May I unfold the meaning of the Tathagata's truth. Good morning. Welcome. So, this is the week that is usually celebrated in East Asia as the anniversary of Buddha's enlightenment day, usually celebrated December 8th, which is Wednesday, but we're commemorating it today. And throughout the world, many Zen Buddhists do a seven-day Sashin, or intensive sitting, to commemorate, called Rohatsu, the enlightenment of the Buddha. So I want to talk about Buddha's enlightenment. And this is a very wonderful, auspicious occasion. So roughly 2,500 or so years ago, this week, after wandering around and doing various of the austere practices that were available then in northern India, Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha Shakyamuni, sat down under a tree.

[01:19]

and decided to just keep sitting until he was awakened, until he could see through the suffering of the world, until he could resolve the situation that we are in, of pain and sadness and confusion and greed and so forth. After he took some nourishment and settled his body and sat through the night, things happened. He was tempted to get up in various ways. He was tempted to forget his caring and commitment to the well-being of all beings. He was tempted. But he stayed, and he saw the pattern of conditioning. We say this gospel chain of causation, the pattern of how we each all produce the suffering of the world, the grasping and the sense of separation that is, we could say, the original sin of Buddhism, this belief that we are separate from each other rather than connected.

[02:37]

this way that the mind can trick itself into feeling like I'm here and you are all out there. That there is this self that I need to protect and support and that everything else out there is just dead objects that I can manipulate to try and get what I think I need or want for this self. It's a basic problem which We still have 2,500 years later. So one description of what happened when he had his complete unsurpassed enlightenment, when he awakened. So Buddha just means the awakened one. He awakened in the morning. He saw the morning star and he awakened. And one description of what it was that he saw what it was that he understood, is from the Flower Ornament Sutra, and he said, Oh, now I see.

[03:47]

All beings, without exception, have the wisdom and the virtue of the awakening of the Buddhas. So from the point of view of Buddha, there's no difference between Buddhas and the Buddhas' beings. Of course, from our point of view as saluted beings, it is as distant as heaven and earth. So again, when the Buddha awakened, he said, now I see all beings, everyone, has this wisdom and virtue of the awakening. Only, because of their attachments and conditioning, they don't realize it. So this is what the Buddhists saw. This is the, you could say, the contents of his awakening, of his enlightenment, 2,500 years ago this week.

[04:53]

2,500, more, close to 2,500. Anyway, we saw that everyone, all beings, fundamentally are just here in this suchness of awakening. But we can't see it. So we also said, how strange, how amazing, all beings have this capacity, you could say this duty nature, this possibility of being awake, being aware, of being right here in the immediacy of suchness. But because of their conditioning, because of their grasping, because of their attachments, they don't realize it. Everybody's asleep. They've forgotten this possibility of kindness, and clarity, and presence.

[05:55]

So he said, oh, how strange, how amazing. I must work to try and help. all beings in whatever way I can to enter into the path towards awakening. So this is what a Buddha is. This is what the Buddha saw that we're celebrating today as enlightenment day. I must help beings to enter into this path towards awakening. So really our practice is just about turning towards taking refuge in, coming back home to something that is already here. It's not about attaining some great exalted state of mind or state of being. It's not about getting something that you don't already have. It's not about figuring out something. It's very simple, really, as living beings.

[07:03]

And when we see clearly how it is that we're here, naturally we want to help each other and be kind and be present in this, any nature-rising moment with nature-rising breath. Very simple. However, of course, because of greed, because of confusion, because of vengeance, because of all kinds of things, Grasping and compulsive. Feeling like you have to do unto others before they do unto us, or I don't know. Sense of separation, this original sense of separating self from the world. We don't know. So that's it. It's as simple as that really. And our practice is to keep turning towards that again and again. And then to help each other. So there's the Buddha, and then there's the teaching of reality, the Dharma.

[08:08]

And then Sangha is what the Buddha did after he was awakened. He went down and was persuaded to share what he had seen. And so he did. And then people came together and founded an order of monks and dharmas. And the rest, so to say, is history. But here we are continuing this, and Buddha's awakening 2,500 years ago this week exists right now here in this room. So if it was just some historical event that we could pin some date on and talk about this Indian prince who had this weird experience, it wouldn't mean much. We wouldn't be celebrating it today. But actually, he started a practice. He found a way to turn towards awakening right now. And each one of you on your chair or cushion, even if this is your very first time meditating, you are continuing this right now.

[09:15]

So for our service today, we'll chant the inconceivable lifespan of Buddha from the Lotus Sutra, which talks about how Buddha only pretends to get born, and awaken, and pass away. From one point of view, anyway, Buddha is here for a long time, helping us to find our own true heart, our own true face. It's so close. It's right here. And yet, we can't see it. It's like trying to see your own eyeball. It's that close. And that, we can say, difficult. We could say inconceivable. But anyway, here we are, and we can take another breath. And then exhale. And keep doing that, and eventually we'll stop. But until we do, each breath, each inhale, each exhale, is totally unique and totally wonderful.

[10:23]

So this is what Buddha saw. He saw that he was alive. And there were a lot. And we could share that. However, of course, we had this confusion. So I was going to share with you an Enlightenment Day Dharma talk from this new translation of Dogen. It was Master Dogen who brought this practice from China to Japan. So there's a longer one I want to read, but I'll first read This is the last line of a shorter one that he gave in the year 1246 on this occasion of Buddha's enlightenment day. And this is a very short one, but I'm going to make it even shorter. He just said, the plum blossom opens afresh on the same branch as last year. So plum blossoms open first in the winter.

[11:30]

We have a pretty mild winter, a pretty beautiful day here in Molinus today. But anyway, in northern India, where he was, I guess there was snow. Well, where Buddha was, and certainly where Dogen was in northern Japan in the mountains, there was lots of snow. But he created snow. And he had, right in the snow, a bungalow. Opens afresh on the same branch as last year. Anyway, this sentence also contains all of what Buddha realized. that night in Northern India. And what we realize as we sit silent and still and upright and facing the difficulties of our own confusion and grasping and aversions, our own thoughts and feelings, our own sense of separation from the world. The plum blossom opens afresh from the same branches last year. Right from stillness comes life.

[12:33]

Our practice is about settling back into this space of this basic Buddha nature, which is always here, and finding our own creative resources, our own deep vitality. There are many sayings like this in Zen. A dragon howls in a withered tree. When the wooden man begins to sing, the stone woman gets up to dance. Many other sayings like this. From our stillness, from in the middle of what seems like the darkest night, there is light. So we're living in a very difficult time. Our world seems very dark with war, and poverty, and greed, and corruption, and cycles of vengeance, and all kinds of delusive ideas that seem to have gained control.

[13:58]

But government is here at some point. It's a difficult time, and yet, in the middle of darkness in the middle of stillness. There's this connection to tremendous creative energy that is possible. Tremendous vitality. Tremendous possibilities of kindness and sharing and cooperation and innovation. Each of us in our own way is a creative source for the life of the world. This is true. I happened to go several nights ago to a concert in Berkeley. It was the first night of the Jewish Festival of Life's Hanukkah, and it was a concert of new songs by Woody Guthrie. Some of you are old enough to remember who he was. He was a great folk singer who died in the late 60s after a long, long, terrible illness. He has a son named Arlo Guthrie, who some of you who remember the Vietnam War may remember his song Alice's Restaurant.

[15:06]

Anyway, he was performing with a group of Jewish singers called the Plasmatics. He was performing these new Woody Guthrie songs. And Woody Guthrie wrote down many songs that he had probably had tunes to. He didn't know how to write the music. But anyway, now his daughter, Arlo's sister, is giving these old lyrics to musicians who are making these tunes to them. And so there's a whole bunch of new Woody Guthrie songs. And these were spiritual songs, so there were Hanukkah songs, and there were songs from the Bible. And one of the songs was about Joseph and the Bible, going into music and understanding things. And then they did the best version I'd ever heard of. This land is your land, which Woody Guthrie wrote, some of you may know. And it was great because Arlo, kind of after the first chorus, kind of broke into one of his monologues, like Alistair, talking about Joseph and the pharaohs.

[16:09]

And he ended up bringing it back to Red and the Blue States and saying, now, the things are really terrible. It's really great because you don't have to do much to make a big difference. So we don't have to do much to make a huge difference in the world now. Just a little bit of kindness, a little bit of insight, a little bit of caring and sharing of information makes a big difference. This is a wonderful time for our practice. for a likeness. Anyway, the plum blossom opens a fridge on the same withered branch as last year. So the trees, some of the trees may look like they have lost all their leaves. And yet, somehow, new life comes. So the world is like this. Our lives are like this. In the middle of difficulties and confusion fears and frustration. If we can stop and enjoy our breathing and sit upright and feel how it is to be ourselves, there's this possibility of new growth.

[17:21]

So in Buddhism we say that what Shakyamuni Buddha saw and realized when he became the Buddha, the historical Buddha, 2,500 or so years ago. This is something that is ageless, actually. There were Buddhas before Buddha. There will be Buddhas in the future. Buddha is continuing right here and now. So we honor this historical fact of this North Indian prince stopping his confusion and awakening and realizing very fully this Buddha nature and finding a way to share it with all of us. And yet, this is something that's been here long before he was, and will continue. So again, the plum blossom opens a French on the same branch as last year. This is what Dogen said in 1246 about celebrating this occasion of Buddha's enlightenment

[18:29]

But I wanted to read a longer one that he did five years earlier at 1241. And this is a little funny, but it's anyway. So again, it said, 2,000 years later, we are the descendants of Shakyamuni. Actually, their sense of history was different. In the 1200s, they thought that Buddha had been 2,000 years before. We kind of revised, historians have revised the dating of all this. He said 2,000 years ago, he was our ancestral father. He is muddy and wet from following and chasing after the winds. So at that time, maybe he was muddy and wet. He'd been living in the forest for six years trying to find the answer to his deep questioning about the nature of something. But also, Dogen, in 1200, well, actually, this was outside Kyoto still.

[19:36]

He said, the Buddha now is also muddy and wet, following and chasing after the waves. This is our practice, too. As we sit, we get stuck in the mud of the waves of thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, pain in our knees. some discomfort in our shoulders and lower back, or the suffering of our friends and loved ones, our family, the pain of disease and sickness and various kinds of sadness in our heart. What Buddha does is jump into the mud and water of this human world following and chasing after these waves. So Dogen said it could be described like this, but also there is the principle of the way that we must make one mistake after another.

[20:37]

So it's very important to make mistakes. This turning towards Buddha, this practice of realizing our Buddha nature is not about being. perfect or right according to some idea of that. It's about actually finding our life. Being alone. Making mistakes. Paying attention. Trying not to hurt others. Trying to encourage others not to hurt others. And yet we make mistakes. So please, don't be afraid of your mistakes. If we never made any mistakes, we'd never learn anything. If we had all the answers, You wouldn't need to be here. I wouldn't need to be here. You could all just go home and watch TV or whatever. But actually, we live in a world of mistakes. So, Siddhartha says, it can be described like this, but also, there is the principle of the way of making one mistake after another.

[21:41]

This is our life. We make a mistake to take the next inhale, And yet, when we get up off the cushion, when we allow the blossoms of our life to flower, when we take on trying to help others, help others to share this and to find our basic kindness, we make mistakes. And that's how we learn. He said, what is this like? Whether Buddha is present or not present, I trust he is right under our feet. Face after face is Buddha's face. Fulfillment after fulfillment is Buddha's fulfillment. So he says, whether Buddha is present or not, I trust he is right under our feet.

[22:46]

So sometimes we may feel that Buddha is present. Sometimes we may feel like We can sense Buddha. We can sense this possibility of awakening. We can sense our true awakening nature. We can sense this possibility of kindness, and not just the possibility, but the reality of kindness in the world, the reality of caring. So all throughout the world, many, many people now care very deeply about what's going on in the world, are very concerned about war and peace. the environment, and all of the things in the world that are in danger. So in some ways it's hard to say that Buddha is not present. Sometimes we could also say, oh, Buddha is not present. There's all these terrible things happening. Not just in the world, but in our own minds. But Dogen said, whether or not Buddha is present, I trust he is right under my feet.

[23:54]

So right under your chair, right under your sitting cushion. There are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas waiting to arise. On the same branch as last year, there are bums waiting to blossom. Slowing down, stopping. Feeling this inner beat of the world, this inner nature of our Buddha nature. We can allow this to flow. We can allow ourselves and others to make mistakes and learn from mistakes. Right under our feet, Buddha is present. Right under our cushions, Dogyeom said. I trust Buddha is right here under our feet. Actually, there was another Uddhavati song that started out referring to the story in the Bible of the burning bush and a voice coming out of the burning bush and saying to Moses, this is holy ground.

[24:59]

And the psalm goes on and continues, saying, after that, everywhere I go, I see holy ground. Every step I tread is holy ground. Every bit of dust is holy ground. So this is what he got this psalm about, right under my feet. Right under our cushion, there is this possibility of kindness. Face after face is Buddha's face. Fulfillment after fulfillment is Buddha's fulfillment. So there's also this practice in Buddhism of seeing others as Buddha. Seeing the Buddha nature of others. Appreciating the kindness and the wisdom and the insight and the gifts of others. Each of you has many gifts. Each of you has many capacities and abilities to share kindness,

[26:06]

and insight, and awareness. To see others as Buddha is a practice of Buddha. That's what the Buddha saw, again, when he was awakened. Right then, he saw, ah, all the beings of the world have the wisdom and virtue of awakened ones, but they don't realize it. And actually Doge had changed that line, rewrote it to say all beings completely are Buddha nature. Buddha nature is not some thing we have, it's just the way things is. It's this possibility that we connect with somehow in our sinning. We connect with when we stop and be upright in the middle of everything going on. So just to see the wisdom and virtue of others. And sometimes people are caught up in mistakes.

[27:11]

And there are many stories in Buddhism of people who see horrendous things and then realize the mistake they've made and change. This is possible. Everyone has this, is this capacity. So one of the Buddha's main disciples, named Avalokiteśvara, was a serial killer. He killed 99 people, and he had a model that he put 99 fingers on. He'd been persuaded by some, it's a kind of gruesome story, but anyway, he'd been persuaded by some, I don't know, some sorcerer or some, that if he killed 100 of his enemies, that then he would have great power at some point. And he was ready to kill his 100th, and that was the Buddha. And the Buddha saw him. And so he just stopped. And he got it. He did. And he ended up being an arhat.

[28:14]

So this is, even people who do horrible things can realize the Buddha nature. As terrible as you think you are, You can't even begin to that. So anyway, there's this, even in a withered tree, a dragon, you can see this possibility of kindness, this concern for the world, this caring about the quality of our own being and the quality of others. And then the practice is just to continue. So what's hard about this practice isn't getting your legs into some funny position or whatever. We're sitting still for 30 or 40 minutes. But to continue seeing, when you first start sitting, you may see right away some flash of this wisdom and virtue of yourself or others. But then the work of this practice is to continue to sustain that, to maintain that, to really bring it into every aspect of your life.

[29:16]

And that means being willing to look at your confusion and anger and fear and craving frustration, and so forth. And look at it patiently enough and long enough to let it go, to allow it to let it go, to not be angry about your anger, to not be frustrated with your frustration, to be willing to be as confused as you are. Anyway, so his slogan says, face after face is Buddhist face. Fulfillment after fulfillment is Buddhist fulfillment. And then he tells a story, and this gets a little weird, to give you some background. There's an old Zen saying, a koan, by a great Zen teacher from China from the 900s named Yunmen, who was famous for giving very short answers. He was sort of the Calvin Coolidge of Zen.

[30:18]

Nobody here is old enough to help do it, but maybe some of you have heard of him. He was president of the United States in the 20s, I think. And he was famous for giving very short answers. And once at a dinner party at the White House, a society buddy said, I bet that I can make you say more than three words. And he said, you lose. Anyway, Jungman was kind of like that. He would give very short answers. Like, one of them is, what is the worth of a Buddha's whole lifetime? It's an appropriate statement. And another type of student asked, what is it that goes beyond all this talk of Buddha's innocence? He said, cake. Cake. OK, so this Dogen is now going to refer to another time when a monk asked a student, what is Buddha?

[31:28]

And he said, a dried turd. Or actually, depending on the translation, he might have said a ship stick, which could be understood as a piece of ship or as a, they used to use sticks the way we use toilet paper now anyway. So anyway, that's what he said Buddha was. And if you think Buddha is only something that happened 2,500 years ago, yeah. But also, its awakening is everywhere. Eating, sleeping, and going to the bathroom. In every activity. So this is the story that Dogen is playing with in this next part of this talk that Dogen gave on the occasion of the enlightenment of Buddha and the celebration. And he says, last night, this mountain monk, referring to Dogen himself, unintentionally stepped on a dry turf. And it jumped up and covered heaven and earth.

[32:33]

This mountain monk unintentionally stepped on it again. With the covered heaven and earth, I guess he couldn't avoid stepping on it. And he introduced himself, saying, my name is Shakyamuni. Then this mountain monk unintentionally stepped on his chest. And immediately, he went and sat on the Bodhi Mandala seat, the seat of awakening. And then he saw the morning star, bit through the traps of snares of conditioned birth, And cast away is all nested from the past, all of his old conditionings. Without waiting for anyone to peck at his shell from outside, he received the 32 qualities common to all Buddhas, and together with this mountain monk, composed the following four-line verse." So there's a verse in that then, that Dogen and this piece of shit that then became the Buddha, wrote together. But I just wanted to mention this. There's this image here that's also wonderful. Without waiting for anyone to peck at his shell from outside, this goes back to an image of awakening of an egg and the chick inside the egg.

[33:46]

And it's an image of teacher and student. And the student is like the embryo sitting in the egg, the little chick. And the teacher is like the mother hen. And I don't know if this is actually true. Many of you have raised chickens. Maybe it's not actually true, and you can tell me. But according to this story, when the egg is ready to hatch, or just before, the chick starts to peck on the shell from the inside. And the mother hen pecks on the shell from the outside. And they peck back and forth. And if they peck too hard before the chick is ready to come out of the shell, It's not going to be so good for them. And if they wait too long, it's not going to be so good. But they both peck. And the chick pecks from inside, and the other hen pecks from outside. And eventually, the shell pecks. Pecks. Or she just sits on them. And often, you can just be surprised when the other chick comes out. Yeah. That's probably how it really happens. But anyway, in this old image, it's this pecking from both sides.

[34:50]

It's an image of a teacher and a student. And at some point, the shell cracks. Anyway, Dogen says, without waiting for anyone to peck at his shell from outside, Shakyamuni received the 32 characteristics common to all Buddhas, and together with this mountain monk, composed the following four-line verse, which goes, stumbling, I stepped on his chest and his backbone snapped. Mountains and rivers swirling around, the dawn wind blew. Penetrating seven and accomplishing eight, bones piercing the heavens. His face attained a sheet of golden skin." So they say that one of the qualities of Buddha is having golden skin. Anyway, this is a weird fantasy that Doge had the night before Buddha's awakening in 1241. And he kindly shared it with us. Could you read it again? I sure can. Should I read the whole thing? Just the part about?

[35:52]

Last night, this mountain monk, Dogan, unintentionally stepped on a dry turf, and it jumped up and covered heaven and earth. This mountain monk unintentionally stepped on it again, and it introduced itself, saying, my name is Shakyamuni. Then this mountain monk unintentionally stepped on his chest, and immediately he went and sat on the Vajra seat, saw the morning star, bit through the traps and snares of conditioned birth, and cast away his old nest from the past. Without waiting for anyone to peck at his shelf from outside, he received the 32 characteristics common to all Buddhists, and together with this mountain monk composed the following four-line verse. Stumbling, I stepped on his chest, and his backbone snapped. Mountains and rivers swirled around. The dawn wind blew. Penetrating seven and accomplishing eight, bones pierced the heavens, and his face attained a sheet of golden skin. So it's penetrating seven and accomplishing eight.

[36:54]

Whatever is in front of us, whoever many breaths we have, whatever the number of situations or beings that are in front of us, whatever the difficulties are, just to have the spirit of getting to the bottom of all of them and taking care of another one too. When we are willing to make mistake after mistake, We can help, actually, take care of maybe not solving all the problems of the world. Maybe there will always be war and poverty. Maybe not. But anyway, probably in our lifetime there will continue to be war and poverty. There will continue to be holiday sickness and death. That will continue. There will continue to be sadness about this. And it's okay. Part of our practice is to be willing to face the sadness. To be willing to penetrate sadness and accomplish it.

[38:02]

To be willing to look at the confusion in our own heart, in our own fear, and not be afraid of our own fear. To be willing to look at our anger and turn it so that we can use it to help. to see clearly and to try to make a difference. Even making a little difference is a huge difference. So this total awakening is right here, right now. This wisdom and virtue of the awakened ones is what is in front of us as we sit facing the wall or the floor or the chairs or whatever. Facing our breathing, facing our sensations, facing thoughts and feelings arising. Letting them go. Being willing to inhabit our life. So, the main news I have for you all this morning is actually, you're alive.

[39:03]

Your life is alive. Right now. Today. And that means that many things are possible. And the many things that are possible are just your ordinary eating cake, going to the bathroom, saying hello to a friend, seeing what is happening in front of you, finding ways, when you can, to express kindness and care. The world is alive. All of your friends and loved ones and even the people who give you a hard time, they're alive too. Everything is changing. Everything is alive. This world is extremely dynamic. And it may look, things may look one way, but actually many things are possible.

[40:11]

And we don't, we can't possibly understand the complexity of all of it. We don't have to figure anything out. Just pay attention. Be willing to face what's in front of you. So, happy awakening. Please enjoy your awakening. Please enjoy your breathing. Please enjoy your sitting and your walking and your standing. Please even enjoy your grief, your anger, and your confusion. Don't be caught up. Let them go. They'll probably come back. So are there any other answers or questions or comments? Give me a second.

[41:13]

Very helpful. I'm glad it was helpful for you. Thank you for thanking the Buddha, and Dogen, and Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche, and all of these folks who are here today and have been keeping this going for a while. I just wanted to share a thought with you. It's that you're going to a future coming where you turn it on yourself, no matter the reason. I have a thought that I don't even know what it is. It's just that for itself. Go out and open up. What's up with that?

[42:24]

Yeah, awareness. Awareness is very powerful. If enough people throughout the world could be aware of what's going on in the world. It changed in a very good way. I probably told a story about the Dalai Lama and the Queen Mother. I told that story. OK. I heard this from the Dalai Lama in Chicago, I don't know, now, maybe 8 or 10 years ago. But somebody asked him at that time, Is the world getting better or worse? Maybe it's gotten a lot worse since then. Maybe it's gotten better in some ways, too. Anyway, he was asked that question. And he told a story about going to visit the Queen Mother, who was dead in her 90s. And she lived to be over 100 and has since passed away. But this is Queen Elizabeth II's mother, who was born, I think, in 1900 and lived throughout that century and was a very interesting person.

[43:37]

had an advantage for it to see things in the world very clearly. Everybody liked her, as far as I know. Anyway, the Dalai Lama met with her. Just that is kind of, just to imagine those two people together is kind of fun for me. But he asked her, he said he asked that question to her. He wasn't telling the story. He asked her, you've seen this entire century, this entire 20th century. What do you think? Are things better or worse? And she said, oh, definitely better. And he said, how can you say that? Why is it the same? And she said, well, people now know about things that are going on all over the world. Maybe that was when there was trouble in Bosnia and Serbia. People don't know what to do, but they care. More people all over the world care about the suffering of people all over the world. And that makes a difference. That means it's better.

[44:39]

So just to know that what we want to legitimately have no electricity or have no running water for a while. Basically, obliterate it. Anyway, there's still people out there. We can care about that. That makes a difference. I don't know. the answers to the problems of the world, but I know that we can, that awareness makes a difference, that our awareness makes a difference. And as you were saying Nancy, just to be, to really look at your anger and bring awareness to it, bring more awareness to it, changes not only how you feel about it, but it changes situations between you and other people. So awareness does make a difference. So in that spirit, we have some announcements today.

[45:42]

Let's close first with the 447th Vows.

[45:45]

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