I've been wanting for some time to talk with you about this expression and practice of a grandmother heart, a grandmotherly mind. One of the places we find this talked about is familiar to many of you, and that is the head cook by Heihei Koso, Dogen Zenji, where at the end of the instructions to the cook he says that, In working in of responsibility, it's good to keep mindfulness of the spirit of joyfulness, magnanimity, and parental mind, or the feeling of affection that one has for one's own child.

[01:28]

So these three minds, the joyful mind, the magnanimous mind, and the parental or grandmotherly or grandfatherly mind are attitudes that we are encouraged to cultivate in any position of responsibility. Here he's talking about any position of responsibility within our practice community, but certainly any place we are in this world, these three spirits are good to keep in our heart. are just actually kind of an unfoldment of one mind.

[02:46]

They're really not three different things, but they're different aspects or different ways of meditating on the Buddha's heart and mind. I mostly want to emphasize, today anyway, the grandmotherly mind. I don't say it's more important, but in a way I think it's maybe what you may hear from me later about it, I think in some ways it's actually kind of a surprising aspect of Dogen's understanding of the Buddha.

[03:48]

The other two are in some ways more straightforward. The joyful mind is in some ways in the sense that we're just being encouraged to think about how lucky we are, how fortunate we are to be human beings, to live in the human world, and have, for starters, since this is instructions to the cook, have the opportunity to prepare meals for the Triple Treasure. These meals that we prepare here are for the Buddha, for the Dharma, and for the Sangha. Some of you might hear that in some other monastic instruction manuals

[04:56]

besides Dogen, he got the idea, quoting from other monastic manuals in China, where the monks are, they're also told that it's good for them to think how fortunate they are to be able to make food for the community of monks, because community of monks, so say the monk's community, monk's community say that the community of monks is really a great community. So we're really lucky to be able to... I'm very fortunate to be able to make food for the monks because the monks are so great. But we're also making food so that the monks can study the Buddha and the Dharma and realize the Buddha and Dharma. So we're really... You may have some misgivings about some of the monks you know, but this food is being prepared for you, not just one treasure.

[06:02]

And so can you understand that the joyful mind is, whether you've got it or not, it's the mind which really is full of joy at the prospect of making food for the monks, for the Buddha and for the Dharma. But it applies to all positions. So as he said, this spirit of joyfulness applies to all positions. So if you're an administrator, if you're an assistant administrator, if you're a servant to an assistant administrator, whatever position you have in the community, there is possibility that one could have a great joy of rejoicing in having a body and mind as the triple treasure. Do you by any chance have that that joy now?

[07:13]

If you don't then it's something that is being encouraged something you could actually think about and think about until you find something to be joyful about in your work here. Maybe I'll ask you individually if you have this joyful mind and see what you say. Maybe in public you don't want to brag and tell people how much joy you have in serving them, but maybe in private you can brag. And then the next mind is the mind of magnanimity, which is compared to, in one sense, a great mountain, and in another sense, a great ocean. A great mountain in the sense that it's stable and immovable

[08:16]

And I think the mindful mind, you know, it's wonderful, but it wasn't actually what attracted me to Zen. I think what attracted me to Zen, actually, among these three minds was the great mind, the big mind, as described particularly in this mind of magnanimity, this immovability. this being unswayed by enticements or attractive things, praise, pleasant offerings, Just quickly, three stories of this sort of immovable quality of the great mind attracted me.

[09:27]

One I told you about many times, the story of Hakuin, who lived in a small fishing village on the Pacific Ocean, not too far from where Suzuki Roshi's temple is. And a girl in the village became pregnant and she told her parents that Hakuin was the father of the baby. And the parents went to him and oppressed him. They criticized him. They reviled him. They said he was a disgrace to the community of monks. And they said, and when the baby comes, you can take care of it. And his response was, or maybe not unmoved, but imperturbable.

[10:29]

And he said, basically, is this what's happening to me now? Or, is that what you're saying to me? Or, okay. So then when the baby was born, they gave him the baby, and he took care of the baby, I believe, for two years. And he, with the assistance of a wet nurse, took care of the baby, apparently pretty well. The parents later found out from their daughter that he was not the father. And they praised him. They gave him enticement. They said he was a great monk. And he said, okay, whatever, fine. So this is my life." That kind of thing. In other words, continued to be unmoved by the enticements of great praise. And I, when I heard that, I thought that I want to be like that, like that unwavering presence in the midst of praise and blame.

[11:38]

And also I like that story of Buddha, you know, sitting under the bow tree and being presented with the most attractive possible beings coming to him, inviting him to enjoy their devotion, and just sitting still, unmoving. And then the most obnoxious beings come, still and not moving. I like that. And also one time I saw the picture, you know, during the Vietnam War, I saw a picture of a monk on fire in Vietnam. And now it's just sort of like this thing inside the flames. And I thought, hmm, there's a monk on fire. I thought, well, there's a dead monk. There's a charbroiled monk. And I thought, not much. And then he fell over. Then the body fell over.

[12:42]

And I thought, I was wondering when that would fall over. And it fell over. And I thought, it's about time. But then it sat up again. And I thought, hmm, this is impressive. It didn't just fall over. It pushed itself back up and continued to cook upright. This is one of those things about being unswayed by oppression. So I was attracted by that unwaveringness in the midst of whatever. And another thing about this mind is ocean-like in the sense that it's no exclusiveness. Nothing is exclusive and refuses to take sides.

[13:43]

You say, well, how do you vote for president? Anyway, you refuse to take sides. Maybe you vote, but you don't take sides when you vote. You're on everybody's side. You are completely free of prejudice. So again, they use the example, when given something light, you don't pick it up as though it's light. And when given something heavy, you don't pick it up as though it's heavy. You pick up heavy and light things basically with the same mind, this big mind. He also talks about this is basically the same thing.

[14:54]

You're not swept away by the and you're not depressed by the colors of autumn. Some of you might think, well, autumn colors are lovely. But I think what's meant here is you're not, again, swept away by pleasing sound and you're not depressed by pleasing sounds. So it's the same idea of this kind of mind. And then Dogen says that because of this kind of mind, and then he tells, alludes to three wonderful Zen stories, because of cultivating this big mind, these three, Ja Shan, Gui Shan, and Dung Shan, they were able to perform these miraculous, or participate in these miraculous interactions with people. And maybe sometime later you can hear about these wonderful... But Dogen is pointing out that they were able to be this wonderful way or interact in this wonderful way with people because of this mind.

[16:09]

Just like Hakuen was able to interact with the girl's parents and with the baby in this wonderful way because of cultivating this mind. And then the third mind, the one I wanted to emphasize today, is actually in the text it says roshin mind, but it's kind of short for roboshin, old woman mind, or old wife mind. And grandmother mind, of course, not just in Zen, everybody knows about grandmother mind and grandfather mind. Even if you're a grandmother and you don't have it, you still know what it is. But in this particular case, Dogen's saying that it doesn't just mean kind concern, affectionate concern.

[17:19]

It means wholehearted devotion to the triple treasure. It means treating the triple treasure as though it were your only child. And we have practices like being mindful of Buddha, being mindful of Dharma, being mindful of Sangha, remembering Buddha, remembering Buddha, remember Buddha, remember Dharma, remember the community. We have those things because, I don't know because, but maybe because We sometimes forget. Do you ever forget Buddha? We sometimes forget Dharma. We sometimes forget the community of practitioners. So we have to actually do a kind of practice to remember, oh yeah, Buddha, yeah, right. Somebody's talking to you, you know, and you... For a second there, you forget Buddha and you think something else.

[18:24]

or you think something, but you don't remember Buddha at the same time. But when you're a parent or a grandfather, you don't have to try to remember your kid. It's not that difficult, especially if you only have one. You know, you look at others and remember. It's easy. And it's easy to, like, take off your clothes in the cold and give them to your kid. Easy to give your kid your food when you don't have much. Even poor people don't have a problem taking care of their kids in terms of giving what they have. It's easy. But the strange thing is that some people in the Buddhist world sometimes forget that that Buddha is really something that they care about, in a way, most of all.

[19:29]

Because caring for Buddha helps us care for all things. So, strangely, we elevate this grandmother mind towards the Triple Treasure, most of us, because we don't have the biological equipment to make us constantly be mindful of devotion to the Triple Treasure, so that every word we speak, we are speaking it for the Triple Treasure. We sort of have to remind ourselves to make every word for the sake of Buddhadharma Sangha. We have to remind ourselves that every action is for the sake of Buddhadharma Sangha. We have to remind ourselves that every thought is for the sake of Buddhadharma Sangha. And being able to do that is what Dogen means by grandmother mind, us who have responsibility for this world of suffering, which includes our own children but extends with no exclusion to all beings and all activities.

[21:00]

Again, part of the reason why this story is important to me is because some years ago I read a record of Dogen's final instructions to one of our ancestors named Tetsugikai. Konejo Daisho, Tetsugikai Daisho, our great ancestor, made a record of Dogen's final instructions to him. And in those instructions he has Dogen admonishing him that he doesn't have deep enough development of grandmother mind. And when I first read it I thought, I kind of thought, I wonder if I have enough grandmother mind.

[22:08]

But again, what I was thinking of grandmother mind was the more normal idea of grandmother mind. In other words, I thought he was saying to Gikkai, you're not kind enough for people. You don't have enough kind and affection and concern for beings, for living beings. I thought that's what he was saying. And that's a good instruction, too. But the part that made it difficult for me was that Gikai was such a great... devoted to the other monks. And also, another thing that made me wonder was he didn't seem to understand what Dogen was talking about. He seemed kind of straightforward. And that's part of what I'd like to bring out to you is that it's not so straightforward what Dogen was saying to him. It's not It's actually not that Gikai probably was lacking a kind and affectionate concern for other beings.

[23:11]

He actually probably had that. What he lacked actually was that he didn't understand that everything you do must be a Buddhist ceremony. He didn't understand that, and neither did most Zen students. He thought there was some other Buddhism than making every action a Buddhist ritual. As a matter of fact, I thought maybe he wrote Tenzo Kyokun for Gikai, because Gikai was the head cook at Eheiji for quite a while.

[24:14]

So I thought that Dogen wrote this just for him, but actually he wrote it before Gikai. Dogen was, on three occasions that we have record of, maybe even more than, I guess, three times, he strongly pointed this out to Gikai that he didn't have a deep enough development of grandmotherly mind. And Gikai says in his record, on seventh month, the fifth year of the Kensho era, Master Dogen's disease recurred. I was very alarmed and went to see him.

[25:17]

Come close to me. I approached his right side and he said, I believe that my current life is coming to an end with this sickness. In spite of everyone's care, I am not recovering. Don't be alarmed by this. Human life is limited and we should not be overwhelmed by illness. Even though there are ten million things clarified concerning the Buddha Dharma, I still have the joy of not having formed mistaken views and of having genuinely maintained correct faith in the true Dharma. The essentials of all this are not any different from what I have spoken of every day.

[26:24]

This monastery is an excellent place. You may be attached to it, but we should live in accord with the temporal and worldly conditions. In the Buddha Dharma, any place is an excellent place for practice. When the nation is peaceful, the monastery supporters live in peace. When the supporters are peaceful, the monastery will certainly be at ease. You have lived here for many years and you have become a monastery leader. After I die, stay in the monastery. Cooperate with the monk and laity and protect the Buddha Dharma I have taught.

[27:34]

If you go traveling, always reach the monastery. If you wish, you can stay in the hermitage. Shedding tears, I wept and said in gratitude, I will in any way your instructions for both the monastery and myself I will never disobey your wishes Then Dogen, also shedding tears and holding his palms together, said, I am deeply satisfied. For many years I have known that you are familiar with worldly matters and that within the Buddha Dharma you have a strong way-seeking mind.

[28:49]

Everyone knows your deep intention, but you have not yet cultivated a grandmotherly heart. As you grow older, I am sure you will develop it. Restraining my tears, At that time, the head monk, Ejo, was also present and heard this conversation. I have not forgotten the admonition that I did not have a grandmotherly heart. However, I didn't know why Dogen said this. Some years later, excuse me, some years earlier when I returned and had gone to see him, he had given me the same admonishments during a private discussion.

[30:08]

So this was the second time he told me this. On the 23rd month of that year, before I went to visit my hometown, Dogen told me, you should return quickly from this trip. There are many things I have to tell you. On the 28th day of the same month, I returned to the monastery and paid my respects to my master. He said, while you were gone, I thought I was going to die, but I am still alive. I have received several requests from the Lord Yoshishige Hatano at the governor's office in Rokuhara, Rokuhara-mitsu in Kyoto to come to the capital for medical treatment.

[31:19]

At this point, I have many last instructions, but I am planning to leave for Kyoto on the fifth day of the eighth month. Although you would be very well suited to accompany me on this trip, there is no one else who can attend to all the affairs of the monastery. Therefore, I want you to stay and take care of the administration. Sincerely, I am certain my life will be over. Even if my death is slow in coming, I will stay in Kyoto this year. I do not think the monastery belongs to others, but consider it your own.

[32:30]

Presently, you have no position. He wasn't Tenzo anymore, but would soon be the director. But you have served repeatedly on the senior staff. you should consult with the others on all matters and not take decisions on your own. Since I am very busy now, I cannot tell you the details. Perhaps there are many things that I will have to tell you later from Kyoto. If I live to return from Kyoto, Then, next time we meet, I will teach you the secret procedures for Dharma transmission. However, when someone starts these procedures, small-minded people may become jealous. So you should not tell other people of this.

[33:37]

I know that you have an outstanding spirit for both mundane and super-mundane worlds. However, you still lack grandmotherly heart." This is the third time he told him. Dogen had wanted me to return quickly from my trip so that he could tell me these things. I am not recording further details here." By a sliding door, the senior nun, Egi, heard this conversation. On the third day of the eighth month, Dogen gave me a wood block for the printing of the On the sixth day of the month, bidding farewell to Dogen at an inn in Wakimoto, I respectfully asked, I deeply wish I could accompany you on this trip, but I will return to the moon according to your instructions.

[35:02]

If your return is delayed, I would like to go to Kyoto to see you. Do I have your permission?" He said, of course you do. You don't need further about it. I am having you stay behind only in considerations of the monastery. I want you to attentively manage the affairs of the monastery. Because you are a native of this area, You are a disciple of the late Master Akon. Many people in this province know your trustworthiness. I am asking you to stay because you are familiar with matters both inside and outside the monastery. I accepted this respectfully. It was the last time

[36:08]

I saw Dogen, and it was his last instruction to me. Taking it to heart, I have never forgotten it. In the following year or so, he continued to meditate on his teacher's instructions about the grandmotherly mind. And finally, something changed. And he wrote, In the past year or so, I have been reflecting on the talks I heard given

[37:15]

he's recording this, but he's talking about his new teacher. In the past years or so, I have been reflecting on the lectures I heard given by our former teacher. Even though I heard all of them from our former teacher, now they are different than at first. The difference concerns the assertion that the Buddha way transmitted by our teacher is the correct performance of monastic path. The Buddha way as transmitted by our teacher is the correct performance of monastic path. The Buddha way as transmitted is to make life a communal ritual.

[38:25]

Even though I heard that the Buddha way is the Buddha rituals, even though I heard that the Buddha way is that all actions are rituals enacting the Buddha. In my heart, I privately felt that true Buddhism must reside apart from this performance of tasks. Recently, however, my mind has changed. I now know that monastic ritual and deportment themselves are the true Buddha. Even if apart from these there is also an infinite Buddha way of the Buddha ancestors, still it is the very same Buddha way.

[39:33]

I have attained true competence found principle that apart from the lifting of the arm and the moving of one's leg, as Buddha's conduct, there can be no other reality. Last night we chanted the three pure precepts. And the first one, the way we chanted last night was, I vowed to embrace and sustain right conduct. But this is a kind of official Zen center form. The way that I say it in ordination book is to embrace and sustain regulations and ceremonies. The first pure precept is to embrace and sustain life as monastic ceremonies, as ceremonies to manifest the Buddha Dharma now in this action of body, speech and mind.

[40:56]

receiving these precepts is called tokado, which means attaining enlightenment. When Gikai said, I now see that apart from lifting the arm within Buddha's conduct, and Buddha's conduct is the activity of Buddha, and the activity of Buddha is the way all beings are practicing together with all Buddhas, that activity is the activity in which we think and speak and move. When we are making our thinking, speaking and moving a celebration and enactment of that reality. And there is another reality according to Gikai.

[42:03]

And he said this thing about raising the arm and moving the leg because he came from a school of Zen which had a subtly reversed view of the Dharma. For them, they said that anything you do, for example, just simply lifting your arm and moving your leg, was embraced by the Buddhadharma. So he grew up in culture, his teacher, his first teacher before Dogen was a teacher of a tradition which taught that anything you do is embraced by original awakening and Buddha nature. It's very close to what Dogen says. It's not that anything you do or anything I do is the Buddha way. But very close to that is Dogen's teaching, which is everything we do and say must be done as the Buddha Dharma.

[43:17]

all actions for the sake of Buddha Dharma is the Buddha way. But to say whatever you do is the Buddha way is a rejection of the moral foundation of Buddhism. It's putting too much weight on the confidence in our Buddha nature and not enough weight on enacting our Buddha nature in every moment of life. The Buddha dharma in every action is the grandmotherly mind that Ikkai didn't have enough of but finally understood. As a result, his way was very action-oriented and ...studying of Buddhist scriptures anymore in his community.

[44:24]

Just activity. And every activity being done as a ceremony of attaining enlightenment. But he had to do that as an antidote to training, which says whatever you do is the Buddhism. Anything you do is Buddhism rather than make whatever you do. In the last part of the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts, which is not disparaging the Triple Treasure, Dogen makes a comment on that in what's called Kyogyu Kaimon, or the receiving and teaching the precepts. His comment on the last precept is, the way we translated it before was, the body is manifested, the Dharma unfolded, and there is a bridge in the world for crossing over.

[45:45]

And recently I was going to write those characters for that comment on some People's Rock Feast. I realized instead of reading it as the body is manifested and the Dharma is unfolded, another way of translating it would be manifest the body and enact the Dharma. The words for unfold can also mean enact. And instead of reading it as the body is manifested and the dharma is enacted, you can read it the other way around, because it actually says the first character is manifest and then body, and then enact the dharma. Manifest the body, enact the dharma, manifest the Buddha body, enact the dharma, manifest the Buddha body. This is the grandmother mind.

[46:52]

So we have this monastery here. We have this practice place. I really encourage you and me to, moment by moment, practice this grandmotherly mind, which took a great ancestor a long time to understand. So if you don't get it, to really understand every activity that manifests the body of Buddha. Every activity enacts the Dharma. With the feeling like taking care of this thing in your life. Very warm, very passionate, wholehearted, fearless, unselfish, joyful, with no exclusion.

[47:58]

But also, make this the Buddha way. Don't wait for later to realize it. This is attitude that we can carry all the time through the whole practice period. So we may be studying other things, but this is basic. And this is the thing which just took me a long time to figure what Ikai's problem was. He looked so great. He was such a great Tenzo. Dogen loved him so much, but he didn't get this point. He thought that there was still something besides in acting. So somebody came to Duxlan and they said, I know I'm supposed to be talking about Dharma, but I really want to know about your grandson and your daughter.

[49:15]

I said, you can ask me about that if you want to. Want to ask me about my grandson? No? No? I asked the staff if he could come to visit. He wants to visit Tassajara. Did you have a discussion? What did they say? Okay. So visit to test your grandmother mind. How old is he? He's three and three-fourths. Yes? I thought you'd never ask. One of the latest developments is a couple of weeks ago I heard that, I didn't hear this directly, this may not have happened, but he told his mother that he was married

[50:29]

to Razi. And his mother, you know, somewhat concerned with proper education, said, well, you can't be married to a dog. Because dogs are a different species. You have to marry like humans. And he said, But I love her very much. And we're already married anyway. So she's my wife. I have no choice. And then recently, she told me that they went to a park where there were dogs. And he went up to an owner of a Jack Russell Terrier. And he said, your dog's just like my wife.

[51:30]

And then I was talking to my daughter to get some measurements of his body because we're making him a Zendo outfit. And she said, he's talking about coming to Tassajara. As soon as he wakes up in the morning, while he's still kind of rubbing his eyes, not really awake, he said, is today the day that I go to visit granddaddy and my wife? Now, a little comment on this is this is like a typical human situation. He's in love with this dog. He loves her very much. And he thinks she loved him very much, but actually she hates him. He loves her so much, he goes, oh, Rosie, my dear little Rosie.

[52:45]

She's going, lousy competitor. You're the little prince here, aren't you? Yeah, sure I am. She hates him. She's just restraining herself from him. Now, because she knows if she bites the prince, what will happen. But she really liked it. No one was looking. And he's going, oh, my dear wife, I love you so much. He says to his mom, I love taking heists with Abu, which is what he calls his grandmother, and granddaddy, and my wife. And there's several other stories, but one of them I'm going to save until we get into the deep and difficult practice of wisdom study. But I'll tell you one more easy one, and that is, I was talking to one of the hedgehogs.

[53:45]

They have a lot of hedgehogs in England. I've never seen a hedgehog in the United States. Has anybody? Well, hedgehogs live in hedges, and they have a lot of hedges in England, especially in Devon. And they're like little porcupines. They're about this big. And they have spines on them. And there's a famous hedgehog named Mrs. Tiggy Winkle. And so I said to this person, did you read Beatrix Potter? And she said, no. wonderful hedgehog myths and Beatrix Potter books. But the person said, I like Madeline stories. I said, oh, my grandson liked Madeline too. I thought she should like Madeline in a bad hat. He's the bad hat. Pepito. This naughty who gives Madeline a lot of trouble. Anyway, so, recently his grandmother

[54:48]

went to Paris on a little vacation. And so then he was reading, and he knew about this, so he's reading his Madeline book. He's turning through the page. Where's Abu? Why isn't she in here? I thought she went to Paris. Any other questions? I think about November 5th. May our intention...

[55:51]

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