of Buddhism, and he ought to be. So he has practiced a lot, so he stands both inside and outside the tradition.

[04:12]

And that enables him to point out weaknesses or maybe... sloppy or self-serving thinking that Buddhists now and in the past have indulged in. So he can think beyond Buddhism as we have known it to a Buddhism that could be. So this is a really good book. I guess I'm going around promoting Professor Wright's books. He's happy about this, by the way. He likes it. I was big on his last book, The Six Paramitas, which I think was also a great book. I just wrote a book on the six paramitas, and at the end of the book, I said, anything you read in this book is said better by Professor Wright in his book. And I'm saying that at the end, because if I said it at the beginning, you wouldn't buy the book. Anyway, he really is, if you like thoughtful, careful thinking, his books are great. And so we're reading this book in our everyday Zen practice period, and we're trying to read it carefully.

[05:18]

And one of the points he makes at the very beginning, and I really agree with him completely and have thought this myself increasingly over the last decades, is that really the main goal of Buddhist practice, of Zen practice, of Mahayana Buddhism especially, is the development of a good heart and of compassion. In Zen and in Mahayana Buddhism, deep insight, what we might think of as enlightenment, the insight that the Buddha flashingly experienced under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha's awakening, that that insight is identical with compassion. In other words, Buddhist enlightenment is not a transcendent otherworldly mystical experience that somehow makes us immune to suffering and the troubles of the world.

[06:25]

It's the very opposite of that. When we understand who and what we really are, what we really are, what our lives really are, we understand that there could not be me apart from you. And there could not be you apart from me. You and I are always only we. And by the nature of we, we are suffering. So we deeply appreciate the suffering. We understand it. We grieve over it. and we do what can be done to alleviate it. That's our practice. Sometimes we look around and it looks like there's absolutely nothing that we can do to alleviate suffering.

[07:28]

But according to Buddhist understanding, actually there is always something that we can do effectively. When we practice loving thoughts, words and deeds, even when that might seem like it has nothing to do with the suffering we perceive, those loving thoughts, words and deeds are actually effective in the world. They have power in the world. I think Buddhism is actually, more than anything else, a path of conduct, a path of doing. Even though Buddhists might meditate a lot and seem to emphasize meditation, and calmness. Actually, meditation and calmness has never been the Buddhist goal. Our goal is to transform ourselves into compassionate bodhisattvas who are dedicated to changing the world for the good. And in doing this, we feel like we're serving all people whose innate nature is just like ours to do good and be good even though

[08:43]

Many of them have forgotten this due to causes and conditions over a long time that have covered their hearts. So a few months ago in August, our Dharma seminar was studying the Mahapari Nirvana Sutra from the Dighi Nakaya in the Pali Canon, which is a recounting of the Buddha's last months and days. before he let go of his life and entered Parinirvana. And in reading this, I was struck by how often, in his last days, the Buddha spoke about the importance of the practice of ethical conduct, doing good, not doing bad stuff, as the cornerstone of the path in his last days. when he was reviewing his teaching and saying what was most important, he mentioned this over and over and over again. And in Buddhist practice, doing good includes things like meditation, all the practices we can do to cultivate a loving heart, kind speech, beneficial action, and all the little gestures of daily practice.

[10:04]

In other words, doing good includes not only doing what we might conventionally consider good deeds it does include that but includes more than that all of our practice moment by moment all day long when we take care of our heart our mind even when we cook when we clean all day long when we do these practices We are doing good if we do them with a whole heart and with bodhisattva intention. And doing good, little by little by little, will fundamentally change our hearts and minds. And it will eventually change the world. And yes, of course, it goes without saying that when we can also help the world through ordinary good deeds and all kinds of direct actions, through our social action, political, economic activity, We will do that too, with forthrightness and courage.

[11:07]

It all goes together. But there's never a moment when there isn't something that we can do toward a future, more beautiful world. This is the stuff I say all the time. I say it all the time. But I'm saying it today. A couple days after that very upsetting Supreme Court confirmation hearing in Washington, and I'm sure that whole thing is still ringing in everybody's ears and minds and hearts. Everybody here, no doubt, is aware of it, saw it, heard it, some of it. A very, very painful, emotional day, probably for many of us. frustrating, painful in its inconclusiveness, sometimes in its unfairness.

[12:12]

It was an unsettling snapshot of the jarring, warring forces that exist in our society and in our world. It was an enactment of the drama, this sort of eternal drama of victim and perpetrator of resentment, fear, aggression that always exists and now seems to be so prominent in our politics. And just like you, I have lots of thoughts and opinions about it, and I have no doubt that there is not a person in the room who has not discussed it and read about it and thought about it. And maybe you're even here this morning to get a break from all that. Which is why I'm not going to repeat all the stuff that you have already heard and read.

[13:18]

Just to acknowledge that we're sitting here in the middle of that, in this peaceful zendo that has 50 years. of intense practice built into the floorboards and the ceiling and the walls, peaceful with one another, in the middle of a world like this. And this is really how it is. It's not some other way. And this really is our practice, and this really is our life. So I was sitting, thinking about all this in my little study with all my books and everything, and I turned aside to my bookshelf, and I happened to notice a couple of photographs that were standing on my bookshelf.

[14:23]

You all have photographs standing on your bookshelf too, I know. Can you still hear me back there? Yes, all right. So anyway, the photographs are on my bookshelf. And I pulled them off my bookshelf and I looked at them. And they were photographs of three very dear everyday Zen Sangha members who had died within the last year or so. And these were people that I had known for decades and decades that I loved very, very much. So in the middle of my thinking about all this stuff, I look at these photographs and I thought to myself, well, every person... in that hearing room in Washington. Every person and every person who watched or thought about that hearing is going to die very soon. Everyone. And this is how it is.

[15:26]

This is how we are. This is what we are. Poor human beings. for no really good reason, other than reasons we've cooked up over the generations, hurting one another over and over again, arguing over our points of view, passionate about them, and yes, they matter, they matter a great deal, because we all want to get this right, and yes, We can rest assured we're going to fight. Probably we're going to fight forever. And yes, we will all, in the end, leave this world and leave our tears and our anger and our hurts behind. When we do good, avoid bad, and purify the heart, which is our practice,

[16:33]

we do so deeply, deeply appreciating this most salient of all human facts. So now, to cheer you up, I'll read you a little poem from my 2005 book, Slowly But Dearly, and this is called A Poem Beginning with a Line from Fanny Howe. That's the name of the poem. And it actually does begin with a line from Fanny Howe, who's a great poet and a good friend of mine. Fanny is a very seriously committed religious person, a Catholic, and so when we get together, we talk about politics, we talk about religious practice, we talk about poetry, and then once we've gotten through all that, we then gossip about our friends. So here's my poem, Poem beginning with a line from Fanny Howe.

[17:35]

And no answers, please, to any of my questions. And no grooming for my bears, no curling of my hairs, no hortatory exfabulations or bustling bromides, no conciliations or ramifications, no aimless twitching attempts at sense that look like logical lines of pattern argument running all the way out to line's end. No. Just to hold the question as the question in all its discomfort. Perhaps in the hospital. Or better yet, in a cell. Cell of silence. Cell of the body. The simplest possible thing. the shedding of rains of tears for ourselves, ancient, noble, impersonal sorrows, ocean of coldness and darkness, motion and play, as this single thing or moment, stripped of thought, but present, shining like a toy, and replaced, flashing like water, wet,

[19:03]

Bracing. Necessary. Passing. So I'm thinking all the time about what is Buddhist enlightenment? What can we think about it? What can we say about it? And so here are some of the things that Suzuki Roshi said about what is enlightenment long ago. Who knows what he would say now if he were here, but these are some of the things he said in the late 1960s, and I'm gonna quote him at length without comment. This first part is from the archive, so it's a little jumbled up because it's just fairly faithful transcription of his own words. Usually, you know, after you attain enlightenment, you may think you can establish true practice.

[20:08]

But it is not so, according to Dogen Zenji. True practice should be established in delusion, in frustration. And then he laughs. If you make some mistake, you know you should establish your practice thereby. there is no other place for you to establish your practice. I think our teaching is very good, very, very good. But if we become too arrogant, and if we believe in ourselves too much, we will be lost. And there will be no teaching at all, no Buddhism at all. So when we find our joy of life or composure, when we don't know what it is, when we don't understand anything, then our mind is very great, very wide.

[21:15]

Your mind is open to everything. So for us, it is not possible to stick to anything. So one after another, we have to practice our way in a quite renewed area, in a quite refreshing way. And our practice should be independent from past practice and future practice. We cannot sacrifice our practice for future attainment because all the Buddhas who passed attained enlightenment this way. And all the Buddhas in the future will attain enlightenment in this way. In this way means, you know, and he laughs again. What was he laughing about? He laughs again. In this way, this means not any. I do not, you know, mean Soto way or Rinzai way, sometimes Soto way, sometimes Rinzai way. It's funny, now nobody cares about the difference between Soto and Rinzai.

[22:19]

Who cares? In those days it was important, you know, but now nobody even knows the difference anymore. Sometimes some other school's way according to the circumstances. The way we, how we attain enlightenment will be different. Someone will attain enlightenment when he sees some flower or hears some sound like bamboo. Or someone may attain enlightenment when they take a hot bath. And he laughs. Probably he was giving this talk at Tassajara where they have hot baths. And everybody liked to go to the hot bath, especially in the wintertime when there's no heat and you really want to go to the bath. So someone may attain enlightenment when they take a hot bath. But enlightenment is not something like that. Enlightenment is something that whether you realize it or not, you have it. So think about that.

[23:22]

Enlightenment is something that whether you realize it or not, you have it. So whatever you think you're looking for, who isn't looking for something all the time, right? Look at your mind. You're always looking for something. You have it. Whether you realize it or not, you have it. But it is necessary for you to realize it. Or else, you don't know what you're doing. That's all. If you really know the meaning of zazen, that's enlightenment. When you know the meaning of zazen, you will know the meaning of our human life. That is enlightenment. Enlightenment. Even though you attain enlightenment, you have some trouble. And here he laughs again quite a lot. You cannot be free from your difficulties. The difficulty you have, if you know the meaning of the difficulty for you, the difficulty will help you.

[24:25]

If you do not know the meaning of the difficulty, it doesn't help. Same thing with zazen. If you do not know the meaning of everyday practice, even though you do not attain enlightenment, that zazen will not help you. I'm pretty sure that's a mistake. I'm pretty sure he must have meant, if you do not know, or maybe it was a transcription mistake, or maybe a mistake in what he said. Sometimes it's hard to hear, but I think what he meant was, if you do not know the meaning of everyday practice, even though you do attain enlightenment, right? Yeah, that's what Linda thinks too. That zazen will not help you. He must mean that. It must mean this, right? Beware, right? Anyway, that's a long quotation from Suzuki Roshi who's always so wonderful in his expression. Think of what it must have been like for him after a whole life to finally be free

[25:29]

of the crazy Japanese Zen establishment come to America where a bunch of clueless, youthful enthusiasts were practicing Zen. He must have had the time of his life. He could say whatever he really felt without constraint. And it was our great gain. So he's so clear all the time and so straightforward and so simple. I like where he says, our teaching is very, very good. I think that, you know. I think our teaching is actually the best. I do think. It is. I could explain to you why I think so, but I won't go into that. But as soon as we, you know, think that and go around identifying with that and saying that, We're arrogant. And really and truly, there's nothing there to be arrogant about.

[26:33]

As soon as you think you know something, beware. You don't know anything. We're just here. That much we know. We're here. We're trying to do good. We're trying to discover what's the best thing to do. Maybe we're naive. Maybe we're stupid. I know. It's true of me. But it doesn't matter. We keep trying. I think anyway, and I hope and I pray, that our practice does give us the faith that whether we win or lose this or that battle, or even if we lose the whole war, one way or the other, over time, the goodness... of the bodhisattva heart will save us all. So now another passage from Suzuki Roshi.

[27:38]

This one is from Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, so it's been cleaned up and make it sound like he made a lot more sense than he might have otherwise. Thanks to the good editors of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Enlightenment is not some good feeling or some particular state of mind. The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is itself enlightenment. If you cannot be satisfied with the state of mind you have in zazen, it means your mind is still wandering about. Our body and mind should not be wobbling or wandering about. In this posture there is no need to talk about the right state of mind. You already have it. This is the conclusion of Buddhism. We say our practice should be without gaining ideas, without any expectations, even of enlightenment. This does not mean, however, just to sit without any purpose. This practice, free from gaining ideas, is based on the Prajnaparamita Sutra.

[28:42]

If you continue this simple practice every day, you will obtain a wonderful power. Before you attain it, It is something wonderful. But after you attain it, it is nothing special. It's just you, yourself. Nothing special. As a Chinese poem says, and he's quoting the poem, I went and I returned. It was nothing special. Roseanne, famous for its misty mountains, secco for its waters. That's the end of the quotation. People think it must be wonderful to see the famous range of mountains covered by mists and the water said to cover all the earth. These are famous pilgrimage sites in China.

[29:45]

But if you go there, you would just see water and mountains, nothing special. It's a kind of mystery that for people who have no experience of enlightenment, enlightenment is always something wonderful. But if they attain it, it's nothing. And yet, it's not nothing. Do you understand? Here he must have laughed, although it doesn't. Instances of laughter are not recorded in Zen mind, beginner's mind. Do you understand? Everybody must have gone, sitting there with cross-eyed, you know, what, what? And then he says beautifully, for a mother with children, having children is nothing special. That is zazen. So if you continue this practice, more and more you will acquire something. Nothing special. But nevertheless, something.

[30:45]

You may say universal nature or Buddha nature or enlightenment. You may call it by many names, but for the person who has it, it is nothing. And it is something. Our unexciting way of practice may appear to be very negative. This is not so. It is a wise and effective way to work on ourselves. It is just very plain. I find this point very difficult for people, especially young people, to understand. On the other hand, it may seem as if I am speaking about gradual attainment. This is not so either. In fact, this is the sudden way, because when your practice is calm and ordinary, everyday life itself is enlightenment. When something becomes dualistic, that is not pure. If you think you will get something from practicing zazen, already you are involved in impure practice.

[31:54]

It's all right to say there is practice and there is enlightenment, but we should not be caught by that statement. We should not be tainted by it. When you practice zazen, just practice zazen. If enlightenment comes, it just comes. We should not attach to the attainment. The true quality of zazen is always there, even if you are not aware of it. So forget all about what you think you may have gained from it. Just do it. the quality of zazen will express itself, then you will have it. If you find some difficulty in your practice, that is the warning that you have some wrong idea, so you better be careful. Do not give up your practice. Continue it, knowing your weakness. Here there is no gaining idea. Here there is no fixed idea of attainment. You do not say, this is enlightenment or that is not right practice.

[33:01]

Even in wrong practice, when you realize it and continue, it's right practice. Our practice cannot be perfect. But without being discouraged by this, we should continue. And that's the secret of practice. That is the secret, continuing. That's the hard part, though. Dogen writes about, has a whole writing about continuous practice, not only continuing over time, but continuing all the time. That's the hard part. Even if the flashing of enlightenment comes in our practice, we forget all about it. Then we're ready for another enlightenment. It's necessary for us to have enlightenments one after another, if possible. Moment after moment after moment. And this is what is called enlightenment before you attain it and enlightenment after you attain it.

[34:07]

So we were, in our Every Day Zen seminar, we always have discussions and... we were discussing this question, what is enlightenment? We kind of have people in small groups discussing intensely, and then afterward we asked people what did they find out. And somebody said after one of those discussions, the other day I was enlightened several times. And of course, people said, well, tell us about it. And he said, well, once when my wife came down the stairs, And I looked at her. And once, when I saw a flower, and then he listed, I'm doing this because there's a fly that really likes me this morning. Well, look, there's several hundred people in here, fly. Why don't you share the enthusiasm with them, you know?

[35:09]

Maybe I have a light on me or something. I don't know. The fly likes me. Anyway, so he listed several moments when he was totally sincere. He said, I was enlightened several times. Anyway, I think you know the feeling. Because if you would take the time to notice, it will be very clear to you that it is exactly a miracle. this thing we call being alive in the world. This is not guaranteed, it doesn't last forever, and it is quite miraculous. The whole world appears like it does in this moment, out of nothing, thanks to our

[36:16]

consciousness, our sense organs. Unbelievable, truly. If we notice, we can be enlightened countless times every day. And we are always being enlightened, just we don't notice. Everyone alive in this world, we're all together. And being enlightened moment after moment, the trouble is we have to practice to really appreciate it and understand. Because we're alive, because we're human beings, because this world exists as it does, suffering comes. And we have to suffer. That is part of this being alive. And so suffering is part of our enlightenment.

[37:20]

Even if it's painful, we can receive it with some gratitude. I have one last quote from Suzuki Roshi about enlightenment. This is a one-liner. Someone asked him, what is enlightenment? And he said, what do you want to know for? You may not like it. So I'm going to close with another poem from my book, Slowly But Dearly. And this is called What a Wonderful World, from the song with that title that was made, Immortal by... Louis Armstrong. I will spare you singing that song, but I'll read you the poem. What seems separate, weighty, out there, is actually already dissolved because the moving into it is a giving up of everything.

[38:42]

that has already been lost anyway, so it's easy to do. Everything works together, even griefs. Nothing more clever than the mind to tangle things up in, without which we couldn't ever do, or even ever appear. So it occurs to me that as I'm reading that poem that someone might think, I'll go to the bookstore over there and buy the book in which these poems appear. Did that occur to anybody? Maybe. Yeah. Well, it's not over there. It's an old book, so it's not over there. You'll have to find it online or something.

[39:44]

I know that because they brought me all the books that they have of mine to sign this morning, and I signed them all, and that wasn't in the stack. So I know that it's not there. Anyway, thank you very much for listening. So sweetly, I'm always, it's great. John was telling me he's gonna maybe teach high school English, which I did. When you teach high school English, you are not talking to a room full of people, each one of whom is actually listening to you. This doesn't happen. So I'm warning you. When you teach high school English, this is not going to happen. So I'm used to the idea that I could be talking and half of the people listening could be like chewing gum or looking at the ceiling or doodling. And so I'm always grateful when I'm talking and there's hundreds of people who are not doing that. Nobody has headphones on. It's fabulous. And I realize I don't take that for granted.

[40:46]

Human attention, as we're now realizing, is a very powerful resource on the planet Earth that is being squandered so much of the time. So for you to lend so much loving attention to my words this morning is something I do not take for granted, and I really appreciate it. It's a great... benefit and joy to me. Everybody take care of yourself and I'll see you next time. Thank you. 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 giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

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