Good morning. Welcome, everyone. So for those of you who are new, I'm Taigen Leighton, the teacher here at Ancient Dragons Zen Gate. 10 years ago today, I became an immigrant, a refugee from California Zen. I arrived in Chicago, relocated permanently to Chicago. visiting here as a teacher to the group Ancient Dragons Zen Gate that had formed. But ten years ago today, I arrived and I stayed at Kathy's apartment in Hendersonville. Hi, Kathy. And let's see, Aisha, Nancy, and Eric were part of the group then also. And then the next day, 10 years ago tomorrow, drove down to the new apartment I had rented in Roscoe Village and drove through.

[01:12]

There was a substantial amount of snow, and it was much colder than now. So in 10 years, we've had increasingly record heat, so that's, I don't know, maybe it's more pleasant for us now, but it's not, it's, the effects for the planet are not going to be better. And our new administration is dedicated to increasing the rate of this situation. But anyway, two years after that, we rented this space, this lovely, intimate storefront temple here. And we've been developing this wonderful, great, lively sangha that we are now, today.

[02:14]

So thank you all for being here. It makes me very happy to see all of you and to sit with all of you. And so here we are providing this opportunity to practice zazen for people in Chicago in this little storefront non-residential temple. So this practice of zazen is about allowing ourselves, each of us, and together to deepen our awareness to settle more and more fully into this realization of this background ultimate reality, this deep communion with all being and all things that happens, that is happening all the time, but that we make real.

[03:20]

by engaging in this practice. So to settle more and more deeply in this practice, this opportunity of zazen allows us to deepen this reality. To practice this ongoing, well, we call it Buddha, this sense of You know, any word I say isn't it. These are just words, but the experience of being really present, of feeling our breath, of being present in this body, mind, that is not separate from all the people we have ever known, or will ever know actually, from all the beings on Irving Park Road in North Center Chicago, and to settle more and more deeply into this awareness

[04:42]

to be present and upright on our seat. This is wonderful. And, you know, it's just ordinary. It's actually something that people can do, that all beings can do, and here we are, and we make this available to each other and to ourselves and to anyone who wants to come. So I'm glad that there are some people here who had Zazen instruction in our tradition for the first time. Welcome. And we also emphasize creative expression of this reality on our seats, in our Zazen, but also in our everyday activities in the world. For people who've been here before, I'm not going to say anything new today, but I wanted to just talk about our practice and what it means.

[05:54]

I'm going to read one of the short talks by A. A. Dogen, the 13th century a Japanese teacher, Japanese monk, who founded this tradition, brought it back from China to Japan. So this is just a short talk, but I'll read the whole thing first and then talk about it. He said, the family style of all Buddhas and ancestors is to first arouse the vow to save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy. Only this family style is inexhaustibly bright and clear, In the lofty mountains, we see the moon for a long time. As clouds clear, we first recognize the sky. Cast loose down the precipice, the moonlight shares itself within the 10,000 forms. Even when climbing up the bird's path, taking good care of yourself is spiritual power." So that's the whole talk. He gave around 1250.

[06:55]

And so just to go through it a little bit, he says, the family style of all Buddhism ancestors. So this is what we call, what he founded, is what we call the Soto Zen tradition of Buddhism. But it's really just the family style of all Buddhism ancestors. Buddhas just means awakened ones. So it's not limited to, I'm not talking about Buddhism. You don't have to be a Buddhist to be here. We have Catholics here, we have Muslims here. The family style of all Buddhists and ancestors is to first arouse the vow to save all living beings by removing suffering and providing joy. That's what our practice is about. To care, to dedicate ourselves to liberating all living beings. We sit, on our cushion. This is not a self-help technique. It includes ourselves, but it's about our deep connection with everything and everyone, all beings.

[08:06]

And we try to remove suffering and provide joy to liberate all beings. He says only this family style, only this way of being is inexhaustibly bright and clear. Then he says, in the lofty mountains we see the moon for a long time. So Dogen founded a temple, a heiji, way up in the remote mountains in Japan. Here we are practicing in the big city, Chicago, near a lake. But when he talks about seeing the moon in the lofty mountains for a long time, he's talking about our Zazen practice. So for people who just had meditation instruction here for the first time today, we emphasize doing this regularly. It takes a while and it takes steady regular sitting every day or several times a week at least for a long time to see the moon, to see wholeness, to see this possibility

[09:15]

of being present and whole and connecting with all beings. Human beings do not need to be committed to greed and anger and hatred and confusion and warfare and stealing and corruption. That's been most of human history and most of what seems to be happening in our society now. Of course, other things are happening in our society now. Great creative expressions of resistance to that and freedom. Anyway, in the Lofty Mountains, we see the moon for a long time. When we engage in this practice for a long time, we see this possibility of wholeness. We see this reality of wholeness.

[10:18]

As clouds clear, we first recognize the sky. So this is, you know, traditional Zen expression to use nature metaphors to talk about our reality. As our confusion clears, as we see clearly, we recognize the sky, the openness, the possibility of openness and clarity. of spaciousness that is also part of, not part of, that is the underlying and background reality of our lives. Then he says, cast loose down the precipice from the mountaintop, the moonlight flowing down the mountain stream shares itself within the 10,000 forms. So we don't practice just for ourselves. When we start, as we do this practice over a long time, how we are in the world is shared within everything in our lives, with all the people we are engaged with during the week.

[11:27]

The moonlight shares itself within the 10,000 forms. And then he says, even when climbing up the bird's path, even when we are open to the sky and engaging in the path that is beyond manipulations and stages and, you know, calculations. He says, taking care of yourself, good care of yourself is spiritual power. So we come back to this practice of just sitting upright. We take good care of ourselves. We see our own deep ingrained patterns of grasping of craving, of anger and confusion. How do we take care of those? So greed and anger and confusion are natural parts of being human.

[12:34]

How do we take care of those negative emotions? We don't try and suppress them. They keep coming up, and if we're paying attention, what is the, what's this, what's the, I saw this sign, the Women's Marsh, if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention, of course, and it's an old bumper sticker. So yeah, how do we take care of our anger? How do we take care of our caring? How do we take care of ourselves in the middle of that? So we come back to our cushion and pay attention and see how we're feeling, feel how we're feeling. take care of our negative emotions. Use them. Use the energy of anger. Use the energy of greed. Turn those to being tools for liberating all living beings and removing suffering and providing joy. This is our practice. So this very short talk by Dogan includes the whole of our practice life. And we keep coming back.

[13:37]

and paying attention. So as we sit, we're not trying to get rid of thoughts and feelings. We're not trying to get rid of difficult sensations. We're facing the wall and facing ourselves. We don't face the wall to get rid of anger, to get rid of difficult feelings. We face the wall as a mirror to see ourselves. We face the wall as a window to see all beings. We connect with all of our life. And the wonder of this practice is that we can sit still and upright and be present and engage all of it. We don't have to run away from our life. We can actually enjoy our inhale. Enjoy our exhale. Enjoy our fear. Feel it. Not be afraid of it. Courage isn't about getting rid of fear, it's about facing it.

[14:38]

Enjoy our confusion, okay. Sometimes sitting for a day, you know, there are times during the day when you're tired and everything is foggy, and pay attention to that. Sometimes you're sitting for a while, You know, thoughts are going through your mind very quickly. Well, just pay attention to that. Don't try and figure them out or do anything with them. Just to be present and witness to this reality is the point. Pay attention. This isn't about fixing anything. It's about actually settling into a place where you can be deeply present with reality and then respond helpfully when you can. or at first just maybe try not to do any harm from your own anger and confusion and craving. So our practice is how to creatively express this in the world and how to integrate this sense of

[15:50]

the ultimate, the sense of the wholeness, this awareness of the fullness of the moon with our life and our feelings and what's going on in the world and in our own life and the difficulties we have with our family and friends and co-workers, difficulties we have in what's going on in the world. How do we find a way to be present and calm and remember, in some way, remind ourselves of Buddha? This practice of, in some ways, this practice of sitting upright is just to remember Buddha. To, Japanese is called Nambutsu, to remind ourselves, to recollect Buddha on our seat. in our posture, in our body-mind.

[16:54]

Buddha just means that which is awakened. And for each one of us, each one of you has your own way of expressing Buddha. I cannot tell you how to be Buddha, but you can find that by settling deeply into what is calm and settled and awake and attentive. What is that for you? This body-mind, this situation, Dogen says, occupying your Dharma position, this life, this problem that you have this week, this month, with this government or this job or with this relationship, How do you settle into just meeting this situation and integrating this experience of seeing the moon for a long time, of recognizing the sky with this situation?

[18:21]

So we have various specific practices to help with that. We have the practices of the Bodhisattva transcendent practices. Each one of these is a whole dharma talk or a whole practice period. But I'll just mention a few. And then we have our 16 bodhisattva precepts and sutras and tradition. Just to mention some of these. So the practice of generosity. How do we be generous? This includes being generous to ourselves. and generous to, you know, maybe we start with the people we already want to be generous to. Then how do we be generous to people who maybe we have a hard time to? How do we, when we feel some judgment towards someone, how do we, you know, think about what is their difficulty?

[19:34]

somebody who's acting in a way that seems harmful or obnoxious or whatever, what is their fear? What is their pain? How are they damaged? How do we be generous to them? How do we give, not just giving gifts, it could be that, but how do we give caring? And also, again, to ourselves as well. How do we be kind? So that's a whole lifetime practice. Practice of patience is another one of these. There's 10 of these transcendent practices. Patience is not a passive practice. It's a dynamic, active practice, just to wait and watch. Be ready to respond. But sometimes it's just waiting, waiting in line at the grocery store or waiting for the bell to ring or waiting, whatever.

[20:46]

How do we do that without just kind of zoning out, but in an attentive way where we're ready to respond and be helpful when we see some way to do that? And maybe a lot of times there's nothing to do. But just be present. So this practice, this dynamic active practice of patience is very, very important. Another one of the ten is the practice of commitment or vow. How do we, you know, when our anger arises, when some situation allows us to feel our anger, how do we turn that to determination and commitment to Do something helpful about the situation. To resolve, to respond. Practice of skillful means is another very subtle. How do we, using trial and error, see what might be helpful?

[21:52]

It's not about having some instruction manual, but actually paying attention and using what's at hand. Then we have these, we have 16 precepts in Sotasana tradition. They start with just taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, in awakening and in the teaching of reality and in community. Returning home to Buddha, they all flow from that. And then there's 10 grave precepts. Disciple of Buddha does not kill, does not take what is not given, does not misuse sexuality, does not lie. Each one of those is also about helping others not to kill or to steal. And each one of those is also about the positive. So disciple of Buddha does not kill also means disciple of Buddha tries to support life and vitality. So each of these is a kind of tool, they're not commandments, thou shalt not, they're guidelines.

[23:03]

How do we express this deep meditative awareness that we settle into in our meditation, in our everyday activity? And thinking about these 16, for me they come down to three things to remember. It's good to study all 16, but basically just to be helpful, not harmful. Basic Buddhist teaching about himsa, not harming, but also then to be helpful. So it's not about being good or bad or right or wrong, it's about how do we help? and not cause harm. And then one of them is to embrace and sustain all beings. How do we benefit all beings? It's not just about taking care of our own family, our own community. See all beings. It's inclusive. So I want to talk about this in terms of what's happening now.

[24:06]

and this horrible ban against Muslims, but it's many people who are being prejudiced against now. But this practice is about benefiting all beings. And then finally, being respectful to everyone and to everything, and to oneself. So, you know, we're in a crisis now, and I want to talk a little bit about how do we respond to that. So I think part of what Dogen is saying is that we do respond. The Moonlight naturally shares itself with the 10,000 forms. How do we take care of our world now? And we have something to offer to the resistance, as it's been called. We have this meditative practice in which we learn some calm, some resolve, some steadiness, some balance, and I think that's helpful now.

[25:18]

But, you know, there is now this kind of Well, many threatened communities. There's this ban against Muslims. I guess the courts are trying to stop that. But women are in danger. Health care is in danger. Immigrants are in danger. Refugees. very much, especially refugees fleeing from the wars in the Mideast that the United States has created. Hispanics are threatened. LGBTQ people are threatened. There's also a threat to invade Chicago and send the feds to send Federal soldiers and, of course, blacks were threatened. None of this is new, actually, of course.

[26:20]

So for minority communities, this has been going on a long time. This is not just about Mr. Trump or the people who voted for him. Many of the people who voted for Mr. Trump voted for him for the same reasons that people voted for Mr. Obama in 2008, because obviously something is really wrong in our society. So I was reminded, a German Protestant theologian, Martin Niemöller, lived 1892 to 1984. He survived seven years in concentration camps. He famously said, first they came for the socialists and I did not speak out. because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists.

[27:21]

This was in 30s Germany. And I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out. So they're coming for all those people I mentioned. They haven't mentioned Buddhists yet, but here we are. So, you know, I think it's, I think we have to respond. And we are, and we have been. And there's, I wanted to mention, there's an interfaith prayer service and rally for refugees today. This is part of our, we've joined the So clergy people from many communities are responding. So I think we should also.

[28:23]

This is from the 47th Ward Clergy Coalition, which we're part of. And this is happening on North Damon, across from the CVS, just around the corner between Lincoln and Damon, from 1 to 2 PM today. So you're all welcome to join with that. Some people from here are going to be there, and Yoshinori Ono is going to speak on our behalf. So that's happening from 1 to 2 today. So I wanted to mention that. Yeah, and thank you, Kyoshin, for speaking on our behalf. There's also a board meeting, so I'm not going to be able to come. Anyway, it's... So, you know, the thing is, how do we respond? Our practice shows, you know, something about what is possible.

[29:30]

And again, we have, you know, of all the categories of people under threat, we have all of them as part of members of our Sangha. So, you know, I particularly want to reach out to Muslims now. Because they're sort of first on the list. But, you know, Hispanics, blacks, all kinds of refugees, all kinds of foreigners, LGBTQ people. So, you know, our practice is about our being, our practicing all together. It's inclusive. And realizing that, that we are practicing together, even as we also sit upright on our own cushion and take care of ourselves.

[30:38]

And you know, there is this coming back to this sitting practice and just realizing more and more deeply how deeply we are connected and in communion with all beings and with this deeper reality. And from that place, you know, Our practice shows what is possible and shows, you know, what is possible for humans. We don't need, you know, our human history is all this history of warfare and hatred and people separating themselves from each other. It's not that, you know, we are all exactly the same. We can appreciate the differences between different spiritual traditions, different cultures, Part of what makes America, whatever America is, great is that we have many different kinds of people together and we learn from each other and benefit from each other.

[31:56]

It doesn't mean we become all the same. So we each have our particular way and our particular perspective on seeing this wholeness. And we each have, through this practice, have our own way of going deeper. What Dogen calls, Buddha going beyond Buddha. So that's part of the practice too. So I could keep babbling, but I'll stop and we have a little bit of time. If someone has a comment or a response, we can take a couple of those. including newer people, feel free. And again, Kathy, thank you very much for hosting me ten years ago today.

[33:06]

Yes, Eshen. If impermanence is the truth, we could recognize that kingdoms and empires rise and fall. How do we know that in our practice, Well, I'm not fighting for that. I don't know. You know, the idea... What is the United States?

[34:24]

I mean, what is... I don't know. I think it's many things. So there's our government and then there's, you know, what's been called the resistance, which is also many things. I think recognizing the complexity of it and recognizing that, as you say, empires rise and fall, and the present new government with all the white men, old white men, The future, one of the signs that was present at the, many of us went to the Women's March and one of the signs was the future is female. I think that would be a good thing. The future is also not necessarily white in this country. So, I don't know, I think, I'm not pessimistic about the future.

[35:29]

The future is up to us. So I think of it in terms of values and trying to see what are the values that come from our practice and our tradition and looking at how to support that without making it us against them. Because there's not one us and one them. Again, it's not about blame or enemies, it's about seeing that there's a lot of, that it's complicated. How do we represent positive values? I don't know if that responds to your question at all. But yeah, there's change. Things change. Whatever we see that we don't like, things change. And change doesn't really usually happen from elected leaders. positive change happens from many people expressing, and young people expressing their values.

[36:41]

That's what it seems to me. Yes, Alex. You know, one thing that comes to mind for me in terms of the ISIS in the United States, I'm not a historian, Another social and political equivalent in history too is the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. That's a pretty vast set of civic and ethnic women in culture. My brother Jeff was fighting for the gun law in this country. Yeah, I think there have been many worthy movements for social change in our country.

[37:50]

Yes, Chris. There were two things that sort of came to mind. I hope they're somewhat relevant. The first one was, I'm reading this wonderful translation of Bendoa called The Wholehearted Way. You might be familiar with it. Oh, I think I contributed to it, yes. And I just read this part that I really liked about Uchiyama Roshi says, in a directionless society, one of the most significant contributions we can make as individuals is to sit still. And he talked about, you know, if you take it literally, it would mean, well, like, sit still, do nothing, but then he talks about how Bodhidharma sat still for nine years, and that action has a contribution that's resonated almost a thousand years later, I mean, here we are. And to me, that's such a great example of how, you know, when Dogen says, even if an individual sits zazen, you know, for whatever brief amount of time, the entire universe permeates Buddha nature.

[39:10]

And there is this reality that our individual effort to sit and face the wall and to practice the paramitas and observe the precepts have this imperceivable great merit that maybe we aren't even aware of yet? Yeah, we don't know the effects of our practice. That's just true. And so if we try and measure what have we accomplished, that's a big trap. But we've seen that there has been change in our country, positive change. I mean, women have the vote now. They didn't 100 years ago. That happened through many women lobbying for many decades. Now, I don't think yet that the women's vote is in jeopardy, but a lot of women's rights are in jeopardy. Anyway. things do change.

[40:16]

There's a wonderful passage in that essay by Dogen, Wholehearted Way, where he says, we see there's no Buddhadharma in this worldly society, but also there's no such thing as worldly society in Buddhadharma. Everything, from the point of view of Buddhadharma, everything is Buddhadharma. Everything is part of our practice. Yeah. Yes, Kirsten. rolled down her window, smiled at the person and waved and said, thank you very much.

[41:17]

And then she looked at us and said, we have to be subversively kind. That is our job. We have to go out of our way to be aggressively kind to everyone. It's our only chance. So I'm passing that along. I thought that was a great thing that we can all do, to be subversively kind. That's wonderful. Yes, kindness is subversive now. Ashen, did you have something? Not the subversive kind of lines per se, but just about when you were talking about the future and how I think about karma and how everything we do now impacts the future. We can't control how it unfolds in the future, but we know that it will be based on everything that happens now. So things may as well happen. and action maybe has a point, even though we can't really control the outcome.

[42:22]

Yeah, everything we do has an effect. So we can help. We can help. So Dave, last word. Just on the theme of where to be helpful, I think I get it. helpful sometimes. But one thing that was really beautiful, that I had a really hard week last week. And I'm so sorry. It's OK. It's all right. But I had a lot of difficulties. But my friend invited me over to her place. And she just made stew and rice. And we didn't talk about what had happened or anything really. We just kind of had that community together. And there's something in that, I think. I think it was helpful for me to see that those little things, they're really big things too.

[43:25]

Yes, on that note, we'll close.

[43:29]

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