I was just talking to a friend on the phone yesterday who called me from Minnesota. And she said, I hate Christmas so much. It's a time, for her, a time of grief. And so for many people it's a time of grief and it's also a time of joy. So I was looking forward to this talk, not knowing who would come, how many people or what kind of people would get up on Christmas morning and go to a Zen temple in America. And I also feel somewhat cowed by the intensity and confusion that surrounds Christmas, that I feel surrounding Christmas.

[01:07]

A time of joy, a time of goodwill, a time of generosity, a time of love, a time to be with friends and by a warm fire in the winter. But then also, as soon as we think of those things, immediately we think of those who aren't by a warm fire, and those who aren't with friends, and those who are suffering all over the world. So it's a time of joy and grief. And I somehow feel that I have to start. I have to come down to the ground at the beginning and admit that there is suffering in this world. Boundless, uncontrollable suffering and confusion.

[02:20]

I don't know how many suicides there was last night in America. But Christmas and Christmas Eve are the days when the highest number of suicides occur. Thousands of young adults left alone in college dormitories. Women pacing the streets of San Francisco, unable to find any place to sleep because they might be raped if they stopped walking. And right now, I don't know how many wars are going on in this world. And even those who are well off, many of them feel some vague guilt

[03:26]

at being healthy and warm and with friends and feel some sense of frustration and powerlessness in the face of human suffering, wondering what they can do to help. You know, I feel all these things myself. And although it is a time of joy, it's also a time when I really feel I have to keep remembering that reality. And also not just that it's something out there in the world, but also that my own errors and my own ineffectiveness in my practice, I have to admit to. the many times when I miss a chance to meet another suffering being wholeheartedly.

[04:35]

How many times have I turned away? And I wonder how well I take care of myself so that I can be alert and attentive and ready to meet living beings in this fast-moving life. Just this morning I came across a A Xeroxed article, I think is from Audubon Society, it's an article about mud. Am I speaking loudly enough for the people in the back? An article about mud.

[05:37]

I didn't read the whole article, but the article starts out by saying, basically, people don't usually, we aren't usually that inspired by mud. We're more inspired by, I think, thinking of flying like a bird in the blue sky, swooping down into beautiful mountain canyons, diving in the ocean. But we don't think of the great inspiration of mud. But that's what I'm starting with. I'd like to just start by meditating on mud. And the tremendous potential of mud to grow things things actually don't grow in the air although the air may be inspiring and also the air we're easily when we're light we can easily move and dance and we feel uninhibited and you know buoyant we like these feelings and when we're in mud we're dirty and we're it's hard to move and we feel hindered but this is where we grow

[06:55]

in the mud, the mud of suffering. The word Christmas, I'm not going to give an exhaustive history of the development of the Christian practice of Christmas, but simply I'd like to talk a little bit about the word Christ. And I think that word means anointed. or the anointed one. And the anointed one, there is an anointed one not just in Christianity or Judaism. There's an anointed one in all spiritual practices. And anoint means to smear or to rub oil on something. as an act of sanctification just like you rub oil or talcum powder on a baby something very precious in your life you anoint so basically as buddhists as zen buddhists

[08:19]

Christmas can mean for us a meditation or an awareness of what is it, what is it in our life that we would anoint? What is it in our life that is most precious, most helpful? and let us celebrate whatever that is, let us celebrate that today. And I think to myself, whatever that is, it is something that lives very close to the ground. It's something precious, but it's something that can deal with suffering, that can deal with confusion, and pain it's so wonderful and it's so indestructible and it's so flexible and it's so all-pervasive and intense and we call it you know we call it Buddha we call it awakening we call it liberation from confusion and many other names

[09:49]

So let us celebrate. And the word celebrate means to visit repeatedly, to visit again and again. Let us visit again and again what is the most precious thing, the thing we most anoint, that we make most sacred in our life. Call it what you will. this most precious thing which although it is precious and although we worship it perhaps or anoint it with our treasured oils and give gifts to it it also what do I say it's there whether we do anything or not

[10:57]

However, if we do bring our energy, bring our life to it, it responds. It responds. the response to our energy. When the Buddha Shakyamuni was first awakened, he had no sense that what he awakened to would be of any use to other people. He knew it was wonderful for him, but he didn't think that other people would understand. And some divine being came to him and said, awakened one, please teach what you have found.

[12:16]

Teach the truth that you have awakened to. And he didn't. And this being again asked him. And still he hesitated and remained silent. And one more time the being requested, and he spoke. And what he said, how it was for him, in fact was not intelligible to human beings. It was a joyful roar of a lion, but the human beings didn't understand it. And since they had asked, And since they wanted to understand, he changed the way he spoke. And he spoke the language of human beings. And he said what we call the Four Noble Truths. And the first truth is the truth of the existence of suffering and frustration among living beings.

[13:30]

He didn't say that life is suffering per se, but rather that living beings usually do suffer. A lot of the times, living beings are suffering. But then he went on to say the second truth, namely that this suffering has a cause. It's not random harassment. the cause actually is a local cause it's a cause that is due to the way that that living being is living the suffering is caused by the way that living being is thinking a local cause, homegrown cause the way this living being is thinking and feeling and emoting is the cause of the suffering And it is possible, because it's caused, it is possible that this suffering will come to an end.

[14:41]

And also, because it is caused, because the suffering is caused by the way the living being is thinking and feeling and acting, because it is caused, it also has no existence of its own. it's actually empty and therefore living beings are actually free of suffering as soon as they understand the cause of suffering which is their own behavior and then he said there is a practice you can do to realize the end of suffering the Buddha taught that this world this world where we have where we ourselves and some of our relatives are perpetrating unfortunate behaviors this world is due to the aspirations and conduct the aspirations and actions of living beings makes this world

[16:02]

And if we are to transform this world, this world is transformed by our actions and our aspirations. And again, repeating myself, the first stage in the transformation of the world is to accept the present situation. not to accept it like it's good and I hope it stays this way but to call a spade a spade is the first step if we can actually let things be as they are then things can be transformed or rather that is the first criteria for real transformation is to accept what is happening, to own up to our own thinking, feeling and emoting.

[17:05]

Out of this owning up, owning up to our own activity, out of this arises the great flower of liberation and compassion and the transformation of the world at least at this location and spreading from there so today on this day of celebrating the most precious thing the anointed one of our life the anointed one of our mind of our heart we're going to do a ceremony at the end of the lecture which you're welcome to attend and during the lecture now I'm talking and during the ceremony the first step is to let let goodwill be born let compassion be born let compassion live

[18:29]

Let the thought arise that you, or I shouldn't say even you, that your life, that your life will be compassion. That your life, that your way of living will transform this world into a place where all beings will be peaceful, wise, and compassionate, where all beings will be free and happy, and all beings will be able to experience what life really is, where it comes from, where it goes, that you in life will generate your life will produce, your life will be a force in the world which will make the world a place where everyone can become awake.

[19:57]

Let that thought be born in you right now. Let that thought live in you today. This thought can be born right now. I can feel it coming alive right now in this room. A little bit. Can you feel it? It's welling up in your hearts right now. A little bit. It's coming up. Be careful. Nurture it. Don't let it choke you. Don't let it rise up too high in your chest and get in your throat. Spread it down, too, into your abdomen. It spreads out from your heart. It fills your heart, your chest, your shoulders, your neck, but it also goes down below your heart into your stomach and your abdomen, into your legs, down into your feet, warming your toes.

[21:10]

out into your arms and hands your whole body this thought to make the world a Buddha land is filling your whole life and my faith is that this one body transformed in this way is the only way that the world is transformed from one body at a time, from one life, from one living being at a time. Taking care of yourself to make sure that you are wholeheartedly, whole-bodiedly pure compassion, pure and completely dedicated to help all beings. This is your life.

[22:16]

This is the most precious thing to take care of. This is the enlightened mind that I'm talking about, that I'm feeling with you today. And this enlightened mind Once it's born, although it's very wonderful, it's also, strangely enough, fragile. It's the true nature of things, but in terms of our own life, it's very fragile. You have to take care of it. You have to keep letting yourself, over and over, you have to keep letting yourself or letting it be born in you. So today's ceremony is, we will chant a scripture, a Buddhist scripture.

[23:33]

And this scripture is a meditation on development of this compassion. a scripture to think and feel this great being in us it's called in Japanese it's called Enmei Juku Kanan Gyo Enmei means En means Enmei or En means Literally, it means to lengthen or expand or prolong. And may means life. So it sounds literally like it means to prolong life or extend life. And part of its meaning is that or to protect life or promote life.

[24:38]

but another understanding of life is the life we're talking about is this life of compassion to extend the life of compassion in your own body and mind to expand it in your own body and mind enme and juku means ten verse it has ten verses it's short and kanan kanan means to observe and kanan means sounds to observe the sounds and the sounds that you're observing are the sounds of living beings so and gyo means the scripture so it's the scripture the ten verse scripture to expand the life of observing the sounds to expand the vitality of listening to the sounds what sounds?

[25:59]

the sounds of living beings what kind of sounds do living beings make? well you know you they make a lot of sounds right they go hello goodbye how are you help help when they're little they go anyway they're always crying out for somebody to respond for somebody to relate they're trying to connect you hear those sounds There is this being that hears the sounds and this being is everywhere. It's totally in every cell of your body, this being that hears the cries of the world. So this scripture is to expand or promote the life of this being which hears the cries of all living beings and responds to them immediately.

[27:07]

And it's very immediate. It's very immediate. It's not like they say, ah, and you go, hello. It's like as soon as you hear the cry, that hearing is your response. It's not like then you do something. You respond immediately at the same time as the cry you hear. You don't know about the cry before you hear. As soon as you hear, your hearing is your responding. after that you may do something different you may turn away but before you turn away from the cry you already responded your true nature responded before you thought you couldn't stay with it to expand and vitalize the being that's there before you even know it's not before you think it's not that's that's what the scripture is about It's in Japanese, so I thought I might just tell you a little bit about what the words mean.

[28:18]

I told you the title, and the first word in the scripture is kanzeion, which is another way to say kanon. But kanzeion means rather than regard or meditation on the sounds, it has an extra word in there, kanzeion. So it means regarding the world's cries. It's the name of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. So the first word is... How do you say it? You say... I don't know how you say it. You say... You say... Kanzeyan? Kanzeyan? Or do you say... Kanzeyan? How do you say... The name... How do you address... The thing that hears the cries of the world, how do you talk to it? Do you talk inside, outside? Do you say it like you're talking to an old friend?

[29:22]

Do you say it like you're talking to a great thing? Do you say it like you're talking to a baby? How do you call the name of this great being? Anyway, that's the first word. Kanzeon. In Indonesia, Gregory Basin told me that in Indonesia, or as in Bali, in Bali, I think, in Bali, the people, the adults, talk to the deities, talk to the gods, but the gods in that country are children. So they address the divine as though they're talking to children. So I don't know which way you want to talk to this being. How do you call this? So, kanzeyan. And then it says namubutsu.

[30:24]

Namu means homage. And as I mentioned before, homage means not only adoration or veneration, but homage means I am aligning myself with this thing. Homage to something means not only do I respect it, but I'm aligning myself with it. Homage to Buddha. Namu Butsu means homage to Buddha. It means I not only respect this awakening, but I align myself with it. I join this awakening. I'm a disciple of this awakening. Now, that Namu could be understood as before the Kanzan, but it's not written in. So you could say Namu Kanzeon, Namu Butsu. And then it says, Yol Butsu In, Yol Butsu In, Yol Butsu In.

[31:27]

And Yol Butsu means related or with Buddha in terms of cause and effect. In other words, each of us has some relationship with this anointed one, with this awakening. Our life is in relationship to it in various ways. Some ways we can see, some ways we can't see. Some ways we can understand, some ways we can't understand. But we're related to it in terms of cause and effect, our actual life. of doing things and having effects these are the way we are related to awakening we can't control this awakening it's not something you can make happen and yet we're related to it we we relate to it and what is this awakening this awakening is basically basically it is

[32:52]

Relating to the cries of the world. It's basically relating to suffering. Coping creatively with suffering. Now, Buddhists often say, don't turn away from suffering, don't run away from it. But I don't want to be so, actually, sometimes maybe you should run away from it. But not run away like, kind of like I'm running away forever, but just sort of like in a dance. One, two, three, back away. One, two, three, step forward. You know, dance with suffering. Dance with suffering. When you find a homeless person or you find a suffering person or someone has cancer or AIDS or whatever, you don't have to run away, but you also don't have to go stick your nose in it and just keep it bearing right down there on it. You don't have to take it seriously, but you should dance with it. Be creative with suffering.

[33:56]

Don't be stiff with it, either in terms of sticking to it or running away from it. Back and forth. Try different steps. The rumba, the samba, the tango. We're suffering. Okay? Get good at dancing with suffering. This is Buddha. So we are related to Buddha in this kind of way. What kind of dance do you do with your life? That's your relationship to Buddha. How do you respond to suffering? How many different, what do you call it, repertoires do you have? How many stories do you have to relate to suffering? Sometimes maybe you have the one of, oh, it's really serious. Oh, God, it's terrible. But sometimes you maybe have just a big laugh But you're laughing at suffering. You're not out in midair someplace laughing at nothing. Laughing at laughing. You're laughing at real suffering.

[34:59]

That's one of the ways to dance with it. But it's right there. It's not that you checked out. And sometimes you run away. But you run away and then you feel bad about it. That's called the backstep. That's called the slink. That's called the slime. There's many ways to dance with suffering. Buddha has many ways. That's called freedom from suffering. Freedom from suffering is not that suffering evaporates. Freedom from suffering is you swim in it like an Olympic champion. Now some of your bodies are beyond Olympic champion age. Most of our bodies are. Some people here are pretty young, but most of us are too old to be Olympic champions with our bodies. But we can be champions with our spirit just by getting good at creatively interacting with suffering beings, including this suffering being right here.

[36:15]

This is the main one to start with. You can dance with this one all the time. meeting others. So in this way we are related to Buddha all the time in terms of what we're doing, how we're eating, how we're smiling, how we're talking, how we look at people, eye contact, ear contact, all the ways we relate to people. This is how we're related to Buddha. It is in this relationship, in this dialogue, is where the compassion is born. And then it says, upo so en, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, the awakening, the teaching, and the community. And then it says, jo, raku, ga, jo. Jo, eternity.

[37:17]

Raku, joy and peace. Ga, self. And jo, purity. Eternity, joy and ease, self and purity. It's an interesting combination of words. joy, eternity, self. Real purity doesn't exclude this person. You're in the mix. And then it says, Cho Nen Kan Zae On. Cho means morning. Nen means to think of. The Chinese character there that's being translated is a character, the top part of the character means mind, and the bottom part of the character, no, the top part of the character means now, or the present, and the bottom part of the character means mind.

[38:32]

So it literally means present mind, or the mind of the present. But it also means mindfulness, or to remember. but it also means moment, a moment. It means a moment. It means to remember. It means now mind. It means to be mindful. And then it says Kansayan. So in the morning, I'm mindful of Kansayan. Or in the morning, a moment of Kansayan. And then it says, Bo Nen Kanzheyan. Bo is evening. In the evening, a moment of Kanzheyan. Or in the evening, I remember Kanzheyan. Or in the evening, mindful of Kanzheyan.

[39:37]

And then it says, Nen Nen Ju Shin Ki. So moment by moment, moment by moment this mind arises in the morning and the evening but moment by moment this mind arises but also moment by moment a moment arises it's not like you have to do anything it's already there but somehow you also have to remember it or join it Nen Nen Moment by moment. Present mind by present mind. Mindfulness by mindfulness. Mindfulness by mindfulness, this mind arises. And then it says again, Nen Nen. Mindfulness, mindfulness. Remember, remember. Moment by moment.

[40:42]

Fu Li Xin. Not separate from mind. moment by moment not separate from this mind moment by moment not separate from this mind of great compassion moment by moment not separate from the regarding of the cries of the world That may sound like a hard job, but remember, you only have to do it a moment at a time. You don't have to do it for a long period of time. You just have to do it now, right now, just now, at this moment. Regard the cries of the world. So that's the ten verses, ten lines of this scripture.

[41:52]

Regarder of the cries of the world. I align myself, I align my life with the regarding of the cries of the world. My life is the regarding of the cries of the world. I align myself with awakening. Same thing. The way I live my life is the way I'm related to Buddha. In the morning and the evening, moment by moment, I remember the cries of the world. with this kind of effort this thought of awakening this thought of compassion can live there's many other practices but this is a basic generation a basic generation practice or a basic letting it be born practice letting the Christ letting the anointed one be born in every cell of your body

[43:24]

And then, so that's the core of the ceremony we're going to do, is just to chant that scripture many times, since it's so short. And then, the next step after you generate this goodwill, after you're filled with this compassion, then what's the first thing you'd want to do after that? Have lunch, right? Or the first thing you want to do after that is you want to give, right? That's the first thing, is you want to give. So after we... And then the next part of the ceremony is to give. So if anybody wants to give anything, you can give some things. Whatever you want. Actually, we're going to start out the ceremony by giving some things to...

[44:31]

to Manjushri Bodhisattva here, sitting in the middle. We're going to start by giving some things to the Buddhas, which have so kindly transmitted the teaching to us of how to give, of how to be compassionate. As I mentioned earlier, I got a call from Minnesota, and that's where I grew up, actually. I was actually born in Mississippi, but I put on most of my weight in Minnesota. I only weighed about 10 pounds when I got there. And I weighed more than 200 when I left. So I grew up there, and so I'm very familiar with Lake Wobegon, Minnesota.

[45:34]

I haven't heard the show for quite a while, but I heard that recently Garrison Keillor was talking about the three wise men, or I should say, the three wise persons who came to visit the little Christ child and brought the Christ child the gifts. And they brought, I think, gold? frankincense, and myrrh. Now, everybody comes from India. Some of them might have been Buddhists, or from Africa or Egypt. Oh, by the way, and Garrison Keillor says that myrrh, you know what myrrh is? Myrrh is actually a casserole. A macaroni casserole. Now, So apparently, this guy, these people, by the way, these three wise men, were Gentiles.

[46:43]

And Garrison Keillor thinks that they were Lutherans. So this one Lutheran, as he was heading off, you know, from Egypt or wherever it was, to visit this Christ child... He was going to bring some religious stuff, so he says to his wife, well, I'm going to take some myrrh. And she says, well, don't take myrrh, take some casserole. I got it wrong. Anyway, I looked that word myrrh up, and the dictionary doesn't think it means casserole. It says it means a gum resin, which is used for... for incense. So I guess Garrison Keillor was, you know, playing a joke on me. So anyway, we bring these gifts and some of the gifts we're going to, if you want to give money, the money will go to the, what is it, the homeless shelter in San Rafael

[48:00]

And the food will go to the Marin Food Bank. And if you have any other things you want to give, like clothes or presents or anything of any other kind, they're okay too. I know we will distribute them for you if you want to put some things in a box up there. What time is it? I always like to say I'm not always but often I like after I finish my lecture I like to say one more thing to ruin it

[49:07]

So now that I've finished my lecture, I just want to overdo it a little bit and tell you one more story. And that is, a few years ago, I went to visit a Buddhist yogi, a layman. He was a lay Buddhist yogi and scholar. His name was Yogi Chen. At the time I visited him, he was 84. He was a schoolmate of Mao Zedong in Hunan, although he was a little younger than Mao. They went to the same high school. And he was living over in Berkeley in a little apartment, and I went to visit him there to talk to him about Buddhist yoga. He lived in a cave for 25 years in Tibet. He was a Chinese Buddhist yogi. And so I was visiting him there in his room, and he had this interesting altar across a mantle over a fireplace. And the altar was like literally, I'm not kidding, it was like more than an inch deep. in incense dust which is interesting because it was kind of like snow had fallen on his altar and down below his altar he had a nativity scene you know Jesus in the manger little baby Jesus with these three guys bringing the casseroles and stuff and then up on the altar he had Eiffel Tower Statue of Liberty

[50:37]

And I thought, well, that made sense to me because he was a tantric yogi, right? So I thought those were like phallic symbols or something. And then he also had Jesus on his altar. I thought, well, that makes sense because Jesus is a world religious figure and all that. Then, of course, he had Buddha and great bodhisattvas. He had Khan Zeon up there and Manjushri and all the other figure Buddhist figures. But then he also had Santa Claus on his altar. He had three Santa Clauses. And I said, that one I didn't understand. So I said, Yogi Chen, why do you have Santa Claus on your altar? And he said, well, he said, originally it was a gift, a toy that someone gave me. So originally it was a toy. And I had it in my room. And one night I was in my meditation in the middle of the night. I was meditating and I had a vision. and I saw the little Santa Claus toy go over to the altar and take refuge in Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of eternal light.

[51:47]

He said, from then on I realized that Santa Claus was actually a guardian deity of Buddha in America. That Santa Claus is actually one of the local deities that is making Buddhism acceptable and welcome in America because Santa Claus He said, Santa Claus is universal compassion, if you've been good. So in this way, anyway, we look, what things in our society, where is the spirit that welcomes compassion? It's already here. in every cell of our body. And therefore, it's in the cells of all the other bodies. It's everywhere. Can you see it? Can you see this spirit coming alive in this country in the midst of all this suffering?

[52:51]

This is our great challenge on Christmas morning. So anyway, Merry Christmas.

[52:59]

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