This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening. So happy to be talking to you tonight. My name is Greg. Welcome. Welcome guests, welcome students. This weekend, wait a sec, back up. Two things. First, I just want to say my talk is just to encourage you in your practice. So let's just get that out of the way. And the second thing I want to say is I would like to thank and acknowledge my teacher, Sojin Roshi, Sojin Mel Weizmann.

[01:11]

This weekend, I have the good fortune to be co-leading a retreat, an Anusara Yoga and Zen retreat with my bona fide yoga teacher, Darcy Lyon. And the title of the retreat is Expound the Dharma with This Body. And Darcy let me come up with the title for the retreat, which is lifted wholesale from a verse of Dogen Zenjis. Dogen, the great teacher who... brought this lineage from China to Japan in the beginning of the 13th century. The verse comes from an essay Dogen wrote called the Kyoju Kaiman, which is verses for teaching and conferring the precepts.

[02:14]

And the verses are usually included in our full moon ceremony. the ryaka fasatsu which the full moon bodhisattva precept ceremony we're going to do the day after tomorrow actually so it's timely and the verse in particular I've always really liked somehow it's always touched a chord in me to expound the Dharma with this body is foremost. The virtue returns to the ocean of reality. It is unfathomable. We just accept it with respect and gratitude. So this essay, the Kyoju Kaiman, is an essay about

[03:23]

giving and receiving the Bodhisattva precepts, the 16 Bodhisattva precepts. So I guess my talk tonight, I'd like to talk a little bit about some thoughts I was having about why I think the precepts matter. Why are the precepts important? brought along a copy of our Tassahara Summer Work Practice Shingi, the pure standards of practice for this monastery. And these are basically the rules that we live by, that we all agree to. And all the work practice students at Tassahara have got a written copy of this.

[04:31]

And if you don't, please see the Eno or the Head Doan and get one post-haste. And at the end of it, right here, it says, The 16 Bodhisattva Precepts of the Soto Zen School. So, there's a lot of rules. Well, not too many. Four pages. Twelve-point font. And some of them are quite specific to life in Tazahara. But a lot of them, maybe most of them, really have long, long old tradition. Then hearken all the way back to the great master Baijong in China. It was Baijong His name in Japanese is Hyakujo.

[05:36]

And he lived from 720 to 814 of the Common Era, who first came up with, he's given credit for devising the rules of practice, monastic rules, for Zen monks coming together and practicing together. And... He was very famous for the dictum, a day of no work is a day of no food. He was very, put a lot of emphasis on the monasteries practicing self-reliance, shifting for themselves, not relying on begging or imperial patronage. Consequence of this was that During the Tang Dynasty, one of the greatest suppressions of Buddhism that ever happened in Chinese history was barely a blip in the record of Zen.

[06:42]

All these adepts living in the mountains, growing their own rutabagas, harvesting grasses, making broth, they weren't affected at all. They just went on with their lives. So, Bajang, the name is, he's named after the mountain that he lived on. It's a hundred-league mountain. One hundred leagues. So I guess Bajang or Hyakujong means one hundred leagues. And these rules are, you know, what we call, in Sanskrit, the word is shila. Conduct.

[07:46]

How we behave. Ethical conduct. Moral conduct. How we behave. How we comport ourselves. How do we live this life, actually? how shall we live this life? And it's like one-third of understanding this concept that really runs through all schools of Buddhism called the tri-shiksha or the three-fold training. So it's understood that a Buddhist cultivates sila, samadhi, and prajna. And actually, Paul Haller led a practice period at City Center called Shila, Samadhi, and Prajna. Master Dogen, elsewhere in another essay, said, in practicing Zen in pursuit of the way, observing the precepts is a prerequisite.

[09:02]

And that's how really almost all Buddhists practice with the Tri Shiksha. Shila comes first. That's the basic training. Ethical conduct. How you comport yourself. Rev. Anderson's book about the precepts, best title ever, Being Upright. How to live an upright life. This is what the precepts are about. This is what cultivation of sila is about. And it comes first. It's fundamental. Samadhi is like concentration, meditation practices. And prajna means wisdom, more or less. So all three inform each other. The meditation practices help us with sila and prajna.

[10:10]

And wisdom informs our conduct and our meditation practice. But sila comes first. That is, as Dogen said, in practicing, in pursuit of the way, observing the precepts is a prerequisite. It's a prerequisite. Shila is the second of the six paramitas, right? In all Mahayana Buddhism, we have these practices that bodhisattvas cultivate. It's pretty universal. Dana, Shila, Kshanti, Virya, Jnana, and Prajna. So that means generosity, actually a generous heart comes first. first thing Bodhisattva cultivates is a generous heart but then Shila comes second very important very important and the others are patience forbearance energy zeal Zen jnana Zen meditation and Prajna wisdom the word Paramita has got a dual meaning

[11:37]

We talked about this in our class on the Heart Sutra. Paramita means perfection, but it also means crossing over, going over to the other shore. Classically understood as crossing over from samsara to nirvana, or the relative to the absolute. But... In terms of the two shores, my teacher, Sojan Roshi, says, actually, when you're practicing the paramitas, you have a foot on either shore. It's the relative and the absolute. How we understand how they intersect. We were talking about this in our workshop, the weaving together, the tantras call it, how these are woven together intimately, the relative and the absolute. So shila paramita is just good sense.

[12:44]

It's like I cut my finger, my other hand grabs it. Like that. My hand doesn't say, I'll get back to you later when I'm feeling more compassionate. No. Like that. So it is with the paramitas. We are one body. This is how it's to be understood. So practicing shila as a paramita, we do the right thing because it matters. We do the right thing because our actions of body, speech, and mind, they matter. And we do it as an expression of our interdependent existence. Because I'm not separate from you, because self and other are not two, I want to do the right thing.

[13:50]

I want to live an upright life. It seems to me in some cases, that the trouble with the trishiksha is some people seem to want to skip over the sila and get to the good stuff. Let's get to the samadhi and prajna, the sexy stuff, and forget about the sila. Maybe especially in the Zen world, but maybe I'm just critical of the home team. I don't know. So that can lead to a lot of trouble.

[14:58]

In fact, it's downright dangerous. Pointing to the Absolute without grounding in the relative is dangerous. It can get you in a lot of trouble. Especially for spiritual leaders. So, I was thinking about this in light of what's happened with the community of Anasara Yoga. been rocked by these revelations of sexual misconduct and financial mishaps by their founder, John Friend. And it's had an impact. It's had a big impact. A lot of people have felt very betrayed.

[16:01]

And it's rocked this community of Zen teachers, I mean yoga teachers. Anasara yoga teachers. Well, that was a slip of the tongue, which I guess could be a Freudian slip, because while Darcy and I were talking about it, it was kind of hard to ignore the parallels to what Zen Center went through in 1983. Very similar. A little too much power. A little too much playing fast and loose. A little too much not paying attention to cultivating ethical conduct as spiritual leaders.

[17:03]

And Zen Center's okay. We turned out all right. we're celebrating our 50th birthday and you know I think most people are very grateful for Richard Baker and bear him no ill will and why would we there's a whole precept about that and I you know we can't know now this is What happened in Anasara Yoga came to light in February, and it's been sort of unrolling, unfolding, and having its rippling effects since then. But we're still calling it an Anasara Yoga and Zen retreat for now. And maybe we're still going to call the one in August, Anasara Yoga and Zen, to be determined.

[18:14]

And I'm very grateful to John Friend because actually the practice of Anasara Yoga has had a huge impact on my life. And I'm very grateful to call Darcy my yoga teacher. It's been a huge help. So yeah, we should pay attention. We should pay attention to our actions of body, speech, and mind, because there are consequences. For example, you might be reborn 500 lifetimes as a fox. Do you know that story?

[19:15]

Would you like to hear it? This is a story about the self-same Baijong, or Yakujo, that old Chinese Zen master. If I could go back in the time machine, I would sure like to meet him. He kind of makes me think of Mel. And this is... Well, the story shows up in many places. For example, it shows up in Dogen Zenji's essay called Deep Faith in Cause and Effect. That essay starts with this story. Now, I'm going to read the version that is in The Gateless Gate. It's the book I had in my last drama talk. This is case number two in The Gateless Gate, the Mumonkan. And it's kind of a ghost story. As koans go, it's long.

[20:17]

It's kind of a cool ghost story. So, I really dig it. So, here we go. The Case. Once, when Bajan gave a series of talks, a certain old man was always there listening together with the monks. When they left, he would leave too. One day, however... He remained behind. Bajang asked him, Who are you standing here before me? The old man replied, I am not a human being. In the far distant past, in the time of Kasyapa Buddha, I was head priest at this mountain. One day a monk asked me, Does an enlightened person fall under the law of cause and effect or not? I replied, such a person does not fall under the law of cause and effect.

[21:26]

With this, I was reborn 500 times as a fox. Please say a turning word for me and release me from the body of a fox. He then asked by John, does an enlightened person fall under the law of cause and effect or not? Bai Zhang said, such a person does not evade the law of cause and effect. Other translations are, such a person does not ignore the law of cause and effect or is not blind to cause and effect. So, Enlightenment, however you understand. Well, okay, there's a little bit more. It's kind of cute. Anyway, hearing this, the old man immediately was enlightened.

[22:33]

That's usually the end of the story. And they all lived happily ever after. The old man immediately was enlightened. Making his bows, he said, I am released from the body of the fox. The body is on the other side of this mountain. I wish to make a request of you. Please, abbot, perform my funeral as for a priest. Bai Zhang had a head monk strike the signal board and inform the assembly that after the noon meal there would be a funeral service for a priest. The monks talked about this in wonder. All of us are well. There is no one in the morgue. What does the teacher mean? After the meal, Bai Zhang led the monks to the foot of a rock on the far side of the mountain, and there with his staff, he poked out the body of a dead fox. He then performed the ceremony of cremation.

[23:36]

That evening, he took the high seat before his assembly and told the monks the whole story. An enlightened person does not ignore cause and effect. We live in the world of cause and effect. It's kind of amazing that, you know, I was thinking, you know, oh, I could quote some Nagarjuna at you. The Buddhist philosopher who talks about the two truths. The absolute and the relative explains it very well, why it's necessary to have a grounding in the relative in order to practice before the absolute, in the midst of the absolute. And there's this story and all these explanations.

[24:42]

My gosh, a Zen master might just take a stick and hit you. Did that hurt? okay, we're still in the realm of cause and effect. Right? What you do matters. How you live matters. Your actions of body, speech, and mind matter. The precepts matter. Almost every ceremony of importance in the Zen school involves the 16 Bodhisattva precepts.

[25:48]

Ordinations, funerals, weddings, the full moon Bodhisattva precept ceremony, which we'll be doing the day after tomorrow. The whole assembly and you're all invited. We'll gather here and chant them. But the way that ceremony begins, I also want to mention in case you're feeling like you're living your 498th lifetime as a fox, in case you're feeling the weight of karma, in case you're feeling the weight of your actions of body, speech, and mind. It's a very simple formula passed down by Buddhists and ancestors. And that's how we start the full moon ceremony.

[26:56]

It's how we start an ordination. We put our hands in gaso and we chant, all my ancient twisted karma From beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, born through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow. I confess. I confess I'm a human being. I confess I'm deluded. I confess that I get mixed up by my mind. I confess that I catch myself believing my stories over and over again. I put my hands in Gassho and I confess. In the practice period we do it every morning, at the beginning of morning service.

[28:03]

It's a wonderful practice. I definitely recommend it. I was thinking about this talk yesterday. I was thinking about ceremonies. I mentioned a wedding. We do weddings in... North American Zen. In Japan, it's rather unusual, but I've done quite a few weddings. I don't know, more than 10, less than 20, but I've done a fair number of weddings. I really, really enjoy it. It's just one of my favorite things to do in the whole world. It's such a joyous occasion. And I realized yesterday, for the very first time, that all those ceremonies, without fail, They involve the precepts. But never once have I asked the bride and groom to put their hands in ga sho and look each other in the eye and say, all of my ancient and twisted karma.

[29:22]

Gee, that makes such good sense. Let's just get that over with from the beginning. I think that's a good way to get it. Yeah, get off to a good start. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe at the beginning and very frequently throughout the rest of the marriage, I think, could be a good idea. I was thinking that. I don't know. So the Tassahara Shingi And then the backbone of the Tassahara Shingi, the 16 Bodhisattva precepts. When Sojin Roshi was down here in work period talking to Linda Gallion and myself, he said that Suzuki Roshi really only had one precept.

[30:33]

be Buddha. So maybe there's Shingi, then 16 Bodhisattva Precepts, and then just be Buddha. Just be Buddha. I have this copy of The Wind Bell from 1987 that I found in the dirt below the smoker's pit. I don't think it's been there since 1987, because it's in pretty good shape. And I picked it up, and the first page, that picture of Suzuki Roshi, can you see it? The first page, is a Sesshin lecture by Suzuki Roshi called American Precepts.

[31:38]

Fancy that. So, I thought I'd like to finish with a paragraph from this auspicious finding, this wind bell in this essay about American Precepts. He says, having our own way of life will encourage people to have a more spiritual and more adequate way of life for themselves. We must study our way not only for ourselves, but for all people. It is something which we must create or establish, starting from our own situation as it is, because our rules are actually for ourselves as human beings. As a Chinese person, Hyakujou established the Hyakujou Shingi, And as Americans, I feel we must establish an American shingy. I'm not saying this jokingly. I'm pretty serious.

[32:41]

But I don't want to be too serious. If you become too serious, you will lose your way. On the other hand, if we're playing games with it, we will lose our way. So little by little, with patience and endurance, We must find our way for ourselves. I like that a lot. I'm pretty serious, but I don't want to be too serious. If you become too serious, you will lose your way. On the other hand, if we're playing games with it, we will lose our way. So little by little, with patience and endurance, we must find our way for ourselves. Here, Tassajara, on this mountain, let's all renew our efforts to find our way for ourselves, to help each other practice, to support each other, to wake up with all living beings.

[33:58]

I wish you joy in your practice. peace in your life. May you all be well and happy. Good night. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma talks are offered free of charge and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma and For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving.

[34:41]

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