On behalf of the Houston Zen community, I'd like to send a welcome to this public talk by Tenshin Rev. Anderson entitled, Continuity and Liberation. And I had a half a page notes here, which I was spontaneous to not read to you. But I decided since I see a lot of unfamiliar faces that perhaps I should go ahead and give a brief introduction. about Rev. He has been coming to Houston and participating as a teacher for the Houston Zen community since 1995. I myself had the great good fortune of meeting him that year, and I can tell you that the meeting with him was a pivotal point in my Zen experience in my life, and as Rev comes back every year, it continues to be for me. I can tell you that Rhett moved from Minnesota in 1967 to San Francisco to study with the great Soto Zen master, Shigeru Suzuki, and he became his disciple and was ordained by Suzuki Roshi.

[01:09]

He subsequently became the abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. from 1986 to 1995. I could also mention that Tenchin Roshi has two books, wonderful books, one called Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains, which are a collection of Dharma talks that you'll be able to transcribe, and a second book called Being Upright, a book on Zen Meditation and the Bodhisattva Precepts, which are a little bit like the Ten Commandments for Zen and Rudra. I could also tell you that Rev. travels all over the world teaching as many dharma eras. In spite of me telling you all these facts, I don't think it will prepare you for meeting Rev. Anderson directly tonight. His Japanese dharma name is naturally real, the whole work, and I think we'll find that today. Please welcome Rev. Anderson. Can you hear me OK?

[02:24]

Can you hear me OK? Is that about right? Is that too loud? Is that OK? Is that about right? OK. I'd like to begin by asking if it's all right if I change the title of this evening's talk. Just one person said no? Okay, I'll leave it the same then. I was wondering if it would be alright if I changed the title of the talk. What? So I was thinking of changing, it's not a big change, but changing the title to Spontaneity, to Playfulness, and Liberation.

[03:37]

Maybe Doris could sit right next to me. That's good. She didn't hear you. What did you say? So liberation is part of the title. Liberation from something. Liberation from what I had in mind. Liberation from some kind of like bondage and liberation from suffering. So how does playfulness go with liberation from bondage and suffering? That's what I'd like to discuss with you.

[04:44]

And I'd like to begin with some stories. One story is a story of kind of a general story of the origins of bondage and suffering. So one way that the story could go is that human beings are innately gifted with a body and mind that are inclined towards ignorance. And we have an innate capacity to conceive that what we are aware of is

[05:51]

out there, separate from us. So we are born with a mind that creates the illusion of a separation between our knowing, our consciousness, our subjectivity, and what we know. we are born with a mind which ignores the interrelationship between knowing and what is known. We naturally ignore that. As I would say, we come by this ignorance honestly. Our parents are like that, our grandparents are like that. We are born with it. We have no choice but to imagine that there is a real separation between knowing and what is known.

[06:58]

For example, then, between this knower and you people who I know. There is that illusion. And not only is there that illusion or that imagination or that fantasy, but we also are born to fall for it. We agree to that illusion from birth. and before. This is the story I'm telling you, OK? And because of this, because of ignoring the interrelationship between self and other, between knowing and known, because of ignoring that interrelationship and believing this illusion, We feel dis-ease. We feel anxiety because we think people are other and we become afraid of the other.

[08:10]

We are concerned with whether the other likes us and will support us or not. Have you noticed some people that are concerned with such things? Have you noticed some babies that are concerned with such things? All babies, of course, are primarily concerned with whether some other, called their mother, is going to support them or not, is going to approve of them or not. They think they own their mother. They think, and in fact, the mother needs to go along with that for a while. In other words, whatever the baby imagines, the mother sort of has to go along with that for a while. But still, the baby's a little bit worried that mother will not go along with it. And actually, gradually, mother stops going along with it. and the baby experiences anxiety, and then mother, or whoever the primary caregiver is, needs to teach the baby how to tolerate the anxiety of losing control of the primary caregiver.

[09:23]

And we struggle with that up until now, this problem. And because we see our food, our mother, our father, our friends, everything we know, because we see it as separate and feel dis-ease because of that, we also, our mind gives rise to very painful emotions in regard to these objects which we imagine are separate and believe they're separate. We give them too much reality. We think they can live all by themselves, separate from us, and we think we can live all by ourselves, separate from them. Actually, nothing has any life separate from us, and we have no life separate from anything else. But we imagine that things we know are out there on their own, separate from us, so we give them too much reality.

[10:34]

We ignore their interdependence and give them independent existence. We feel anxiety. We feel uncomfortable. And then because they are so real out there on their own, we then give rise to the afflictive emotions, the painful emotions of trying to get them, greed, or trying to eliminate them, hatred, or being confused about which we should do. And these emotions make us feel even more uncomfortable. They add to the anxiety. Hatred adds to anxiety. Greed adds to anxiety. So then, now we're even more upset, so then we think, okay, me, I'm an independent person, I'm going to do something about this. And this is called karma. So we do things based on these afflictive emotions and based on this ignorance of the way things are actually happening

[11:38]

Like, for example, we try to get as much as possible of certain things and try to eliminate other things and just feel confused with other things. And then we mix those together and do all kinds of stupid things. Things, in other words, that are counterproductive to our happiness and to the happiness of everyone around us. We're already unhappy, and then we're not going to do something about it, which, because of the place we're doing it from, makes things worse. And now things are really bad, so we hold all the tighter to our ignorance in hope that maybe next time it'll work. So we give too much reality to subjects, ourselves, and objects, what we know.

[12:42]

Another way to put it is we take ourselves and the events we know too seriously. We innately take things too seriously. Here's another story. This is a story of liberation. And I thought on the way over in the car today that what I just told you is the story of the fall. Our fall from our actually wonderful, beautiful being that we are when we're born into a karma machine. You know, somebody who's causing a lot of trouble for himself or herself. It's a fall. It's a call from grace, the grace of being given a human life, and even the grace of being given delusion, which falls from the grace part of it.

[13:43]

This next part is a story of redemption, and redemption means to buy back. This is the story of how you buy back your life. It's a story of liberation from the suffering of ignorance, afflictive emotions, and unskillful, harmful actions. This story starts with a person like us or people like us in a mess, feeling anxiety in the face of others, feeling fear, feeling greed, hate, and delusion, and experiencing impulses to do things based on these unskillful mind states, and experiencing the difficulties and the consequences of our unskillful action, which is all kinds of trouble that we have with our relationships.

[14:54]

So that's the situation we start in now. So the beginning of the process, I'll just say the process, I'll just say the parts of the process. This is a scenario, a sketch of the drama of redemption and liberation. Number one, first aspect is trusting. Second aspect is relaxing. Third is playing. Fourth, creating. Fifth, understanding. Sixth, liberating. Seventh, benefiting. And each of these stages in this process arises spontaneously. Once we enter this process, the process itself goes spontaneously.

[15:57]

And that's why it starts with trust, because maybe you'll see why trust is necessary. I guess I'll say that part of the reason why trust is necessary is because if we develop enough trust, we can start loosening up the result, the final result of the last story, which is that we're in a position of misery and trying to do something about it. So part of what we need to do is develop enough trust so we can be in a situation where we can start letting go of trying to do something about it ourself. And also letting go of trying to stop from doing something about it ourself. because we, generally speaking, will continue to try to do something even while we're giving up trying to do something.

[16:57]

So again, so any situation, a situation working with a feeling you have, working with a relationship, working with another person, working with a teaching, In order to understand everything we know, we can be in bondage to and not understand and so on. And, you know, not be liberated. So the first thing is, the first step is trusting. I think I'm going to tell one story, a Zen story, actually, about this process. You might not be able to see all the phases of the process in this story, but I'll just tell this story.

[18:02]

And I like this story because this story shows both sides of both the process of not being able to enter into the process of liberation, simultaneously almost, or interwoven with being able to enter into the process of liberation. This is a story, I would say, which demonstrates right in the same story, actually it's two stories, which demonstrate the ability to be playful and understand and be liberated, and the inability to be playful and understand and be liberated. I thought I should tell it now because if I tell it at the end it seems like it's a little bit... Maybe if I tell it now it'll sort of work through the talk and then I can tell it again later if you need to.

[19:03]

It's kind of a hard story so please pay attention. The story takes place about 1300 years, 1300 centuries, 1300 years ago. in China. And the story is a conversation between two Zen masters, a teacher and his disciple. The teacher's name is Guishan and the disciple's name is Yangshan. So I think Guishan says to Yangshan, The teacher says to the disciple, if someone suddenly said, all sentient beings, all living beings, just have karmic consciousness, boundless and unclear, with no fundamental to rely on,

[20:09]

How would you test this in experience? So the question is similar to what I said before. All sentient beings, in other words, all of us, prior to attaining enlightenment, we just have karmic consciousness. This deluded consciousness with afflictive emotions, which is like thinking of what to do about it. what to do about it. So a deluded person is trying to figure out what a deluded person can do about the consequences of being deluded. Of course, they're just going to do deluded things, and that's all people have. That's all we have. Because all living beings, besides enlightened beings, that's all they've got to work with. However, these people, these beings who just have karmic consciousness based on afflictive emotions and ignorance, all they've got to work with, they can realize Buddhahood if they can learn how to play with being a deluded person.

[21:36]

So the teacher says, if someone came up and asked you about this situation, how would you test, for example, to see where they stood on this? Were they like, could they work with this? Could they play with this? Or are they caught by it? So then the student, Yangshan, says, if a monk comes, to see me, I call to him, hey you. If he turns his head, I say, what is it? What is it? If he hesitates, I say, not only is all sentient beings, not only do all sentient beings just have a karmic consciousness, but there's no fundamental, boundless and unclear, but there's no fundamental to rely on.

[22:54]

And the teacher says, good. Okay, see the story? He says to the monk, somebody says, hey you, they turn their heads. Then he says, what is it? If the monk hesitates, he basically says to him, basically, not only do you have nothing but common consciousness, and is it boundless and unclear, but there's no fundamental for you to rely on. He probably hesitated because he thought there was a fundamental to rely on. Having karmic consciousness, you think there's a fundamental to rely on because of your ignorance, which you think there's something fundamentally there in you or the people you know. You ignore that actually there's not anything really there, there's just interdependence. Thinking that there's a fundamental to rely on is giving too much reality, is taking things too seriously.

[24:02]

So if the monk hesitates, he says, that's wrong. The teacher says that that's a good test. Now he didn't say, if the monk turns his head, he didn't say, I call out, hey you, and if he turns his head, I say, what is it? And if he doesn't hesitate, I say, welcome to freedom." He didn't say that part. In other words, when a Zen teacher calls your name and you turn your head and he says, what is it, big Zen teacher, and you don't get caught by that, you're entering into the process of liberation right there. But he didn't give the positive example. Now, then there's a story in the commentary on this story, there's another story which is very similar.

[25:05]

Ready? A monk asked the Zen teacher, came to a Zen teacher named Yunnan, and he said, One of the big Buddhist scriptures is called the Flower Adornment Scripture. In that scripture it says, the fundamental affliction of ignorance itself is the immutable knowledge of all Buddhas. I'll shorten it. It says, Ignorance itself is Buddha's knowledge. What do Buddhas know? They know about ignorance.

[26:09]

But unlike most people, they know ignorance is ignorance. They don't really know anything. They're just completely free. They don't really have anything. They're just totally helpful. Their hands are free to benefit beings. They're not holding on to anything. Okay, so then the teacher says, that seems completely clear and easy to understand. that thing about the fundamental affliction of ignorance itself with immutable knowledge of all Buddhas, that seems really clear and easy to understand. And the teacher says... And just at that time, at that moment, there was a boy nearby sweeping the ground. And the teacher said to the boy, "'Hey, you!'

[27:15]

And the boy turned his head. And the teacher said, is this not the immutable knowledge of all Buddhas? Do you see that? The boy sweeping ground, girl sweeping ground, teacher says, hey you, boy turns head. Is that not the immutable knowledge of all Buddhas? Of course. Of course it is. What do you think it's going to do? be ignorant and not turn its head? Now, some people won't turn their head, actually. This is called, you know, excuse the expression, maybe a depressed teenager. They're sleeping on the ground, you know, in the monastery, and the teacher says, hey, you and the students, and the young monk won't even turn his head. But if the girl or the boy is sweeping the ground and the teacher says, hey you, and they turn their head, that's exactly what a Buddha would do, of course.

[28:30]

Somebody calls your name, you turn your head. Hey you. Is this not the immutable knowledge of all Buddhas? This is not taking things too seriously. This is being playful. This is being playful. This is realizing wisdom. Do you see it? You will soon if you don't know. So then, after he turns his head, I would say, what is Buddha? I mean, he said, so he said to the boy, hey you, and the boy turned his head and he said to the other monk, it is not the immutable knowledge of all Buddhas. And then he said to the boy, What is Buddha, or what is your Buddha nature?" And the boy hesitated, was at a loss, and wandered off. He turns to the monk. It is not the fundamental affliction of ignorance.

[29:34]

The same person, the same little boy, acting like a Buddha, acting like a sentient being. When somebody calls your name and you turn your head, that's not karmic consciousness and you're not a sentient being. You're a Buddha. When you act like you're salivary glands, you're a Buddha. But when somebody asks you what's your Buddha nature in a Zen monastery, then you start thinking, what's the right answer? Then you're a sentient being, you see. You're scared. You're scared, you know, about your grade in Zen or whatever. So you start thinking of what to do. And you're lost. You're scared. You're out of it. And the teacher then, as you're wandering off, not only do all sentient beings just have karmic consciousness, boundless and unclear, but there's no fundamental to rely on.

[30:42]

The boy's bewilderment and the monk's hesitation are the same. The karmic consciousness And the fundamental affliction of ignorance are the same thing. So it's a Zen story that condenses, I would suggest to you, this process. Now let's go back to the process again, and particularly look at the first part. Remember the first step?

[31:52]

Trust. Yeah. In order to relax, there has to be some kind of trust. Some trust. And what kind of trust? Well, I guess trust that it would be safe to relax. trusted would be acceptable to your body and your mind, and maybe anybody else that's around, that would be acceptable for you to relax. Because we, in order to be able to relax, in order to be able to play, we have to relax. And of course people can play, like I watched the I'm from San Francisco and I watched the San Francisco Giants play the Atlanta Braves last night. And it was very, very moving actually to see these players. They were very concentrated, but they were having trouble relaxing. It was a hard night for them to relax.

[32:58]

And they maybe did at certain points, but it was hard. So much pressure because they're playing for the division title. In many points, you could see them kind of going like this. They're kind of going trying to get their breath, because they're probably so tense. Not so relaxed. Anyway, they were great, but it was hard for them to relax. So one of the things I'd like to tell some stories about, things that might help, ways to help us relax, help us trust the situation and the kinds of things we need to take care of to be able to trust and relax

[34:06]

and be playful. And again, I brought up the baseball game because they were playing baseball but they weren't being very playful. I'm not talking about playing a game in a serious way. I'm talking about being playful in any situation, in a game or non-game. But the playfulness is what requires relaxation. And I have many stories about this. I don't know which one to begin with first. Well, actually, I'd like to begin with two negative examples, two examples of how you don't develop trust, which will make it possible to relax, how you don't do it. And the other night, I was staying with Kathy Crouch, and she asked me if I'd seen The Sopranos, the TV show about

[35:15]

criminals and their families. And I said that I hadn't seen it except on video. And she said, you want to see it? And I said, yes. So I watched The Sopranos the other night. And the part I'd like to tell you about is that there was a scene where this gangster boss was at a party, a housewarming party, of one of his employees. Nice housewarming party. And then at a certain point, there was music, and there was dancing. And it was Italian dancing. the host of the party invited some people to join him dancing. And he invited the daughter of his boss to dance.

[36:23]

And then he invited the wife of his boss to dance. And I don't think he invited his boss to dance. But anyway, his boss's wife started dancing with him. And it looked like she was really enjoying dancing, really liking it, having a good time dancing. And the husband, the boss, was not paying any attention to his wife, who was having a really good time dancing. He was talking about his business, which is crime, with one of his other employees. And I don't know if it was that night or the next night, but anyway, you see his wife getting ready for bed.

[37:36]

She's in bed reading a book or something. He comes in with some flowers and gives them to her. And she says, what's this for? And he says, nothing. And she says, I don't know about that. And then he brings her a beautiful dress And on the box it says Saks Fifth Avenue. And she thinks it's too small. But anyway, he says, try it on. And she tries it on. And he said, I knew it. But she said, you look like a model. She liked that. And then he started kissing her. And she seemed to like that too. And then he very quickly started to apparently have sexual intercourse with her. And she kind of seemed to kind of like it, sort of.

[38:42]

But then you see, the way it's filmed is, you see his back, you see her face, and she's looking, sort of called it the ceiling. And the music, the dance music starts. In other words, she's listening to the dance music. And she's wondering, where's the dance? He started out okay. That was okay, you know, with the flowers and the dress and he looked like a model. But then he skipped the next part of the dance. He jumped ahead. He took it too seriously. And she was still like, she wants to dance some more. And he wasn't dancing. She wanted to dance, and he wasn't dancing. He wanted to be intimate with her, but he didn't do the playful part.

[39:46]

He jumped to the instinctual part. He got serious. He got into the serious business.

[39:57]

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