So I wanted to speak tonight about Japanese culture and engaged Buddhism. So first of all, of course, American Zen is not Japanese culture, and Buddhism and Zen is not limited to Japanese culture. But yet, I think there's something for us to learn from the way Japanese people have expressed and developed Zen, and that can hopefully help us, inspire us to find our own way to express Zen in our culture. and express the Buddhadharma in our culture. So this weekend we had Kaz Tanahashi here.

[01:05]

Some of you were here Saturday for his calligraphy seminar. And he also spoke yesterday morning, and we have now in the front hall one, this character for oneness. So, There's much to say about that, but I'll save that for another time. I just wanted to share a few of my own sense and my own experience from partaking of the classes seminar on Saturday, and several of you were here and can speak more and we'll have time for discussion. One of the things that impressed me most, and I've done a little bit of calligraphy before, but having this instruction was very helpful, but also just to feel, first of all, the way of holding it and how low down you hold it, but just how slowly you move the brush when you're doing Japanese or Chinese calligraphy.

[02:14]

Just the actual texture of the movements, so different from writing with a ballpoint pen, which I'm used to doing, and doing it that too fast. But just the sense of the aliveness of the brush, writing, even the simple, it's hard to write into one, but it's a different kind of experience, it's a kind of sensuous experience feel the slowness of moving the brush in the different ways and how much ink is on the brush, how that affects what's happening and how much pressure one's putting and how one lifts and turns the brush. And so that each brush stroke is actually very much alive and not something exactly under our control.

[03:16]

So this art, shodō, the way of the pen, or the way of the brush, in Japan is something that all Japanese people learn, just like all American grade school students learn penmanship or learn how to write their ABCs, this process of using this brush to write Chinese characters. So behind this way of calligraphy, just one of the many Japanese arts that have actually been very much influenced by Zen and Buddhism as a whole. It's an example of The Japanese religious genius. So in my course that I teach at Loyola in Japanese religion, I spend a lot of time talking about Japanese culture and Japanese art and the ways in which these different Japanese arts are expressions of spirit.

[04:37]

And in some ways were designed or developed as ways to find awareness and mindfulness in everyday life, in everyday activity. So, rather than in religious institutions, how... So this is maybe unique to Japan. This isn't that we should do it this way exactly, and it's not that we can figure out how we should do it either. How to do... I want to talk about this in the context of how we develop storefront zen in America, in Chicago. But the Japanese experience is so interesting that all of these different ways of art, they don't necessarily think of them as art, they think of them as ways, literally.

[05:43]

like the Tao, they're spiritual ways. So all of the various arts involved in the way of tea, which includes calligraphy, flower arranging, garden design, landscape painting, and also martial arts. These were all developed actually out of the culture and experience of what's called the Gozan, the five mountains. So this happened in the 13 and 1400s, just historically after Dogen, and really with Rinzai Zen. So in Kyoto, there was this system of organizing the Rinzai temples into five main headquarter temples, and they kind of shifted, so there were more than five, actually, of these large Rinzai Zen monastic complexes. During this same time, in the 1300s and 1400s, Soto Zen, Dogen's descendants, were developing temples and spreading practice in other ways through the countryside, through more rural Japan.

[07:02]

But these Rinzai monks in Kyoto, in the Gozan, there were some Soto, but mostly Rinzai monks, really were deeply involved in developing All of these ways, all of the ones I mentioned, the way of tea, which is the simplest possible thing to make a cup of, to prepare a cup of tea and serve it to someone and then to receive it as a guest, became this very, in some ways you could say very precious, but this very highly ritualized way of paying attention to something very simple. And the same with the calligraphy, and the same with, well, developing gardens, this idea of landscapes. So I've talked about Dogen and how he sees the world as alive, sees space as alive, sees this... opportunity to be in this world as a way in which we can see our interconnectedness, not just with each other, of course with each other and all other people, but also with the forms of nature.

[08:12]

So it was a very, it was very much part of our expression of Japanese appreciation for nature related to Shinto and the Japanese native tradition that's so centered in appreciation of nature. So there were great landscape paintings, paintings of mountains. I've talked about the mountains and waters of China and Japan. So this great art of landscape painting, all of this was developed in the Gozan monasteries in Kyoto. Also philosophy, they brought from China not just these art forms that then they developed in their own way, but even Confucian philosophy and thought. So it was really a cultural center. And there's an interesting question there about how does one practice?

[09:13]

So just to say, in the morning, Cos had us do three characters that we worked on. First, person. It's hard for me to do it backwards. But anyway, just two lines. And then he had us do heaven, which is two lines combined with person. He described it as pictographs in terms of a large head or some person with this great vastness over them. And then the earth. So this sense of even in studying calligraphy, this sense of relationship of heaven or the sky and the earth and people, this relationship of nature was very important. So this idea of landscape, again, relates to kind of Buddhist or Zen sense of how Buddha nature is part of everything and how

[10:24]

Buddha nature can encourage us in every, you know, earth and grass and trees, tiles and pebbles, Dogen talks about, as expressing something with us when we sit zazen. So this whole idea of landscape, mountains and waters, became very important in paintings, but also in garden design, and these rock gardens that became this very high art form. We saw some of them, Naomi and I, when we were in Kyoto in December, there's some pictures on the website in the article about that, about our trip that, so you can get some sense of these. And a lot of the pictures are from these Rinzai, five-mountain-type temples, Nanzen-ji and Daitoku-ji, Tenryu-ji, Heavenly Dragon Temple, and Kenin-ji, where Dogen practiced, actually, just before and after he went to China. So these Gozan monks were very, very involved in very high culture, the ultimate, you know, they were involved with the court, they were involved with, at that time, the shoguns who had taken power in that period.

[11:42]

They were even, some of them, involved in the various political conflicts of that time. but they very much were involved in this development of tea ceremony developed right in some of these Rinzai monasteries and these other art forms. So there's a question that I think relates to what I was talking about last week. I was talking last week about engaged Buddhism and Deborah's civil disobedience last week and how for some of us expressing the Dharma in our life outside, off the cushion includes social activism, but I have a feeling, reflecting on Kost being here and reflecting on these Japanese arts, that there's a wider sense of engaged Buddhism, as I was talking about last week also, that engaged Buddhism doesn't just mean social activism.

[12:44]

Some of us do that, but that's not what all Buddhists necessarily should be doing. But maybe there's no such thing as disengaged Buddhism, or maybe there's a time or a period maybe to do like what Eric is doing now, to be up in the mountains in Tassajara and take some intense time for just focusing on Zazen. So all of this, again, is the expression of Zazen. All of this is about this question of how do we bring Zazen heart and mind into our world, into our society, into our own culture. So for these Gozan monks, they were expressing their bodhisattva engagement their expression of their Zazen awareness through developing these cultural forms. And actually for Japanese people today, you know, I would say they were successful because for Japanese people today, they're not so much religious.

[13:46]

I mean, people would go to temples and visit temples, and some people said Zazen. But really, the way that Buddhism has developed and is alive still in Japanese culture is this kind of artistic expression of these different ways. Most women study flower arranging. Men do also, of course, ikebana. Most young boys study martial arts, and there's a way in which the martial arts also was an expression of, you know, like aikido and kendo, the way of the sword, were a kind of awareness practice. And very much garden design, calligraphy, very simple things. But there's an issue there. So reading a book about landscape painting in this period of Japan, and so

[14:46]

There's a question. Scholars have questioned the degree to which these literati monks, these very cultured monks, remained faithful to what they consider to be a rigorous, then, monastic tradition, often narrowly defined in terms of intensive meditation practice, and suggesting, in the words of one influential historian, that cultural, quote, cultural avocations and secular interests by the 15th century had weakened the religious spirits of the Five Mountain Monks. So these are actual monastic complexes that are in Kyoto, and in some ways maybe Dogen moved away so that he could experience more kind of practice in the mountains. And yet for these monks who were living in the city, and as we are, you know, an urban Zen center, there's something else going on. He continues, many five mountains and monks of the early Muromachi period, that's the 1300s, late 1200s, contradicted the views of these post-war historians, for they saw culture not as an avocation, but as a central part of their religious practice.

[16:01]

The monks saw these activities not as secular interests outside the pale of their religious calling, but as work at the very center of their lives as fully enlightened beings, engaging in the daily business of their roles as leaders of large monastic institutions. They saw their successful completion of these activities at a high level of religious insight as a challenge to their Buddhist training, to which they rose readily. So for them it was, in the culture they were in, well, okay, what do we do? How do we find a way to share this kind of awareness in this society, in this culture? given Japan, given the Japanese artistic sensibility. And in their writings, they openly caution each other about the allures and dangers of lives filled with activity in the mundane world of deluded, attached, and suffering beings, which in the 20th century we may term secular, but which they saw as a realm of suffering to which any enlightened person must in compassion respond.

[17:07]

So it's in this sense that I... you know, see what they did as related to precepts. Of course, the heart is zazen. This is the practice in which we find our own inner dignity, find our own way, each of us our own way, and together as a sangha, and together with all the other combinations of people, we are sanghas with How do we find our own way in Zazen to settle in to this kind of awareness? Then what do we do to share that? How do we express the awareness, the mindfulness, the kindness, the concern, the sense of connectedness and non-separation that we glimpse and taste and develop and unfold in our own body and mind, on our own cushion and chair, in this Sazen practice.

[18:15]

So I'm not suggesting that we should, you know, go and study, you know, I don't know, I mean, there's lots of wonderful art and there are artists who are part of our Sangha, but that was the way they worked in Japan and that may be part of what Americans and becomes, along with psychology and social activism and many other things. And it's not that we can't actually sort of think this through and figure it out. It's more like each of us and all of us together in taking on things that are parts of our lives, in our work, in our relationships, in our family life, in whatever way we express In whatever way we are people informed by Zazen, that is something that expresses this. I felt very happy this weekend to have Kaz here. He's an old friend. Part of this wonderful opportunity we have here is this is not just a zendo or meditation hall.

[19:24]

That's the focus of it, and that's very important. But this is also a temple. We have the opportunity now that we didn't have at the Cynical to provide a space in which we gently experiment with what are the forms of body and mind, of culture in the world, that in some way allow us to share something of this Sazan heart. And again, we have to come back again and again just to a sitting practice. That's the heart of it. But to have, as we did Saturday, four tables, five tables of people, trying to do these, or just doing these, brushing these Chinese characters. It got wilder in the afternoon. We got out some bigger brushes. We'll put some pictures of all of this up on the website. It felt wonderful to me.

[20:29]

And it didn't feel separate, even though we moved, except for the altar that was there, we kind of moved all the sabatons back and away. So it wasn't exactly a Zen do anymore, and yet there was something about this space that was being used in a way that was helpful to being aware. Again, the point I want to bring up is that in the context of our regular sitting practice, there are many ways for us to help share this in our world. just as the Gozan monks found a way to express this in the big city of Kyoto, the big city at that time. How do we support cultural expressions that are harmonious with the kind of awareness, the kind of mindfulness, the kind of caring and kindness that we

[21:37]

get a sense of when we take on regular practice and settling into our practice. So, you know, Mark Lester's idea of doing less is also, I think, very interesting. It's not that we have to try and do lots of things, but we can allow the context of our own lives together and our lives as Chicago Zen people to find ways to unfold and to explore this together. So, again, in the context of engaged Buddhism, you know, I was talking about this with Kaz, and he said, well, no, engaged Buddhism is social activism, social action in the world, and he's very much a peace activist. deeply appreciate them. But I think there's a subtler kind of engaged Buddhism that includes that.

[22:43]

That is, again, how do we engage our life? How do we appreciate our life? How do we, you know, which includes appreciating this wonderful tradition we have. So partly, so studying Japanese calligraphy or studying Japanese art or studying, you know, the writings of Dogen or great ancient masters is not that we become like them. It's that we become ourselves. that we become like us, what does that mean? And to see how these 14th century monks in Kyoto, in the middle of their monastic, you know, doing their monastic schedule and practice, were very concerned about how to express this in the world they lived in. It's kind of inspiring, and so we don't have to rush to figure out what is the American Zen cultural expression.

[23:44]

Of course, it's already happening in various ways, 50 years into American Zen practice, more or less. But how do we engage our world? How do we appreciate it? How do we share it? So I know that many of you have many interesting activities that you do. And this is not separate from our Sazen. and yet in our zazen we turn it all and allow it to kind of be digested. And then something can express itself. So, I welcome your comments or questions or reflections on this. If any of you have comments to share from the experience of Calligraphy Saturday, feel free, but anything else, we all have our connection to Zazen and our connection to Chicago 2009. Don.

[25:09]

Native parenting. This is it. There are different things about it, but if I focus it on my parenting more with a Buddhist philosophy or a Buddhist mind, being mindful of it, it certainly doesn't make it easier. But I think that there's a better connection. Yeah, I think one thing that would be interesting is if we had a context. Maybe we don't have enough space to have child care during Sunday program or something like that, but maybe we could have events for children, too.

[26:12]

I don't know. In some ways, of course, parenting is the most important engaged Buddhism. How do we grow a new generation of human beings? At least we might have, we've had some discussion and we can think about this again, some kind of Saturday seminar or something or Sunday afternoon program about practice and parenting. That's something that we might consider doing as we have a chance in our program. But aside from that, just the ongoing quality of, you know, Kevin has shared some things about this in the sangha talks he's given, which I've found very helpful, and maybe you will, you may decide to do that too, Don. For those of us who aren't parents, I think it's helpful and inspiring to hear about the struggles and joys of parenting, because it's something that, even for those of us who aren't parents, it's

[27:23]

very much part of us to, without children, none of this makes sense, actually. I'm also curious about the, to talk, and I've heard some of it now, with people with older children, you know, because I don't think it stops, you know, or is limited to the younger children, you know, because there are other people here that have older children, and I'm also curious to hear But you know, that's in some ways a very much an American Zen kind of idea, that families and relationships are a field of practice. So there was this prejudice in Buddhism, going back to India or whatever, of leaving home, of not having families. The monks were supposed to not have families.

[28:25]

And there was, over Buddhist history, there was a kind of sense of laypeople and householders, Vimalakirti and Laman Pag and so forth. But I think that's a big part of what has already transformed Buddhism in America, is this sense of our relationship life and our family life and parenting as a place where we are practicing, of course. Yes, Adam? I wonder if you could talk about the, speaking of this space and the way this end was laid out with the altar and how is there a, how that came to be? Is it connected to history or is it just pragmatism? Good, thank you for asking that. Yeah, I mean, part of, for me, what's,

[29:26]

is wonderful. I've studied all this tradition and experienced it in various places in America and in Japan. Anyway, this zendo is laid out in a very, very traditional way. It's not just kind of haphazard. there's a particular form, and actually it's fortuitous that we're on the north side of the street, and we enter from the south. That's very traditional also. And for the Buddha to be in the north-facing south is very traditional. So I think at the Cynical, we had the Buddha on a wall against a wall, but actually this is this way of having the altar sort of in the center, in the middle of the room is actually the traditional way that meditation hall was laid out and that the monks halls were laid out in going back to China, but also the direction. So, you know, and then having the back part in the north, this was, this is actually extremely traditional.

[30:33]

And that's, that just, it just happened that way. But, Some of you have been to Tassajara or Green Gulch, Zendo or San Francisco Zen Center, you come in from the sides, but still there's this Buddha altar in the center. There is a way in which the meditation hall is arranged. Maybe before I get to that though, there's actually in larger monastic complexes, like not just a smaller temple like this, but in the places I'm talking about Kyoto, these monastic complexes, the way the buildings are laid out is very particular too, and it's shaped sort of like a human body. So there's one of the arms is the monk's hall, and on the other side is the kitchen administrator's office. The head is like the Dharma hall, Buddha hall, then the Dharma hall, and then, anyway, and there's a mountain gate in the south,

[31:35]

So in some ways the meditation hall is a little bit based on that too.

[31:40]

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