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 evening. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to see all of you. I really love work period. It's a very special time. It just feels like the Sangha jewel goes during work period. Does it feel like that for you? A lot of people here in the valley, you know, and there's this community that just springs up like a mushroom. You know, it's amazing. It's this manifestation and the way It really becomes community.

[01:02]

Everyone just sort of gets it and becomes part of work period. It's so magical. My name is Greg. I'm the Tanto, the head of practice here at Tassahara, Zen Shinji. I've been away for a week and it felt much longer. I'm so happy to be back. I've been helping move, pack. My wife, Linda Galleon, was previously living at City Center. We were living and practicing in two separate practice centers. Now Linda's here, so we did the whole process of packing and moving and getting all that arranged. That's quite a push. Sitting zazen last night with all of you, I just settled so completely.

[02:13]

And I felt the room last night. It seemed like every seat, every possible place to sit in the zendo was filled, which is quite a contrast from the practice period. We had 45 people if everybody was here. So I think we were... Anyway, I don't know how many people were in the Zenita last night, but it was well over that. Every seat filled and just as quiet, as settled as I've ever experienced it. The thought came up. I feel like we're in the middle of Sashin. Sashin means... gathering the heart-mind, gathering the mind. You know, it's a period of very intense, concentrated practice. It felt very concentrated last night. And I thought, well, why not?

[03:16]

This is the sashin called work period. That makes perfect sense to me. This is our practice. I usually start my Dharma talks by saying two things. The first is I want to acknowledge and thank my teacher, that old Buddha, Sojin Mel Weitzman Roshi. He'll be 82 on July 14th. No, July 9th. July 14th is my birthday. Excuse I. I misspoke. And just to say that my talk always is just to encourage you in your practice to share the joy of practice.

[04:24]

That's all I ever intend to do when I give a Dharma talk. So the last time I sat here, and spoke for one thing. I spoke for a while. I spoke about love and happiness. And somebody said to me after that talk, that was really two talks. I thought, yeah, maybe it was five talks. But the nice thing about work period and summer or guest season is the talks have to end on time. I'm very adamant about that. In the practice period, in the morning, we're not really going anywhere. Sometimes teachers might talk until lunch. I've never done that. But we have to finish at 8.40. And I always remind people of that, other people who are giving talks.

[05:29]

Anyway, I thought, there's two things I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about renunciation, and I wanted to talk about work practice. So I think I sort of wasted a lot of time trying to figure out how I could talk about renunciation and work practice, or the renunciation of work practice, or work practice as just... I don't know, both seem like really things I've been thinking about, practicing with. Renunciation is something that's been very real and alive for me lately. And work practice is obviously very real and alive right now, so I don't know, you know? What'll it be? Renunciation?

[06:33]

Work practice? Work practice? What? Which one? Hello, who? Huh? Work practice? Well, I didn't hear many people vote, but it seemed like work practice got it. So maybe I'll renounce talking about renunciation. you're always renouncing something. That's pretty much the gist of that talk. So, work is our core practice. If you ask me what is our core practice, I say work. If you ask me another day what is our core practice, I say zazen. Sometimes I say zazen and sometimes I say work.

[07:37]

They're both cores. If you drill down to the core, you'll find work. But you'll also find Zazen. They're both equally important to the Zen school. My teacher, Sojin Roshi, talks about this all the time. In practice priyas that he's led, There's always lots of work days and they do work days at Berkeley Zen Center where he's the abbot and it's very important to him and to his practice. Work is expression of the Dharma. And it's a tradition that goes back a long time.

[08:39]

So I wanted to share a few stories about one of my heroes, Bajang. Bajang Huihai. H-U-A-I-H-A-I. I don't know how that's pronounced, actually. This isn't my guess. Huihai. It means ocean heart. What a lovely Dharma name. Ocean Heart. Who lived on Mount Bajang? He lived to be 94 years old. A very fruitful life. Just a giant. Tang Dynasty. From 720 to 814 Bajang lived. And the Kaman Yura. This is in Tang Dynasty, China. It's sometimes called the Golden Age of Zen. When I think about work period and work practice, three words came up for me.

[09:52]

I mentioned one of them already, community. All of you who have come here for work period probably have other jobs, no doubt. And all of you work really hard. And yet, I think, as I've been walking around, I've seen a lot of happy faces, that people are really happy to be here. And happy to be working hard here. So what's the attraction? So that was one of them. Community. Integrity. And... Samadhi. Those are just three words that came up for me. Again, it's not some Buddhist list or something, it's just what I thought of. And Bai Zhang sort of exemplified that with his life and his teaching and set the standard for a lot of us.

[11:02]

his descendants. So he was a straightforward guy. These stories, the record of the teachings of the ancients, they're like little thumbnail sketches. They're just, for the most part, collections of anecdotes. The record of Bai Zhang, the record of Zhou Shu, the record of... et cetera, et cetera. They tend to be just like collections of anecdotes and then they show up in other places and stories and koan collections and so forth. But through these stories I feel like I get a real impression of the person. I think Bai Zhang was a very straightforward person. There's a story in the record about when he was a boy, when his mom took him to a temple in town And they went in the temple and the little boy, the young person who had become Bai Zhang, the little boy said, Who's that?

[12:15]

Who's that? And his mom says, Well, that's the Buddha. It's the statue of the Buddha, right? And so Bai Zhang says, Buddha? He was a human being? And his mom goes, Yep, Buddha was a human being. And he says, I'm a human being. I'm going to be a Buddha. And so he did. One of the most famous stories about Bhajan was when he was getting old, quite old, maybe too old to work anymore. When the master did chores, he was always first in the community in taking up work. The people could not bear this, his students. because he was getting quite old, right? So they hid his tools away early once and asked him to rest. The master said, I have no virtue. How should I make others toil?

[13:16]

The master looked all over for his tools without finding them. And so he neglected to eat. Therefore came to be his saying that a day without working is a day without eating, which circulated throughout the land. This is the Zen work ethic, so to speak, I think, which has lasted down to this day. But it doesn't mean that if you don't work or you're not capable of working, that you're not worthy of being fed. I want to emphasize that. I don't get that out of this story at all. For me, it just says working and eating are two things essential functions of a human being. So why, if I'm able to work, should I eat and not also work? Why, if I'm able to, would you not let me? He wanted to. Please, let me express the Dharma in this way.

[14:21]

Please, my students, let me do this. And so eventually they did give his tools back to him. What could they do? One day, Bai Zhang was asked by a student, Yunyan Tangshen. Yunyan is the ancestor in our lineage. So when we chant the names of the Buddhist ancestors every morning, he's in there in the Japanese Ungan Danjo. Um... Yunyan studied with Bai Zhang for 20 years before going, well, Bai Zhang died, and then Yunyan went and studied with Yaoshan, Yakusanigen. So we got Yakusanigen, Dayosho, Unggandangzhou, Dayosho, Tozhan, Ryokai, Dayosho, Dungshan was Yunyan's student.

[15:23]

So any of you who have received the precepts in Sonorakasu, Yunyan's name is on your lineage document, in the Soto lineage, because Doshan was the founder of the Soto lineage. When you look at these charts of Zen ancestors, you think, well, you know, down this way, you have the Soto line, and over here is the Rinzai line. All these people knew each other. They hung out. They went and visited each other. You know, it was a scene. It was an amazingly fruitful time. for the flowering of the Dharma in this Tang Dynasty China. So, yeah, that's our ancestor, Yunyan. He asked of Bai Zhang, Master, you are so diligent in your daily work. Who are you doing it for? And Bai Zhang said, there may be someone who requires it. Yunyan said, why don't you let that person take care of it?

[16:27]

You know, he was Bai Zhang's student for 20 years, so maybe this was early on. Anyway, it's a good setup. Why don't you let him do it? Why don't you let that person take care of it? And Bai Zhang, compassionately, Bai Zhang answered him, because that person may not have the means of doing it. So, what do you think of that? That's an interesting story, huh? Who are you doing it for? There's someone who requires it. Why all this work? There's someone who requires it. Who is the someone who requires it? Well, I think it was Bai Zhang himself. I think he was referring to himself, requires it.

[17:33]

The unconditioned self, the self that's free of habit, energy, and accustomed ways. And when Yunnan, in all innocence, Yunnan says, well, why don't you let him do it? Bajang says, well, he might not have the means I might not have the means. My accustomed habit energy, my usual routine, my sense of who I think I am might fail me. No, actually, it will fail me. At some point, it's going to fail you. It always does. You may not have the means. So this is what practice is about. He's using his diligent work, pointing to what is the work we're doing?

[18:35]

What is our Zen work? And then one more story from Bai Zhang that I really love, which features a certain monk. That's how I want to go down to history. A certain monk. In the course of hoeing the ground during general request to work, a certain monk, hearing the sound of the drum, lifted up his hoe and laughed aloud. Then he ran back to the monastery. The master said, how excellent. This is the gate through which the sound seer enters into the principal. The sound seer. That is like the worst translation for Avalokiteshvara I have ever read. This is Tom Cleary, you know.

[19:38]

He's a busy translator, you know. He's just like Guan Yin, the character. Guan Yin, sound seer. The cry-regarder. Avalokiteshvara. That's who he's talking, that's who Bai Zhang is talking about. When the monk, the certain monk, lifted up his hoe and laughed. And Bai Zhang says... How excellent! This is the gate through which Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva enters into the principle. Huh? Say what? Later he called the monk and asked him, What truth did you perceive today? The monk said, Early this morning, I didn't have any gruel. Hearing the sound of the drum, I went back to eat rice. The master laughed. This is just doing the next thing, promptly and wholeheartedly.

[20:45]

I love that story. It really makes me think about work period. The drum sounds. You lift up your hoe and laugh. Let's go to the baths. Let's do the next thing. Let's eat baguettes with ginger cheesecake. All right, let's go back to work. I went down and looked at the lower barn today. Wow, wee. Dang. Dang. Just doing the next thing promptly, spontaneously, wholeheartedly. That's Zen practice. That's work practice. Just saying yes. Okay, let's go. Jumping ahead about 500 years, our great founder in Japan, Heihei Dogen Daiocho, also had a lot to say about work practice, especially in a very well-known work of his called the Tenzo Kyokun, His Instructions to the Cook.

[22:12]

By the way, speaking of, I meant to say, it's so fun getting ready to give a talk to do research. Bai Zhang, how important was he in the Zen school? He had a student, Huangbo, who had a student called Linji, which was the founder of the Linji or Rinzai school of Zen. And he had this other student, Yunyan, who later went to study with Yakuzan, but his student, Dungshan was the founder of the Soto School of Zen. And Bai Zhang had another student, Guishan, who was the founder of the Guilin, I think it's called, School of Zen, another school of Zen that died out, one of the five petals of Zen. Guishan was Bai Zhang's Tenso. So, The Tenso Kyokun is full of stories about famous Zen cooks and work practice.

[23:26]

And there's a quote that Dogen doesn't attribute. He just says, an ancient said. So I don't know which ancient it was who said it. But... Dogen says, an ancient said, the way-seeking mind of the Tenzo is activated by rolling up the sleeves. Getting the sleeves up, going to work. If you've been working in the shop, you might know this quote, because I had somebody write it on calligraphy on a piece of lovely olive wood that Judith Keenan gave me. And I took this piece of olive wood and sanded it very nicely. And a person with very nice calligraphy skills wrote on it, the way seeking mind is activated by rolling up the sleeves. So you might have seen that over the altar in the shop. And that was when I was plant manager.

[24:32]

I asked my teacher, Sojan Roshi, do you think it's okay if I attribute that quote to Dogen? even though I left out of the Tenzo. And he said, yeah, it's okay. He gave me permission to do that. So it's actually, you know, Dogen's talking about of the Tenzo. But for me, that's activating wayseeking mind, whether it's your Tenzo or carpenter or truck driver or waitress or whatever it is you do, whatever your activity is. How do you meet it? How do you bring your whole body and mind to what you do? People crave integrity. Our consumer society, this economy, which this society sort of

[25:42]

exists in is, I hate to say, kind of based on greed, hate, and delusion. And it thrives on fomenting feelings of separation, craving, I need this, I want that, a better job, a nicer car, whatever it is. That's worked very well for a long time. to keep the wheels of commerce turning but I think people are turning against that people want integrity people want wholeness in life they want to feel fulfilled by what they're doing not just going to some job and cranking something out in order to get a paycheck And the word samadhi, actually, it means concentration.

[26:52]

It means unity. And it's actually core root meaning in Sanskrit is integrity. It means creating a wholeness. So when we sit zazen, this is what we're doing. Remember zazen? That's our core practice. No wait, work is our core practice. In the Tenzo Kyokun, Dogen tells a story about when he was a really young man in his 20s. He goes to China in pursuit of the Dharma and he meets, he has to stay on board the ship for a while and a Tenzo comes to buy some mushrooms and he meets this Tenzo and he tries to get the Tenzo to stay with him and hang out. You know, don't walk all the way back to your monastery now. You know, it's really late. Just stay with us. You know, we'll talk more about the Dharma.

[27:54]

And the Tenzo, he won't have any of it. He says, I have to leave. And Dogen asks him, is there not someone else in the monastery who understands cooking? Even if one Tenzo is missing, will something be lacking? And the Tenzo tells him, I've taken this position in my old age. This is the fulfillment of many years of practice. How can I delegate my responsibility to others? Besides, I did not ask for permission to stay out. I again asked the Tenzo, Honorable Tenzo, why don't you concentrate on zazen practice and on the study of the ancient master's words rather than troubling yourself by holding the position of Tenzo and just working? Is there anything good about it? The Tenzo laughed a long time and replied, Good man from a foreign country. You do not yet understand practice or know the meaning of the words of ancient masters. I'm not sure I understand practice or know the meaning of the words of ancient masters, but I think I know what this Tenzo was getting at.

[29:07]

Is there anything good about it? Yes, there is. Yes, there's something good about it. And... just concentrating on zazen practice and studying the words of the ancients is not the mind that sees the way. Our practice is samadhi and it's samadhi in action. Integrated means the samadhi of head heart and hands, just devotedly doing, just carefully taking care of whatever's in front of you. I think this is what Zen practice has to offer the world. There's an expression I like a lot called a labor of love.

[30:13]

Why did you do it? It was a labor of love. What do you mean by a labor of love? Well, usually people mean it's something that was really hard to do. It took a lot of effort and it was meaningful to do it because either it was an act of love or you're doing it for someone you love and you don't expect to get anything out of it. Sounds like Zen practice to me. Like that t-shirt they made at Green Gulch. Working hard, accomplishing nothing. Doing it just for the sake of doing it. Doing it because it's what needs to be done right now. This is our practice. So, if you want more integrity in your life and work, let your life and work be

[31:22]

labor of love. Let what you do be a labor of love. And I think that's all I have to say. So thank you very much for your attention. The Eno is looking at her watch. According to my watch, we could have a question or two. if question or to there be. Yes? For me? Yeah, not something I looked up in a dictionary. I think a labor of love is something you do either for someone you love or something you do because you love it. And I think when people use that expression, they usually have in mind something that was

[32:22]

difficult effortful but they did it out of love so we say it was a labor of love Zen practice is difficult and effortful and I also said usually I think conventionally when people say it was a labor of love they mean I don't expect to get paid And, yeah, you don't expect to get anything out of it. You do it because you want to. You do it because it's meaningful to you. You do it because it's your heart's desire. Yes? I love compost. Do you love compost? I love compost. And compost returns our love.

[33:30]

Many fold. We give to compost and compost gives back. We give effort and compost returns beautiful flowers, tasty vegetables, etc., etc. Yes. Is that wrong? No. That's not wrong. Getting hung up over accomplishment could be problematic. I don't want to get into right and wrong. Taking pride in your work is part of having integrity with your work.

[34:38]

people are very interested these days in nice things that are made by hand craft turning away from sort of mass produced this and that although you know you could take pride in working in an assembly line too if you do it well and if you're completely devoted to the assembly line I can see that too But people want to be part of what they're doing, and there's nothing wrong with that. To be integrated, head, heart, and hands, taking pride in what you do, that's brilliant. Getting hung up on it, so, you know, like you feel like... If you don't meet some standard you've set for yourself, then you won't be worthy of other people's approval or your own.

[35:49]

Straying into that territory, that's a little sketchy. You know what I mean? There's nothing wrong with taking pride in what you do. Yes? Yes. This is the mediocre school. 100% perspiration. I like it. Complete. No gap. 840.

[36:56]

Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you for being here. Good night. Thank you for listening to this podcast offered by the San Francisco Zen Center. Our Dharma Talks are offered free of charge. and this is made possible by the donations we receive. Your financial support helps us to continue to offer the Dharma. For more information, visit sfzc.org and click Giving.

[37:33]

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