Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: For more information on Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, please visit our website at www.ancientdragon.org. our teachings are offered to the community through the generosity of our supporters. To make a donation online, please visit our website.
Welcome, Bodhisattvas.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: This is probably a good time to do introductions since it is our Sunday program on a Sunday snowy day in Chicago. And I think we'll start.
Whoever has a microphone. Yep.
I'm Alan, Nathan, Yozan, Nina, Wade, Mike Howard, Paula Douglas, Matt, Jake, Asian Kelly, Tom, David, Yana, Hogetsu, Sandra, Gary.
And online we have Mark, Joe, Del, Nathan, Chris, Paul, Dennis, David, Tagan, Eve, Brian, Nicholas, and Leo and Nicole.
Thank you very much.
I think everyone has been here before, some form or another.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: And I think maybe Dale could mute himself if possible because there's some kind of percussion I keep hearing which might be coming from that direction.
Thank you.
So, as some of you know, this is the final day of a five day sitting of Rahatsu sashin.
And I think Kelly and Nathan are joining us for the morning for the first time. So they're new to this sesshin. Everyone else has been sitting this sachin in some form or another in this room. And some of you online have also been joining us for most of it. Actually.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: So many of you know what's been going on, but I kind of want to bring everyone up to speed.
So this sachine called Ruhatsu is this period of intensive meditation, morning till night, five days of sitting that we're doing to honor Shakyamuni Buddha's awakening so long ago, some people say over 2,500 years ago. But what is time.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: This afternoon after lunch? This sashin will end with zazen, interspersed with a lot of different ceremonies to joyfully celebrate Shakyamuni Buddha's awakening and teaching.
So if you're in the room or online for that, that will be happening in the afternoon.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: But every moment, every moment of being present and available to what is happening, to what is happening that we can't grab onto and know. But when we're with things and present with compassion and without self obsession, let's say self absorption, it's a ceremony, same ceremony that we're doing today, celebrating awakening for the benefit of all beings.
So I'd like to review some of the teachings that we've explored over this sessine. So we're a little bit in alignment.
The sashine has been revolving.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Around Buddha's first teaching or first sermon, let's say, called the Discourse or the Sutta on turning the wheel of Dharma in This very first teaching that Buddha kind of formally made after awakening under the Bodhi tree, this teaching taught the four noble Truths, truth of suffering, that there is stress and pressure and difficulty in life.
That there is a great cause of suffering which tends to be habitual and foolish grasping and craving.
And that there's a way out or a path through.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: That is living a life that's not based on this insanity and excessive grasping and craving. And this path through suffering with suffering, not clinging to suffering, not making extra suffering, is known as the Middle Way or the Eightfold Path.
And that has these components which are familiar to most of us.
Cultivation of wisdom, right view, right intention, ethical behavior, right effort, right livelihood, right speech and meditation. That branch which is kind of an energetic diligence and right samadhi and right mindfulness.
However, as someone here has summarized who might. Would you like to offer that summary once again? Dr. Kaufman?
[00:05:49] Speaker A: Yeah, he's unmuting.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: We should. I'm sorry to.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Yeah, it's Wes netzer.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Start with 1. Start with 1.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Is the person who coined the person, person who made this up is named Wes Netzker.
He's a Vipassana teacher. He says the first one is shit happens.
The second one is we make it worse.
Can you hear me?
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Totally. Yep. I'm just counting.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Two is we make it worse.
Three is it doesn't have to be that way. And four is don't be a jerk.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: So thank you very much for that offering, which is maybe a little easier to take in in this modern world.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: But this don't be a jerk is also like meet everyone on equal ground, everything.
And act with the benefit of others in mind. Always.
I didn't look up the etymology of jerk. Does anybody know it?
[00:07:05] Speaker A: Jerk. It sounds almost German. But I don't want to be, you know, dis my. My own heritage. But anyway, I'm sure somebody can Wikipedia that for us and put it in the chat.
But I think this understanding of someone who doesn't see their impact on the world and acts out of their own self interest, maybe and the way out, as Buddha taught, is actually and taught with how he related to people, not just intellectual teaching, but his interactions in community, of meeting people on equal ground and always trying to act with their benefit in mind, even though we can never know if we're benefiting people. Not we kind of know if we're not usually because we'll get some feedback from the universe, but never know. It's hard to know. We just do our best.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: This is just a way to live A decent, healthy life as a human.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: So this Eightfold path is often visually depicted as a wheel with eight spokes. The Dharma wheel, Dharma chakra.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: And mentioned Yesterday, name checked Rev. Nyozon, who commented a couple days ago that we all need all of the spokes aligned. A wheel needs that to function properly.
Otherwise it's like ker clunk, ker clunk, something like that, which is the definition of suffering in some ways. Clunking.
So this turning the wheel of the Dharma applies to teaching the Dharma, learning the Dharma and realizing it in everyday life, realizing these four noble truths, especially the not being a jerk part in everyday life.
And before this teaching was given.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: The Buddha was reluctant to teach and said this.
The Ambrosial Dharma I obtained is profound, immaculate, luminous and unconditioned.
Even if I explain it, no one will understand it.
Believe me, people have been trying to explain this teaching for a long time. Volumes and volumes and volumes. And so did the Buddha. But before, he was just like, even if I explain it, nobody will understand it. I think I'll remain silent in the forest.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: I can understand that that which is free from words cannot be understood through words.
Likewise, the nature of phenomena is like space, totally free of the movements of mind and intellect.
Okay? After saying that, somehow the Buddha could not help it, but continued to teach, teach through meeting each person who showed up, each disciple, each situation with a heart, mind of kindness, wisdom, compassion and presence.
People could like, feel Buddha's presence, you know, because we. You can't relate to each other if you're completely invisible.
Like, we have to show up in our lives, in our relationships, but how we show up is the question. How do you want to show up?
So it seemed from a lot of the stories we've been looking at that Buddha could really listen to and helpfully respond because he realized this Eightfold path through his own process of studying himself and releasing craving and self absorption, dropping convenience, self convenience and selfishness, and realizing and respecting his place in the world of things.
And in that, realized he wasn't separate and that everyone and everything is interwoven, luminous and precious jewel like.
So he did his best to help others see this completely and live from that jewel like place.
And we looked at some of these interactions in some writings about.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: How he related to students. So one of the things we looked at was his relationship with a random seeker who shows up before breakfast, I guess called Bahia, who showed up requesting the teaching, right as Buddha was about to go out begging for his meal.
Bahia was like, teach me now, you know Buddha's like, I want to go out and get my meal, you know?
But still, after a little more requesting, Buddha offered a practice instruction to Bahia. And I think it's interesting. Like, it's a short instruction and very clear, actually.
And I wondered, like, Buddhist, like, hungry. It's like, okay, I'll give this person, like, something, but also could figure out what they needed somehow.
And this is a little quote from that teaching, teaching story in the early foundational Buddhist writings Pali canon.
Then, Bahia, you should train yourself thus.
In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen in reference to the herd, there will be only the herd.
In reference to the sensed, only the sensed in reference to the cognized, only the cognized.
That is how you should train yourself.
When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized.
Then, Bahia, there is no you in connection with that.
When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there.
When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder, nor in between the two.
This echoes throughout our tradition.
No inside, outside or in between.
I built a grass hut where there's nothing of value.
Bahia, this, just this, just this is it, right? Just this is the end of suffering.
Long before Dogen, long before us and all the wonderful Chinese teachers, this is what the Buddha allegedly said. This is a great meditation practice instruction for Zazen. And I know that many people here throughout this Sachin have been practicing with it and has been touching that space of just this, where there's no separation.
Maybe we don't stay there very long because it's kind of intense and the ego is like, what about me? But we've had time to settle here at this Ruhatsu Sashin, where we can realize this for ourselves, which is what Buddha said, realize it for yourself.
Don't rely on me or anything else to tell you. Find for yourself.
So this is a great meditation instruction for Zazen. Being intimate with everything as it is, without the overlay of grasping.
And grasping, of course, is also pushing away or spacing out, but without this craving for more or less or this or that, just this, without anything extra.
Sidebar Someone pointed out that this, I think it was Nicholas Bodhisattva pointed out that this was similar to the instruction called bare intent, bare attention, in the kind of insight or vipassana tradition is fond of. And, you know, Google Naya Panaka Thera, heart of Buddhist meditation. And he writes beautifully about this bare attention.
But that's another day in another story, but with Bahia, who was known actually as Bahia of the bark cloth, because that's the clothing he wore.
The story ends with through hearing the brief explanation of the Dhamma.
This. In the scene, just the scene, the. Just this teaching from Buddha, the mind of Bahia of the bark cloth, right then and there, was released from all the effluents, the ego leaking and clinging.
So.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: After this teaching was heard by Bahia, who understood completely, instantaneously understood. So you could call this the sudden awakening. Although Bahia was working on another meditation program prior to his meeting with Buddha, had a fatal accident involving a cow.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: But was given a monk's burial.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: In those Chinese stories, wasn't a fox given a monk's burial, Something like that.
So it said that Buddha said, affirmed Bahia's awakening and said Bahia of the bark cloth was wise.
He practiced the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma and did not pester me with issues related to the teaching.
Bahi of the bar cloth monks is totally unbound and free. And then Buddha went off for breakfast, something like that.
Another teaching we looked at just to get us all on board was, this is, of course, after Buddha's awakening. Buddha, I think, had been teaching for. Was early in his career, only 13 years in, but was teaching.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: In some place in India.
And this is a story of his attendant is Jisha. Some of you know what a jisha is.
His attendant, temporary attendant, before his famous, most famous attendant, had a temporary attendant named Magia.
But Magia was very bent on becoming awakened.
And even though Buddha said, oh, kind of, could you please stay with me for a while? Bahi's like, I need to go on a solo retreat. And abandoned the Buddha in hopes of, like, I'm gonna finally do my last long sitting and get awakened, you know, Very noble thing actually, to, like, really, really, like, go for it, you know, I wanna go all the way. Anuttara, samyak, sambodhi, here I come, you know? You know?
But also there was a little complication because he'd abandoned his teacher temporarily, but he does return, and things did not work out as planned.
But Bahia, very lovely person, I think, said, comes to Buddha to report what happened. And said, how amazing, how astounding.
Even though it was through faith that I went forth from home into homeless life and tried to become completely enlightened, still, still I am overpowered by these three kinds of unskillful thoughts, sensuality thoughts of ill will and thoughts of doing harm.
Buddha was not fazed or surprised by this.
And I'm sure none of us have had this experience, right?
Thoughts are entering our mind and interrupting our beautiful samadhi.
Or we have the samadhi of sensual desire creeping in.
But Buddha was like, yeah, you know what? You're not quite ready. You're not mature enough yet for full realization.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: And, you know, there's no report that Maggie was like, what? I'm not mature enough?
You know, some ways I thought of Maggie like a teenager. You know, like with teenagers, they have to be. You'd say, you know, maybe you might not want to do that. And they're like, no, I'm going to go over to my friends and, you know, smoke weed or something like that and then crash the car and then come home and go, guess what happened? There's a big dent in this vehicle, you know, and you're like, okay, we'll fix it. You know, so this is, you know, practice. We have to find out for ourselves and bump around a little bit once in a while. At some point, maybe after like 20 or 30 years of practice, your teacher says something and you actually listen to it.
You know, I can't tell you how many times, like years later I've said, oh, that's what my teacher was telling me. I was such an ignorant fool. Things would have been so much easier if I would have just paid attention instead of done it my way. But still, we have to do this to learn. This is how, you know, toddlers have to fall to learn how to walk, to mature, to develop.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: So Megy received this teaching non defensively and openly.
And Buddha said, I can give you some more practices or some hints.
You know, here's some things that might help you get ready to let go completely.
[00:21:41] Speaker A: And, you know, the immaturity in this context, you could say refers to not being quite ready to fully embody the Eightfold path. Like, your wheel is still out of alignment.
So you need to learn how to tighten the spokes or fix things a little bit, shift them.
Not ready to go freewheeling into the Dharma full on.
So I'm not going to go into everything Buddha recommended, but what was emphasized or one of the points and practices emphasized. The first one he speaks about and comes back to in this teaching to Bahia is.
[00:22:26] Speaker A: Spiritual friendship is important.
It's one of the conditions, the kind of external conditions to really engage in this middle way called the Eightfold path of not being a jerk.
As Dale mentioned.
And this, you know, good friend Spiritual friendship.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Is key.
And in other writings, of course, very famously, you know, it's been declared that this is the whole of practice is good spiritual friendship. And during this session, someone commented to me recently, what's been amazing is how everybody's putting in the effort to work together.
You know, somebody's sick, people fill in.
Somebody doesn't quite know how to do some kind of form. We just seamlessly support each other.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: You know, and it's great. Like sometimes people, especially when you're really new to Sachin, you just drop in and you're taken care of by the whole of Sacheen. And you might not realize it for years, but in our situation, everybody's just been contributing to the functioning in such a generous way.
Like Jake, our work leader.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Removed the snow from the sidewalks this morning. Thank you very much. And tried to make them safe for us.
And I knew. I woke up early this morning to contemplate what I was going to say to everyone.
And I thought, I know that Jake is going to come and do that.
I hope the snow shovel isn't too heavy for him.
It's a big shovel. He's a pretty big guy, but it's a big shovel.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: And indeed, Jake arrived.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: Because I was a little worried if I shoveled all that snow, I wouldn't have time to prepare certain things or that I might be tired, too tired to talk to you, which you might be happy about, actually.
[00:24:38] Speaker A: So this spiritual friendship that is part of our Sasheen is just the heart of our sangha. You know, this dragon sangha has a very big heart.
Caring about each other.
Is that person okay? Are we okay? Check in. Not in a cloying way, but in a caring way.
This is the practice of not being a jerk.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: And even if someone might have jerkish tendencies, there's room for that.
You'd be a little jerk. You're in a jerky mood, okay? But the wheel will still include you in this mandala. And the wheel will turn somehow, even if it's not always perfect, even if it's a little out of kilter. Each one of us is a spoke in the wheel. We turn together and maybe we're out of alignment a bit. And then we return and roll along merrily. We roll along.
We row the Dharma boat.
And what I really wanted to talk about today, and finally I'm getting to, so thank you for listening, is one support and power source for this Rohatsu wheel turning has been somebody called Mike E.
Mike Evans, who is our Tenzo, whose Dharma name means Chikuan is chikuan, Shoryu, bamboo Sound true dragon.
And this true dragon has been our kitchen manager and temple cook for three years.
Three years feeding the dragon. And believe me, it has been a hungry dragon.
And during the Sachin, you know, you can tell people are really working in Sachin. Like about day three, people are voracious at first. Like, they're taking little bits in their bowls. Then it's like piling the bowls up. The servers are like, can I fit enough in that bowl? But this true dragon, Mike has been our temple cook for three day sasheens for five day, sashines for one day, sasheens for all of our Sangha potlucks and receptions. Coordinating herding the dragons to help us feed each other, receiving food, receiving food donations. So many people have donated so much here, coordinated our weekly social teas.
We love to drink tea and talk.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: People are a little bit dismayed when, during t. During Sacheen, we didn't have conversation.
But I think it's okay just for these longer sasheens, we can live with it because Mike has been there with tea on other occasions or made sure we had it.
So Mike, in this great effort, following the Eightfold path, has been part of this power source of this wheel, turning and awakening within our Sangha, this middle way that the Tenso teaches us between indulgence, you know, food isn't too indulgent. Once in a while he goes overboard, but. Or.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Yeah, like, like I'll be like, Mike, that cookie is the size of a plate for tea. Maybe it could be a little smaller.
Totally ignores that advice, you know.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: Which is great.
Not unlike the great disciple Magia.
[00:28:14] Speaker A: But this middle way, you know, doesn't starve us, gives us enough energy that we can be supported in our bodies and minds to sit well.
And this Sangha is sitting well.
That includes you cloudlings.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: You're sitting well.
And you know, the Tenzo is super important. I wouldn't. It's not just the hub of the wheel, though, you know, like the Tenso is just part of the whole mandala of a temple where there are many people who are supporting this session who are spokes in the dragon wheel.
But today is Mike's final day in the role of Tenso, you know, everything that arises ceases the law of impermanence and.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: Somebody else gets a chance. And Mike might be. Maybe we all should pitch in for a little vacation on a beautiful island someplace.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Over Mike.
[00:29:25] Speaker A: But today we'll have a ceremony where the wooden spoon will be passed from 1 tenso to the next, unless the next one runs away then.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: So I just wanted to appreciate Mike and his kind and diligent effort as our cook, as our Tenzo, as our temple kitchen manager.
And just a little backstory to this role, because we'll be able to appreciate Mike more, but never probably completely.
You know, he has helped us, nourished us in some pretty rough waters and helped us recover in some ways, slowly nourishing us after the pandemic and other difficulties that we've had to negotiate in the past three years.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: But this backstory is this role of temple kitchen manager and head cook kind of arose probably not in Buddha's time, but somewhat afterwards in China, when the big monasteries were like huge institutions and had kitchens, the monks weren't just taking their bowl out, going begging because they had to work at the temple space.
And the founder of our school, Dogen, followed these Chinese standards for temple organization mandala. And we echo that a bit here.
But I was thinking about Dogen and thinking about his writing on the instructions for the cook that came from his experience. And I was thinking, this is so much like these stories we've been talking about.
Dogen saw a cook in front of a Buddha hall ceremony space airing mushrooms.
The cook carried a bamboo staff in his hand, so he's probably using it to prop himself up, but no hat on his head. The sun was hot and the ground tiles were hot, and sweat streamed over him as he worked diligently to dry the mushrooms.
He was suffering a bit. His backbone was bent like a bow. His shaggy eyebrows. He resembled a cane, a crane, you know, bird. And Dogan comes along, this young person, seeing this old geezer, you know, working hard, you know, in a culture where you respect old people, you're like, he's like, why don't you have a helper?
Why are you doing that? And the tensors are not me.
And I said, ah, venerable sir, you are. This is Dogan. You are dedicated. But the sun is so hot, why are you doing this now? And the cook said, what time should I wait for?
So this young dog. As I walked along the corridor, I realized what an important opportunity this position of tenzo offers, this attitude or opportunity to care for a sangha, to care for a temple, this attitude of caring, that's the heart of our practice, that is the not being a dirt part.
Later, kind of miraculously, Dogen encounters this old Tenzo again on a boat.
The tenzo had journeyed to the boat to purchase some more mushrooms, some dried mushrooms.
And Dogan asks When we return to the monastery, the monk, old geezer said, if I can buy the mushrooms now, I'll set off right after that.
And Dogen's like, oh, but I didn't expect to meet you.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: And have a conversation. I don't know when we're going to meet again.
Stay longer and talk to me. Have a meal. Let me treat you.
I want more of you.
Right?
Tenzo is like, that's impossible.
I didn't oversee the preparations for tomorrow's meal offering.
It will not turn out well if others do it. And Dogen's like, but aren't there other people? I mean, come on, stay and have a drink with me, you know?
Aren't there other people who understand how to make a meal in your temple?
Would it be such a bad thing if just the cook wasn't there for once?
We actually had a time when the cook got sick during sashin. It was last year's Rahatsu, right, Mike?
But he had prepared everything so well that Aishin took over the kitchen, I think, and somebody else. Yeah, right. She forgot about it.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: And everything was so well prepared. But still, I know Mike felt terrible not being there.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: And this Tenzo is like, I have to be there.
I have to be there to take care of the community.
How could I hand it over to others? And besides that, when I came here to get mushrooms, I didn't ask permission to stay overnight and hang out with you.
Dogen still persists. Sounds like, you know, Bahi or Magya, you know.
And he says, but you're, you know, you're old.
But in a culture that values old people, they said, you're venerable in years.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: Why don't you sit in meditation to pursue the Way and contemplate the words of the ancients?
Isn't it troublesome being just a cook?
All you do is labor.
What good is that?
Cook laughed and said, my good man from a foreign country, you do not yet understand the pursuit of the Way.
And having spoken thus, the cook got up and said, it's late in the day. I'm in a hurry. I'm going back. Hasta la vista.
So this is a little Tenso story, but. But this is a Buddha teaching young Dogen.
And maybe we'll have mushrooms for lunch prepared by our Tenzo.
But in the meantime, I invite you in your spare time to contemplate how Dogen's encounter with this Tenzo.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: Turns the wheel of the Dharma and how it relates to these four Noble Truths.
Shit happens.
We make it worse.
It doesn't have to be that bad.
And we can always act like a tenso.
Always act with the benefit of others in mind.
So I apologize for the long windedness.
We'll have a little discussion time.
Most people are stuck in this room here, so, you know, they're inches Hashien. Maybe Howard needs to split sooner, but.
