Good morning. Seems like maybe people heard that I was giving the talk so everybody looked down. No, this is the time to get out of town. Mountains and rivers and the summer and enjoy this season while So, yeah, actually, I think it was two weeks ago or three weeks ago when I gave the talk, I spoke about some of my experience in Rome at a Buddhist-Catholic dialogue that I attended. And in the context of that talk, I read a short passage from Dogen. And a couple of people came up to me afterwards and asked about that. And it was on the matter of giving.

[01:04]

It was from the Bodhisattva's Four Embracing Dharmas, Bodhisattva Shishobho. Part of the song is a way on mountains and rivers, seshin, and this first line is really applicable. It says, give flowers blooming on the distant mountains to the Tathagata. So that's what they did. They just all went out so they could give the flowers to everybody, to all the Buddhas. Carol, could you turn it down just a little bit? There's a little bit of feedback. Thank you. How's that? Is that any better? Yeah. So give flowers blooming on the distant mountains to the Tathagata. Offer treasures accumulated in our past lives to living beings. We offer ourselves to ourselves and we offer others to others.

[02:08]

So I wanted to speak to this notion of what Suzuki Roshi calls Dhanaprajna Paramita, one of the six Paramitas, the first of the six Paramitas, the Bodhisattva practices, practices that Bodhisattvas enact when they have awakened and practices by which we become awakened. And Suzuki Roshi speaks to this very beautifully. I haven't read this in quite a while. In a chapter that's in my beginner's mind called God-Giving, which seems perhaps also appropriate in this context that I've been thinking about of Buddhist-Christian dialogue.

[03:15]

So he says every existence in nature, every existence in the human world, every cultural work that we create is something which was given or is being given to us, relatively speaking. So often what we experience in our lives is this is the nature of Dukkha, is we experience a sense that something is lacking or something is missing. And what he's trying to awaken us to, and Dogen is also, is that everything that we have has been given to us our life, our clothing, our shelter, and it's constantly being given, it's unfolding moment by moment.

[04:35]

But then he frames the other side of it. He says, but as everything is originally one, We are in actuality giving out everything. Moment by moment we are creating something and this is the joy of our life. It's joy when we recognize that we are completely in this circle of giving. that we are being given all that we have and all that we are, and we are being given it and we have been given it, and that we are also constantly giving. We have that capacity. We have the capacity to be in this entire

[05:39]

circle of existence to give and to receive. But this I which is creating and always giving out something is not the small I, it is the big I, the big self. Something, even though you do not realize the oneness of this big I with everything, When you give something you feel good because at that time you feel at one with what you are giving. This is why it feels better to give than to take. So then he talks about the context of Dana as one of the Paramitas. I'll let him explain and then I want to come back to this circle of giving and taking.

[06:43]

We have a saying, dana prajna paramita. Dana means to give, prajna is wisdom, and paramita means to cross over or to reach the other shore. Our life can be seen as a crossing of a river. The goal of our life's effort is to reach the other shore, nirvana. Prajnaparamita, the true wisdom of life, is that in each step of the way, the other shore is actually reached. This is one of the radical aspects of Suzuki Roshi's teaching because he was really in the stream of Mahayana teaching.

[07:46]

But in earlier Buddhism, there was a strong sense that we are standing on this shore and the objective of practice was to get to that other shore. And the unpacking of that in Mahayana Buddhism as it evolved was, we're already on that other shore if only we can see it. And that is, so the Paramitas, there's six Paramitas. In some systems there's 10. Dana Paramita, Generosity or giving. Sila, ethics or morality.

[08:49]

Kshanti, patience, which is one I've talked about and I think of frequently because I'm an impatient person. And so that's practice I need to do. Virya, effort. uh which goes along it's paired with patience very closely uh jhana which is uh the same word it's jhana broadly speaking is meditation and it's it's the word from which zen derives so jhana in uh sanskrit and then that got uh in Chinese that came over to Chinese as Chang, and from Chinese to Japanese, we have the word Zen. And then the sixth paramita is Prajnaparamita, wisdom.

[09:51]

But in actuality, wisdom is the key that unlocks all these paramitas, that make them practices that are awakened practices and awakening practices, which is why Suzuki Roshi expresses it as a dana, prajna paramita. Each of these paramitas, if not thoroughly saturated in prajna, run the risk of being dualistic. So Dhana, with that prajna, can be charity or just do-gooding. Doing good? I don't know. But dualistic. It's framed in the context of

[10:58]

me and you. Whereas in the context of when it's infused or suffused with prajna, it's us. It's that we're all in this together. So dana paramita, to reach the other shore with each step of the crossing, is The true is the way of true living. But I'd like to come back to this giving and receiving. I've spoken of this before. And I often come back to a story that that I read in a book called The Gift by Lewis Hyde.

[12:02]

It's a wonderful book about the spiritual practice of giving, but also looking at it through an anthropological lens and through a psychological lens. And in that, there's two passages I want to read you. The first one is he describes having dinner in a restaurant in rural France. He says the patrons sit at a long communal table and each finds before his or her plate a modest bottle of wine. Before the meal begins, a person will pour the wine not into his own glass, but into the glass of his neighbor.

[13:05]

And his neighbor will return the gesture, filling the first man's empty glass. I'm looking at Paul, is that the way you did it in Spain? Was there wine? Anyway, filling the first man's empty glass. In an economic sense, nothing has happened. In other words, in an economic sense, I can pour my wine, you can pour your wine. There's no quantitative difference in that, at least in terms of wine. But society has appeared where there was none before. So to do that is to bring forth the relational dimension of giving and receiving, which is deeply embedded in Japanese culture.

[14:17]

You always pour tea for the person across from you when you allow your teacup to be poured into. So this gift and giving is actualized as it remains in circulation. We see this in the Buddhist tradition. If you go to Southeast Asia, monks and nuns will go on alms round every morning, early morning, It's quite wonderful. People will come out of their houses and they'll have food and they'll set up a little table and the monks line up and they will ladle some of the food into each bowl. And then they move from house to house.

[15:20]

So this bowl that they carry is emptiness. And yet, this emptiness is filled so that the monk or nun can live. And once they've eaten, then the food is transformed into action. And that action unfolds to nourish all beings with dharma. And so the circle continues. It's giving and receiving. There's a really beautiful passage from Lewis Hyde where he talks about this motion. He says, between the time a gift comes to us and the time we pass it along,

[16:25]

And in one form or another, whether it's transformed or not, we give it on. Between the time a gift comes to us and the time we pass it along, we suffer gratitude. It's a really, it's an interesting expression. I'm curious to know what you think about it when we get to discussion. We suffer gratitude. So gratitude arises. And passing along the gift is the act of gratitude that completes the labor. So I think this is very, this is deeply embedded in our Buddhist tradition. It's embedded in the Zen tradition. although we may not be so completely aware of it.

[17:31]

But I just, in this journey to Rome, I spent a lot of time with the Buddhists from the Japanese tradition that were there were all from the, aside from me, all from the Shin Buddhist tradition. from Jodo Shinshu Church. I don't know if you're familiar with that. There's two temples quite close. One in Oregon, I think, and then one up on, uh-huh, Bancroft? I'm not sure. Durant. And those are branches of the largest, kind of largest Buddhist sect in Japan. And their practice is chanting the name of Amida Buddha.

[18:37]

And the meaning of this chanting is quite complex. It's gratitude. It's refuge. It's surrender. and it's offering. It's any and all of those. But it's recognizing that one is small and the Buddha's universe is vast. So this is what Suzuki Roshi is speaking of as the big I. And also, I think in their chanting, We have this embedded in ours if we listen. If we listen to our, in our services, we have, may the merit of this practice pervade everywhere. We're making a request.

[19:39]

And I was speaking to someone here a couple of days ago, and We're talking about his practice here and in other settings. And he was talking about how he's being pushed to ask for help. So to be willing, to ask for help. I think this is an element of what we see in this Shin Buddhist tradition. And when we're asking for the merit to pervade all existence, that existence includes us. So we're asking for help at the same time as the other side needs to be present, which is

[20:43]

we are offering ourselves. So this comes in that fascicle of Dogas where we offer ourselves to ourselves and we offer others to others. So we're asking Can I be myself? Can I be my true self, my better self, my big self? And the example of our practice, and I think all of us have had moments of experiencing this, is just gratitude for being here, looking around, noticing people who are practicing with great sincerity, and with commitment, and their commitment, commitments of our teachers, of our sisters and brothers, encourages us.

[21:52]

So their offering of themselves to themselves allows us, in some inexpressible way, to be ourselves. So in this chapter, Suzuki brings it home. Suzuki Roshi brings it home to our sitting, which is, he almost invariably does this. When we sit in the cross-legged posture, we resume our fundamental activity of creativity. And then it's interesting, he said, this is a very subtle chapter, I really advise you to read it. He says, there are perhaps three kinds of creation.

[22:56]

All of this is in the context of giving. It's also in the context of receiving. The first, The first form of creation is to be aware of ourselves after we finish zazen. So when we sit, he says, when we sit, we are nothing. We do not even realize what we are. We just sit. But when we stand up, we are there. That is the first step of creation. So to stand up is to resume our conscious life, to prepare to resume our activities, our everyday activities, and to step out of that formless place of zazen, which is kind of the

[24:04]

It's the place where creativity itself takes shape. It's allowing, when we take that posture, we're allowing ourselves to be worked upon, and we're allowing ourselves to be shaped, and we're also shaping. But once we step forward, once we set our feet on the ground again and stand up, then we are resuming a life where ego plays a part. And there's nothing wrong with that. He says, so that's the first step in creation. When you are there, everything else is there. Everything is created all at once. When we merge from nothing, in other words, When we emerge from that place of zazen, when everything emerges from nothing, we see it all as a fresh, new creation.

[25:17]

So everything is new again. And I'm sure many of us have had this experience. We begin again, which is actually the intimate process of of zazen beginning again and again starting over and over we slip away into this emptiness and then we have a thought a sensation comes up in our body or we have a thought about you know what's for lunch or what am i going to do later today and then we mindfully turn ourselves back into that openness. We don't follow that thought. So we emerge from nothing and we see it all as a fresh new creation. The second kind of creation is when you act or produce something like food or tea.

[26:26]

So this is, maybe this is the creation, the act of sustenance. It's like once we stand up, then we have to figure out, well, what do we need in order to continue? Just on the most basic level. So we need some food. We may need a drink. If it's hot out, if it's very warm, we need to take off some clothes. If it's cold, we need to put on some clothes. So that's the second kind of creation. The third kind of creation is to create something within yourself, such as education or culture or art or some system for your society. So this is where we turn we turn to the relational dimension of existence.

[27:28]

And it means relating to ourselves. It also means relating to others in our community and in our world. So to create some system for your society, that's part of what we are here to do. Not to melt into the bliss of Zazen, not to stand up and say, here I am, not just to feed myself and go to the bathroom, but also to benefit all beings, which is, of course, an act of giving. He says, so there are three kinds of creation, but if you forget the first, the most important one, the other two, will be like children who have lost their parents.

[28:36]

Their creation will mean nothing. So we have to recognize that we are here. And the way we recognize that we are here is not taking it for granted. It's emerging fresh. from our practice over and over again. Usually everybody forgets about Zazen. Everyone forgets about God. They work very hard in the second and third kind of creation, but God does not help the activity. This is very interesting. How is it possible for him to help when he does not realize who he is? This is getting perilously close to theology.

[29:38]

That's why we have so many problems in this world. When we forget the fundamental source of our creating, we are like children who do not know what to do when they lose their parents. That's interesting. He ends that paragraph before with that notion of losing their parents and then he ends this one. If you understand Dāna, Prajnaparamita, you will understand how it is that we create so many problems for ourselves. And then he says, of course, to live is to create a problem. It's to create problems. If we did not appear in this world, our parents would have no difficulty with us. Just by appearing, we create problems for them. This is all right. Everything creates some problems.

[30:44]

But usually people think that when they die, everything is over, the problems disappear. But your death may create problems too. This is a sideline I was thinking, I was reading something in the last week. In classical Buddhism, the objective is to leave the world. leave the wheel rather, not to be reborn. And the Bodhisattva ideal in Mahayana Buddhism is to remain in this cycle of rebirth until everybody is awake. But somebody was pointing out in what I was reading that, well, the idea of classical Buddhism and the idea of atheism, we're very close.

[31:50]

You know, if you're an atheist, you believe when you're dead, you're dead. It's over. So, good, you've solved the problem, you've left the wheel. I can see this really resonates with you. But, you know, our practice is, it's shaped towards helping everyone be free. So whether there is a, whether there is life after life, whether there is nothing after life, no one has, convincingly resolve this question yet. I think someone once asked Sojin Roshi about rebirth and your answer was, well, I don't remember.

[33:02]

So maybe so, maybe not, but but it's really a rebirth here, each moment, how we live, what we give to those around us and what we are grateful to receive. When I give Zazen instruction, When I talk about the nature of mind in zazen, usually what I say is, that mind is receptive.

[34:10]

Receptive and not active. So, you're looking, but you're not seeing. I'm sorry, you're seeing, but you're not looking. You're hearing, but you're not listening. Thoughts arise because we've got this thought-secreting organ, presumably in our head, and we recognize them, we're receptive to them, but we don't then take them and move on to create a story. And so this total receptivity, which is just, to me, it's the ground for creativity. So if I'm thinking about something, I'm quite willing to sit down, cross-legged, and face the wall, and not think about it as the most

[35:23]

useful way that I can allow, that I can allow things, that allow creativity to emerge. And I don't worry about it because I know that I will, presumably anyway, take that first step of creativity at when the bell rings, I will stand up. And when that happens, some other process can take place that is working with all that has been cooking along quietly, bubbling slowly under the surface. So I think I'd like to close with some words by Dogen. Just to remind us that this is both very easy, it's the easiest and most natural thing to sit down, and also that we're hard-headed and so we need to sit down.

[36:49]

So Dogen says, the mind of a sentient being is hard to change. That's like the duh factor. We begin to transform the minds of sentient beings by offering them material things. And so we resolve to transform them until they all attain the way. From the beginning, we should always practice offering. And then he closes his paragraph, and this is where I'm going to stop. But there are times when our mind turns things, and there is giving in which things turn our mind. So we have a little time left for questions, comments.

[37:52]

Peter. The suffering of gravity. It seemed to occur to many, I've never been to Japan, but I've heard much about the incredible sensitivity to this problem, which in some ways is sometimes manifested as people having drawers full of wrapped gifts in their house at the ready, because their little sense of having to bear that gratitude is, hides an awareness of that relational aspect So be ready to give at any moment. It's a good question.

[38:54]

Very interesting. It is. I think that the pivot for me is on that word suffer, which I think was very wonderfully chosen because it has an envelope of implication for us But at root, I think the meaning, if I'm remembering my Latin, if somebody can correct me, is it means to allow. Right? Yes. But to use it, there's also some sense. Some little children. Right. Allow the little children to come. So it's an archaic meaning, and then the meaning that we give it of not being happy. Right, right. Now I've been reading the Gospels lately, and I'm reading another translation.

[39:59]

It's the King James Version that says, Suffer for little children. And this version has stripped all the magic out of the language, but it's a lot easier to understand. Do you have, is there something you would say in response to what Peter was... I don't understand what Peter meant. Well, when I heard that word suffer, suffered with gratitude, it, you know, it sort of rings a bell in the sense that one receives something and one immediately simply have that sense without knowing how to respond. And you may have to suffer or allow yourself to respond at the time and place when, you know, there's a sense of... I can hold the sense of, like, I'm in a relationship with you.

[41:09]

How do I respond without knowing what to do? My response to what you said? would be, everything is an offering. Like a man in a monk suit, a priest in a Buddhist suit, delights in giving up. That's your whole practice, is to give up and to offer yourself. So everything, when you think about it that way, you know exactly what to do. I think in that cultural setting that Peter is speaking about, to me there's something, there's a slightly, somewhat obsessive sense of obligation. So you have a closet full of already wrapped gifts because you know when somebody gives you something, you're going to be obligated to give something back, which does not contradict the relational dimension, but it's not necessarily dana paramita, dana prajnaparamita.

[42:27]

It's transactional, yes. what you've just suggested is the experience of indebtedness. So when one receives something, one experiences a sense of debt, of owing. So the immediate small I is going to want to immediately return the debt in the small gift. so that the two small I's do not meet, so that the exchange is complete, and then one is no longer endemic. But the big I is going to experience the actual gift that was received. And that actual gift is going to become transformed internally somehow. the gift of gratitude elsewhere, will know that when and to whom, the when will arise and the to whom will arise naturally.

[43:41]

But in the interim, the person has to suffer, to suffer the indebtedness of the gratitude. Yeah, I think that's really good. This is where also the other paramitas fit in because what it calls for in many ways is the paramita of patience. You have to wait for that gift to cook inside you and transform. And this is what we're doing. I've been sitting down every day. And so you have to, there may be some suffering because you have to, you may have to endure something, but you're doing it for the sake of letting it ripen. Oh, there's a wonderful expression, I want to read you this. I came across it because I was looking at Amita, but letting it ripen and then be passed on as an appropriate response.

[44:45]

A wonderful expression. Maybe this is the place to end. I was reading about Shin Buddhism and came across, the riper the rice, the lower it bows its head. Thank you very much.

[45:10]

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