And I would, with your permission, I would like to dedicate this Sesshin to world peace. Anyway, you know, our Sesshin is always dedicated to world peace. But we don't say so. our sitting is dedicated to world peace. We may think that we're doing something for ourself, but our actions are very far-reaching, and not just for ourself. Ourself is always included. When we do something for ourself, like this, It's more than just ourself.

[01:06]

So if our zazen doesn't benefit everyone, then it's not true zazen. But anyway, I would like to say it. And for us to have that feeling of dedication, The causes and conditions that have been building up in the last 40 years have finally come to a certain place where there's a standoff, certain crossroads And the situation is very tenuous. And for the past 40 years, ever since the end of the Second World War, during the Second World War, we built up, this country built up a tremendous

[02:27]

military-industrial complex. And that gave us a very powerful position in the world. And so taking that advantage, we continued to escalate the momentum. So that when the war ended, we didn't just put down the weapons, but we just kept going. And when you produce weapons and collect money, you don't want to stop. It's too powerful. And it actually gets out of hand, even though you want to stop it and people want to stop it. You can't stop it. It's like, I remember, Katagiri Roshi once saying, giving an illustration of a horse.

[03:38]

The horse is out of control riding through the town, and somebody sees the guy on the horse riding through town, and the horse is completely out of control. He says, hey, where are you going? Somebody else says, hey, where are you going, as he rides by. He says, don't ask me, ask the horse. So now we have this situation where we have so many weapons and we've spent so much time building them and collecting money for them that we have to do something with them. There are a lot of reasons, cooperating reasons, why this whole thing is happening.

[04:39]

But one of the good reasons is that we have so much stuff, we have to use it. Pretty simple. And we have to get rid of it so that we can make some more. So the way to get rid of it is to have a war. And then you have some reason to make some more. Because now there's no reason. Unfortunately, The Russians very kindly conceded to reality. But we haven't. Our country hasn't yet done that. And we had this opportunity. Which way are we going to go? Are we going to have peace? Are we going to work that way? Or are we just going to continue escalating? And we've chosen to escalate. to continue in the same way we've been going.

[05:45]

It's pretty hard to slow everything down. It's just the momentum is so strong that it's hard to slow everything down. So, one time we thought, well, now we'll have a peace dividend. that we can't do that. We'll be just giving away everything. And look at how many people will lose their jobs. If we don't continue to sell armaments to all our countries, somebody else will. What an excuse. So, everyone feels frustrated with this problem.

[06:55]

We all feel very frustrated with this problem. And there's very little we can do about the way it goes. We can do something, but overtly, very little we can do about the way it goes. Many people in the country have bought into the rhetoric about the excuses about why we do this. Some people think it's about foreign oil. Maybe. That's a factor. That's one factor. But my opinion is that mostly we have all these things and we have to use them. And if a few thousand people get killed, well, it's always been that way, isn't it?

[08:01]

So the military-industrial complex, in order to survive, has always done this, always created little wars in order to sell their goods. and continue their way of life. And selling a whole group of people called a country on the advantages of doing this. So when we think about war and peace, not so easy to deal with it. The world has always been this way and could go on this way for a long time in one form or another because each one of us has war and peace going on within us in exactly the same way

[09:17]

that all these countries have war and peace going on within them. And all the causes are there. All the conditions are there. When the causes are there and when the conditions are favorable, all they need is a little moisture and things happen. The sprouts come out of the seeds. So the world is somewhat unmanageable. The whole world is somewhat unmanageable. But our lives, our individual lives are also somewhat unmanageable, but where the effort lies is within ourselves to take care of this person.

[10:20]

We may not be able to influence our surroundings directly, but there's always one person that we can take care of and deal with, which makes our life worthwhile. And if we look at it closely, we can see that what goes on in the world is going on in each one of us in exactly the same way. What are the advantages of each one of us being manipulative? What are the advantages of greed in each one of us? We look at our lives daily Each one of us is a microcosm of the world situation.

[11:24]

So if we want to deal with the world situation, we can deal with ourself. And the way we deal with ourself influences our surroundings. And we may feel that our little contribution doesn't amount to much. But strangely enough, our little contribution, if it's very sincere, is very far-reaching. When I was in the 50s, when I was in North Beach, early fifties. The people around were just beatniks and artists and poets and musicians and just doing what they had to do.

[12:33]

But strangely enough, out of this nucleus came a whole kind of revolution that influenced the whole world. The kids in Europe, you know, are all influenced by what we were doing in those days in North Beach in the 50s. And the influence of our practice right now may seem rather local, but it influences the whole world. People come from all over just to practice sin. And because of what we've done, this practice is spreading all over Europe. So, just doing, just being sincere and without trying to do anything.

[13:47]

without trying to influence anyone. Just doing our doing has far-reaching consequences that we can't see, can't understand how it goes. But, you know, there's an old saying that the grapevine is faster communication than the telephone. So, given the difficulties and frustrations, we may not be able to influence the world in a short-term way. But the influence of our practice over a long period of time will be very effective.

[14:54]

depending on our sincerity and our dedication. how to just practice sincerely and not to be attached to the results of what we do. If we become attached to the result, we may say, I've been practicing for twenty years

[16:01]

Too bad. No visible result. Even no visible result in myself. I've been practicing for 20 years and I'm still the same. Someone asked me the other day, a very good student said, maybe you could give a talk sometime how your practice has developed from the time you started practicing. And I said, not much change. He said, oh, you can't say that. You've got to come up with something better than that. But when I think about it, it's really not much change. He said, the stuff you're talking about today is the stuff you were always talking about.

[17:14]

Yeah. And then I thought to myself, is that good or is that bad? I'm still wondering about it. our stuff. We can see how when anger arises, what do we do with it? When greed arises, what do you do with it? When stubbornness arises, what do you do with it? When childishness arises, what do you do with it?

[18:17]

When tantrums arise, what do you do with them? And what do you expect others to do with them? Anyway, all these things will arise. All kinds of little problems will arise during this session. As soon as we get into a little trouble, you know, say, oh, what am I doing here? Why did I say I was going to come here? Maybe as soon as this period of Zazen is over, I'll leave. So how do we make peace, actually? During this seven days, how do we make peace in the world?

[19:22]

Who do we expect to make peace? What is our expectation of others? And what is our expectation of ourselves? It's easy to complain. It's easy to say, oh, if they would only do this, if they would only do that, everything would be okay. But it's not so easy for everyone to do this and that. People are locked into their way of doing things. And to change the world, very difficult. You can change it for a little while. Possibly change things for a little while. But then they always revert back, as you notice. Because there's so many different... Society is like this surging ocean with very little boundary.

[20:25]

And a big wave will come, and everything will change. And then a big wave will come from the other side, and everything will change. And a big wave will come from the other side. And just as you think that everything is okay, It will change. All of the advances in human rights that have been made in the last 40 years are slowly being wiped out with this wave. And we have to start over again. Very saddening. It brings us right down to ourself, actually. It always brings us right back to ourself. We can try and change the world, and we should, but we should not be attached to the result of our effort. Otherwise, we go crazy.

[21:31]

So these various forces are always in motion, vying with each other and trying to balance each other out, the so-called good and the so-called bad. But if we get too attached to our desire to have things a certain way, then the more we do that, the more we separate ourselves from each other. It's very paradoxical. The only way to get things together is to try and understand the opposite force, which is almost impossible, because we think we do understand the opposite force, which is a mistake. And then we say, well, they'll never change. Right now, All these forces are saying, in the United States, are saying, well, you know, the Iraqis are like this.

[22:49]

Saddam is like this. And they only will respect this. And they will not respect this. Blah, blah, blah, blah. That's just putting ourself in a position to do only one thing. There's only one inevitable outcome. And that is the Big Bang. As soon as you start calling people names, you alienate them. How could you possibly expect to have peace or reconciliation when you call people names, even one name? So we're known as the American devils. And we kind of laugh it off. We can laugh it off. But still, we use that. And then we call him, I sat down, Hitler.

[23:52]

So he can use that. So we throw stones at each other, but these stones we throw back become ammunition for each other. So there's no end to it. If we really wanted peace, we would act in a peaceable way. So, but we say, well, we're creating weapons in order to have peace. And people believe it. So. Of course, this has been going on for 40 years, it's just that until something We get kind of lulled.

[24:55]

And then we have, at certain points, something makes us pay attention. And then after that's gone, it dies down again. Our lives are just too busy. We're too busy to really pay attention for any length of time. There's too much going on. Even if you have nothing to do, Even if you have nothing else to do, it's too much. Too much to deal with. Everybody's too busy. And even if you weren't too busy, just keeping up with what's going on would make you too busy. So, But we can do something.

[26:04]

We actually can do something. If we just do one thing, one little thing, then we're engaged. It's the frustration of not knowing how to engage and be effective that's so difficult. taking care of our practice in this way, with everyone, is our engagement. Seven days of engagement. Thich Nhat Hanh says, don't just do something, sit So this is our example of how to deal with it.

[27:21]

Just sit there and take care of your own stuff. Bring yourself to peace and influence everyone else. Peace doesn't mean lack of conflict. Or it doesn't mean taking away all the bad stuff. You cannot take away all the bad stuff, because there is no bad stuff. There's just stuff. Sometimes we call it good, and sometimes we call it bad. There's only stuff. If you take away all the bad stuff, you're just taking away stuff. And you need the bad stuff because the bad stuff is vitality.

[28:26]

So vitality can go any way you want it to go, or it has many ways to go. Vitality can be peace or it can be war. It can be anger or it can be love. But if you take away the vitality, or try to take away, if you try to do it by liposuction, it doesn't work. So, how to transform, allow, anger to transform so that the energy is love rather than hate. But if you think that there should just be love and no hate, that's a little too optimistic, because the energy goes in various ways.

[29:37]

You know, the precept says, do not harbor ill will. But sometimes we have ill will. Sometimes we have vengeance. Sometimes we have all these negative feelings and emotions. And sometimes they're necessary. But to harbor them, or to be hooked by them, or to get off on them, is very painful for everyone. You know, We say, somebody, people ask questions like, all the time, they say, well, if anger comes up, what do I do with it?

[30:48]

But that kind of question can't be answered. You say, well, you know, try to give it up, or try and do this with it, try to do that. That question can't be answered, because you can't get an answer for something and go out and do it. I can give you the right answer, but that doesn't mean you can go out and do it. Oh, he told me to drop it. Okay, so... Something makes me angry. It doesn't work. You have to practice it all the time. If you want to have peace, you have to practice peace all the time. Continuous practice. You can't just bring it up when you want it, or when it's convenient, or to avoid some situation, or to keep yourself from getting hurt. You have to practice all the time.

[31:55]

And then, when a situation comes up, you know what to do with it, because it's part of the way you act. So if we want peace, so-called peace, whatever that is, we have to act that way. We have to practice it all the time. It has to be our practice. So, Buddha says, our suffering, our life is a life of suffering. And it's caused by our desire. Desire or delusion, either way. Or our wanting to be other than what we are.

[33:01]

Another way of saying desire is being caught by our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The root of suffering is being caught by our thoughts, feelings, and delusions. It doesn't mean we shouldn't have them, but when anger comes up, we let anger take over. When lust comes up, we let lust take over. And when vengeance comes up, we let vengeance take over. And it causes suffering to ourselves and to others. And then we continue to perpetuate the cycle. So we can complain about the world all we want to, but it all starts with us. So we can go out and try and make others be peaceful, while we're still very angry, caught by all this stuff.

[34:27]

We just want things to be our way, that's all. And then our way conflicts with their way, and then it's just another battle. So it's important to be able to actually identify with the other side. You have to be able to actually identify with Hitler. Then, you can come to some understanding. And things only change through understanding, either through understanding or force. But when they change by force, they don't really change. Just the circumstances change. But the causes don't change. The root doesn't change. Circumstances change for a little while. But whenever you suppress your enemy, the enemy always has a way of taking you over after you won.

[35:38]

It's true. Matter of fact, we conquered Germany and Japan during the First World War, and then we took the aggressive stance of Germany, and now Japan is taking us over. Look at us right now. Anyway, so force doesn't really work. So when anger arises, what do we do with it?

[36:46]

In zazen, when something arises, whatever it is, we have to take it in. In other words, don't reject it, but try to see into the nature of it. I don't mean that you should psychologically try to say, why is this anger arising? That's not good in zazen. But just let the anger be there, and make it your companion. Just let the pain be there, and let it be your companion. Whatever it is, just let it, whatever arises, just let it be, without anger. Don't get angry at the anger. Don't get uncomfortable with the discomfort.

[37:51]

How do you bring peace into your world, into this world? Thank you very much.

[38:29]

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