Good evening, everyone, and welcome. For new people, I'm Taigen Leighton, the teacher here at Ancient Dragons Zen Gate. And I want to talk tonight about teaching about the Bodhisattva's four integrative methods, or four methods of guidance. from Ehei Dogen, the 13th century founder of this branch of Zen, Soto Zen. So Zen is a branch of Bodhisattva teaching of universal liberation. So we sit and practice for the awakening of all beings. The chant we just did to Kanze on the Bodhisattva of compassion, the Bodhisattva who hears the cries of all beings, that's what her name means, who listens to the sounds and cries of all beings, is one of the great Bodhisattvas, great Bodhisattva figures.

[01:10]

But the practice we do is to practice together with all beings. So we practice for ourself, and we practice for all beings, and there's really no difference. This teaching from Dogen goes back to many older sutras, but this way of putting it is from one of Dogen's teachings. And so he talks about four, methods of guidance, methods of ways of practicing in the world, and these come out of this practice of zazen we've been doing, of sitting upright, and of the regular practice of that. And I want to focus on two of them tonight, but I'll mention all four. First is the practice of generosity or giving. which is talked about in various, well, there are various ways of talking about bodhisattva practice and various lists of practices, transcendent practices, precepts.

[02:14]

This is one way of talking about bodhisattva practices. So the four that he talks about in this essay from Shobo Genzo are giving, or generosity, kind speech, beneficial action, and cooperation or identity action. I want to talk about, particularly tonight, about kind speech and beneficial action. But I'll say a little bit about what he says about generosity, and generosity as a whole and giving as a whole. lifetime study and practice. But he talks about it in an interesting way. He says, to offer flowers from distant mountains to a Buddha to give away treasures from one's past life to living beings. This is the practice. This is the practice of generosity in terms of teaching as well as in terms of things. In each are inherent virtues involved in giving.

[03:18]

So we don't usually think of giving in terms of giving away the treasures from our past life. But anyway, Dogen talks about it this way. We don't usually think of giving as offering flowers from distant mountains or offering you know, the waves on Lake Michigan to Buddha. But anyway, we can think about giving in many different ways, as well, of course, as basically just giving gifts. But how do we give ourselves to all beings and to Buddha? He also says there is a principle that even if it is not one's own thing, that does not hinder giving. So it's not about owning something that we give. It doesn't matter how insignificant the thing is. The principle is that the effort must be genuine. So what is our intention? What is our effort in giving? When one leaves the way to the way, one attains the way.

[04:19]

When attaining the way, the way is necessarily being left to the way. So this is one of those wonderful statements from Dogen, to just leave the way, the Tao, to the Tao. and he goes on about, the section on generosity is the longest one amongst these four. He says many interesting things. What is difficult to transform is the mind of living beings. this giving is to intend to transform the mind of living beings. So we don't give just for the sake of giving. We give as a way of transforming our own minds and transforming the minds of those to whom we give and who see our gifts. To transform these minds even as far as attaining awakening. So, But he says at the beginning, it's just by giving.

[05:23]

So this is a little bit about what he says about generosity. But I want to talk mostly about kind speech and beneficial action as practices of bodhisattvas. And so this applies. to how we express all of these practices of, all of these bodhisattva practices, all of these practices of awakening for the benefit of all beings, which includes us, of course. These are ways of expressing, when we get up from our formal meditation practice, expressing something that we get some taste of, when we do this practice of just sitting upright, when we do it regularly, and I encourage doing it this regularly, several times a week, if not every day, at least a little bit, just sitting as we've been doing, facing the wall, facing ourselves,

[06:30]

apart from our idea of who we are, just to be present and upright and relax into that. We have a chance to experience what's happening on your seat here tonight. And of course, there's a certain amount of discomfort when we start. So for those of you who are new to the practice, I encourage coming to our Sunday morning orientation to find your seat, to find a way to be steady and upright. And it takes a while, but just to be settled and somewhat relaxed, and even if it's uncomfortable to sit still and upright for 30 minutes or 40 minutes, just to experience what it's like to be present. and to relax into that. And when you sit at home, you can sit 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 10 minutes, but just doing this practice regularly, then we glimpse something deep.

[07:42]

And all of these practices are ways that we can express it in our everyday activity, share it with others, share it with ourselves. So to give, as he says, to give flowers from a distant mountain, to give the waves from the middle of Lake Michigan to all beings, are ways of giving to ourselves too. So kind speech is a traditional practice. And it's maybe very relevant, especially now when there is in our culture, some encouragement of hate speech. How do we practice kind speech? And it's kind of subtle. So I'll read a little bit about what Dogen says about it, but also talk about it myself, and we can talk about it a little bit. Kind speech means that in looking upon living beings, one should first arouse a mind of kindness and love, and should utter caring, kind words.

[08:48]

It is the absence of harsh speech. In ordinary social convention, there is the etiquette, the manners of asking if someone is well or not. So just to ask if, you know, when we meet someone or when we see someone we haven't seen in a while, just to ask how they're doing, ask if they're well. In Buddhism, there's the expression, take care, and the ethical conduct of asking how someone is. To speak with the thought in one's heart of kindly minding living beings as one would a baby is kind speech. How do we take care of other beings as babies, as precious beings that we want to take care of? He says, those with virtue one should praise, those without virtue one should pity. or feel bad, feel sorry for. He says, once one has taken to kind speech, one will gradually increase kind speech.

[09:51]

As long as one is alive now, one should gladly speak kindly. Then one will never regress lifetime after lifetime. Conquering of enemies, the harmonization of rulers is based on kind speech. And then he says this interesting thing, to hear kind speech to one's face gladdens the countenance and pleases the heart. So to say kind things to someone makes them feel good. But beyond that, hearing kind speech indirectly makes a deep impression on the mind. If you hear that somebody said something kind about you when you weren't there, You know, that makes you feel good. This isn't special or mystical or anything. Michael, people said how wonderful it was that you took care of Wrenching Screams last week.

[10:58]

They appreciated it. They spoke kindly of you. So maybe Michael feels good about that. I hope so. But it's also said that if you speak kindly about someone and they don't even know about it, that it helps them. Now, I don't know how that works, but it's said that this is true, that if you say kind words about someone and they don't even know that you said kind words about them, that somehow it's helpful to them. So this kind speech is kind of mysterious. It's easy to say, Nat, we have a precept about not speaking of the faults of others. This doesn't mean we can't talk about difficult situations and situations where someone is causing difficulties or creating harm. But how do we, even there, not speak about it in terms of name-calling and hatred and blame? How do we speak about it in a way that's not about that, that's

[12:04]

Well, he says you should know that kind speech comes from a kind heart and a kind heart has goodwill as its seed. How do we find our own goodwill? So our precept about anger. is that a disciple of Buddha does not harbor ill will. Of course, we sometimes feel angry about situations in the world, or when somebody says something that's not kind to us or about something. But how do we not turn that into ill will, into grudge or resentment? How do we speak from goodwill? He says, one should learn that kind speech has the power to turn the heavens It is not just praising the good or praising the able. So this is interesting, you know, this is an interesting practice, kind speech, to speak in a positive way. It's subtle actually. How do you, you know, I mean, and it's the opposite of hate speech where you can just, say hateful, spiteful things about some person or some group of people.

[13:13]

How do you speak even about problems in the most positive way, in the most kind way, from goodwill, from our best hopes for the situation? This is something that we need now in a context where ill will is sometimes encouraged. This doesn't mean being Pollyannish or just ignoring difficulties, but how do we bring our kindest, best, will to how we talk about things and how we talk about somebody else. Even somebody who is having a hard time or is maybe causing difficulties.

[14:13]

If we have a friend or a family member who's acting in a way that's difficult. I won't talk about political figures and that's a whole different level of this. But just somebody you know who's acting in a way that's a little challenging. How do you think about them in a kind way? It doesn't ignore the difficulty, but how do you give your kind, you know, think in the most positive way about how you can be helpful to them? This applies to ourselves too. We all, you know, part of what's difficult about doing this practice is we see our own difficult habits, our own stuff, our own grasping, our own anger and confusion and fear. How can we speak to ourselves kindly about the difficulties we see in ourselves? This kind speech, you know, it also goes to kind thoughts.

[15:15]

How do we talk to ourselves about ourselves in a way that's encouraging? It doesn't mean ignoring difficulties. So this kind speech is deep and subtle. And again, this... I've seen it in Buddhist writings, but also I think I've heard that They've done tests that show that when someone speaks kindly about someone who doesn't even hear these words, it has a positive effect on them. So to say something nice about someone, something positive about someone, to see people's positive qualities encourages that. So that's the second one. The third one is beneficial action. So what Dogen says is beneficial action means to employ skills beneficial to living beings, high and low.

[16:22]

For example, one watches over the road far and near, working out means to benefit others. One should pity even an exhausted turtle and take care of an ailing sparrow, and there are besides examples of that from Chinese history and literature. When one has seen an exhausted turtle or an ailing sparrow, one doesn't want their thanks. One is simply moved to helpful action. So this isn't about just people. How do we take care of animals that are having a hard time? How do we take care of anything in our environment that's having a hard time? Fools think that when benefit to others is put first, one's own benefit will be reduced. It's not so, Dogen says. Beneficial action is one principle. It is universally benefiting self and others. This is a really important idea. Beneficial action, there's this idea of there's a limited amount of benefit in the world, limited resources.

[17:30]

Well, there are limited resources, but our beneficial action when we benefit others, it benefits ourselves too. this idea may seem strange to some people. We think we have to do unto others before they do unto us or something like that. But actually, when we're acting beneficially for others, this kind of supports everyone. So this idea of beneficial action is not about others as opposed to self. How do we act beneficially? He says, one should help equally those who are unfriendly and those who are friendly. It is to benefit self and others alike. If one acquires this heart, even in the plants and trees, wind and water, the principle of beneficial action, being inherently non-regressive will indeed be beneficially acted out.

[18:36]

So, of course, we know this from a modern environmental perspective. If we help the world around us, it supports us. And from the perspective of interconnectedness and realizing that we all are connected, that we're not separate, we can see that acting to benefit beings is supportive to everyone. How do we act in a way that's beneficial? As opposed to trying to just get something for myself. The fourth one of the four, which I'm going to talk about more on our sitting Sunday, is called cooperation or identity action. It means non-opposition to see self and other as not separate. So that relates to this beneficial action. So I'll say a little bit about it tonight.

[19:41]

And this actually is sort of the foundation of all four of them in a way. that think that that things are not separate that he says a human Buddha Buddha being the same as a human that the human world is is connected to ever to that mountains and humans are connected that water and so he talked he talks about the ocean not refusing water therefore it becomes immense how do we accept everything as part of ourselves and vice versa. How do we see that we're not separate? But tonight I want to focus on this idea of kind speech as a practical matter when we speak kindly about someone.

[20:47]

about each other. It creates a field of energy that encourages kindness, that encourages support. And this is not maybe our usual way of thinking in our culture, but it's interesting. We could try it out. And then this idea of beneficial action. How do we act? Part of the idea of the bodhisattva is naturally acting to be helpful. And one of the basic precepts is just to be helpful rather than harmful. How do we help? And that help is not about helping some people and hurting others or helping some group or helping myself as opposed to others. We're all connected. So these are actual practices. to practice kind speech, to practice beneficial action.

[21:52]

So, maybe I'll just leave it there and open it up and see if people have comments about this, or responses to these practices of bodhisattvas, or if you can think of examples, or if you, If you don't think they make sense, if you want to challenge them, if you think it's better to speak, to speak, to practice nasty speech, you know. Anyway, comments, questions, responses, please feel free. Yes, Sam. of faith versus rationality and beneficial action.

[23:02]

Good. A situation that was interesting was I had a friend in Atlanta reach out to someone who was potentially homeless one night in the city and gave them a place to stay. Yeah, it's a good case, yeah. This is a good example of how we think about how do we be kind and make some effort to help someone and then, yeah, this happens.

[24:07]

We have negative repercussions. Sometimes they can be very serious. Does anyone have any thoughts or reflections on that situation, that case that Sam has offered? Yeah, I mean, I think in terms of providing homeless people with rationalities, personally, in terms of supplying resources and operations to the shelter, Yeah, it's a real problem. It's a problem here in Northside Chicago. I live on Lawrence, near Lawrence Avenue, and there's, under the Lawrence and Wilson bridges on Lakeshore now, there have been 10 cities, and they're being evicted this week, today. They're making repairs or changes on the bridge.

[25:07]

I had the occasion to drive by and felt bad and I didn't have a chance to stop. I wonder if there's something we can do. I couldn't invite all those people into my apartment. I'm thinking about them and I saw that they're going to be sent to some distant shelter and one of the reports was that some of them have pets and they're not allowed to take the pets. Anyway, this is a good practical question. How do we help people who need help in that way? And sometimes we can try and help and have consequences. I don't know what was stolen from your friend, how bad, how serious a repercussion was. Yeah, well we live in a difficult world.

[26:19]

That's clear. So how do we speak kindly of So what you just did is to speak kindly of the person who stole something from your friend, that they didn't act maliciously. We can understand the difficulties of people. It doesn't mean we necessarily should invite everyone into our home. We have to find a balance. Yes. It's man-made, it's man-made I don't know about that story.

[27:45]

There's a story about a famous Zen poet monk in the Soto tradition, Ryokan, who was, he just had a little hut and was pretty run down, but a thief came in the night, couldn't All he could take was his blanket. There wasn't much there. And Rilkhan afterwards looked up at the full moon and said, I wish I could have given him the moon. That's a different story, though. So, yeah, I think balance is a good word. How do we... And I'm sorry, I don't know your name. I don't disagree with you, you know, maybe you don't invite the person into your house, but you try and offer other ways of helping them, to direct them to a shelter.

[28:46]

There's not one right response. part of skillful means, which is a practice that Kanzeon, who we chanted to, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, talks about skillful means, and it depends on the situation. It depends on your responsibilities. It depends on what you can do. This is not easy. How do we practice beneficial action? We don't always know what that is. Yes, Jen. Yeah, I think that may be the most beneficial action one can do with someone who's asking for panhandling or asking for money is to just stop and speak kindly with them and actually have a conversation.

[30:27]

And they said, where's the coffee? Yes, Laura. At one point, the concern with easier situations Good. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah, grocery store cashier speaking, you know, saying hello and actually engaging.

[32:07]

being kind, for example. Yes. Yeah.

[33:13]

Just to say hello and really mean it to you. Jeff. And the clerk just told her what was bothering her and what had happened to her. And it was very similar to my friend's home story about being married to an alcoholic and so on and so on. that even if the person doesn't deserve it, because they crammed with you.

[34:26]

That's real kind speech, to really ask how, that's asking how someone is, and really meaning it, and allowing them to tell their story, or to express their unhappiness, yeah. And these are all ways of exploring our connection, our deep connection. Yes, hi. This makes me think about this morning, actually. I was with my mom, and I think what's really difficult is when someone is nasty towards you. You're not used to that, or you don't want to react in a good way, but because they're so hurtful or unkind, you lash out sometimes.

[35:30]

This morning, my mom was yelling at me about something, and I lashed out at her, and instantaneously, It's not me. And I catch myself doing that often. And I think we deal with people in our lives that sometimes suck energy out and tiredness out. And I have to say, I'm not saying badly about my mom, but she's definitely one of those people where I'm always giving kindness, kindness, kindness, and I feel like So, but then at the end of the day, I mean, I'd rather be kind and see a difference in her. Like, from this morning to the end of the day, she helped me move in all my stuff in my apartment. And she was just, and I just, we were just kind to each other.

[36:34]

And, I mean, I just think of you, you know, it's the same. Kill it with kindness. And then if you do something kind, you feel good and maybe make a change in the person. Yeah, thank you. What you just said, I want to pick up on part of it, that really one way to talk about all of this is energy. And there are people who kind of sap our energy, and there are people who help us, who raise our energy. But also, we can take responsibility for that. So the example you gave, where you just decided to be positive in your energy, even though it was difficult with your mom. That's another way of talking about these four bodhisattva methods. How do we support positive energy? Through giving, through kind speech, through beneficial action, through seeing how we're the same.

[37:41]

So I think that's a good way of thinking about all of this. Thank you for that. Thank you. That's helpful. So it's time to stop now. But thank you all very much for your comments.

[37:53]

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