I offer a warm, wholehearted welcome to the Great Assembly. The chant we just, or I just recited and maybe you went along with me, says that when we meet the true Dharma, We will renounce worldly affairs. And some people think maybe that worldly affairs means going shopping or commuting to work or making dinner or changing diapers or working in the garden. Today, I would suggest that an example of worldly affair is violence violence is a worldly affair and so today I feel called to address the issue of violence or another way to put it is I feel called to uphold the marvelous inconceivable practice

[01:35]

of nonviolence. Nonviolence. I don't know. I can't see where we're going. I can't see where... this great pandemic that we're living in the middle of is going. I don't know where the political crisis is going to turn, how it's going to evolve. I don't know how the environmental crisis is going to evolve. But what I trust in... In the midst of all this uncertainty, I trust in nonviolence.

[02:42]

I trust in working for harmony and peace. I feel that nonviolence is in accord with harmony and peace. Promotes it. Realizes it. that it is harmony, and harmony is nonviolence. I hear the word violence. I see images of violence. And I feel called to respond to these images and feelings of violence with compassion.

[03:46]

I imagine that I was attracted to the Zen tradition and Zen practice by stories, by images of nonviolence. When I read these stories, my mind imagined various scenes that And I didn't think of the word nonviolence when I read these stories. But today, looking at those stories, I think they're stories of nonviolence. One of the early stories I read about the Zen tradition is a story about a Japanese Zen monk named Hakuin.

[05:24]

I've told many of you this story before, and today may I tell you again? May I? Okay, so Hakuin, a disciple, a Buddha, lived, in Japan, and he lived quite near to Mount Fuji, and he lived quite near to the temple where Suzuki Roshi was the abbot, in the state of Shizuoka, near the Pacific Ocean. And so it was, yeah, he lived near a fishing town. One day, a girl in the fishing village was discovered by her parents to be pregnant. And they were very upset.

[06:32]

And they asked her to tell them who is the person who is the father. And she resisted. But finally, because I would think maybe a violent pressure, she, in her fear, lied and said, that the father of the child was the monk, Hakuin. The parents went to Hakuin and expressed great anger. And Hakuin said, in English translation, in a book called Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, the translation of his response to their great anger was, is that so? Then, when the child was born, they brought the child to Hakuen and told him to take care of it.

[07:49]

And he, together with neighbors, did take care of it. the child very well, according to the story. He got the food and clothing and protection and love that the child needed. After about a year, the daughter I guess couldn't stand her lie anymore and told her parents that the father was actually a young boy who lived in the village. The parents went back to Hakuen, apologized, begged forgiveness, and praised him for his great virtue. And Hakuen said, is that so? When I heard that story many years ago, I think I thought, I want to live like that.

[08:58]

I didn't know how Hakuin was able to live like that, but I wanted to live like that. Now today I look at that story and I say, he was treated violently. And he responded with nonviolence. Then he was treated respectfully and gratefully, and he responded with nonviolence. I wanted to learn to be, to live like that, to be nonviolent in the face of whatever comes. At the beginning of the story in the book, it has, for each story in the book, it has a Chinese character. And the Chinese character at the beginning of this story is a character which means this. This is the name of the, is the character at the beginning of the story, this.

[10:05]

And I thought maybe another translation might be, oh, this. Oh, this. Oh, now this. Oh, it's come to this. And to meet whatever this is, with nonviolence, for the sake of peace and harmony among all living beings in the great earth. And I wanted to live that way and then I gradually found out that Hakuin wasn't just that way by luck. He had trained and studied the Buddha's teaching and practiced in the Sangha for many years to become such a great compassionate being. And so there's many stories in the Zen tradition and the Buddhist tradition of Buddhist practitioners of bodhisattvas on the path of Buddha who have met violence and responded non-violently and

[11:22]

in some cases, quickly realized peace in the face of violence. But sometimes it takes a while in these stories. Sometimes we may respond nonviolently to violence and yet not see the harmony immediately. In the story of Hakuin, It took a year for him to practice and for the people in the village to practice together with him and see how he responded. And during that time, part of the story says his good reputation was lost for during that year. And then it, I guess, was reestablished at the end of the year and is still living now, 300 years later.

[12:22]

He practiced for a year with this violence. He practiced compassionately and nonviolently for a year in order to realize harmony with the daughter's family and the village. Would you like to hear another story about nonviolent response to violence? person does two people do okay three all right four five okay great here's the story uh this is one of the stories which is proposed by the buddhist canon it's in the buddhist canon it's a scripture and uh it's just amazing some many of you heard it it's it's so amazing it's a lot of people talk about it it's a story about the buddha

[13:27]

in India. The name of the scripture is, in Pali, Angulimala Sutta, which can be translated as About Angulimala. Anguli means finger, and mala means necklace. It's a story about the Buddha, and it's a story about a bandit, a bandit who killed many people. A brutal, violent, insane person. They say he made villages into non-villages, towns into non-towns, inhabited areas uninhabited. He devastated the area all around where he lived.

[14:29]

In his territory, everyone was afraid. People were afraid wherever they lived to go out of their houses. It was a time. The Buddha was in the world. The great teacher was living in the world. And not too far from where he lived, there was tremendous fear and violence. like now. Just like now. And what did the Buddha do? Well, one day, the Buddha, as usual, arose and went to town to beg for his lunch. And he wore robes and he also carried It says in the sutra, he carried his top robe, his upper robe and his bowl.

[15:36]

And he begged in town. And after finished begging, I guess successfully, he went back to his abode and ate lunch. And after lunch, he took his bowl and his robe and went for a walk. And where did he walk? Well, for some reason or other, the Buddha went walking in the neighborhood, in the territory where this mass murderer lived. I mean, that's the story. And as he walked into that neighborhood, as he approached where the Angulimala lived, shepherds, cowherds, farmers, And laborers saw the Buddha walking mindfully on the earth.

[16:40]

And they said, Venerable teacher, don't go there. The terrible murderer lives in that area. Stay away from him. And they reiterated what a terrible situation he was walking into. And what did the Buddha do? The Buddha silently said, continued to walk on the path, non-violently. And then again, they said to him, honored one, don't go there. And again, the Buddha responded by silently continuing to walk. And again. And the Buddha responded by silently continuing to walk.

[17:45]

Finally, he got into sight of Angulimala. Angulimala saw the Buddha coming towards him. And Angulimala said or thought, amazing. This is astounding. This monk is walking into my territory. Nobody does that. The Buddha astounded him. And Angulimala got to see a nonviolent one come towards him. And Angulimala, you know, had his job to do, his job of violence.

[18:58]

So as the World Honored One approached him, even though he was amazed, he still did his usual thing. He was not yet amazed out of his violence, but he was amazed in his violence. And he picked up his sword and his shield and his other equipment of violence. ran after the Buddha who was walking non-violently. And as Angulimala got closer to him, the Buddha did something which I'd like to maybe talk in more detail about. The Buddha used what you might call or magical powers. I'll talk with you later maybe about, is that nonviolent to use these magical powers?

[20:12]

And what magical powers did the Buddha use? Well, he used the magical power of walking, But also, somehow, somehow, somehow, Angulimala, who can run really fast, you know, he can outrun deer, horses, elephants. He was a fast runner. He could catch anybody and kill anybody. So he's running at top speed after the Buddha, and the Buddha's walking mindfully, and he's not gaining on him. And he's amazed. This non-violent guy, how does he do that? He walks slowly and I run fast and can't catch him. I want to catch him and kill him. What's going on? I'm amazed. This is astounding. The Buddha's work is starting to sink in.

[21:17]

Finally, Angulimala stops running and yells out to the Buddha. Hey, monk! What's going on? Why can't I catch you? And the Buddha says, because I have stopped. and you have not. Angulimala thought he had stopped and called to the Buddha, and the Buddha was walking, and the Buddha tells him, the reason you can't catch me is because I have stopped, and you have not. And again, Angulimala is amazed and astounded. This is not just another kill for the mass murderer.

[22:32]

This is an astounding meeting. He's meeting nonviolence and fearlessness in the face of his brutal violence. And then he even asked the Buddhist, now he's asking the Buddha questions. And he says to the Buddha, why can't I catch you? And the Buddha says, because I stopped and you have not. Then he says, what do you mean? And the Buddhist says, I've stopped all violence. I've abandoned violence. And because I've abandoned violence, because I will never kill anything, I am fearless of death. You, however, have not stopped. You are still involved in violence.

[23:33]

To make a long story short, and there's many versions outside the scripture of this story, going into the details of what's going on in the murderer's mind, the murderer gave up being a murderer. He stopped. He abandoned his worldly affairs. In the face of the Buddha's teaching, he abandoned the worldly affair of aggression, violence, and hatred. And he bowed down to the Buddha. He threw his swords and his shield into a deep pit. in the dark forest and bowed down to the Buddha and asked the Buddha to be his teacher and to join his community. And I just realized an interesting twist of this story.

[24:50]

which I hadn't noticed before. One of the good things, by the way, of telling these stories over and over is you keep discovering new jewels. So the one I discovered today, right now, while I'm telling you this story, is that, as I said before, the Buddha was walking on the earth nonviolently, carrying his robe. He was wearing a robe, but he also carried his outer robe while he was walking. his bull. So, when this murderer is converted, when this murderer hears the teaching of the Buddha, lets it in, and the Buddha delivered it over and over in this very deeply kind way, deeply friendly way, it got into Angulimala's heart and he turned and abandoned violence and bowed to the Buddha wholeheartedly and asked to become a student of the teaching.

[26:05]

And asked to join the community. And when you join the community, in those days, you would be given a robe and a bowl. And the Buddha... is carrying a robe and a bowl, and he gives them to this person who a few minutes before was harboring intentions of murder and now wants to recover, wants to be redeemed, wants to be repaired, and asks the Buddha to let him be redeemed and repaired. And the Buddha says, come, come. And he comes and he becomes a disciple of Buddha. The story goes on. But for now, I'm going to stop here and just let you read it. It's online.

[27:07]

You can read it. Angulimala Sutta. There's many translations. And the story goes on. But I'm not going to tell you the whole story because it's almost time for me to stop. Instead, I'm going to tell you some other ones that are a lot shorter. And I'll try to restrain myself and not tell you too many. So one of them is... One of them occurs in Japan, and as you may know, the Zen school had close relationships with the military class, with the samurai class in Japan.

[28:09]

And many samurai professional warriors went to Zen teachers to learn nonviolence, Some of them learned it and some of them didn't. Again, even though the Buddha teaches nonviolence, not everybody learns what it is in a moment. Sometimes it takes a long time for us to really understand what nonviolence is. I want to understand it. I want this great community to understand what nonviolence is. I want to understand it so we can live in peace and harmony. So one more short story is a samurai comes to a Zen teacher and says, please teach me about Buddhism.

[29:19]

Teach me what is the difference between between heaven and hell. And the Zen teacher says, well, that's not possible for me to teach you because you're too arrogant to be taught. There's no way that you would be able to understand it because you're so arrogant. And the samurai jumps up, pulls out his sword, And is about to. Chop the Zen master. Kill the Zen master. And the Zen master says. This is hell. The samurai. Wakes up. Falls to the ground.

[30:20]

bows to the teacher, says he's sorry, and says, thank you so much for teaching me what is hell. And the teacher says, this is heaven. So those are the stories. And now I'd like to just comment a little bit that our practice, in my view, and I want to say this nonviolently, I want to say this, I want to say this firmly and clearly and maybe even a little emphatically, and I want to say this nonviolently. Our practice, is to express ourselves fully.

[31:21]

And in order to practice expressing ourselves fully, we must do so non-violently and responsibly. Now, I said that, and I welcome your feedback, if the way I said that was at all I don't want to speak to you violently, but I do say our practice of nonviolence is to express ourselves fully, to express our unique Dharma position. Each of us is sitting at our Dharma seat, and we have something to express, and we're being called to express it fully. It doesn't mean you talk. It doesn't mean you're silent. But it could be speaking and it could be silence.

[32:25]

In the story of the Buddha, the people told the Buddha, don't go there. And the Buddha walked. The Buddha expressed herself by walking silently. When the murderer saw him, the Buddha continued to walk silently. The Buddha was expressing herself fully. so fully, astoundingly full was the Buddha's expression and nonviolent and silent. But then when called upon, the Buddha spoke and the Buddha spoke firmly, clearly, assertively, responsibly and nonviolently. Our practice is to express ourselves fully and clearly, wholeheartedly, our Dharma position. Each of us is sitting in a particular Dharma position.

[33:28]

Each of us has this opportunity and responsibility to express ourselves under our conditions. And to find a way to do that in a way that realizes harmony with the beings we meet. So I aspire to express myself fully and nonviolently. And I assert that. But I assert that while I assert it, I want to do it gently, respectfully, carefully, and nonviolently. Not shrink back from my expression, not get ahead of my expression, not try to control my expression. and not try to control you. Trying to control you or myself is a form of violence.

[34:38]

It's a form of oppression. I wish to give up trying to control, and rather than control living beings, be their friend. And when people are afraid, many people are afraid now, they are at risk of trying to control themselves and others. And they need someone to be friends to them, to show them how to face their fear so they can relax with it and be nonviolent with their fear. And that is the path the path to realizing nonviolence. So, again, I have the experience of feeling like I didn't say anything, but there it is.

[35:41]

Maybe that's enough from me. Yeah. Maybe it's enough from me. in terms of just talking along. And I hope I haven't talked too long. Did I talk too long? Some people are going no. Anybody going yes? Did I talk too long? I was invited to talk, right? So maybe I talked too long. I'm sorry if I did. And so now I open to your feedback, your questions. your input, your inquiry, your curiosity, your nonviolence, or your attempts to express yourself fully and nonviolently. Please, Great Assembly, give it a try. If you'd like to make a comment, please look for the raise hand button on your device.

[36:53]

You can also send a chat. to me and I can bring you on that way. We have Oscar. Thank you very much, Rep. Nowadays we see... You're welcome, Oscar. How is it that people who are expressing themselves violently nowadays or in any time, how is it that they are not fully expressing themselves? Well, for example, they're holding back their kindness. They're holding back their gentleness. They're holding back their generosity. They're holding back their respect. They're holding back their patience. They're holding back their

[37:56]

they're holding back their flexibility they're just expressing that narrow little powerful band called hatred it's just a small part of us we include that ability but we knew how to do that shortly after we were born what do you say to that Oscar? I think that makes a lot of sense, Reb. Thank you very much for these wonderful stories. And thank you for also calling on Zen Flesh and Zen Bones for your stories. I think it was the first Zen book I read many, many years ago. It's great to be reminded of it. When I first read Zen Flesh and Zen Bones, I don't remember any blurbs on the back of it written by people who had been practicing Zen for a long time. But now, the recent edition of it, many people say, this is the first book I read on Zen.

[39:02]

This is the first book where I got a feeling for the heart of Zen. Many people, many famous Buddhists, it was one of their first books. So thank you, Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, for giving us these wonderful, inspiring stories from the Zen heart. Thank you, Ren. Thank you, Oscar. Thank you for your question. Thank you for your comment. Joseph? Hi, Rob. Hello. And I wonder if you could say a little bit about the alternative to controlling your anger. In the entering the mind of Buddha, you talked about being present with the anger, taking care of the anger, as opposed to trying to control it.

[40:11]

And I was wondering if you could say a little bit more about that. Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is, you know, one of the stories of Zen Flesh and Bones is the name of the story is Great Wave. It's the name of a sumo wrestler, okay? So I would say, just now what comes to my mind is when anger comes, it's like a great wave. It's calling for compassion. It's saying, please ride me. So when anger comes, I would like to carefully get up on top of it and ride it so that I can peacefully be. When you're riding a wave, you're intimate with it. And also you're, you know, You're challenged to be intimate with the constantly changing power of it. So, yeah, I would say I would like to learn to ride the waves of anger. And when you're riding on a wave, when you're surfing on a wave, you are not, when you're actually successfully on the wave, you're not being violent to the wave.

[41:16]

You're not trying to, if you try to control the wave, you're off of it. You've got to accord with it. Otherwise, you're going to get thrown for a loop. You have to respect it and be guided by it. It's opposing you. You're opposing it. But in that mutual opposition, you do this wonderful thing called surfing. That's the way I would like to be with anger, with any violence, to be with it, to be intimate with it, and to beautifully dance with it and ride it. Trying to push violence away is another violence. Trying to control it is more violence. Trying to control violence basically just perpetuates it. Do you have any follow-up on that? What I liked about it is that when we try to control it, it usually means you repress it and you don't really...

[42:21]

you may not really be able to understand it or meet it or be intimate with it. So you lose that wisdom that you get from being present with it. Exactly. That's right. I totally agree. The wisdom comes, the wisdom will arise with, wisdom will arise right in the middle of intimacy with violence. And from that wisdom in intimacy with violence comes great compassion. Thank you. You're welcome. But go try surfing sometimes. It's not easy, especially with the big waves. Start with the little ones. I shouldn't say, I wouldn't even say start with the little ones. Start with the ones you've got right now. Start with the ones you've got right now.

[43:24]

We have plenty right now. Like yesterday I was driving. Dr. Chu's car was not working. And I gave her a ride to Berkeley to have her car repaired. And driving is a great opportunity for violence and nonviolence. Budding in front of other cars is not harmonious. Being selfish when you're driving is not harmonious. Being generous and careful with the other cars is nonviolence. And yeah, so driving is a great opportunity to practice nonviolence. And you have this big responsibility to drive the car. And you should assert yourself and you should be clear. You should tell people, you should show people which lane you're in. And you should use your turn signal. assertively and clearly and non-violently. Driving is a great opportunity for violence and non-violence.

[44:29]

And if someone else is driving violently, you have opportunity to respond to them like riding on a great wave. Oh, thank you for this great opportunity to respond to your aggressive driving non-violently. These other cars are like Anguli Mala, and I'm going to astound them. by great compassion. They may not notice it, but maybe some other people will. Mioi? Yeah. Hello, Reb and everybody. You actually started to answer my question because when you talked about violence, I went into my everyday life. So where's violence there?

[45:31]

Like people with guns are not like my everyday experience. Thanks, Buddha. Yeah. But I received a lot of little videos on my smartphone about Trump, making fun about Trump. And actually, I noticed that I received it as violence. I couldn't find that very funny or maybe not necessary. I mean, we are happy about the election also here in Europe. And then even that, sometimes violence can be so subtle. And... I'm happy that you brought up the everyday life and how car driving can be about violence or not. Thank you. Welcome. And now I hear a new expression in the last few years called mini-aggressions. Little things that you hardly notice, but they are all opportunities for us to express our Dharma position responsibly,

[46:38]

clearly and nonviolently to mini-aggressions, to express how we feel about them and not try to control the mini-aggressors or the maxi-aggressors, but to respect them. Like the Buddha respected Anangulimala. The Buddha respected that person. And the Buddha also, there's other stories about Buddha respecting smaller aggressions. from his students. Thank you. Thank you. I was trying to unmute there. Thank you for your talk. I have a question in Burma, or what's now Myanmar.

[47:40]

The monks have engaged in violence there, the Buddhists have. And I'm wondering what you would tell them. You mean if I was there? Either place. I don't know. If you were there or just from here, what advice you'd give, whatever. I don't feel like I've been called to address them, but maybe now I am. Maybe now that you ask this question, maybe I could find out how to send them a message. But if I was there, what I would want is to be present with them and witness them in a way that would help them remember the Buddha's example. Maybe I would ask them, do you feel you're responding like the Buddha would respond to this situation? Do you feel like you're acting in accord with the Buddha? I might ask them those questions. And maybe before I ask them, I might ask them if they speak English.

[48:41]

And if they don't, I say, could we get a translator? And I would try to speak that way in a way that they felt that I was respectfully approaching them. And by the time we got a translator, maybe they already start to feel like I respect them. And generally speaking... When people feel like we respect them, they think we're intelligent. And if we don't, if they think we don't respect them, they think we're stupid. So, if you really respect somebody, and you express that clearly, and of course, if you do respect them, then you also, even you could respect someone, but still... not be careful the way you express your respect. So if you carefully express your respect for someone, there's a chance that they'll listen to you because there's a chance that they'll see your respect and appreciate it and listen to you.

[49:48]

And then you might ask them a question like, are you a disciple of Buddha? Do you feel like what you're doing now is in accord with Buddha's teaching? And then the conversation starts. and you keep conversing with them in a nonviolent way. For me to go to be in Burma or wherever, and for me to point a finger at them and saying, you're not in accord with Buddhist teaching, that's kind of violent, self-righteous, like I'm better than them. So if I really respect them, I know I could slip into that too. I'm no better than you. even though I'm not better than you, I do have a question for you. Like if I'm driving in the car with you, even though I'm no better than you, I might ask you if you really mean to turn on your left turn signal because I think you want to turn right. Or you might turn your left turn signal on way, way ahead of the intersection.

[50:55]

And I might say, do you want your turn signal on already? But there's one way of asking that that's disrespectful and offensive and violent, and another way which promotes harmony. So I would try, if I was in a situation, what I want to do, I don't know what I would do, what I would want to do is to talk to the Buddhist sangha there and question them in a respectful way. to promote harmony between me and them and between them and the people who I'm wondering what they're doing. That's what I would want to do. And that's what I want to do right now talking to you. Yeah, thank you. That's a very nice answer. Appreciate it. You're welcome. Patrick? Yes. Patrick, yes.

[52:00]

Hi. Hi. First, I wanted to say that, no, you did not go on too long. Your talk was concise, and what it reminded me of was a situation not long ago. When I was talking with a friend who has been in the military, has been in war, and I think may have a weapon in his possession, and was also telling me that in his neighborhood, many people have weapons. This is in Sebastopol. I don't think of this place as being a place where people have... ...at that point, and I'm... because I'm good friends with this person, to express my concern and the people around him having weapons.

[53:09]

And what I said at that time was, once you have a weapon like that, and what you've said today helps me understand what I was saying then. Because if I do have a weapon, like Angulimala, and it's in my hand, my capacity is reduced. I didn't really understand that at the time that I said that, but I'm really appreciating that more. And I'm also appreciating in myself asking the questions that I have that I do use. They may not be so overt as a pistol or a rifle, but I do have weapons, and they're in my hands. And so what you've said really brings up a really valuable question for me to ask myself constantly in my relationships with my intimate partner and everybody else.

[54:22]

okay, I'm armed in some sense. I certainly have, I have, I have weapons and because I have them, I may use them. So thank you. Thank you for clear, concise stories that I've heard many, many times before, but I didn't understand from this perspective. They're much fuller for me now. Thank you. You're so welcome. And I have one comment, which is, again, one of the questions in our world today is, how can those without weapons be in harmony with those with weapons? Because that's the situation, right? Part of the population does not have them. Part of the population does.

[55:25]

And in Japan, in those stories, part of the population had the weapons and part of the population didn't. And the part that didn't have weapons had conversations with the part that did. And these people may not throw their weapons into the forest, but maybe we'll find a way... to have harmony in this world with all these weapons. And for me and you to realize we have weapons is really good. And we might even tell our friends, when you see me using my weapons, like my intelligence or my sharp tongue, when you see me using my body and mind as a weapon, would you please help me notice that? I really appreciated your use of the word glamour. in that connection. I had to immediately look up its derivation. Sir Walter Scott was the first person to use it.

[56:26]

And the reason he used it is because it's close to the word grammar. And people who are highly intelligent or who were studious were thought to have all cult powers. And that's how we get the word glamour. And I have never understood the word glamour from that perspective. But there is another example of a weapon. And that's been one of my weapons has been good grammar. And I have used it in various ways. I don't think very effectively, but nevertheless, with harm at times, with wit and with whatever. And also, I just wanted to mention that one of the stories of the Buddha that I appreciate most is is another story where he went walking, but it said, basically it said, he went walking, but he took off his glamour. He could put it on or take it off.

[57:27]

Okay. But he went walking without his glamour on. So he looked like just an ordinary mendicant. Because he wanted to meet someone who... who he wanted to see what the person would do when he didn't have his glamour on. And in other cases, he actually put it on for the sake of helping beings. And yeah, so glamour is something you can put on and take off. Marilyn Monroe knew how to put it on and take it off. A friend of mine was walking with Marilyn Monroe in New York, And nobody noticed her, you know, on the busy street. And she said to the, and it wasn't a friend of mine. It's a friend of a friend of a friend of mine. And Marilyn said, well, I'm not wearing my glamour. You want to see what happens when I put it on? So then she put her glamour on, and then everybody started looking at her.

[58:31]

People stopped on the path. Oh, it's her. But she knew how to not have it on. Put it on. And the Buddha did too. Sometimes glamour helps. Sometimes it gets people's attention. And it can be really helpful. And you can put on the glamour non-violently sometimes. Like the Buddha did. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you. Look forward to see you put on and take off your glamour. Heather? nice to see attention roshi hello how are studies what how's the bible how's the bible yeah um that's the same way it's always been i suppose i often think of you when i look at the bible oh really yeah my grandmother would be very happy you gave me a bible i i maybe um

[59:45]

My question is my mind gets caught over and over on the idea of protecting someone who is being harmed and how that could interact with nonviolence or violence. It often feels like my responsibility But it can look violent. It could look violent, yeah. It could. But we start... We often start with stories where it doesn't look violent to show people that it is possible to protect against violence nonviolently. Like, for example, the Buddha. He nonviolently protected himself. And in other versions... of the story he non-violently protected Angulimala's mother from his son he non-violently protected a being and so it's good to start with stories and examples of how the protection the non-violent protection looks non-violent and you can see it does protect and then maybe move into the more difficult stories

[61:13]

where it looks like what the person is doing to protect looks violent. And let's examine those stories together. Let's converse about stories where it looks like, is the way you're protecting nonviolent? Can I ask you about that? And sometimes the person can show us, oh, no, it really was nonviolent. Oh, I see. Okay. And sometimes they say, oh, thank you. I'm sorry. The way I was protecting was violent and it didn't help. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was trying to protect, but I just created more violence. I'm so sorry. But it can sometimes, it could be that it looks violent, but it's not. And when it looks violent, if that's what it looks like to us, our Dharma position is that we have the responsibility probably to inquire about that. Can I ask a question? May I respectfully question, did you feel like what you just did was non-violent? Could I have a conversation with you about that? Maybe it's a little harder if you don't know how to use magic.

[62:18]

Knowing how to use magic does help. But if we... Curiosity is the door to magic. If we inquire about who somebody is, magical powers will come through the conversation. The conversation... a real genuine conversation has magical powers. Not that I have them, but the conversation has them. So when you and I are really having a genuine conversation, magical things happen. Not that I do them or you do them, but our conversation does them. And we find harmony where we never thought we would ever be able to find it. which is what we want. We want to find it where we think we'll find it and where we cannot imagine we'll find it. I want to find it everywhere eventually. Me too. Thank you. Karen?

[63:27]

Hello. I have a question about the Buddha's magic. Yes. You know, the story about the stopping. I stopped. And I mean, I guess it's not the story about, you know, some superhuman being. But it's about like, what's the stopping? Is it stopping going anywhere else than where you are? That's part of it, yes. So right now, you and I are of a conversation. And in this conversation, part of finding the magic of this conversation is for both of us to not go someplace else, but to be here together and not look for some other conversation than this one. both of us to be fully responsible for this conversation, then the supernatural power of our meeting will come into play.

[64:47]

But if we're not here, we're not going to be able to receive the benefits of our conversation. We have to both be committed to be responsible to this meeting and to express ourselves fully and honestly. That's where the magic is. And part of it is don't go someplace else. But also, once you're here, then give yourself and welcome the other. So the magic was that even though somebody was like really threatening him, he was able to face that and be there. And not wish he was someplace else. And in this case, he knowingly and willingly went to this place where he knew he might be threatened. He knew that might happen, probably.

[65:52]

People were telling him, it's going to happen. Don't go there. So he said, I'm going to go meet this guy. He's harming people. I want to go. I want to come and teach him nonviolence. So when he actually did get frightened with his background, he could be there. And this Angulimala was totally amazed. Nobody was there for him before. Everybody else was afraid. Here's somebody who was not afraid, who was actually willing to be there. Wow. And that also is respecting Angulimala. So start by being here. Start by not going someplace else and then welcome the situation and practice all the Bodhisattva virtues. Hi.

[66:53]

Yeah, can you hear me? I guess I have a question about fear. And, you know, I have instances in my life where I respond to things in quite unfearless ways. And then other instances where I respond with a ton of fear. And the Buddha, I guess my question is when fear is triggered, he went towards Agimala. But what if he went towards Agimala and then when Agimala turned, he stayed present and he was terrified. what do you do, how do, what is the Buddha, what do you do, how do you teach non, how do you teach help with fear?

[68:04]

Okay, so basically I just had this association where someone asked earlier, what do you do when a big violence comes? And I said it's like a wave. So I would like to learn how to ride the wave of violence. And the same, when a big wave of fear comes, I would like to learn how to surf it. That's what I want to learn. It's how to surf the fear, how to be with the fear, how to be intimate with the fear. Riding with the fear. For example, just talking to Michelle, Michelle, when the fear comes, I would like to train myself to not try to be someplace else. Try to be there with the fear. And then if I give up trying to be someplace else from being afraid or being with the fear, then I can start welcoming the fear and being careful of the fear and respecting the fear.

[69:15]

If you don't respect fear, there's going to be more intense fear. And also, Violence. Not respecting fear is a form of violence. Respecting fear is part of being non-violent with the fear. When the fear feels respected, it starts to calm down. Or rather, even if it doesn't calm down, it shows us a way to get up and ride it. It's like, yeah, it's like the fear comes, we respect it, and the fear... shows us that there's a ladder to climb up on top of it and ride it. The fear says, oh, you respect me? Oh, you're not trying to get away from me? Oh, I'll show you a way to be intimate with me. So again, a moment ago I said the fear calms down, but really what I want to say is, as we respect and as we're nonviolent to the fear, as we don't push the fear away or run away from it, running away from the fear is a kind of violence.

[70:21]

Turning away from the fear is a kind of violence. Being with the fear and being respectful and generous with the fear is being nonviolent with it. And as we're nonviolent with fear, fear will show us how to be intimate with it. And when we're intimate with it, we'll be like the Buddha. The Buddha was intimate with fear and intimacy with fear is also called non-fear or fearlessness. But fearlessness has no meaning without fear. So the Buddha is fearless because the Buddha is intimate with all fear. So I wish to be intimate with all fear. I'm not trying to get rid of fear. I'm aspiring to be intimate with it. And I believe that if I'm intimate with all fear, that fearlessness of the Buddha will be realized. And therefore, the Buddha's nonviolence will be realized simultaneously.

[71:26]

Okay. Okay. Hayley? Hey. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning to you, Rev, and to the wonderful sangha here. You're welcome to the sangha. Sometimes I'm shy about what I'm about to or trying to say, and I love these stories you've shared. I don't really care how many times I hear them because they have so many deep qualities for us to... And I just want to say I missed last Saturday because just a few minutes before I was about to join, it turns out that there was a president elected.

[72:42]

And I was taken away on the streets and revelry and song and sharing celebration. I'm moved by your invitation to us. There's almost no place where there's that kind of invitation in Buddhism in sharing and to actually welcome people to share authentically and without, you know, in a place of nonviolence. It's almost non-existent. In Buddhism, at least I have no known place where that invitation exists, especially in an open sangha like this. So I really honor and respect you for that. I'm really touched by that. And I just want to say your stories, which you brought forth today, and the way you shared...

[73:53]

and brought up this issue of respect reminded me that even if I've studied nonviolence, that there are times when I've felt, and this is sort of awkward, but I've felt harmed by something that I've heard women share as death by a thousand paper cuts, and which is this It's a place of where there's no awareness in a sangha of what unconscious behavior is going on. And I'm talking about this as I have also become unconscious in my response sometimes to things like that. I have made...

[74:55]

I mean, it's really awkward for me to say this because I'm acknowledging my mistakes in front of everybody. And it's like when I've had the occasion where I've wanted to speak up and say something or share, I've made mistakes in how to do it and been frustrated by the lack of awareness of... And therefore, and in those moments of being frustrated, I've become unaware and not held the quality of the type of energy I would like to have in that moment. And then on the other hand, there's a part of me that feels like weight. Not only do I end up... having to go through situations occasionally with this death by a thousand paper cuts which is this moment by moment in different places and not everybody not everywhere but I just because there are some places where the people are not having this unconscious behavior and what I mean by that is

[76:15]

maybe the unconscious behavior towards how they hold women in the Sangha, or there's some place that I know that doesn't have that quality per se. However, maybe there's another issue where the honoring of being able to have that kind of quality of openness that you've shared with us might not fully exist. Anyway, so here, let me go back to this. So what I found is that in my... trying to express myself and trying to share and bring awareness to it, I sometimes have lost my own awareness. And that's kind of an embarrassing thing for me to recognize in my own pain of being in relation to those things. I've lost my awareness. And I'm just being awkwardly expressing myself and I really want to thank you for bringing these moments to us to bring awareness to ourselves and to be able to share and ask you questions in the way that you've that you've invited anyway I guess it's a comment so I'm going to go back to all those places and see if what I could have done differently

[77:45]

And anyway, do you have anything to say to me? I would say you're trying to learn a great art, and I hope you continue in your study. Thank you. You're welcome. Oma? Thank you, Rep. You're welcome. My question is that I hear a lot about understanding Buddhism. And for some reason, I have this thought or this belief, as long as there's an I, and this I sees violence, violence,

[78:45]

and nonviolence as two, or sees basically as two, this I is not capable of understanding Buddhism. I'd like to have your input about this I, which tries to understand Buddhism, but it cannot because it's contained in a... It has a... It's contained. It's limited. It's contained. And Buddhism is not contained. I agree. The I does not understand Buddhism. the I does not understand the truth.

[79:46]

But the understanding of the truth does not exclude, fortunately, does not exclude the I. The I is in the realm of the understanding, the I lives there. But the I doesn't do the understanding. So is the, as I speak... I'm saying maybe, I don't know. So maybe the eye is the seeker only. Eye is the seeker. It doesn't have to understand. It just seeks. The seeker doesn't understand what is needed. But the conversation between the seeker and what is sought, that conversation, when that conversation becomes wholehearted, that conversation realizes the non-duality of seeker and sought. And that understands Buddhism. Thank you.

[80:55]

Karen? Good morning, Ruth. Good morning. You said a little while ago that there are examples of ways of using... what appears to be violence to stop nonviolence. And I wondered about that. And I thought about a friend of mine who said sometimes that when you're dealing with somebody who's upset and angry, sometimes you have to yell at them to get their attention. But then as soon as you get their attention, you have to stop yelling, you know? And I thought, well, maybe that's an example, but it's really hard to, sometimes when you pick up that sword of the energy of anger, sometimes it's really hard to put it down once you have that person's attention. And I just, I wondered if you had either a better example or a comment on the example that I read up.

[81:58]

Well, one response that comes to my mind, is that when the shout is the shout of the Great Assembly, then it's not violent. So when the shout includes the person that's shouted at and everybody else, then it's not violent. But if the shout is me shouting at you and you don't feel like it's your shout, then you feel maybe like it's violent. And so, but sometimes somebody might yell at me and I feel like, yes, that was just perfect. Thank you. So like, yeah. So a shout. One of the ways we talk about the Buddha is the Buddha's speech is the lion's roar.

[83:05]

And here's another image that came to my mind. I don't know how they did this. But anyway, I saw a movie about a man who was hunting a grizzly. And he was sitting on the side of a mountain with his gun watching for the grizzly to shoot the grizzly. And I think from his left... the grizzly came over to him and got... I don't know how they did this, but anyway, the grizzly got like right by his head and opened his mouth just the right size to eat the man's head. And that grizzly roared. And then the grizzly stopped and walked away. And I thought that was... That grizzly was saying in a very loud way, nonviolence, and the man got it.

[84:07]

So, yeah, I mean, the grizzly just could have closed his head, his mouth down on the man's head very easily or swatted him and killed him instantly. The man had no time to get his gun to turn it. The grizzly was right on top of him, The grizzly did not harm him, but the grizzly did roar and the grizzly said, you silly boy, don't you see how ridiculous killing grizzlies is? And the man got it. So the Buddha might do that. And in a way, the Buddha's walking in front of Angulimala and the Buddha roared at Angulimala in such a way that Angulimala could not catch up with him. It was kind of a roar. It was kind of a yell. But Angulimala stopped and realized, this is amazing. So I think when the yell is very beneficial, then that's the yell we want.

[85:10]

It's the yell that liberates beings. But it could look like a yell. And oftentimes, a lot of times yells are not expressions of nonviolence. Yeah. But they can be. But they're rare. Usually nonviolence is gentle and respectful sounding because most people are not ready for a nonviolence that sounds like a roar. So we start by little squeaks and murmurs and then gradually sometimes it's time for a roar and sometimes the roar is very well received by the one who's roared at and by all beings. The mountains and the rivers say, yes, that was a good roar. Thank you. You're speaking for all of us. The real surprise to me in the story of the grizzly is that after roaring, the grizzly was able to turn around and walk away.

[86:14]

The grizzly was not stuck in the groan. It wasn't like sitting there and giving them a lecture. It's like, that's the message. Got it. See you later. Yeah. And when the grizzly walked off, the guy could have turned and shot him. But he didn't. He understood how ridiculous it was to harm this beautiful animal who was not hurting him. As a matter of fact, went out of his way to go over to him and give him a very powerful message of nonviolence. And when it was done, it was over. So sometimes people say this, and this is a tricky teaching, that when you express anger properly, it totally combusts and it leaves no residual. When you express anger half-heartedly or violently, you vibrate for months or years. When it's total, it's the whole universe expressing itself.

[87:14]

Thank you. Oh, hi, Rob. Yes, you told this beautiful story. You're in outer space. Oh, cool. Oh, well, I put that up there somehow. I can't get it back down. Anyway, it covers up what's behind me in my apartment. You told this beautiful story of the samurai and the Zen teacher, and I was just wondering how... I mean, I guess samurais were Zen Buddhists. Some of them. Some of them were Zen Buddhists. Some of them were not Buddhists. Some of them were Pure Land Buddhists. Some of them were Nichiren Buddhists. But a lot of samurai went to study Zen. I just wondered how they were viewed by the Zen teachers of their day or how they fit in exactly or didn't fit in to the Zen Buddhist culture of their time.

[88:24]

I would think that the Zen Buddhist culture saw the samurai as living beings who deserved to be treated nonviolently. I would think that the Zen tradition looked at the samurais and the farmers and the aristocrats and the merchants. Zen looks at all sentient beings as opportunities to practice harmony and peacefulness. So I would think the Zen tradition the Zen tradition would want to make samurai peaceful with their weapons. The Zen tradition did not take the weapons away from the samurai, but to some extent, Zen was constantly working to make peace in a world that has armed warriors. to make harmony in a world with harm warriors.

[89:27]

And that's where we live now. We live where we are surrounded by armed warriors and police and armed civilians and armed criminals. That's where we live. And what I aspire to is work for peace and harmony with all these armed people to respect them and help them be free of fear. And so that they can be in harmony. And I don't know what's going to happen with their weapons when they practice harmony. I don't know what's going to happen. Hopefully, they'll never be used in a harmful way. Okay. Thank you, Rick. You're welcome. Steve? Okay, Rob. I have a bunch of questions, but I'm only asking the one that I'm most interested in. So I loved your wave of violence thing.

[90:35]

So you have the biggest wave of violence the world has ever seen. And now is it your thought that whether or not a Buddha is up to riding that wave, Bodhi is... there in the wave and calling out to incipient Buddhas to ride the wave with Bodhi? Yes. I would say that Bodhi is currently riding the wave of great violence and is calling us, calling out to us and saying, please learn how to join me here. But it's going to take a lot of training before you're going to learn how to get up on this wave. But that's what I want you to learn. And I hear that call. And I say, I want to learn that, Bodhi. Thanks for inviting me. I want to learn it. And it's going to, you know, right now I can't get up on that wave.

[91:37]

But I'm going to ride every little one I have opportunity. I'm working on my skill so that I can eventually ride up there with you. And I hear your call. I know you want me to be there with you, dear great Bodhi. And I trust that you're already there inviting us all to join you. Do you have any thought about what Bodhi gains by more Buddhas on that wave? Bodhi doesn't gain anything. It doesn't lose anything. Actually, we're already there, but we... We don't think so. Because of our misconceptions and attachments, we don't understand. We're already up there on the way with the Buddha. So that's why we have to practice and have conversations like this. Tracy? These talks are invaluable, at least to me.

[92:51]

And one of the things I most appreciate about them is being with somebody who's resolved about things I'm grappling with. And just the fact that I don't know that you're grappling with them is helpful to me in my own grapple. And in today's talk, as you spoke, what came to me is things I've heard like, Silence is violence. And that all that is needed for evil to continue is for good people to do nothing. And I hear that, and then I try to put it next to the teaching today, and I kind of don't know what, I don't know how to integrate them. And it feels really silly that at the end of this whole time together, I I had an answer before we started to the question, what is violence? But now I actually, I don't know what we mean exactly.

[93:54]

Are we saying violence is unskillfulness, is being unmindful? What are you saying violence is? think violence is unkindness violence is stinginess violence is impatience violence is disrespect violence is killing violence is stealing violence is uh did i say disrespect violence is not being generous violence is not it violence is being overly excited. Violence is running away from who we're talking to. Violence is trying to control people. Violence is dominating people.

[94:56]

Violence is trying to control nature. Violence is trying to dominate nature. Violence is exploitation. Violence is injustice. In other words, violence is infinite. It has many, many forms. And also, I hear... Silence is violence. I hear that. And I also hear. Being silent is not an option. I hear that. And I would say. Not listening to those statements. Would also be disrespectful. So if somebody comes to me. When I'm sitting quietly in a zendo. And whispers or yells at me. Silence and stillness is violence. I want to listen to that. My practice of nonviolence is to listen to people who tell me I'm violent by being quiet. If somebody tells me your silence is violence, my nonviolence listens to that and respects that and is curious about that.

[96:01]

So, yeah. And this statement of Stillness is not an option. That call may keep coming to me, and I vow to listen to it respectfully, generously, patiently. But I also vow to not be oppressed by it and not feel like the people who are telling me that stillness and silence is violence, to respect them. And then maybe ask them, do you feel like what you just said was nonviolent? And they might say, yeah. I say, great. And they might say, you know, actually, the way I told you that, the way I accused you of being violent, the way I did it was violent. I'm sorry. So I listened to all criticisms of my practice, of our practice, as part of my devotion to nonviolence.

[97:11]

And I know I need these, what do you call it, these comments, like what you're doing in Zen, sitting there quietly and still in the meditation hall, that's violent. My practice is to listen to that. That's what I aspire to, to say thank you for what you said. It's a great opportunity for me. I hope it was good for you to tell me. I hope you enjoyed it. And the person might say, I did. Thank you so much. I just really appreciate the way you received my comment. I see that there's eight more questions and it's getting almost to be noon. So... I'm happy to do these next eight, but I also would, maybe we could be a little bit more brief.

[98:21]

Please come, eight questions. Welcome, eight questions. I see Barbara. Hello, Tenshin Roshi. Good morning, Barbara. Good morning. I was very happy toward the end of your talk that you started to use the feminine gender when talking about Buddha. You referred to Buddha as she. And I noticed during the first few stories that I was really feeling disappointed not to hear more alternative pronouns. And... Yeah, I wonder if the English language has inherent violence when it separates the genders like that. And so I just feel like I really appreciate teachers making an effort to bring in the feminine and the non-binary pronouns when they talk about even historical figures.

[99:40]

So thank you very much for listening. Thank you for expressing yourself. Was it wholehearted? I felt wholehearted, yes. Thank you. You're welcome. By the way, Nietzsche said something like language to name something, to give a name to something is kind of an insult or kind of a violence to it. Roshi, you said you saw more questions. I don't see any more unless there are some hands. Are we done? I don't see any more. Maybe if somebody wants to raise a hand or if I'm missing someone. Well, that's... Oh, there I see one. Okay, Susan. Hello.

[100:50]

Here I am. I wrote something down just so I would be brief and to the point because it could go on to a meander. I could meander on and on. So I'm going to read what I wrote. I said, hi, Rep. I just saw you now. Hi. I'm writing this to hopefully have clarity on my part, my part in this that I'm going to describe. There's a person who does not want to acknowledge me. Example, just by saying hello. This has been going on for a few decades. My question is how can I work with myself when I'm using time, a lot of time, perhaps I'm being violent to myself by continuing to try to figure out how to be kind to myself when I start to figure this out. How can I change my way of violently continuing to figure out how to work with myself? I know this sounds very convoluted, but... That's kind of how it is in my brain, right? Okay.

[101:53]

So I hear a situation where someone is kind of like... I could be standing right next to this person. And yeah, I mean... I have had this experience quite a few times. And there's various stories about why this happens. But some people go out of their way... to not meet me. Right. Like, you know, like in the Zen temple. Oh, in the Zen temple. And some people even come into, in the old days when we used to be able to be in the same room together, some people would come into my little tiny Doksan room and try to avoid me in that room. And I would say to them, this is not a good place to try to avoid me. If you want to avoid me, you should go outside. Because I'm kind of unavoidable here. Some people don't come in the room, but they try to avoid me on the paths at Green Gulch or in the dining room.

[103:00]

They try to avoid me. And sometimes I think, well, maybe it's just my imagination. But it sometimes goes on for years. And one woman who was trying to avoid me, we were doing this workshop. And I just happened to be sitting right next to her. And she said, turn to the person next to you. And there was nobody else around her for her to turn to. Everybody else was kind of far away. I just happened to be sitting next to her. And she got up and walked to the other side of the room. Wow. And so I said... This looks like she really is. And I thought she'd been trying to avoid me for months and months before that. And I said, this really does kind of confirm my theory that she's trying to avoid me. And anyway, for all that time with her and many other people, not many, many, many other people, I have to work with what's going on with this avoidance.

[104:08]

And I work on welcoming my feelings of uncertainty about what's going on. And it's kind of uncomfortable. It's not a real comfortable feeling when you're not sure why a person's trying to avoid you. Did you harm them? Are they afraid of you? Did they hear something about you? Did you do something disrespectful of them? What's going on? You don't know. And they don't want to talk to you about it. And if, you know, if you say, can I talk to you? They maybe say no. Anyway, I've had that experience many times and I work on myself just dealing with my discomfort of not knowing until I have a chance to maybe ask him a question. But this particular person, I just didn't see an opportunity. You know, when she's actually trying to avoid me, it seems too much to say, can I talk to you?

[105:13]

Can I ask you a question? So I didn't. But one day I was walking down in the fields at Green Gulch, and she was working in the area on the garden where they put seeds into these little containers, and nobody else was around, and she wasn't busy, and she wasn't going anyplace. So from a distance, this is before social distancing, but I social distanced, I said from a distance, may I ask you a question? And she said, basically, okay. And I said, have I done anything to harm you or offend you? And I think she said, you don't know me well enough to offend me. And then I said, oh, okay. Well, I was wondering because it seems like you're trying to avoid me. And she said, yeah, there is something like that.

[106:19]

And then she said, maybe we should talk about it sometime. And I said, okay, let me know. But then she left Green Gulch. We never did talk. I never really found out what it was that came together for her. She kind of admitted that she was avoiding me. And another case, there's many, many people have been avoiding me for years. There's another case where someone was kind of avoiding me, not looking at me for a long time. And then one day I had a guest come to Green Gulch. And this person was an African-American man who I had invited to come and speak to the community. And I brought him into the dining room. and showed him up to the buffet line for lunch. And this woman who had been avoiding me for a long time vigorously came, run up to the buffet line to help this man get his lunch.

[107:29]

Very friendly and engaging to help this man. And I thought, wow, that was so kind of her. She was so nice to him. Brackets. She never relates to me that way. And not too long after that, she came to see me. She asked to see me and she came to see me. And she said, I just want to say that I am so grateful to you. I so much appreciate your teaching. You've been so helpful to me. I just don't know what to say. You've been so kind to me. And so encouraging to me. And I just really, really, really appreciate your practice. Thank you so much. I had no idea she had thoughts like that. And then after that, she would come to see me now and then and continue in this vein of being very respectful and appreciative of our relationship.

[108:33]

But for a long time, I thought, she's trying to avoid me. She's got a problem with me. She doesn't like me. And maybe all that's true too. Maybe part of the way a person's a great teacher for you is that you don't like them. Right. So anyway, I have this situation and I try to take good care of myself and the other person who's trying to avoid me. And a lot of people are trying to avoid me. Maybe even some of you who came today. No. But anyway... Thank you for bringing that up, Susan. And spread the word. Reb accepts anybody who's trying to avoid him. Thank you. Reb knows that some people are trying to avoid him, and he wants to be nonviolent with all the avoiders. He understands. It's very complicated. Human intimacy. Another expression is that with which we're most intimate.

[109:40]

seems almost like an enemy. Yeah, right, right. But they're not. That's what we're doing, yeah. So thank you, everybody, so much for your great, wholehearted practice. And I pray that we continue to practice together without end.

[110:01]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_96.78