Good morning, welcome to everyone here at Ebeneezer and on Zoom. Happy birthday. So, there are lots of stories about who and what Buddha is. As I said before, the statue of Baby Buddha commemorates the story of his birth. Immediately after his birth, he took seven steps forward, raised one hand, lowered one hand, and said, Below the heavens and above the earth, I alone am the world-honored one. That's one story. The story that Kokyo chanted, the inconceivable lifespan of Buddha, is another version of what and who Buddha is.

[01:02]

In the Lotus Sutra, the pivotal chapter, talks about how Buddha discloses that actually he's been around for a long, long, long, long time, and longer than that, and he will be around for twice that long in the future. He appears to be born, leave the palace, awaken under the Bodhi tree, and pass away into nirvana to support our practice. And for people who would be encouraged by hearing about his inconceivable lifespan, he discloses that. Another way to see this is that today, all Buddhas, in all space, in all times, are born. So Buddha's birthday is celebrated in various ways.

[02:09]

Of course, we don't have the videotapes or whatever of when he was born. We don't really know. But these are stories about how and what and who Buddha is. So, this event is celebrated in East Asia and now in American Zen on April 8th. We're a couple of days past that, but we're celebrating it. And it's traditional to bathe a statue of the baby Buddha to help him into the world. On this day, back in Japan in the 13th century, Masato Zen founder Dogen would give talks about the baby Buddha and Buddha's birthday. I'm going to read just a couple of them. In 1241, he was still in Kyoto for both of the ones I'm going to read.

[03:12]

In 1241, he said, Dogen said, Today, my original teacher, Shakyamuni Tathagata, descended to be born at Mumbini Park. So there was the idea that Buddhas are waiting in the Tushita heaven, in this meditation heaven, to be born. So, Dogen says he descended today to be born in Mumbini Park, which I think is actually in what's now Nepal. Anyway, Dogen goes on. Every year on this day, there is Mumbini Park. Tell me whether the great sage is born or not. If you say he has descended to be born, I grant you have done one portion of practice. If you say he has not descended to be born, I grant you have done one portion of practice. So again, even then, there were different ways of seeing Buddha's birth back in 1241.

[04:14]

Dogen continues, If you are already like this, you are not obstructed by mountains or oceans and will be born to a king's palace like Shakyamuni Buddha. If you are not obstructed by mountains and oceans, are you obstructed by birth or not? Even if previous Buddhas and ancestors say that they are obstructed by birth, today this mountain monk, Dogen himself, simply says, I am not obstructed by birth. If we are not obstructed by mountains or oceans and are not obstructed by birth, all people in the entire earth and the entire universe are born together with Shakyamuni Tathagata and say, Above the heavens and below the heavens, I alone am the world-honored one. So we all say this today. After taking seven steps in the ten directions, his statement was,

[05:19]

Lions roar and a baby is crying. How do you express such a manifestation? So Dogen is here talking about being obstructed or not being obstructed by birth, which also means not being obstructed or being obstructed by death. He says he's not obstructed. So he says again, the entire universe is born together with Shakyamuni Tathagata. Everyone says, above the heavens and below the heavens, I alone am the world-honored one. So Dogen said, all of what I said, how do you express such a manifestation? And then he paused. And then he said, in the entire universe and pervading the heavens, good fortune arrives. The grandmotherly intimate heart is expressed by the sages descent to earth.

[06:25]

How can we make offerings, serve, make prostrations and bathe to celebrate the sages descent to birth? Together with the pure great ocean assembly, let us enter the Buddha ball. Let us enter the Zen Do and perform this ceremony. So it seems like he said this before. Actually, everyone went up and bathed to baby Buddha, as we have done. He talks about the grandmotherly intimate heart that is expressed by the sages descent to birth to become a Buddha. So this is an important way of talking about Buddha and Buddha practitioners and our work. How do we express grandmotherly intimate heart for the benefit of all beings,

[07:38]

for the benefit of Sangha, for the benefit of suffering beings throughout the world? This is the meaning of Buddha's birth. This is the meaning of all Buddhas everywhere. Expressing grandmotherly heart and being willing to come down from the heavens and be here in this often difficult world. This is the meaning of our Zazen too. As we sit upright and still, silent, enjoying our inhale and exhale, doing this together, how do we realize and express this grandmotherly intimate heart that the Buddha has encouraged us towards?

[08:50]

So this is a day for celebration. Happy birthday everyone. Happy birthday to all Buddhas in the ten directions, in all world systems, in all places, in all countries, in all the difficult places too. In Ukraine, in Western Sahara, in Gaza Strip, in places where there's war in South America, today is the day that a Buddha is born for the sake of grandmotherly kindness, heart. As Sangha, how do we express that? How do we enjoy that? So this is just one of Dogen's talks on the occasion of Buddha's birthday.

[10:00]

There's a recorded in Eikoroku Dogen's extensive record, many of these, maybe not every year, but most years, when Dogen was around, teaching either in Kyoto or at Eheiji. But there's something kind of funny about this story, you may have noticed. So there's a very short talk that Dogen gave two years later, in 1243, on the occasion of Buddha's birthday. He said, for a long time in the entire world, the sky has been getting brighter. So the ceremony happens after the equinox, and the days are getting longer. And it's getting lighter. It's still cold, but it's changing. Anyway, Dogen says, for a long time in the entire world, the sky has been getting brighter.

[11:06]

And also for a long time since Buddha's birth, the sky, space itself, has been getting brighter. Today in heaven and earth, the radiance is clear and beautiful. Dogen continues, then he says, walking around for seven steps, the baby Buddha exhausted all his energy. Observers of this scene cannot avoid laughing. So, it's a silly story, his baby taking seven steps in all the ten directions and proclaiming that he alone was the world's honor one. And, again in the Lotus Sutra, in the passage that Bokkyo chanted, the inconceivable lifespan of Buddha, the Lotus Sutra, and in our Zen tradition, and for Dogen, who was devotee of the Lotus Sutra, and the whole Buddhist tradition,

[12:15]

there's this sense of Buddha's always here. Buddha's right on your seat right now. Whether you are here at Ebenezer or at home on Zoom. And it's a funny story. Kind of an arrogant, cocky kid, huh? Dogen says he exhausted himself by that display. And then, he seems, according to some stories, he seems to have forgotten it had to be awakened in his late twenties too. The First Noble, what's later called the First Noble Truth, the reality of suffering and difficulty.

[13:19]

Life and death in the world. So, on this particular Buddha's birthday, we know that many people are suffering. And many people are working, doing what they can to help, to share. Grandmotherly part. So, the Buddha work is endless. So, today we celebrate Buddha's birth. There's another day that's commemorated as the day of Buddha's death and passing into nirvana. But we realize, in the process of just coming back to our seat and sitting upright, and witnessing to all of it,

[14:23]

happiness, joy, good friends, and sadness. Wars all over the world. This pandemic that is easing, but not really over. And all the suffering that came with it. And it's still coming, especially in the countries towards the south, where vaccines are not so available. Anyway, here we are. Buddha is born today. Hurray! How do we feel Buddha's birth? How do we feel the arising of this grandmotherly heart in each of us and all of us together? Chicago, USA

[15:38]

The sun is out here in Chicago. It's a little bit cool here in Ebenezer. The heat's not working, we were notified this morning. But it's okay, in here it's not so cold. Even though it does open. Some of you here are facing away from the sun. I can see the street below, the avenue below, occasional traffic. During Satsang we could hear birds, as well as traffic. And wherever you are on Zoom, in whatever city or state, we still have this Buddha's birthday today. We can be encouraged to consider grandmotherly heart. How do we take care of each other?

[16:40]

And ourselves, of course. So, maybe that's enough for me to say. I offer thanks to Ehe Dogen for providing material for this talk. Does anyone here at Ebenezer or on Zoom have comments or questions or responses on this day of celebration? Eve? I want to hear more about grandmotherly heart, and where that phrase came from, and the gender aspect of it. Well, you know, I think there's something to be said for grandfatherly heart, too. Is there anybody here who's a grandmother or a grandfather? Brian, yeah.

[17:43]

Anybody on Zoom who's a grandmother or a grandfather? David Ray says no. Okay. At any rate, for all of us, this sense of taking care of the babies, all the babies, however old, is very important. So, a famous story about this, from Dogen, is that his main successor was Koan Ejo. There were others, Sene, who was a disciple who commented extensively on the Shobo Genzo. But then Tetsu Gikai, who's the third ancestor, who succeeded to Koan Ejo, was a wonderful member of Dogen's Sanga. He had been Tenzo, I think he'd been director. He was from what's now Fukui, then Echizen up in the north, where Dogen established Eheji when he left Kyoto.

[18:56]

So, he was a very diligent monk, very fine monk, very bright monk, good practitioner, good meditator. But Dogen said to him, I'm sorry, I can't give you transmission there. You don't have enough grandmotherly mind. So, I imagine Tetsu Gikai was sad about this. Eventually, he was given transmission to Koan Ejo and became the third abbot of Eheji. He also traveled to China and brought back many aspects of the forms and rituals in China to spread in Soto Zen. Anyway, that's one story. When I lived in Kyoto for a couple of years, in actually a student house on the second floor, I guess eight tatami room.

[20:02]

And on that block, every morning, the grandmothers came out and washed down the street and swept and cleaned the street. And also, they would send off all the kids who were going to school. One of the teachers I did sesshin with in Japan, Tanaka Shinkai Roshi, I mentioned that and he said, oh, the grandmothers are the real Zen masters. So, that's a little bit about grandmotherly. But, you know, we don't have to identify that with any particular gender. Other questions or comments, responses? Brian? I can't believe I'm the only grandparent in this group. Do I get a crown today or something? Yeah, here. I wanted to say that...

[21:04]

There are many other grandparents in our sangha. Yeah, yeah. The thing about grandparent heart for me is I can't help but compare it with parent heart. And grandparent heart for me, and I think for my wife, is you're just in love with this kid or a kid. You're just in love with them and your job is to keep them safe. And so you say no sometimes. And sometimes offer a little guidance, but without the attachment that a parent has. And I think about relating to others with a grandparent heart. And I hadn't really thought about that before, but being present, taking delight, protecting, but not over-directing. And having a sense of detachment at the same time. My sense is that grandparents are sometimes a little more indulgent than parents.

[22:12]

I don't know if that's really true. Well, when one of my children was having a hard time in his early teens, a family therapist said to me... And I think Shunryu Suzuki said this too. Give him a big field, but with clear boundaries. And so indulgence might be inside that field, but there's boundaries. Yeah. So this is what Dogen says is how we all should take care of everybody in this kind of love. Any comments or responses on Zoom, David? I don't see any. I do, Jane in Pittsburgh. Hello, Jane. Hello. Thank you for your talk. I wonder if being a great aunt counts.

[23:14]

But as I was thinking about having grandmotherly love, I have a lot of great auntly love. And it feels unconditional, the love that I have for the next generation, is the best way I put it. And there is this indulgence of just bounty in a way. I mean, I go out of my way for the kids and I'm able to be a slightly different relationship than their parents. The parents are there, I feel, more to structure, to create a little bit more structure. Whereas, you know, grandparents, great aunts, it can kind of shower love on the kids in a way unconditionally. I mean, no doubt if I'm walking with them and they're running out in the street, I'm going to put some limits on. But it feels different.

[24:16]

It really feels different to me. Anyway, I just thought I'd throw that in. I'm having so much fun being a great aunt, I can't tell you. Thank you. Yeah, unconditional love. I think that's what this is about. Yes, and unconditional love includes, you know... No, don't run out in the street. It includes some boundaries or encouraging that. So I'm an uncle and I feel that way too. To my nephew, who I'm very proud of. David Ray. Well, thank you very much. And I'm loving hearing these things about grandmothers and grandmother heart. My granny, who was extremely important to me in my life, who lived until I was 12 years old. The thing I want to talk about is bathing statues. Because it seems like it's a thing that people all over the world or in various places in the world love to do. The first time I went to a Hindu temple, this was like outside Atlanta.

[25:20]

There was like this little cabin temple in the back. And when I went inside, I saw a priest bathing Hanuman with milk. And it was so moving to me. For example, the Roman poet talks about a ritual that he saw. It was Juno being bathed. I once saw a West African movie where that happens. And so today, to have had the opportunity to bathe, the image of a baby would have felt so beautiful. I think it awakens some tenderness. I feel like there's a skillful means thing. We're talking about tenderness and kindness and awakening the kind of human species thing that we feel toward the young. I'm looking at that statue. I put a statue on the screen share as well so that people could see another image of a baby Buddha. But Christianity does that too. All that devotion to the infant. Yeah, thank you.

[26:22]

So bathing the baby Buddha with sweet tea is like bathing the baby Buddha with unconditional love. This thing about the lifespan of Buddha. We have this story of the Buddha being born and proclaiming this and then being coddled in his privileged life and then realizing that there was suffering. There was death. And also that there were people who were doing spiritual work. And so he left the palace. I understand historians say that his father wasn't really a great king, but more like a tribal chieftain.

[27:23]

At any rate, this pattern, this story that we have, including the story of the baby Buddha, is something that is said to be the story of all Buddhas. So part of what was in Dogen's first talk is. It talks about his students having one portion of awakening, one portion of this true practice. Somewhere in here, though, he talks about. Another idea from the Lotus Sutra, where this inconceivable lifespan is finally divulged, is that all practitioners, all of the great disciples, all of the bodhisattvas.

[28:41]

And ultimately, all beings will be like this, descending from the Tushita Heaven and be born as a baby Buddha. And Shakyamuni Buddha in the Lotus Sutra goes around the room and says, oh, you'll be born in such and such a Buddha field with the name such and such Buddha. And same for you and the same for you. So there's this sense in which these stories are. You know, not historical. They're framed as historical, but they're about the context of our practice. The context of our world. And it's very easy to feel all of the suffering and available sense of hopelessness, even with all the things going on in our world, climate breakdown, wars, arms races.

[29:58]

Fossil fuel and weapons corporations being vastly enriched by the war in Ukraine and all other wars. There used to be a pejorative term, war profiteers, back in World War II, but now war profiteers are celebrated anyway. This is a difficult world. And yet, how do we find our own grandmotherly heart to recognize that all beings, even the ones who are now causing harm, eventually. So the Mahayana view is that there are, I guess I could say, infinite world systems and infinite Buddha fields in time as well as space. And yet the story of the baby Buddha and the story of our historical Buddha is kind of mapped to how to give rise to grandmotherly mind.

[31:08]

Brian. Yes, I have a question. I wonder if you might say something about this phrase, I alone am the world honored one. Yeah, each one of us alone is the world honored one. When we proclaim our Buddhahood, when we proclaim, no, I'm awake. So it's not separation. It's all of us alone is the world honored one. But it's also saying this is why Dogen and other Zen people particularly poke fun at the story. In Dogen's various talks on the occasion of his birthday, he talks about how laughable it is. So we have stories. So you alone are the world honored one, grandfather.

[32:26]

Any other comments, responses, questions on Zoom or even here at Ebenezer? Oh, Eve again. Yeah, just one comment. I mean, you know, there's one theory of human evolution that said that having grandparents... Could you speak up? I don't know if they can hear you on Zoom. There's one theory of human evolution that there was a big leap when humans got to live long enough to be grandparents. And that having grandparents, that's what gave rise to being able to live in complex communities. That's really interesting. We talk about the ancestors, you know, in terms of the Buddha ancestors and the ancestors in our lineage, the people who kept alive this practice and teaching since Shakyamuni Buddha's time 2,500 years ago,

[33:36]

through India, through China, through Japan, through California and so on. So, yeah, having grandparents. I hadn't heard that. It's really interesting that that is a mark of when community developed for human beings. I don't know when that would have been historically in terms of anthropology or anything like that. I mean, I have to look it up, but yeah, just that agriculture happened after that. Yeah, so he said agriculture happened after there were grandparents. And more and more and more. Complex kinds of knowledge happened after that. It's really interesting. I never thought of that before. But yeah, that sense of ancestors having a grandparent around for children.

[34:40]

My grandmother lived with us for numbers of years. We would sneak up to her apartment on the third floor and she would give us cookies. Yeah, so having a sense of going back. Somebody else? Yes, Brian has his hand up. Brian Todd. Morning. Wonderful day. Wonderful service talk. And on the topic of grandparents, it occurs to me the feeling I have about grandparental mind. My own grandparents on my mother's side were like a second set of parents, but not really in a way that touches on what has already been mentioned by some other people here that, you know, sometimes the grandparents get to do the fun stuff and the parents have to be sort of the bad cop.

[35:44]

My own grandfather used to take me out golfing, but I would only be the one golfing. He would just pay for everything and drive the cart and I would just have fun all day. But regarding grandparental mind, so it just puts me into thinking that, you know, the way Buddhism talks about mindfulness in a way that sort of a gentle awareness of everything, not necessarily controlling, just sort of maybe sitting on a park bench, watching things happen, letting go, ready to step in. You know, if someone gets too close to the edge or, you know, gets as some as I think Brian said about a large field, if they get too close to a boundary, maybe just sort of gently guiding them back. But, you know, on all other times, just sort of sitting on a park bench, watching the children play, being aware, you know, and allowing that play, allowing that creative unfolding of life, giving it that space, but just maintaining awareness of it and just in a sort of compassionate attention, I guess.

[37:08]

So that's what came up for me in that grandparental topic. Thank you. Thank you, Brian. That adds a couple of important things at least to thinking about grandmotherly heart. One is just mindfulness, paying attention, being aware of what's going on around how watching the children play. My grandmother would sit on the third floor at the window and just, she read a lot, but she also would look out and see kids playing in the street. I think that kind of wider awareness is part of it. But also what you said has to do with sense of letting go of control.

[38:11]

Of course, yes, steering children or grandchildren away from fire or whatever, away from danger, but not trying to control. I think sometimes maybe parents have more of a sense of wanting their kids to do this or that and control things. Grandparents are indulgent is one word, but just so much of our practice, so much of awakening is about letting go of the sense of trying to control everything. So thank you, Brian. We have time for maybe one or two more comments. Jane in Pittsburgh has her hand up and then Nicholas. Oh, good. Jane. Just quickly, as we've been talking, I'm thinking about skillful means and a circumstance that I was in recently with my great niece and her family.

[39:22]

And watching the parents relate to her in a very difficult way. I mean, she kind of had a meltdown, right? And I found myself kind of stepping back and allowing the space for them to do what they were doing. But I found myself later stepping in in a way that there was plenty of space to talk to her. And that to me is kind of another essence of this grandmotherly love. So just wanted to add that. Thank you. Nicholas, hi, how are you? Hi, I'm doing pretty well. Thank you. It's good to be here among sangha and to hear you talk. I don't have a lot to say, but I love the term grandmotherliness.

[40:30]

The first time I heard it, for me, I just got it. It's one of those terms that just immediately opened my heart. I forget what the context was, but it just works for me. I guess I was also thinking about all the stories that we have. This is a practice of storytelling on some level. Yes. I've been reading this book, Sapiens. They talk about how one advantage that our species had over other humans was the ability to create stories. We were the first species able to do that. It just gave us a huge advantage. I think a lot about our stories.

[41:35]

For me, it's about identification. I know we don't like concepts and things like that, but I don't know how else to speak about it. It gives me a pathway to a bigger sense of self, to the deathless, to perhaps enlightenment itself, by identifying with these notions that we have handed down to us. I don't know if you can say a bit about that, if that's a Buddhist question, but that's what's on my mind. Thank you. Thank you very much, Nicholas. Yes. Narrative, stories. It's a very important part of Zen tradition. There's Sazen, and then there's teaching stories.

[42:37]

We tell these stories, again, not as history in the sense of modern historical academic scholars, but in the sense of stories about us. In working with koans, with all Zen teaching stories, the point isn't to figure out something about it or have some fancy experience from sitting with it or whatever. It's just to inform our practice body, to encourage us to continue and to open up to deeper aspects of what this uprightness is, what inhale and exhale is. Zen isn't the only spiritual tradition with teaching stories. Many traditions have teaching stories, but they're very important. It's how we see more fully ourselves in community and awakening and the effort involved in just continuing.

[43:51]

So, yes, thank you for that. Narrative is really interesting, and this is maybe a tangent, but I appreciate since I first started watching movies, for example, that narrative has changed. There's flashbacks that flash forwards, and it's not just one continuous story from beginning, middle, and end. I think in our world now, we see stories in this way where time is interfolding, and that's a clue to how these stories are all about our own lives and our own practice and our own Zazen body. So thank you, Nicholas.

[44:37]

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