An unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect karma is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million Kalpas, having it to see and listen to, to remember and accept. the truth above to topic others' words. Hello everyone, Maren Farr. Hello Judy. Today I have the opportunity to introduce today's speaker, Judy Fleischman. Judy grew up in New York City and began Zen practice in 1998 and ordained with Ecio O'Hara at Village Zendo and has worked in healthcare chaplaincy. She arrived at BCC in 2013 and has been practicing along with Norman Fisher's Everyday Zen Makor Orr.

[01:06]

Judy co-facilitates the annual Jesus ceremony memorializing children who've died, as well as the Martin Luther King neighborhood engagement honoring Dr. King, which happens this Monday. Thank you very much for being here, everyone, and especially Judy. to you all. I have a chaplain colleague who, when she greets me in the morning, says, morning, because she knows that some mornings might feel good and others not so much. So wherever you're at, it's really good to see you.

[02:08]

Warning. And I'm just wondering if we have any new folks. This is your first time in the Zendo. Welcome. And anyone who's out in the many realms. joining from all over the place. This is such a tender and difficult time for all of us as our hearts are with our beloved Abbot, Hosan Roshi, his family, and everyone caring for him at this time. I'm going to do my best to speak up as I speak to something very tender and raw because of the condition we find ourselves in right now that we don't have a microphone to amplify sound at the moment.

[03:29]

And there was a time where we just had to speak up or come a little closer. So that's another mental way. So if at any time my voice drops as I speak to the tender spaces, just give me a little cue. We need these reminders. This also is the season of the passing of our beloved founding abbot, Sojin Moshi. He passed on January 7th, three years ago. And later this month, on January 22nd, it's the second anniversary of the passing of Thich Nhat Hanh. And this coming Monday, Martin Luther King Day, day of service nationwide.

[04:43]

Great Bodhisattvas and each of us finding our way. Sojin Roshi often spoke about our practice as harmonizing and that the word Sangha means harmony. And Thich Nhat Hanh famously said that the coming Buddha Maitreya will be the Sangha. How do we harmonize with all that's with us now? in the uncertainty, in the heartache, in the shock, and also hope. I shared during this past Monday's open discussion, which is one of our ways of being in dialogue together.

[05:54]

Happens once a month. And I shared that while sitting on the cushion during one of our sittings that we added during this time to support Hozan Roshi and his family and all of us, that on the cushion I heard Hozan encouraging us to practice cooperation. I heard him say, It will be rough, so practice cooperation. And I've been wondering if harmonizing and cooperating are the same. If not, what's the distinction? And more importantly, how do we practice and live these? It helps

[07:00]

to hone in on, to appreciate what the context for these words are in Buddhist teachings. Well, just a few months ago, it's actually in the last newsletter of this past year, Hozan referenced cooperation as it connects to the fascicle section in the Shobo Genzo written by our ancestor Dogen Zenji, also sitting with us, called Boddhisatta Shishobo. And Hozan wrote about this, and I noticed he also wrote a book a while back called The Bodhisattvas Embrace, and what he wrote in the newsletter was some aspects of revisioning sections, a section from that book.

[08:27]

What he wrote, was Dogen Zenji wrote, Bodhisattva Shishobo, the Bodhisattva's four embracing dharmas, the 28th fascicle of his masterwork Shobogenzo, presenting it to his community as guidance for how to respond skillfully to their difficult circumstances. Shishobo, he writes, presents four direct methods of social interaction. four ways that we can embrace each other. Imagine more than 800 years ago, also in a difficult time, what sprung from that are four ways we can embrace each other. And these are giving,

[09:30]

loving speech, beneficial action, and what Dogen calls identity action, in which Chozen writes, more excessively translated as cooperation. And he notes that these were already ancient practices in Dogen's time. And we do this in every generation. We revisit the teachings relevant for our moment. And Hosanna notes that in the Pali Canon, it's called the Sangaha Vatu. variously translated as the four ways of showing favor, the foundations of social unity, or the bonds of fellowship, they're in texts such as the Sangaha Sutta, or the Anguttara Nikaya, and in the principal Mahayana Sutras.

[10:53]

You know, I have to tell you that just reading that, brought me great comfort because it reminded me, you know, the Ho in Hosan's name is Dharma. I think it's Dharma Mountain. Maybe someone remembers. But in any case, the Dharma. And you just hear in that statement, as so many of Sojin Roshis, the depth of studying these texts and revisiting them again and again, and living them, deeply embodying them. And what a comfort and refuge that is. So Hozan writes that to embrace is to encircle. I put my arms around you, you put your arms around me. And you know, that reminds me of

[11:55]

You ever do this thing where they say, give yourself a hug? And if you want, you can do that. I think it's just lovely, especially on a rainy day. If nobody else is around, you can give yourself a hug, right? So it reminds me of that. And this is how we turn toward each other and show our love. To embrace is to unify, to make one of two. In an embrace, the limits of body, skin, feelings, and thoughts momentarily merge. Seen from the outside, two beings are briefly one, dancers together on the vast stage of life. And he notes that each Dharma is a practice pointing toward compassion and embrace. So notice that, now we have a linking of this embrace with compassion.

[12:56]

And he notes that this is how we express the truth that we are not separate from each other. It's not a dry teaching that you and I are not separate. It's warm, as we say, Warm hand to warm hand. And because we are not separate from others, writes Hozan, these four dharmas move both bodhisattvas and sentient beings toward freedom from the poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion. In the act of embrace, there is no distinction between self and other, between a bodhisattva and an ordinary being. But to embrace is not simply merging or a mushy and meaningless oneness. When an embrace ends, when the dance is over, we return to our individuality, but something has changed.

[14:09]

What do you suppose that might be? Well, when I read that, And particularly so right now where it's, I always think of a rainy day as a perfect day for tea and a cookie. And I sometimes think back of when we have, or this morning we could say, look forward to tea and cookies in the courtyard. and for everyone at home. We can all put the kettle on and have a cup of tea. And what I particularly enjoy is when the pot's out there to pour a cup of tea for you and then hold my cup out and you can pour a cup of tea for me.

[15:21]

And this is actually the style of the Plum Village tradition, what they call tea ceremony, where they typically sit around, folks sit around in a circle and pass. And I think we used to do this in our own fashion, for instance, during precepts tea. You pass the cookies, bow, pass the tea. And to pour for each other in that practice. And it feels different. We also used to have a formal tea in the Zendo. And I think we will have it again at some point. It has that same quality. What's transformed is that you feel the embrace and miraculously sangha appears.

[16:37]

Well, I had a recent experience of this at a school where I work as a mindfulness educator. There's a class there mostly seniors, called Intro to Buddhism. And they've been trying out all these different mindfulness practices and all kinds of different Buddhist practices from the different traditions. And I came in to offer something. And the room is set up with, it's about 20 students, And there are several tables that are forming a U-shape and an empty space in the middle. And I invited everybody to come into the center and sit in a circle. And they all had their shoes on. And one of the days earlier, when we were going to sit, one of their teachers said, well, you know, in this class we have

[17:55]

a tradition of taking off our shoes. And there was a little bit of grumbling, and then everybody, you know, kind of kicked off their shoes, and the shoes went wherever, right? But they did have their shoes on. So this time, let's come into a circle, and I said, you know, in a lot of spaces where folks sit together, we place our shoes by the door. And it's said that you can tell a lot about the state of mind of everyone by what happens with the shoes. I didn't say anything more than that. And then I just picked up my, I got up, picked up my shoes, and I just placed them by the door. And this marvelous thing happened, which is everybody else did that.

[18:59]

And the pattern that they made was harmonious. It was just, as we say, right? Shoes by the door. And there wasn't any big to do about it. It was just in the flow. We had fun. And I think this is really getting closer to cooperation, to embrace. Because embracing action includes attuning to what cooperation is possible. And also within myself. to stay buoyant and responsive to the immediacy also of being with pain and grief and uncertainty.

[20:14]

I need a way to cooperate that brings relief where understanding in some really deep felt sense of what's here naturally responds. And in being in the hospital with Hozon, in being here with all of you, Cooperating means, I think, to activate compassion in ways that allow each of us to be with these emotions and the complexity and the nuance of all that Hozan is enduring

[21:35]

that his family is enduring, our Sangha, and the Maha Sangha, all those who love Hosanna, all over the world. Not to mention all that's going on in the world, which is very much in my heart. and is very much an emphasis that Hozan has offered us at this time of year with Martin Luther King Day approaching. So in Hozan's book, The Bodhisattva's Embrace, he writes that in Dogen's

[22:39]

of the bodhisattvas for embracing dharmas. Dogen writes, in the human world, the Tathagata, thus come one, Buddha, took the form of a human being. From this we know that he did the same in other realms. Even today, there are countless bodhisattvas taking just the right form to lead us to liberation. They are real people. They walk and talk and practice Dharma with their bodies. Martin Luther King Jr. or Mother Teresa or the Cambodian monk Mahagosananda are Bodhisattva models for us because of what they did in the world, because they persevered in the face of violence, discouragement, and countless dark nights of the soul. When we meet such beings, whether or not we understand or agree with them, we feel embraced and instinctively we respond.

[23:46]

A bodhisattva's vow to save all sentient beings means that she chooses, that they choose to live within the world of karma or cause and effect. A bodhisattva embraces even failure with a willingness to begin again and again. And when Dogen speaks to this fourth embracing action, cooperation, identity action, this is what he says. This is a translation from Shihakua Komura Roshi. Identity action, cooperation, means to be not different, neither different from self nor from others.

[24:49]

For example, it is like the way that in the human world, the Tathagata identifies himself with human beings. Hearing this again, from a slightly different translation, different angle. Because he identifies himself in the human world, we know that he must be the same in other worlds. When we realize identity action, self and others are one suchness. And in his commentary, Okamura writes, These actions should be done with awakening to the true reality of emptiness and mutual conditionality. In Dogen's teaching, zazen practice alone is awakening and wisdom.

[25:54]

And the four actions are how zazen works in our daily lives and in relationship to other people. and living beings. And I'm realizing as I'm reading this, that I could have had the paper down here and actually had my glasses on. But for some mysterious causes and conditions, It just felt like I wanted it to be close, without the glasses, and in a way to take you all in, in a kind of soft blur, like this misty day with the air, right?

[26:58]

It's so lovely. So I think we see from both Dogen's teaching, which, remember, connects back to the ancient teaching, the slight twist, and then these two commentaries, Hozant, Akumura, and how this relates back to our Zazen. that we recognize that zazen itself is cooperation. And cooperation is the activity of zazen. And when we sit together, healing is happening, whether it's bedside, or here in the zendo, or wherever we are.

[28:02]

And when we get up, we encounter and we respond to and within the wholeness of what's happening. And this is the bodhisattva's embrace. And here's an important one. It's a cautionary note from Okamura Roshi. He writes, bodhisattva practice is not the way of self-sacrifice. And I want you to take that in too when you think about the life and legacy of Dr. King. whatever might be coming up for you right now. Bodhisattva practice is not the way of self-sacrifice. The goal of our practice is to find a way that we and other beings can live together without causing suffering to each other. This is the middle way between pursuing only one's own interests and sacrificing oneself.

[29:04]

And I think This is a great description of resilience, both individually and in community. We have been pulling together as a Sangha in all the different aspects that are needed right now. All our extra sittings, the Sangha support mechanisms activated from things like helping the household of the Sanakis take care of food and all the different household needs to sitting bedside with Hozan Roshi and particularly on what we're calling the night shift.

[30:05]

later at night and in the wee hours of the morning and many other ways. One of our night watchers texted me the other night about reaching out to Norman Fisher, Dharma brother. and asking him what practice he was doing when sitting with Hozan. And Norman replied, Tonglen, the practice of sending and receiving, riding on the breath. And in Norman's book, which I think we studied in the Wednesday night group, Training and Compassion, Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong, Norman writes that even though Zen can often appear to be anti-technique, and I actually spoke recently a little bit about this because instruction is embedded, like zazen instruction in practice, but even so,

[31:35]

He goes on to give reasons for why this would be useful, beneficial, and specifically to be training and compassion in the skillful means of that. And how this particular practice of sending and receiving that goes many centuries back, Tibetan Buddhism, connects to Zazen on and off the cushion. And there's a lot more I could say about that the time being what it is fundamentally sending and receiving is about breathing in what is difficult intentionally this is important with

[33:03]

foundation of, as we tap into in Zazen, like this soft mist right now, that everything's included. So we're not breathing it in to harm ourselves. We're breathing it in to be intimate, to be close, like when I picked up this paper and took off my glasses. Oh. Or if you've ever gone up to a painting or scroll and you see the texture of the artist's hand. Or you pick up a cookie. And what you breathe out is healing.

[34:19]

And what we're actually doing in that practice is transforming what appears as pain. whatever it might be. And we transform it, revealing its true nature and offering that out. You start with yourself. And in my experience in doing that, when I was sitting beside Hozon, as efforts were underway to try to manage his pain to try to understand what's going on which thankfully there's been a lot of progress with that and from what we're hearing reports are that he reports are that he has a lot of relief from that pain with medication and during that time

[35:37]

when there was a lot of pain, when there's pain in your heart for what's going on, whether it's here or other places in the world, whatever it might be, how can we breathe that in with confidence that there is this soft mist and that when we breathe out, we actually are transforming and offering that out? helps to have a kid's book handy to bring the point home. And this book, called Rain, my sister Evelyn gifted me some time back. And it's a wonderful story of what starts as a grumpy old man who looks out the window and goes,

[36:42]

RAIN! And a jubilant boy, young boy, who looks out the window and goes, RAIN! You can imagine some of the details that go, and I'm going to leave this out by the bullet board during our tea and cookies. But the story goes on, and they each go out into the rain, You know, the little boy jumping in puddles and the old man with his umbrella and all that happens. And then they get somewhere, the boy with his mom and the old man by himself. And the kid gets cookies. He's very, very happy. He's still grumpy. And somehow when they get up, they bump into each other. And the old man goes, watch out.

[37:43]

And the kid goes, sorry. And the old man hurries off, but he dropped his hat. And so the kid notices, and he picks it up. And he runs after the man, and he says, hey, wait. He's holding the hat, right? And the old man goes, you. And the young boy goes, you, mimicking him, right? And then he gives him back his hat, and the old man's face transforms into a smile. But the little kid is wearing, you know, one of those goofy kid hats in the shape of a frog. And the old man points to his head. And he goes, that one too. And the kid goes, mine.

[38:44]

And he gives him his hat. And he puts it on. And then he puts his own hat on. And so on. And they're both transformed in the rain. That kind of compassion also feels resonant to me with the training that Dr. King and the Freedom Riders took during that era, and they had to train to endure the blows and more through the power of universal love. As Dr. King famously said, we've got to love the hell out of them. just like this. So I think what's really relevant for us right now is that compassion, in all the ways that we show up for it, very naturally, organically, emergently, all of those are cooperation.

[40:11]

our identity action. Dr. King spoke of this as love. It was coming from a particular Christian theology of love. He found a way to express it excessively. I think in the same way that Buddhist teaching on cooperation is also universal and can be expressed that way. Very excessively, very immediately, very relevant and useful. And we will have an opportunity on Monday morning if anyone wants to come. It's a Zendo holiday and so are program will be different, which is we'll have a program looking at not only the teachings and the practice of Dr. King, that legacy, but also Pozon's reflections on that.

[41:26]

And then we'll have a time of offering a service street side, inviting folks to connect with their own expressions of compassion. We'll place those on the cherry tree out front. And in wrapping up here, I wanna leave us with a beautiful quote from Coretta Scott King, who said, the greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate action of its members. And here we are. Here we are. This greatness is our shared bodhisattva vow.

[42:30]

It's our love. It's how We are showing up for and with each other to support Pozan Roshi, Lori, the whole family, and ourselves, and ever outward, if need arises. So I encourage all of us to keep showing up Just trust your body and trust the practice. Trust the Sangha. Tomorrow, we're going to have afternoon sitting. And then on Monday, there'll be that morning program. And then in the evening, there will be Zaza. There'll be an opportunity to offer love.

[43:40]

To Hozon. Be chanting. And there will be extended sittings in the evenings, I believe, all this week. Yeah. So. And for anyone who's not aware of the Caring Bridge website, just stay updated on everything happening with Hozon. That too. Thank you all for showing up, for being together. We started a few minutes in with all of this, so we have a few minutes remaining, but we do have those few minutes. So if there's anything on your mind and your heart, we'll have some time. Peter. Judy, thank you for speaking up and also encouraging us to listen carefully with your voice.

[44:47]

And then also thank you for presenting us and speaking about and making it real, some of the various practices that we have access to through participation in the sangha. There's a, during this time, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone is not, from time to time, feeling they've reached a barrier. And I think of this as the expression, making a way out of no way. I don't know if you could talk a little bit about it. I know you've been talking about that, but to address what seems like the impossibility of all.

[45:58]

Just want to check. Did folks online hear Peter's? Yeah, okay. And I imagine we don't have a mic to pass around for that either. Yeah, okay. So, well, how fitting. Very short paraphrase, and correct me Peter, I'm not getting it right, is something about how to make a way when there's no way, and how to perhaps find possibility when you hit a barrier and it feels like everything is impossible. Right, and Peter prefaced this by saying thank you for speaking up and also encouraging us to listen carefully, so something like that, yeah. So from the most minute of situations, like not having the mic, so what do we do? This is what we're doing.

[46:58]

I relate to that theme, that quandary, as reminds me of what Sojin Roshi would emphasize so much, that everything exists in relationship to its opposite, so including both sides. So you can't have impossible without possible. So there must be possibility within the impossible. And what I'm also reminded of is there's a saying that in order to transcend one paradigm, one needs to speak within the language of the current one. And I think Dr. King There's many examples of showing us that, particularly.

[48:02]

For me, there's something there about breathing in whatever the tension might be, without naming it, without identifying with it, without going down a rabbit hole of what's this about, but just turning towards over and over and over again. So the barrier, just in relating to it, already there's possibility because something is shifting. So like when I was bedside and I, you know, frankly, I was reticent to speak to it because it was really hard.

[49:24]

No one wants to see someone they love in such pain and feel so helpless. You know, you can't really quietly sit beside someone, I can't, and just witness that. There's the natural responding. Going up to the bed, placing a hand on his hand or softly on his chest, whatever I might have said. I think I ended up singing. And the song went something like an old song, I learned it from Chozenbe's. She said her father would sing it. I think he was a minister. And it has a line in there about, no storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I am clinging.

[50:31]

How can I keep from singing? And, you know, it just came to me. And just, I think I had a hand gently on his chest because that was one of the encouragements that helped to settle. And I, you know, who can say? But I just intuit it. I just felt it coming through with, you know, Hozon's style and the music and... Where over the years and miles did something I heard from Chozen Roshi come that she heard from her dad? But it did. And, you know, he closed his eyes and he settled for a few minutes. And that was so healing. So I feel like maybe... I don't know if that exactly responds to what you were asking. I'm sorry to say we're at that time.

[51:38]

And at the same time, we will be out in the courtyard, so there'll be more opportunity out there. And it only takes a breath wherever we are to, in a way, have all our questions answered. Take care, everybody.

[52:02]

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