Good evening, everyone, and welcome. For new people, I'm Taigen Leighton, the teacher here at Ancient Dragons Zen Gate. I want to talk this evening a little bit about bodhisattva vow. Zen is part of the bodhisattva tradition. The tradition of bodhisattva means enlightening beings, which is dedication to universal awakening. And at the end, we will chant the four bodhisattva vows. Some of you know very well. Beings are numberless. We vow to free them. Delusions are inexhaustible. Vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless. We vow to enter them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. We vow to realize it. So these four vows indicate a dedication and a direction of our practice beyond our small self.

[01:03]

So sometimes I say that this practice of zazen is not about self-improvement. Well, in a way, it is about self-improvement, but it's not about self in the sense of our usual way we identify our small self, our usual stories about our limited self. This is unlimited self. to go beyond our ideas of a limited self, to see a wider purpose and meaning to our practice and our life. So sentient beings are numberless. I vow to free them. That's kind of, we sometimes say, inconceivable vow. How, what could that possibly mean to free all, all beings in the universe?

[02:18]

Not just in the world, not just in this world, not just in Chicago, not just all the people, all the difficult beings in your family. But, you know, how do we dedicate our, This practice of sitting upright, facing the wall, facing ourselves, doing this regularly, getting to know ourselves and all the complexity of that. And then how we take this off our cushions, how we see, we start to see this, if we do this regularly, our deep interconnectedness with all beings. And there's this inclusive quality, but there's also this communal or community quality to our practice. We say the three treasures as Buddha, Dharma, the teaching of reality and sangha, community. So we have this little community of ancient dragons, zen gate, but we also each have our own realms of communities that we're involved with.

[03:29]

So partly I'm talking about this in the context of our guest speaker this last weekend, David Loy, who talked about Bodhisattva practice and Bodhisattva vow in the very wide context of the crises in our Well, on this planet, and in our society, and in our world, and what is our responsibility, and how does the Bodhisattva tradition, which we inherited from some of the people that Dave chanted in the dedication, Dogen in the 13th century Japan, and Buddha 2,500 years ago in India, Bodhidharma, who brought it from India to China, and Suzuki Roshi, my teacher's teacher, who brought this to California in the 60s. This ancient tradition of sitting upright and facing the wall, and this wonderful practice and teaching, in some sense, goes beyond.

[04:32]

In some sense, is beyond conditions. Buddha is beyond any particular condition. Buddha sees something deeper that is wonderful and valuable and connects us to some deep creative energy that goes beyond our own particular situation, our own particular limitations. At the same time, Buddhism whatever that is, always has to adapt to the particular situation of here, now, this place, this time. So how do we express this Chicago 2017? How do we express this in our lives? So our tradition of sotos emphasizes, what do we do? How do we, through various practices of patience and generosity and through the precepts and so forth, how do we express this deeper unconditioned awareness in the particular situation of our life?

[05:48]

when we get up from our settling, our calming in meditation, and how do we apply this? How do we share this? How do we find guidelines to help in amid all of the difficulties in our own world. So the bodhisattva vows are about, well, we could say going beyond self. They're about, again, how do we free all beings, not just the ones we like. not just the people who are of our ethnicity or of our nationality or from our country, but everybody, not just humans either.

[06:53]

So those of you who are so inclined, I encourage you to listen to David Loy's talks from DePaul and Saturday and here yesterday when they get up on the website. He was talking about how You know, what's happening in the world today is really, well, extraordinary, cataclysmic. Climate breakdown is just the tip of the iceberg, as he put it, that there are mass extinctions of 50% of the animal and plant species in the world are likely to go extinct in this century. How do we respond to that? And, you know, how do we respond to that from this place of bodhisattva vow? How do we free all beings? So this is sort of this impossible, we might think impossible vow, but how do we see ourself, ourselves, community, as a way of actually responding?

[08:06]

How do we see just this practice of simply sitting and being present as part of the response? changing our own ways of seeing this limited self, seeing the possibilities of connection and kindness. Part of this is a kind of commitment that is not about seeing, you know, it's not about some particular effort towards some particular outcome, because we don't know the outcome. We don't know, you know, what will happen with all of the problems that we have now. And yet, the efforts and intentions of many, many, many, many people and many small groups all around the world do make a difference.

[09:14]

Basic principle of Buddhism is that everything we do does make a difference, does have an effect, and everything that happens is the result of many effects. And each of us sitting here, each of us on our seat is the product, is the co-creation of An intricate, complex combination of factors, of people, of beings, all the people we've ever known, are part of what is on your seat right now. Friends, family, loved ones, people we've, you know, teachers, people we've met, people we don't even remember. Many things. contribute to the situation of this room right now. And everything is like that. So everything we do makes a difference. And we don't always see what that difference is. In fact, we rarely do. And yet, we can make a difference.

[10:18]

So beings are numberless. I vow to free them. I talked last week about the question of In some of our Buddhist tradition, we talk about many lifetimes. There's a chant we do from Dogen about talking about dedication through many lifetimes. We don't have to understand that literally, and we don't have to believe that we will come back in many lifetimes to fulfill this vow. The fact of each of us as some lifetime, means that our efforts continue, the effect of our efforts continue. So that's part of it. And I don't want to talk so long. I want to have some discussion and hear what you have to say. But again, we don't know the results of our efforts.

[11:23]

We don't know how to change the trajectory causes and conditions that cause, that are causing injustice and difficulty in our world. And all the threats of, and all the warfare and so forth and so on and corruption. But we don't, we don't know how this will work out. Change happens. Radical change happens suddenly after lots of work. There's so many examples of this. Um... But I want to say something more about the spirit of these bodhisattva vows. We can easily feel overwhelmed by just looking at the news and hearing about all the difficulties, or just feeling the news about each of our own difficulties.

[12:32]

We each have our own, you know, quote-unquote, personal problems and personal patterns of greed, hate, and delusion, the three poisons. We each have our own situations of loss and sadness. As David was saying, we have to honor the sadness involved in all of that. But there's another aspect to the bodhisattva vows, which I don't know if I can really fully honor and express, but that there's something about this that is really the most... I could say joyful, but that's not quite it. But somehow to live this way, There's a saying that Sukhi Rasi mentions, even if the sun were to rise in the west, the Bodhisattva has no other way.

[13:36]

So when we see that we are actually really deeply connected to all beings, that our true self is not just about the self that's our ID numbers and our personal history, and that we are connected to each other and everyone else, and that we can make a difference and that we can help to live dedicated to trying to help, trying to make a difference, each in our own way, because there's no one right tactic or strategy for how to help, you know, mend the world. David Loy used the phrase tekun olam from the Hebrew tradition of mending or healing the world. How do we each find our way to do that and realize that it's actually the most satisfying way to live and the fullest self? the self that includes everything, that includes our relationship to the trees and the great lake that's nearby, and even all the insects that sometimes annoy us, as well as all the other critters that we might encounter.

[14:56]

and the people that we have difficulty with who actually sort of help us to see the fullness of ourselves. When we're willing to include everything and everyone, and even the people who we disagree with, How do we disagree with the people who disagree with us, quote unquote, politically, whatever that is, and be willing to listen to them and hear their perspective? We don't have to agree with them, but we can say, OK, I hear you, and here's what I have to say, and maybe they'll listen. How do we include everyone? This way of living, which is what the bodhisattva vow is about, I think, is actually the most satisfying and the most creative. Not to know all the answers, because how could we know all the answers? The world is so complicated, and just what's happening in this room is so complicated.

[16:07]

and what each person in this room is giving to the space and the air right now is so complicated. How could we know it all? And when we realize that we don't know, that means there are many possibilities. So that way of seeing self, to put it that way, allows for possibilities. And so one possibility that happened to me this weekend was David Loy was here for a talk Saturday at DePaul, and Sunday, and somehow, and he came in Friday, and somehow a fellow Oak Park wanted him to come and speak there Friday. And I said, okay. And he agreed to pick up David at the airport Friday and take him and then bring him Friday night to the hotel that Paul took care of.

[17:13]

So I didn't have to pick up David until Saturday. late morning, and then after that happened, I found out that Bob Dylan was playing, who some of you know I really like, in Chicago Friday night. So I went to see him, and he closed with that song, which is usually interpreted negatively, but you know something's happening, but you don't know what it is. And I, you know, I kind of like that, you know, that we don't know what it is. And anyway, so here we are, and we don't know what this is, and yet we vow to free all sentient beings. So anyway, that's a little bit about bodhisattva vow, and I'm interested in questions, comments about that or anything else. So please feel free. or just any basic questions about, well, what is this Bodhisattva business? I could play this song by Steely Dan if I had my jukebox with me.

[18:30]

Yeah, Manny. Say more about your question. Yes, my question is... I feel like work is a certain type of bodhisattva vow that helps people. Hopefully, if you haven't read it, it helps other people. How do we know if that's a full, or some amount of service to other beings?

[19:53]

That feels like a, it's like a feeling. Good, good question. Well, you used the word balance, and I think that's really helpful. word. So, and I want to relate that back to this practice we do of zazen, which is our kind of fundamental practice, in which we, this is a yogic practice, where we find a kind of uprightness, a kind of relaxed, upright, balanced way, where we try to find center, not leaning left or right or forward or backward, and we find a balance between a calm, but also a tension, and So, in our life too, and in this work of freeing all beings, to go back to the first vow, finding balance is really important. So, you know, David Loy was talking about activists who get burned out because they don't have a practice of centering.

[20:58]

In this culture, finding right livelihood is itself a challenge. So congratulations on doing something that helps people. That's important. Part of what Zazen does, and I recommend doing it regularly, several times a week at least, even at home ten minutes a day, or more if you can, but just take time to stop and pay attention to what's going on, on your seat. not for your limited self, which is how we think of it. I think we come to meditation often wanting to feel some calm and settling and peace, wanting some, you know, wanting sort of some self-help, some self-improvement. But actually, the deeper practice is that we see this balance that you're asking about.

[22:07]

We start to see what is the balance of our whole life where we can find creative energy that includes our work. that includes various activities that we get involved with, that includes also self-care in all senses, that includes taking care of recreation, enjoying the things that you can enjoy. So the word balance that you used is, I think, a really important part of it. How do we find our own balance that allows us to give ourselves fully to our deepest, widest, complete self, which is everything? And then we each have to find our own way of doing that, because we each have our own particular expression of that.

[23:09]

Other questions or comments or responses? Yeah, Jerry. And just to say, parenthetically, that that chant that we did, the Kanzayon chant, is often interpreted in that kind of way, the bodhisattva of compassion calling on the bodhisattva of compassion who hears the suffering of the world to help. And that bodhisattva is both out there in the world in some ways and also within us. So yeah, go ahead. I think that could play like another problem. Yeah, well traditionally in Asian Buddhism, and of course we have to reinvent Buddhism here now, but also kind of look at what it has been.

[25:11]

and how it has been formed. But, yeah, traditionally, popularly, often it's been seen that way, calling on the Bodhisattvas to help. And we do that in a way, we call on the Buddhas and ancestors, we call on Suzuki Roshi and, you know, in the dedication that we do, we call on, you know, Bodhidharma and Buddha. So that's, so, and in some sense we understand they're all here. that we are keeping that alive. So it's not. It's not just us, they are here. It's not outside of us either, it's sort of, anyway. But traditionally, it was sort of understood, yeah, you call on Manjushri, students will call on Manjushri for help with a test. Okay, why not? So what was the second part of your question?

[26:12]

Yeah. Well it happened, yeah. Well, that's where we come in, you know. I mean, and it's not just outside or just inside. It's like this, it's like, we don't, so the one answer is we don't know, but also it's this force for this energy of caring. And that makes a difference. And then David Loy was talking about the practical stuff of, you know, how do we change from fossil fuel to renewable fuels and how do we change the, you know, the economic systems to be more equitable and maybe doing civil disobedience.

[27:29]

And, you know, there are aspects of, you know, that kind of work that some, Bodhisattvas may get involved with. There's not one right way. And it's not just about, it's forces in the world. So he was mentioning this book by Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest, that talks about There's a huge number of small environmental groups all around the world that are actually working towards changing the situation and the environment. And that this is really new, and that there's a huge number of small organizations really doing good work. And Joanna Macy talks about this too, all the people in the world who are really trying to be helpful.

[28:32]

So we can plug into that, you know. But that exists out there, but it also is something that we can connect with. That's one way, but I think, so I don't want to be self-righteous about particular, you know, tactics or strategies about how we mend the world. I think part of mending the world is just having a community of awareness like this, to ask these questions, just asking these questions. the question you just asked, and just to be considering this, and just to be looking at each of us looking at ourselves, that we do together, and trying to be more aware and kind in our own activities in the world. I think that's part of it, too. How do we generate creative energy and produce creative responses to the world?

[29:34]

And that's not a satisfying answer, but that's good. So keep asking the question. Yes, Jen. One thing that puzzles me is how much I love nonsense and how seriously I take it. Good. And when I say to myself about, I think, The wooden man begins to sing, the stone woman gets up to dance.

[30:47]

The stone woman gets up dancing. And I'm just in love with that kind of craziness. And I think it's a very serious and important thing. That's puzzling. How come I think it's nonsense, but I love it And I think, you know, I used to play in orchestras, and that is the story of making music. And it's practice, and it's coming in at the right time. My question, what is this love affair I have with this guy?

[32:14]

You know, I hesitate to give a coherent answer to that, but I'm going to, because it's not nonsense. It's just, it's, all of that is a deeper sense, a deeper logic. It's the logic of awakening. It's not, so this is like all those koans that some of the books say are nonsense riddles, and they're not nonsense. They only contradict our limited literal sense, linear sense of logic. The deeper logic, which is illogical in terms of our usual sense of logic, is the logic of awakening. And that's what those lines that you love speak to. Because when the wooden man begins to sing, the stone woman indeed gets up dancing.

[33:19]

And this is not nonsense. It's just how awakening works. And so you recognize that, so that's why you love it. Because some part of you sees this deeper pattern of the process of the awakening of all things, which is what the Bodhisattva vow is about. So if you want to keep calling it nonsense, you know, it's okay. But it's not. It's just not, it's just, but you know, it's the non, it's, it's not the, it's not non, it's not, it's just not, it's not what you, how you are, we're taught to think in school. But it's how reality starts to emerge when our deeper self comes forth in the process of regular zazen practice.

[34:37]

But you can play it. Well, that's the point about beings are numberless, I vow to free them. It's not something we can figure out, but we can play it. So the point is for us to play the bodhisattva way. So we're going to do that right now. Let's chant the four bodhisattva vows. They're on page 36 of the chant book, just towards the bottom. We'll chant them.

[35:44]

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