Good evening. This is kind of a talk in progress or in process. And it's actually part of a much longer project. So next week, in the middle of next week, there's going to be a conference here of branching streams, which is various sitting groups from around the country connected with San Francisco Zen Center and the Suzuki Roshi tradition, and they're meeting here. Actually not here, because there's gonna be too many of them. There's about 50 people coming, something like that. So they're meeting at the Cynical Catholic Retreat Center down on, Fullerton, where we used to meet before we had this space. about eight and a half years ago.

[01:03]

We used, is that right? Something like that. We met there for several years. Anyway, as part of that, amongst the various themes that are gonna be discussed, one is appropriate social action now. And I was asked to give the kind of lead-in talk about that. And as part of that, to talk about traditional resources in our tradition for thinking about, or sources for social action. So I want to talk about that part of it tonight, or a little bit of that. Within our Soto Zen tradition and Mahayana Bodhisattva tradition that this is based on, and the Mahayana Sutras, resources for inspiring active societal response and helpfulness.

[02:09]

So just looking at some of the historic sources for this. So I'll start with, so I'm just gonna read some material that's from our tradition that lends itself to that and the question of how we apply it And with all the issues we have today is another piece of it. But I'll start with some things from Dogen, the 13th century founder of Soto Zen, the branch of Zen that we follow here. And I'll start with a few things from his extensive record. a few of his short dharma hall discourses from that in 1251. And this is one that I've quoted a number of times. The family style of all Buddhas and ancestors is first to arouse the vow to save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy.

[03:19]

Only this family style is inexhaustibly bright and clear. So that's the basis of our practice, to arouse the vow to save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy. And then he gets poetic, as he often does, but it's about the rhythm of our practice. In the lofty mountains, we see the moon for a long time. As clouds clear, we first recognize the sky. Cast loose down the precipice, the moonlight shares itself within the 10,000 forms. Even when climbing up the bird's path, taking good care of yourself is spiritual power. So the practice of taking care of the world has to do with, in our practice, with seeing, with this practice of sitting, of settling, of seeing

[04:20]

the moon, seeing wholeness, settling with that, recognizing the openness of the sky, and then sharing that within the 10,000 forms, but also taking care of ourselves. So this balancing. So I could say more about that. I've talked about that before. And we can come back to all of these. Another one, that was from 1251, late in Dogen's career. Another one around the same time, he says, all Tathagatas, or all Buddhas, all thus come ones, are without Buddha nature, but at the same time, previously they have fully accomplished true awakening. Bodhisattvas studying the way should know how Buddha nature produces the conditions for Buddha nature. So I like that, it's interesting. All Tathagatas, all Buddhas are without Buddha nature. We don't hold on to something called Buddha nature. And yet, at the same time, previously they have fully accomplished true awakening.

[05:27]

Bodhisattva studying the way should know how Buddha nature produces the conditions for Buddha nature. How does this capacity for awakening support the conditions for awakening? How do we support for ourselves and for each other and for the world the conditions for awakening? How do we help beings awaken to their Buddha nature in the middle of all of the difficulties of our world. A later one, which is in some ways even stronger, those who are not common or mediocre are called true home leavers. Home leavers is a traditional phrase for monks, for those dedicated to fully to practice, but in our context, Suzuki Roshi, who founded our tradition of branching streams, talked about American practitioners as neither monks nor laypeople.

[06:41]

And this is our situation in this non-residential center we have, but he said those who are not common or mediocre are called true home leavers. Those who are true home leavers must maintain the commitment to strength and intense determination and should erect the banner of diligence and fierce courage. Finally, They must hold forth the key of Buddha ancestors, open the barrier of going beyond and carry out their own family property to benefit and relieve all the abandoned and destitute. At this very time, we first requite our gratitude for the blessings and virtues of the Buddhas. So this is a very strong statement to benefit and relieve the abandoned and the destitute. to be aware of those who are suffering, to try and help. And it says at the end of that, Dogen then struck the sitting platform with his whisk and descended from his seat.

[07:50]

So very strong statement about helping, we could say the homeless, but the abandoned, the destitute, those who are suffering. From Shobo Genzo, this is a Raihai Tokusui, Making Prostrations and Attaining the Marrow. This is a very famous statement by Dogen about the equality of women. So one of the things that requires our Attention in terms of social action these days is the attack on women's health, women's rights, on, well, the attack on Planned Parenthood and on women's rights to choose. And on equal opportunity for women, equal pay and so forth. And Dogen makes, these are excerpts from this essay from Shobo Genzo, The True Dharma I, Treasury, Dogen's large masterwork.

[08:57]

And these are, you know. kind of very modern statements to be making in the 1200s. So I'll read from this. Nowadays, extremely stupid people look at women without having corrected the prejudice that women are objects of sexual greed. Disciples of the Buddha must not be like this. If whatever may become the object of sexual greed is to be hated, do not all men deserve to be hated too? As regards the causes and conditions of becoming tainted, a man can be the object, a woman can be the object. What is neither man nor woman can be the object. What wrong is there in a woman? What virtue is there in a man? Among bad people, there are men who are bad people. Among good people, there are women who are good people. Wanting to hear the Dharma and wanting to get liberation never depend on whether we are a man or a woman. Before becoming free from delusion, men and women are equally not free from delusion. At the time of becoming free from delusion and realizing the truth, there is no difference between men and women.

[10:00]

If you vow not to look at women for a long time, do you leave out women when you vow to save numberless sentient beings? If you do so, you are not a bodhisattva. How can you call it the Buddhist compassion? He also talks about, in his time, in some of the great monastic centers, in Mount Hiei, where he had trained, and Mount Koya, the Shingon Center, women were not allowed. And he, in that same essay, talks about how stupid that is, and really attacks them for that. So it's a very strong statement of the equal capacity of women for awakening, for enlightenment. back in the 1200s when there was strong patriarchal prejudice in Buddhism and in Japanese culture. And of course, we still have patriarchal prejudice in our own culture. Another part of looking at this is historical examples of, in Buddhism,

[11:04]

helping, acting on behalf of, well, from our perspective, social rights or justice. One of the earliest figures in Japanese Buddhism is a man who's referred to as Gyogi Bosatsu in Japanese, which means Bodhisattva. His name is Gyogi Bodhisattva. He lived in, he lived in 668 to 748 in what was the Nara period, the earliest period of Japanese Buddhism, early period of Japanese history. He was from the Hoso or Yogachara school, this was before Zen came to Japan, but this is one of the earliest figures of all of Japanese Buddhism. He became well known for traveling widely outside of the capital of Nara, which was the capital then, south of Kyoto, which later became the capital. He was unconventional in teaching the populace in the countryside.

[12:09]

He was credited with building 49 temples. He attracted hundreds and even thousands of followers. There are many legends from his time. work of his Divine Powers and Miraculous Deeds, which is traditional for great religious figures. But his popularity was in large part because of the many social work projects he designed to ease the lives of the masses in the countryside. helped construct boat landings, bridges, dams, irrigation systems, wells, hostels, aqueducts, canals, harbors, and dikes. He interacted in the welfare of the people and enlisted people in helping to build all these projects that helped in the construction. It reminds me of the modern Sri Lankan social works project led by the Sri Lankan monks, Sarvodaya Sramadana.

[13:14]

He was doing this at a time when the government taxation was heavily exploiting the populace, and at that time, the only official government-sanctioned priests were supposed to teach the general populace, so he was violating that. He got in trouble with the government and was exiled for a while. The government decided he was a menace to their authority and issued edicts against him around 718. But because of his popularity and because he championed popular rights, they decided it was better to let him work within the system, and started giving him high honors. 20 years later, in 738, they enlisted him to gain his followers' help in the construction of the huge monumental Todai-ji Temple, which is still in Nara, with this great Buddha. So he became this... You know, he was given posthumously this name, Gyogi Bosatsara, or Gyogi Bodhisattva. That's how he's known, historically.

[14:17]

And even later figures like Saicho, who founded Tendai Buddhism in the Heian period. that was the main form of Buddhism before Zen, encouraged his monks to work, do charitable activities and public works like Gyoge had done. So that's just one example of, historically, there are many of, in Buddhism, of people who, Buddhist leaders who helped out, helped the people. Turning to some scriptural resources, the Lotus Sutra, very important in East Asia, and which the chant we just did is from that, and I want to talk about that chant a little bit, but one of the main teachings in that Lotus Sutra is that the single great cause for Buddhas to appear in the world is to help beings on the way to awakening to help beings relieve suffering. So this is the point of Buddha's appearing in the world.

[15:21]

There are many teachings about bodhisattva practice in the Lotus Sutra. And there are many stories and parables about skillful means and bodhisattva activity. The chant we just did about the universal gateway of Kanzeon Bodhisattva, who's one of the great Bodhisattvas traditionally, Bodhisattva of Compassion, gives examples of the way in which, and it seems like one can read this as kind of a miracle thing if you just call on Kanzeon. She will come, actually often Kanzeon is female, but she will come and help you. So some of these are, seem like kind of miraculous things. If goblins or poison dragons or various demons are coming, there's different ways to translate it. This is translated mindfully, invoking Kahnzeon's power. It could also be translated on just calling out the name of Kahnzeon, and then you will be saved.

[16:29]

But this includes things like imprisoned in shackles and chains, hand and feet bound in restraints. subject to persecution from dictators, facing torture and execution, caught in the middle of hostilities and battle, caught in the middle of legal struggles in courts, calling on Kanzian. And of course, also, relevant now when clouds, thunder and lightning strikes and it rains in torrents, hopefully the rains will dissipate in Texas. Anyway, so this is an example of calling on Bodhisattva help for responding to worldly problems. Another Mahayana or Bodhisattva Sutra that has other examples, is the Flower Ornament Sutra. So our Avatamsaka Sutra, and just one chapter of that, I'll give some examples.

[17:37]

It's called the Gandavyuha, it's a separate, sometimes a separate sutra, the Gandavyuha Sutra is the last chapter. And it's a story about a pilgrim, Sudhana, who goes on pilgrimage, who is sent on pilgrimage by Manjushri, actually, who's the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, who's sitting in front of Shakyamuni on the altar there. You may not be able to see it from behind the altar, but he's the one sitting on the lion with a scepter and sometimes carries a sword. Sudhana goes to 54 different Bodhisattvas trying to find how to become a Bodhisattva. And there's actually an image of him in that picture behind Bo on the wall there. And that's supposedly a picture drawn by Dogon himself when he was coming back from China. And he was, after his four years of study in China, he was coming back to Japan, and there was this big storm that came up.

[18:49]

Maybe like the storm in Texas, I don't know. But the boat was gonna be swamped, and he chanted that chant that we just did. And the storm calmed down, and one of the 30 reforms of Kanzen in the Lotus Sutra, appeared, which is one-leaf Kanon, who's pictured there, sitting on a lotus leaf, sitting on the waters. So this is the story. We don't have a videotape to verify it, but the story goes, so I got that when I was in a monastery in Japan. going around on begging rounds and stopped at this temple where this boat, where Dogen's boat landed and they gave us this rubbing and supposedly Dogen carved that image of Kanzeon in the deck of the ship where he was sitting doing this chanting and he saw that image of, saw Kanzeon on the water.

[19:52]

So, you know, the story is, I don't think it's accurate, but I've seen art books where that image is attributed to Dogen. Anyway, the story is that he, that, The temple where he landed after Dogen became famous, or better known, in Kyoto, in his temple in Kyoto, the Shingon monk of that temple took a rubbing from the boat and brought it to Kyoto. And Dogen inscribed the poem on the top, which just says something like, from one petal, five flowers bloom. Each petal is one Buddha. whose broad vow is this deep ocean carrying the pilgrim Sudana, Zen Zai, anyway. So that's supposedly Dogen's calligraphy on the top. But anyway, so Sudana went to 54 different bodhisattvas in this part of the Flower Ornament Sutra, and there are all kinds of different bodhisattvas, and they're men and women, they're priests and laypeople,

[21:05]

There are commoners and there are royalty. There's a whole series of knight goddesses. And there's just all different kinds of people. And each of the different bodhisattvas teach him different things. And then they say, but I don't really know so much. Go see so-and-so. And so he ends up getting back to the palace, to the castle of Maitreya, the future Buddha, and this castle is huge, as big as all of space, and within it are other castles of Maitreya that are also as big as space. Anyway, I just pulled out a few little examples of those 54. Well, first there's an introduction In the introduction, before he starts out on his pilgrimage, there's a metaphor of the earth as abundantly endowed with mines of jewels.

[22:06]

The bodhisattvas who have knowledge of this can take the jewels and enjoy themselves as they wish, properly honoring parents, supporting family, and also distributing them evenly to the old, the poor, the destitute, the unfortunate, those without food and clothing. Those who do not know about the jewel deposits, those are the students who are not dedicated to the Bodhisattva way, do not discover the jewels and they do not take the jewels and do not do what can be done with the jewels, in other words, giving them away to the poor. They did not see the great treasury of jewels, which was the great assembly of enlightening beings, and did not realize that all things interpenetrate. So those dedicated to working for the benefit of all can see this abundance and share of it generously, while those who practice for themselves alone can't see this, can't access these gifts and share of them to those in need nor enjoy for themselves and are living in a world of scarcity rather than abundance.

[23:13]

So the point is that to see that we practice for all beings that we are responsible for all beings and that our practice is not just for ourselves but to take care of those who are suffering allows us to see that we live in a world that is abundant and that there are jewels in the world and that we can't have all that we need. Amongst the various bodhisattvas that that Sudhana visits. I just have a few excerpts. There's one is King Mahaprabha. All the kinds of goods that were before the king were set out in countless numbers on the street corners, in front of every house, along both sides of every street to support the population, to make everyone happy, joyful, serene, and comfortable, to extinguish their afflictions, to induce them, introduce them to the meaning of the nature of all things, to get them all to have omniscience as their common aim, to rid them of malice toward others,

[24:27]

to stop them from all evil action and talk, to extract the thorns of use and to purify their course of action. And so this king said no one goes away from me intimidated threatened or frightened if any poor people are lacking in means of subsistence And come to me seeking food or drink or clothing or any other need I open the royal storehouse to them and allow them to take from there so Or from the streets and crossroads of the city. So this is a king that just gives away all from the storehouse to it One of the 54 on the way happens to be Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion I've already talked about. In his meeting, the meeting with Sudhana, Avalokiteshvara Kamsayon says, I have vowed to be a refuge for all sentient beings, to free them from fears of calamity, threat, confusion, bondage. attacks on their lives, insufficiency of means to support life, inability to make a living, ill repute, the perils of life, intimidation by the crowd, physical violence, mental violence, sorrow and depression.

[25:36]

I have undertaken a vow to be a refuge for all beings from all these fears and perils. So, this is the Bodhisattva of compassion, saving beings impacted by economic inequality, hardship, starvation, intimidation and violence. And then, I'll just mention, there's another one, the night goddess Sarvajagadraksa Pranidhana Viriya Prabha. And there's this long story, much, much longer even than her name, about her past life as a king. Or as a prince and the king, her father had many prisoners, so this was a period of mass incarceration, and the prince tried to free them, eventually sacrificing himself, and then the queen also sacrificed herself to free all the prisoners. It's a very long story. So there's stories like that in that sutra. There's a passage from Hongshou which I could repeat that some of you have heard from our last practice period about graciously share yourself.

[26:50]

Anyway, there are many examples in the tradition of action to benefit beings. Just a couple more I'll mention. Historically, there was a nunnery called Tokeji that was started in the late 1200s by the widow of a shogun. one of the warrior rulers and her son was taking the lands of the other lords who had been defeated in some civil war and she made this nunnery as a refuge for the widows of those lords who were defeated. Later on, Tokeiji, this was in Kamakura, just south of Tokyo, near Rinzai Temple, became very famous in the Edo period, starting in 1600. It was one of two places

[27:51]

as a nunnery where women could get divorced. It was one of the only two places in Japan where abused women could actually get a divorce. If they came there and it managed to enter Tokaiji, if they stayed there, they were given a legal divorce because that was not legal then for a couple centuries or so in Japan. There was one other place like that. So there are many stories. There are stories in the Hidden Lamp Anthology from Tokaiji. And one other historical example is from China. There was a long history of people who were devoted to Maitreya, the Bodhisattva, who is the next future Buddha, who's the Bodhisattva of loving kindness. So we sometimes chant the Metta Sutra, which is the Sutra of Loving Kindness. It says, may all beings be happy.

[28:54]

So there was this sort of underground, so Chinese history is very authoritarian and there are all these dynasties of emperors, but there was this sort of underground popular group that was, associated with healing and was not so much political, but it was associated with things like martial arts and healing and was not patriarchal. There were lay people and priests and men and women who were leaders of it. But at some points it became very reformist and helpful to the populace, and at some point it became political. They led the rebellion against the Yuan dynasty, which was the Mongol dynasty in the 1300s, 1400s, and they helped overthrow that dynasty and formed the Ming dynasty.

[30:00]

Anyway, there are all these examples in history of Bodhisattva work and trying to help alleviate social conditions, even though most of Asian Buddhist history, they didn't have the idea of participatory democracy or any of the ideals that we have in our country. There was a feudal society, There were feudal societies ruled by warlords, but a lot of what we might think of as engaged or socially active Buddhism was about trying to get the warlords or the samurai lords to act more benevolently towards the farmers and the peasants. But anyway, that's a little bit about the backgrounds within the Buddhist tradition that lend itself to,

[31:05]

the socially active Buddhism today. And of course, today we're in this very different context, and there are all these different issues. And so this is an issue for branching streams now, because there are a lot of people who are interested in being responsive to all of the different issues now, climate and climate change, and what we see happening in Houston. The issues that we saw displayed in Charlottesville and the issues of racial inequality and economic inequality and prejudice against women and so forth. So that's going to be one of the topics in this Brexit Dream Conference. So that's just a little smattering of resources from our tradition. Comments or questions or responses?

[32:11]

Anyone? And as I said, that's a kind of talk in progress and process. Fairly rough. Yes, Gershon. There will be a week on Thursday, there will be an event here and some in the form of an Asian tribe will be there, but we think there will be some people there.

[33:36]

Mostly if you see, just something to say goodbye. I do share space in martial arts studios and things like that. This is a chance to see what I think in the next step. We're also trying to make it possible for people to try to participate in it. It means that people will participate in some parts of the video. So yeah, I was going to say, I should have said something in the beginning.

[34:41]

Unfortunately, there's not going to really be an opportunity for that. And that's one of the It's just the nature of it that there's so many people coming that there's really not going to be space for everybody from Ancient Dragon to participate. I'm going to talk more about the conference a little bit more next Monday and the Monday after. In the past, there's always been a discussion about it. Yeah, so the Monday after, I hope you will help me with talking about it and sharing some of it.

[35:48]

Maybe we can have some report that is available to everyone and print it out or something. Yeah, there are some very small sitting groups without teachers, there are some with, there are people coming from Florida, Montana, Oregon, Massachusetts, of course California, all North America that are not here? Is there anybody, Douglas, coming from outside the United States? There's at least one person coming from Colombia. Colombia. And Canada? Yeah.

[36:50]

I'm very grateful that Paula, along with Douglas and Aisha and Nancy have done all the organizing. I just have to show up. every couple years. So every other year, Registry tries to provide programs for as long as possible.

[38:00]

Yeah, so. So yeah, we benefited from branching students from from Hawkshaw, who was here last year for six months as a priest who was helping out. And there'll be other things like that. Yeah, there's a lot of small sitting groups that just meet in somebody's living room. Somebody who has been at San Francisco Zen Center, but they're not so experienced, so they're sending out teachers there. For a long time, there were no other than a few places in California, there were no groups from San Francisco, Cincinnati, or anywhere else in the country.

[39:29]

Then there started to be a few in Texas. Galen in Houston, who's doing okay, she sent out some word that they're on higher ground. okay in this storm so far. But there's several places in Texas. There's Joshua Pat Phelan in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. And then more recently, there's a group in Brooklyn and a couple groups in Massachusetts. But really, it's just and here and now here in Chicago, but so the the Suzuki Roshi family is just starting to be, and now actually there's a Suzuki Roshi priest in Milwaukee, so maybe we're gonna try and start doing things with them. So, but part of the point of all this is that, of that is that we are, you know, connected and related to a kind of network of people from the same lineage and the same sitting tradition.

[40:36]

And so there are, you know, if you're traveling or if there's a, you know, or if you go out to California, you can visit San Francisco Zen Center or Green Culture. So we're part of a network of, Any other questions about the tradition of social response in Zen or Mahayana?

[41:09]

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