Good evening. So yesterday we finished our Rohatsu five-day Sashin in honor of the Buddhist enlightenment and I wanted to kind of review and I have some more to add about case 12 of the Book of Serenity koan collection we've been looking at, Dezong planting the fields. So this is a very rich story. Dezong, who was a teacher at Dezong Monastery in the early 900s, asked Shushan, where do you come from? Shushan said, from the south. Dezong said, how is the Buddhadharma in the south these days?

[01:02]

Shushan said, there is extensive deliberation and discussion. Dezong said, how can that compare to me here planting the fields and eating rice? Shushan said, what can you do about the world? Dezong said, what do you call the world? So these last two questions are important and they had a particular significance in the period, in the Tang period, in the late 800s, early 900s when there was lots of civil war and changing of governments and kind of many deaths, major cladoclisms in China. And they have a particular meaning for us here in the 21st century.

[02:06]

So what can you do about the world? And of course, there are many reasons for concern about our world and climate breakdown and becoming increasingly dangerous with floods and Arctic melting and fires and droughts and so forth. Also mass extinction of species. What can you do about the world? And so many of us are concerned about what we can do to help. And there are things we can do to help. There are ways we can respond and try and encourage the urgent changes that are needed to get the world off of fossil fuel energy systems and many other problems in the world.

[03:08]

And then, well, the world of our own situations. The world's on our seats right now. So that's a serious real question. What can you do about the world and many other issues that we might consider? But also, in our time, what one eco-psychologist calls climate trauma, or just the general numbness and all the distractions and also the feeling of hopelessness that there's nothing that can be done, which is yet another kind of trauma or numbness. So what can you do about the world? And then what do you call the world, as Zung said? And that's another question that is very deep.

[04:11]

What is it we think the world is? What do we think we are? What are our preconceptions about that? So there's a story that is the precursor to this story, or basically the context for this story. There were these four monks, including Shishan, who's the questioner here, who were wandering, traveling. And they were blocked in their travels by rain, snow, swollen valley streams. And they stopped at Dzong temple and sat there around a fire and kind of ignored the teacher Dzong. Dzong, as I said this week, is Chinese for Jizo, the name of the earth womb, bodhisattva.

[05:11]

So this teacher was named after the temple that was named after this earth matrix, earth womb bodhisattva, who helps beings in distress and marginal beings and beings between the different realms, and especially beings in hell realms in difficult situations. Anyway, they were gathered around the fire and Dzong wanted to check them out. So he came to the, sat by the fire and said, there's something I'd like to ask about, may I? And Shishan said, oh, if there's something, some question, please go ahead. And then Dzong said, are the mountains, rivers, and earth identical or separate from you elders? Shishan just said separate. Dzong held up two fingers. And Shishan hurriedly said, identical, identical. So this question of non-duality and duality, and then Dzong again held up two fingers.

[06:20]

So in Zen, non-duality is not separate from, is not the opposite of duality. It's the non-duality of duality and non-duality, of sameness and difference. And this is important in terms of how we see the relationship of these two questions. What can we do about the world and what do we call the world? So a little more about, from Wansong's commentary on the verse, well, just a line from Hongshuo's verse comment, source and explanation variously are all made up. Passing to ear from mouth, it comes apart. Planting fields, making rice, ordinary household matters. Only those who have investigated to the full would know that having investigated to the

[07:24]

full, you clearly know there's nothing to seek. So what do you call the world has to do with how do we see the complexity of reality without trying to escape from it. How do we see the confusion, chaos, loss, fear, sadness that is part of the reality of the world without trying to get somewhere else. This is very challenging and very subtle, actually. So there's a kind of polarity here. In the commentary to the verse, Wansong says communion with the source is one's own practice. Communion by speech or expression is showing it to those who are not yet awakened. And then there's a passage from the, he quotes from the Lankavatara Sutra, there are two

[08:28]

kinds of communion. Communion with the source means by way of the character of transcending progress, getting over our deeply ingrained notion of progress and progressing, one attains to utterly detach from false conceptions, from speech and symbols, and goes to the realm of non-indulgence, not indulging in distractions or wanting to be somewhere else. So by the process of self-awakening, light shines forth. This is called the quality of communion with the source. So this is, you know, the side of what our Zazen offers us, part of what our Zazen offers us, what Sashin or this intensive sitting that some of us have been doing the last five days offers us, this deep connection with the source of everything.

[09:32]

And we come to see that actually mountains, rivers, the great earth, the great lake nearby, forests, skyscrapers, and avenues even are not separate from us, and they're not the same as us either. So this tension, but both sides are important. So then it says, what is the quality of communion by speech? It means teaching the various inductive doctrines of the branches of self-awakening, avoiding signs of difference or sameness or non-difference, existence or non-existence, and so forth, and doing skillful means to explain, using skillful means to express the truth as it's

[10:35]

needed. This is the quality of communion by speech. So this story kind of leans to the, seems to lean to the side of communion with the source rather than running around talking about it. But both are actually elementary and necessary. What can you do about the world? So the point of our sitting practice is not just to become expert meditators or even to deeply understand reality and the source and commune with it, but then to express that in our lives, in our everyday activity, and in our responses to the world. But what do you call the world? How do we see the world?

[11:36]

So both sides are necessary. It's like the, if you could pass me that, like the serenity and illumination, analogous to the chant, the passage in the chant we just did. If illumination neglects serenity, then aggressiveness appears. If serenity neglects illumination, murkiness leads to wasted dharma. So just going out and trying to fix the world can become just aggressiveness, settling into deep communion and serenity without expression of it can lead to wasted dharma. There's this balance that's necessary. So our practice is about, and each of us in a particular context needs to sometimes focus on one or the other, and each of us has their own rhythm of how we connect with interconnectedness,

[12:44]

with deep connection with everything, and then how we express it, each in our own context, each of us in our own, with our own karma, our own abilities, our own situation. How do we express this for the world? But Desang says, what do you call the world? So we had extensive discussion and deliberation about this the last several days, as well as a lot of sitting. What do you call the world? And the world is, as Dylan said the first day, the world is the whole universe, or all the different universes, or everything before the Big Bang, as well as this planet, and also all the worlds that are on your seat now, all of our different intertangling communities.

[13:46]

And we also talked about another related story, because it's about Desang and one of these four monks, Fayan, who is the one who decided to stay with Desang, and the others eventually came back to him too, but he founded one of the five houses of Chan. But when he was leaving Desang after, I don't know, many years of study, he said, oh, I'm going out on pilgrimage. I'm going to go around and see how I can, what I can do in the world, how I can take care of the world, and to learn from others and so forth, I'm going out on pilgrimage. But Desang asked, what's the purpose of your pilgrimage, and Fayan said, I don't know. Maybe he meant, I don't know yet, but maybe he just said, I don't know, he really didn't

[14:50]

know. And Desang said, not knowing is most intimate. So we talked about the nature of intimacy, and really seeing, and this, what do you call the world, is a way of becoming more intimate with the complexity of our own ideas about reality, and our ideas about the self, and our ideas about the world, which we have, and how do we see that. And Nyozan, who was with us for the five days, sent me an article today that exposes the underworld of our world, what we don't usually think of as the world. So apparently scientists are identifying a vast underground ecosystem containing billions of microorganisms, not what we usually think of as this world, this planet. So I'm going to read from this article, because it's just really interesting and really relevant to this, to seeing through our usual idea of the world.

[15:50]

It says, the earth is far more alive than previously thought, according to, quote unquote, deep life studies that reveal a rich ecosystem beneath our feet that is almost twice the size of that found in all the world's oceans. And I'm reminded of the Lotus Sutra, where the Buddha is looking for beings to carry on the Dharma in the distant future evil age, and vast numbers of bodhisattvas emerge from the open space under the earth, and here, as the Lotus Sutra predicted, there are these many beings in this space that we had not known as an open space. So the article goes on, and this is a scientific article, despite extreme heat, no light, minuscule nutrition, and intense pressure, scientists now estimate this subterranean biosphere is teeming with between 15 billion and 23 billion tons of microorganisms, hundreds of times

[16:58]

the combined weight of every human being on the planet. Researchers at the Deep Carbon Observatory say the diversity of underworld species bears comparison to the Amazon or the Galapagos Islands, but unlike those places, the environment is still largely pristine, because people have yet to probe most of the subsurface. So good for the underworld. It's like finding a whole new reservoir of life on earth, said an associate professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, she says, we're discovering new types of life all the time, so much of life is within the earth, rather than on top of it. This team, anyway, there's 1,200 scientists from 52 countries involved in this, samples were taken from boreholes more than five kilometers deep, and undersea drilling sites to construct models of the ecosystem and estimate how much living carbon it might contain.

[18:07]

The results suggest that 70% of earth's bacteria exist in the subsurface, including, this is an Italian, a Latin name for some animal that live in sulfuric springs, and another one, a single-celled organism found at 121 centigrade hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the sea. So this is not our usual idea of life at all. One organism found two and a half kilometers below the surface has been buried for millions of years and may not rely at all on energy from the sun. So this is an organism that is millions of years old. Instead, the methanogen has found a way to create methane in this low-energy environment, which it may not use to reproduce or divide, but to replace or repair body parts, broken parts.

[19:14]

The strangest thing for me, said this scientist, is that some organisms can exist for millennia. They're metabolically active, but in stasis, with less energy than we thought possible of supporting life. Another microbial ecologist from Oregon State University said that timescales of the subterranean life were completely different. So we talk in Buddhist texts, talk about kalpas, about very vast lengths of time. Maybe they knew about this anyway. Some microorganisms, well, their timescales are completely different. Some microorganisms have been alive for thousands of years, barely moving, except with shifts in the tectonic plates, earthquakes, or eruptions. So this professor said, we humans orientate towards relatively rapid processes, diurnal

[20:15]

cycles based on the sun, or lunar cycles based on the moon. But these organisms are part of slow, persistent cycles on geological timescales. So it sounds like kalpas. Yeah, so anyway, these researchers are finding out all kinds of things about this and studying it. Scientists have been trying to find a lower limit beyond which life cannot exist, temperature-wise. But the deeper they dig, the more life they find, or a lower limit below the earth. The more life they find, the deeper they dig. There's a temperature maximum currently 122 degrees centigrade, which is, I think, a lot more Fahrenheit. But the researchers believe that this record will be broken if they keep exploring and developing more sophisticated instruments. Mysteries remain, including whether life colonizes up from the depths or down from the surface,

[21:16]

how the microbes interact with chemical processes, and what this might reveal about how life and the earth evolved. So this is not how we think of our world, of this planet. A mineralogist at the Carnegie Institute for Science said, we must ask ourselves if life on earth can be this different from what experience has led us to expect, then what strangeness might await us as we probe for life on other worlds? Well, I think we need to take care of our own world first. But anyway, what do we call the world? So this is just current science about how completely strange and different our world is from what we think it is. So OK, what do we call the world? How do we see the world in terms of our own experience and all the beings who we've ever

[22:21]

known who are part of what's happening on your seat right now? And then there's all these other beings. And then what do we do about the world? So I don't know if climate chaos will affect these underworld organisms. So lots of questions. We don't really know. But these are not academic questions. These are real questions. And they affect how do we practice? How is our zazen? What is our zazen for? How do we sit upright and face the great unknown of what this world is? And how do we respond and try to be helpful? So our practice gives rise to bodhisattva precepts and ethics and values of cooperation

[23:33]

and collaboration and connection rather than aggressiveness and competition. How do we support healing and kindness and gentleness rather than all of the violence that we see in our society now? So some of us have been wrestling with these questions for the last week. But any of you, if you have comments, questions, responses, please feel free. What can you do about the world? What is it you're calling the world? Hey, Ben. Hi. So I just had this. I was just discussing this article with my students by Bruno Latour about the Anthropocene.

[24:34]

Bruno Latour is a philosopher of science. And he wrote this article about this term that geologists are using, the Anthropocene, to say that we're living in this new era, right? In geological time. That's the end of the Holocene and the beginning of the Anthropocene. It's a time when you can literally see human interaction in the geological sediments of the Earth. And there's a big debate about whether this is a useful term or not. And sort of when that started, it was sort of the Industrial Revolution with the nuclear explosions that ended the World War II. But he argues that a bunch of interesting things result from this. One is that if this is the case, we no longer live in a world where there is a nature that is not also human. So there's no more natural nature. There's no more nature that isn't also human-shaped nature, which is something that

[25:39]

probably Dilgan would have argued a long time ago. What about these underworld creatures? Yeah, I know. Your example is so much more interesting and fun and hopeful. Well, to us, they would all seem very strange and bizarre and science fiction-y. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. Then there's the question of consciousness. So Anthropocene, does that begin with industrialization in the 1800s? Right. There's a big debate. Some people say that it's at that point where you can see the difference in geological sediments of humans. And that's how geologists mark these vast expanses of time. And to us, another thing that follows from that is if there is no nature that is not also shaped by humans, then human intentionality is also within nature.

[26:41]

So the intentions that we have towards the world, the non-human world around us, shape that world, become part of that world. If we want to extract it, exploit it, or nurture it and help it, those meanings, those intentions are in things that we think of as inanimate. Well, okay. But then this question, are you separate from the... The question that Dzong asks, are you separate from the... Let me get the question. Are the mountains, rivers, and earth identical or separate from you? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, another example. So just since 1970, which is long after whatever the beginning of the Anthropocene is, I have

[27:43]

heard that 60% of species on the planet... And presumably that's the surface of the planet, not the undersurface. But 60% of species have gone extinct since 1970. So, yeah, we're having a tremendous impact. And I also wonder, though, you know, the beginning of civilization is sometimes dated... Civilization is a nebulous term, but human agriculture or something. 3,000 BC. Or sometimes it's 3,000 years ago, 1,000 BC. So weren't we shaping... I mean, even indigenous people were shaping... Sure. You know, quote, unquote, nature. Right. Species have always been shaping nature. Humans are having a disproportionate... One single species impacting the natural world. Yeah. To the extent that it's not... So what do we do about the world and what we're doing to the world as a species?

[28:54]

And how, you know... However our species survives, what we'll... I've mentioned that Joanna Macy once said to me that maybe in 50 or 100 years, people will be reading Dogen in the back of caves. So... It's still going to be around. Well, yeah. So it's not about the end of the planet, but it's... Dan Ellsberg talking about the other great threat of nuclear weapons, maybe also nuclear waste, is that that would... That nuclear winter would exterminate all large animals, as we know them. But something will survive. Even on the surface. But yeah, this is...

[29:58]

But for us to think about our lives and what we're doing in our lives and what that means, given the fragility of the future of human endeavor, if not much more... You know, there are things we can do to encourage environmental sanity amidst the climate breakdown. I don't know. Other comments or responses? Ed. And I know very little about Greek history, but there's no evidence that Sparta ever existed. Many historians say, whereas Athens, it's not the case at all. And Sparta did at one point. But the question has maybe centers around notions of intentionality as well. Intentionality, quality of intentionality, given any species, whether that intentionality

[31:02]

is genuinely understood as not blind. And then whether or not there are things that are worthy of preservation in the world over any given period of time. We find ourselves in close proximity to certain political theologies or political philosophies that suggest no sometimes. Suggest no to what? To the desire for the preservation of the good as something sustainable or even desirable. Well, that goes directly to what we're doing here, keeping alive this ancient, relatively in human terms, ancient tradition of meditation and awareness and awakening.

[32:03]

2,500 years in our sense of history. I mean, our way of looking at history is so anthropocentric or it's, you know, history is the story of kingdoms and warfare and conquerors and so forth. Whereas, you know, like Howard Zinn's People's History is something else. Can I pivot off that just a little bit? Sure. Go for it. Once again, I'm not a novel historian. But I have, and I do study the Republic. And I think it was lost. Only the Arabs had it for I don't know how many hundreds of years. And then it was rediscovered and translated into Latin. I can't imagine not having it available to me as a source of comfort, wisdom, knowing and direction and guidance. And I do these texts, of course, similarly.

[33:04]

So to me, yes, of course, there are things worthy of preservation and safekeeping. Yeah, I mean, we can see the value of our species aside from all of the wars and cruelty. You know, if we look at Mozart or Bach or Van Gogh or, you know, great figures in the arts and science and maybe even in politics. Yeah, there are traditions worthy of preserving. That's what we're doing here. There are many wisdom traditions, many spiritual traditions, many traditions of compassion and kindness. And from the perspective of awakened values, yeah, that's, you know, we don't know that all of this is going to go away either. There are things we can do.

[34:05]

So hopelessness is not, you know, is a distraction, numbs us. I was talking during the five days about what we can do about climate damage. And the United Nations panel said we have a dozen years to really make a big change. And so, you know, I suggested that every day you make one phone call or if that's too much every week, one phone call to a representative or to say do something to support climate sanity or to the media to say stop using the euphemism of extreme weather and, you know, say climate damage. And or to institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies and so forth. There are things we can do. And in some level it's urgent.

[35:08]

At least it's urgent for our species. I don't know about it, if it makes any difference to those beings under the world who have been around for thousands of years. Yes, Paul. I remember sitting with you shortly after 9-11, Mount Soros. And you said something then that I've often repeated, this idea that something to the effect of every age has been the darkest age. It's always been the worst. And I heard Norman Fisher say something very similar. You know, it's always been horrible. It's always been just the worst it's ever been. And even as we continue to sort of, oh, it's getting worse and worse, it's like, well, yeah, I mean, that's progress, right? It's things getting worse. And the other side of that that you said is, and it's always the best time to practice.

[36:15]

Yeah. And so our practice is the other side of that. And so, you know, I kind of think of things as always striving for some balance. And, you know, the darkness and light are the front and back foot in walking. You can't walk on just one foot, even if that foot is the best foot in the world. You know, like your walk becomes a hop. So there is this. Yeah. And just to say a little bit more about that, if this is a difficult time, and it certainly is. And, you know, people have always thought that this is, you know, many times. I don't know. There have been times of relative peace, I suppose. But, you know, in some, from the Bodhisattva perspective, this is the best time to practice.

[37:20]

Because our intention and our efforts and our caring and whatever we can do to help is really needed and really can make a difference now. And Joanna Macy talks about all the beings, all the humans, maybe other beings, too, on the planet who are really working hard at trying to make a difference and trying to make things better. And there's an effect of that. And we don't always see it. And dramatic social change happens suddenly after lots and lots and lots of work, like the Berlin Wall coming down or the Soviet Union ending or slavery ending or women being allowed to vote still less than 100 years ago. So this is a great time to practice. Congratulations on being around now.

[38:23]

So on that note, let's close with the four Bodhisattva vows.

[38:29]

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