This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. Good morning. This has been... difficult time in our shared lives and a very difficult week for those of us who are living on the West Coast. And I imagine some of you who are attending the Dharma Talk perhaps have needed to be evacuated or have lost

[01:03]

or I'm not sure who's all here, but who might be in harm's way. Everyone, you know, with this blanket of unbreathable air that's been on the coast, in the Bay Area, into Oregon and beyond, has been... Not easy to be with. The air at Green Gulch, we have a sensor. It was in the 300 range. We got that high, mostly in the 200s. And so our Zendo has been closed. We started sitting together in the Zendo, but we're back to sitting in our own spaces.

[02:04]

Because our Zendo was like sitting outside with all the doors and windows open. The day that had no dawn, the 9th of September, when dawn never came and it was like a solar eclipse that lasted all day, was so unusual and so... strange and no-birds-singing confusion. What is happening to us all? I wanted to just make mention of two of the over 20 people who have died in the fires. Two young people, Josiah Williams, who was 16 years old, trying to escape in his car and didn't make it.

[03:10]

And then a 13-year-old, Wyatt Tufty, who was trying to save his grandmother, who couldn't walk. She had a broken leg. And the family dog, and they didn't make it. And the, you know, the... my imagination of the terror and the horror of these experiences and the grief to these communities, to the families, of course, and to all of us. And so this has been very sobering, has been very has affected me quite strongly this week. And right now, just for those of you who might be wondering, the Tassajara fire is, it's not the Tassajara fire, but near Tassajara is about 40% contained as far as the latest that I've read.

[04:25]

So, all of this, on top of our pandemic practice, the loneliness of not being able to have contact the way we thrive when we have certain kind of contact, and the pandemic of racial oppression and the political situation and climate change. Wherever we look, there are challenges beyond challenges. However, we can't turn away, you know, our practices to not turn away, to not avert. But what is our practice in the midst of this? And that's, you know, this talk has not been easy for me to...

[05:29]

To land on what it is that I want to talk with you about. And for me, it comes down to what is the basic practice? What is the basic teaching? That we. Come back to over and over and over. So in thinking of that, what are the basics? You know, I came up with Zazen. compassion, wisdom, skillful actions, skillful means, skillful actions that flow from wisdom and compassion. And that, you know, along with that, those basics are listening and really listening and engaging completely and fully with that which is before us, whatever it might be.

[06:47]

Recently, I was at a seminar of senior practitioners that is hosted by attention, Rev. Anderson. And in this senior seminar, it was remembered something that Suzuki Roshi had said when a student asked Roshi, asked Suzuki Roshi, what might be some practices that are more strict that you can give us? And the question itself, I have some comments on, but, you know, asking what we want more, you know, this may be this, oh, this is too easy or something. What would be something more strict?

[07:48]

And Suzuki Hiroshi said, after you use the broom, a broom, when you put it away, place it so that the bristle side is up and the handle side is down. That was his answer to this. What might be some more strict practices that you can give us? So if you sweep and if you know your broom, You might know very well that the bristles themselves are flexible and could break, and how much better to stand it up on the handle. It makes sense. It's the appropriate response, as someone said. However, where are we? What is it that blocks our seeing that and acting differently?

[08:57]

in that way everything has a kind of strict quality to it ways of relating and that include care and compassion and listening so you know whenever I see a broom actually At Green Ultra, I turned it upside down. It's not upside down. Actually, the bristles on top is right side up for storage, right? The business side is used for the sweeping. But when we put it away to care for it completely, that might be a good way to handle it, a good way to take care of it. This is very strict that we're actually present. to put it away like that.

[10:00]

Now, one might say, well, big deal about, you know, a broom or who cares or however, you know, this question, please give us something more strict. Please give us some strict practice. And Suzuki Roshi gave this practice to awaken us, not... to be fussy about our broom closet, to awaken us to the details, moment-by-moment details of our life, of our everyday activity, and to be present there rather than on to the next thing, oh, good, it's breakfast coming up, or glad I got that done, or... our mind leaping, distracted to something else rather than right with this broom in these hands doing this job.

[11:06]

So this strictness, can we practice like this, is not just for sweeping. It's for all of our activities of body, speech, and mind, for our speech. for our conversations, for caring for each other, for the earth, for all the messes that we encounter in our life. What's being called for? What's being asked of us? So this teaching of the broom... And there's a number of Zen koans with a broom in it. This broom, to me, is like a touchstone for all of our activities, large and small. So this kind of activity that flows from kindness, compassion, love,

[12:22]

our shared life, our interconnected life. These are what might be called, as Dogen calls it in one of his fascicles, dignified deeds of practicing Buddhas. Dignified deeds of practicing Buddhas. So these dignified deeds or activities are... They're not weighted. Certain ones are really important. It's each thing has a place, has a way, has the kind of care that it might be calling for, asking for. And to be present enough, not too focused and not too distracted, but some middle...

[13:23]

way of being, if we're too tight and focused and wanting to do everything just right and perfect, perfectionism, that's too narrow, too narrow a view. And if we're too casual and too anything goes really, it doesn't really matter, we will end up harming others and ourself and our very earth. So these dignified actions of a practicing Buddha have been described as awesome, magnificent, powerful actions. However, just turning the broom with the bristles up with care, and attention and love is awesome.

[14:26]

Handling teacups, handling kitchen utensils, these are teachings that have come down to us from our teachers. Not to mention how we are with human beings and sentient beings and animals and plants. So we start with what's around us, with what's close at hand, and give it our all. However, knowing that too focused is not right and too tight and too loose, too casual is not right. Finding that center in our bodies, in our actions of body, speech, and mind. Starting with the body, I would say, a settled, embodied actions where we are resting in each moment, resting in our bodies, whatever we're doing.

[15:44]

So this quality or presence for our everyday life is We can feel it from one another. We can feel when people are resting in the moment, are right here, are not going anywhere, not trying to get anywhere else, but completely with us and listening and settled in their bodies. We respond to that. So in this... dignified actions of practicing Buddhists. In this teaching, there is no action too small. You know, there is no menial, humdrum, not worthy of attention action. And this is another way of talking about what's called grandmother mind, where each thing is...

[16:50]

is a chance to express Buddha, Buddha awakening, Buddha dharma, Buddha's truth, because each and everything is manifesting Buddha truth. So what might be a hindrance to this kind of quality to our actions of body, speech, and mind? And there's a story that I wanted to tell you. One of the stories from the transmission of the light, the Denko Roku. And this is the story of the 15th ancestor meeting the 14th ancestor. And the 15th ancestor, when we chant the name of the ancestor, we say...

[17:53]

In Japanese, Kanadaiba Daeyosho, great teacher Kanadaiba or Kanadeva. And in the story, Kanadeva or Kanadaiba's teacher is Nagyajarajuna or Nagarjuna, who is very, very well-known teacher of the Prajnaparamita. So Nagarjuna was coming to a village to teach. And at this particular place, there were a lot of, this is in South India. He'd come to this town and there were a lot of merchants in the town. And they, one of their beliefs was about meritorious action and the results of meritorious action. So Nagarjuna, gave his talk, and then afterwards someone spoke up and said, for people to have meritorious action is the most important thing in the world.

[19:07]

You pointlessly speak about Buddha nature. Who's able to even see it? So that's what one of the townspeople said. having meritorious action is the most important thing in the world. And you're pointlessly talking about Buddha nature, whatever that is, but you, you know, it's pointless. You can't even see it. And Nagarjuna said, if you wish to see Buddha nature, you must eliminate your arrogance. If you wish to see Buddha nature, You must eliminate your arrogance. Another translation is self-pride. So this... I find this strikingly, you know, it really hits me.

[20:12]

The townsperson, I think they didn't think they were arrogant necessarily, that this is what they believe and what they believe is... you know, the right thing, and everybody else believes it, and who are you to come and teach something that we don't get, you know? And it's not arrogant, it's just my opinion is right, you know? I think this is a trait that maybe I can recognize myself or somebody else. Some of you might recognize this sense of I know what's best. Or my culture knows what's best as a white person. The way I do things or the dominant white culture does things, that's the way to do it. This is a kind of arrogance. And I feel very hard to recognize because fixed views or the way things have always been done

[21:18]

you know, why are you challenging that? So this is something that I'm delving into and listening for and studying about how this works for me and how this works for institutions I'm involved with, San Francisco Zen Center and others, where the way it's always been done or what I'm used to, well, that's right. So in order to see Buddha nature, you must eliminate your arrogance. Now, it's interesting about arrogance in terms of the hindrances. My understanding that self-pride or arrogance is the last thing to let go of. Arrogance in one's own accomplishments

[22:22]

one's own practice, fruits of one's practice, you know, to have some pride in that. Ooh, wasn't that great? So I think it's not so easy to see, to hear about it, and to turn that and let go. Nagarjuna, working with the townspeople, then... spoke more about the teaching and the townspeople had a turn. And it said they went back to their beginner's mind. They went back to their beginner's mind. And as many of you know, maybe all of you know, this beginner's mind was something that Suzuki Roshi spoke about as Dick Dogen. And This mind that doesn't know everything, that doesn't pretend to know what's best and have the right answer in all the circumstances.

[23:30]

The mind that's listening, as Suzuki Roshi said, you know, the beginner's mind is a Zen mind, is a compassionate mind. That's not quoted all that often. That beginner's mind is a compassionate mind. I think if we have the mind of don't know or please allow me to listen or what is it that you have to say and bring, I want to listen. This is also open-heartedness. This is also... Being with, not over and above someone or lower than someone, but being with equally is a compassionate mind and a Zen mind and a beginner's mind. So after this happened, the story goes on about Kanadaiva or Kanadeva.

[24:41]

So Nagarjuna had this interaction with the townspeople. And then Kanadaiba came to the place where Nagarjuna was teaching, came to the area. It says the gate, but there wasn't really a gate necessarily. He came to the place, and Nagarjuna saw Kanadaiba coming, and he asked his attendant to fill a bowl And I picture it as a big bowl filled with water, like filled to the brim. And he brought this bowl and placed it in front of Kanadaiba. Nagarjuna had this bowl brought and placed. And Kanadaiba saw the water, looked at the water, and took a needle and dropped it into the water.

[25:43]

And then, Nagarjuna and Kanadaiba had a face-to-face encounter and delighted, it says, in one another. In delight, their understanding matched. Now, this particular story of Kanadaiba and the needle has been rowing around in my body-mind for years. I've had dreams about this, actually. Kanadaiba taking the needle and dropping it into the water. So, this time, What I felt in reading this was that this was a celebration of, an enactment of, an encounter meeting face-to-face, a transmission between Nagarjuna and Kanadaiba.

[27:08]

And this image of a big bowl of water... And then this needle being dropped in it. This is, I would say, this image is Buddha nature. The needle of the myriad things, the phenomena, the birth and death of sentient beings. The needle is a made article that breaks, that gets lost. that has birth and death and change and then surrounded, enveloped by, held in water. Water for me in this, you know, metaphor or symbolizing the great universality. So they

[28:11]

They had this encounter and delighted in their understanding. No words were spoken. And such a small gesture, you know, dignified, awesome deportment activity of beings. So when Nagarjuna put the water, kind of put the needle, this was, you might say, inquiry and response coming up together. Those two manifested together and celebrated our life together. So one might ask, what is this to do with anything?

[29:14]

This image and story and Kanadaiba had nothing getting in the way, the hindrance of his meeting this other person. This is the practice of compassion. This is the practice of guanyin in Chinese or Kanon in Japanese, kanon means observing. The kan part of kanon or guan is observing. And the kanji for that is an eye with like legs, feet, observing, observing carefully. And kanon, the on part is sound, observing sound. Now one might say, well, you observe from the eyes, but sound comes from the ears.

[30:15]

But this is this mix of hearing, seeing, responding. Kanon is the bodhisattva of infinite compassion that responds and takes any form. So right now, You know, I was looking at some practices, centuries-old practices, one practice is 1,200 years old, that Japanese women who were in a kind of ethnography study about their Buddhist practice were talking about, and they call on Kano and Bodhisattva, they say, Call on the power of infinite compassion.

[31:16]

Because Guan Yin or Kanon's part of this observing the sounds is also hearing the sounds of the world, hearing the cries of the world. And the practice, one of the practices that's mentioned in the Lotus Sutra and other places is to call. Call for help and ask for help from Kanon or Guan Yin. Now someone might feel like, well, that's superstitious or that's weird. However, we do call out. We are asking in our own way. We need help, all of us. We need and want to be heard and listened to and met and delighted in our understanding with someone.

[32:19]

We wish for that. And this calling on Guan Yin, calling her name, Suzuki Roshi talks about growing up in a very poor family in Japan. And he said that the roofs were not repaired. And the rain would come in. They would have umbrellas inside the house. They would have to carry umbrellas. And his mother would chant the sutra, the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which is called the Kanon Sutra. It's all about... how the Bodhisattva, the infinite compassion, will, by the power of the Bodhisattva, you can meet adversity, including, and it lists all the traditional things that happen, famine, sickness, fire, floods, loss, you know, being assaulted, etc.

[33:34]

And you call on the power of kanon. And she, Suzuki Roshi's mother, would chant this. And it's chanted in Zen temples in Japan regularly. We chanted it at Tassajara during Apache Spirit where I taught the Lotus Sutra. We chanted the 25th chapter every noon service. And that's what his mother did. And Suzuki Roshi, as a young person, felt this is superstitious. Why is my mother doing this? This is embarrassing. And later, I think maybe after she was gone, he understood more what this practice was, what her prayer was, calling upon compassion. And I feel like in these times,

[34:35]

How do we call upon compassion? Now this kanon or guanyin to me isn't a kind of bodhisattva being out floating or sitting by water somewhere. This energy of compassion and great compassion is within each of us, is each of us. This is not something... that somebody else has because you're born with it or something. This is a practice we can cultivate, develop, and bring forth. And this asking for help, calling out is like, you could say it's like prayer, you know, calling upon the great compassion of That is inconceivable.

[35:41]

And bringing it up in our own hearts. There's a, in this book about the Japanese lay women who do these practices, the small, it's a small phrase, it's nenpi kanonriki. which translates as, I call on the power of kanon. I call on the power of infinite compassion. And one can call that up. Now, I'm not saying that all that this takes away. these challenges that we have or the pains that we have of all kinds. But I am saying that this is a way to meet, to meet these things without closing down, without leaping forward, without turning away the power of infinite compassion.

[37:05]

for ourselves, for one another. So this is, for me, a way of standing in solidarity with all beings, a kind of anchor or ground. That I want to share with beings. And calling on the compassion, infinite compassion means, for me, means listening. Listening to the sounds of the world. And that means being open to criticism I might receive. People pointing things out.

[38:06]

where I'm holding to fixed views or have self-pride or have arrogance. This is my vow to be present without averting to whatever arises. So in these times cultivating great compassion within ourselves back to the basics, we can ask ourselves, how do I start with myself? How am I taking care of myself? Am I doing...

[39:07]

those practices that I know support me? Am I studying? Am I continuing to sit? Am I taking care of the space around me if I'm sheltering in place mostly? Am I resting in the body? Is there mindfulness in the body? Mindfulness of the body in its activities. So there's a quote from Suzuki Roshi I wanted to share. Because I think this tendency happens. I know it happens to me. Suzuki Roshi said this is in 1966. So this is beforehand.

[40:09]

Having Page Street before Tassahara. So this is at Sokoji in Japantown talking with the congregation, the assembly there. Stop comparing this world to the other world. This moment to the next moment. We should live in the eternal present. Here we have eternal life in its true sense. I don't know what this sounded like when you said it, but this tendency that I've noticed to, you know, back when the sun rose, you know, back when the skies, when we could breathe, when you could go outside, going back to that moment. Or, you know, yes, we do think about it. that moment or the next moment. However, this practice of comparing this moment with that moment or this world with that world, that will just leave us going in circles to live in the eternal president.

[41:33]

Not the eternal president, I hope. the eternal present. And then here we have eternal life in its true sense. So this, to me, is another expression of Buddha nature with our own body of birth and death, completely conditioned, subject to change. old age and sickness and loss, that is our nature. We cannot escape from that. And then to be completely, that very birth and death body, to be completely in this moment, Suzuki Roshi says, is eternal life in its true sense.

[42:35]

the basics can we come completely into this moment opening to whatever it brings and listen I just want to send my loving energy to everyone and wishes for your good health, for your safety, for the protection of you and your families and your sanghas, your communities and all beings during this time. And if we stay with it, we will find our way.

[43:54]

Guan Yin has a thousand hands and eyes. A thousand hands with eyes on the hand. A thousand of them. that meet us in any form we need? Can we be the form of compassion for one another, for ourselves, for everyone we meet? This is my wish for us all. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our programs are made possible by the donations we receive. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[45:06]

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