Good morning, everyone. Welcome. For new people, and I'm glad we've had a number of new people sitting in the first time for the first time here this morning. Welcome. I'm Tygane Layton, the teacher here. So what a week. Leonard Cohen passed away. I'll be talking about him tomorrow morning in terms of all of this. But many people are feeling upset, concerned, unsettled after our election. Many people are feeling, many people in our sangha and in our society are feeling fear and anger. Minorities, African Americans, all peoples

[01:09]

of minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ people, women, anybody who might need health care, all of us deeply concerned about the climate. So I want to say a little bit about this. Maybe we'll have some time for discussion. And I want to talk about how much our practice is a resource for facing all of this and responding. And I want to talk about all this in terms of our precepts. So next week, we are having a lay ordination ceremony for some people. So I want to talk about our 16 Bodhisattva precepts. I want to start by reading those. Bodhisattvas, for new people, are awakening beings, beings dedicated to the awakening of all

[02:19]

being. So doing this practice, and for those who just received sazen or meditation instruction this morning, this practice certainly helps us each to feel, to find some centeredness, some balance, some calm, some opening. But it's not just a self-help practice. This is the samadhi of all beings. We connect to all being here in all time. And all the many beings who are part of what is happening on your seat right now, everybody you've ever known and will know is part of what's happening on your seat right now. So, I'll just read the 16, our 16 Bodhisattva precepts, precepts, guidelines, not, not commandments,

[03:23]

but reminders of how to bring this meditative awareness that we connect with through this meditation. And for new people, and for all of us, I strongly recommend doing this practice regularly every day, if you can, or many times a week, even for 15 minutes, 10 minutes during your day, just to remember, to remind yourself to bring your mind back to Buddha, to that which is awakened on your seat right now. So our first precept, in some ways, all of the precepts come from the first one, just to, just, I take refuge in Buddha. We return home to Buddha. And Buddha is, you know, the image of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, who lived in northeastern India, what's now northeastern India, 2,500 years ago, more or less. But actually

[04:26]

in our way of understanding, Buddha is, there have been many Buddhas, that Buddha is the capacity and reality of awakening in all beings, all beings, all beings, and all being in reality itself. So we come home to Buddha. This practice is to sit like Buddha, to remind and rebody ourselves as Buddha, to find that which is this deep awakening capacity, this body and mind. So I take refuge in Buddha, then I take refuge in Dharma, I take refuge in Sangha. Dharma is the teaching and reality, truth. So no matter how much President-elect Trump

[05:26]

may pretend that there is no climate change, the physics is, and the reality of such, is happening. And the planet is warming and climate damage is happening all around the world. It's affecting forest fires in California, and storms in the southeast, and increasing deserts in Africa, and food supply, and so forth. Anyway, reality. We turn towards reality. We take refuge in reality. And then we take refuge in Sangha. Sangha is community. So this is a Sangha. This is the ancient Dragon's End Gate Sangha. Welcome. You are now part of it. And you're welcome here, all of you. And we welcome all people. We have people of color, people, we have Muslims here, we have Christians here, we even have Buddhists here. We have LGBTQ people here. We have foreigners here. There are a number of people here who

[06:29]

are of other nationalities. You don't have to be American to be here. But Americans here are welcome here, too. And Sangha means also this wider sense of community. So each of us has many, many communities that we're part of. You know, this is a non-residential lay practice place, storefront in the middle of Chicago. So we're each part of many communities in this big city. And we take refuge in Sangha for those communities that support us to practice this Bodhisattva way. So those three refuges are the first three precepts. Then there are the three pure precepts. I vow to embrace and sustain right conduct. I vow to embrace and sustain all good. I vow to embrace and sustain all beings. This third one, I found

[07:30]

feels extremely important. This is an inclusive practice. All beings. All beings. So we sit facing the wall. We don't face the wall to exclude anyone. These walls are not to keep anyone out. We face the wall as a mirror to see ourselves and as a window to commune with all beings. We don't try and keep out Mexicans or Muslims or immigrants or LGBTQ people. Everyone is welcome. The wall is, we face the wall to see our deep, deep communion with all being. So we say, I vow to embrace and sustain all beings. Not just human beings. Plants, animals, the water, the earth, the air. Then we have ten grave precepts, which

[08:39]

sound a little like the Ten Commandments, but they're not thou shalt not. They are just statements of, each one is complex. A disciple of Buddha does not kill. So there are many ways to understand these. Each of these is a kind of koan. It means not to kill. It means to help others not to kill, not to support war. It also has a positive side. It means to support life and vitality and life for all beings. And then a disciple of Buddha does not take what is not given, which doesn't mean just not to steal, but also to be generous. A disciple of Buddha does not misuse sexuality, but that also implies how do we enjoy sexuality when we use it respectfully. A disciple of Buddha does not lie. How do we speak truth, including speaking truth to power? A disciple of Buddha does not intoxicate mind or body

[09:44]

of self or others. So some of the old translations just say a disciple of Buddha does not sell wine, but of course we know it's not just alcohol and drugs. We have a meditation and recovery group that meets Tuesday nights, but many things can be intoxicants. Obsession with politics can be an intoxicant. Obsession with the internet can be an intoxicant. Glissing out on meditation can be an intoxicant. The point is, how do we not use the things of the world as an escape from reality? How do we support awareness rather than escapism? The sixth one is a disciple of Buddha does not speak of the faults of others. So one translation of that is slander, but in our context it's about not name calling. So we

[10:47]

can talk about the problems of things that are happening, but I don't want to demonize anyone. I think there's a lot of hate speech in this election, and there's a lot of hate speech that's happening after the election. So part of our response to this from our Bodhisattva values is to speak, to try and protect people who are being attacked for being whatever, for being Muslim, for being black, for being immigrants. But also that means not to demonize. You know, there may be people here who voted for Trump, and many of us have friends or family who voted for Trump. And not all of them voted based on racism or sexism or xenophobia

[11:51]

or homophobia or whatever. There were people who were genuinely concerned about the way our country does not work, the way our system is illegitimate. And I kind of agree. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by, looks like over two million in numbers rising. There's so many ways in which our system does not work for many, many, many, many people. And just like Bernie Sanders did, Donald Trump spoke to that, and people voted for him because of that. It's very complicated. So some people here have attended some of the demonstrations in objecting to the election of Donald Trump. And I might have myself, but I've been really busy preparing for the Dukai. But I heard that there was also some of these demonstrations

[12:57]

very kind of, a kind of hate speech. We don't have to name call Mr. Trump. We don't have to demonize anyone. We can speak about the truth. I like this love and love Trump's hate. How do we speak about respectfully about all of this? So one of the, so it's not explicitly one of the precepts, but underlying a lot of the precepts is respectfulness. How do we respect everyone? Just embrace and sustain all beings means to respect everyone. And yet we can speak truth. So right after a disciple of Buddha does not speak of faults of others, we say, disciple of Buddha does not praise self at the expense of others. It's not, we're right and you're wrong. How do we, how do we listen to everyone and listen to the fears and concerns and pain and sadness of everyone? And it may be that Mr. Trump and his ignorance

[14:06]

is just concerned with more power and money for himself. And that's just sad. You know, he can't enjoy what he already has. But name calling doesn't help. Just to finish the precepts, the disciple of Buddha is not possessive of anything. So trying to hold on to more and more and more doesn't help. Disciple of Buddha does not harbor ill will. This is a big one now. Does not hold on to anger. So it's okay if we feel anger. It's okay if we feel desire and greed. These are human emotions. And maybe it's appropriate to feel anger when people are destroying our climate and our human habitat and causing harm to many beings. But it's

[15:11]

we say a disciple of Buddha does not harbor ill will. How do we not turn it into hatred and say these people are evil or whatever? How do we instead use the energy of anger? It's a very strong emotion. We see this, we've seen this this year on many sides. How do we use that energy instead of harboring it into ill will and hatred? It is possible, it's a lot of work, but it's possible to turn that energy to clear looking, clear insight, seeing into what is happening. How do we respond? And how do we resolve and determine to respond? There's not one right response. We each may have our own response. It's appropriate to us. I'm going to talk some about response. But I want to go through

[16:19]

these precepts. The last one is a disciple of Buddha does not disparage the three treasures. So we're going to have a ceremony about these precepts next week. I wanted to read some of Thich Nhat Hanh, a great Vietnamese Zen teacher. He has 14 precepts of interest. He says, which I find is really helpful commentaries on our 10 great precepts. So I'm going to read a few of these because I think they're helpful. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means they're not absolute truth. Do not think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless absolute truth. Avoid being narrow minded and bound to present views. Learn and practice non-attachment from views in order to be open to receive other's viewpoints. So we have to listen to different viewpoints. We don't have to agree. But if we really, really listen,

[17:26]

then others may listen to us. He also says, though, always speak truthfully constructively, have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice, even when doing so may threaten your own safety. So we can speak our truth, but we also have to listen. Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans in nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realize your ideal of compassion. So fossil fuels are now a danger to our planet. We use them, of course. We're still using them. But there is in the last 10, 15 years now, new technology, solar, wind and other alternative energy. We don't need fossil fuels. And yet Donald Trump and the people he's putting in charge, so I think Sarah Palin is going to

[18:28]

be the new Secretary of the Interior, and some of the energy company executives are going to be in charge of the Secretary of Energy and so forth. This is a danger to our planet and there are people who are working to get, to have the city of Chicago and other organizations divest from fossil fuel investment. This is part of what Stig Mahan is talking about as a Buddhist precept. Another one he says is do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war. So in terms of foreign policy, I don't know. It may be that Donald Trump has some good ideas. We have to see. So I tried to avoid, before the election, I tried to avoid using names like Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton because as a 501c3, I didn't want to advocate for any particular candidate.

[19:30]

But now the election's over, so I'm allowed to express viewpoints about public issues and I do. So how do we respond? First of all, how do we respond? First of all, lots of people, people I talk to are very depressed, very upset, very fearful. And so I think that's natural. A lot of people are grieving and scared. One of the things I most want to say is that this practice of being present and upright and aware is more than ever an important resource. One of the gifts of this practice is that we can sit upright and be present and breathe and face the sadness. There's a dignity and

[20:38]

nobility to this, and we need it now. It may be that we're not aware that we're going to be in a position that our lives and our world is going to become much more difficult, at least for a while. So I kind of summarized the precepts as secluding all beings, being respectful, as I've mentioned, and being helpful rather than harmful. And how do we do that in this situation? One thing, as our Nobel laureate says, strengthen the things that remain. How do we take care of what we have? But that includes now protecting, doing what we can to protect that which is endangered, minorities. So I'm trying to

[21:41]

reach out to Muslims in our sangha and to African-Americans who feel threatened, and rightfully so, given things that were said in the campaign, and all people of color and minorities and immigrants. And especially our climate is now really in danger. So I've talked about the Standing Rock encampment in North Dakota, where Native American peoples who have been endangered for 500 years have gathered thousands of them from all over North America, Standing Rock Sioux people, and all the Lakota people. And this last week there were some Soto Zen priests and leaders there, some clergy from all, Christian clergy

[22:47]

as well, trying to block the Dakota Access Pipeline, fracking oil that is going through their sacred land and burial grounds. And we're supposed to go through, so I've talked about this, but for those of you who don't know about it, does anybody not know about Standing Rock? Okay, well, then I won't repeat myself. It's one of the most important things happening in the world today, still, I think, because there's this really inspiring campaign to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, which is heavily invested in by Donald Trump. And the new Energy Secretary is one of the main investors in it, supposedly the new Energy Secretary candidate. And yet, there are these people standing up against it in the face of extremely heavily militarized police and National Guard from six states, some of whom

[23:53]

have gone back to their states, and the states have said they don't want to send them back anymore. So some of the police are not going to support this, and we don't know what's going to happen. So this is a very volatile situation. In general, how do we respond from bodhisattva values? I'm going to the demonstration Tuesday, 1130 at Daly Plaza, to support Standing Rock. But there are various demonstrations, I guess, still going on in the streets of Chicago and cities all around the country to support rights for all the people who feel threatened by this election, by the hate speech that was part of it. Because of our practice, I think we have a unique capacity to offer something

[25:05]

valuable for those of us inclined to be present at such events. And that is the sense of calm and awareness that we just practiced. So, one of our chants says, outside still and inside trembling like a cowering rat. So some of you may have felt a lot of inner trembling, but you sat still. We have this practice of sitting calmly and upright. And we have something to offer to people who are demonstrating for environmental protection, even if the Environmental Protection Agency

[26:11]

is going to be eliminated. And for love, not hate. And for immigrant rights. And for the rights of minorities. We can be present in these actions and not indulge in the name-calling, but support a kind of presence and balance and calm. And yesterday in San Francisco, there was a large group of people just doing Zazen at the Embarcadero at the end of Marcus Street downtown. So at some large demonstrations there have been people sitting Zazen. And it helps steady and calm those who are committed to responding for social justice. And at the same time, we should remember that

[27:17]

many people voted for Donald Trump because of a legitimate dissatisfaction with what's going on. So I'm trying to speak from Bodhisattva values, and it's difficult not to end up speaking from politics, which I don't want to. I really want to talk about this from the perspective of the precepts that I've just spoken about. It's hard to talk about this. Part of the work is talking about this without judging others, without praising self at the expense of others, without speaking of the faults of others, without getting intoxicated in our perspective, listening to each other, but also speaking truth to power, responding. Caring about the well-being of all beings. So our practice is more important now than

[28:32]

ever and more challenging than ever. So maybe that's what I have to say. Does anybody have some response for comments or questions or anything to share? Howard? So as a minority, I do sometimes have no lesbian fear of my physical well-being. You have long hair. Yeah. And I've been thinking about, you know, not speaking about the faults of others, not harboring a will. I guess the thing I'm missing is to understand getting to that point, trying to embody that.

[29:41]

What I find difficult is finding the courage to do it. Courage is not about not having fear. Courage is about knowing you're afraid and facing the fear. Fearlessness doesn't mean not having fear. Sitting with fear. You know, I was afraid of what was happening in the climate before this election. And there was legitimate fear of racism before this election. And now there have been racist attacks. So yes, of course, there's a lot to be afraid of. Courage means okay, taking breaths, and not trying to do something you're not ready to do. So maybe I want to turn your question to,

[30:46]

well, how do we respond? And we each have to find our own way to respond. And there are things like demonstrations to go to and petitions to sign. But there's also kindness and awareness, paying attention and being aware of what's happening. And you know, we can get exhausted and overwhelmed if we spend too much time, you know, on the internet or whatever. That's not helpful. We have to take care of each of us and ourselves, too. It's still important to enjoy your life, to recreate, to do the things that you enjoy. But also there's this, you know, difficult thing happening in the world. How do you respond? So pace yourself. Balance. Face your fear. And then try to see how you can respond. And there's not one right way for all of us. I don't know if that helps.

[31:47]

Other comments or responses? Yes. I'm experiencing, as a result of the election, is that I'm finding myself more to do the things that I needed to do. You mentioned that you were responsible for your ability to respond. Yes. So in that way, I find that it's helping me to take small steps that I need, that I've been thinking about. So it's not like I'm using this force to help me, but to bring me down, it's not like it's helping me to push forward.

[32:57]

It's helping me to push me to do better. So I find myself getting stronger and better. Good. Yeah. This is, so this is a crisis, which means danger and opportunity. This is an opportunity to, okay, what do we need to do? And we have to catch our breath and, yeah, good. Thank you. Responsibility. Thank you. Other reflections, comments? Yes, Chris. I'm sort of on two-fold. Just over the last week, it's been such a whirlwind, I feel. And in one way, I guess the whole time I've been really sort of detached from the whole election because I don't have any social media and I don't watch TV or even news. So pretty much everything I've received is from what people have told me or what I've

[34:00]

overheard on the bus or the train or at school. And in regards to responding, I felt there's so much fear, you know, and I think there's a, this is just my opinion, but I think there's a lot of fear which may have led to why a candidate was picked. And there's a lot of fear in people responding that are unsatisfied with the result. And I just, you know, my natural response, like when they say compassion is reaching back in the book of night for your pillow, my natural response is just to be, for lack of a better word, not shook by it. And I guess the caveat is I'm a privileged white middle-class male, so it's not an imminent threat to a lot of things.

[35:00]

For me, as it is, I would imagine if I was a minority or Muslim or LGBTQ, I'd be a lot more scared than I am now. But, you know, Trump being elected doesn't change my desire to help people who are victims of sexual abuse or special education children or all the things that I think I stand for. And no matter how bad the situation might get, it doesn't change the fact that I'll continue to care about the things I care about and do the work that I think is important. And I feel like some of the people like my sister who's very invested in these things almost feels like by him being elected, she's been stripped of her ability to do these things and stand up for what she stands for because he stands for what she's opposed to. But even being violently opposed to him in a way is sort of standing up for his values of, you know, not accepting other people.

[36:02]

And I don't want to hate anybody, even if their views are really bad, because, you know, hate leads to more hate. And so that ended my comment. On Friday I was at the Warm Dunes and I was lying in the sand and there was leaves blowing everywhere and the sun was shining and I was surfing like a little alcove. There wasn't that much wind and I thought, you know, I mean, yes, a lot of bad things are happening, the climate's bad and everything, but that doesn't stop my ability to enjoy this moment. I just felt like that was an important point. You know, we need to see the sun, you know, the sun's still shining, the sun rose today, hopefully it'll rise tomorrow, but if it doesn't, we won't know for long what will we get. There's an old saying, even if the sun rose in the west, still the Bodhisattva has no other way. So here we are, you know, and there's still things to enjoy and we're alive,

[37:10]

and yet, you know, we can pay attention and respond and try and be helpful. Other comments or reflections? Time for one or two more. Alex. One of the thoughts I had in response to all this that I shared with people was, you know, first, again, kind of cautioning this, and I'd be like, my experience of this election, I'm sorry, I missed it, a part of my experience of this election, because I'm part of a privileged class in this country, I'm white, I'm male, so I don't feel the same degree of fear that a lot of people have to be more threatened by just to address someone who's in trouble. But my thought was, you know, from a social justice perspective, is that in my day-to-day world, in our day-to-day world, I never felt that whoever

[38:15]

was going to win this election was going to make a difference one way or another day-to-day in the work that has to be done in my life and in the cycle that we're all part of, and that for me, this is as much just a real opportunity to walk down that street, but there is more at stake than that to reinvent myself, to want to do better for the time that I'm a part of, and take advantage of that momentum to really create a better future. Thank you. I think that's well said, that on some level, what happens isn't a function of elections on some level. The real change happens because of people. And this may galvanize more people to really work for change.

[39:16]

Anyway, it's complicated. Yes, Nicholas? I feel very inspired by the unprecedented army of resistance that is present against America, and that there may be a lot of power and possibility for real change. It's the opportunity. Yeah, thank you. Yes, there's certainly... Our country is certainly divided. I've lived through the 60s, and I think we're coming to a very

[40:21]

perhaps tumultuous time, and maybe we've already been in that. There are definitely positive, there are definitely good movements for change that are already present and active. The LGBTQ movement, many things in our society that already are part of moving towards change that we can see as being in some way in line with bodhisattva values. Feeling hopeless is not helpful. And yet, of course, we can feel some sadness. Yes, Kathleen, last one. It seems to me that the election

[41:26]

demonstrated a deep divide, and that there's an issue of how to talk, how to engage. In some ways, the movements I think that I participated in to some extent are same that I admire, but I think there's a bit of preaching to the corner. And I think this has shown us that a lot of people out there are not thinking that way. The communication is completely broken down, and I think that's something we have to investigate or try to go into or explore. Yes, I think so. I agree with you. I was going to add to that. We all live in a large urban area, and whatever our own personal political views may have been, I think that generally people living in large urban areas

[42:29]

were really surprised by the outcome of the election. And it does speak to just what Kathy is saying about the deep divide that we have been aware of things being. I don't think that we were really aware of the amount of anger and wish for a change in the direction that was present. I don't like to put a positive spin on anything, but it will help us. And rural America has been suffering a lot, and that's clear. And rural America has been suffering a lot,

[43:11]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ