Okay, so, uh, for new people, I'm talking late and guiding Dharma teacher at ancient dragon. Same gate. Welcome everyone. So today, I want to talk about the three references and also about refugees. So, in, I think, all forms of Buddhism, we take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Three refuges. And these are our first precepts in the 16 precepts in our Soto Zen tradition. Going back to the founder of our lineage in Japan, Dogen, in the 13th century. So these refuges of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha are very important and one of our newer people

[01:08]

asked me, what is that? So, I want to talk about taking refuge in Buddha, taking refuge in Dharma, taking refuge in Sangha, and in some real sense, everything else comes from taking refuge in Buddha. So again, these are the formal 16 precepts, which numbers that you have received in precept ceremonies. Taking refuge means coming home, returning. And Buddha, of course, is Shakyamuni Buddha, historical Buddha in our Buddha field from who lived in what's now northeastern India around 2,500 years ago. But Buddha also means, Buddha means the awakened one.

[02:10]

So we have an image of Buddha on our altar, and we all sit like Buddha, upright, quiet, settled. So taking refuge in Buddha means taking refuge in awakening itself. And in some of our Bodhisattva sutras or scriptures, Buddha is the whole universe as awakened. So we take refuge in Buddha, we take refuge in this awakening reality that has been represented historically by certain people, but also is the nature of the reality that brought us here. We come home to Buddha, we come home to the Buddha on our seat.

[03:15]

And I could just give the rest of the talk about taking refuge in Buddha, but I will move along. Taking refuge in Dharma, Dharma is a Sanskrit word that means a number of things, including just the truth or reality, but also the teaching, the teaching about that, and in our context, the Buddha's teaching. So Dharma is how we hear and learn and see Buddha through these teachings, through facing reality, facing the truth, facing the reality of all things. Dharma, Dharma's plural as a technical term, means the elements of reality. So in early Buddhism, there is a science or a teaching of Dharmas, which showed these

[04:21]

elements of reality, and most of them are kind of psychological, or there is physical realities, but also just the reality of all that is. So we take refuge, we come home to Buddha, we take refuge and come home to Dharma, and then taking refuge in Sangha, which is the third jewel, the third of these refuges, which is community. So this has deep meaning. It's taking refuge in the harmony of all beings and the connectedness of all beings, but it's also particular Sanghas, like this ancient dragon, Zen Gate Sangha, here in Chicago, and with people online from many other places, let's see, Michigan, and New Mexico, and Ohio,

[05:22]

and Indiana, and there's probably others that I'm not seeing. Anyway, Sangha is community. And Sangha is a jewel because it's the community that supports us to awaken. And we can see Sangha in terms of Maha Sangha, all the different Buddhist Sanghas that exist here in our country and around the world. We can also see Sangha as the community of beings, human and otherwise, and it's a jewel when it supports us, and we support it. So all three of these are jewels, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. We return home to them, and we take refuge in them, and they support us, and we support them, and this is the process of awakening.

[06:24]

So practically speaking, I think all of us here in this Sendo, Sendo and online, came to this practice, and we have some newcomers today, which is very auspicious for us, but we came here. We came to this practice and to this Buddha, Dharma, Sangha as refugees from the world, the difficulties of the world, from the crassness of consumerism, from the cruelty of the world, but also we came here, many of us, to find refuge from our own problems in our lives, our own physical, psychological difficulties.

[07:28]

So taking refuge is a fundamental practice in Buddhism. But I want to extend this today to talk about refugees in many senses. So in the world now, we have many refugees. While moving all over the world, many refugees are trying to escape the calamities of climate breakdown. Where do they come from? Also, the many refugees on our southern border are coming from violence and cruelty and from authoritarian governments that the United States set up in the countries. So we have this, consider a refugee problem.

[08:33]

Actually, what our country is and has become and the richness of this culture is thanks to many refugees. So this is a country of refugees. We have maybe a couple people in our Sangha who have descendants that were indigenous peoples here before the Europeans came in conquest, but almost all of us are descended from refugees from various peoples around the world. And that has made the United States a great country with rich culture and rich heritages and with the particular differences of different immigrant cultures. But right now, well, we have a difficulty with refugees, which I'm going to talk about.

[09:44]

First, I want to talk about Emma Lazarus, who lived from 1849 to 1887. She was an activist helping refugees. She was a poet. She started writing poetry as a young woman during the Civil War. She was a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson. And she has one of her poems that is enshrined on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. She wrote it in 1883. It wasn't put up and installed at the Statue of Liberty until 1903 after she passed. She was Jewish. Most of her ancestors, almost all her ancestors, were in America before the Revolution. So she's from an old family. And of course,

[10:44]

her famous line that's on the Statue of Liberty, Give me your tired, your poor, your huddle of masses yearning to breathe free. I want to read the whole poem. It's called The New Colossus. Not like the brazen giants of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land, here at our sea-washed sunset gates, shall stand a mighty woman with a torch. Statue of Liberty, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name, Mother of Exiles, from her beacon hand glows worldwide welcome. Her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor a twin-sea strain. Keep ancient lands, your storied palm-grown sheen, in silent nymphs. Give me your tired, your poor,

[11:48]

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. In the 70s, the homeless tempest tossed to me. I left my lamp beside the golden door. So that seems ironic in these times. I'm afraid to say, ashamed to say, my grandparents, as young children, arrived in New York and saw the Statue of Liberty as children. And probably everyone here has ancestors. Not all immigrants came to New York Harbor, many did, and saw the Statue of Liberty.

[12:52]

So now refugees are being persecuted in Central, imprisoned without charges, all in violation of international law. So we have many politicians who are promoting a policy of cruelty, not just to refugees, but to all marginalized people, to women, to children being gunned down with assault rifles, to Christian Blacks and Latinos and indigenous people. So how do we respond to this policy of cruelty? So there are many refugees on our southern border from Latin America, fleeing climate damage and brutal governments installed by the United States and with

[14:05]

sanctions by the United States government, which makes it harder to live in those countries. So many people in our Sangha are doing helpful work in their professions. We have attorneys and doctors, we have teachers, grade school teachers and grad school teachers. We have librarians, we have psychologists and various counselors. We have many chaplains, hospital chaplains in our Sangha. So our Sangha is already helping here in Chicago,

[15:08]

social workers also. I'm sure I've left some out, some of all the good things that our Sangha members are doing. But also some of you have asked how to help more in this difficult, challenged society where the policy of cruelty is rampant. And as I've said, there are ways to do that. I left out environmentalism. So there's so many issues. I'm talking about refugees, but there's so many problems in our world now. But it's not that it's hopeless. Climate damage is here, but there are things still to be done that can help.

[16:11]

And I encourage everyone, if you're so inclined, to look for some particular issue or problem that you would like to address. So Jan Budart is here. She's a great example. She's taking on issues of nuclear waste and all the damage they cause and working with an organization here in Chicago that helps. So I'm sure others of you are doing these things too, helping in some particular area and working with organizations that are helping. So it's easy to feel overwhelmed or hopeless, but that's actually not realistic. There are many things that we all can do, each in our own way. And many things that many of you are already doing in your work. But I want to call on our Ancient Dragon Zen Gate director, Alan Spernstein,

[17:19]

who's sitting next to me, to talk about this refugee issue. Specifically, he's been helping an Afghan refugee family who are living in Rogers Park, where we do have Sangha members nearby in the Mid-South. So this Afghan family was being helped by a Sangha in Sacramento, California, and they lived here. And Alex has told me the good news, that the father has found a good job. But part of their family is still in Kabul. And Alex has also been talking to me about Venezuelan refugees, many coming now, not just here, in Chicago, in Miami, in many places. And governors promoting cruelty have been

[18:28]

busing them up to northern cities, without trying to help. So there are things that, this is one area where people can help if you're so inclined. So Alex, would you, and we can have discussion after, but Alex, would you talk a little bit about the Afghan family and about the Venezuelan refugee situation? And please speak loudly enough for some people. Thank you, Talian. Talian asked me to speak a little bit about what my recent experiences are, and also just some opportunities for others in the Sangha who wanted to help. And as Talian and I drove south down Lincoln Avenue to the temple this morning, we drove past the police station in Lincoln and Peterson. And you can see large stuffed animals pushed up against

[19:35]

the window from the children of the families who are sleeping on the floor there in the foyer, who were recent arrivals from Venezuela. So there's just a huge need to help right now. Quickly, I'll talk a little bit about an opportunity to work with a family from Afghanistan who's separated. They supported the American military working as a translator during the Afghan war, during the conflict, and went to the airport in two taxi cabs to flee after the fall of Kabul. And one taxi of the family, including Mohammed, who is sort of the leader and speaks the most English of the family, they were able to get through and fly eventually to California,

[20:43]

whereas the mother and a brother and a sister remain in Kabul and really in harm's way. So Helen Hobart lives with the Valley Stream Zen Center in Sacramento, helped along with Ruben, helped make her connection with this family. And they've moved to the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago. And Helen, when she talked to me, she kept stressing how working with the family had enriched her sangha's life, and that the family's sense of community and desire to connect with Americans was really transformative for them. So Iqbinsker and I had tea with Mohammed a couple of weeks ago, and

[21:51]

were planning some other social activities with the family. And the primary need that the family has now is legal assistance to help sort out asylum claims for the issue related to the family separation. So if you're interested in participating in either of those efforts, I encourage you to email info at ancientdragon.org. And then the second issue is... There's also just socializing with them. They need contacts in Chicago, right? And Eve has a connection at an Afghani restaurant. So we think that a good next step for a social engagement would be to go to lunch with the family and go walking on Lake Michigan. So, you know, for me, it's often difficult to know exactly how to help. But,

[22:55]

you know, when you put yourself in sort of intimate proximity, it becomes, you know, and we trust in our practice, it becomes obvious. So I really encourage those of you who are interested in half the time to participate, to email and participate in our next social interaction with the family, in addition to the legal need. Thanks. And then the second issue I want to talk about briefly is the arrival of primarily Venezuelans in Chicago in very large numbers. And there's a wonderful organization called Illinois-Venezuela Alliance, which is assisting these immigrants. And from my work with this organization, at present, you know, the greatest need for these families is housing. So if anyone has any

[24:05]

any connections regarding providing housing for newly arrived immigrants, likewise, please email info at ancientdragon.org. And also, yes, there's a number of opportunities. I work closely with the Venezuelan family as well. So if anyone wants to participate in any other activities to support Venezuelans, likewise, please email the temple. Thank you, Ted. Thank you very much, Alex. So this is a good example of what Jan is doing also of how we can actually help in the challenges of our society now. And I know that most of the people here are very fully occupied with their work and family. And so, you know, this is all kind of extracurricular,

[25:06]

but yet there are things that we can do to help. And it's important that we know that and that we don't feel just, you know, all of the terrible things that we can find about in the mainstream media and the ravages of climate breakdown and so forth. There are ways to help. There are ways to do bodhisattva work. So as bodhisattva practitioners, we are committed to universal awakening, to help everyone awaken, to help relieve suffering wherever. And of course, this is a difficult, challenging world, as I was talking about during our recently completed practice period. Yeah, this Buddhafield of Shakyamuni's where we live is technically in Buddhism called the Saha world, the world of endurance,

[26:09]

because there's a lot for us to endure personally and culturally and communally. And yet, our practice of sitting upright, this practice of stanza, is training for us to be present and face ourselves and face when we face the wall, we're facing the world. We're facing all of these problems and difficulties and challenges, but also the joys of the world, the flowers blooming all around us now, birds singing. So how do we take care of ourselves is a big part of this. How do we enjoy the practice of taking refuge in Buddha and Dharma and Sangha is a joyful aspect. We come home to something deeper than the mainstream medium, to put it that way. We come home to this reality,

[27:14]

this possibility of this normal upright sitting and then facing the world and being patient, but paying attention to what's going on. And when we have an opportunity where we can help to do that. So helping refugees is one such possibility. And people in Sangha are welcome to, whether you're in Chicago or elsewhere, to contact us about seeing how to help with that. But there are many, many issues to help with. So feeling overwhelmed and hopeless is available, but it's actually not realistic. So I want to just open this for discussion. And then we'll have the four bodhisattvas and I'll have a couple of really major announcements after that. But first, any comments on refugees or on helping in the world or anything else?

[28:20]

What are the three refugees, Steve? So just something that can help, you know, take care of yourself and also others. So I live across the street from the Global Gardens refugee training farm, which was set up for the purpose of giving refugees who came, come from rural areas and are used to farming a space within the city to practice that. And grow food for themselves and their families and also to supplement their income by selling it. And they have a website. And over the summer, they're having concerts every month. So you can come and hear music and donate and buy vegetables. And we did talk to the Afghan family about coming there. But I mean, as far as the concert went, they were in mourning. I don't know when their period of mourning is ending, since they were saying you can't, you know, come to an entertainment

[29:27]

venue, music, because of that. But anyway, just so you can just Google Global Gardens Refugee Training Project and find the information. They have a website and Facebook page. So thank you, Global Garden Refugee Training Project. Okay, thank you. And that's located on Lawrence, near California, right? Yeah, just west of the river, opposite where, right opposite where I live, Lawrence and opposite where Manor dead ends in Lawrence. Thank you. Other suggestions of things people could do or just discussion about the whole idea of taking refuge of the three treasures or refugees or anything else? Howard here online has a comment or question. Hi, Howard.

[30:29]

Hey, all. It's good to see everybody. Yeah, it's actually, thank you for this talk. I've been thinking about this quite a lot because of the work I have been doing as a medical social worker at Lurie. And I'm transitioning away, but I've been working with a lot of refugee families and, you know, mostly with healthcare related needs and stuff like that. But, you know, I think something that really stuck out to me in the middle of all of this, you know, scrambling around to find resources, scrambling around to find things that people can very concretely, practically use. And this is the chaplain part of me speaking. It meant so much for them just to have someone show up at all. It meant a lot to those folks that somebody sat down and listened to them, even if you couldn't do much about it, because for some of these families, it was simply the case, there's not much I could do. When I think about the refugees, right, the refugees of Buddha,

[31:33]

Dharma, and Sangha, they're coming back to coming back home of some sort. And when I think about refugees, when I think about that, there are concrete things I can do. And there's also having to sit with the sense of like powerlessness and helplessness that they feel and that we often feel when faced with these very big issues with people who are hurting quite a lot. I think it's important to remember too, as we do this Bodhisattva work, as we take refuge, that it's a reminder about karma. We can't fix all of this by ourselves. These are problems that are much bigger than us individually. I think that's also why it's so important to remember that there's the Sangha jewel. It's not just by ourselves. We have to do this together. And even if we do it together, we might not know how to fix it. It's still much bigger than just a Sangha. But that's a good,

[32:36]

that's a better starting point than thinking that we're by ourselves and alone by ourselves. Thank you. And Zulf is a refugee, he's taking refuge in precepts. And I believe that your family, how it immigrated to the United States, probably through San Francisco or Los Angeles? Funnily enough, they came directly to Chicago. But yeah, they came during the 80s, so after Mao had died. Thank you. Other comments, responses, questions about the three refugees or anything else? Jen, hi. Hi. I really appreciate your mentioning the work that I try to do.

[33:36]

And I want to talk about where I'm going to be in a couple of weeks. I'm going to a little town called Tecton, Ohio. And strangely enough, Southern Ohio, in that area, Tecton County, it seems to have been targeted as a sacrifice zone during the Manhattan Project. And there were other sacrifice zones during the Manhattan Project. One is St. Louis, another one is Hanford in Washington. And it's shocking. But it came to the attention, it came to national attention, when children in a school began to get sick, and they discovered isotopes from the Manhattan Project around the school, and immediately closed the school and

[34:40]

sent the children to some other location. There were some awful stories around that. But now the government wants to establish a nuclear park in that area. And thinking that we need to have our own source of fuel, nuclear fuel, because we've been importing it from Russia. The idea is that we need to produce our own nuclear fuel and they want to put an enrichment facility for uranium in that area. It costs billions of dollars. There's hundreds of thousands of little tubes of centrifuge, little centrifuge tubes that go into enormous buildings.

[35:44]

And there's going to be a meeting in this little town called Piketon, Ohio, two Saturdays from now. And they're going to let the people of Piketon, it's going to be in person and online. And the people of Piketon are invited to come to hear three panelists, very astute people. One is a lawyer. One is, he does a tooth fairy project, which I could explain. And the third one, I just don't know very well. And so the people of the town are invited to come and hear these speakers and they'll be there in person. And then the people of the town or the surrounding area, or me probably, I'll be there, will be able to express themselves. So

[36:51]

good old Americans can be used and their areas can be co-opted to create sacrifice zones for the nuclear project because of the need, if you'll pardon the expression, to enhance our nuclear arsenal, which is going to cost about a trillion dollars over the next few years. So I'm hoping, I'll just say one more thing. I believe the root of this problem is that Americans don't understand radiation. They don't understand the basic structure of matter as it exists on the surface of the earth. And if they did, they'd understand why this whole situation is extremely dangerous

[38:00]

for ourselves and the people who come after us. Thank you, Jen. So if anyone wants to hear more, you can email info at agentdragon.org. I'll forward that to Jen. I just want to say about this that some people have proposed nuclear power as an answer to climate damage and fossil fuel destruction of our planet. And in my opinion, it's really not a helpful solution. My understanding is that we have enough energy from solar power and other alternative renewable energy sources to supply all the energy needs of the world. But fossil fuel companies and nuclear power companies that get subsidies are preventing that. Anyway, thank you so much for your work, Jen.

[39:00]

Does anyone have other comments or questions, anything about the Buddhist refuges or anything else? As Jen said, the Dharma, the jewel of Sangha means that we're not alone in trying to respond to the world's problems or our own problems. It's important to try, you know, for people who are having difficulty, which is easy to happen in this world, to reach out to Sangha members, please. So, whomever you feel like reaching out to and Sangha, we support each other, the community. And Jen and Lacey just talked about islands of sanity. So, as a way, and I worked on nuclear

[40:11]

waste issues with Jen many years ago. Anyway, just to really think about Buddha and Dharma and Sangha as resources, as supports, as where we can give our energy. Does anybody who has not spoken yet want to add anything or ask anything? Please feel free. Well, we can start the discussion now, and the three refugees will do service. But first of the announcements, and I had a couple of very, very major announcements for us all. So, thank you all very much.

[41:12]

Please take care of yourselves and each other. We'll do the four bodhisattva best.

[41:20]

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