The Spiral That Reconnects

[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. [00:00:18] Speaker B: Thank you very much. [00:00:20] Speaker C: Welcome Groundlings and cloudlings forming this one practice body here today. Quite a full practice body. [00:00:34] Speaker B: People online got a little gallery here in the Sendo. [00:00:41] Speaker C: And on this beautiful day, it's wonderful that we can be together. The first thing that we do is have announcements here in the room. And then on the clouds I'll pass this mic around, we'll wind around the room and then our techno wave will wend around the zendo in the cloud. So I'm Hougetsu. [00:01:13] Speaker B: I'm Tova, Howard, Kim. [00:01:24] Speaker D: Jerry, Leo. [00:01:28] Speaker B: Wade, Nina, Teresa, Yana, Jake. [00:01:43] Speaker D: Patrick, Charles, Lauren. [00:01:52] Speaker E: Joe. [00:01:54] Speaker B: Andy, David, Douglas, Michael. [00:02:05] Speaker D: Jonathan, Amina, Mike, Elliot. [00:02:14] Speaker B: Maria. [00:02:19] Speaker F: And online we have Mark Nathan, Chris, Anthony Niozon, David Weiner, Thomas Teigen, Allison Bryant, Dennis, Sandra, Karen, Carla, Noah, and the entirety of the Milwaukee Zen Center. Welcome, welcome everyone and our friends from just north. [00:02:48] Speaker C: Yeah, so Patrick is in the house today from Geneva with Jim and so they got up early and took a really long drive to get here. Amina is in the house today from California, took a plane ride here. As far as I can tell, we have at least two other new people, Lauren and Michael. So welcome Teresa, your first time here from Spain. All the way here from Spain, Barcelona, someplace like that. And and then of course the Milwaukee Zen center and Tigan Dan Layton. [00:03:40] Speaker B: Welcome everyone. [00:03:43] Speaker C: And it's a great delight to have with us Tova Green from San Francisco Zen center and Branching Streams, which is our kind of communities outside of the three main Zen center temples, but including them, but across the world really representing the Suzuki Roshi lineage. And we're having a gathering, a significant gathering in Woodstock, Illinois tomorrow. So remember that on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, hybrid and in on site program in person won't be happening because our cushions are going to fly up there in Douglas's vehicle this afternoon. So just remember that. But next week we also have because of Branching Streams, Jiryu Raichman Beiler from San Francisco Zen center will be here talking on a book that he co edited that recently came out called Becoming Yourself on Suzuki Roshi, which is Suzuki Roshi talks that have been transcribed, new talks. So there are, there's a lot happening here. But right now let's turn our attention to Tova Green Jisan Myochu Miyo which means compassion mountain, wondrous or subtle listening and tova has been a great teacher. [00:05:14] Speaker B: Of mine, helping me learn how to. [00:05:17] Speaker C: Listen and care for this world. And it's a great honor that she is with us and to share her dharma many, many years of deep practice. Devoted practice is a wonderful model for. [00:05:37] Speaker B: All of us, Tova. So. [00:05:41] Speaker C: I could say a lot about. [00:05:42] Speaker B: You, but maybe you could say a. [00:05:43] Speaker C: Little about yourself and offer your dharma. [00:05:47] Speaker B: Please. [00:05:48] Speaker C: Thank you very much for joining. [00:05:53] Speaker B: You may. [00:05:54] Speaker C: Thank you for inviting me. [00:06:08] Speaker B: I might need some help. [00:06:11] Speaker C: See, it can go. [00:06:16] Speaker B: It might work there. [00:06:17] Speaker C: Let me see on the other side. Hang on. Let's put it there. [00:06:22] Speaker B: Try that. Thanks. Can you hear me online? Yes. Okay, great. So, good morning, everyone. I'm really, really happy to be here. I want to thank Hougetsu for inviting me to give this talk this morning. And she mentioned the gathering that's about to start tomorrow. And I want to say a few words about that. And actually the theme of my talk today. So my work for San Francisco zen Center since 2018 has been to connect all of the branching streams, Zen centers and Sanghas affiliated with San Francisco Zen Center. And there are about 80. I visited many of them, not all, in the years since I started doing this work. And every two years, we come together for a gathering. Used to call it a conference, and it's always sponsored by one or two Zen centers in our lineage. And this year it's being co hosted by Ancient Dragons, Zen Gate and Milwaukee Zen Center. So welcome all of you who are on the screen from Milwaukee Zen center and Rayrin in particular, for the work that she and many Sangha members from this Sangha have been doing to make this gathering not just happen, but be a place where people come together and learn from each other and celebrate our Sanghas and the theme. So I work with a program committee. There are eight of us. Douglas is one of the members of that committee. And we started meeting in January of this year to plan the program. And our first meeting was because we didn't all know each other. Several of us are kind of elders, Zen teachers who are part of an advisory group that I've been working with since some of them since 2018, meeting once a month. And then we decided this year that half the members of the program committee would be new to the program committee and preferably younger members of Sanghas. And so in our first meeting, we were getting to know each other, and we decided we would come up with the topic for the conference. And it was really a beautiful collaboration of group 8 voices and 8 perspectives. And the theme we came up with Is bridging and belonging. Living a Zen. Living a Zen life in the midst of conflict. And we were thinking it was only January, but we were aware that there was going to be more conflict in our country. And sometimes there's conflict in our sanghas. How do we meet that conflict in our relationships, sometimes inner conflicts. How do we bridge those conflicts? And how do we create a sense of belonging in our sanghas in our country, if we, you know, we're doing our best, some of us, to. To work with that in. In whatever ways we can. So in thinking about that theme and my talk today, I want to draw on the work of one of my teachers and mentors who died just. She died on July 13. Her name was Joanna Macy. And I'm wondering if anyone in this room has heard Renee, quite a few of you. Has anyone done any of the work that reconnects what she calls the work that reconnects with. So about a week before Joanna Macy died, I spoke about her and gave a talk at Cannon Do Zen Meditation center in California. And I spoke about some of her teachings. But I find that talking about her teaching isn't as satisfying as experiencing. Ching. I first met Joanna Macy in 1982. So that's 40 years ago, when she gave a workshop. I was living in Boston at the time, and she gave a workshop called Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age. And her early work, that was one of the first workshops she gave, was focusing on how we could address the threat of nuclear war. Since then, her work has become more broadly focused on environmental issues and just basic issues of how we meet some of the challenging things that are happening in our country and world politically as well. And that first workshop was a weekend workshop, and it was very powerful for me. I had been an activist in the 60s in the civil rights movement and gone on many marches on Washington, including 1963 March, which Dr. King gave his famous speech, I had a dream. And then there was a period of time. And then I went to social work school, and I turned my attention to working with people one on one, in small groups and being less politically active. But the workshop with Joanna rekindled my activism, and I afterwards, she always ends her workshops with trying to identify some small thing that you can do that might make a difference. And I formed a group with two people I knew. One was my neighbor and one was a friend who had come to the workshop with me. And I also joined a group of women that were doing civil disobedience. We called ourselves the Black Cardigans. On the black sweaters after a group of people in England who were protesting outside a facility that was storing nuclear weapons. They called themselves the Black Cardigans. So I learned, and then I learned to lead despair and empowerment workshops. I studied with Joanna Macy and took many other workshops with her. And I was able to lead workshops in many places, including in Japan, in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and in Australia. Later, when I moved to the bay area in 1990, and I was living with my partner at the time, Fran Peavey, who was of close colleague of Joanna Macy. And Joanna became a friend, and she actually officiated at our ceremony of commitment before gay marriage was possible. So Joanna has been very important person in my life, and I was. I thought today what I'd like to do is talk about the work that reconnects, but not talk too much and share some exercises with you. You can't really do a workshop in a dharma talk, but I'm going to try to blend the two, and I hope you'll bear with me. So the point or the work that reconnects from my understanding of it is it connects us with Buddhist teachings. It's based on Joanna's deep study of Buddhism from the time she was in graduate school, where she wrote a dissertation, Dependent co arising. What any one of us does impacts everyone else. And seeing interconnectedness of all beings, it's very important. Basic teaching of ours, of Buddhism and the work that reconnects also may help. It certainly help me connect with a part of myself that was kind of on a back burner, maybe suppressed. And it can. It can bring some concerns and feelings to the surface so that we're more in touch with them. And it can also help us reconnect with one another through circles, support groups, taking action together and to the world in which we live. And the work that reconnects works with a spiral that has four main parts. And in a workshop, all of these four parts of the spiral are explored in a group. And it starts with gratitude. So I'll just name the four, and then I'm going to invite you to work with me on these four parts of the spiral. The first one is gratitude. Then there's honoring our pain for the world. The third has to do with seeing, seeing with new eyes. And then the last is going forth. So starting with gratitude can help us ground ourselves and start steady in times of turmoil and crisis. So I'm going to ask you to take a moment and reflect on one thing you love about being alive on our planet at this time. One thing you Love about being alive at this time. Raise your hand if you found something that you're grateful for. One thing that Joanna said is to be alive in this beautiful self organizing universe. To participate in the dance of life in senses, to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it, is a wonder beyond words. And I think starting from a place and gratitude and our love for the world brings out a sense of connectedness also with others, with nature, with children and elders in our life that we deeply care about and with our planet. And then not, you know, the next part that's coming from this place of love and gratitude is honoring our pain for the world. And in honoring our pain and daring to express it, we learn meaning of compassion to suffer with. And compassion also usually has an action component to it. We don't just observe pain of others or the world, we often try to alleviate it. But sometimes what, and these are Joanna's words, what may have isolated us in private anguish opens outward and delivers us into the wider reaches of our collective existence. So a question for you now is what concerns you most about the world today? What concerns you most about the world today? And there's a second part of that question. What are some of the feelings you carry around with you about this? So has everyone, or could you raise your hand if you come up with something that concerns you and how you feel? So sensing the energy in the room, it feels a bit more somber. And there are many feelings that arise that can be painful and including grief, fear, anger, sorrow. And in a workshop, we would have an opportunity to share some songs and feelings together. And yeah, I think because we need the mic, it will be difficult, would be difficult to hear from some of you, but maybe we can hear from some of you in the Q and A time. So then moving to the, you know, it's important to recognize that some of these feelings are painful and difficult to live with, to experience, and it can ease, ease the burden when we share them with others. So then moving on to seeing with new eyes who can sense this concern and, and from the pain you may be feeling, there can be a turning point in the work that reconnects when we are more genuinely aware of our relationship to everything that is. And we may begin to taste our own power to change things. So this question for you has to do with maybe remembering, refinding something within us that we might not have been aware of. So think about a time in your life when something important and good happened because of what you did or said. A time when you made a difference to a friend, a stranger, or community you're part of. I'll say that one against long Think of a time in your life when something important and good happened because of what you said or did. A time when you made a difference to a friend, a stranger, a community you're part of. It can be something simple, listening to someone who's in pain or helping someone learn something they're having a difficult time with. Or it could be something that made a difference to your sangha. Could you raise your hand? You landed on something. Sometimes this is hard to do. We tend to take for granted the things we do that are beneficial or just not notice them. And then the last part of the work that reconnects is going forth about that. Joanna Macy says ever again. We go forth into the actions that call each of us in keeping with our own situation and gifts. And sometimes at the end of a workshop, she would ask a series of questions or we would. We would get into small groups and talk about this question. If you were liberated from fear and open to all the power available to you in the web of life, what would you do in service to life on earth? So that's a big question, you know. If you were liberated from fear and open to all the power available to you in the web of life, what would you do in service to life on Earth? And then we would it would always end with a much smaller question. So this is the question for you. What is one small thing you could do in the next week in service to life on Earth, no matter how small the step? So please take a moment to think about that one small thing you could do in the next week in service to life on Earth, no matter how small the step. So could you raise your hand? Could be people online. I hope you're joining us for this. Raise your hand if you found some small thing you can do. Great. Thank you. So that is our mini workshop. My I know your Hougetsu has invited someone to come later on this fall who will do a longer workshop. This is just a taste and I just want to share one of the most powerful teachings I first was introduced to by Joanna Macy, but I've explored it in different ways and that's the theme about power. And Joanna Macy talked about two kinds of power. Power over and power with. And we can see this very clearly in our country today in the US with described power over and power with. And she calls power over the old type of power. But it's still prevalent the old type of Power in which most of us have been socialized originated in the worldview that assumed reality to be composed of separate entities. Rocks, plants, atoms, people. People came to be seen as a property of those separate entities, and this property enables them to push each other around. Power became identified with domination, equated with the exertion of one's will over others and limiting their choices. So you may or may not agree with this depiction of power over, but it tends to be hierarchical and it tends to create a dichotomy between people who have a lot of power and people who feel powerless. And in contrast to that is a view of power that's based on connection. And Joanna uses the image of Indra's Net. It's a network. It's a very old Buddhist image with a network that has nodes connecting the different. Sometimes the neural network is also a metaphor as a way of thinking about this. But these nodes in Indra's Net have little mirrors where the different strands come together and all the mirrors reflect each other. So it's not. [00:29:27] Speaker C: It's. [00:29:31] Speaker B: The kind of power that can generate new forms, behavior and potentials, and that capacity emerges through relationship. She says living systems evolve in variety, resilience and intelligence. They do this not by erecting walls of defense and closing off from their environment, but by opening more widely to currents of matter or energy and information. And that view of power, I feel, is even though we belong to organizations that have leaders, but the leaders may be leaders who include others in the way they make decisions and are more likely to collaborate in making decisions than to, even though they may be, in the end, the one responsible for the final decision, they don't do it alone. And it's a very different feeling in an organization like that. And I would venture to say this Sangha is an example you have currently, you're the guiding teacher and you work very closely with many people in the Sangha. Everyone in the Sangha create a Sangha in which everyone feels they belong because that bridging happens. So you think about bridging and belonging. What enables people to feel that they belong, that they're welcome, that they're giving something, want to give something back to the well being of the sun. That because of the gratitude that comes. So I want to leave some time for questions, but I thought I might end my talk with a song I like to sing, and I like to sometimes end my talk with songs. This one has, it's called Somos al Baco and it was written by a singer, songwriter named Laurie Wyatt. It Was made famous perhaps by Peter, Paul and Mary, who were a group very popular in this six and seventies. You can see a song, it starts with two lines of Spanish and then two lines of English. And this is the chorus. [00:32:18] Speaker G: Somo Selmo, Selma, Yona, Vego and Tuna, Vegas and me we are the boat, we are the sea I sail in you, you sail in me and I'll. [00:32:41] Speaker B: Just sing two of the verses. [00:32:43] Speaker G: The stream sings it to the river, the river sings it to the sea and the sea sings it to the boat that carries you and me Somo, selmo, Selma, yo no vego and Tea, Tuna, Vegas and me we are the boat, we are the sea I sail in you, you sail in me. [00:33:20] Speaker B: I'm gonna skip to the last verse. [00:33:23] Speaker G: So with our hopes we raise the sails to face the wind once more and with our hearts we chart the waters and never, never sailed before Somo self, Harco, Somo, Selma, Yona, Vaguanti, Tuna, Vegas and me we are the boat, we are the sea I sail in. [00:33:54] Speaker B: You, you sail in me so thank you for your kind attention. Do we have questions and discussion now? So I would ask you to make your questions or comments brief so we can hear as many people as possible and also may want to hear from people online, which I think Lloyd would be monitoring. So. And I would ask, if you're in the room and asking a question, if you could start with your names so we can hear them all. Question or comment. Yes. [00:34:37] Speaker H: So. [00:34:37] Speaker B: Hi, Michael. [00:34:42] Speaker D: I'm an electrician who works in data centers, and I believe that they are extremely destructive, that most of my work is extremely destructive. And it fills me with a sense of dread. What do I do about that? [00:35:02] Speaker B: Thank you for that question. It's very hard to be working in a place where you feel your values are different from the ones or your values maybe in opposition to the work that your company is doing. So my sense is at some time you may find yourself wanting to do something else that would be more in line with what you feel is beneficial for the world. And in the meantime, to see how you can accept that this is where you are now. Maybe there's good reason. It's not so easy to change jobs nowadays and to find the things that do bring meaning and value to your life so that you have something to counterbalance that feeling that you get it. Well, is that helpful? Thank you. Comments, questions. [00:36:26] Speaker C: I was struck by many things you said. Tova can hear me online. [00:36:32] Speaker B: I'm close enough to you. [00:36:34] Speaker C: Your mic. [00:36:35] Speaker B: Okay. [00:36:38] Speaker C: I was thinking about this Image of the headwinds and using them to power the boat and thinking about that in these situations that we might encounter these days where the wind stays very powerful. But I've been on sailboats where somebody who's a good sailor can really tack the whole thing and turn things around. And I think about how to become these kind of bodhisattva sailors in the sea of our existence. You know, it's really a Zen project. So I wanted to just thank you for offering that image. It's very beautiful. [00:37:15] Speaker B: Thank you. Hougetsu. Yes. And I think that those headwinds when we're sailing that with a boat, with others, and there is more of a chance to catch those headwinds and make the most of them. I think that's what we have to do nowadays. Thank you, Chief. [00:37:40] Speaker A: Good morning. I'm Yana. When responding to a conflict with compassion and getting hate in response. [00:37:54] Speaker B: How do. [00:37:54] Speaker A: We stay still and present, not respond with hate in return? [00:38:05] Speaker B: I think. Thank you, Yana. There's this saying in the Dhammapada that meeting hate with hate only increases the hate. Meeting hate with love is the best we can do so with compassion. It can be difficult to meet hate with openness, with caring. Understanding that the person who's hating is a person that helps, you know, and then really checking in with. I find sometimes I. When I feel anger, when I hear something that I disagree with or I feel someone is expressing something that is hard for me to appreciate before I speak, I. I really try to settle myself, feel my feet on the ground or, you know, come to my breath so that I don't say something that I will regret in response. And sometimes you just need to. Need to step back. And it's not always helpful to just be the recipient of hate. And I think of aikido, where when somebody's attacking you, you can move aside so that they get. They may lose their balance. There's a lot of hate in this country right now. It's difficult to know how to meet it. And I think somewhat similar to what I said to Michael. It's so important for us and for me, it is for us to find ways of being with people where we can feel trust and love and support and, you know, know that those qualities are alive and well in a place. In a time when there's a lot of hatred, that's helpful. There's someone. [00:40:39] Speaker D: I'm Lauren. [00:40:41] Speaker B: Hi, Lauren. [00:40:42] Speaker D: I often want to help the world, but then I don't feel like I have enough energy inside of myself. To do that, like, I need to love myself first or something. But then that feels like a sort of defense against the world, that I'm guarding myself or something. How do I help myself in a way that helps the world? [00:41:06] Speaker B: Well, I think by loving yourself, you're helping the world. I mean, if you. If you can find. It's important to start. You know, there's this loving kindness meditation which always starts with appreciating or using the meta. The loving kindness words. May I be happy, may I be safe, may I be free from suffering. You start with yourself, because if you're not at peace, it's hard to give anything to anyone else. So start with that. And you'll find in time you want to, you'll have more energy to give to others. But for whatever reason, you don't have that energy. Now. Take good care of yourself, and you may find your energy to give in some simple ways. It doesn't have to be anything big. May increase. It's not either or, it's both. And. [00:42:12] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:42:27] Speaker C: Let's just check in with the Cloud. Anybody in the Cloud in Milwaukee have anything to say? [00:42:34] Speaker F: Oh, Brian, Milwaukee had to leave, unfortunately. But they said thank you, Tova, and that they'll see you tomorrow. Yeah, Bryant, go ahead, please. [00:42:46] Speaker E: Yes, thank you very much for your talk. I came today completely open to what you might talk about or present. And I was very delighted when you talked about Joanna Macy's work. I first became familiar with her work, with that first book of hers on Dependent Arising and its connections. Revolution, really, to everything, not just Buddhism. So I think I know we're not workshopping, but my first thing, what I thought of when you asked about gratitude is gratitude for your bringing that up. Gratitude for you and everyone else. Tigun, Hougetsu, everyone in this room, everyone that has the intention to try in some way to reconnect and to, you know, bring forth the ideas that can help humanity. So it's just really, thank you and my gratitude for you and for everyone else that is on this path. [00:43:56] Speaker B: Thank you very much. Ryan. I'm glad you mentioned Tigan, because I know Tigan. You. You've worked, you've done a lot. I'm sure you knew Joanna Macy and her work very well. In fact, I think you wrote an essay, a book that Stephanie Caza put together, that it was a celebration of Joanna Macy's 90th birthday and many wonderful essays, and Tigan pulled that book. So maybe that's a good note to end on today and we can continue the discussion over tea and thank you all for being here. [00:44:43] Speaker C: Thank you very much, Tova. And we'll chant the four Bodhisattva vows three times. Anyone who needs a chant, you could place your hands in nacho if you don't have a card and offer that to you. And Jonathan, if you just move closer. [00:45:02] Speaker B: The way, please send so Boba has. [00:45:05] Speaker C: Little room and we'll have some announcements. So thank you all very much. [00:45:22] Speaker B: Do the chant. [00:45:24] Speaker C: You will start the chant during it. [00:45:28] Speaker B: Okay? These are numberless My heartbeats are boundless. [00:45:54] Speaker H: Buddha's way insuranceable we now to realize it being our numberless we are onto freedom Delusions are inexhaustible we vow cut through them but our gates are harmless we vow to enter down Buddha's ways unsurpassable we vow to realize it being far less we vow to freedom Delusions are inexhaustible we vow to go through. [00:46:50] Speaker B: Them. [00:46:53] Speaker H: Gates are boundless we how surrender them Buddha's ways unsurpassable Breathe out your real.