Thank you. Excuse me.

[06:00]

We'd like to ask everybody to either turn off your cell phone or turn your cell phone on to airplane mode if you have a cell phone here with you, just because the Wi-Fi connection hasn't been very strong here today. And the less people trying to access the Wi-Fi, the stronger our own connection would be. So thank you for doing that. Here's the Elf Fair.

[10:03]

stand under Zarbutanz because of the doshas. I don't know.

[14:54]

I don't know. [...] Good evening, everybody. Good evening. Good evening, people on this side of the room. Good evening, people watching via Zoom. I know some of you, it's morning or afternoon. And welcome. So I think most of us know each other. My name is Shozan Victoria Austin. I'm a priest here. And I want to just acknowledge all the changes that have taken place this week in the world, in this country, in our city, probably in our families and friends, and in this building.

[16:21]

So I want to congratulate the kitchen crew in particular. The kitchen crew is starting to revitalize the Zen kitchen here in this building after a year of no Zen kitchen, which means, you know, it's kind of like reconstituting the kitchen practice with a whole new group of people. It's wonderful that we have this. It's wonderful that we can do this activity. The kitchen and the zendo are the two hands that come together to form the vow that we give to the world. Doesn't mean the other positions aren't important, but the kitchen and the zendo in particular show the wisdom and the compassion side of what we do. It's really important.

[17:23]

But I'm off topic. Excuse me. So I want to thank you, Tim, for inviting me to speak. I'm not ready, so I'm going to have to give more lectures on this subject. But I'll broach this subject, today's subject, even though I'm not really ready, scholastically ready, to talk about it. And I haven't been... witnessing the practice this time long enough to really talk about it. You know, as I said, this week we woke up, we wake up to a very different country and a very different world. And in the past weeks, many of our loved ones have struggled. The loved ones we know and also the loved ones we don't know have struggled severely through flames, and war, catastrophe, social conditions.

[18:27]

They've struggled in all sorts of way. And so my heart and mind has been turning to the subject of refuge. What is refuge? Where can we find our refuge, particularly in times of change, in times of calamity, catastrophe, or even just what we don't want? Yesterday I was driving to the airport and I heard a first responder from the fires being interviewed. And she's been a first responder, an emergency responder for several years. And I was going to turn it off to focus more on the driving, but then she started speaking in ways that just caught me. I just had to continue to hear. So... Because she started to talk about what lives on, what gives life during a disaster or during a catastrophe or during an event or series of events we can't stand.

[19:35]

So I kept it on. I was struck by her message. She said she's seen many burned houses, many ruined roads, many blasted pipes, many grieving... people who have suffered losses but what she has never seen in her work is a failure of the value of community the refuge of community and I thought wow I have to hear the rest of what she has to say but then I got to the airport so I had to turn the radio off and so I never got to hear the end of the interview but my heart and mind continue to think about the question that was bubbling up during the drive. So where is the community in which we can find safety and peace? When it seems like the very ground under us is continuously shifting and we don't know really how to balance in those circumstances.

[20:49]

So I want to mention that on Saturday, if you didn't hear it, listen to the tape. Tova, Jisan Tova, who's sitting back there, gave a Dharma talk that I'm going to remember for a very long time. So she wove together the story of her own personal awakening to racial injustice with teachings of Reverend Martin Luther King, our Zen Buddhist founder, Ehe Dogen, who founded our lineage in Japan, and my Dharma brother, Hozon Alan Sinaki, who passed away a couple weeks ago, and with whom she shared decades of commitment to the practice of socially engaged Buddhism. And Tova quoted two sermons of Reverend King that are in the book Strength to Love. And the first was called On Being a Good Neighbor, where he says something that's very much like what Dogen Zenji says about mountains.

[21:54]

So Dogen Zenji says, mountains belong to those who love them. And Reverend King says that a neighbor is someone who cares about the person near them. And the lecture is about, the sermon is about altruism. Altruism is at the heart of our own vow to wake up, which is not just waking up. We're waking up for everybody's benefit, for everybody's blessing. We're waking up knowing that our own struggles and our own awakening only have meaning when they're offered to the world. It can be offered to the world from inside. It can be offered to the world through our actions. But so that vow of altruism, as His Holiness says, His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, my religion is kindness.

[22:56]

It's altruism. That's the gist. So on being a good neighbor is about that subject. He says, I must not ignore the wounded man on life's Jericho road because he's part of me. I'm part of him. Some other time I'll talk about Tozan's enlightenment poem, but he is just me, I'm not he. You know, about non-objectification, but tonight's not that night. But I want to say that for people who don't already practice socially engaged Buddhism, the sense of I'm part of them, they're part of me, is at the core, isn't it? So, you know, Hozan and I had many conversations in the years that we could have conversations. I'm still having conversations with him, even though he's gone.

[24:00]

That part of our relationship doesn't change all that much, actually. But how do we realize our Zen Buddhist teachings in ways that promote peace, equity, a sense of meeting, intimacy with everyone we meet. So underlying socially engaged Buddhism is the sense that the world and everyone in it is beloved community. And so that beloved community is a Kingian concept and teaching. And so later, Tova quoted another sermon, The Man Who Was a Fool. I don't know if you remember that from Saturday.

[25:03]

But it was about someone who... Anyway, I won't go into the story, but... Reverend King commented that modern civilization, particularly Western civilization, he said, has fallen into a trap, which is to take our material wealth for granted, and even worse, to identify it as our worthy desire, acquisition as our worthy desire or the goal of our lives. and to ignore instead what the material possessions that we have are actually for, our purpose. So again, I want to ask, where is the community in which we can find the safety, the peace, the refuge to practice with our deepest purpose?

[26:08]

When it seems like the ground continually shifts, How can we find that refuge and how can we be that refuge or be part of that refuge in the world? So in a few minutes, I'm going to speak about the teachings of Keizan Jokin, Dayosho, a great teacher, Keizan, who's the other founder of Soto Zen in Japan. But I want to hold them in the context of another teaching of Reverend King's. So he gave a sermon called The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life in the same book, Strength to Love, in which he was talking about what is the stable foundation for a community of interconnection and refuge. So again, what is the foundation that makes it safe, that makes it a refuge? And I'm quoting him in particular as a great spiritual leader, as a man of peace, but also as a teacher who, in his words, gives the essence of, I think, what the West has to offer the 2,500 years of Buddhist practice.

[27:31]

So I think holding his teachings is important. And working with them is important. He was a man of our society and particularly the suffering of our society, the society that we're in today. So in this sermon, the three dimensions of a complete life, this is what he says. So it's a story. Many, many centuries ago, a man by the name of John was in prison. out on a lonely, obscure island called Patmos. While in this situation, John imagined that he saw the new Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. One of the greatest glories of this new city of God that John saw was its completeness. It was not partial and one-sided, but it was complete in all three of its dimensions.

[28:35]

So if you want to look it up, it's in the 16th chapter of the book of Revelation. So in describing the city, John says this, the length and the height and the breadth of it are equal. The length and the height and the breadth of this city are equal. In other words, the city of ideal humanity is not an unbalanced entity. It is complete on all sides. So Reverend King asks us, because the book of Revelations is really hard to understand for anyone who's ever read it, it's completely arcane and there's all sorts of wild imagery that make it very difficult to understand as a teaching for everyday life. But so... Reverend King is kind enough in this sermon to demystify what the three dimensions are.

[29:37]

So he says that length is the push of one's life forward to achieve its personal ends and its ambition. The dimension of length is the inward concern for one's own welfare, in other words, self-development. And he says that the breadth or the width is the outward concern. for the welfare of others, so self and others, and the height he identifies as the upward reach of God. And so in Buddhist language, we can, you know, Christianity and Buddhism do not map one-on-one, okay? But in this case, in this dimensionality of spiritual life, of a complete life, I think that we can talk about the three dimensions, the length being our historical body, our form, our karma, our record of action that exists imprinted in body, speech, and mind.

[30:42]

And the breadth is inclusivity, all beings, not one being. And the height can be known as what's not measurable, the potential. Shunyata, which I'm not going to say is emptiness because that's a terrible, terrible, actually a terrible translation of what it means. So emptiness, infinitude is probably a little bit better. Potential that we don't know, that's the sense of it. So teachings of Kezon are really interesting because there aren't that many of them. not that many of them that have been identified as his teaching. And it's said that Dogen Zenji gave us the teachings of Zen or the philosophy of Zen. And that Kezan Zenji gave us, well, the person who said this said that he gave us the sect of Zen.

[31:52]

But I prefer to think of it as kind of the glue of Zen. What's held it together as a practice and a lineage all this time? What holds it together now? So his last will and testament is a document called the Tozan Jin Mirai Sai. Anyway, it's the last will and testament. The temple... testament or wishes for the entire future. This jin mirai sai is a very important phrase. It's a phrase that's used when making vows. In the entire future, I will not abandon my practice.

[32:54]

I will not abandon you. So it's a kind of jinn mirai-sai, in the entire future. It's the kind of thing you would say when you were talking about an intention that goes through every moment. And this last will and testament is really, really interesting document because unlike most other documents, it starts out by talking about this woman, Sonin, who donated the land to for Kezan to establish his temple. And he talks about the land. But the way he talks about it, he's not just talking about the land. He's talking about the foundation of giving. That's the foundation of the Sangha. And he asks that there be built a stupa, a mount of the five elders. behind the Buddha Hall, which is kind of above the Buddha Hall, that has the bones and relics of some of the ancestors in it, and that everybody in the entire future take care of this altogether, and that if there's people from his lineage not available, that he wants people from other lineages to do it.

[34:18]

And he wants laypeople and priests together to take care of it, and not just take care of that, but take care of the practice with one mind, one taste of practice. And in order to do that, he wants them, he wants a layperson representative and a priest representative, each to make a copy of his last will and testament and then to sign it together ceremonially and seal it together and then for the layperson to keep it in his home and for the priest to keep it in the temple in a high place. So imagine what would happen if all of us or a representative for each of us were to make a copy of some document that was our heritage for the entire future and that included the ability to make of the sangha, of our resources, a pure land based on giving.

[35:34]

What would that be like? And if we signed it together in the presence of witnesses and were accountable to each other to do this. So this is not just a shaggy dog story because I'm actually aiming at something here. But I do want to talk about the values that underlie this idea. And so he was trying to nourish all dimensions equally. He was trying to nourish people's selves. So he would do things like make up ceremonies for particular occasions or honor Sonian. He learned inclusiveness from his mom, Akon. He asked that we practice altruistically for the benefit of everyone. His ceremonies and his writing down of the forms, we still use that today.

[36:40]

It's the rules and regulations of the Soto School, which we think are rules. But when he wrote them down, his idea was that if they were written down, then it was a reference book that anyone could use. So it was actually a revolutionary act because anyone could take these documents and create a temple based on altruism wherever they stood. And so I'll just name a couple of concepts that underlie this. These are cultural concepts that in East Asia underlie a lot of the ways that people relate to each other. So in Japanese, one's called engi, interdependence. So in community, everyone depends on everyone else. And each role and each action is a gift.

[37:44]

a gift of support. And then ho-on, ho-on means, it's been translated as repay gratitude, but I think of it more as requiting the blessing. So those of us who have eaten in the zendo, using the traditional form of odioki, we say, I'm blanking out on the translation we use now. We say that the three wheels, giver, receiver, and gift. How does it go now? How does it go? The emptiness of the three wheels, giver, receiver, and gift. So the emptiness of the three wheels. giver, receiver, and gift, where the gift, the giver and the receiver, each depend on everyone and everything for their very existence and for their ability to relate.

[39:02]

So there's an unpublished translation by Reho Hash of this... of an ancient Chinese text called the Kikyo Mon, of which Kezan Zenji was extremely fond. So he tried to put it into action in his monastery. And I think it's worth mentioning because the Kikyo Mon, the tortoise shell mirror. Tortoise just means it's ancient and wise. And it has that connotation. It has 24 names of roles. of monastic roles. And each of those roles is stated in four different ways. And again, the underlying philosophy of this is that a temple doesn't exist for the residence of a temple. The temple exists to give hope and refuge.

[40:08]

It can give hope and refuge by having people witness that it's a place of peace and harmony. It can give refuge by allowing people to come and stay, and it can give refuge by allowing people to practice in the way that the Buddha handed down through generation after generation until it reached us. So it can be a refuge through time, through space, also because none of it is foreordained. So it's all extremely fragile and the dream or creation of this moment that we each and all have to co-create. And I found the, yeah, it's time, right? You wanted me to let you know it was about 15 minutes left. What about 15 minutes? Okay, I'll be fast. So the four things that he said about each role were

[41:12]

What is the role? Think about this for your own role. How do you know if you're doing it or not doing it? And how do you know if you're being supported or not being supported in your role? And it also, so what that implies is if you're a supporter of the role, how do you know if they're doing the role? How do you know if you're supporting it or not? So for Tenzo. To make offerings of food to the Sangha, there is the cook. This is a translation by Reho Hash. To make offerings of food to the Sangha, there is the cook. That's a pretty simple description, but covers a lot. Now, sangha, this is our role.

[42:16]

Receiving food for the sake of realizing awakening. This is how we express gratitude to the cook. Receiving food for the sake of realizing awakening. Now, how do you know, how does the Tenzo know if they are not doing their job? Or if she's not doing her job? If the six flavors are not refined and meals with the three virtues are not provided, then the cook is not serving the assembly. That's how you know. I can say what those flavors and virtues are later, okay? And how we know, now sangha, listen, this is how we know if we're not upholding the gift of the kitchen. If we are greedy for certain foods, if we are critical or rude, we are not showing appreciation for the cook.

[43:24]

Okay? Take that home with you, okay? Tell it to the person you're feeding. Okay, don't really do that. But anyway, I'm going to be quiet now. I would be interested if you have any comments about this, the three dimensions. how our roles are expressed as an offering, or even what is the sacred function of your role? How do you know if you're not doing it? What are you asking or expecting, or what should we ask or expect of people who support you? How do you know or how do we know if they're not doing it? And then, How do we speak about it with giving, with kind words, with appreciative action, beneficial action, and with identity action?

[44:27]

How do we do that? How do we live in all three dimensions? How do we do what we do as a refuge for all beings? Okay? You want to... bring up anything about this? So we have about 10 minutes. If you have any comments or questions, please raise your hand. I'll bring the microphone over. Hold it like an ice cream cone, okay? Can you hear? Yes. Can you explain a little bit more about the six tastes you are talking about?

[45:32]

Sure. Six tastes. And I'll also throw in the three virtues for free. How's that? Okay, so the six tastes. You know, when I started being tenzo, Sojin gave a lecture and he said that when we ate in the zendo, when we ate using oryoki, you know how you drink the water at the end, you taste the water at the end? He said that water should taste good. The water that we use to wash the bowls. We say it tastes like ambrosia. And he said, no, it actually should. It actually should taste good. Sweet, sour, pungent, salty, bitter, and bland. Six tastes. And virtues are soft or, you know, we can handle it.

[46:40]

Clean. and in accord with the Dharma. Okay? So making food as a pure offering for the Sangha is really interesting. People can actually taste whether that food is made with love, whether that food is made with respect, whether you cared about the people who were growing it and knew that everything in the world went to make that food. You can taste that in the food. And living in the three dimensions means that you take the time to be able to handle the food in that way and to be able to taste and receive the food in that way. Sojin also taught that if you eat plain rice, if you take the time to enjoy the rice, you'll enjoy it. You won't think, oh, that rice needs a sauce.

[47:44]

Or, why are we just having rice? Okay, so think about that. One of the things I used to do with him was to make soup. And what he would do is scrounge around in the fridge, in the kitchen that was behind his office. And we would look for the vegetables that were... in need of care, the ones that needed to be used right away. And then we would prepare them carefully. We'd cut out any spoiled parts. We would talk about how to combine them, and then we would make a soup. And I really loved doing that with him. The soup tasted great, But that's one of the things that I really miss when I think about my teacher who's gone, you know, five years.

[48:48]

So handling our lives in this way is so, so, so important. And if we do it, if we can be an example of it, and please come, please come if you're listening online. Please come. Please volunteer in the kitchen or to do some temple work. And let's express it and see if we can take this spirit home with us. Even if you're just hearing about it. Even if my words don't really express it. See what happens if you clean in the three dimensions. You know, if you clean your house as an offering to all the ancestors who produced you and to everyone in the world. It's okay?

[49:52]

Anything else? Another question? Yeah. Thank you for tonight. Thanks. I'm going to be lazy. and take your question you gave to us and ask you to answer it. As a lay member of the Sangha who's not a resident, what is my role? Yeah. So it depends. As a lay member of the Sangha who's not a resident, you're the center of the practice. So that gives you a lot of responsibility. So you're the center of the practice. I kind of feel like Miss Doris in Romper Room. And you are. [...] You know, Miss Doris somehow made me believe it. But I was a lot younger then.

[50:54]

But I really mean it. And this is another teaching of Sojins, which Hozan, which Alan was really trying to realize in the Sangha. He said that that was his work. A year ago, a little more than a year ago, he had a massive cardiac arrest and his brain was oxygen starved for quite a long time. So he was bed-bound for the last year of his life. And he continued to be the abbot of Berkeley Zen Center for that whole year. And when I asked him what was important to him, what was important to him enough to put his energy into it. He said to create beloved community. And beloved community happens when we all have, it's interesting because we don't have equal roles, but we do have equal responsibilities.

[51:57]

And we have equal roles if you consider the big picture, not if you consider the tiny universe that's within these walls, right? But if you look at the big picture, think about the different roles that you have. What is your response? What's your practice? If you were to name your role, what would it be? And then if you were to name the five sub-roles that you had, what would those be? Like I was doing this exercise with someone, a lay person, who works... very far from San Francisco Zen Center. And we decided on the role for him, guardian of kindness. And so part of the guardian of kindness responsibilities were be a dad, be a husband, and so on. And then in each of those roles, I said, well, what's your responsibility to yourself as a dad?

[53:03]

What's your responsibility to the house? What's your family? What's your responsibility locally? What's your responsibility to the state, the town, the state, the country, the world? Anyway, we picked a few little arenas and talked about that. So I'm not really throwing the question back at you, but let's have a conversation, not just with me, but with those. those you're willing to love as your Sangha brothers and sisters. Okay? Your Sangha family. Thanks. Yeah. That is all the time we have tonight. Thank you, Victoria. Thanks. So, thanks for your attention. Thanks for your patience. Let's... Let's talk.

[54:08]

Okay? Thanks. May our detention should be extended to every being at its place. With the truth to merit of whatever this way. These are not replaced. I can't be found to save them. The pollution which are really inexhaustible. The power of those tubes enters them. Dark lot of games are from the west. I can't be found to enter them. The blood of those tubes enters them. Well, sorry. Okay.

[55:24]

I'll do another three, okay? Thank you for coming this evening.

[57:12]

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