Good morning. Good morning. Hello. Welcome to the San Francisco Zen Center. This world is what it is. This world we live in is many things. And it is what we make of it.

[01:07]

This world is the field of our practice. stadium of our life this room we share right now is our world at this moment and in this world which is what we make of it All of us at one point were born. And when we are young, or when we are freshly minted, it might appear to us that the process of growing up

[02:22]

is a process of addition. We add toilet training and education and friends. Or we add money, relationships. independence we had stylish clothing as our unique expression but as life passes and as we ripen and as we grow older

[03:26]

what we might begin to notice is what we are losing. Because without any doubt, at some point, our sharp eyesight diminishes. Our vigor perhaps lags somewhat. We might lose Some teeth. That toilet training we once were so proud of maybe goes away. And in the end, we lose our life. The momentum of our life is always just so.

[04:32]

Our attention to the world begins with addition. It begins with decisions about branching streams. Left or right or straight ahead. How should I go? So many decisions. We flow on into some semblance of a plan. An agenda. for who we are and what we're going to become. And then so quickly that we don't actually notice when it happens, we find ourselves moving from addition into division, into subtraction, into the place where our well-laid plans are seen to have some dead ends, into the place where we see that the beauty of the world is also the mouth of a labyrinth.

[05:41]

But still, it is a very beautiful world. A beautiful world. And this process is going on in our life all the time. And I want to say that this thing which is always happening in our life is the dance of impermanence. impermanence, which is the first noble truth of Buddhism, the foundation, to some extent, of this great Buddha way. And this thing that I'm calling impermanence is sometimes described with a Sanskrit word, dukkha, and it's sometimes used, described with an English word, which might be suffering.

[07:03]

or impermanence, or maybe even just simply called transformation. Transformation. So the first noble truth of Buddhism, the truth of impermanence, the truth of transformation is my inspiration, I hope, inspiration. for today's talk. Because I know, I feel, no matter how well we plan our life, no matter how careful we are in the steps we take, in the end, everything changes. In the instant, everything changes. In this moment, everything changes. I saw a photo sequence on a news blog, on a news website.

[08:29]

And it was a photograph taken of some dignitaries in Pakistan. And there was clearly, the camera was set on this rapid thing where pictures were taken, blip, blip, blip, blip. Still shots, but very quickly in sequence. And everyone was standing, smiling. And in the background, there was a small flash of yellow. And in the next picture, this flash of yellow swelled up. And in the next picture, it was a small inferno at the back of the crowd. And what was photographed was a suicide bomber. Accidentally, a camera was running. And in a series of maybe, I think, about 15 pictures taken, in fractions of a second, everyone in front is moved down.

[09:36]

everything changes when we least expect it. So in practicing Buddhism, in trying to make an effort to practice Buddhism, there are many Dharma gates, there are many ways, but this teaching of impermanence is the first noble truth. This is really in some important way where practice begins, where the imperative of practice begins. In Zen practice, there is something called zazan, something called sitting Zen.

[10:51]

something called meditation. And Zen meditation is the effort we make to face this world of impermanence and learn who we are in the midst of it. Zazen, it's called. Zazen. And some of you today perhaps might be here because you came to attend Zazen instruction, which I'm sure I trust was useful and appropriate and correct. And right now I would like to supplement your Zazen instruction with a very brief description of Zen meditations. For all of you, I'd like to say that in Zen meditation we notice who we are when we stop moving.

[12:05]

We notice who we are when we sit down and are still. And this effort that we made to stop is one of the ways we see how everything is changing all the time. It's one of the ways we understand how our life is changing. Because if there is one thing we might notice when we try to stop, is how much momentum we carry with us.

[13:14]

Our life and this world is like, not always, but often, is like a wild surging river. or ever bubbling, moving forward. And sometimes, of course, this river may flow into a broad lake and have the appearance of calm, have the appearance of reflecting. Clearly, the mountains that surround it but then it goes over a waterfall. Chinese poet, the old, very famous Chinese poet Li Po wrote, the long river passes away, surge over surge,

[14:34]

and white blooming waves sweep all heroes on as right and wrong triumph and defeat both turn unreal but ever the green hills stay to blush in the west waning day So our human life has a rhythm to it. A flow, the river of our life, passes in front of us in surging waters. White blooming waves sweep each moment on. But ever the green hills stay. Each of us in this room were born, was born, is born.

[15:44]

And we start off the lovely apple in our parent's eye. With time we discover our independence. We discover we can make choices. And one of the things that we might discover is that our life has become complicated. And this complication is what it is. Here is one part of a problem.

[16:59]

We are convinced, each one of us, that as we are, we are incomplete. We look outside of ourselves and outside of this moment for our fulfillment. We look for a lover. We look for a job. We anticipate our new car. Maybe a new car. And we think that this search is the path towards our happiness. One of the things we look for is success in our spiritual endeavor.

[18:03]

A success that is down the road. And this searching, this looking, is nothing more than Buddha looking for Buddha. And one part of this truth that life is always changing, this truth of transformation, is that our life is fleeting. It can be vanished in a flash. This celebratory photo becomes our memorial. I can say this. I have a personal, a newfound depreciation of the fleeting nature of

[19:16]

nature of our good health because about two months ago and some of you know this others maybe don't about two months ago I was crossing the street in front of a stopped car when the car accelerated into traffic directly towards me And I had just been appreciating what a beautiful blue sky there was, and how lovely the day was when suddenly a car was bearing down upon me. And I shouted, but the driver didn't seem to hear, and I tried to dance out of the way. to cuddle myself, to squirt myself up from it.

[20:26]

And the car knocked me over, and I broke my arm, I broke my wrist. And while it seemed like a kind of unfortunate event, I also realized that I was fortunate. At one point, before I motivated myself to move as quickly as possible, with a sense of surprise, I thought, this car is heading right at me. I thought, is this it? Is this the moment? And a second or two later, I was sprawled on the road. As the Diamond Sutra tells us, right almost at the very end of the Diamond Sutra, there is a poem, a verse, and it goes, As a fault of vision, a mop show, dew drops or a bubble, A dream, a lightning flash or cloud, So should one view what is conditioned.

[21:49]

So should one view what is conditioned. One day, when we least expect it, when we are in the middle of the road of our life, we might be presented with something. It might be a question. It might be a car bearing down on us. For each one of us, this question is our question. It's unique. Knowing the answer to my question isn't necessarily going to help you answer your question.

[22:50]

The world is what it is. We go to bed at night, perhaps happily, maybe full of troubles. We go to bed at night and in the morning we wake up and start it over again. And doing this day by day, week by week, year by year, we might maybe perhaps grow up. We might maybe perhaps ripen in some useful way. Or we might perhaps learn how to be helpful, not just to ourself, but helpful to others. But in order to do this, in order to grow up and become helpful and useful, we need help.

[24:02]

We need friends. We need support. And San Francisco Zen Center is one. way we might find this support. But there's other ways, too. We have no monopoly on it. So here is Suzanne's story about growing up kind of a Krakrana. There was a formidable Zen teacher named Guishan.

[25:12]

But before he was formidable, he was a student. And he was a student of a Chinese Zen teacher named Bai Cheng. He was the attendant to Bai Cheng. And one day, he was acting as this attendant. Guishan was acting as attendant. And he knocked on the door and his teacher, Bhai Chang, said, come in, come in. And when he entered, Bhai Chang told Guishan, please stir, please open the stove. and stir it around to see if there's any fire left. So Guishan took the poker, stirred in the midst of the ashes, and reported, there's no fire anymore.

[26:25]

It's gone out. And hearing this, Bai Chang rose, came over, took the poker from him, and energetically stirred deep in the ash and uncovered a glowing ember, brought him forward, showed it to Guishan, and at that moment Guishan, we read in the anecdote of this encounter, at that moment Guishan woke up Showing this ember to his attendant, Bhai Chang said, what about this? And then Guishan woke up. His teacher said to him at that moment, what you've experienced now is a temporary fork in the road.

[27:29]

If you want to deeply understand the meaning of Buddha nature, then you need to further understand the truth of causation. In other words, his teacher said, well done, but don't rest here. The next day, the two of them and other students of the temple left the grounds and went onto the mountain to work. And at that time, Bai Jiang asked his attendant Guishan up on the mountainside, he said, did you bring the fire? And Guishan said, yes, I brought it. And then Bai Jiang asked him, well, where is it? And Guishan looked to the ground and saw a piece of wood.

[28:34]

He picked it up, held it aloft. and whistled twice. And to this, his teacher said, you are like a termite eating wood. Who would have figured that this is how love is expressed? A termite eating wood. Katiguri Roshi, who came from Japan to help Suzuki Roshi, and then moved to Minnesota. Katiguri Roshi wrote a poem called The Peaceful Life, and there are four lines in it that say, knowing how to live, knowing how to walk with people, demonstrating and teaching,

[29:41]

This is the Buddha way. Knowing how to live. Knowing how to walk with people. And understanding this simple request of knowing how to walk with people is something that in Buddhism is called wisdom. something that is called prajna, to give it its Sanskrit word. And I want to say that wisdom is a dangerous thing. We Iconographically, in Buddhist statues and Buddhist art, wisdom is often depicted as a sword, as a double-edged sword, a sword that cuts on both sides, and a sword with a sharp point.

[30:59]

And this effort to awaken wisdom in our life is a dangerous endeavor. Because making this effort, we ask ourselves, what do I really understand? Does any of this make sense? What is, I'll say funny, perhaps what I mean to say is, what is amazing is that we think that we can hide.

[32:09]

We think that other people don't know us. How could we think that? Really, in ways that are almost embarrassing, our life is an open book. And in ways that we would never perhaps even imagine, our actions and decisions are revealed. Here's a story of something that happened to Norman Fisher. Norman Fisher, at the time when this, at the time of this anecdote, Norman was the abbot, co-abbot of the Zenzhener, he lived at Pringles Farm, and he was shopping at a kind of outdoor supply store.

[33:28]

in San Rafael an outdoor supply store that was located in the kind of industrial flatlands of the San Rafael very near to where the solid waste management facility was in other words near where the garbage dump was and after shopping at this store Norman walked down the street to his car And he saw, one block over this recycling garbage facility, and he saw a gusting wind pick up papers from this yard and blow them over the fence and down the street. And as he walked further to his car, a piece of paper came dancing down the street.

[34:28]

borne by the gusting winds, and came right up against his chest and stuck to his shirt. And he took this piece of paper off and looked at it, and it was a letter a student of his had written to his girlfriend. And that student was in Japan. And the girlfriend, is someone that Norman knew, but he did not know of their relationship. Who would ever have imagined? To think, we think that our life has secrets. Really, there is no corner of our life. It is unrevealed.

[35:31]

And this is the light of wisdom, of prajna. Prajna which is like a sun that shines everywhere. It never sets. Usually we think that knowledge means having all the answers. But the quality of wisdom, of prajna in Buddhism reframes that question of knowledge. Wisdom is more like having all of the questions. than having the answers, having the right question. The great teacher Chogyam Phangpa Rinpoche, Tibetan teacher who passed away some time ago, he said over and over, the question is the answer.

[36:51]

The question is the answer. Another Zen story. There was a teacher named Tozan. And the To of Tozan is the same as the To of Sokto. In other words, this teacher Tozan is one of the founders of the particular tradition of Zen that we practice. And... He was a student of a Chinese master named Yunyan, or in Japanese, Ungan Donjo, who we recite in our lineage chant. And after years of practice with Yunyan, living together with Tozan,

[38:04]

Taozhan approached his teacher Yunnan and said, when I want to see it face to face, what should I do? When I want to see it face to face, what should I do? And his teacher said, you should ask someone who's done it. And Tozan said, well, that's what I'm doing right now. And Yunnan said, really, what can I say to you? What can I say? And sometime later, when Tozan was preparing to leave and continue his life pilgrimage elsewhere, Yunnan asked Tozan, where are you going?

[39:14]

And Tozan said, I don't know where I will end up. And Yunnan said, are you returning home? And Tozan said, no. And then Yunnan said, if you leave, it will be difficult to see one another again. And Tozan replied, it will be difficult to not see one another. And then, at the moment, as Tozan was just about to depart, he asked his teacher, Yunnan, he said, if in the future someone asks me whether I can describe my master's truth, how should I answer? And Yunnan said, after a long silence, he said, just this is it.

[40:23]

And hearing these words, Tozan sighed. when we are young it appears to us that unfolding life is the addition of things each birthday a happy moment each dawning of the new day a new chance to discover and do something new but as life passes our experience changes. Our birthdays become a cause for reflection. When I was a baby, my father changed my diapers and wet the food off of my cheeks after I ate a meal.

[41:39]

And some years ago, When I was a man and my father had become a child again in the hospital, I wiped the food off of his cheeks, food that somehow mysteriously missed his mouth. And the river of our life is always so. This world we live in is what it is. It is many things and it is what we make of it. And this world we live in is the field of our practice.

[42:48]

This room we share right now is the field of our practice. It is also just what it is. Nothing more than what it is. And also, it is completely sufficient. Everything that we have ever wanted or might want is deeply And the secret to whatever peace we might find in our life is to want as little as possible for ourselves and rather to wish these benefits to other people, especially towards those who wish no harm

[43:56]

towards others. And we do not need to know that we are making this effort in order to be transformed by it. It is transforming us always. The first noble truth of impermanence is the noble truth of iron turning to gold. So, sittings as in how we might make the effort to stop But what we find so quickly is that we can't stop. We can't let go.

[44:58]

But finally also, we might find that we have already let go. And we have let go of letting go. If we observe carefully, we might find ourselves already in the place where, like Yunnan once said, just this is it. Just this. Thank you very much.

[45:53]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_97.77