Good morning, everyone. Welcome. So this is Labor Day weekend. and some people are away. And at least here in Chicago, it's a beautiful day out. So a lot of people are outside. Maybe some people went outside during the break and haven't gotten back yet. But anyway, since it's Labor Day weekend, I would like to talk about right livelihood and what is right livelihood today. So traditionally, right livelihood is part of the eightfold path, which is the fourth of the four noble truths, the truth of suffering or dissatisfaction, dissatisfactoriness with what is, the truth of the causes of suffering,

[01:06]

and third, the truth that there is an end to that. So the Eightfold Path is the fourth noble truth and it provides guidance on how to live with awareness, with compassion, how to implement the third truth of an end to suffering. So this Eightfold Path is a very helpful teaching for us So along with right livelihood, the eight are right view, which means not holding to one particular view, but seeing things as it is, seeing others, listening to others. So right view, right intention. What is it that we want to do with our lives? Right speech. So I spoke about this last Monday evening, that talk is now on the Ancient Dragon website, with four aspects of traditionally of right speech, right action, how we conduct ourselves, right effort, right mindfulness,

[02:26]

and right concentration and right livelihood is part of that. And I believe that one of the most important Buddhist teachings in our modern world and our modern situation is right livelihood. So, you know, all eight of these teachings are useful and important. And they're not, you know, right speech as opposed to wrong speech. It's not about, it's not really about good as opposed to bad livelihood, although that's part of it, but it's really what is upright, wholesome, beneficial speech or action or effort or mindfulness or livelihood. So right livelihood includes the right to live. Life is also vitality.

[03:32]

How do we find our, so it relates to right energy. How do we find a right and wholesome way of using our vitality, developing our vitality, using our livelihood? And we all, you know, along with other human rights, we all have a right to honorable, dignified work. This is what's important about right livelihood on Labor Day. So again, I want to talk about right livelihood today. Right livelihood is a human right. It's a way to express our life and our vitality. Originally, traditionally in Buddhist time and thereafter, right livelihood referred to not pursuing harmful occupations.

[04:36]

So not butchering animals, not taking a lot, not making a living through deceit or cheating others. not trading in arms or other weapons, also not supporting intoxication. So these are traditional right livelihoods or non-right livelihoods. Right livelihood was about not being involved in those things traditionally. Modern criteria may include some of that, but it's also, having some knowledge of the consequences and the products of our work. How does our livelihood, our making a living, how does that support life and vitality for others?

[05:43]

How is it beneficial to the world? So if for people working on an assembly line in a factory or whatever, that might be right livelihood if the product is something beneficial. If the product is something harmful, that would not be right livelihood. So right livelihood also implies activity in accord with the precepts. Supporting life rather than killing, generosity rather than theft, supporting truthfulness instead of lies is part of right livelihood. Hopefully, right livelihood would support respect for all beings. Right livelihood would include that, respect for all beings, benefiting all beings. So in our modern world, part of Right Loudly would be the pace of our work.

[06:49]

Are we able to maintain awareness during our work? So there are many occupations now where one has to be multitasking and doing various many activities. Um, and sometimes it's hard, hard to, uh, remain mindful and aware in that context, but it's also different for different people. Uh, so it's possible for some people maybe to do those kinds of activities, uh, with awareness. So from a deeper perspective on right livelihood, people should have some means to support themselves through meaningful activity that allows human integrity and uprightness.

[07:56]

How do we employ our interests, our abilities with vitality and creative energy? how do we engage in a livelihood that contributes constructively to our community? And community, we talk about Sangha in Buddhism. So that means a particular Sangha like ancient dragon Zen gate here, but also how do we do right livelihood that supports all communities or that supports all beings. So one of our precepts is to benefit all beings. I think that's very important these days. So again, how do we express ourselves and express our vitality through our work? Work does not need to be burdensome. Work could actually be

[08:57]

our most wonderful creative expression. What is our work? What is our meaningful work? So, people need jobs to support themselves, but also jobs can allow a kind of dignity. To do, supportive, meaningful, helpful, beneficial, compassionate work. This isn't about some glamorous job or some status job. So right livelihood could include, for example, bus drivers or grocery cashiers. If they bring friendliness and kindness and engage the people around them in their work, That can be very much right livelihood. I've heard stories about bus drivers welcoming people onto their bus and in a kind way, in a positive way, in a

[10:02]

happy and joyful way, that actually changes how people feel as they get ready to go to work. And that changes the people around them during the day. So Right Livelihood isn't about, you know, having some high status job or glamorous job. Whatever our job is, we can be doing that in a way that expresses right livelihood, that expresses vitality, that expresses kindness, and caring and awareness and supports awareness of the people around us. So right livelihood could include people in what we might think of as non-right livelihood professions. But right livelihood is to make a difference in our own feeling as we work, but it also in, you know, how, how our customers or how our fellow workers are, how can we bring a positive attitude to our work?

[11:09]

That's also part of right livelihood. We could say, how do we find our way to express Buddha nature and appreciate this awareness and awakening in our world? That's also right livelihood. So in terms of current criteria today, it's not simply not being butchers or deceptive con artists, which is more like traditional examples of what is not right livelihood, but I wanna mention two particular categories. So I would say right livelihood involves not working for weapons makers or war profiteers promoting endless wars and not working for fossil fuel companies these days. So we know now that the fossil fuel companies knew

[12:15]

in the 1970s from their own research that fossil fuel would lead to climate disaster, which is all around us right now. Still the fossil fuel company executives doubled down on promoting climate denial. Now they're promoting climate despair. Well, there's nothing you can do about it. So just be quiet and suffer from the floods and the hurricanes and storms and all the fires. So the fossil fuel companies spent lots and lots of money lobbying the federal government and Congress people since the 1970s to support climate damage, climate disaster, what we have right now. We still have, for example, the Enbridge Line 3 in Northern Minnesota, which has had more leaks and will destroy the natural world there and also destroy Native American lands and sacred sites.

[13:33]

Of course, Hurricane Ida that we just had, in Southern Louisiana cut through oil fields and drilling sites. And we know there are huge leaks from this. We don't know the total impact. And part of this is that climate damage most affects minorities and poor people who live in the areas where the damage is most severe. So, Anyway, that's a whole realm of right livelihood, how to work to support the environment, how to not work for those who are destroying our environment and destroying our climate. So that's a modern example of right livelihood. I would say also that right livelihood is not working for war profiteers. And I'm not talking about soldiers here.

[14:35]

Many soldiers serve for noble reasons. They have believed that they are serving their country and helping the people where they're stationed. Of course, now, as the Afghan war is over, many soldiers who return home have PTSD. It's not only soldiers who saw their brother soldiers killed and ended up killing civilians themselves who are now suffering from PTSD. Also, it turns out the drone workers, the people who target drones that have ended up killing civilians are suffering from PTSD. moral PTSD, maybe just regret for having seen the effect of their work. So again, seeing that seeing the effect and product of our work is part of our right livelihood.

[15:39]

And when it's destruction and killing, that's That's difficult. So many soldiers now who served in the Afghan war over the last 20 years and other wars, now are suffering. Even those who, so again, I think being a soldier doesn't necessarily, is not necessarily not right livelihood. It depends on the context. but part of the problem is the militarism of our economy and the endless wars. So I want to speak about that. In Afghanistan, since the beginning of that war in Iraq, during that war and back in Vietnam, the war that was going on when I was young, the government leaders and the military leaders

[16:41]

had no clear objectives or possible exit strategies. They knew in Afghanistan and Iraq and Vietnam that those wars were not winnable. The Pentagon papers back in Vietnam and the Afghan papers that were released by the Washington Post documented this. They continued fighting these wars. It cost many lives just because they didn't want to lose space. They didn't want to be the one who ended the war. So I want to express appreciation for President Biden having the courage to end this long Afghan war, even though he was part of an administration that knew the war could not be won. Anyway, the Afghan war, for example, cost $2.2 trillion and led to over 700,000 deaths, American and many more Afghan people and people in that region.

[17:49]

So I think we have to think about this. We have to acknowledge this. We will do it the chant later to acknowledge our ancient twisted karma. But I think all Americans, even those of us who've tried to oppose these wars to some extent, owe an apology to the Afghan people. And part of this is that our country is built on war. 53% of the federal budget now goes to war and military. We have 800 overseas military bases outside the United States. The next closest country is Russia. They have eight military bases outside their borders. So right livelihood is a huge problem for our country and for our world. And concerning white livelihood, the point of this is the weapons industry.

[19:03]

The weapons profiteers currently dominate our American economy. There are weapons manufacturers in almost every congressional district. This has been happening for a long time. And the arms corporations, the weapons profiteers dominate not just our American economy, but our government. There's huge, overwhelming lobbying to legislatures and to Congress people and legislators all around the country. So this has resulted in a situation where our policy, our foreign policy, is actually made at the service of weapons manufacturing rather than vice versa. We don't make weapons to help serve our foreign policy.

[20:11]

We create foreign policies that will support weapons profiteers. That's our situation now. And so with the Afghan war, it's not unlikely that the weapons profiteers will use their lobbying to promote more wars, a war in Cuba or Venezuela or other places in Latin America, or maybe even with China or Russia, which will be extremely dangerous. but their business plan involves building more mass weapons. That's their situation. So that's the world we're living in. And I think it's important to know that. And this is all relevant to thinking about right livelihood in our situation now. Another aspect of right livelihood now, and especially in this pandemic that is maybe easing, maybe ending after a year and a half, but then we have the variants and it's still, we still don't know, still dangerous.

[21:35]

And even if we manage to get people in our country vaccinated, The variants may continue to be produced in countries in Africa, in South America, in South Asia. We don't have the vaccines. So I'm not talking about all this to scare people. That's not the point. The point is, how do we see right livelihood in this situation? During the pandemic and so-called essential And I would say most of the essential workers were mistreated during the pandemic. Can you hear me? Can you all hear me now? Yes, okay. It's possible that my wifi connection may have troubles in which case I'll have to take a break and change that.

[22:41]

But anyway, so essential workers, it's an interesting category. It includes delivery workers, garbage men, truck drivers, also teachers, people, the guards at mental wards in prisons, the mental health facility, the main mental health facility in our country now is prisons. Drone workers, people who fired the drones to drop bombs on often civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. Slaughterhouse workers were considered essential workers. Of course, doctors, nurses, hospital staffers, many other essential workers. And this was a legal category during the pandemic. What is essential work? This also involves unethical work and shows the moral inequality in our country.

[23:52]

James Baldwin said, the powerless do their own dirty work, the powerful have it done for them. So many people who work harvesting vegetables, we all need, or working as delivery workers or so forth, are immigrants. And our country is now not supporting immigrants. But anyway, we have to see this that During this pandemic, many of the so-called essential workers have not been supported. So part of right livelihood now, I think, is also the living wage, having a living wage. There are people, particularly so-called essential workers, who sometimes have two or three jobs and still cannot support their families.

[24:54]

So right livelihood also is an index for a society and we're not doing so well. A lot of the people who are so-called essential workers are not compensated in the way that they can support family. There are lots of examples. I was hearing about Smithfield, Nebraska, and the Smithfield, Nebraska slaughterhouse workers. They produce pork. That is, those of us who are not vegetarians depend on. In Nebraska, 7,000 COVID cases came from meatpacking plants. So these are essential workers in that particular slaughterhouse meatpacking place.

[26:01]

The workers were considered essential workers, but they didn't have social distancing during COVID. They were given hairnets instead of face masks to work with, and many of them had COVID. So this is, and also doctors and nurses during this time have been forced to work in situations that many nurses have died of COVID. So how do we take care of, how does our society take care of people so that we can have right livelihood? This is a real question. So I want to conclude with a few things, but I'm also interested very much in people's responses and your ideas about what is right livelihood and how can we promote right livelihood. I want to, in concluding part of my conclusion, quote Robert Kennedy, talking about work in 1968.

[27:04]

This is when he was running for president. and very, very likely would have become a president if he hadn't been killed like his brother. Anyway, Robert Kennedy said during his campaign talking about work, the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. So I would say play is also an important part of right livelihood. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate, or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage. First National Product does not measure our wisdom nor our learning, excuse me, Neither does it measure our compassion nor our devotion to our country.

[28:12]

It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. So to base an economy on the gross national product, as Robert Kennedy was saying, does not violate right livelihood. It tells us, he says, concluding, it tells us everything about America, except why we are proud that we are Americans. And there's much to be proud about, about American ideals, aspects of American heritage, American culture, and aspects of it. But how our economy works now, does not support right livelihood. It's possible. You know, people, uh, many people have right livelihood. Many people in our Sangha have right livelihood as teachers, as artists, as, uh, workers for nonprofits, as musicians, uh, as, uh, uh, you know, many people, um, can find right livelihood now.

[29:22]

And yet our society supports something other. So I'm going to just end by saying, what is true value? If we think about all these things in terms of moral values, not about politics or party or partisanship, it's about what do we actually value? How do we value our work? How do we value right livelihood for ourselves and for everyone? So work is and can be a creative expression. You know, our Zazen is about creative expression. How do we sit on our seats during Zazen and express Buddha in our own body and mind? This is creative expression. So how do we see this quality of zazen, of uprightness, as a model for right livelihood?

[30:32]

How do we use our energy? How do we use our abilities and that which we are interested in, in productive ways? How do we use our work to support all beings, including ourselves, of course, to take care of ourselves and our families, but also in ways that are creative and expressive and productive. So Right Livelihood today includes all of this. It includes not being caught by the weapons industry or the fossil fuel corporations. It implies acting to build awareness. So right livelihood create is again about creative expression and supporting benefit for all beings.

[31:39]

And there are many ways to do that. And how can we support and encourage others around us to develop right livelihood? And, you know, I know a lot of people go and a lot of people have lost their jobs as well as lost loved ones during this pandemic. It's been a very difficult time. Even those who are doing okay, relatively, we're all traumatized by the past year and a half. How do we find our way to express our vitality, our liveliness, our joyfulness, creativity in ways that benefit all beings. This is all part of right livelihood. So it's not just about our occupations. It's about how do we act in our world to encourage awareness, awakening, creativity in others.

[32:48]

So I want to open this up. David Ray is host. Maybe you could help call on people. And those of you who, you can raise your hand if we can see you. But if not, you can just go to the participants window. And at the bottom, there's a raise hand function. I'm interested in comments any of you have about right livelihood, right vitality, and how that works in our world. So please, comments, questions, responses, feel free. Let's see. Emily. Yes. Hi, again, thank you so much for your talk.

[33:53]

It's really I really appreciate how how you this to how our national economy functions and how that impacts the rest of the world. Now, just the thing that I was thinking about most is how you're talking about how this Thinking about this as a way to benefit all beings. And I feel like what was striking me was how none of us, in some ways it seems as though none of us can have right livelihood until we all have right livelihood. Because even those of us who on the surface seem to have positions that don't have necessarily an overtly negative impact. Like for example, myself, my orchestra is based in Cedar Rapids. it's an orchestra, it doesn't seem like that shouldn't be right livelihood, but our main funding comes from Rockwell Collins, which is the largest employer in Cedar Rapids, and they're a huge military company, they make a lot of weapons, and they have a lot of military contracts.

[35:04]

So it's interesting how, I don't know, I think about this sometimes because I'm curious, sort of, I'd be curious what you what what you'd have to say about that like how even even on this if on the surface funding is not directly connected to you know we're profiteering in some ways we're all involved in we're profiteering because our basic economy functions that way so it's almost impossible to to escape that and I find that very distressing and I'm curious what you would have to say about that. I think making music, your profession, is very beneficial. It supports others to enjoy their lives. So I think musicians, artists, writers, cooks, gardeners, parents, all can be right livelihood.

[36:10]

But what you're bringing up is, I don't think you need to feel guilty because your orchestra is supported by a company that also does weapons profiteering. We're all enmeshed in that. That was part of what I wanted to say, that we are all part of an economy that is based on militarism. whatever we're doing, we're connected to this situation and this economy, more or less. Some people manage to escape, go off the grid to some extent, or manage to escape it to some extent, but we're part of this world. So I don't think there's, you know, trying to achieve purity, I don't think is the point. Trying to be perfect is not the point. Perfectionism is not the point. How do we bring awareness of the whole situation to our world and our work and to each other?

[37:19]

So, you know, it's true that many fossil fuel companies and weapons profiteers, you know, have some part of what they do, which is promoting, you know, art or culture or education or something productive. It's the way our culture is now. It's difficult. So anyway, I hope you continue making music. And I don't know if there are some orchestras that do not do their fundraising that includes some of the problems in our society. But again, to make music is something that is helpful to all of us. Yeah, trying to be perfect and pure is maybe not possible in this context.

[38:22]

This is why I said that we all owe the Afghan people, as Americans, we all owe the Afghan people apologies for what we've done to their country and Iraq and Anyway, so how do we take care of ourselves in a way that we are doing something helpful? So please continue making music, Emily. Eve had her hand up. Yeah, well, I agree with the difficulty of purity. You know, I put in the chat box, I mean, my brother works for a company that makes the predator. And, you know, I personally, I don't know if I could do that. It would be hard for me, but, um, but he works on fusion research and it's one of the few places that has supported fusion research, but they don't even really support it financially.

[39:22]

The money comes from the department of energy. You know, they just sort of provide the, you know, the organizational, um, infrastructure, but, um, and, You know, and I think, so I can't condemn him for, you know, for doing that. I mean, for opting to work there because, I mean, I think the work that he does is potentially beneficial and there are very few other places where he could do it. And I've had, you know, one of my students who's now graduated works for the military, but she's part of the public health service in the military and the US military does do some actual, you know, positive things too. I mean, they are engaged in, you know, in some like helping communities build infrastructure and in public health work and

[40:25]

And there are ways that the military does have peacekeeping and peace building functions, as well as functions connected to warfare. So again, that's, I mean, I was certainly willing to work with her and become a little less black and white in my own feelings. about the military per se, and in some ways, you know, maybe working for the government contractors is worse, or working for gun manufacturers is worse. So anyway, just wanted to to the point about purity. But the other thing is there's some really interesting things going on now around work.

[41:31]

And what I mean, one thing that's been happening is that, you know, I mean, you've seen that there's a shortage of food service workers right now. And part of that seems to be that some people are like drawing the line and saying, I won't work in places that are threatening my health. And because we have had some subsidies that have helped people stay afloat, there's some people that do have choices now. And I mean, I heard interviews on the radio some chefs that are saying that they're not going back to work because the conditions for work didn't support. And there's this concept in Europe called decent work, and working on whether we can translate it here.

[42:41]

of life and your dignity. I don't know if it's just me. I'm having trouble hearing. Yeah, I cut out for a minute. Anyway, I was just saying that this concept of decent work, which has been promoted in Europe, and some people are trying to promote it here, is to include in the way we evaluate. Because you said measure, and that's important. And one of the things that we can work on is how we measure the quality of work and how we measure, like you're talking about GNP, the measures that we use to evaluate our own progress as a society. And that's one, I think, point of leverage is to talk about how we measure these things and how we can potentially change that. Thank you, Eve. Yeah, you came in a little bit late. Maybe you missed I was talking about the military and how I did not include necessarily soldiers in this at all.

[43:51]

And there are, you know, constructive defensive peacemaking uses of military so I'm not a total pacifists. But so I was talking more about, you know, the weapons, the war profiteers who, who, you know, helps support wars of aggression and wars of occupation. But yeah, it's complicated. It's complicated. We're all involved. And yes, there are many useful and good things that the military does. The National Guard goes into places where there have been hurricanes or other tragedies and helps out. So, you know, the military can be used constructively, definitely, definitely. So it's not about all soldiers are not right livelihood. So Aaron has his hands up, but I wanted to first, if I may call on Zengyu Paul Disko, our

[44:56]

visiting teacher, Sado, because Paul has a, so maybe you could say a little bit, Paul, about O2, the compound that you are supporting that actually is involved in many aspects of what we could call right livelihood. So, Paul, could you say a little bit about that, please? This is a subject that I've put most of my Buddhist life into thinking about and working on, and I chose this path, the Right Livelihood Path, as a way of expressing my Buddhist understanding, rather than being a preacher or having a temple and being at some of the talks about Buddhism. I had this idea that I could try to personify it in a work spirit. But it's very difficult.

[46:00]

Many of the things people have brought up already still apply. You may be doing work that has a positive aspect to it, but your employers, the people you're doing it for, often make their money in some nefarious way. And we're experiencing, and all over the world, we're experiencing it, but especially here in the first world, where 100 years ago, everybody was either an artisan or a farmer. There was a few professionals and a few rifters thrown in, but most everybody either made something or they grew something. And that's all over with now. There's very few people grow anything, and mass production has taken away the artisanal aspect of our society and exported it overseas in many cases. So we're a big deal in the service industry now.

[47:03]

So how to be in the service industry and keep the Zazen mind, keep the keep some sense of your integrity is always very difficult. There's a movie called Patterson about a bus driver. Some of you may have seen that movie. I think it's a very zen movie about somebody that's doing a service in their industry. But basically, our relationship to our livelihood, and I'd like to think of it as appropriate livelihood, not right livelihood, and appropriate speech, and appropriate actions, because there's no particular pattern to it that has to be appropriate to the moment. But it's extremely difficult, but I think it's extremely important, and I've been, now the last 20 years, I've been trying to develop

[48:06]

a compound where I have, currently I have about 30 different little small makers. Everything from pottery to kitchen knives and also food and wooden objects and soap and a whole variety of things. Trying to foster the idea that you can make a living making things yourself and not have to be part of the corporate gyre. It's, like I say, it's a struggle, and we're all faced with the fact that we're living in a very materialist age, which is part of this whole production, part of this whole livelihood thing, and that it is, you know, it's what's causing global warming, it's what is dragging us down, and it's very detrimental. Individually, with our own Buddha mind and our own activity, we can find space for our own lives.

[49:12]

The motto of my company was, the process is our product. How we do things is what's important, not what we do. So that was the feeling I was trying to instill in the people that worked with me, was that thinking about how we did things, not so much what we did. Anyway, it's an ongoing struggle. Thank you very much, Paul. For those who don't know, Paul is an architect, a construction worker, carpenter, was sent by his teacher, Suzuki Roshi, to Japan for, was it five years, to study temple carpentry in Japan and has built Zen temples around the world. But with that kind of way of looking at things.

[50:16]

He's also, as he described, trying to support people who are doing creative work in a productive way. One of the things you said about our current society being very materialistic, that fits with what Robert Kennedy said. It's also part of Right Livelihood that I maybe didn't touch on, but that if we're working, if we're doing our job just to accumulate material goods for ourselves or our family, we're not, then we can't be really expressing our creative Buddha mind. We have to be working not just for ourselves, but seeing how our work is beneficial is seeing what goes beyond that. So thank you, Paul. Aaron, I'm not sure I've seen you before. Where are you joining us from? Hi everybody.

[51:17]

I'm Aaron. I'm from Washington, DC. Thank you. So I'm new to Ancient Dragon. I'm more familiar with the San Francisco Zen Center. But thank you. I'm sorry I'm late. I'm getting used to the time zone difference. And so I really everything that's been said, you know, really resonates with me. Your talk in the comments. I'm a patent attorney. Um, so, uh, some of the things that Paul mentioned in particular, um, resonated with my experience. Um, I was wondering if you could say, say something, I w I awoke to the New York times lead story today, uh, that, uh, this so-called cryptocurrency industry, uh, is alarming. the Washington regulators and banking industry elites.

[52:24]

I was wondering what you think about that. On the one hand, I love the idea of alternative currencies, but I'm more familiar with things like Ithaca dollars and barter and trade at a grassroots level. This cryptocurrency, you know, has elements, again, of being a kind of a rebellion against the traditional norms, which is a good thing, I think. But on the other hand, it also kind of just, I don't know, it just, other stories I've read about it remind me of sort of, it's used for money laundering and drug trade. And so I'm pretty confused about cryptocurrencies. I wonder if you or others know more about it and could say something in regards to the right livelihood aspect. Paul has his hand up, so I'll call on him in a second, but I don't know anything about that, so I can't speak to it at all. You mentioned bartering, and I think that might be a noble way of right livelihood.

[53:28]

And I do want to add that you're not the only attorney here, and And attorneys can also be doing right livelihood or not. So it's not cut and dry what is right livelihood. But Paul, did you want to say something about cryptocurrency? Well, I don't know anything. I mean, what I know about cryptocurrency is not important. But so many people relate to it as a way of getting something for nothing, which is sort of the sign of how white livelihood can get corrupted when you're concentrating on the end, the dollar sign, rather than on the process of what you're doing it. So it might be a great alternative to the banking system and the corruption of the banking system as it exists now, but it also seems like it's very corruptible. My brother spends all his time You know, he thinks he's going to get rich doing it.

[54:30]

I mean, this looks like a sucker's game to me, but how it affects people's minds and how it affects people's sense of how they're supporting themselves, I think it's very dangerous. Thank you. Anybody else have anything to say on that? I'm totally ignorant. David, right? Oh, it's not on that point. It's something on labor and livelihood. OK, well, I'll come back to you in this. Is there anybody who can speak to cryptocurrency? I'm sorry, I just don't know. I hear about this and it just seems strange to me. Well, I will add that it has said to be a very energy consuming process that's contributing to carbon emissions. It doesn't sound good in that regard. However, I think the larger thing that I think is positive uh you know is in the spirit of what you uh have talked about today is just Alternatives, and for people who are excluded to be included, you know, via different forms of livelihood.

[55:40]

And I would think the more positive alternatives to traditional banking would be a public banking system, banking at post offices. I recently heard Noam Chomsky talk about this, and maybe others are, you know, if they're not familiar with cryptocurrencies, they're familiar with just alternative ways of, I don't know, currencies. I have heard of micro banks in South Asia and other countries with a lot of poverty where loans are made to people who couldn't get loans from regular banks. So that would be one positive example of an alternative money system. Thank you. I don't see any other hands on that. So I'll call on David. Thank you for talking about labor and livelihood today. It seems appropriate to add a Marxian thought on some level, talking about labor, since that's a big part of the origin of Labor Day and the history of the organization of labor, and the modern thought that labor is one of those three economic factors, land, labor, and capital.

[57:02]

that the wage is necessarily exploited because it enriches capital and simply allows the worker to be reproduced to show up to work the next day. And so I wonder how to think about that in line with or not in line with the Buddhist concept of livelihood, which I realize, I don't know anything about it. I don't know what underlies it. I mean, from a modern standpoint, it's easy to have a cynical or maybe it's just a critical, you know, position. There are certain ways in which it doesn't matter what the laborer does. The laborer shows up in the market and has nothing but labor to offer and is free to work in any job, but is also constrained. Offering labor is the only way that the labor can continue to exist. I don't know if that's even a right way of talking about it now, because that sort of describes factory work, and that's not really... Anyway, I'm thinking those thoughts about labor and livelihood, and I'd love to hear what you have to say about that.

[58:11]

Just to jump in briefly, because I want to hear what others have to say too, but I don't think labor is just... Menial labor, although menial labor can be very dignified, can be right livelihood. But I think all of us, you know, musicians and artists and people who work in government, you know, we're all working. So it has to do with what is... So livelihood is very complicated, I think, now. And partly because of all the... banking systems and so forth. It's more complicated than what Karl Marx talked about as labor, partly because of the complexity of our society. So anybody else want to weigh in on all of this? I would just like to say that this resonates, I think, for all of us, because we're all participating in some way, shape, or form as laborers in this economy.

[59:19]

And I think myself, my own experience as a lawyer and formerly as a waiter during college, it's been a quite great deal of alienation. And I hope that that changes. for people and for the next generations. Thanks. Thank you for that. I recall that one of Karl Marx's early pieces was about alienated labor. And I think that goes right to right livelihood. How can we enjoy and appreciate and feel good and honorable about whatever work we're doing. And again, I bring up the example of bus drivers and grocery cashiers who, you know, are not status positions, but can be, uh, can be helpful in terms of right labor, right livelihood in terms of being, bringing positive energy to the people they interact with.

[60:26]

So it's, it's, I think it's kind of complicated, Yes, Levi. Hello. Thank you, Tighan. And thanks for the talk. Terrific. And I just want to add a plug because I am going to be talking about a very similar subject to what you just talked about, as you know, tomorrow evening. And part of it, we'll try to attempt to talk a little bit about the approach to having meaningful work and the difference between alienated labor and unalienated labor, and the ways in which creativity, which you mentioned and brought up, figures into that. And of course, Paul's talking about process, and I think that's incredibly important. It's fascinating to hear, Paul, what you have set up, and I want to look into it.

[61:28]

I hope there's material online that I can look at about this, but I also think that we need to really concern ourselves with thinking about the entire framework within which labor has meaning, and that gets into value as well. What is it that we're putting together as a society, as an enterprise, as a living enterprise, as a organic entity, and how do we contribute to that? So I think that we can, perhaps recast some of these sticky points in that field. And I hope to kind of suggest to make some suggestions maybe about how we can do that. So anyways, if you're interested, tune in tomorrow. What time is that, Tygan? Is that 7.30 or? I think we start Zazen formally at 7.15. The Zoom room is open at 7 and 7.45, a little thereafter, after we chant Levi.

[62:33]

So Levi Smith will be speaking tomorrow evening. I was going to mention it in the announcements, but thank you for chiming in. Levi is an artist, painter. He's part of our Hyde Park group. And so I want to you know, I will support that. And Paul, could you give the website for your compound? Yes, I just want to, before we're plugging things, the website is O, the letter O, the number two, and then AA, O2AA.com. Thank you, Paul. Something that Levi said, though, you know, as an artist or Emily, as a musician, are doing what we think of as, you know, maybe David Ray as a teacher, are doing what we think of as, you know, explicitly creative activities. But I really want to emphasize that,

[63:34]

that any kind of job we do can be creative. We can find creative ways to express goodwill, kindness, to be creative in terms of how we take care of our work as attorneys or whatever we do. Right livelihood as creative expression is one of the themes I wanted to give. So is there anybody who hasn't spoken yet who would like to say something about all of this? Okay, Eve, please. Yes, I wanted to come back to the point of the question of what right livelihood includes. And because from what you said, it seems like work life balance is part of it or could be part of it. Sure.

[64:38]

And I think that's one of the things that we struggle with more in the US than other developed countries that, you know, we've gone way overboard both at the lower end of the income spectrum and the higher end in terms of the number of hours that people spend at work and how it can detract from their life and their family life. So I think that whatever perspective you're coming from that that's, that's important to, to emphasize now. And, and this might've gotten lost, um, you know, because of connection problems, but I think there is something really interesting going on now. I mean, with the pandemic, I mean, you know, with, and the, um, labor shortage that, that there are jobs that are going unfilled. And it seems that part of the reason is that people are realizing

[65:42]

that maybe they do have alternatives and maybe they don't have to do work that's going to harm them. So I wondered about your and other people's comments on that. Thank you, Eve. Just to mention, and others please join in, but I think having a balance of work and recreation is important and family life and relationship life and so forth. So balance is very important in all of this, in all of the Eightfold Path. I've heard it said that overwork is a form of violence to oneself. So how do we, so this is something I struggle with myself. I need to pace myself and not, and cause I could be working 24 seven in some ways, but yeah, I think to have balance in our life is, is important.

[66:49]

So thank you for that. Yeah. Other comments. Well, yeah, and comments on what people think about the so-called labor shortage. Well, as others have mentioned, what I have read about the labor shortage in the news is that, I think Eve mentioned this already, is that people are, have just decided to draw a certain line about what indignities they're willing to suffer in the course of employment. And so I think that has been very positive, that manner of rebellion. Thank you. Yeah, and whether people depend on their employers for health benefits to a large extent in this society these days.

[67:54]

So providing proper health care for gig workers and some of whom are essential workers who are not compensated in a way that supports a living wage. It's all complicated. It's not, this is, going to take some time to work out, but I think having some sense of right livelihood or having some concept of right livelihood is, you know, in general will help support that. So other comments or are we coming near a close? Any last reflections, responses, questions? OK, so David, would you lead us in our closing chants? And then there'll be announcements about coming events after that. Maybe before you do that, just to mention that Sunday, September 12, which is two weeks from now, or is it next week?

[69:05]

It's next week, I'm sorry, where instead of a Dharma talk, there'll be a Sangha meeting talking about our situation in terms of our process of looking for a new temple space. So anyway, people are, I want to encourage people to come next Sunday for that. So, David, please. Thank you. Thank you, Taigen. I will make sure everyone is muted, and then I will share my screen and we'll start with the repentance verse chanted three times, followed by the Ehekosuhotsugamun. All my ancient twisted karma from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, born through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow. All my ancient twisted karma, from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, born through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow.

[70:21]

All my ancient twisted karma, from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, born through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow. E he ko so ha tsu gan mon. We vow together with all beings from this life on throughout numerous lifetimes not to fail to hear the true Dharma. Hearing this, we will not be skeptical and will not be without faith. Directly upon encountering the true Dharma, we will abandon mundane affairs and uphold and maintain the Buddha Dharma. And finally, together with the great earth and all animate beings, we will accomplish the way.

[71:23]

Although our previous evil karma has greatly accumulated, producing causes and conditions that obstruct the way, May the Buddhas and ancestors who have attained the Buddha way be compassionate to us and liberate us from our karmic entanglements, allowing us to practice the way without hindrance. May the merit and virtue of their Dharma gate fill and refresh the inexhaustible Dharma realm so that they share with us their compassion. Ancient Buddhas and ancestors were as we, We shall come to be Buddhas and ancestors. Venerating Buddhas and ancestors. We are one with Buddhas and ancestors. Contemplating awakening mind. We are one with awakened mind. Compassionately admitting seven and accomplishing eight. Obtains advantage and lets go of advantage. Accordingly, Longya said, what in past lives was not yet complete now must be complete.

[72:31]

In this life, save the body coming from accumulated lives. Before enlightenment, ancient Buddhas were the same as we. After enlightenment, we will be exactly as those ancient ones. Quietly studying and mastering these causes and conditions, one is fully informed by the verified Buddhas. With this kind of repentance certainly will come the inconceivable guidance of Buddha ancestors. Confessing to Buddha with mindful heart and dignified body, the strength of this confession will eradicate the roots of wrongdoing. This is the one color of true practice, of the true mind of faith, of the true body of faith. May all awakened beings extend with true compassion their luminous mirror wisdom. With full awareness we have chanted the Ehe Kosoho Tsuganmon.

[73:35]

We dedicate this merit to our original ancestor in India, great teacher Shakyamuni Buddha. Our first woman ancestor, great teacher, Maha Prajapati. Our first ancestor in China, great teacher, Bodhidharma. Our first ancestor in Japan, great teacher, Eihei Dogen. Our first ancestor in America, great teacher, Shogaku Shunryu. The perfect wisdom, Bodhisattva Manjushri. To the well-being of all those afflicted with ills, and to peace pervading for all peoples of the world, gratefully we offer this virtue to all beings. All Buddhas throughout space and time, All honored ones, bodhisattvas, mahasattvas, wisdom beyond wisdom, maha prajna paramita.

[74:51]

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