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. Some of you may be here to hear Fu Schrader speak and, uh, I know Fu Schrader, and I am not Fu Schrader. My name is Susan O'Connell, and I've been living in this community of Zen Center for 17 years, eight of which were here in this beautiful community, and the last six I've been living in our temple, Beginner's Mind Temple, in the city of San Francisco. I've been functioning there in the role of the vice president of Zen Center.

[01:06]

And I tell you that because today I want to talk to you about work practice. The name of my talk is More Than Mindfulness. A little bit of history of why I bring that up is... because my work life is perhaps quite similar to your work life. I thought a while back it might be a good idea for me to really focus on how specifically our practice and the teachings help to make this work life, which is so much of our time, alivening, compassionate-wise. So luckily I was put together on a panel with a young man, young enough to be my son, who I think is just fantastic.

[02:10]

His name is Leo Babauta, and he has a blog called Zen Habits. So he was feeling a little inauthentic, not actually being a Zen monk. And when he met me, we realized that we could put ourselves together in some way. mutual benefit his his blog is read by i don't know 250 000 people so the words brought bring that word zen brings people to him and he is able through a lifetime of studying actually habits and change to to direct people towards a healthier more wholesome life and a more awake life And as we've been working together for the past year, he's been focusing on and studying and learning more about our practices of mindfulness. We taught a workshop in Tassajara this summer, and we decided to put a class together that, again, would take advantage of what he's learned, which is how to do things online, and a little bit of what I've learned in terms of the teachings of the Four Noble Truths.

[03:23]

So we're going to be offering this in October. It's Zen Center's first online course called Zen of Work. As we've been preparing for this class and talking with people and doing this workshop at Tassajara, we've been looking at the suffering that's specific to our work lives. And here's a list of some of the things we've been looking at. Overworking. Just see if any of these might sound familiar to any of you. A chaotic workplace, non-enjoyment, busyness, which is different from overworking, difficult relationships, ennui, working with countless interruptions, being responsible for others and giving feedback with kindness.

[04:26]

Information overload. Expectations of constant availability. Slandering and being slandered. The expectation of perfection. Getting lost online. And the boundarylessness of working at home or freelance. So with these topics, the first noble truth, which is there is suffering, that was not so difficult to introduce to people in terms of our work life. It's pretty obvious there is suffering. The other noble truths are there is a cause of suffering. There is an end of suffering. to suffering. And there is a path that reveals and helps us realize the root of our suffering and come to the end of it.

[05:37]

Before I go further, I want to, I've done this, I feel obliged to bring this up each time I talk about the Four Noble Truths because for me, the first Noble Truth is which I heard from my business partner who had started to sit meditation and I had watched her really settle. She was a very fast-moving young woman from Philadelphia. She would sit in meetings with her leg kicking and doodling. Very, very active. And I watched that shift as she started to sit meditation. So I got curious and I asked her about it and what was behind it. And she said something like, Life is suffering. And I thought, not my life. Maybe those people in India, maybe they suffer, but I don't suffer. I've got a great life. The thought of even coming close to the actual suffering that was in my life at that time shot me way in the other direction, and I completely ignored the teachings and the

[06:51]

of meditation that I saw right in front of me in my friend for at least a year. It really pushed me away. So when I read about the Four Noble Truths, I look for ways of talking about that first one that are wider and that include more. So in one book called What the Buddha Taught, by Waupolo Rahula, he makes the point also that that translation, there's a Pali word, Sanskrit word sounds the same, spelled a little differently, called dukkha, which is the word that gets translated into English as suffering. And dukkha, very delightfully, is onomatopoetic. It is the sound of a wheel that's out of round. So it's a wheel that's out of round.

[07:57]

When you go deeper into the meaning of that word, it goes beyond suffering in terms of how we just see our ordinary suffering in our life, everyday suffering. And it has... the meaning, which are the meanings that are associated with what are called the three marks of existence. So one of the marks is there is suffering. The other is impermanence. Everything changes. And the third is, can be looked at in terms of emptiness of separate existence or the maybe more positive way of looking at it is everything is interconnected nothing exists separately on its own so if you include those other meanings in this first noble truth which is not life is suffering because we know it isn't exclusively there's plenty of joy

[09:21]

It's more that, well, for people like me who didn't think there was any suffering in my life because I hadn't slowed down enough to look at the constant relationship I have to trying to control an ever-changing world, an ever-changing set of circumstances. To even begin to look at it actually Begs the question, well, now what are you going to do now that you see that? So I didn't want to see that. Maybe you don't want to quite see it either. But once we do, once we do, everything changes. Just to complete this piece, when people say life is suffering, It starts to sound like, look like the teachings that this comes from are very negativistic, very pessimistic, very nihilistic.

[10:30]

And this is not my experience of the teachings of Buddhism. Buddhism is neither optimistic or pessimistic. In my experience, it's realistic. doesn't give us the carrot of bliss. It doesn't give us the hell realm of sin. It's in the middle. It's where our life actually occurs. So just underlining that first noble truth. It's not that life is suffering. It's that there is suffering. And it's related to that suffering is related to, that dissatisfaction is related to impermanence, the constant changing nature of everything, and the non-separate nature of everything.

[11:34]

Those may seem also like negative possibilities, but I propose to you that it's good news. It's very good news. Because if those things were not so, we wouldn't be able to have anything change for the better. We'd be stuck in some particular place. But in fact, things, as you know, move from pleasant to unpleasant, from happy to sad, from full to empty, always moving, always shifting. study the second noble truth in terms of our work to study the cause it's helpful to I think focus on that aspect of impermanence or everything changes when the second noble truth is written about often the

[12:53]

of suffering is described as attachment or clinging. And in terms of my work life and the work lives of others that have been in this conversation, this study, what we're attached to is either the way things seem to be right now that we like or the way they used to be that we liked. We want things to stay in the realm of pleasant. And we will do a lot to try to make that happen or to try to think that that's possible. A lot of strategies. And look again at that list of some of the things that came up for an example of.

[13:58]

So working with constant interruptions. We have an idea, perhaps, that when we start something. We're going to do it in a certain way and it's going to have a certain result. And it's going to require certain conditions to maximize that situation. When any of those factors change, which they will, we don't like it. Because of this idea that we can actually control the situation and that we're supposed to control and it's supposed to look a certain way. It's supposed to turn out a certain way. supposed to feel a certain way. In the middle of this talk, now I'm looking at you. I didn't know I was going to look at you.

[15:05]

I'm very happy to look at you. What's your name? Mansuri. Mansuri, yes. I've seen your face many times. So, here's a shift in the trajectory of what I thought I was going to be doing. And there's a lot of value in this shift for me. Very sweet face. I feel very encouraged. I feel very encouraged. I didn't know that that was going to happen. To be limited by our own imagination of what should happen is what is it? It's Kind of sad. If we can see that the movement from one thing to another is complete. This movement is now again complete.

[16:05]

Even though it isn't this movement that I was on, this trajectory that I was going on. Letting go of the trajectory and moving to what's actually arising. What's actually arising. I don't know why my head turned this way. I don't know the conditions that cause this. They're unknowable. They're infinite. But to go with it, to go with it and accept, accepting, accepting, accepting. As opposed to controlling, controlling, controlling. and being very upset when that control actually reveals itself to not be possible. There's an end to suffering.

[17:09]

And there's a path. By the way, we're not meant to take on that truth of there's an end to suffering just out of faith. Faith is helpful to get started. We're asked, as we're asked with all of these teachings, to check it out for ourselves. Check it out. Please, don't take my word for it. this is my faith in these teachings, is that we're not asked to rely on faith alone. In order to help us explore whether it's true or not, that there's an end to suffering, we're offered this path.

[18:14]

And it has eight Eight possible practices, eight focuses. When Leo and I started the course that we're working on, Zen of Work, he was very interested in using the word mindfulness. Now, I went on Google to check out how many references there were to mindfulness. There are 15,300,000. And if you go on Bing, which there's new ads that maybe you should try Bing might be better, it's 20,200,000. So they've got another, you know, 5,100,000 references. More than Google, just saying. And so it's a word for our time. Mindfulness of this, mindfulness of that. It's hit people in a very strong way and attracts people, attracts people.

[19:17]

It's a gateway into studying the world of our mind and our habits and the delusions that are at the base of our unhappiness, our unkindness, our delusional existence. In looking at the Eightfold Path, What I realized at the end, or was reminded of at the end, is mindfulness is just one of those eight. It's just one. So the whole course is talking about mindfulness as a tool, but I thought I would end the course, because maybe this talk will be online as part of the course, with looking at the other factors of the path. More than mindfulness. Supporting mindfulness. Deepening mindfulness. focusing mindfulness, lining up with mindfulness.

[20:18]

It would be a really long talk if I went into each one of the other seven factors. Luckily, they fall into baskets of three. And I'll mention what the factors are. So these are the factors. Ooh, wait a second. I just got dizzy. I'm going to put my head down for a second. My heart's doing that irregular thing. Didn't expect that. It's irregular, but I'm not dizzy, so I'll keep going for now. The other factors of the path, or all of them are in this order, how they're usually taught.

[21:33]

Right understanding or right view. Right understanding. aspiration maybe right intention right speech right action right livelihood right effort right mindfulness and right concentration or wisdom the three baskets that they fall into are ethical conduct mental discipline and wisdom. Mindfulness is part of the mental discipline basket, right alongside right effort and right concentration. And mindfulness is described as observing and releasing habits of mind, the ones

[22:38]

particularly the ones that maintain the illusion of separate self. This includes the dropping the mental habit of judging. And it means being fully attentive to everything as it is, as it is, and not wanting it to be different. Those are all elements of mindfulness. If you've been practicing mindfulness in various ways, you might want to try on some of those modifiers and see which ones feel helpful to you, not wanting it to be different. Full attention. Dropping judging. The question often comes up, however, around mindfulness, how do I remember to be mindful? What supports this effort of mindfulness?

[23:38]

And this is where meditation comes in. Meditation could be spoken about as a combination of right effort and right concentration. Meditation is stopping with just enough energy, and neutrality to see the way things are. We can't loosen up our delusional mind that we can't loosen it without noticing what's there. So this noticing this this habit of returning and being present for what's arising, including all of our delusional thoughts of separation, all of our delusional thoughts of permanence, this is meditation.

[24:46]

I wonder how many mindfulness courses emphasize meditation. I hope they all do. Even five minutes, even five minutes. sitting down and making a commitment to be still and notice and get a sense of how your life actually works is completely necessary for the wholesome actions to arise that will address this delusional habit. Noticing, sitting down and noticing how out of focus things have become is a focusing. In order to bring ourselves back and back again, we need just the right amount of effort. And in Zen practice, we make this really hard because we say, make an effort to do nothing.

[26:00]

Make a complete, wholehearted effort to not do anything. I call it radical not doing. Watching to see if there's a goal in there. I'm going to make this effort in order to, nope, too much. Just make an effort. What does that mean? Check it out. Check it out. So combining that relationship to effort. with sitting down and being still assists the mindfulness that can arise right next to every action, every word, every thought. The wisdom basket has in it right understanding and right aspiration. These two practices or these two studies assume that we've already studied ourselves somewhat and studied reality because right understanding is understanding that there are consequences to each action.

[27:28]

That's the basis of right understanding. There's some other things in there, but that's a very important part of it. So we notice in our life that action has a result. All action, all intention has result. And this is the truth of karma. So when we're clear that everything has an effect and we're willing to be present for receiving the results of karma, of the actions, we're going to be encouraged to pay careful attention. We're going to be trained by that awareness of cause and effect to pay careful, careful attention. And that will support mindfulness. What bolsters this willingness to be present? Our aspiration.

[28:35]

intention, if we've made the Bodhisattva vow, our Bodhisattva vow, which includes doing no harm, doing good, and helping everybody. This helping everybody part of aspiration is such a support. I notice in my life when I am doing something for someone else, it's much easier to approach the difficult parts of my habits and be willing to make an effort, make an effort to look, be with, and encourage a more skillful response when I can see that effect has on others. Really, really helpful. So the bodhisattva part of aspiration, the bodhisattva aspect, which is helping all beings, is really, I think at the bottom, the most helpful tool for shifting our relationship to our actions, to our life.

[30:01]

basket of ethical conduct, which is the third basket, has some very practical offerings to support life being more in balance, to support equanimity. And equanimity is a big part of mindfulness, so the words being present without judgment is another description of equanimity. The ethical Conduct basket includes right speech, right action, and right livelihood. Attention, Reb Anderson, in his book on ethics called Being Upright, talks about uprightness being, well, the precepts, the following of the precepts, the kind of stance of being right in the middle of our lives, is very, very important for us to be stable enough to see anything clearly.

[31:15]

So maybe I'll try to explain this. For me, when I lie, when I've told a lie, and I go and sit zazen, I am not upright in zazen. I am leaning away from the pain of being out of alignment with myself. I'm out of alignment with my vows, the vows that I've taken and shared with others in ceremonial contexts and in just casual contexts. I want to live my life in such a way that I'm helpful, not harmful, and that I follow these guidelines. When I lie, I am no longer upright. And when I am no longer upright, I cannot be available for receiving the information that generates the appropriate response. So these ethical guidelines are very yogic.

[32:23]

Uprightness is a position. It has a feeling. It's open and available. It's not judging or leaning or avoiding. Also, a lot of energy is being used in that out of alignment-ness that can't be used for right effort. So it skews the whole picture when we're not lined up with our speech habits, our actions. The difficult factor in all of these to talk about is right livelihood. I think that phrase or that possibility has probably caused a lot of pain for a lot of people. People who maybe don't have as much of a choice about what they do, who are supporting families, loved ones, themselves.

[33:39]

and need to relate to their work life in a way that they might have a question about whether it's right. And I've thought about this and I would like to encourage us to think about right livelihood perhaps as what is being what the actions are that are being supported, but also maybe even more so in terms of what our relationship is to the work that we're doing. What is our relationship to the people we're working with? What's right about that? There's a man named Randy Comazar who's a venture capitalist and a Zen practitioner, longtime Zen practitioner, and the author of a book called The Monk and the Riddle.

[34:50]

We asked him to write a short piece for inclusion in this online course, and he entitled it Right Livelihood. And I'm going to paraphrase a little bit of what he said. He described, and this is a person who is involved in all kinds of businesses on a financial level. He described how a strong Zen practice has helped him navigate and make peace with working in the business world. You think that's funny? Did that tickle you or was that, what was that about? Exactly.

[35:53]

That's what I was talking about. So he says, he talks about how his awareness of karma underlines for him that the competitive of business is neither a valid excuse for ignoring the truth nor a successful long-term strategy. Just being willing to have a long-term strategy is an interesting situation. But he is aware of karmic consequences. To him, it's not an excuse for lying. He asks himself every day how he can make his business serve his practice and not the other way around. Consider that as a question for yourself. He studies his personal koan, which is this. How can one be both selfless and effective in a world dominated by greed and selfishness? How can that be? What I appreciate about this koan is that it doesn't try to change the situation of a world of greed and selfishness.

[37:03]

But if our practice isn't strong enough to be in the actual world we live in, then it's not actually helpful. He says, I would propose that for those of us who have the questions about the rightness of our livelihood, we could begin by making the commitment and effort to pay attention and to be helpful and to speak kindly to those we work with. And thereby, this is what I say, aligning ourselves with our aspiration and bringing ourselves into alignment with our actual life. It isn't a Zen talk without a poem. And when I was looking for poems, actually yesterday, about work and practice and mindfulness, I found something that I know I read years and years ago, and maybe you have read this too, and I did an excerpt from it.

[38:17]

It's not the entire statement, but it's by Kahil Gibran from his book The Prophet. Then a plowman said, speak to us of work. And he answered saying, you work that you may keep peace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons and to step out of life's procession that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite. When you work, you are a flute. through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison? Always you have been told that work is a curse and labor a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work, you fulfill a part of Earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born.

[39:25]

And in keeping yourself with labor, you are in truth loving life. And to love life through labor is to be intimate with life's inmost secret. But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that not but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written. You have been told also life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that life is indeed darkness, save when there is an urge. And all urge is blind, save when there is knowledge. And all knowledge is vain, save when there is work. And all work is empty, save when there is love. And when you work with love, you bind yourself to yourself and to one another and to God.

[40:33]

And what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house. with tenderness and reap the harvest of joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit. Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. Thank you very much. Please help us to continue to realize and actualize the practice of giving by offering your financial support.

[41:42]

For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving. May we fully enjoy the Dharma.

[41:51]

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