I want to speak this morning about a poem, or actually really focusing on one line of a poem by Ryokan, a Japanese Soto Zen monk who I've talked about at Ancient Dragon before, and maybe I'll say some more about him. He lived 1758 to 1831, so he was in the beginning of the 1800s. There's lots of stories about him. Maybe I'll tell some. But again, I wanted to focus on this poem. He was a fully trained Soto Zen monk and teacher. And after his training, he just went back to his hometown and lived in a little hut on the outskirts of town and spent the rest of his life. writing wonderful poetry and doing wonderful calligraphy that was very treasured even in his own lifetime. And also being a total fool.

[01:08]

One of his dharma names, Daigu, means great fool. So he was, there are many stories about his silliness and his simplicity. He lived on doing begging rounds. lived in this tiny little hut and meditated and actually was fairly learned about Buddhists and Zen matters. Liked to play with children a lot. Anyway, I'll say some more about Ryokan, but the poem I want to talk about, which is one of his poems that I translated together with Kazutani Hashi, This poem goes, where beauty is, then there's ugliness. Where right it is, also there is wrong. Knowledge and ignorance are interdependent.

[02:08]

Delusion and enlightenment condition each other. Since olden times, it has been so. How could it be otherwise now? Wanting to get rid of one and grab the other is merely realizing a scene of stupidity. Even if you speak of the wonder in it all, how do you deal with each thing changing? So I really want to talk about the last two, or maybe just the last line. But what he's saying is basic Buddhist truth, basic Buddhist wisdom. interconnectedness of our judgments about the world and about reality. So where beauty is, then there's ugliness. These are relative terms. Ideals of beauty change from culture to culture. In medieval Japanese time, the beauties of the Heian court lacked their teeth.

[03:15]

That was considered beautiful. I don't know if that would be so now. Just one example. He says also, where right is, also there is wrong. So our ideas are right and wrong. It's not that we shouldn't have ideas of right and wrong. Conventionally, we need to abide by those. But we can see that just in our society, there's a great deal of different views of what is moral. and what is right and wrong. So we can't have one without the other. So part of what he points to in the last line that I want to talk about is that we do have to wrestle with these things, but still we can see that our views are just our views from the point of view of ultimate wisdom and Buddhism. He says, knowledge and ignorance are interdependent. delusion and enlightenment condition each other.

[04:16]

So Dogen, who Ryokan studied quite a bit, talks about being in delusion throughout delusion, and that enlightenment is to be enlightened to our delusions. Delusion is to be deluded about enlightenment. Delusion and enlightenment condition each other. So the point of our practice in the Soto Zen tradition that Dogen and Ryokan pass to us and many others is not about getting rid of delusion and getting enlightenment. I mean, sometimes that happens, and that's good. The point is to see delusion clearly, to see awakening clearly. So as human beings, of course, we all have many delusions. We all have many attachments. We all have many views. And also, everybody in this room has some measure of awakening, seeing awakening. It's what brought you here. So our practice is not about acquiring enlightenment. Enlightenment's not some thing that we can go down to the store and get a six-pack of, or find the best Zen center, and then we'll get enlightened.

[05:23]

Delusion and enlightenment condition each other. Since olden times it has been so, how could it be otherwise now? Beokhan goes on, wanting to get rid of one and grab the other is merely realizing a scene of stupidity. So even when we want to grab ahold of and grasp and take something that actually is good and wholesome, still, grabbing is the source of all suffering, according to Buddhism. This is the second noble truth. That there is this difficulty we have being in this world, that there is dissatisfactoriness, things we have and don't want, things we want and don't have. And even if we have very good views about how we should be, it's not that we shouldn't act in wholesome ways, but if we think we can, you know, grab a hold of things, that's just attachment. So, this is the dharma that Ryokan starts with.

[06:26]

And then he has these last two lines. Even if you speak of the wonder in it all, How do you deal with each thing changing? Even if you speak, or even if you don't speak, even if you see, just to see, taste the wonder in it all, or speak it, or express it in our body and mind. This is wonderful. This, in some ways, is the point of our practice. This is Buddhist wisdom, to see that we don't know absolutely anything, to see that our views are just our views. And then maybe to stand by our views. That may be part of what we need to do. But most deeply, most fundamentally, there's this sense of wonder. We don't know. And yet we know that something about this not knowing is wonderful.

[07:31]

Bob Dylan in concert. I spoke about this song of his that he did, that he did this great version of, which maybe you all know, The Ballad of a Thin Man. He says, you know something's happening and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones? And there's a way in which that song points to some, unhappiness and disjunction. And John Lennon later said, feel so suicidal, just like this Dylan's Mr. Jones. But I'll repeat that I think that in some ways, to know something's happening and not know what it is, is the heart of our Zen practice. That we can take that on in a positive way. We know something's happening. We know that the world and even the flow of karma of our own lives and our species, that something's happening.

[08:46]

That there is this wondrousness about it all. And we also know that we don't know what it is. This not knowing is important. So Bodhidharma was on our altar when asked by the emperor, who are you? Said, I don't know. To be able to see that where right is, also there is wrong. Where beauty is, then there is ugliness. We don't know, ultimately. We don't know, ultimately. Things in the world, the conventional reality, is based on fashion and politics. economics, and all kinds of other things. We don't know. And we don't know about our own lives. And yet there is this wonder in it all. And here Ryokan speaks of it.

[09:49]

He says, even if you speak of the wonder in it all. And then there's this last line, which is what I want to struggle with with you today. How do you deal with each thing changing? Even if you speak of the wonder in it all, how do you deal with each thing changing? So, we live in this world of change. This is also axiomatic for Buddhism. This is all very basic Buddhist teaching that Ryokan is talking about. Everything changes. Our situation changes. The world changes. Things get better, things get worse. We lose relationships, we have new relationships. We lose jobs or end jobs, we have new jobs. Friends move away, or we move away. Things change.

[10:49]

So, even if you speak of the wonder in it all, how do you deal with each thing changing? Our practice is about this. How to practice with each thing, the whole phenomenal world, each situation. How do we take care of it? How do we deal with each thing as in it's changing? So this has to do with being flexible. Being willing to adapt to change. If we insist that it has to be the way it's always been, that's not going to be very unhappy because sometimes things need to change. We need to make adjustments. our posture as we sit. We need to make adjustments in how we take care of ourselves and our friends and each other in the world. Being willing to adapt to changes is what it means to really be present. To be present in our lives, we have to see that we are alive and the world is alive.

[11:55]

and friends and family and the people in our lives are also alive. And it's this wonderful and often perplexing situation of things changing. How do we meet what's present right in front of us? Well, there's this kind of willingness, this is very important, that we're available. in our life to meet the changes, to respond to the changes, to shift our viewpoint. So it doesn't mean that we shouldn't have views, but can we not be attached to our views, our ideas of what's the right way and what's the wrong way? Sometimes we need to adjust those. How do we deal with each thing changing? This is the great human dilemma. And not to forget that the wonder in it all.

[13:01]

So we come back to sitting. We come back to just sitting upright, being in this body, mind. Not our idea or view of who we are, what the world is, but okay. What is it like to just sit upright on this Sunday morning here with these people? And we can't get a hold of it. And trying to get a hold of it causes a lot of suffering for ourselves and sometimes for others. How can we be open and available and flexible? Available to reality, available to meeting what is present in our life as it changes and as circumstances change, because circumstances are always changing. So this is, you know, in some ways very simple. We want things to be a certain way. And part of dealing with each thing changing is actually studying that, admitting that we want things to be a certain way.

[14:06]

And we can talk about it. Sometimes we get our way, sometimes not. And sometimes we can see, oh, well, there's another way to do it. So how to be available to change? How to be flexible with change? This is our practice, and it's the practice that actually enacts the Third Noble Truth, the end to suffering, to meet the situation in front of us wholeheartedly in this world that is shifting and changing. So I don't know that I have so much more wisdom to say about that, but I'll give some other examples from Rio Kahn of how he dealt with each thing changing, and how he saw the wonder in it all. Because I find him very inspiring in some way, even though he was a great fool.

[15:09]

So maybe I'll just read another poem that Kahn and I translated, and then Just a few stories about him and then come back to this seeing the wonder in it all and then being ready to deal with each thing changing. So another Ryokan poem. Without desire, everything is sufficient. With seeking, myriad things are impoverished. Plain vegetables can soothe hunger. A pashed robe is enough to cover this bent old body. Alone, I hike with the deer. Cheerfully, I sing with village children. The stream under the cliff cleanses my ears. The pine on the mountaintop fits my heart." So Ryokan was quite a bit a nature mystic. He lived out in the woods and enjoyed nature quite a lot. And we can hear that in this poem. But also this, without desire, everything is sufficient.

[16:13]

Well, of course we do have desires, but how can we be flexible and willing to adjust our desires? And this great teaching in Buddhism of contentment, to really appreciate the situation, the changing situation that we are in, that we have enough in some way. This is very contrary to the American religion of consumerism, where you're supposed to and get more of everything, that happiness depends on whatever's in the next TV commercial, and so forth. So he says, without desire, everything is sufficient. With seeking, myriad things are impoverished. So there's this sense of lack. David Loy has written about this really beautifully, that the thing that's missing in our life, and the thing that Buddhism points to, is this sense of lack, this suffering that comes because of all the things we realize we don't have and all the things we want.

[17:16]

And it's not that we have to give away all our worldly goods and not use the material resources we have, but how do we not get caught up in hungry ghost realm that we did a ceremony to feed the hungry ghosts recently? How do we not get caught up in needing more and more and more, how do we become content with our life just as it is? And of course, that life just as it is, with the wonder in it all, also involves dealing with all of the ways that it's changing, that we're getting older, that we're getting wiser or stupider, whichever, both. How do we respond to meeting the present moment of this life changing? And when we start seeking, when we start grabbing, and we think we have to get a hold of this, that, or the other, everything becomes impoverished. Plain vegetables can soothe hunger. A patched robe is enough to cover this bent old body.

[18:19]

So, maybe Rio Kahn took this to extremes, living out in this little hut in the woods. Yet, something of this spirit, I think, is relevant even to our situation, an urban sauna, living in the middle of a big city. Storefront windows open up to a big city in north central Chicago. even in our place and time with all of the wonderful modern apparatus and conveniences and so forth we have, how do we appreciate them and not feel like we need to get the latest, that our life is ruined if we don't have the latest whatever technological gadget? if we can get it fine, but how do we appreciate our life as it is? And then respond to the changes, and maybe we can benefit from some of the new, some of the changes, some of that which appears in our world. Without attaching to, this is the way it has to be.

[19:23]

So there are all these wonderful stories Some of them sort of silly, but some of them quite wonderful about Rio Kahn. And I'll maybe give a few of those just as examples of his own dealing with each thing changing and not needing to grab a hold of some particular view. There's one famous story about him in his hermitage one night. Some accounts say there were sort of patches and holes in the roof or the walls. And he was sitting there looking at the full moon, which people still like to do in East Asia, at least in Japan, is to sit and look at the full moon. And the full moon is this great, wonderful image of wholeness, of our own wholeness, of the roundness and perfectness of this situation, even with its changes. So the story goes that once a thief, misdirected, entered Ryokan's hermitage, but naturally found nothing of value.

[20:28]

Out of frustration, the thief took Ryokan's old and torn sleeping quilt and his meditation cushion. When Ryokan returned to the hut and discovered what had happened, he wrote a haiku, which goes like this. The thief left it behind, the moon at the window. Other versions say, I wish I could have given Some versions of the story, he was there, Rio Kondo was there, and Steve comes in and he says, I don't have anything, but here, take my blanket. So this isn't to say that we shouldn't put locks on our doors and take care of what we have, but the spirit of thinking of different perspectives, of being content with what we have. There are lots of kind of silly stories about Ryokan playing with children on his begging rounds. Once Ryokan was playing hide-and-seek with the children and he ran to hide in a nearby shed.

[21:34]

The children knew where he was but decided to play a joke on him. They ran away without letting him know the game was over. Other versions of the story is that they just got called into dinner by their parents and left. Anyway. The following morning, the farmer's wife came into the shed and was startled to find Ryokan crouching in the corner. What are you doing here, Ryokan, she asked. Shh, be quiet, please, he whispered, or else the children will find me. So I don't know, was he in Samadhi all night and just waiting for the children to come? Silly man. But there's another story. Once a relative of Ryokan's asked him to speak to his delinquent son. Ryokan came to visit the family, but did not say a word of admonition to the boy. He stayed overnight and prepared to leave the following morning. As the wayward boy was helping tie up Ryokan's straw sandals, he felt a drop of warm water on his shoulder. Glancing up, the boy saw Ryokan.

[22:41]

Looking down at him, his eyes full of tears. Ryokan returned to his hermitage and the boy had a complete change of heart. So again, just, he didn't say a thing, but just by who he was and his caring, something happened to this boy. Again, what is right and wrong? How do we get caught up in some views of what we should do? So part of our tradition that Ryokan was trained in, that Dogen initiated in Japan, that Suzuki Roshi brought to San Francisco, that I trained in there, has various forms. How we step in the zendo and take a step or two and bow. bow to our seat and bow away.

[23:44]

We have various forms for how we do everything. There's a posture by which we sit. There's a form for meals and for services. It's not that these forms in and of themselves are sacred. Part of knowing the forms is then knowing how to adapt them to the situation we're in. So we're working with that. This is all a work in process. trying to find what works best for people who might want to stop in a storefront in north central Chicago and do Zen practice. How do we do that? So the forms are helpful, but how do we not get attached to views? So one of the, you know, we actually in this temple formally we don't, we're vegetarian. This is part of the Buddhist tradition. And it's different in different countries and a lot of In Japan, a lot of people think of vegetarianism as including eating fish.

[24:47]

There's a range of things. I think in our culture, too, we struggle with what is the right thing to eat, and all of the toxins in the world around us, and what is the proper diet. There are various ideas about this, and some of them are good, and yet we can get caught up on them. So this is a story about this. Once Ryokan was traveling with a young monk. At a certain tea house, they received food that contained fish. The young monk left the fish untouched, as is the Orthodox Buddhist custom. But Ryokan gobbled it down without a moment's thought. That food has fish in it, you know, the monk said to Ryokan. Yes, it was delicious, Ryokan said with a smile. That evening, they were put up by a farmer. And the following morning, the young monk complained, the fleas were biting like crazy, and I was up all night. But you slept like a baby. Why? Ryokan replied, matter-of-factly, I eat fish when it's offered, but I also let fleas and mosquitoes feast on me. Nothing bothers me at all.

[25:48]

So Ryokan slept inside a mosquito net, not to protect himself, but to protect the bugs. This was his custom. He feared he might accidentally kill them in his sleep. However, he left one leg outside the net so the insects would not go hungry. But anyway, he was willing to be part of the Fujian. So how do we hold our views? And, you know, it's part of our human nature and our intelligence and our The gift we have as human beings is that we can make discriminations and discern and make assessments about what is helpful, what is not helpful, what is right and wrong. And it's not that we should not do that, but how do we hold that somewhat lightly? How are we available to each thing changing? So I want to have some discussion about this.

[26:53]

One other little bit about Ryokan, and I know some of you have heard this before, I've talked about him before, but one of the things about Ryokan was that even during his lifetime, his calligraphy, he was a great calligrapher, and this is very valued, we have some fine calligraphy in our temple. Anyway, Rio Kahn had very elegant, beautiful calligraphy. So people actually tried to trick him to get copies of it because it was already valuable. So there's a lot of stories about Rio Kahn being being tricked into writing calligraphy stories about this. A friend of Ryokan asked for a piece of calligraphy that would bring good luck and prosperity to his family. Ryokan brushed the single-syllable sheet. on a full-size sheet of paper.

[27:57]

What does it mean, the friend asked. And Ryokan replied, death. So this is the character for death, which you wouldn't think is something that would bring good luck and prosperity. But Ryokan said, when people are mindful of death, they don't waste time or squander their wealth. So this was his gift. One time, another time, Ryokan did a painting of a skull, a favorite theme of Zen artists for a priest friend. The priest wanted Ryokan to add an inscription, but Ryokan thought the painting was fine just as it was. The priest persisted, though, asking Ryokan to write something each time he visited. Finally, Ryokan gave him. He brushed an inscription which read, today Ryokan has written something. So he's kind of funny. Oh, here's one, okay. Ryokan loved to play the board game Go. Have any of you played Go? It's a wonderful game. I once thought I would like to just be a Go master, but then I'd have to give up everything else in my life, so anyway.

[29:00]

But Ryokan, he loved to play the game, but he hated to lose, which was unfortunate, since he wasn't a very strong player. After one close defeat, he wanted a rematch, and his opponent agreed, only if you promise to give me a piece of calligraphy each time you lose. Ryokan reluctantly agreed, but he lost again and again. His opponent expected several prize pieces of Zen wisdom, but all he got on each sheet was the following. Picking persimmons, which are very popular in Japan. Picking persimmons, my testicles are frozen by the autumn wind. And, you know, these stories are charming. So this was Rio Kahn's way of dealing with each thing changing. So again, in conclusion before some discussion, wanting to get rid of one and grab the other is merely realizing a scene of stupidity, even if you seek of the wonder in it all.

[30:05]

And please do. taste and listen to the wonder in it all. Please, too, turn the light to shine within, as we say, as is us in instruction, and appreciate how wonderful and strange and lovely and so forth this life is. Even if you see or speak of the wonder in it all, how do you deal with each thing changing? How do we take care of the conventional realities of the world? How do we stay available to our life and to the reality of the world in which everything is shifting. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it. Sometimes it happens very suddenly. It's hard to see. How did this happen? So, how do you deal with each thing changing? Comments or questions? OK, so stop.

[31:25]

So I guess I was aware that we'd moved this other Tom's out. Yes. And that's a change, you know? And I was thinking that now that people have rock suits, we need a place to put them. So we put them back here. And it's just enough room for it. I thought, you know, this is like just our space of job. Yeah. Should I fold my knot another half inch? Another half inch? Yes. That's all? That's all. So during temple cleaning, we'll pull them out another, maybe a hole-ish. So this was Hogetsu's suggestion, which I quite welcomed, and people with raksus can put them back there. And also during, you know, when we do prostrations, Monday evenings or during day-long sittings, maybe that'll make it easier for people to do prostrations on the zabaton instead of on the hard floor. You know, this is an example of just making a little change.

[32:29]

And we're, you know, to meet the reality of our being present, we need to be open to make adjustments. So we're thinking about also changing our meal practice in some ways, and we'll see how that evolves. But yeah, we have these various forms for, you know, our Zen tradition, but also in our life. We have routines about how we do things. And maybe they're routine because they actually work, but then things change. How do we try new things? How do we be open to not know what it is? Other responses? Tom. When you're talking about wanting that, like all the latest gadgets or whatever, that's always what I thought about for like grasping.

[33:36]

I forget that. And so for me, I don't usually, that's not usually too much of an issue, like wanting stuff or things, but then I forget about the part of the emotional, like always wanting, like wanting not to hurt. And so I guess that is the one who has me. And I forget that, you know, to sit with that and sort of like wishing I wasn't that, or wishing that for other people even. So I guess that really kind of set in more today. Yeah, we can want really good things. We can want everybody to be, you know, may all beings be happy. May I be happy, you know? We can want to develop our capacities, spiritually or emotionally or otherwise. And that's good. It's not necessarily bad to have desires.

[34:38]

It's what we do with them. Are we going to force our idea about how things should change on the world? Are we going to try whatever we think might be that which will allow us to pursue life, liberty and happiness and all that? Can we respond and shift and adjust and be available to the changes of the world? And again, the practice of patience seems so important to me, and I'll bring it into this discussion too. How do we pay attention to the changes? So to deal with each thing changing, we need to pay attention. And so this is the practice of patience, not necessarily trying to push it in some certain way, but okay, well, let's look at possibilities. How do I respond to this? Sometimes there's nothing to say or do.

[35:41]

We just kind of keep watching. It's not passive. It's like, okay, how do we be ready and willing to shift something when we see some other possibility? Yes, Nancy. I think in terms of that, as I've gotten older, So I was just thinking about the Dalai Lama, who seems like a super flexible dude.

[36:51]

He has all these conversations with scientists and people who study things like emotion. And one psychologist was Paul Ekman, who's an expert on emotion. You might have seen that show Vladimir, how you can actually actually hardwired in us, so we might go, oh, I'm really happy that he could tell that a certain muscle isn't activated, and I'm really aggressive, or something like that. But anyway, he was having this conversation about Darwin's ideas about emotion. And while I heard them, I said, hmm, I'm a Darwinist. But there's a sense of openness and flexibility that I think is kind of amazing. Yes. Yeah, His Holiness has said that if science says something, if science proves something, then we should change Buddhism to adjust to that.

[37:52]

I totally agree. The point isn't to hold on to some old doctrine, but to actually meet the moment. What is Buddhism today? Forget about Buddhism. What is our practice? What is the way of... Dalai Lama says his religion is kindness. What is a way to be kind to everyone and to ourselves in this situation? So Buddhism is very compatible with science. I mentioned a while back about the Darwin movie that has been banned in the United States. You all know about that. But science itself is sort of challenged in our culture now. There's a movie with Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, a theatrical feature about Darwin and some juncture in his life, and it's showing all over the world, and they haven't been able to show it in this country because no distributor has been willing to take it on.

[38:55]

because of the anti-Darwinists, or whatever they call themselves, the anti-science people. So I heard maybe it might get distributed in this country now. It may shift, but it's kind of startling that we live in this world where A big part of the suffering of our society and the world is people holding on to some idea. So fundamentalism is the opposite of dealing with each thing changing. It's got to be this way. So how do we deal with the people who are afraid to change? This is also part of dealing with each thing. How do we express that flexibility can be fun, that it's okay to change, that even bad things change. This is one of the practical challenges of our society now. Yes, Michelle. I often think holding that tension between fundamentalism and flexibility is a huge challenge in our culture.

[40:04]

And I think flexibility also requires a certain sense of self-trust. And I think for many people who are still holding dearly to any type of fundamentalism, be it religious or social or cultural or gender-specific, I think there's a tendency not to self-trust, to be afraid, to not take that next step. Yeah, fear of change is I also think that there's something there. Not that I agree with, I mean, yeah, I've had a lot of trouble without my grandparents and somebody to really hold on to that. I mean, that's quite impressive. I mean, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I mean, I think some of it is hurting.

[41:06]

You know, it can hurt people. But it's pretty impressive that these people are still holding on to stuff. And I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. I agree with you. Or that they're afraid to change. I think that they're holding on to that and have a deep belief. And I think that that's kind of the thing. Yeah, so better way to say it is, you said, Michelle, the balance between fundamentalism and flexibility. Give me that old-time religion, you know, here I am, holding on to, you know, Sato Zen and the Dharma, all these dead Asian guys, Ryokan and Dogon and Buddha, Nagarjuna, you know. So, yeah, but how do we do that? So that's right, there's something, you talked about trust, Michelle, how do we trust ourselves And when we really look at ourselves, we need support of the world and of, you know, wisdom traditions and compassion traditions of all kinds, religious and otherwise.

[42:11]

How do we hold on to that without fighting change? So yeah, maybe it's, so this fear is part of it, and then this balancing that we need to do. So it's not that people, it's not that we, you know, the people who are fundamentalists in a way that is causing harm for people who don't agree with them, this happens in the world all the time, it's not that those people are bad, it's they're trying to find their way to express their faith. How do we bring some openness and air and flexibility into that? Maybe that's another way to ask that question. I've actually been reading quite a bit about this topic in the science education literature. And maybe this is even too obvious to state, but a lot of it's just a matter of geography and where the fundamentalists live.

[43:25]

I mean, that's where you will find people who resist science, let's say. And so I just mention that because like any kind of diversity, which I feel is very much tied to being in a specific place at a specific time. And you could tie that into Zen ideas of thusness and suchness. Just something being what it is right now and the fact that someone has certain feelings and certain beliefs is just a matter of their suchness, their kind of

[44:35]

space and time in this particular moment, and how that's changing. Yeah, and it is changing. So how do we meet this suchness in this place and time, right here, now? And this is kind of why I moved from California to the Midwest. Yeah. Redistributing the wealth of the Dharma from California into the Maybe we need offshoots, offshoot little temples in, I don't know, Kentucky, Indiana. Well, there are some. Are there other places in Kentucky? Yes. Yeah, of course, Dygok. I've met one of the teachers there. Yeah. So, yeah. So part of what we're trying to do here is train ourselves, help and support each other in this training in Kind of flexibility, kindness as flexibility, openness, being available to change.

[45:39]

And supporting that in others. Encouraging others to, not to abandon their faiths, but to, you know, like the Dalai Lama, be willing to be informed by other views of reality.

[45:56]

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