Around the temple we say that we're having a one day sitting. Can you hear well in the back of the room? A one day sitting. And we're also having a approximately seven week practice period here at this temple. And the theme for this practice period is something like the Buddha way as friendship, or good friendship as the Buddha way. So we imagine, or I imagine, the Buddha, the awakened one, the awakened ones, are good friends to living beings.

[01:03]

And the awakened ones teach the path of freedom from suffering. The awakened ones have awakened to the truth and have become free of suffering They are at peace. They have let go of all affliction. They have let go of all attachment, and therefore all affliction drops away. But they do not abandon all living beings. They're free of suffering, but they do not abandon those who are not yet free. What do they do? They teach the practice which realizes the truth, which realizes freedom from suffering.

[02:13]

These are some words about the Buddha way, the way of Buddhas. At the end of this talk, this Dharma talk. We will chant the Bodhisattva vows. The first one is sentient beings are numberless. I vow to save them. But recently I've just sort of spontaneously been thinking sentient beings are suffering. I vow to save them. I didn't mean to think that, but usually I think sentient beings are numberless. I vow to save them. But lately I've been thinking, sentient beings are suffering. I vow to save them. Or we could say, the numberless sentient beings are suffering. I vow to save them.

[03:19]

And so we talk about the way of living that saves sentient beings. So the way of living that saves sentient beings is the way of letting go of all clinging that relieves suffering, and it shows others how to do it. And if they would learn that, they would be free of suffering. And I Join the Buddhas in wishing for that practice and that realization of freedom. Even though there are so many suffering beings, numberless suffering beings, I still wish that they will be free of suffering. And I am happy to work for that, to practice for that, to live for that. I'm not happy that beings are suffering, I'm happy that we have a practice which can liberate them.

[04:36]

Or have a practice whereby we can be all liberated together. The good friends, the Buddhas, they teach the way, they teach perfect wisdom, they teach good friendship. Today almost all of us are going to be sitting a lot and standing some and walking some. And while we're sitting, we can take care of our body. We can take care of our posture. We can try to find a way to sit upright in a healthy, healthful way of sitting.

[05:42]

We can try to find a way to be upright and relaxed and open and attentive to our posture. We can be aware of our breathing. We can be aware of our thinking, our emotions, our feelings. And we can practice friendship with all this and we can practice friendship with the other people who are sitting with us. So I've been asking during this training period, during this practice period, I've been asking the community, when they're sitting, I say, do you wish for this sitting to express good friendship? Do you wish this sitting to express the good friendship of the Buddhas? Do you wish this sitting to express perfect wisdom?

[06:51]

Do you wish this sitting to be a gift offered for the welfare of all living beings? Do you wish this sitting to be offered to the liberation of all beings from suffering? I'm not saying, are you saving all living beings? I'm saying, do you wish to offer this posture right now, to give it? to that great Buddha way of liberating beings from suffering. I'm not saying you're doing this liberation from suffering. I'm saying you wish to give your life to the process of all of us working together with all the awakened ones, with all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, to join this great work of liberating all beings.

[08:04]

A long time ago, I don't know how long, maybe a thousand years ago, a monk, a student of the Buddha's teaching came to a teacher came to a good friend and said, when hundreds and thousands and ten thousands of things come at us all at once, when they all converge on me right now at once, how should I respond? And the teacher said, don't try to control them. I'm proposing that this is an example of a teacher wishing to be a good friend to the student, teaching the student good friendship.

[09:27]

Good friendship is whatever comes, whoever comes, don't try to control them. This is the advice, no, this is the expression of an ancient teacher. This is an expression of a good friendship. Whatever suffering comes from others or within ourselves, we welcome it and we don't try to control it. The Buddhas are not trying to control us into salvation. They want us to be free. They want us to be saved from suffering. And they want us to join saving others. But they aren't trying to control us into liberation because they understand that we cannot be controlled.

[10:35]

If Buddhas could control us, they would just make us all completely free and at peace right now. But the Buddhas cannot control living beings. and they aren't trying to control living beings they're trying to encourage living beings to open up to the truth and they're showing the truth and they want people to wake up to it and enter it they wish for that all the time but they can't control people to enter the truth and become free but they want that And everything they do is for that. Everything they do is a gift to help people be who they are and learn who they are. Another ancient teacher says, it is the unavoidable wish of living beings to understand themselves.

[11:43]

understanding ourselves we will not cling to ourselves or others and this will be the relief of suffering. I propose that to you. A little while ago we chanted a verse and in the verse it says something about I vow from this life on through our countless lives to hear the true Dharma. And then it says, upon meeting it, I shall renounce worldly affairs. And in renouncing worldly affairs, I will take care of the Buddha's Dharma, the Buddha's teaching. And then all beings and the great earth together will realize the Buddha's way of freedom from suffering. What are worldly affairs?

[12:51]

Worldly affairs are not being good friend. Worldly affairs are trying to control things and control your feelings and to control other people. like to try to control them into being good Zen students. That would be a worldly affair, to control myself into being a good Zen student, to control my feelings. Some people, as you know, go to extreme forms of trying to control. They take too much pain medication, they take too much sedatives, they take too much to try to make their pain tolerable. But all living beings have a tendency towards addictions, certain methods to control.

[13:57]

It's all right, I feel, to eat food so that you don't get too weak. And when you eat food it may be, in a sense, it will change you and you maybe feel some energy so you can do your work and be a good friend. There's some effect of everything we do, but there's a way of taking care of your body and eating food and so on, that's not addictive. Where you eat without trying to control the amount you're eating. You eat with the intention to not eat too much and not eat too little, yes, but without trying to control your eating. You're good friends to the food. You're good friends to your friends.

[15:03]

You're a good friend to your body. But you don't grasp what is a good friend. We don't know what a good friend is. Right now, I wish this posture to express good friendship. I don't know if it is expressing good friendship, and I don't know what good friendship is, and I wish to express something that I don't know what it is. I want something and I don't know what it is. I want you to be free of suffering, and I wish to be free of suffering, and I don't know what that is. And my understanding is that we can want something that's unknowable but realizable. Freedom from suffering cannot be grasped by the mind of a living being.

[16:12]

Freedom from suffering is grasped by freedom from suffering. Freedom of suffering is grasped by understanding the truth. Excuse me. Freedom of suffering is realized by understanding truth. And understanding truth is realized in freedom from suffering. Kind of like my dad used to say in the springtime, he would say, Easter time is a time for eggs, and the time for eggs is Easter time. He'd pat his legs and go back and forth like this, that's why he did it. If you go like this, it's almost like his knees were crossing. The other night I was talking about good friendship and someone said, what about injustice?

[17:24]

Are you saying to be friendly to injustice? And I don't know what I said, but I think I might have said, yes. The Buddha teaches, when you see injustice, be just to it. When you see unfriendliness, practice friendliness towards it. When you see friendliness, practice friendliness towards it. The Buddha teaches, practice, learn, learn, learn to practice friendship towards everything. The Buddha says, to learn the Buddha way is to learn to be friendly to everything. So the woman says, be friendly to terrible injustice. And I say, yes, learn to be friendly to terrible injustice.

[18:34]

Like the Buddhas, they see terrible injustice, they practice friendship towards it. Do they like terrible injustice? No. Do they hate it? No. Do they try to control it? No. No. What do they do? They practice friendship towards terrible injustice. And the reason they practice friendship towards the appearance of terrible injustice is to set beings free from terrible injustice. They want everybody to have perfect justice. So when they meet injustice, they practice perfect justice, which is perfect friendship towards the justice. But they don't try to control it, and they can't control it. But they can show the way to liberate beings from injustice.

[19:40]

And they try. They wish and they try. They try and they wish. and they don't get tired because they're not trying to control all these beings who might be refusing their gifts. If they try to control all the beings they get tired and they might have to quit. I practiced in this room now for forty 42 years I've been practicing in this room. Well, actually, yeah, I've been practicing here for 42 rooms. I moved from here to the city center for 10 years, but I still came out and practiced here sometimes. And some of the people who were sitting around the room when I first started practicing are not practicing anymore because they tried to control themselves and they tried to control others and they got very tired and quit.

[20:44]

It was too hard. I watched them try to control themselves, and they really made a big effort. I thought, wow, I can't practice as hard as them. They were practicing really hard, but then they quit. So can you make a big effort to what? A big effort. It's a big effort. To what? To give up trying to control what's coming. That's a big effort. It's a huge effort. It's the kind of effort Buddhas make. But it's not too much. It's just right. It's just the right amount. When something comes, welcome it, be friends with it. That's a big effort. But if you try to control it, you'll get what we call burnout. You'll get what we call discouragement, giving up. I can't do this.

[21:47]

This is stupid, and so on. What's stupid? I'm not going to say what's stupid. I'll just say, controlling living beings is not, what do you call it, is not the path to freedom from suffering. It's the path of suffering. Trying to control yourself is the path of suffering. Trying to control others is the path of suffering. Trying to control this world is the path of suffering. And many people are on that path, trying to control, trying to control the Middle East, trying to control California, trying to control the government, trying to control the Republicans, trying to control the Democrats, trying to control, excuse me, Ebola, rather than being a friend to Ebola.

[22:51]

The Buddha is saying being a good friend to Ebola is the Buddha way. The Buddha doesn't hate Ebola, doesn't hate illness, doesn't hate death, doesn't hate birth. Is that unsurprising to you? That the Buddha doesn't hate birth? I guess you wouldn't be surprised if I say the Buddha doesn't hate birth. Are you not surprised by that? Anybody surprised if I say the Buddha doesn't hate birth? And the Buddha doesn't hate death. Are you surprised about me saying that? The Buddha doesn't hate death. The Buddha doesn't hate life. The Buddha doesn't like birth and the Buddha doesn't like death. What does the Buddha do? The Buddha is friends to birth and friend to death and friends to illness and friends to fear.

[23:56]

and friends to violence. Does the Buddha like violence? The Buddha teaches non-violence. The path of non-violence is being friendly to violence. So again, this woman sincerely asks, are you saying be friendly to injustice? And I say, yes. And she says, is there no place for social accent? I said, there is. When you see injustice and you meet it with friendship, you can say, I have a request of you. Would you please do such and such for me? Would you please stop talking to that person that way? Would you please not put that person in prison for that? Would you please speak more quietly? Would you please speak more loudly?

[24:58]

You can act to realize, to do social work, to do social action, to do social justice, but are you doing it from friendship or are you doing it from control? Like I just thought, at the end of the meals, I heard the Eno say something like, it's not necessary to fluff your cushions right now. Just stand up. Did you hear that this morning after breakfast? Now, I don't know if the Eno was trying to control you. I don't know. That's for her to look into her heart. Was I trying to control these people, or was I just... Welcoming them, getting up off their seats, welcoming them to do that, and offering them. From that welcoming, I wasn't trying to control them, but I did have a request.

[26:02]

It's not necessary to fluff your cushions now. And then later, did she tell you that you could fluff them? You did? She said, now you can fluff your cushions. But I don't know if she's trying to control you into fluffing your cushions. Did you hear her say that? Did you fluff your cushions? Did you? Johnny did. Good boy. So I see you. I see he's a good boy. He's my young friend. Well, compared to me, you're just a kid. So I see you're a good boy, but I'm not trying to control him into being a good boy. And you like that, don't you? I do. You want me to not try to control you into being a good boy. You want me to root for you to be a great man. And I am. But I'm not trying to control you into being a great man or a good boy.

[27:04]

And I'm not trying to control you into being a good boy either. But I want you to be a good boy. I wish you would be. I wish you would save all beings, but I'm not trying to control you into a world savior. So if you don't want to do it, I'll wait. OK. You're going to try? Wow, he signed up. We could put a little sheet out after the one-day sitting, a little sign-up sheet for being world saviors. You can sign up. Or you can have another sign-up sheet saying, I'm not yet unsure whether I'm ready to sign up for saving the world. It's not me that saves the world, it's understanding the truth that saves the world. So, this morning, as usual, we chanted the Heart Sutra, and in the Heart Sutra it says, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when deeply practicing Prajnaparamita, the great compassionate Bodhisattva is practicing Prajnaparamita.

[28:20]

is practicing perfect wisdom, is practicing good friendship. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is deeply practicing good friendship. In practicing good friendship, she sees that all five aggregates are empty of own being and thus relieves all suffering. Did you hear that? Avalokiteshvara is practicing perfect wisdom. And in that practice she sees the way things really are. And that vision, that understanding relieves the suffering. She doesn't relieve the suffering. It's the wisdom which she becomes. She's good friendship. And that good friendship realizes the truth.

[29:23]

And that good friendship, realizing the truth, relieves all suffering and distress. That's what the Heart Sutra says, kind of. So I think, oh, I would like to offer my sitting to the deep practice of perfect wisdom. If Avalokiteshvara sits in this room, then she sits. And while she's sitting, she's practicing perfect wisdom. Do you wish to be practicing the way she's practicing? Do you wish your sitting to be an expression of perfect wisdom? I'm asking you, and I would encourage you to ask yourself, do I wish this sitting to be an expression of practicing deeply perfect wisdom? Do I wish this sitting and this sitting and this sitting to express good friendship?

[30:28]

So that in the context of good friendship, perfect wisdom, perfect wisdom, good friendship, the Dharma will be realized and the great earth and all living beings will be free. Then we chanted the Fukan Zazengi, which is the encouragements for sitting meditation for everybody. And in there it says, after you settle into a steady, unmoving sitting position, think not thinking. How do you think not thinking? Non-thinking. So we are repeatedly settling down in this room together, each of us, settling our body and mind. After you're settled, the ancestor says, think not thinking.

[31:36]

How do you think not thinking? Non-thinking. This is a family style of talk. Non-thinking I propose to you is perfect wisdom, is good friendship. Settle into a steady, immobile sitting position and practice good friendship. This is the essential art of zazen. The zazen I'm talking about, the ancestor says, is not just concentration. It's the dharma gate of repose and ease. It's totally culminated enlightenment. If you're sitting here and practicing concentration, I would say, fine. And then while you're practicing concentration,

[32:39]

you can offer the concentration to good friendship. Some people practice concentration in an unfriendly way. Some people practice concentration, which is a good thing, but they do it in an unfriendly way. How do they do it? They try to control it. They get concentrated and then try to keep concentrated. They get concentrated and then They make it their own. I got my concentration, you can't have it. And don't talk to me because if you talk to me, I might lose it. That's an unfriendly way to be to concentration. So when you're concentrated, I give my concentration away. I give it to good friendships. And if you say, I don't want your concentration, I say, thank you.

[33:41]

I want to be friends with people who do not want my friendship, and I want to be friends with those who do want my friendship. And I want to be friends with those who don't know whether they want my friendship or not. Some people are thinking it over and not sure yet that they want my friendship. I don't know what my friendship is, but I want to practice it with everybody. And I'm saying good friendship is perfect wisdom, and that's what we practice in the Buddha way when we're sitting. In the Buddha way when we're walking, we practice good friendship. In the Buddha way when we're standing, we practice good friendship. And we do it with everybody. And we do it when people are being kind, and we do it when they're being cruel. We do it when their blood sugar level is just right, and we do it when it's too low.

[34:48]

And we do it when it's too high. We welcome and give up trying to control living beings. And this is how we see that everybody that comes is bringing us the Dharma. Cruelty brings us the Dharma. The Dharma is not cruelty. It's being brought to us in the form of injustice so that we can be kind to the injustice and see the Dharma there. And thus, when in thus justice comes, the Buddha meets it with friendship and beings are released. And again, friendship can look like social action. Again, the Eno says, it's not necessary to fluff your cushion, that's social action. Turn left at the next corner, that's social action.

[35:52]

Don't drive while drinking, please. Let me drive for you. That's social action. Lots of opportunities for social action. Where is it coming from? If it's coming from good friendship, then the social action sets the stage for perfect wisdom, for understanding the truth, and for liberating all beings. by that understanding. Well, I've been talking for a long time but the kitchen hasn't left yet, so it isn't that long. But I'm going to try to stop soon so that you can hear the whole talk. I'm going to say a little bit more though, because there's a few more minutes before you have to leave, right?

[36:58]

Do you have a watch back there? What time is it? I have, yeah, about 1047. We have Bodhisattva precepts in this tradition. We have 16 Bodhisattva precepts. The first three are the three refuges in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. The next three are the threefold bodhisattva precepts, embracing and sustaining forms and ceremonies, embracing all wholesome action, and embracing and sustaining all beings. And we have ten major bodhisattva precepts. And the tenth major bodhisattva precept is not disparaging the triple treasure. Starts with the triple treasure and ends with the triple treasure, our precepts. Not disparaging the triple treasure.

[38:01]

And then Dogen Zenji comments on this, not disparaging the triple treasure, and he says, a body is manifested, or the body is manifested. The Dharma is unfurled, like a Dharma flag is unfurled. And there's a bridge in the world for crossing over the sea of suffering. So I wanted to say was, there is a teaching that Buddha manifests a body and saves all living beings. But our ancestors have said, manifesting the body and saving all beings means manifesting the body is saving all beings.

[39:08]

The Buddha's body is saving all beings. So we work to realize the Buddha body is the same as working to realize the liberation of all beings. Liberation of all beings is manifesting the Buddha body. And then Dogen Zenji goes on to say, when you see liberation, don't look for some Buddha in addition to that. And when you see the manifestation of the Buddha, don't look for liberation in addition to that. Because Buddha is nothing but. beings free.

[40:11]

And beings free are nothing but the Buddha. In order to understand this, we need to practice the Buddha way, which is friendship to everything. And it's very difficult to learn to be friendly to everything. very difficult. When pain gets very strong, it's very difficult to not try to control it. But if I try to control my pain, then it might not be so difficult for me to be friendly to my trying to control. So I might actually let myself try to control the pain and learn how to not try to control my pain, how to give up trying to control my pain by being kind when I do try to control my pain.

[41:16]

So I have been trying in this room for many years to learn to give up trying to control my pain, like I have pain right now. And it's not that bad, so it's not that difficult for me to not try to control it. I have pain and I'm not trying to control it right now. I'm being friendly to the pain I'm experiencing right now. And when I am practicing friendliness towards the pain I'm feeling right now, I still feel the pain, but I'm also very happy. And I'm happy to tell you that when I'm friendly to my pain, I'm free of it without it going away. And yeah, it's like Buddha, Dharma, pain. And I will probably continue to have pain.

[42:28]

That often happens to people that as they get older, it's not like they get older and older and older and less and less pain. As you may have heard, old people do not get up and say, wow, my pain, you know, every day I feel have less pain. They usually say, every day I have a little bit more pain. Like Suzuki Roshi said, now every day I get up, I feel sick. He said that when he was towards the end of his life, I get up every morning, I'm sick. When I first started practicing Zen and got up early in the morning, sometimes I got up in the early morning and I did not feel sick at all. As a matter of fact, I got up occasionally and felt like, whoopee, how nice to be up early in the morning. This is great to be a young person. Yippee!

[43:33]

Let's go practice zazen! Sometimes I was really tired, but sometimes it was like, wow, great! How fun! But now it's more like wake up and sick, but also how fun to get up and be friends to my sickness. Now I feel pain. Oh, how fun to go and be friendly to my pain. And then to befriend my pain from the house where I'm sleeping to this room and then sit down here and befriend my pain. How wonderful the Buddha way. And then I can befriend my friends who are in pain too. Who are also befriending their pain. It's really... Wonderful. To befriend my pain and to befriend your pain. To listen to your pain, to listen to my pain, and to really be friends to it.

[44:41]

And also, as someone asked me yesterday, sometimes to offer boundaries and say, I need a break from this pain. I'm starting to tense up and be unfriendly. Okay, let's have a little break now. Nap time in the Zendo? Nap time in the Zendo? Well, I'm not saying, yes, it's okay, but I notice people are taking naps. I'm not saying that it's okay. I'm not saying it is nap time. But you might have to say that to yourself sometimes. I think it's nap time. I feel like I'm going to take a nap now. Whoa, it's a nap. Or, I guess it's a nap. It was a nap. In Zen, we say, if you're hungry, eat, and if you're exhausted, rest.

[45:47]

And if you want to practice and you don't, We say it's good to confess it, and if you feel bad about it, to say you're sorry. If you're unfriendly to people and you're trying to control them and you notice it, you say, I'm sorry. I think I was trying to control you just now. I'm really sorry. That's not what I want to do. I want to be your friend. I'm sorry." You might not say it to the person, but you'd say it to the Buddhas. I'm sorry I was trying to control. And now the kitchen is finally leaving. What time do you leave? It's not eleven o'clock yet. Okay. Thank you for being so kind to them. They get toilet breaks in the kitchen. That's wonderful. And you're going to get a toilet break too quite soon if you need it.

[46:53]

So stay. So, thanks for listening to my, what? My words, my voice, my celebration of good friendship as the Buddha way. I hope we all realize the Buddha way of good friendship. I hope you realize it all day long today, for the rest of the day, and forever. Thank you very much.

[47:30]

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