So this is Labor Day weekend, and so I'm going to talk about one of the very basic Buddhist teachings, which is also one of the most important for our society, and that's right livelihood. Or we could say right labor, or, well, sometimes we talk about work practice. So right livelihood is part of the Eightfold Path, one of the early Buddhist teachings, part of the Four Noble Truths that, first of all, there's suffering, there's dissatisfaction, that in our world and in our own lives, this is called the Noble Truth, because to recognize this, to be willing to face this is noble, it's very important. We need to keep our eyes

[01:03]

open, to stay open to the suffering of the world. The point of our practice, in a way, is to relieve suffering and help everyone and everything to the path of awakening. So that's the first Noble Truth. The second is that there's a cause of that, and usually that's described as attachments to objects of desire, we want to get things, that it's not enough to just sit presently and upright and enjoy our breathing, that suffering is caused by the ways in which the world encourages us, in which our consciousness encourages us to try and get things, get rid of things, and so forth. So that leads to suffering. And then the third Noble Truth is the good news, that there's an end to that. And the fourth Noble Truth is that it's called the Eightfold Path. So this is earliest Buddhist teaching. And there are many expressions of how to practice in our everyday activity in

[02:09]

a way that helps express the underlying awareness that we come to realize through the sitting practice, the sense of connectedness and settledness, but also flexibility and openness. So the Eightfold Path, again, provides practical guidance to how to live with awareness and compassion, and to implement the Third Truth of the end of suffering. So Right Livelihood is one of those eight, along with Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. There's some variation on the list, but Right Livelihood, well, it has to do with, well, you could say the right to live, for all beings. Life as vitality, livelihood. And this includes the right to honorable, dignified work as

[03:15]

a human right, as an expression of our own inner creative energy, our own sense of connection, our own sense of kindness and awareness that we develop physically through doing this practice regularly. So I want to talk about what Right Livelihood means, and what it means to us, and what it means to our society. Originally, Right Livelihood referred to not pursuing locations that were harmful, not taking on occupations that were harmful, and that referred to not killing animals. So butchers were an example of Not Right Livelihood in early Buddhism. And I think in our modern context, we have to expand

[04:17]

that. What are modern criteria? So making a living, Not Right Livelihood would be making a living through deception, cheating others. And not just killing, but maybe producing weapons, or trading, distributing weapons. And maybe in our context, where our whole habitat is at risk through climate damage, maybe a violation of Right Livelihood from a Buddhist perspective would be working to develop fossil fuels, create fossil fuels, distributing. And given that, as is more and more apparent with glaciers in the Arctic, and so forth, forest fires in California, so-called extreme weather

[05:21]

everywhere, that we need to, of course, how we get there in the transition, and we have to use electric lights, but how do we transition from fossil fuel? So there are numbers of criteria, so that's more kind of societal, and I'm going to come back to that. But for each of us, what are, we can think of modern criteria of Right Livelihood, of how we support ourselves in ways that are helpful rather than harmful. So this has to do with Bodhisattva ethics, with Buddhist ethics, in general, with how we see our life in the world. So our meditation is, we start from there. This is the same practice we've been doing. Settling, grounding, feeling some inner calm, even in the middle of swirling thoughts. So we had a number of people

[06:28]

this morning who had their first period of meditation. That's wonderful for all of us, and you probably noticed that there were some thoughts and feelings that came up in the middle of that. So the point of our sitting isn't to get rid of thoughts or feelings. It isn't to reach some perfected higher state of being or of mind, but to actually be present and aware of this situation, this body, this mind, this morning. And that's what we're going to do. And then as we take this, as we do this practice regularly and take it out into the world, how do we live in a way that expresses the awareness that we start to develop through doing this practice regularly? So there are a variety of criteria in terms of

[07:28]

modern right-mindedness. One would just be having some knowledge of the consequences or product of our work. Are we working in a way that supports people, that nourishes people, that helps feed people, or that provides useful services to people? Or are we, on the other side, causing harm? Is the product of our work weapons or intoxicants or things that will not be helpful? So basically it has to do with the bodhisattva precepts we just had a ceremony for last Sunday. The first one is that a disciple of Buddha does not kill, but that means also, how do we support life? How do we help others not to kill? How do we support generosity rather than theft, truthfulness instead of lies? How do we express respect for all beings?

[08:35]

So one of our bodhisattva precepts is to include all beings, so to not see certain beings as separate, you know, and try and build walls to keep them out or whatever. All of this is kind of the context for right, for thinking about right livelihood. So in addition to seeing the result or product of our work as, you know, it could be helpful or it could be helpful or neutral, but to not, so that it's not harmful. And of course there are subtleties in all of this. It's not a matter of perfect right livelihood. So part of the question of work and living wage and so forth comes up. But another just personal criteria would be the pace of the work. Can we remain aware as we're doing our work? And I've been challenged by this in various jobs

[09:44]

where I had to move very, very quickly. Like when I worked at some center's Tassanara Bakery and there was a line out the door every Saturday morning for hours and hours and hours, working behind the counter and getting people's order, getting it in order. And I was very, very busy getting people's order, getting it in order for the cashier. And there's a lot going on. And there's a couple of other people doing the same thing. It's a limited space. And in that kind of situation, how do you maintain awareness? When you have to, in some sense, move very quickly. And what I realized was part of that is that you have to slow down. If you feel rushed and you're trying to do it quickly, that you can't stay aware. To actually be aware and to, you know, instead for here to go is one large or small blueberry, nothing. Anyway, to do all of that, there's a way in which you have to remain aware, which means a little bit slowing down,

[10:50]

even though it has to happen quickly. So again, the pace of work, how do we maintain awareness in whatever work we're doing is another criteria, modern criteria for upright livelihood. Maybe from a deeper perspective, how do we support ourselves and our families through a meaningful activity? How do we allow our work to provide some sense of human integrity, of uprightness, of using your interests and abilities, hopefully with some vitality and creative energy? How do we contribute constructively to our community through our work? So this is a great challenge. How do we, and in our society now, just to find work is a huge challenge.

[11:55]

In our economy, in our society, we're often college graduates. It's very hard to find work moving forward. How do we find some way of supporting ourselves? So in our, even in our sangha, we have people who are unemployed or underemployed. This is a challenge in our world now. So we need to be able to have work, but also work that allows us, jobs that allow us some dignity, some uprightness in our activity, in our work activity. So there's the quality of right livelihood of not doing harm in our work. And of course, sometimes that's subtle. How do we work in ways that express cooperation rather than

[13:01]

some kind of competitive doing unto others before they do unto us? And our economy seems to, in our society, is built around that to such an extent that this is challenging. But basically our work should allow us some creative expression, something, some constructive, satisfying way of supporting ourselves. John Kabat-Zinn, who is kind of the leader of the mindfulness movement, so recently, defines a job as something I'd love to do so much I'd pay to do it. Now that's very idealistic, maybe. And actually we have quite a few people in our sangha who do really clearly helpful constructive work, and that's wonderful. But if this isn't about, you know, having some glamorous, you know, or ethically high-status

[14:07]

position, how can we express ourselves, express our own inner dignity constructively and with fine satisfaction in whatever work we're doing? So part of our, a big part of our Zazen is that we connect with, it's kind of inner space, it's not inner as opposed to outer, but first we turn within and find a kind of openness, a kind of spaciousness, a kind of calm that connects with our creative expression. So this meditation is a kind of creative practice. How do we sit and sit like Buddha? Whether we're sitting in a chair or kneeling or cross-legged, how do we be present and upright and calm like the image of Buddha in the center of the room? How do we find that space where we can find our own creative energy? And whatever creative

[15:16]

activities you do, and all of you have some, you know, creative activities in your life, maybe something explicit like making music or something like that, but also parenting or cooking or gardening, or, you know, how do we see all of our daily activities as a kind of creative, a way to express our inner dignity? Again, this practice allows us to find that inner space and inner calm and inner dignity that we all have, that brought you here. Of course, part of what's difficult about sitting, which you all know, but I'll say it for the new people, is that we also see our own greed, hate, delusion, our own patterns of grasping and anger and confusion and fear and so forth. That stuff comes up too if we do a regular sitting practice,

[16:17]

and so we have to face them. This is like facing the first level truth. We have to face the loss and sadness in our life and in the world. But how do we find a way to express our deepest, most worthy self, which we do connect with through this meditation? So again, it's not about having some, you know, we have lots of social workers and therapists and other people in our sangha who do really positive things, but it doesn't mean, at the right level, it's not about necessarily having some glamorous job. So bus drivers or grocery cashiers or people flipping burgers even in a fast food place, whatever job you're doing, how do you bring

[17:21]

friendliness, kindness, and engagement to them? We can have more discussion about beef as a right way, but anyway, I've witnessed and, for example, and heard many stories about bus driver bodhisattvas. They're very, you know, so-called ordinary job. So thank you for that. We try and turn off our self-prosperous world. I'm very sorry about that. That's okay. You know, part of Right Livelihood is how do we support each other? How do we support ourselves? How do we support each other? So again, the bus driver example, I've heard of seeing bus drivers who really welcome people onto the bus and actually, you know, are obviously

[18:26]

friendly and announce the stops and, you know, so going to work that way as opposed to a bus driver is certainly, you know, makes a difference to lots of people in terms of how they function during their day. It's just one example, but how do you find whatever job we have, how do we find a way to make it satisfying and constructive and to express something of a kind of inner warmth and kindness? Basically, Right Livelihood is about how we find our way to express Buddha and Buddha Nation and appreciate it in our world. So each of us has, you know, we have the Buddha image in the center of the room, but each of us has to find our own way to be Buddha, to express Buddha in this body and mind. So our practice is not about, you know,

[19:32]

reaching, getting some great understanding of what Buddha means. I mean, it's okay to, in fact, in our traditional, in our lineage, we do study Buddhist texts and teaching stories and so forth, but as ways to encourage our practice. How do we actually engage in being present and upright in a way that expresses who we each are as Buddha? So I can't tell any of you how to be Buddha. Nobody else can, and they say they can, but each of us has to find our own way to express what it is in this, how it is for this body and mind to, and heart, to be present and upright and kind and aware and support others in that. So, Right Livelihood is important as a Buddhist teaching. Now, also because it's kind of an ethical

[20:42]

and moral model for assessing the society and our society's livelihood, as well as individuals. This can be a principle for renewal of our foundational ideals as humans, as a country. So there are many examples I can give of that. And, you know, in our current political climate, workers' rights and Right Livelihood are sort of under attack in some ways. There's a long history of how the labor movement, on Labor Day, brought us, well, that's disappeared, the five-day week, the 40-hour week. This all came about because of people, in some ways, looking to support Right Livelihood in our society.

[21:48]

So unions are now under attack. All of this has to do with how we find Right Livelihood in our culture. So I'll say a little bit more about that, but I want to have some discussion. But just to mention Chicago as a, you know, one of the focuses of the labor movement. So, I don't know if, how many of you know who Albert Parsons was? Cool, a couple people. Most of you don't. He was a great bodhisattva who lived in, well, he was executed in Chicago in the 1880s. He was part of the labor movement that actually tried to work towards having a five-day work week. Back when work conditions in stockyards in South Chicago, and much of the industry in Chicago, were not supportive of Right Livelihood in lots and lots of ways.

[22:52]

And there was a movement that was broken up. There was a bombing in 1886 at the Haymarket Square. This was a demonstration after police had killed six strikers who were seeking an eight-hour work day. And at the end, after the demonstration, there was a bomb that went off. And they hauled in the usual suspects. They brought in labor organizers. Albert Parsons was really eloquent. I really think of him as a great bodhisattva. Anyway, he was one of the four that were executed. And all of them were, you know, it was clear that they weren't involved directly in the bombing. So this happens still in our society where innocent people are executed. Anyway, this has to do with, so there's a book called Death in the Haymarket by James Green.

[23:58]

Which has a lot of the history of 19th century Chicago. And the maps show where a lot of this happened. Anyway, I recommend it. But just as one example of the struggle for Right Livelihood in society. And there's a whole lot more to say about that. Well, an example today in Chicago is public education being privatized. And speaking of strikes, there's a hunger strike going on now. I think parents and school teachers are trying to stop closure of a public school in South Chicago. And there's an effort to privatize, well, so much has been privatized. Anyway, this is all related to how does our society support Right Livelihood. So our practice is individual. We each work on our own cushion. Looking at our own greed, hate and delusion. Feeling our own creative energy and allowing that to flow.

[25:01]

But also we see how this is related to the work of the world. So maybe I'll close. Well, the whole idea of a living wage, which I think is another basic idea. It goes back actually to Pope Leo in 1891 who talked about it as a moral idea that people should be able to support themselves if they would. One of the people who was later named last Sunday, actually he's from Michigan, but he provides housing for working homeless people. Housing facility. So what does Right Livelihood mean for each of us in our own efforts to support ourselves and our family, in our own efforts to do something in our life that is, that can express this underlying awareness and kindness and caring of Buddha nature that's available, that we

[26:06]

start to feel as we do the sitting practice. I'll close with some words from Robert Kennedy about work. This was in 1968 when the campaign for him was built. Too much and too long we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in a mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product, if we should judge America by that, counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder and chaotic sprawl, and now even more with climate damage. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality

[27:07]

of their education, or the joy of their play. So right livelihood has to do with play also. It's not one of the eightfold paths, but I think right play is important too. How do we find a way to express ourselves and find joy in our life and share that together? And so Sangha, one of the triple jewels of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, community is about supporting each other to find our own space to express some of this. Anyway, just to finish this statement by Robert Kennedy, talking about the idea of the gross national product, it does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything in short except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.

[28:13]

So as I say, right livelihood is an important personal practice for all of us, but it's also a kind of a measure of our society and how we can support our society to be supportive of awareness, of awakening, of kindness. So I could keep babbling as some of you know, but I will just stop and ask for comments or questions or responses on any aspect of this. Please feel free. Hi Abby. Hi. Thank you so much for sharing to us. I'm noticing and remembering that as you're talking about it, that when I first heard

[29:17]

this idea, and I think since then, it's become a sort of idealized notion. I'm like, oh, wouldn't that be awesome if I could find a right livelihood? And this feeling like, oh, if I found the perfect thing, then, you know, whatever, then my life would all make sense or something. And it's just as if if I chose that as a focus for my life, that everything else would fall into place or something. And so it's interesting to think about it now that I've sort of settled into my working life more and that, you know, that I'm doing work that basically feels congruent to me in the ways you're talking about. And at the same time, there's always discomfort with certain aspects of it or certain implications of it. There's always questions and dilemmas inherent in it, even if it's just the question of turning

[30:23]

on the light every time I go into the office, you know, that in terms of, you know, fossil fuels. But just the nature of our, I mean, this is part of what you're talking about, of course, is that the nature of our very complex society is such that we're all implicated in all these concerning realities about inequality, about, you know, the impact on the environment, what we consume and violence. And, you know, so it's always going to be with us. And so in some ways, I feel like for me, the term right by who that confuses me in the direction of some idealized thing is that there's some way to go that would not be implicated in all this. And that I'm sort of wrong as long as I'm not there, as opposed to, or that the person

[31:25]

flipping hers that have been, you know, are wrong. So it's more like bringing attention to, it's sort of just raising the issue of, oh yes, I'm here too, in my work life also, or in my pursuits, professional pursuits. And that too is an area that calls for my attention, and that as long as, to the extent that I'm not attending to the implications of what I'm doing, that's impeding my practice. That represents blind spots and lack of awareness and lack of kindness. And so as much as my, you know, I don't really talk about practices, it's about sort of cultivating, you know, returning to some basic awareness and kindness, you know, that just noticing the way that's locked in our work life. And then as we notice that, that may inspire us to change, you know, it may become intolerable

[32:29]

to participate in certain things or maybe decide to change things. Thank you for that. Yeah, you're pointing to a couple of really important points. And so in a way, these Eightfold Paths, right effort, right action, right mindfulness, right livelihood, can feed into one of the greatest obstacles to real practice, which is the sense of perfectionism, or that I have to get it right. So I wish there was a, you know, in a way I think of them as upright life and upright effort, but it's not about reaching some perfect state. So Libby is a social worker and therapist and obviously helping people, but it's endless in each situation. Well, how do we support? It's not just, you know, a particular job, it's how do we support life aims? How do we support life rather than cruelty? And so it's not like finding, like what you were saying, it's not about reaching the perfect

[33:34]

state. And in our practice generally, this is a huge, huge obstacle that we have some idea that we have to reach perfect enlightenment. That's not the practice here. That's not helpful or realistic. The point is how, it's a kind of endless practice, it's a lifelong practice, to be aware, to be awake, to try and express kindness in our lives, in our work and in all of our lives. And our sitting practice helps us to come back to this possibility of inner uprightness and dignity. So it's not about perfection. And even if you have a job that seems like it's about helping people, still this is an issue. These are practices. Right effort, right life effort. Upright effort, upright life effort. And I often talk about Dogen, the 13th century founder of this branch of Zen, who talks often

[34:41]

about Buddha going beyond Buddha. So it's not about reaching some perfect state of Buddha and then that solves everything. You can write up an outline, put it on the wall and bow down to it. It's not about reaching some perfect understanding or even some, you know, sometimes people have opening experiences, more or less dramatic, and that's great, but that's not the point. The point isn't to reach some particular understanding. It's this Buddha going beyond Buddha. So you finally have a job where you feel like you're helping people, for example. And then there's still the livelihood, the vitality of what's the next situation or the next person you're in front of. So Buddha going beyond Buddha. When he became the Buddha and had his great enlightenment, he didn't stop practicing. And he didn't stop awakening. He continued practicing and meditating and awakening every day.

[35:45]

So thank you for that question. Yes, hi. Hi. And it's been a while since I've been here, so it's a little uncanny that it should be today. And this particular Dharma talk I've heard, and facing some challenges in my own world life, probably went about quite a long time. I don't know if I'm supposed to say congratulations. It's a bit suppressive. But one of the things I was thinking in terms of, you know, working for a living profession, you know, I work, unfortunately, for a large corporation. It's especially harmful. But working for a large corporation in and of itself is not a definition of not right living. I just have to say that. And I don't think it is. One of the things that arises, though, is that whether you're working for a large corporation

[36:49]

or anything else, you know, we work within structures in which there's a certain amount of injustice that creates them. It's created by an imbalanced power. Structures very often create conflict of all sorts. And a lot of working life, in fact, is navigated conflict that's created within the structures of work. And I think that it's also an important aspect of our life. And part of the reason why I'm about to, you know, go elsewhere is it's an important part of our life to be able to meet those circumstances creatively and compassionately to whatever extent is possible. Yes. And partly because I feel like that space is about to close for me. I need to do something else. But also part of the reason I think it's often worth staying in this situation precisely

[37:50]

because you can find opportunities for creativity and compassion for your fellow workers. And to assist them. Yeah. Yes. So in whatever work situation we're in, how do we support the other people around us to express awareness and kindness? I have an example of that which I've mentioned before, but one of my students back in my song, but before I wrote here in California, was a paralegal or legal secretary. And she worked in a large law firm. And one of the lawyers was really nasty to me almost all the time. But Rose decided to be friendly to this person. And I'm paraphrasing this story. The details are better than this. But at some point after a long while, this lawyer said to Rose,

[38:51]

Gee, I didn't know what I mean, haven't I? And she got it. So even in a situation where things are not so-called perfect right, in that situation, how do we express something that helps others to see the possibility of prevention? That's no way of either. So thank you for your sharing. Great to see you again. Is this your first time at this temple? No, I've been a few times before, so I'm familiar. Yeah. Well, I knew I'd bump into you. Michael was right here at this temple. Anybody else? Comments, questions, responses about this whole complex issue of right life events, practice of upright life events? David? I have one question, one comment.

[39:53]

The first quote from Robert Kennedy, do you know where that was from? No, but I can see if I can find out. The other thing is I work for a book version also, but we do… Most people do at this time. We do printing, but what I remember most, I went to a client and I had to tell them that the job that they were ordered to be printing was going to be a day late, and I felt very bad about it. It wasn't something that was a drop dead, like it had to be there for a convention opening or something like that. That's real important. It was just a directory of all the staff. It was a delayed day. The woman looked at me and she said, it's okay. A hundred years from now, nobody's going to give a damn what you're doing this day or that day. She said it was me, which is the key. What's important is how we treat each other along the way. And that, to me, when I heard that, it just really stuck with me.

[40:58]

And it is about how we treat each other, or that parallel with the attorney, how we treat each other along the way is what's important. Yeah. So, likelihood includes really nice bits. Other questions or comments anyone? Oh, hi. Hi. Remind me of your name. My name is Ellen. Ellen, hi. I know you've been here before. Yeah, just once a few months ago. Oh, I'm glad you did. Very happy to be here. I really appreciated what you said about pace. Yes. Because I actually just went from, I am a freelance musician and worked as an artist, an underemployed artist for seven years, and just took a desk job. And part of the reason I did it is because when I was struggling just so hard for my own survival, I felt I had nothing to give the other people in my life. So I literally opted to do something easier so that I had a little more to give, because the pace was so unforgiving and the instability felt so threatening

[42:04]

that I couldn't find stability, inner stability either. So it was interesting because people's reactions to my leaving full-time artistry are wide and varied, and it's not always what it looks like from the outside. Yeah, and you can always play music for yourself and enjoy it. Right, yeah, and that's a reason too. Good, that's a really wonderful example. It's not always what it looks like on the outside. How do we find our way of being upright for ourselves in our own life? So yeah, working at a pace that constricts our own ability to be kind, that's an idea. Thank you. And maybe someday you'll go back to music. Yeah, I'm still there. It's just that way of living, my way of living was not working anymore. Good, good.

[43:05]

Any other testimonies or examples? Good. Well, I think we're kind of faced with a pretty fundamental incongruity because, I mean, I'll speak for myself, but I really wanted to help people. I wanted to make my community better. I wanted to have a world where people have a right to live and a right to joy, which is something I feel like, as I continue to move through adulthood, is something that's really important that I feel like I've seen people around me lose, is that right to joy or that desire to express joy and embrace it. But I feel like we're also kind of faced with this incongruity that I want to do something

[44:10]

that's going to just be directly helpful. I want to do something that's going to enrich this community. But in order to be part of the society, that option isn't available. You have to do something that makes money, which isn't the same thing. You're automatically put in a position of self-defense. Even if you're doing a position that's helpful in some way, like working in art or working in any helpful position, it'll only continue if it makes money. It'll only continue, you'll only be able to keep doing that if you're able to defend yourself by acquiring money through it. And that's a different thing than doing what's necessary for us to survive together. And that's something I'm struggling with. Good. Yes, this is something we all struggle with. In terms of our society and our world today, this is kind of foremost practice.

[45:18]

So by talking about it today and later today, I want to connect that up to this sitting practice that we do that helps us settle, that helps us be calmer and, again, find our own inner spaciousness and dignity. And it takes a while sometimes. But that contributes to the struggle you're talking about, which is how to live in a decent way in this society and world. This is a challenge, and hopefully as a soft grass community we can support each other, each of us in the right way to do that. So thank you all very much.

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