Certainly among communities that see each other. In this community, we have something to say. If we say something, it will pass without hesitation. Very rapidly. And sometimes we can meet and say something. And it doesn't pass more quickly, I think, in a meeting, because everyone hears it at once, but because the people who hear it are more likely to be reinforced by it, because other people are present. But by television or radio, a more anything, you can put almost anything on television. But only a highly attuned joke or statement will pass. A teacher and a Buddhist, a Buddhist in general,

[01:34]

supposed to be generous, kind, helpful, and to know what flies, or to be compatible with your cultural situation, and to practice a religion which is in tune with people's capabilities and customs. This really means to know what will fly. You know that expression, what will fly? Isn't that a common expression? Anyway, to know what flies, it means to know what will work. the kind of statement or joke which people will respond to, to know what customs will communicate. Recently, during Sashim, there's been a blackout in New York. Did you know that?

[02:54]

There's been a news blackout here too. I think it lasted 25 hours and it was like the previous blackout in New York except a different thing happened. I guess this one occurred because lightning bolts hit, lightning hit some power stations. Anyway, New York and Brooklyn and Jamaica and Westchester, etc. was completely dark, only car lights. It happened at night, nine o'clock, a couple days ago. And the first time the blackout occurred in New York, it affected people like state of emergency or wartime. And the crime rate went way down. I don't know if you knew that. But people were very helpful to each other and there was very little looting. This time there was tremendous looting. Hundreds of blocks, miles of New York. Particularly, almost entirely in the poor white and black neighborhoods. The Bronx, the East Bronx, Jamaica, some part of Jamaica, Harlem, East Harlem.

[04:19]

Anyway, I can't remember all the neighborhoods, but miles of stores are just looted, and everybody's looting. There's photographs of it. I didn't see television, but someone told me that television cameras are just filming people, white and black and old and young and everybody, coming out of stores, armed with stuff. Someone, one commentator, I mean one person watching was so ashamed and said, it's terrible that people do this. Someone else said, I'm told the people are hungry. And they looted the small store as well as the big stores. And there may be some social There may be some excuse you can make, economic this or that, or maybe people really are hungry. Or as someone else said, well, the rich guys are embezzling the bank. I find any such excuse, I find it irresponsible myself.

[05:44]

It's interesting, and I don't think it has to happen. There's economic disparity in Japan and in other countries, and I don't think, I know, I'm virtually certain that losing like that would not occur in a similar situation in Tokyo. So I don't think it's a matter of economic disparity. It's a matter of social cohesion or something. And what's interesting is that everyone is doing it, you know. Old and young and etc. They've arrested, they had to open the tombs in New York. There's a jail, any of you New Yorkers? There's a jail called The Tombs which was closed some years ago because it was so terrible. It's been opened because they've arrested like 4,000 looters, you know. And men, of course, most people escaped. It's very discouraging. The first truth is that there is suffering. The first holy truth, so-called holy truth of Buddhism, is that there is suffering. And I think the key to understanding this

[07:10]

to get a feel for it is, as I've been saying, that we are corruptible. Everyone is corruptible. You are corruptible. I am corruptible. We are corruptible by greed, hate, and delusion. Corruptible by self. Ideal self. And everyone's corruptible. You know, we have a lot of crime in this neighborhood. And you think, well, some people are criminals, and most people are not. But you give a chance where all the power goes off, and a very large number of people are criminals. So anyway, we are corruptible. And so the first truth is we are corruptible. The second is that there's a cause of the corruption. It's cause. And that means what are you going to do about it? What are you, we here in this room, going to do about it?

[08:40]

that we are corruptible, you and everyone. And third, that there's an end to suffering, there's an end to corruption, means that there's a cause to end corruption, there's a way to end corruption. And fourth, It's the path of the way to end corruption. And it's the eightfold path, right views and right thoughts, and what is it? Conduct, and livelihood, and speech, and concentration. You know, you're getting ahead of me. Wisdom to the end, right? and samadhi or concentration, and patience comes before that, right? For effort, anyway, the date. A right livelihood is important. And right livelihood, as I've been explaining, you know, to give you another feel for it, is like

[10:11]

mindfulness turned inside out. It's like opening yourself to the mindfulness of others so that your livelihood, the way you live, is exposed to others and you are responsible to others. This practice of the ending suffering doesn't just mean to end your suffering, and it doesn't just mean some abstraction that by ending your suffering you'll end the suffering of all sentient beings. It means, what are you going to do about the corruption of the people, the corruptibility of the people? the same koan I've been discussing, number 86 of the Blueprint Record. U Mon says, you come and go by daylight. You come and go by daylight. You distinguish people by daylight. But what happens when it's midnight and there's no moon and no stars and no lamplight?

[11:31]

It's all right, he says, if it's a familiar place. Of course, you can find your way. But if it's a place you've never been before, what will you do? No, well, the meaning on the book, don't abide by zero on the scale, he also said. So it's like also a park, which I've talked about many times. Maybe we got the park done by daylight. We came and went by daylight and distinguished what to do by daylight. That was the easy part. Now the park belongs to the children and neighborhood. And they, you know, actually it's not so bad the last two weeks, last week or so. But they are stoning the people from the park. The kids are.

[13:09]

So now maybe it's midnight and you don't know what to do. And it's a place we have not been before. And when you realize that if the gasoline runs out, or the electricity runs out, everybody's, you know, corruptibility comes out. Or Tassajara, when it used to be a more remote place. Insurance executives from San Jose would plunder an automobile left on the road, taking tires, shooting holes in it. I don't know why. These four holy truths and eightfold facts Don't say anything about getting other people to do something. It just says you move people by, as I said in the beginning, kindness and generosity. And generosity also means fearlessness. You can't be generous without fearlessness. And the great gift you can give people is fearlessness. A generosity and kindness and helpfulness.

[14:39]

and knowing what will fly, what can happen, what vow can pass a thousand miles, what joke can pass, can be conveyed. So the emphasis in the Eightfold Path and the Four Holy Truths is insight and example, your activity. not to get other people to do things, but your example, your kindness, your generosity, your conduct, your speech. And it conveys, if you know what flies, it conveys as rapidly as a good joke, as rapidly as a bow, The hard part is knowing what lies. You don't have television. This communication mode is very selective. It requires truth. And as I've been talking about pivotal thought and true

[16:07]

yesterday, true expression, true definition. And it also means in your physical conduct, when you do something, when you sit down, you sit down, when you adjust your posture, you are just adjusting your posture. It means when you're practicing, you know the discrete events of your heart beat, lungs, breathing, you settle easily in your stomach. And your thinking is clear, your conceptual mode, I don't know. Some of you weren't here during the session, so I'm explaining a little more,

[17:13]

conceptual mode is good enough, I guess. Each one is true. You describe, you note your activities in a way that are true, and your physical activity is true. And this also has true, like again, the trajectory, true to the mark. When your activities are true, it's also a true aim. Like a good joke or a vow which goes many miles. My life work is to find one disciple. and someone among you will be good enough. I can certainly, at some center, find at least one, and maybe ten or one hundred. Anyway, some. So then I don't have anything to do. I can retire. And my job then is to help whoever

[18:39]

replacing me, better than me, to help them. And my job and my responsibility is this example we're talking about. We have to expect social responsibility of other people. We can't make excuses, I feel, for looting or whatever. Can't blame it on the economic system or something. There's no possible social, I feel, This is also a Buddhist position. There is no possible economic or political or social change without social responsibility, without some mutual responsibility. So my work responsibility after finding at least one disciple. Here's just this example. I don't know, you know, if we can't... I want you to understand, you can't escape from this. It's not something where you can just meditate by yourself. It doesn't mean

[20:04]

Also, that this responsibility has to be exercised by running for office. You don't have to think in the usual routine way. You have to be in politics or you have to, I don't know what, work for a foundation, you know, some mode you think of. I think you can do it by just practicing. We should also at least try it that way. Anyway, this is again Buddhist emphasis. And you can do it through your work, but the conduct of your work, the truth of your work, not just some result, but the truth of the whole nature of your livelihood. So, I don't know, you know, if we can't influence or affect our neighbours and our friends and one city, what hope is there to affect the United States or the world? However, you know, again in this same column, 86, you know, the main case is

[21:26]

Everyone has a light, but when you look at it, it's dim and dark. Where is everyone's light? This means, where is the looter's light? You can't abandon people. If people are corruptible, they're also perfectible. It's the same thing. We can't abandon anyone. And this koan says, if you must conceive of a world or a task, it's much better to make it as big as Mount Sumeru and better than making it small as a mustard seed. So it means all sentient beings. And Suzugiyoshi made it big as Mount Sumeru. It means the whole universe.

[22:28]

As I've told you before, you know, he not only, he was, I must say, he was a very interesting man. He came here, you know, such a little squirt, excuse me for saying so, such a little tiny person, barely, I don't know, maybe that's all. And he lived in that strange tower, Kafka-esque tower, over there in an old synagogue. And that's all he did. But he felt, you know, as I told you, I believe, about Miss Remsen, his early decision to come to America. He felt, you know, He believed just to live in that little tower and practice meditation would have a big effect. If it was true practice, it would have a big effect. So actually he expected to reform America. Maybe not by himself, but by you. And also he expected to reform Japan.

[23:56]

Japanese Buddhism. And as I told you before, that's where I drew the line with him. I used to say, I'll do anything you want for the Geshe, but I can't perform Japanese Buddhism. It's too much. So I was rather bad in Japan. On one side, what I did was right. lived so no students would come to sit with me. And I just studied Tsukushi's background. But I also could have still done that and studied more the example of Buddhism in Japan. And American Buddhism, there's no question about it, American Zen is reviving Japanese Zen. That's a fact. But I'm realizing I can't escape from his request, even about Japan. But I don't know, I have no idea what to do. Rev is going to Japan today. Rev, you do it.

[25:18]

Please behave properly. Smile, be friendly and helpful. And he's going to fly too. Anyway, we don't, I have no idea what to do actually. But I do have some feeling, at least in San Francisco, you know, So I think, and this I've never talked to you about before, but I think many of us should practice here in San Francisco. You know, I think the usual image we have is that we'll scatter to Indianapolis and Fort Lauderdale and Somerville. and we'll practice meditation. And many people will do that, you know, from this Buddhist group and other Buddhist groups. But I'm also interested in our social responsibility. Can we, by just our practice and our conduct and our generosity and helpfulness,

[26:46]

Is it possible? I don't know. Even Buddhism says it is. And my job in life is to try it out. I don't know. Maybe it won't work. No one says it will work, but I'm willing to experiment. I'm willing to try utterly, completely as I can the rest of my life to see how can our social responsibility, where is the light of each person. Om Man says everyone has a life. What do we do when it's midnight? We don't know where we are even, which is the case. Talking about place. It is midnight. Whether you know it or not, it's always midnight and you don't know where you are. And if you think you do, you're mistaken. So, what will you have refuge in? How will you find out what to do?

[28:00]

One way in Buddhism, too, is not just... You know, Buddhism is pretty complete teaching. So it doesn't mean it's not some, again, romantic idea that we may have of the individual shining forth. It also means how to practically do things like use a building like this, or extend your practice through your conduct also means the architecture, the kind of building you live in, or the kind of space. And on the other side of that, solitude. You know, solitude helps your calmness. But solitude means freedom from possession. It doesn't mean you have to live in the mountains. It just means wherever you live,

[29:09]

You have solitude if you have few goals, clear goals, and you're free from possession, from desire. If you don't desire what's around you, you have solitude. So how do we practice solitude? Freedom from greed, hate, and delusion here in this one city where we are. How can we? Maybe we should in the Mission, and in the Fillmore, and in the Sunset, and in Oakland, and Richmond. Maybe in each area we should build some building and know what works by the customs of that neighborhood. Some place people can feel the truth is practiced there. No trips are being laid on me there. We have some, I feel we have some work like this to do in the Bay Area, maybe in the Sierra Nevada, or in Monterey, or Marin.

[30:43]

But this is an ancient experiment which we have a chance to try out in this country and in this immediate area. That's a test case. Just by our helpfulness and by our truth and generosity and kindness. It requires great truth of you. This kind of communication can only be done by selflessness and the great truth. Truth in your conduct, truth in your action, truth in your thinking. You know the pivotal thought. Truth in your descriptions or definitions.

[32:00]

truth in each of your organs. What is the truth? This is the truth. Someone told me, I don't know if it's true, that up to a few years ago, babies all over the world were born with their hands closed. And now, the last ten years or so, babies are born with their hands open, all over the world, largest percentage. I wish whoever told me that could find out if it might be true.

[33:08]

In any case, rather, it's a nice idea that such change is possible, that we are actually in such a continuity. Sometimes absolute reality is ultimate reality is defined in Buddhism as openness. And true or false, at least we feel, the Buddhists feel, if we open our hands, if we open ourselves, if we completely expose ourselves, our livelihood, our thoughts, our views, and especially through samadhi and through the exercise of wisdom. This is, we believe, this is the only effective way that all beings can be saved, that we can respond to everyone's corruptibility. In fact, there's a cause of it and there's a cause that ends it. And the cause that ends it is the Eightfold Path, including the practice of Zazen.

[34:45]

and the development of samadhi, which you are doing. When you're born a human being, you're born as something much more than you accounted for. Something much beyond just being the child of your parents. Something beyond your definition of yourself. Just being born a human being is something very big. By our stupidity we can kill everything, kill life, maybe life on this planet. And by our enlightenment we may be able to save all cities, And when you began to practice Buddhism, whatever your reason, you got into something much bigger than you planned for, I think. Something much bigger than you are. Something which makes you aware that your responsibility extends everywhere. Practically, you know, speaking.

[36:17]

not some big deal, it just does. And recognizing this is the only way to live perfectly at ease, to avoid this. when you don't know the four holy truths. To avoid these truths is suffering. To not see that there's suffering and an end to suffering and the path. So this, these four holy truths are our responsibility and how to live deeply at ease with others. equally, at ease with others. So, when we bow, there's a chance that everyone will bow with us. And when someone else bows, we bow with them. To join others, not to get others to join you, just to join others.

[37:41]

And this is not something, even though you are hearing it from me and you can read it in Buddhist literature, it's not something you can attain or acquire from me or from Buddhist literature. It can only come up in you. It can only be your own personal decision, your own personal recognition or realization. the great yes or great no. If you're ready for it, that decision which will be such a great relief to you when you can make it. When you make it,

[38:52]

You'll feel like you've been weeping for days. And you'll know exactly what your life is and what to do with your life. So we sit together with you, and you come here, I think, to sit together, to share this possibility, drawn by your intuitive feeling for this possibility. Knowing the inner direction of life, as I said last night, even in the midst of it, knowing the inner direction of life we usually only feel from a distance.

[39:58]

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