Good morning. Can you hear me back there? I feel like I'm playing to the back of the house. Um, maybe I am. Ah, where the, uh, the hoi polloi, the populace who's up in the balcony. Well, it's the third day of Rohatsu Shishin 2018 and Sochen has decided to give an opportunity for some of the other senior students and teachers to speak in the course of this week as well as himself. So I'd like to speak Today, I've been thinking about Bodhicitta and or in Japanese, you might translate that as Bodai Shin.

[01:04]

We also talk about it as way seeking mind, Bodhicitta, the It's a combination of two Sanskrit words. Bodhi means awakening or enlightenment. And citta derives from the Sanskrit root citta, which means that which is conscious. So we translate it as mind or consciousness. And so you can think of it as awakening mind or as awakened mind. or as we said, as we often use the term here, the way-seeking mind. Dogen speaks of this frequently in different ways. And it occurs to me as I was getting ready to come down that

[02:11]

When Dogen speaks of Bodai Shin, he quotes, he often quotes Nagarjuna, and he quotes the Lotus Sutra. And Nagarjuna, of course, quotes Chakyamuni Buddha. And we, Sojin quotes Dogen. And I'm going to quote Sojin. And you can quote, somebody will probably quote me on that. It hasn't happened too much yet. But the thing is that once you really begin to think about all human creativity and all human activity, all human thought is just built generation on generation on what's come before, what's been said before.

[03:23]

And each person who manifests, you could say, you know, each awakened being leaves their own particular mark or stamp on the nature of reality, but actually each person does. And we carry this within us. So I'm thinking, here we are in Sishin, and I think this is maybe the 34th or 35th Rohatu Sishin that I've done. And I can visualize The particular physical manifestation of different people, people who are deceased, people who are no longer practicing with us, in some cases people who are practicing with us, I carry them in my body and mind and perhaps communicate a little bit of that to you consciously or unconsciously.

[04:38]

We carry it in our food. I'm going to get back to food. The tea treat that actually Ross and I both served, which was fine, that dates with the nuts and cream cheese. I know we had a big discussion. Eric and I, I think, had a discussion about that because his were skinny ones and mine were fat ones. But that's something that I remember being served very, very early as a teacher here. And some things continue, some things fall by the way but might appear again. For example, a third bowl dish, I think it was third bowl or was it tea treat, the celery with peanut butter?

[05:42]

Was it a tea treat? Yeah. Anyway, what I remember is that that treat was a kind of celebration of Sojin's bodhichitta. Somebody said you once had an awakening experience. Is that true? City center? Oh, yeah. It's okay. Finish the story. cooking, you were making the tea treat with the celery and the dough.

[07:12]

It's that first snap. There you go. So you never know when things are going to happen. What I remember from the first time we had that – the first time I had it here, it was at that first snap, everybody crunched into the celery and then the entire room broke out in hysterical laughter. But that's an enlightenment experience. Our cooking is based on what's come before us. Our practice is based on what comes, what's come before us. And yet we each have to manifest this in our own way. So, uh, Dogen speaks, he speaks in a couple of different ways about bodhichitta.

[09:00]

In, uh, One of his early fascicles, he speaks of it as arousing the mind that sees into the nature of impermanence. that the arousing of that mind, when that comes to you in the context of sitting, in the context of living, in the context of seeing your body and those of others change, that brings about the mind of awakening, the mind that sees into the nature of reality. So that's one way that he talks about it. Another traditional way, there's a there's a fastball of Dogens called Hotsu Bodai-shen, which translates as something like arousing the aspiration for enlightenment. And he says this,

[10:05]

To benefit sentient beings is to help them arouse the aspiration to enlighten other sentient beings before awakening oneself. Do not think of yourself as becoming a Buddha by helping people to arouse the aspiration to enlighten others. Even when your own merit for becoming a Buddha has matured, you turn that merit around and dedicate it to others so that they may become Buddhas, thereby attaining the way. One of, a person that I studied with some years ago, what he described, I was doing some koan study with him, and what he said was, when you have some kind of realization, You just, it's like you just, you're a farmer tilling the soil and you just plow, you plow it back under, you plow it back into the ground to fertilize that ground of being for everyone.

[11:15]

So, the reason that I'm thinking about this is I was talking, with some people, and it turns out at a couple of different Zen centers, we were talking about, we had a discussion about Zazen instruction. And the basic nuts and bolts of Zazen instruction, which are certainly clear in Fukan Zazengi, in the instructions in Zazen, Zen mind, beginner's mind, the instructions you may find in, say, Akin Roshi's book, Taking the Path of Zen. There's fairly straightforward instructions, but what they had in their instruction was quite interesting to me, which was

[12:23]

So you would, as we do, you settle your body, you find your posture, and you find your breath. And then part of their instruction was then to articulate bodhicitta for yourself, to name as you're breathing, as you're settling, to name for yourself, what is my intention as I begin this period of Zazen. And I've been doing this for the last few months. I had never heard it before, and I've tried it, and I've been doing it, I'd say I've been doing it every period of Zazen this week, and I've been doing it day by day.

[13:28]

And I made up just a succinct phrase for myself that I'll just, all I do is I say it to myself once. When I've settled myself and I found my breath and my posture, I silently say, may I be awake that I may help all others to awaken. May I be awake that I may help all others to awaken. And I'm not suggesting that we add that necessarily to our Zazen instruction on Saturday, because I think that to me, this is a vow. Well, it's very much in line with Dogen quotes the Lotus Sutra.

[14:35]

And he quotes a verse from the Lotus Sutra saying, I constantly make this my intention. How may I help living beings enter the unsurpassed way and quickly realize Buddhahood? And I think that you already have to have some glimpse of the path. You have to have some inkling that you want to practice the Buddha way. And so, I might offer this instruction to people, say, in Sashin. But at any rate, it sort of enlivens or leavens my my zazen. It gives it some lift for me and gives me some focus as I begin each period.

[15:41]

Yeah. I wasn't clear whether, and I heard you say you wouldn't do that, but if you did do it, would you ask the question or would you offer the answer? I would very simply explain something brief about Bodhicitta and then offer that expression. Yeah. And that might be fine. But today I wanted to say that and just say I've been doing that and I wanted to talk more about Bodhicitta. So this, how does this manifest? How does this enlightened mind or awakening mind manifest? Obviously this is also an expression of the Bodhisattva vow.

[16:55]

Beings are numberless. I vow to awaken with them, right? So we take this vow, we do this vow. We'll close our talk today with that. And it's kind of our primal vow. And so it seems to me fitting to do it in the context of Zazen, but it's not restricted to Zazen. Zazen is one sort of clear manifestation, but the enlightened mind manifests in thoughts, words, and actions. So it manifests in time and space. It manifests in the context of our life. And what I want it, the way I see it is as an activity, not as a concept.

[18:12]

And this is where You know, one of the great things about the fact that we have this newsletter that has all these transcribed lectures in it is that they're searchable on the Internet. And So when you search a subject of Dogen, there's a much higher percentage of Sojin Roshi's lectures than a lot of other teachers because we've got a lot of them that have been transcribed. And I found a lecture of his on Tenzo Kyokun from Chapel Hill in 1993. 25 years ago. 25 years ago. I was just a kid. Yeah, but you were pretty wise for, you know, a mere 65 year old.

[19:16]

So what he writes about, But what Dogen says in Tenzo Kyokan, it is written in the regulations of the Zen monastery that the function of the Tenzo is to manage meals for the monks. This work has always been carried out by teachers settled in the way and by others who have aroused the Bodhisattva spirit within themselves. Such a practice requires exhausting of your energies. So much exhaustion that our Tenzo just walked out. But that's because she's taking care of us, not because she was bored. So in this lecture that Sojan Roshi gave, it says, when you express enlightened activity, enlightenment is everywhere. When you don't, it's not.

[20:18]

To practice in Dogen's way, just step right in, right into practice enlightenment. This incidentally, I'm still quoting, is why it's possible to sit zazen without knowing anything. When you sit zazen, you just step into enlightened practice. You can practice enlightened practice right now. Just be one with your activity completely. Don't separate subject from object. Even though vegetables are vegetables, the knife is a knife and you are you, cutting vegetables can be cutting it all into one. Stirring the soup can be stirring the soup into one. So this enlightenment is not a flavor that we add to the soup.

[21:20]

It's the thing itself. And it's the expression, it's what comes out in our cooking. It's where the tenso and the cooks merge with all of the ingredients to make what Bernie Glaston talked about as the supreme meal. and it's cooking yourself. That is bodhicitta. Okay. It's not some state of mind. It's actually an activity. And for me, the measure, uh, The measure of what I perceive as enlightenment is how does a person act?

[22:34]

How do they talk? How do they cook? It's enlightened activity. Because whatever experience you may have had sitting here facing the wall is all well and good. But if that's not an ingredient, if that's not a really integrated part of your life, it's of no use. And the use, of course, is to help others to awaken. So, you know, I was thinking about my meals yesterday, which I've been cooking variations of those meals for, I don't know, 10 years or so now.

[23:47]

I feel like I'm I'm beginning to get it down. I'm beginning to know how these things come together. And I confess it's, you know, it's not a, I confess that my repertoire is sort of limited. And I don't think it's the most subtle cooking in the world, but it gives me great pleasure to cook it. And, you know, I try to, I don't try to cook it with my heart. I just cook it with my heart. You know, I'm not trying to do anything. That's one of the things I think you learn as you cook a lot here. It's not a performance. Your zazen is not a performance. How you conduct the meeting is not a performance. It's just enlightened activity. And if all goes well, then the people around you have a good experience and they're awakened also.

[24:55]

So I think about that when I'm in the kitchen. I recognize, oh, if I'm the Tenso, not just what are the flavors and the foods, but it's like, what's the atmosphere in the kitchen? You know, is it relaxed? Is it kind of businesslike in the best sense? In other words, sort of clicking along? Not precious or slow, but not rushed or hasty. So that everybody who's working in the kitchen can partake of enlightened activity. And the Tenzo has some responsibility for creating that atmosphere and everybody else can then join in. Oh, she's back. It's okay, you're taking care of us.

[26:04]

I wanted to read you something from this lecture, some more from this lecture that Sojin gave. This is great because, you know, you just, you find some great quotation then you just let somebody else give your lecture that's already done it. That's, you know, in some circumstances that's called plagiarism. What? Listen, I paid plenty. In other cases, it's called literature, you know. This is from that lecture. So sometimes when people are working in the kitchen, they work very slowly, self-absorbed in their own activity, believing that if they work slowly, that's concentrated activity. but it must be concentrated and quick as well.

[27:14]

You must be mindful of when the meal has to be finished and aware of what other people are doing. You must be aware of how you harmonize with everyone's activity so that at some point it all comes together and makes a meal. That's the necessary kind of concentration. This is one of the things that I really, I've learned it in the kitchens, in the kitchen here and at Tassajara. But I really feel like I saw it in Japan. Here we tend to have very clearly defined roles for what we do. In Japan, you could be working around the temple or working around the kitchen and nobody would tell you what to do. You really had to observe and people would just, people would be taking in the whole mise-en-scene and putting themselves doing what needed to be done by observing what needed to be done without saying, you have this role, you have this role, you have this role.

[28:25]

And it was really amazing because you were used to instructions. But when you have the bodhisattva's mind, you have a really big view and you can see all that's happening there and find out, okay, what needs to be done? And you just put yourself into that. Sajjan goes on, he says, here's an example, and this is about serving. Sometimes a server walks very slowly with the pot, thinking that this is concentrated activity. But this can make people anxious. When a server is too slow, people think, are they ever going to get there? A server should walk briskly. However, not too briskly, not too fast. If a server walks too fast, people can get agitated. Then the people eating might think, I better hurry up so I can finish before they get here.

[29:31]

it can be very upsetting. So a server should walk briskly, not too slow, not too fast. When you walk in the Zendo as a server with your food offering, you are creating an atmosphere. That atmosphere should be appropriate for whatever activity is going on. For instance, when you enter the Zendo during Zazen, you should walk very slowly so you don't disturb people's Zazen. This is different than when you were serving. When we serve, we should walk briskly. This is enlightened activity. When you don't ignore what is going on, you don't just push your own idea. Then whatever is creatively coming forth from you will come forth naturally without disturbing the situation. It will add to the situation. Each one of us adds to the situation. I think that's a really important point. Each one of us adds to the situation.

[30:33]

For instance, when you go to Sashin, you might think, oh, there's this Sashin these people have set up, and I'm simply coming to it. But actually, it is you who creates Sashin when you step inside the gate. In the same way, when you step into the kitchen, You contribute to the atmosphere there. Everyone counts. Everyone is responsible. Each one of us has a part in what is going on. This is what Dogen means when he says, Do not overlook one drop in the ocean by virtue of entrusting it to others. Cultivate a spirit which strives to increase the source of goodness upon the mountain of goodness. That's pretty nice. Cultivate a spirit which strives to increase the source of goodness upon the mountain of goodness. So this sentence before, Dogen says, do not overlook one drop in the ocean of virtue by entrusting it to others.

[31:43]

This reminds me of a way that I see playing music in an ensemble. You know, I haven't done very much electric music, rock and roll with drums. You know, the thing is when you have a drummer, as we do with Fukuda, the drummer sets the beat. But in the kind of music that I play, and I think this probably goes as well for a string quartet or an orchestra, the conductor is probably showing you the beat. But what's true in that kind of, if it's a drummer, the drummer, that's it. You know, that's why drummers are weird. In this ensemble music, everybody is the drummer.

[32:55]

Everybody, you have to do this wonderful interactive thing, which is each member has individually to carry the beat, to define the time. They have to be unshakably clear. on where that is at the same time as they have to be completely fluid and flexible in their interaction with everybody else. Because sometimes it's supposed to slow down or the feeling, the feeling is such in the room that it, that it slows. And sometimes it's supposed to speed up to build, to build energy just as, just as the pace of our serving goes. And when you have that fluidity, then you're creating a living, breathing, enlightened whole.

[34:00]

And you can tell it. I mean, you know, it's like if you listen to Louis Armstrong's The Hot Fives or Hot Sevens, these early recordings, They're just incredible because Louis Armstrong has an atomic clock running in his brain. And he floats in and out of the rhythm, but he's always, you know, he knows where that rhythm is at every second, at every instant. And he's depending on the other musicians and they're supporting him. You know, he'll step back and somebody else will take the lead and it'll be a slightly different time feel. And it all adjusts. It's breathing. It's an organism that's alive. Sashin is an organism that's alive.

[35:03]

Today is different than yesterday. Some of us are the same people, we think. sitting in these seats and there's some different people, some people come and go and each person who comes and goes imperceptibly changes the atmosphere. But collectively we're creating an atmosphere where we can all wake up. So This, I think, is the spirit of Sachine. This is the spirit of our Zen practice. This, I like to think, is the spirit of our lives. To be awake so that we can help all others

[36:08]

awaken and we can all do that together. I don't, I'm not crazy about the phrase and it's traditional, it's like, to help others awaken before me. That's pretty a traditional formulation, but it's like, let's all wake up together. That'd be really fun. So I'm going to stop there and maybe have some thoughts or questions. Thank you. Bye. It may or may not be different.

[37:17]

It depends on your awareness. Depends on the mind that you bring to it. You know, you could say, for example, that driving on 880 is a very deep expression of enlightened nature, that people aren't wanging into each other every second. It just completely boggles my mind. You're in these huge hunks of metal hurtling along at 65 miles an hour and everybody's going to stay in their own lane and your awareness is vast. and fluid, right? You have to have a completely active fluid mind to drive. It's really cool. You can't stop on, you know, you can't stop short and you can't get hung up on a mistake that you may have made because things are going really fast.

[38:19]

Berkeley Bowl is just a, it's a version of that perhaps. It goes pretty fast there. Yeah, yeah. With vegetables. Yes. James. Did I? Okay. Yes. the beneficial effects of your action.

[39:50]

That's it. I don't mystify it. Deserving? I think that actually the Mahayana perspective on merit is Give it away. Just be a good person. What else can you do? What else is there to do? You know, to me, it may be somewhat heretical, but If you were to go, if you, James, were to go up on Grizzly Peak and carve out a little place in the woods by yourself and not tell anybody and sit there, perhaps in some orthodox way there's merit.

[41:17]

I can't see the point. You know, I can't see the point unless it changes you in your relationship to other things. Now it might, but it's about your relationship to things. And I wouldn't get too hung up on the devotional aspect of it. You know, if there's, if there's Buddhist doctrine that doesn't make sense to you, get rid of it. But look very carefully at the influence of your activities because if nothing else, that's where merit resides. I think you're going to have – that's your koan.

[42:24]

I don't want to answer that for you. I don't want to postulate an answer or tell you what my version of it is. If you don't think it's beneficial, then what have you been doing for 40 years? Well, yeah, maybe you're not going to understand it. Maybe you'll understand it in your last moment of life. And it's all boiling down to that. Maybe you'll understand it. Maybe you won't. But what are you doing? That's best I can get to. I think Ross had his hand up. for this at that moment.

[43:46]

How do we wake up with all these, is it one by one? There's more going on than I can possibly comprehend. Waking up with all beings is to me, one of those deep and, you know, and inconceivable challenges that all the Bodhisattva vows are. They all have a built-in contradiction within them, or apparent contradiction.

[44:48]

And the question is to resolve. And one of the ways, I think, for me is just, I can look out here, I can see the people in the room. I'm not seeing, for example, everybody who's at the bowl. I can't comprehend all of your lives. I can't really comprehend my life. So that comes back, I think, to the first The first expression of Bodhicitta that I mentioned, Dogen's saying, raising the mind of enlightenment is seeing it in the nature of impermanence. I think it's also seeing it in the nature of non-self.

[45:50]

And it's also seeing into the nature of interconnectedness that's inconceivable in the same way that in terms of what James was raising as a question. So it's like, really, it's holding beginner's mind. It's holding don't know mind. If I can do that, then I have an opportunity. If one can do that, then one has an opportunity to wake up moment by moment. And everyone has that potentiality. So that's kind of, it might be circular reasoning. I'm not sure. Right.

[47:07]

That's one way. That's looking at it from one angle. The other way is looking at it from the angle of that you served coffee at Pete's for years and years and you're serving today. The tips are better here. Right. But the question is what is your What is the relationship that you create in each moment when you meet somebody with a cup of coffee or with a pot or with a meal or whatever? And so that's also the side. I was really thinking about this last week. I served with my kids at the Berkeley Men's Shelter. And it's like we met each guy with a plate of food and there was a transaction of no transaction going on there, but just of a kind of mutual appreciation.

[48:20]

And otherwise, I don't see those people much. I may not encounter them, but right there, I had an opportunity to encounter them. Maybe one or two more. Yes. I think we have to be careful when we take something literally. In Zen, we don't take anything literally. You bring forth the spirit of it. So we've had a tradition of those gathas, like that.

[49:38]

In the background, that's not, they have gathas, like Dogen created gathas, in the bathroom, you know, when I brush my teeth, I brush them, and so forth. For everything you do, there's a gatha. And we had these little books back in the 60s, And then later, Aiken Rush was kind of popularized by us, and other people did. And for a while, you know, you still got to quickly forget that, you know. But still, that's a kind of tradition. And so when you're doing that, it's simply right in the tradition. It's not something outside of, you know, our tradition. Yeah, thank you. What I would just add to that and this whole other discussion is that for me, ritual is alive.

[50:40]

that it's not killing something, it's actually giving life to something by bringing attention and consciousness and fluidity to it. Not dogmatism, but actually, what is the meaning of this Shakyamuni Buddha's entire life in the practice? An appropriate response. And that's where I will end. Thank you.

[51:19]

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