Good evening, everyone. Welcome. I want to continue a talk I started yesterday at our all-day sitting. I'll take off from where I left off, really. But I was talking about the Well, the different aspects of Zen and of Bodhisattva practice. First, the side of, I talked about it as a kind of Taoist influence, the side of going within, of turning within, of seeing, of diving deeply into the landscape of the self and the external landscape, the mountains and waters, the skyscrapers and avenues, the lakes and prairies. So in terms of harmonizing and integrating difference and sameness, we could see many sides to our practice and to reality.

[01:16]

In some ways, this side of wandering deeply into spaciousness is the side of the person, the individual, our personal liberation. It's something we do on our cushions, each of us ourselves, and something we do in the wandering around in the mountains and waters or skyscrapers and avenues. And I talked about it in terms of a section I found that I liked in a book that my editor sent me, A Hunger Mountain by David Hinton, talking about his different trips into, Hunger Mountain is the name of his local mountain in Vermont.

[02:23]

But he works with Chinese characters and talking about how the Chinese characters and the old forms of them, the pictographs, have particular meanings. And this is about bowing. And the left side of the character is the hand radical. And he was talking about the old characters, which indicates the five fingers. And then on the right side, it's a mouth over the ear, which indicates whispering. So together, it means to bow or hand whispers, he reads it as. I'll just read a little bit again of what he says. In our everyday perceptual experience as a mirrored opening of consciousness, the vastness of the 10,000 things dwarfs the center of thought and knowledge, memory and intention. Still that center remains insistent, rarely allowing our identity to open beyond it. Knowing it is in that mirror opening to landscape and its 10,000 things that we become most elementally human, the ancients took that ritual gesture of a bow as the underlying structure of their spiritual and artistic practices.

[03:38]

So he talks a lot about Taoist and we could say Zen arts as well. These practices might also be described as ways of cultivating sincerity by weaving outside and inside together, and they constituted the terms of self-cultivation throughout millennia in ancient China. And then this sentence that kind of blew me away. He says, meditation was widely practiced as perhaps the most fundamental form of bowing. For in meditation, the center is replaced by the opening of consciousness, and all of that, everywhere, that fills it. Uchiyama Roshi recently talked about this as opening the hand of thought. But to think of meditation as the fundamental form of bowing was quite interesting to me. I've often talked about bowing as a more active expression of meditative awareness, but we can see it the other way, too. So I'm just starting off with that tonight to talk about that side.

[04:49]

And there are various ways to talk about the different sides. Sameness and difference is just one of them. But I also wanted to talk a little bit about talk about, well, share some ancient twisted karma, personal and societal, and talk about the other side of the bodhisattva practice. One side is going within, maybe the hermit. The other side is responding actively to the world, maybe the activist. So last week I went to New York because I was invited to a Vanity Fair photo shoot. So this had to do with events that happened 50 years ago. And this is all in the context of this practice commitment period we have starting April 1st about the different bodhisattva figures and their practices.

[05:57]

But also, next month is the 50th anniversary of the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King, who I have in the book as an example of Samantabhadra bodhisattva. And it was also next month, 50 years ago, that I was involved in, and this was why I was invited by Vanity Fair to go to New York, I participated in the uprising, in the occupation of five buildings at Columbia University. I was just a freshman, but we occupied those buildings for a week. Maybe two or three of you are old enough to remember that. Probably most of you don't know about it. But it was a pretty major event in a year that had many, many major events. About five or six weeks later, Bobby Kennedy was killed. Later on that summer was the demonstrations in Chicago at the Democratic Convention.

[07:00]

So 1968, 50 years ago, was a pretty wild year. And I'll talk a little bit more about some of those events on their anniversaries coming up. But this sense of history, I don't know if history is even taught in our schools anymore. But 50 years ago, that's kind of wild for me, 50 years before that was World War I. So just to put it in perspective, but our practice is about history. We just invoked Shakyamuni Buddha and Bodhidharma and Dogen and Suzuki Roshi back in the 60s also. chanted this harmony of difference and sameness by Chateau, who lived in the 700s. So having this wide sense of time is interesting and part of our practice, really.

[08:03]

And so it's interesting for me that this event that I want to say a little bit more about tonight, and I'll say more about on its anniversary, It was 50 years ago. So again, I was just a freshman. There were five buildings at Columbia University that were occupied. I was part of SDS, Students for Democratic Society. But many things came together to have this event happen. In large part, it was about the Vietnam War. So this was the background for everything back then. There were on the television reports and even visuals from massacres of Vietnamese villages by the United States Army.

[09:10]

And, you know, whatever I say about any of this is not about the individual soldiers. This is about the policy that led to that. But it was something that impacted all of us. And there was the draft then, which, along with the media coverage we don't have now, So, I could talk about how not much has changed. There were massacres then in the jungle, now there are in deserts in the Middle East, but anyway. There were demonstrations. The demonstration was initially just, well, about the Columbia's involvement with war research, defense research. And also about Columbia's relationship to the African-American community around it in Harlem or nearby. There was a gym that was being built on Morningside Park, which is between Columbia and down below it.

[10:17]

Columbia's up on the heights and down below it is Harlem. It was going to be kind of segregated. But there were other things that Columbia was doing and still is about in terms of, and many universities are, in terms of dislocating the people who live around it. So there were all these things going on. And again, the draft meant that there were people in school who were there because they didn't want to be drafted and go to Vietnam. And also, well, the country was divided in some ways, as we are now. But a lot of us, I had been protesting going back a couple years before that in high school. It was only a couple dozen years after World War II and the Holocaust. So I think that had a big impact, actually, on all of us who thought that the Vietnam War was terrible.

[11:32]

that our government was committing atrocities and that there was no reason for us to be there. And history has proved that true, although I don't know that we've learned the lessons of that. It was a complicated event that week. There were people outside the building. Originally, we took over one building. I won't go into a whole lot of detail about this, but originally, we took over one building, and there were a lot of us, and there were also a lot of African-American students. And the next morning, they asked us to leave. And we didn't find out. Why really? Until 40 years later. So 10 years ago I went to a 40th reunion of people who'd been participating in this event.

[12:47]

We heard from the African-American students that they thought that the white students were, you know, kind of hippies who didn't know what they were doing, were not really serious. They knew. Most of them were their first, the first members of their family to go to college. They knew what they were risking. And they had seen how violent the repercussions could be, and they didn't think we were serious. So in the morning, they asked us to leave, and they continued at Hamilton Hall. This amazing event I went to 10 years ago, they talked about that.

[14:01]

And there's a website. Anyway, it was an amazing event. We took over that next morning and the next day four other buildings on the campus. the administration building and math building and the architecture building, anyway, four other buildings. And stayed there for a week while Mayor Lindsay and the powers that be decided what to do. papers reported that it was just 70 maybe, you know, people in the buildings. There was a bunch of outside agitators and there were some. So when I, when we were finally arrested, I spent the night in jail with Tom Hayden and Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Some of you have heard of some of them. They were all, all three of them were part of the Chicago 7 from the demonstrations at the Democratic Convention later on.

[15:02]

So There were about 20 of us in that jail cell, so I didn't actually talk to them. I can say I spent the night in jail with Abby Hoffman. After a week, the police came in and arrested us. Some walked out under arrest quietly. Some sort of were beaten by police. Anyway, it was a big event and it actually sparked occupations and demonstrations around the world, actually, in France and other parts of Europe or other universities in the United States. It was only a few weeks after Dr. King was killed, when there had been major riots in Chicago and in New York, and people were really angry.

[16:07]

So, you know, it's interesting because I don't want to say too much about how it relates to what's happening now, but we live in a confused and chaotic time when there is a lot of controversy and sometimes difficult to talk about. And I'm disclosing my own background and perhaps biases, but it's really important that you all understand that I don't expect you to agree with any particular ideas I have about this. In fact, I don't know, you know, what we should do now, but I am, you know, this was my context then, and I think a lot of the problems that we were responding to that are still here, and very, very much so.

[17:10]

Anyway, so I was invited as Vanity Fair's doing a piece on it next month on this event. And I was invited to go to a photo shoot on the steps in front of the main administration building. And then there was a book event that night for a new book that's coming out about it with essays. by the same guy who did a six-hour film about the whole event. He came here and interviewed me and there's snippets of that in the film. That was supposed to be last Wednesday, and I was staying with an old friend from the New York Zen Center where I started sitting in early 1975, down in the 80s, and as I started to walk, it was a walk up to Columbia at around 160th, it was starting to snow, and it kept snowing and snowing, and by the time I got up there, I was gonna have lunch with another old friend who I'd studied Japanese with who now teaches

[18:14]

In the Chan lineage of Dharma drum, the snow was significant and I got an email that the whole event was called off. That Columbia closed the campus and so the whole thing was called off, so you will not see me on Vanity Fair. And that's fine with me. I got in a good walk and saw some old friends and it was a good little trip. And what we did, in terms of looking at what is the balance of what What is bodhisattva practice? What we're going to be talking about the next couple of months. It's interesting, you know. We were responding to systemic suffering in the world. That's still there, of course.

[19:16]

Maybe it's always there, but, you know, there are always particular situations. We were very clear about how we felt about what was going on. In some ways, that demonstration and all of the things, all of the anti-Vietnam movement inspired a lot more. And we see things today like the young people in Florida. who survived the latest school shooting, speaking out strongly about gun policies and trying to support a sane gun policy. I hasten to say, Dennis, this doesn't mean taking away all the guns, as you spoke about recently. There's a gun culture that has its validity, too. Anyway, so there was these courageous students in Florida. They're the teachers in West Virginia who went on the strike this last week and still have very poor pay, but at least gained some of their demands and have some pay raise and some health benefits.

[20:28]

And you know, we have a number of, grade school and high school teachers in our sangha. A couple, a few here. In some ways I think that's the most important job in our society. And they're amongst the poorest paid. So there looks like there may be teacher strikes in Oklahoma and other states as well. But there have been other movements, Occupy, Black Lives Matter, that were basically peaceful and responding, but also very strong in this tradition. So I would suggest that there's an aspect of that that is an aspect of bodhisattva response.

[21:35]

But something else I learned from that event is the danger of anger. We say in our precepts, not harboring ill will. We were very sure of ourselves. We were very determined. And some of the people I knew in SDS went into the weathermen who were determined to end the war by any means necessary and were kind of just taken over by their anger, I would say. I know some of them still. But my response to that, I knew one of the people who was killed and there was a bomb that went off in the town, house, and village. And through the 70s and 80s, I could go into any post office and see pictures of people I knew. So this is part of my own ancient twisted karma.

[22:40]

It's part of our society's karma, and karma is never just individual. But this comes back to the question of balance, harmonizing difference and sameness, harmonizing these different aspects. So our practice is to include this deep settledness that we can find through meditative awareness, through bowing, through various bodhisattva practices. But also to be responsive to all kinds of difficulties and suffering in our own lives, you know, on our own seats. friends and family, how do we respond helpfully? How do we not cause more harm?

[23:44]

And then also, you know, in the world around us where we still have As Dr. King said a year to the day before he was killed, that the U.S. government was the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, arguably that's still the case. And feel free to disagree with me. But how do we respond to that? How do we respond to the dangers of kind of chaotic government. How do we respond to the dangers of climate and, anyway, damage to the environment? This is a question. to hold on, in the Meta Sutra we chant, it says not to hold on to fixed views. So any particular idea or answer we have about what the right way to respond is, is off.

[24:49]

We have to keep asking the question, keep looking at each situation. So that's a little bit about my trip to New York last week. Comments, questions, responses, please feel free. Yes, Tom. Somewhere in the quote that you mentioned about occupation, I wouldn't say that it was too motivating. Well, just to clarify that, and then your question.

[25:51]

I don't regret that we did that at all. I think the aftermath of it, people got caught by their anger and their rage and went into wilder responses. It took many years after that until the war ended. So how do we, you know, it's good to have that sense of seeing different sides, even when we take some strong action, I think. But go ahead with your question. Yes, thank you, yes.

[26:59]

I think the practice, so we say in our precepts, disciple of Buddha does not harbor ill will. The point is how do we use the energy of anger? Moral outrage, righteous anger, whatever you want to call it, can be very powerful and can be used in a right, in a helpful way. Even anger about some interpersonal situation. How do we use the energy? It's very energetic. How do we use that energy constructively? How do we be patient enough to see when there is a time to act? So the name of this book and of this movie this fellow did is called A Time to Stir. And this was a time. But how do you not get, it's very easy to get choked by the anger, to be caught up in something and go to excess. So anger can be a very helpful

[28:03]

energizing tool, it can be converted into determination and resolve. It can be transformed into seeing very clearly into a situation and helping to clarify that for others. But it also can be, if you get just caught up in it, it can be self-destructive as well as destructive to others. So how to use anger helpfully is a powerful and interesting practice. And there's not one right answer. It's in each situation how to respond and how to keep a balance and at the same time be motivated by it. So thank you for that question. Caroline. One of the things is that I'm hearing more arguing with people for being forcefully

[29:18]

under siege. We have a lot of righteous anger, but other people have a lot of righteous anger about their issues too, and in some ways I feel like the protests might be powerful in the moment in that maybe the powers that be that you're trying to get to do something say, oh, we should do something, but I'm wondering if I mean, what if we haven't? We've gotten more and more polarized. And whether that's because the rich have gotten more and more rich has nothing to do with the protests, I don't know. The other thing that I worry about is that energy that comes from anger. If it doesn't have that negative, angry spark still attached to it, we seek to turn it into action. But in my case, Yes.

[30:40]

Yes. Yeah, let me respond to the second part first, because I didn't mean to say to turn it into action necessarily. I think that energy of anger can be turned into determination and resolve, but that resolve might mean sitting still. It might not be action. It might be patience and listening and watching and understanding more deeply before possibly some action. So to react from anger is usually not helpful.

[31:41]

So it's an important point. It's not about acting from anger. It's about finding some resolve to look at the situation. So yeah, I agree with you. The first part about the polarization, I think that's right. It's trying to persuade someone. with different views that you're right and they're wrong doesn't usually help at all. I think that sometimes it doesn't help to engage with such people or sometimes what we can do in a loving way is to listen and maybe they will maybe just say our truth, but then say it in a way that's not trying to convert someone, but just say, this is how I see it. But then really to listen, listen to the fears, listen to the problems.

[32:43]

There are complicated issues and there are different points of view. So yeah, I think that polarization is, to exacerbate that is not helpful. So thank you for that. These are not easy questions. And they have to be questions. Yes, Dennis. us to try to harmonize with those who really believe sincerely in the stuff that we test.

[34:06]

Oh, I don't know. For some people it might be. You know, there's not one right answer to any of these things. Each person has their own way to respond. Some people are really good at that. Some of us aren't. And it's not about harmonizing with the people who disagree with us. It's about harmonizing with what's a kind of constructive response. So when to just sit still and find center and calmness, when to respond and how to do that skillfully in a way that's not, that maybe does provoke the powers that be, you know, the gun, the current gun debate is an interesting example and the students confronting some of the Congress people, how to do that in a way that might be constructive and productive as opposed to just, you know, yelling for the sake of feeling right, you know. It's, it's, it's, there's not one right answer though to how to respond.

[35:11]

We each have our own particular You know, I don't, even though I go to demonstrations sometimes, I don't expect any of you to if it's not your inclination. But there are lots of ways to respond. And part of the practice of patience is so important in all of this, to just pay attention and watch and then see what area of response might call to you. But also, there's the side of just going deeper and settling in yourself. So it's complicated. There's not one right answer. I guess I want to hear. Yes. Is it a good part of your practice to try to understand why the things that I dislike so much? For example, Trump supporters are in my family. That can be part of one's practice, but it, you know, sometimes just to be kind and not to try, certainly not to try and, you know, if they're not interested in dialogue, don't try and browbeat them into converting.

[36:34]

You know, that's not helpful. So sometimes one has to step aside. And part of the Taoist approach to going off into the mountains is sometimes we need to just step back and settle, and there's the rhythm of doing that, and then how do we respond? So, other comments? Bo? feel so urgent. I guess so many problems in a moment, and they truly are urgent. But I read stuff on climate that's like, if we don't do anything in two years or something, that's a massive tipping point.

[37:40]

But you also operate in groups of people where not everybody is on the same page. There's even kind of the unknown, you know, how did that two years, right? You know, so I find it difficult, it's a real challenge sort of being patient just with even the group that I work with, much less sort of the society or culture as a whole, which feels like it's moving so slowly in response to it. You feel like you're in a hurry and nobody else is. It can be so. It definitely is a challenge, and in so many areas, but I agree with you about climate.

[38:49]

On some level, I feel like I shouldn't be sitting here, I should be out in front of the, you know, barricading in front of ExxonMobil or something and getting everybody else to, but, you know, that's not what's happening. And that's not what's happening. I mean, again, it's a great day, but what's happening? But I do try and mention, and I think it would be good for people to, so I'll mention again, truthout.org, Dar Jamal's monthly reports about the science about what's really happening to climate. It's just, it's devastating, yeah. There's a lot of people doing stuff, a lot of people doing good work to try and help And we can't all, you know, we each have our own, you know, the other side of it, of that and what can, how we can support our patients to see that many people are doing, are practicing with, you know, the stuff of their own lives.

[40:01]

And that is part of what needs to happen to change how people think. And so, we're sort of at time, but if anybody else has something you want to say, please. Yes, please, Joe. And it makes me think about, like, the phrase, um, psychic non-movement. You mentioned it often. It's just really haunted me. Um, yeah. So... Well, I think the media and the government has encouraged psychic numbing.

[41:17]

Yeah, well, we're not going to resolve all this tonight, obviously. Beau hoped. But that's a good segue into the four vows, which we close with.

[41:48]

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