There's old Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree, Bodhi tree. There's old Buddha, mind as empty as it can be, it can be. Sitting like a bump on a log, log. Sitting like a wise old frog, frog. Sitting with a smile on his face, face. Kind of like empty space, space. Does my brain, does my thunder? What could bother the Buddha, I wonder? What could bother the Buddha? A tiger!

[01:05]

He wasn't bothered by a tiger. He wasn't bothered by a tiger. He just let that tiger go for a ride, go for a ride. One time I did that with a lion. There's old Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree, Bodhi tree. There's old Buddha, mind as empty as it can be, it can be. Sitting like a bump on a log, log. Sitting like a wise old frog, frog. Sitting with a smile on his face, face. Kind of like empty space, space. Does my brain, does my thunder? What could bother the Buddha, I wonder?

[02:11]

Camera, camera, camera. He wasn't bothered by a camera. He wasn't bothered by a camera. He just let that camera go clicking by. An hour? An hour? There's old Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree, Bodhi tree. There's old Buddha, mind as empty as it can be, it can be. Sitting like a bump on a log, log. Sitting like a wise old frog, frog. Sitting with a smile on his face, face. Kind of like empty space, space. Does my brain, does my thunder?

[03:20]

What could bother the Buddha, I wonder? A fire truck, a sirening fire. He wasn't bothered by a fire truck. He wasn't bothered by a fire truck. He just let that fire truck go sirening by, go sirening by. We'll do it a little shorter now. There's old Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree, Bodhi tree. Does my brain, does my thunder? What could bother the Buddha, I wonder? A pizza, a pizza. He wasn't bothered by a pizza.

[04:27]

He wasn't bothered by a pizza. He just let that pizza go sirening by, go sirening by. There's old Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree, Bodhi tree. Does my brain, does my thunder? What could bother the Buddha, I wonder? A cell phone, a cell phone. He wasn't bothered by a cell phone. He wasn't bothered by a cell phone. He just let that cell phone go ringing by, go ringing by. Thank you.

[05:33]

But I noticed, Anil, you were distracted by the pepperoni pizza. I think I was. Right, right. He wasn't bothered by the fire engine. That would be true. Yeah. I know I can't sit. Just sit. Sit down. Just one second. Mama. [...] That's a hard act to follow.

[06:46]

When my son was about two years old, we used to read him, well he had a book about fire engines. This reminded me of, the fire engine reminded me of this. And so he would sit in the fire engines, and then one day there was a fire over here on Otis Street. And all the fire engines came. And so we all went out there to look at the fire engines. And we said, look, see, there's the fire engine. And he said, turn the page. Turn the page. It's all a dream. So today, we're celebrating Shakyamuni Buddha's birthday.

[08:01]

In Southeast Asia, they have what's called Weisak, where they celebrate Buddha's birthday, his enlightenment, and his parinirvana, all at the same time. It takes about a week or so. But in our tradition, we celebrate these. Okay, kids. It's my turn. Let's make some bubbles. It's my turn. Let's bubble in here. Let's find a bubble. Let's find a bubble. There's a pretty bubble over here. Oh, jeez. Let's find some bubbles. Oh, there it is. Go get your bubble. As it says in the Diamond Sutra,

[09:03]

life is like a bubble. So get your bubbles while you can. So today, it's Buddha's turn. Buddha's birthday soon. So, I was thinking about, as most everybody knows the story of Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, his mother, Manya, and how he came out of her side. This is one story. He was born through her side, which is an interesting way to be born, but it could happen. Anyway, I'm not so interested in the legend as I am in what it means to be born. And we say it's a very rare thing to be born as a human being. And it's even more rare

[10:04]

to be reborn as a Buddha. Yeah. When we recite the precepts, the Ten Clear Mind Precepts, we say, don't kill. Let the Buddha seed grow and don't kill. So, it's interesting. Let the Buddha seed grow and don't kill. It means, don't kill life. We're always killing something. Something is always dying. Everything is dying. The whole universe is dying and being born moment by moment. So, it's interesting. What is birth? Birth is happening moment by moment. Dying is happening

[11:05]

moment by moment. Birth and death is a great matter. So, how do we go with birth and death with understanding? How do we nurture life and accept dying? Because these are the two legs of the same thing called life. So, let the Buddha seed grow. Do not kill and let the Buddha seed grow. So, we're born in a natural way as a human. This is our natural birth. But we're born with

[12:06]

the seed of Buddha. So, that's why we say everyone is Buddha. But everyone is not realized. Everyone's Buddha nature is not realized. So, the purpose of the Dharma, why is the Buddha born into the world? This is the question. This is the Lotus Sutra. The meaning of the Lotus Sutra is why does the Buddha enter the world? Enter the world doesn't mean coming down from heaven. How do you bring forth the Buddha seed within yourself? How do you nurture the Buddha seed within yourself? How do we become Buddha? We become Buddha because

[13:10]

we are Buddha. We can't become something that we're not. So, we say no gaining mind means not trying to gain something like being Buddha. There's a story in the Koan. Daitsu Uchisho Buddha sat for two eons but he couldn't become Buddha. Why couldn't he become Buddha? Because he could not gain something that he didn't already have. So, we go around saying everybody's Buddha and we should treat everyone as Buddha, which is a good idea. So, being born as a human

[14:11]

is the first step to bringing forth our Buddha nature. Buddha nature is what we are but in order for it to manifest as Buddha, we have to do something. So, we say there's a seed of Buddha even though Dogen would not say so. Nevertheless, there's a seed of Buddha and we water the Buddha seed. This is called practice. Practice is watering the Buddha seed. And allowing the Buddha seed to flourish into a flower. Katyagiri Rishi used to always say let the let the flower of your life bloom.

[15:17]

Let the flower of your life bloom. So, this is called practice. Letting the flower, nurturing the seed, watering the flower and allowing the flower of your life to bloom. And so, Buddha has to be born again. This is like the evangelical Dharma. Being born again, actually. We have the beginning, the first birth, which is the ground, actually. The ground in which the Buddha seed can grow

[16:21]

is being a human being. And then, watering that seed so that the flower can actually grow. The flower of Buddha can grow. So, it's that kind of endlessness. Suzuki Roshi used to say that the Soto Zen is like a very long noodle. An endless noodle of practice. Of course, the noodle is practice. There you go. Forever. There's no end to this noodle. You know, Japanese monks, after Sashim, they have a big bowl of noodles. That's a kind of celebration for the Sashim. And they don't chew them.

[17:21]

I don't know how they do it. I'll try that. When I had my shuso ceremony in 1970 with Tatsukami Roshi Tassahara, the night before, he made noodles. And when you eat the noodles, you just go... He said, if you do that, you'll have a very good shuso ceremony. So, the seed, actually, of Buddhahood is called potentiality. So, what is potentiality? Potentiality means the possibility. It also means that there's something to work with.

[18:25]

Potentiality is the seed. So, we need to mine our potentiality, to bring forth our potentiality so that it flowers. And it's very difficult because we get mixed up between being a Buddha and being an ordinary person. And so, sometimes, ordinary person, you know, is what we call the person who has ego. And we call the Buddha the person who has minimal ego, without ego. So, when we allow Buddha to grow, Buddha is kind of like a worm that eats the apple of the person. And feeds on...

[19:31]

Buddha feeds on the person and eats up the person and then becomes the Buddha. And the person is devoured in the process of becoming the Buddha. And then there's no more ego because self is ego. When we say no self, it simply means no ego. So, Buddha devours the person. But the person and the Buddha are not two things. In the Soto Zen, we say the main thing is that Buddha is an ordinary person and not two. So, how can they not be two? How can they be one? We let the Buddha... The Buddha feeds on the person

[20:33]

and the person disappears in the Buddha. And then the person is the Buddha. The person has the Buddha face. And what looks like the person is actually the Buddha. It's kind of a mysterious thing. So, sometimes in the process the person wants to lead, the ego wants to lead. But then when you get into trouble called suffering, you let the Buddha lead. And then sometimes the Buddha leads, sometimes the person leads. But at some point the person gives up and says, OK, Buddha, you win. I'll follow you instead of having you in the background.

[21:35]

So, what is birth? We're giving birth to the Buddha. That's actually the path. The path of practice is to give birth to the Buddha. So, we have the womb of the Buddha, called the Tathagatagarbha. The Buddha's... the womb of the Buddha. And the Buddha grows inside that womb. And then we give birth to the Buddha. So, what is Buddha's birthday? Buddha's birthday... We celebrate Buddha's birth, actually, every day. We should be celebrating Buddha's birthday every day. So, we celebrate in the morning. We wake up and we sit zazen. And that's how we celebrate Buddha's birthday.

[22:39]

We offer incense or flowers or whatever. We celebrate Buddha's birthday. And then each day is a whole lifetime. Complete lifetime. And then we go to sleep, hopefully. Wake up in the morning and do it all over again. Every single day is a brand new day and a brand new birth. Birthday of Buddha. Also, every moment is a whole new birth. Because birth and dying is one complete cycle. So, we go through the cycle of birth and death, moment by moment. Inhaling, we come to life. Exhaling, we let go. So, where is this moment? It's already gone. If you want to experience dying,

[23:41]

it's already gone. It's gone. And it's bringing up. It's here. It's gone. It's here. It's gone. So, what is it that is being born? That's a good question. So, every morning, we make offerings to the Buddha. The Buddha within each one. And we nurture the seed, little by little, moment by moment, within birth and death. Death is a great mystery, but birth is also a great mystery.

[24:44]

They're the same mystery. They're the same thing. So, there are many things that a person can do. We're born into the world, and we have some opportunity to do something. So, what's the best thing we can do? Well, the best thing we can do is to, I think, find out what the best thing to do is, which is, nurture the Buddha seed. Because the Buddha seed is our fulfillment, is the potentiality for our fulfillment. Being fully filled. Fully filled with emptiness. Fully filled with emptiness. So, in the legend of Shakyamuni,

[26:01]

he's a suffering person, a sick person, an old person, and a monk. And he wonders what that's all about. And he leaves home to find out. So, he becomes the monk, and he looks deeply into the meaning of birth, old age, and death. Suffering, old age, and death. So, that's what we're about. What does it all mean, Mr. Natural? There are many interesting things in this world, and I think that the most interesting thing is to find out who we are in reality.

[27:02]

To experience and understand the reality of who we are, which is Buddha. So, today we offer flowers to the baby Buddha. Well, actually, we don't. We offer sweet tea, and pour the sweet tea over the Buddha. Which is what, when Buddha was born, that's what they do in India, they did at that time, when the baby was born, they washed the baby with sweet tea. So, that's what we're going to do. Yes, I know.

[27:49]

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