This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfcc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good evening, Gersanga. Here in the City Center Buddha, or not Buddha Hall, excuse me, in the City Center Zendo and a warm welcome to those of you who are joining us online. My name is Eli. I'm a resident priest here at City Center and also serve as our Director of Inclusion and Belonging. Before I get started, I want to give an honorary thanks to the Tonto Head of Practice, Tim, for inviting me to speak this evening. Somewhat short notice, but nevertheless. And then also great gratitude to my teacher, Renzo Ed Sarasan, along with so many other teachers who have supported me in trying to understand the teachings or these words that have came from our ancestors, which is some of what I'm going to talk about tonight.

[01:10]

Before I begin, though, I do want to take a moment to just acknowledge some of the suffering that's going on in our world to our friends in Florida and the Southeast dealing with Hurricane Milton and, of course, the many and many that are being affected by war in Gaza and Africa and so many other places. May we hold all beings in our thoughts as we come together tonight to practice. And typically, at the end of our gatherings in Zen, we dedicate our merit. However, if you've ever been to one of these Wednesday night talks, by the end of the night, most of you will kind of be nodding off I don't know, those online might start doing the dishes. So I figured we would dedicate our merit in advance while we're still awake and have energy. Some of you know this, but some of you don't. Right outside the door here, we have a big dencho bell.

[02:13]

And we have a gata, which is just a little saying that encourages us in practice. And the one by the bell says... Body, speech, and mind in perfect oneness, I send my heart along with the sound of the bell. May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness and transcend anxiety and sorrow. So if you just take a moment and drop in for a second, we'll send three bells to all those that need it. So, my question for this evening is, what does the Buddha and Colonel Sanders from KFC have in common?

[03:20]

No takers? Okay. Well, when KFC expanded into China, their slogan, finger-licking good, was mistranslated to eat your fingers off. And while the colonel didn't mean to promote self-harm, there was probably someone somewhere who nibbled a bit of their finger off while gobbling down a bucket of extra crispy. And then there was the Buddha who taught us to practice as if our hair was on fire. And the idea, obviously, is that we would attend to our life, to the need to practice to alleviate suffering and ignorance with an urgency. the same as we would try to extinguish flames from our body. However, when I heard it, the teacher, and I won't name any names, delivered the message, practice as if your head was on fire, which for me evoked a measure of urgency. It was kind of like the eat your fingers version.

[04:25]

And obviously, hair pointing on fire is a sense of urgency, not intensity, as I was taking it. So you can see that this small shift in how even a simple word can change the entire meaning of a teaching if something's not translated right. In Zen, words are deeply essential, but they are also deeply limited. They guide us towards understanding, but they're definitely not the destination. And in coming in here and talking to... Beloved Kim, thank you for being a Jiko for me, my older Dharma sibling. And also not in here as well. But we were talking about the fact that a lot of what I'll bring up tonight, you pro-Buddhists already know. So I invite you to, if you already know some of the material or have heard some of this before, study how you're embodying these practices and teachings.

[05:28]

And by moving beyond intellectualization and embracing the space of practice, presence in the beginner's mind, we can actually start to recognize the essence of these teachings. And don't get me mistaken, but words are wonderful. They've created some of my favorite song lyrics. They've allowed us to share knowledge over time, develop technologies. many other things really to parallel human advancement. They're a foundation, but they also do confuse us. And in our society, we've been raised that if we have mastery of words, instructions, knowledge, information, that we can convert that to skill and then mastery. However, when we take instructions or words on how to live life, they really don't meet the mark because they can't quite describe or depict the reality that our life exists in.

[06:31]

One of the reasons that I'm really drawn to Zen, to Suzuki Roshi's teachings, to Dogen's teachings, is they point to something that is beyond the verbal, beyond conception, somewhat poetic. And they have a way of really turning or loosening the way that I engage with these words and touching in a wisdom that is more inherent. Both Suzuki Roshi and Dogen emphasize that Zen practice is beyond words. Yet, as I said, they're essential, but get mis-translated and misunderstood. Suzuki Roshi often talked about the importance of not sticking to words or concepts. And when he was studying as a younger priest, his teacher scolded him because he and some other monks showed up and had actually outdressed your teacher.

[07:40]

So in Zen, if you're meeting with a teacher, don't outdress them. But from some of the lessons that he picked up from that... he was known for teaching that we should listen to the other side of words. So listen to the other side of words as a way to practice or hold attention. Our 13th century founder, A. H. Dogen, taught that true Dharma is beyond words, and he really pointed to the value of practice over intellectualization. So many of these words that we use with today migrated from India to China to Japan and then also upon arriving here fused with other Buddhist traditions or migration paths and also had a multicultural and country journey to the pages and ears of today. So in short these teachings for the most part direct us

[08:45]

at the heart of our human experience, especially relating to suffering, greed, hate, delusion, and also the three marks of existence, impermanence, non-self, and suffering. However, due to improper translations, typically because there's not words in one language that map over to the other, it's important to remember that at the end of the day, we are just trying to point at the moon of human experience. And words often fall short of that. One example is Suzuki Roshi's teaching. And while he taught in English, a lot of times his words needed a little bit more interpretation. For one, his famous saying, beginner's mind, which is the temple that we're in right now, has often been taken as a literal mindset, which... In a sense, it could be, but it really points to something deeper, non-conceptual openness to every moment with a non-grasping mind.

[09:51]

And this is not just like a culture-to-culture mistranslation that happens with religion. It happens with other things as well. So a couple of examples of how translations went wrong. One of the most famous marketing blunders occurred when General Motors or GM introduced their car, the Chevy Nova, to South American populations. And some of you may know where this is going if you can speak Spanish, but the name Nova sounds like Nova, which in Spanish means doesn't go. So people literally thought that the car was being advertised as one that did not run. My favorite expression of this is in 1980s, Coors Beer tried to expand also into Spanish-speaking countries and used their, I don't know if some of you remember the slogan, turn it loose. No, okay.

[10:55]

Not the partying crowd. I remember it. However, when it was translated into Spanish, the phrase was misunderstood as suffering from diarrhea. which, you know, unlike the biting of fingers, one could say that you may suffer from that if you have too much course. But, you know, these are kind of comical, but it really shows how linguistic differences between cultures can hinder communication. And, of course, this happens with Buddhism. So to further summarize, illustrate how some of these words can turn into a way of obstructing our practice, I wanted to share a koan that I just heard the other day when listening to one of my teacher Ed's talks. And if you really want to hear the koan in depth and hear it unpacked and the commentaries, I'm doing the short version for the

[11:59]

for the subject matter of today. But the koan is in the Blue Cliff Record, Case 52, where it's a Zhao Zhou and another monk. And to give you just a short depiction of Zhao Zhou, he's kind of one of the most longest, maybe training monks. I think he lived into his hundreds. Am I right? Is that... Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. But anyhow, I ended up living, as most Zen masters do, kind of a semi-ordinary life. And people would go visit him to see this legendary stone bridge, which was where he was. So a monk who had traveled to go see Zhao Zhou said... or asked, for a long time I've heard the stone bridge of Zhao Zhao, excuse me, Zhao Zhao, but now that I've come here, I just see a simple log bridge. Because he arrived and there was just a log bridge. Zhao Zhao replied, you see the log bridge, but you don't see the stone bridge.

[13:04]

The monk then asked, what is the stone bridge? Zhao Zhao answered, it lets asses cross and it lets horses cross. So that's the end of the koan. But here the monk fixated, that came to travel, fixated on the physical appearance of the bridge, expecting something more profound, much like we can get attached to these words, expecting them to deliver us to some deeper truth. But Zhao Zhou's response reminds us that the true bridge isn't about form or appearance. It's about what it allows, which is crossing over. So in the same way, Zen teachings aren't about the literal meanings of words, but about their ability to guide us into experience, to cross over from the intellectual understanding to direct embodied practice. So whether you're a horse or an ass, you can cross the bridge. The words we use in practice, whether emptiness, just sitting, compassion, to name a few, are only as useful as your ability to let go and not grasp them intellectually.

[14:16]

The real path is beyond words, and it's up to all of us to jog down that path. Now, I'll go ahead and explore a couple of these words. And like I said, most of you are pro or maybe have heard some of this before. So please just reflect and see whether or not you're actually embodying these teachings. So the first couple of teachings I wanted to touch on are from the Shobu Genzo, which is some writings by Ehe Dogen. And he has an expression called practice and enlightenment are one and the same. And that, again, probably sounds pretty straightforward to some of you, but I get questions from a lot of students and a point of confusion still with the belief that you practice and then there's enlightenment. And a lot of times you'll hear Zen folks communicate this teaching as every moment is practice.

[15:20]

or excuse me, every moment of practice is enlightenment, which is the accurate expression. Each moment is complete in itself. The second one is around time. Itself is being or uji. The point of confusion folks usually have is that we think of time as a linear concept, how we've been raised and conditioned to think. And it's often taken to conceptually. Our practice, or Dogen's teaching, expresses that time and being are actually inseparable, that it's not something that is external or abstract. Each moment of being is a complete expression of reality. Time is not something that we move through, but it's something that we are. And every moment is an opportunity to fulfill and experience and realize our true nature in this very moment. And the next couple I'm just kind of lumping together, just sitting, non-thinking, and emptiness all point to the same underlying truth that the practice of being fully present without attachment to our thoughts, our identities, or outcomes.

[16:38]

So these are really all... mechanisms to try to move us or our experience past intellectualization and rest actually in the present moment. And some just little nuances about just sitting. It's not something that is passive. It's the practice of being fully present without striving for a specific outcome. And that's how we're encouraged to sit. This concept of non-thinking refers to fully being aware of thoughts as they arise and pass without clinging or rejecting to them and really just allowing for an open state of awareness. Emptiness, which is often confused with nihilism, is more so pointing at the realization that all things are independent of or interdependent, excuse me, and lack an inherent fixed existence. And really invites us to experience the truth of impermanence and interconnectedness of all phenomena.

[17:48]

And then these next few are really basics, but again come up quite often in practice discussions. I have... So the first is acceptance, which I think everyone who comes to practice first kind of grapples with, is this passive resignation? Am I just allowing shit to happen? But non-attachment is really allowing us to act skillfully in any situation. In meditation, acceptance more is pointing towards simply observing our thoughts and sensations without resisting them. And of course, with any of these words, if you're struggling with them, switch it up. So you may want to use something like patience or equanimity. Another one that folks can tend to get hung up on, and even some of us maybe more experienced practitioners, is still thinking that compassion is confused often with pity or seen as a sign of weakness.

[18:57]

And compassion in Buddhism is really an active response, an engaged response to suffering rooted in the understanding that we are all interconnected. So besides teachings that always don't configure or translate down, sometimes it's actually the modern day words that we can tend to get hung up on. And so the first set that I am lumping together are success goals and planning. And in modern culture, as we all know, success is primarily based on external achievements, things like status or wealth. And goals are about kind of setting those markers in the future for particular outcomes. And planning, of course, is how we get there. So success or external validation is not necessarily bad, or at least I don't think the teachings say so, but practice does request that we become very aligned with our actions, our ethical conduct, and awareness in the way that success is pursued.

[20:14]

Similarly, goals are not necessarily our enemy. But the fact that we can become attached to them and attached to the outcome does bring forth suffering. And of course, planning is great. However, as long as you're understanding that impermanence and flexibility are needed as we cannot control all outcomes. Let's put it simple. The three of those things, planning, goals, and success, put us in a state of doing when practice is actually inviting us to a state of being. So it's important to keep those two in balance. The next couple of words could kind of be lumped together, but I'll speak to them separately. One being desire. And a lot of practitioners first grapple with this thought that, oh, I need to eliminate desires or needing or wanting things are bad.

[21:23]

But a good way to differentiate between the two are, is your desires wholesome versus unwholesome? And really checking in to that. Are your desires to help others or to practice compassion? Or are they more... self-absorbed or based off of greed. And bottom line, I think that a distinction is whether or not this desire arises from a place of wisdom and compassion. So both the next two, love and happiness, we kind of engage with similarly. We tend to think that our love is for one thing, maybe a partner, maybe a child. But in Buddhism, love is understood to be universal, something that is non-discriminatory, that really is a deep wish for the cessation of suffering for all beings.

[22:32]

And happiness on that same token usually is assigned to things that are external, like Kevin, our Eno's announcements make me happy. And while that could be true, they do bring me joy, Kevin. True happiness is not dependent on external conditions, but instead arrive from inner sense of peace, usually due to ethical living and insight into the true nature of reality. And then the last one is... what we're doing all this for, freedom or liberation. And especially when I speak to younger folks, there's often a feeling of freedom being attached to doing what you want, when you want, and how you want. But in Buddhism, freedom is more about liberation from suffering and the causes of it, whether it be greed, hatred, or delusion.

[23:35]

And it's not about acting on every desire, but actually freeing ourselves from the compulsions and attachments around them that leave it suffering. The weather did cool over the past few days, but I'm still dehydrated. So before we wrap up, I wanted to leave you with some practices that you could actually use to engage with these stuck places. So next time you're maybe having some resistance to a term or teaching in Buddhism, stop trying to work with it conceptually and try to actually just tap into how that feels in the body or where that resistance is coming from. And for me, this often happens if I'm trying to engage in a compassion practice with somebody or some situation that's not favorable.

[24:40]

I find a restriction, and it's good to just tap in and breathe, give that space and time. Another thing that you can do besides feeling into that point of resistance is actually... not something you can always control. So what I've realized over the years is I've went through stages where I've tried to conceptualize things. I talk with many teachers, try to figure things out. And at a point I get kind of mentally satisfied and can forget about it. And then one day I'll just be either walking or hearing a Dharma talk and a teaching will be delivered again. And all of a sudden it just goes straight into me. It's a very weird thing But I think those of you who have practiced long enough have experienced a type of thing. So what I'm trying to say with that is sometimes you just have to practice and be patient. The teaching will reach you in your eyes when the time is right.

[25:42]

And then the last practice that I'd encourage to help move words from the intellectual to the embodiment is to talk with friends. I regularly lead one of our affinity groups, Young Urban Zen, and the format is we'll meditate, Someone will give a talk, have a little Q&A, and then everybody breaks up into small groups and talks about the topic. And what's really fascinating is then we come back in a large circle and we'll sometimes have kind of report outs of what came up. And I'm like blown away because I'm like, oh, those are the real teachings. We could have like inverted the night probably and been well off. So if you can discuss these things, of course, with teachers, but also spiritual friends and you'll be surprised on how they turn in your system. And then to leave you with some final teachings from Buddhas and ancestors around this, I want to remind us all that Buddha's advice was to try teachings on for yourself.

[26:55]

So, you know, don't intellectualize these words. Try acting out compassion. Try to experience non-self for yourself. Suzuki Roshi said that each practitioner's experience is unique and no words can fully encapsulate the depth of personal practice. One of our senior Dharma teachers over here says experience the experience you're experiencing and that is the practice. And then our 13th century ancestor Dogen is known for his famous instructions you should therefore cease from practice based on intellectual understanding pursuing words and following after speech and learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate yourself body and mind of themselves of themselves will drop away and your original face will be manifest So understand that these words are just a framework of pointing at this thing we call the human experience.

[28:04]

Speaking about someone who knows about the human experience, and given the time of season it is, I wanted to close with some info about everyone's favorite Donald. So recently Maya has been really into Donald Duck. And in Germany, Donald Duck became a more serious intellectual character compared to his original lighthearted self when he made it over there across seas. The humor and the playful personality were lost in translation. And his original character was kind of skewed, replacing him and reshaping him as something that was more conceptual and heady. And similarly, in Buddhism, we get caught up with intellectualizing or overanalyzing things so much that I've seen myself and others lose joy.

[29:06]

So I will leave us with the question, do we want to be the Hetty Donald shaped by thinking and concepts? Or do you want to embrace your original nature, your true self, the joyful heart-centered Buddha? Practice is an invitation to return to our original nature, our authentic selves, the non-prescribed, intellectualized version that sometimes emerges. Just as a bridge supports us regardless of its material, let us walk our path with openness and presence beyond constraints of words and concepts until we are one with the moon. And I'm going to share with you a little picture that Maya got off of one of her cartoons, my seven-year-old daughter. That's Donald and the moon settling. So thank you for your time and attention.

[30:06]

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. For more information, please visit sfzc.org and click giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[30:35]

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