Good evening, everyone. So, this evening's talk is inspired by a talk I saw online by a Potawatomi teacher. It's also a scientist named Robin Wall Kimura, who wrote a wonderful book called Braided Sweetgrass. It's a wonderful book, which I just started, but in her talk that I saw, she sort of challenged us. She was talking about how we feel, how we are separated from the natural world, from the natural landscape, and how we need stories that help us reconnect and restore our connection with a deep connection with the natural world.

[01:08]

Our relationship to the land is broken. We need to restore it and to restore it. So, that got me thinking about stories. So, I'm going to tell, I have to apologize, I'm going to tell four stories tonight. I've tried to get to four stories tonight, and each of them I've talked about many times. Each of them could be a whole session or a whole practice period. I'm just going to mention them. A couple of them are from a koan collection that we use in Sato Zen called the Book of Serenity. Cases and verses by Hongzhe, who was a great teacher in China a century before Dogen brought this tradition to Japan in the 1200s. The first story is about building temples.

[02:11]

So, it's very pertinent to us here at Ancient Dragon. And the story is that the World Honored One Shakyamuni was out walking with his assembly, and he pointed to the ground and he said, This place, this spot is good to build a temple. And Indra, Emperor of the Gods, who was one of the people in the assembly with Shakyamuni, took a blade of grass and stuck it in the ground and said, The temple is built. And Shakyamuni smiled. So, this is case four in the Book of Serenity. And most of you know that we are in the process of purchasing, or hoping to purchase, a building in the Linggis-Brown House Center, Chicago, for a long-term Suzuki-Roshi lineage Sato Zen temple in Chicago.

[03:22]

And the process is moving along. It's very complicated and intricate. And Dylan Tarkoff and David Ley, who are both here, have been extremely instrumental in making this possible. So, to just take a blade of grass and stick it in the ground seems very simple compared to working with mortgage brokers and banks and all kinds of things nowadays. And yet, in some way, the story is important. Any space, or many spaces, Shakyamuni pointed to one particular place and said, This is a good spot. So, how do we find good places to build temples in our world today? So, this is a story about how there are many such places, and how we are connected to the land, and we are connected to all the blades of grass.

[04:28]

And each of these stories has a whole lot to it. I'm going to read Monge's first commentary on this case that he picked. And there's actually just one line that I want to talk about, but I'll read the whole verse. The boundless spring on the hundred plants, picking up what comes to hand. He uses it knowingly. A sixteen-foot-tall golden body, a collection of virtuous qualities, casually leads him by the hand into the red dust. So, how do we honor the red dust in this world? Able to be master in the dust, from outside creation a guest shows up. Everywhere life is sufficient in its way, no matter if one is not as clever as others.

[05:30]

So, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere life is sufficient in its way. Our planet provides birdsong, provides trees, provides grasses. It's also today providing. And this corrosive air that we can feel from the forest burning down up in Canada. So, Monge says from outside creation a guest shows up. Is a new temple a guest? Is a blade of grass a guest? How do we welcome guests? How do we welcome that which is not what we expect, not what we've invited? How do we welcome change? How do we welcome and appreciate all the guests that show up, all the unexpected realities of our land and our world?

[06:42]

So. Everywhere is sufficient in its way, and yet we point to a particular spot and say, this isn't the place for a temple. So this is a simple and intricate process. How do we appreciate the land? How do we appreciate all the guests who show up? So that's one story. So I'm going to tell four stories. And I invite you to also add stories that point us back to appreciating the world we live in. Appreciating the world of nature, to appreciate it. All the guests. Lakes and rivers and prairies and taking care of them. So part of this was that we take care of.

[07:50]

So that's one story. And again, I'm just I'm going to each of these stories. We could talk about for months, but the next story is about a great Chinese teacher. Who was the teacher of founder of. And this is a story. That many of you have heard me talk about many times before, but. Story is book of serenity case 21. Ground, so he was doing what. 10 months temple residents to do it. Morning. We take care of the space, so you're not was sweeping the ground. And his brother.

[08:55]

Happened to be his brother. Walk by and saw. He said too busy. And said, you should know there's one who's not this. So just that line is worth remembering. Well, it's repeating. Well, sitting with you should know. There's one who's not this. And who sits us and just to reconnect with the one who's not busy. Even though we live in a busy world. Many of us are multitasking and taking care of all kinds of different things. And yet, how do we know there's one who's not this? This is not separate from talking about. Appreciating the world of nature, appreciating our space and our place in this land on this planet. So, when you said, you should know, there's one who's not busy.

[10:00]

And union said. You mean, there's two rooms. And he. His brother. Held out his. And said. Notice this. This is a wonderful story. You should know, there's one who's not busy. Does that mean there are two rooms? I mean, does that mean there are two realities? Does that mean there's the world where we sit quietly and then there's busy world out there or running around going to work, dealing with all the different things. It's meant to the times passing by. Are there two rooms? Two separate realities. One that's not busy.

[11:03]

Ultimate reality. And then the particulars phenomenal reality where we are busy. And he didn't take us out either side. He just said. Which one is this? How do we ask the land? Are you a story that separates us from you? Or are you a story that nourishes us? How do we take care of stories? How do we take care of our place in the world? You should know, there's one who's not busy. But are we making a separation when we know that? Are we saying there's two realities or there's a Buddhist teaching of two truths, but our school is about integrating those two? How do we bring our deep awareness that may arise during Zazen into all of the everyday stuff?

[12:16]

Trying to purchase. Trying to get some place on time. Trying to take care of our place in the world. So, this is a great story. I would love it if any of you have questions about these stories or comments, so we can do that in discussion, or you can bring up other stories. The third story I want to mention in response to Robin Mortimer's challenge, how do we find stories that reconnect us to the land and the landscape? It's about the land and the landscape, and it's not exactly a Zen story, but it's not exactly not a Zen story. So, for example, in his Mountains and Water Sutra, Dogen, our great Tojin Senju founder, talked about mountains, great mountains.

[13:18]

He talks various places about trees and lakes, and how do we see them? And I was separate from them. And do we imagine, do we know what this place is, where we inhabit? So, if we go over to Lake Michigan, do we see this lake as water, or do we recognize that fish see it as air, and the dragons see it as great pavilions? How do we see the world around us? So, these stories are stories about how we appreciate the land, the world, and our world. So, I'll mention a couple more books. There's a book called The Overstory by Richard Powers.

[14:22]

And it's about how forests are alive and intelligent. And there's a scientist named Suzanne Simard, who's written another book called Finding the Mother Tree, Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. And I haven't started reading that book, but I saw a TED talk that she did. And the bottom line, the underworld, the undergrowth, the connectedness, is that under forests there's this hyperizal network of fungus that connects trees. So, we think of forests as dimensional, we think of forests as separate trees. But actually, forests is an intelligent living biosystem.

[15:27]

It's an intelligent sentient being. Because it turns out that through this network, through this mycorrhizal undergrowth under the ground, we only see the things that are above the ground. We don't look at what's under the ground, usually. But under the ground, there's this network of mycorrhizal strands going every which way, and trees communicate with each other. They warn each other of dangers. And it's not just trees of the same species. Trees warn other trees. And they also share nutrition, nutrients. And Suzanne Simard talks about mother trees, that in this intricate network of mycorrhizal tendrils, there are hubs, there are trees that are hubs, there are trees that are, she says, mother trees, where this communication network connects.

[16:34]

And it turns out, and she's done scientific experiments that prove this, that demonstrate this. And this is old news to some of you, but anyway. These mother trees actually pay attention to their offspring, other trees in the forest. They come about through their growth and nourish them, communicate. So we think of a forest as a bunch of trees that we can clear cut and get and use the wood to build all the stuff that we want from it. But actually, forests are living networks, intelligent networks, intelligent beings who take care of each other, take care of all the different parts of the forest, and share information, share nutrients. So this very much supports the kind of talking that Dogev did about how the world is alive.

[17:45]

So again, this is the story that helps us see the world as alive. It helps us reconnect to the land and see that the land and the trees and the forests and the grasses and the birds are all alive, living together. That we are just a product of them. So, the 4th story that I quickly remembered after hearing this challenge from this wonderful Plato Ottoman teacher, Robert Kimmerer, is a story from the Lotus Sutra. One of our Bodhisattva scriptures that Dogev spoke about a lot. And some of you have heard me talk about this story often, but Shakyamuni Buddha, about halfway through the sutra, well, up until then, he's been asking all the Bodhisattvas who are coming to listen to him,

[19:01]

which of you, who of you will come and keep this sutra alive, keep this teaching, keep this practice alive in the distant future, evil age, and people have forgotten they're connected to the land. And at some point, some of the Bodhisattvas who have come from a very distant world system said, oh yeah, we'll come back, we'll come here and teach this sutra and teach this practice and help support Bodhisattvas in that future distant evil age. A kind of identified with our time, but many practitioners have identified with their time. He was in the future evil age anyway. So, Shakyamuni then turns to these Bodhisattvas who were offering to come and he says, well, you know, you don't really need to. And again, he points to the ground. He doesn't say this is a good spot for a temple.

[20:07]

He points to the ground and from out of the ground, from out of the open space under the ground, under the earth, spring forth thousands and thousands and millions of Bodhisattvas, great Bodhisattvas, wise, ancient, skilled Bodhisattvas. Who have been waiting in the earth, in the ground, in our ground to come forth and help peopleize this way of caring for each other, like caring for the world, caring for the land. Beyond all the politicians calling for cruelty, speaking of caring and taking care of each other. So, this is clearly a story that speaks to Robin Walker's call for stories that reconnect us to the ground, to the land, to our planet, to the world, to nature.

[21:13]

So, those are examples of several stories that help us see how the world is alive, how the world is not just alive, but is supporting us in our practice, is supporting the whole world in practice, not just human beings. We can get very arrogant and think that human beings are the crown of creation, but actually the whole thing is alive, as these indigenous teachers show us, as these scientists, foresters show us. So, as are indicated in some of these ancient Bodhisattva stories. So, how do we tell stories? How do we spread stories of good news, of all the possibilities there are on this planet, even with all of the damage that we know about that has happened?

[22:22]

How do we see the underlying possibilities, the underlying values, the underlying caring and support that is part of the nature of nature, that is how the world is, beyond cable news stations. So, I gave a brief summary of four stories that are all very deep and we could talk about a lot more. But I want to invite you, if you have stories to tell that show us how we are deeply connected to the world, or questions or comments about any of these stories, please feel free. Gershen, hi.

[23:24]

Can't resist, of course. Please, please, please, don't resist, don't resist. Come forth. Well, the first thing I would say about Robin Walker, her first book was called Gathering Moss, and she was the only writer I can think of that is such a compelling writer that a book about moss could get on the New York Times bestseller list. But she almost did not get into graduate school. She's a botanist, she's a published academic botanist. But she almost didn't get into graduate school because in her interview, she shocked and insulted the old white woman who was interviewing her by talking about beauty. And he dressed her down famously for bringing up such an insulting to an academic worldview concept, and it took some doing, I think, that exact way that resolved this.

[24:36]

So here's a good news story. My last Dermatoc, I was talking about my bird migration. So now the migration for spring is over, and now we're looking at nesting birds. And so this week, I visited three healing places that are recently being taken care of by people that had formerly, one is the U.S. Steelworks way on the far south side, which is now on the 78th or so, but Chicago Park District. One is a horse farm in Barrington, 400 acres, and one is a former forest reserve that just wasn't taken care of and now is being taken care of. And all of them are full of happily nesting grassland birds, which are among the most endangered suite of creatures because they haven't had open grassland habitat because it's all been turned to corn and soybeans in our state, the prairie state.

[25:43]

So that's been a wonderful, positive experience for me and very uplifting that we can take. But the U.S. Steelworks place in particular had been, you know, U.S. Steel, so it's all slag. And then they dumped the dredgings from Lake Peoria, they trucked it under and dumped that on it. So really, we abused it about as much as we could abuse a piece of lake. And now it's full of bottlenecks and sparrows and grasshoppers. So anyway, it's very uplifting, fun. Thank you so much, Kiyoshin. And now Kiyoshin works at restoring prairies, restoring wetlands. That story about U.S. Steel reminds me of beating swords into plowshares. Yes. Or beating swords into prairies and nesting lots.

[26:45]

It's a wonderful example of a story. All of the many things that are happening that are encouraging to life. It's very important. Other stories or comments on some of the stories that I mentioned? Don? I have a story and a question. So the story is, I saw this video a couple days ago from this account that I follow called Wisdom Keepers. And I don't know this person's name, but he was talking about the human relationship to trees. And he talks about going to get permission from the tree. So he makes canoes.

[27:47]

Or at least in the example, he was talking about making canoes. He said, you know, I go to the tree spirit and I tell her, like, I'm going to cut down one of your children. And the reason why is that I'm going to make this canoe that's going to help probably 40 or 50 people. And I think that's a fair trade. And having a conversation with a tree before something like that happens. Which I think even in the act of cutting the tree down, to me, it feels like a story that reconnects. Because it's about taking responsibility for the relationship between human beings with the earth. And he also talked about making an offer. It was some kind of doing that exchange.

[28:51]

Saying, like, I'm going to make this canoe. And I'd like to, you know, a little bit later on come back and bring some seeds with me. And plant some new trees so that you'll have new kids. And I feel good that that's a fair trade. And that'll be good for the future. And that having that actual conversation with a tree is a way to make that relationship explicit. You know, of what's happening. And I was really struck by that. And it made me feel connected to the earth. So that's the story. It's a great story. Yeah. Well, Kimora talks about talking to trees. And yes. You had a question. My question is about the which moon is this question.

[29:54]

And I wonder if it's always both or neither. But that one side of it can be more visible depending on the circumstances that day. Or what you're seeing. It feels like a trap to answer it being one or the other necessarily. I don't think he actually answers the question. The koan ends with him asking which moon is this. And that's the end of the koan. Yes, it's a question. And maybe there are lots of answers. So, you know, there's this teaching of futurists in Buddhism. But there's also this teaching of the Dharmadhatu.

[30:59]

The relationship between the one who's not busy and practicing in the world. So we're a lay Sangha practicing in Chicago. We're not a residential Sangha. It's not yet. And, yeah, how do we integrate? The point isn't to pick one or the other. That's why it's a brilliant story because there's a question. So, is it just one moon? Are there two moons? There's a comment in the commentary to the story. It says Manjushri says there are many moons. So, the particular planet we're living on, we only have one moon. But there are other planets right in our own solar system that have several moons. It's a question.

[32:01]

So, if we try and get stuck on a particular answer, that's avoiding reality. If we insist on, oh, it's the moon of the ultimate universal, not busy. Or it's the moon of taking care of all the stuff in the world. Neither is, you know, how do we live with question? How do we look at the complexity of reality? How do we see that the trees are talking to each other? So, I hope you don't think that's the answer to your question. No, it makes me think that, you know, our practice is about being a question.

[33:02]

That there's a spring, a launching pad for action in some way. That is the actual way of living. Whereas having an answer doesn't resolve anything. If we hold on to an answer, that kills the world. Because we're living in question. It's alive. Yeah. And there are different possibilities. Do we have another comment? No. Well, I see Patrick is online. I don't know if you can hear me, Patrick. I don't see your picture, but I see that you're there. And Patrick is a member of our software who works for the Environmental Protection Agency.

[34:06]

So, Patrick, do you have any stories about protecting the environment? Can you hear me? I can hear you. Thank you for the offer. I'm trying to think of a story. It's complicated. One thing to avoid, or that I try to avoid, when it comes to stories in my work, is only listening to my stories. One thing, just a little more background.

[35:14]

I work in enforcement. So, I do inspections. And then if there are violations, I send letters. And there's penalties and coming up with settlements with companies. And it's very easy to fall into an adversarial story. And that causes a lot of problems. And so, trying to stay open and positive. Maybe not positive, but trying to stay open. I've had companies come in. And in the case of one on the south side of Chicago, the company came in and said, we're actually no longer going to handle this product anymore.

[36:16]

And that was the cause of all the violations. And we don't usually propose that kind of action. And so, for the company to come to us and say, oh yeah, that product that's causing all these problems, we're actually just going to avoid it and get rid of it and no longer handle it. And it was shocking. I've never had a company essentially do the right thing. So, that sounds like a success story. It is. It is a success story. But in the sense that the company took it on themselves to do it without any of our, with our involvement, but without our suggesting that route as the only option. So, it's interesting trying to stay open and not judgmental or predetermining

[37:28]

or sort of boxing in companies is challenging, though. Yeah, thank you. Well, that's like Ian's question. It's not setting up an answer to impose on the situation. It's opening up possibilities. Thank you. Other comments or stories about how we can connect this nature with our world, with the liveliness of our world? Or questions about any of the stories? Do you have any stories of your grad school students and how they connect to the world?

[38:41]

Well, last year, what comes to mind is last year, this was a year ago, when the Ukraine war first started and in the spring, it was very much on the kids' minds, especially with their knowledge of Russia and knowing that Russia was, generally, they know that Russia is like a nuclear power. So, I think they were pretty worried that that could happen. So, I can't remember if it was a teacher or if we saw somewhere that other students were doing this or if it was a student, but it was suggested that we go plant some flowers in our garden. We have little garden spaces around school. And so, we did that. At first, actually, the kids suggested that we go around the school picking up trash and stuff. So, we did that. That's good. Yeah, that was really good. They enjoyed that because we had those little pincher things.

[39:50]

And so, they loved that. But then we planted these sunflowers and we did it toward the end of the year. So, when we came back in the fall of last year, they were massive. Wow. And, of course, they went away during the winter. But then I ran into a parent who runs the gardening club. And she said, like, now they've come back again. And, like, they're one of the more persistent and resilient, like, plants in the school's garden. So, yeah. Look, you know, anytime the kids can get outside, they just – I wish there was more opportunity, honestly. Because – but, yeah, they love it for sure. Yeah, planting trees and planting flowers is certainly an action that connects us to the life of the world. Yeah.

[40:51]

Actually, I wanted to give a big shout out. I've been thinking a lot about Lake Michigan lately. And, you know, during the summer, I have an opportunity to kind of, like, be outside a lot more. And I've been, like, taking bike rides along the lake. And, you know, I just – I don't know if we as citizens – I'm speaking for myself. I don't know that I appreciate, like, sort of the vastness of it and the power of it. But also its ability to give joy. That's so apparent in, like, being outside in the summer, like, just the sheer amount of activity and happiness that it engenders. You know, being at the beach and watching kids and people, like, run into the water. It's pretty rare that anybody's going into the water and, like, you know, like, frowning. Like, everybody's laughing and smiling and stuff. And so I just – I appreciate – Also, there's kind of a funny relationship with the lake where you, like – it's cold and it's, like, kind of foreboding.

[41:59]

And I think that's kind of healthy to have both. But we have this massive, like, parkway along the lake and the lake itself. So I just – I really appreciate just Chicago's particular circumstance in that way, you know. And the happiness that that – that the lake provides for the people of the city, you know. And just to, like, continue to notice that and pay attention. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for starboarding. Great site. So, Kesha. I just mentioned Hogetsu's project with the monarchs. Oh, yes, please tell us about that. That's a wonderful story. Yeah. So Hogetsu and many of our fund members are away for a while, but Hogetsu's Garden is such a wonderful thing to walk through when we come into the sendo.

[43:02]

But she collected the eggs of monarch birdflies, which were laid on the milkweeds in her garden, which she planted there for that purpose, and then hatched them in an enclosure so that they wouldn't get eaten. There are lots of predators that eat monarch eggs. So that protected them, and she, of course, put milkweed leaves in the enclosure so that when the eggs hatched, the little caterpillars ate them, and they grew and they grew and they grew. And then just before she left, they did what caterpillars do. They transformed into a chrysalid, which is a lovely little jade-looking structure that's hanging at the top of the enclosure, which you saw in the entryway. And magic is happening inside there. That's the scientific term. They will emerge as adult monarchs sometime in the next several days.

[44:07]

And then we will release them back into the garden. They will continue their life cycle. So that's just a lovely story. We all get to eat into this. So when you walk in and bow to the chrysalids, if you see an adult butterfly in there, if it's daytime and it's not raining, you should take it up to the arch and let it fly away. If it's nighttime or raining, don't do that. But let me know, and someone will come and let it go at the right time. It should be released when the sun is shining. So it's fine up there. You know, there's a little bit of drought, so you don't have to do that. Anyway, it's a lovely story. Thank you.

[45:09]

Will someone be checking it between now and next Sunday? Yeah. I think she also has some paper to check in on. Thank you for taking care of that and for relating that to us. For people who don't know, there are 12 regular members of our Shambha who will be here tonight, except they're in Tuscarora, upstate, way back in the mountains, east of Big Sur in Monterey County, California, which is a lovely, wonderful place. Lots of nature. Anyway, lots of nature everywhere. Many places are a good spot for a temple, fortunately. So it's about time to wind down. Unless anybody else has something they would like to say? Anyone? Okay.

[46:09]

We'll close with the four quality shots of vows, and then I'll have an instance. The aims are numberless. We vow to free them. The solutions are impossible. We vow to uproot them. Terminates are relentless. We vow to answer them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. We vow to realize it. The aims are numberless. We vow to free them. The solutions are insustable. We vow to uproot them. Terminates are relentless. We vow to answer them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable.

[47:13]

We vow to realize it. The aims are numberless. We vow to free them. The solutions are insustable. We vow to uproot them. Terminates are relentless. We vow to answer them. Buddha's way is unsurpassable. We vow to realize it. Thank you all. So, I have some announcements. And first, I want to thank you, Kiyoshino. Wanted to mention beauty and beauty and science. And there's no reason why beauty can't emerge from science and vice versa. So, I appreciate that story. So, upcoming events. Next Sunday is July 2nd.

[48:16]

But it's close to July 4th. So, I'll be talking about Interdependence Day. And the state of our society in terms of liberty and pursuit of happiness. And various aspects of that. A week from tonight, next Monday, Carol Larsen from Cleveland, a board member, will be speaking. Sunday, the 9th of July, Paul Disko, who is our architect and consultant for our new temple, will be here in Chicago and will be speaking here. So, that's July 9th. Another guest speaker next month is Brook Siporin. He's a University of Chicago professor and one of the country's foremost scholars of Chinese Buddhism. I've spoken here before. And Monday evening is the coming month, Douglas and Kathy Bingham and Sophia will be speaking.

[49:22]

And I'll just mention, in August, August 13th, another Suzuki Roshi lineage teacher will be speaking online, Theo Coyote, who is also a Zen teacher. So, and the other announcement is that there's the people here in this agenda will have tea and treats in the kitchen right after this. Any other announcements at any time? I have a question. Yes. We're hoping that eventually we'll have a roof garden, but that's going to be a ways away. There's the back space. There's a very small space behind the building. The building is. So, we're working at acquiring this building. It's not done yet, but it's a great location.

[50:25]

The building is basically in very good shape. Although the roof is going to need some work. But it's a little small. So, it's a long term project. And eventually we will be expanding the tech board, which is now residential. So, anyway, it's a long term project. And it's not a network near future. It is just half a block from the big park. So, it's just a couple of doors down from that. Other questions or announcements? Okay, thank you all very much. Please treasure stories of the world coming to life. It does. So, thank you.

[51:26]

Thank you.

[51:27]

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