Good morning. It is my pleasure this morning to welcome as our speaker, Ross Lum, who is the longest term resident, a lay resident, that is in our sangha. Ross began to sit in 1984 in New York. and came out here and began to practice here in 1987. And Ross is always a steady and reassuring presence in our midst. We welcome your words from Ross. Thanks, Peggy. Well, good morning everybody.

[01:07]

The title of this talk is the inanimate preaching or teaching of Dharma. Very often Sojin Roshi offers the koan of the teaching of the inanimate and Dozan's realization to the shusos, or head students. Not always, but often. And that happened to be my koan back in 94, 96, when I was head student. I think he always was close at hand. What does animate mean? According to the dictionary.com, to give life to, make alive, such as God animated the dust.

[02:19]

To make lively, vivacious, or vigorous, give zest or spirit to, her presence animated the party. To fill with courage or boldness, encourage, to animate weary troops. To move or stir to action, motivate, he was animated by religious zeal. To give motion to, leaves animated by breeze. To impair or produce as an animated cartoon, to animate a children's story. Alive, possessing life, animate creatures. Able to move voluntarily, of or relating to animal life. Yesterday, after work, I had a lunch and prepared for my talk today, and I overheard a conversation at a table a few tables over.

[03:35]

A plate of shrimp were brought to a patron, and the woman was somewhat surprised, a little bit horrified perhaps, at the sight of these shrimp on her plate. And her dining partner started laughing very loudly and somewhat uncontrollably. And she said, what's that? And he said, those are the eyes. She said, they look like cockroaches. And she proceeded to cut the heads off of the shrimp and wrap them in a napkin and put them off to the side. And the fellow continued laughing and he was eating some kind of pig. Three different kinds of pig. So I thought about that enlightenment experience that this woman had of realizing what she was eating.

[04:38]

Shrimp were one of my favorite foods as a child, and I still remember my father laughing when I couldn't finish this huge plate of shrimp for the first time ever when we were on a vacation. I'd finally met my match in a quantity. But I really didn't know what shrimp were, and that lady found out what shrimp were, and I thought about my talk. how I could relate that to this morning's presentation. For me, what it felt like was the so-called inanimate, dead, no life, not lively, were suddenly brought to life by the realization that this lady had, that these things that she was about to eat were were once living creatures. A few hours ago I was sitting Zazen, over where Jerry is sitting now, and I was a little bit numb, not quite awake, not quite sentient perhaps.

[06:02]

And I felt an urge to put energy in my mudra. My thumbs weren't like collapsed or drifted apart. I wasn't present with them. So I put energy into my mudra. And I just felt this welling up of life and sentience, if you will, come over me. And I realized that from reading the definition from the dictionary that it was like breathing life into my mudra. And I was reminded of a friend of mine at the Zen Center in New York who used to joke around about one of our Dharma brothers in the early morning hours when we had to go to the bakery, when we would go to pick him up at the apartment, he would explain that he's awake, but is he sentient?

[07:07]

And we used to kind of laugh about that. And I realized, well, yes, I was awake, but was I really sentient there on the cushion? I feel that the teaching of the Incension and bringing life to me and helping to wake me up is a kind of ongoing process. And when I feel like I'm the subject and I objectify people or things, it tends to deaden the experience.

[08:13]

and I don't feel so alive. And when I have times of settledness and I no longer see things as objects and there's a field of horizontalness as far as giving a word to the feeling of being connected to things there's no longer a subject or an object and I'm relating to things and things are in relationship to me and things are no longer objectified and I feel quite alive. There are a couple stories in this record of Doshan, Doshan Ryokai, I'd like to share with you. And the first one is when he was early in his life in practice where he was objectifying things.

[09:16]

Tozan began, a monk asked Hui Chong, what sort of thing is the mind of the ancient Buddhists? The national teacher replied, it's wall and tile rubble. Wall and tile rubble? Isn't that something a non-Sentient asked the monk, or Tozan in this case? It is, replied the national teacher. The monk said, and yet it can expound the Dharma? It is constantly expounding it, radiantly expounding it, expounding it without ceasing, replied the national teacher. Tozan asked, then why haven't I heard it? The national teacher said, you yourself haven't heard it, but this can't hinder those who are able to hear it. What sort of person acquires such hearing, asked Tozan. All the sages have acquired such hearing, replied the National Teacher. Tozan asked, Can you hear it, Hosham? No, I can't, replied the National Teacher.

[10:21]

Tozan said, If you haven't heard it, how do you know that non-sentient beings expound the Dharma? The National Teacher said, Fortunately, I haven't heard it. If I had, I would be the same as the sages, and you, therefore, would not hear the Dharma that I teach. In that case, ordinary people would have no part in it, said Tozan. I teach for ordinary people, not sages, replied the national teacher. What happens after ordinary people hear you, asked Tozan. Then they are no longer ordinary people, said the national teacher. that there's a whole world around him offering up an opportunity for him to engage with them and with life and therefore wake up.

[11:25]

And he speaks in a way which demonstrates his humbleness, that he's just an ordinary person. If he was a sage, he wouldn't be able to be with him. And this is the Bodhisattva vow where we actually wait and let others cross before us. And we work with people and we help support them and they support us. And if we feel that we're sages and kind of above that place or relationship, they really can't relate to others. So we all sit on the same pond, same level to help each other. So a little later on, in Po-san's life, he has a realization. And he composes a little gatha.

[12:28]

How amazing! How amazing! Hard to comprehend that non-sentient beings expound the Dharma. It simply cannot be heard with the ear, but when sound is heard with the eye, then it is understood. So when we tend to objectify things we're looking with our eyes and we're listening with our ears and there's a separation and there's a importance or relevance for having separation that we in fact in a sense are separate from from things and we objectify things in order to have a relationship with them which can be healthy, such as not touching a hot stove, but it can be unhealthy when we have a separation from each other, and we objectify shrimp or our Dharma brothers and sisters.

[13:47]

When we sit Zazen, there's an opportunity to hear with our eyes. And when we sit still, the Dharma becomes more alive. In the sense that we start removing ourselves from the picture. Or Buddha removes us from the picture. And then we receive the 10,000 Dharmas and are thus validated in our life. I met a Dharma sister of mine right after I was sitting here and I was on my bicycle and I was walking up to Novia with her before getting on and riding off to do my day. And she had just come back from Nepal and she was very happy and she said that she was in heaven.

[14:58]

And I laughed and I said, I thought heaven was in Berkeley. And she smiled, and I bid her adieu and got on my bicycle and went up Miltia Street. And before I got to Oregon, the next block, there was this very loud, vivid sound coming from the median on the side there, and it was an image of a person raking. to me. To say the least, I was very awake coming by that space. And for me it was the teaching of the ascension.

[16:01]

Where am I now? Who am I now? very vivid and it involved people and objects in my plain view. I have an ongoing practice where I work which is Pete's Coffee and Tea in North Berkeley and one of the practices that I do there is picking up stray coffee beans and placing them in the grinder in the bag depending on the the need of the particular job I'm on. And it's very easy to dismiss those coffee beans as just one in a gazillion coffee beans that have found their way into that store.

[17:15]

And they're either on the counter, on the floor, or partially crushed in the hinge of the cabinetry, or what have you. However, for whatever reason, look at those coffee beans, and I think about one of the first things I learned about coffee, which is that the reason the coffee bean is flat, one side of it is flat, unless it's a pea berry where it's kind of a rounded little bean, is that two beans share this flat side, and they reside inside the coffee cherry or fruit of the coffee tree. In order to get that coffee bean, are those two coffee beans. Someone has to pluck that coffee cherry at the particular time when it's ripe and put it in a basket and bring it to the man. And they go through the whole process of commerce and coffee consumption. So every time I see a bean by and large, most every time, I think those two beans there represent somebody very far away going like this.

[18:27]

and I pay very much but it's a living wage and that connects me to someone very far away and the thread of people and machinery that brings it to the store where I work that supports me And the way in which I have the blessing to be able to pay attention to something like that is by virtue of sitting softly and being quiet. This little notebook I have It was not my intention to purchase it I bought a little case for my camera at the store and the case didn't work quite right so I took it back hoping to get my cash and The person said I'm sorry.

[20:10]

We do not give cash refunds. We just give store credit I was a little upset but And then I got a little incensed about not being able to get the cash on principle more than anything else. And I was wandering around the store looking for something to use up my credit with. And there really wasn't anything that I wanted at the store. And I felt kind of ripped off. But I voluntarily went in to engage with this, and it reminded me of a story in tribute to the Buddha. If you have possessions and you have things, it can become a problem because you have to do things to ensure their safety and take care of them and whatnot. So I had this camera and I wanted to protect it. So I'm wandering around and I go, what the hell, I'll buy this little book, this little notebook.

[21:12]

So I get the notebook and I do the best I can to be appreciative of the sales clerk. It wasn't there. ruling it was the owner's ruling. And I put it in my bag and had it in my drawer for about a year or something. And I think, here's that book. I should make use of that. I should make use of this little book. So I pulled it out and started writing little notes. I felt a little self-conscious about note writing. How important are these notes and ideas that I had? And I thought, well, I got this and I want to make use of it. And as time went by, over the years I've had this somewhat inconsequential piece of paper and binding made in China for very little money and relatively expensive here in this country on 4th Street.

[22:14]

This old notebook took on a life. It took on sentience for me. And as this process took place, my relationship to it changed. And it's just paper bound together. A little elastic band to keep the covers together. The shrimp is one of gazillion little crustaceans swimming around in the ocean. But when we pluck something out of the ocean, or we pull something out of a display cabinet, we're suddenly in relationship to it in a very different way than we were before. Sojo Roshi encouraged us to be mindful and to be aware of the noise that we're making when we're walking in the zendo or working with our oryoki, our eating bowls.

[23:35]

And that simple teaching of being mindful or aware of the effect that we're having in the universe is an encouragement to be aware of what is in front of us in a way which has the potential to wake us up. We ask people not to step on the meal boards which is this board here and on the lower tongue because that's Buddha's tongue and You think, well, Buddha is this God of many years ago. That's not his time. That's just wood. Well, if we see things as Buddha versus insentient, non-living things, we tend to have more reverence and respect for them. And we can relate to them not as objects, actually, but as subjects.

[24:42]

The subject of our life. The subject of our intention to wake up. not to him like homeless people that we pass on the street, that while they're alive, to us, they may seem insentient, inconsequential, one of thousands, a hungry ghost. However, if we make eye contact with them and make an effort to connect with them, Suddenly they are no longer intention. Suddenly they are a part of us. Suddenly we feel connected in some way. Connected with compassion to want to help in some way, connection in wanting to

[25:43]

paying attention. Last weekend Soji Roshi gave a series of talks on our consciousnesses and the workings of the mind and as we grow up we learn about how the mind works in a conventional sense and what our place is in the world and in Zazen in the practice that we do here we have these moments of kind of being turned on our head where it's not the usual consciousness that's taking place in recognizing things that we become very intimate with things and with people and our relationship to them shifts and we actually start seeing things with our eyes

[27:19]

and tasting things with our ears. In other words, our whole body and mind is receiving the universe. And when we have those experiences, whether they're fleeting or sustained, we can't help but be grateful, we can't help it being fully awake. The simple teaching of posture awareness and sitting upright like so, something like this, is a posture which enables us to connect with the inanimate.

[28:30]

Because when we're hunched over, either physically or psychically, we're not taking in the universe completely. So that upright posture, whether we're sitting on a cushion whether we are talking with a friend, whether we're getting into an argument with someone who is being difficult. If we're upright and we meet them, it's an opportunity to wake up and be into them and be taught by the inanimate. Because in a sense, we become inanimate. By letting go of our self-centered thinking, we become inanimate.

[29:35]

And at the same time, we become very animated by what comes in through the five skandhas. Thank you for your attention and whatever is reflecting inside your brain. And if you'd like to share some thoughts of what's come up for you, or you have a question, I'd be happy to hear them. Hosa. Well, I have two questions. One is to inquire whether sentient beings preach the Dharma to insentient beings. And the other is whether insentient beings preach the Dharma to insentient beings.

[30:37]

What do you consider incension? Something that, let's say, something that doesn't breathe. Okay. As most people in the Zen-do know, Hosan-san is a musician. And we've heard him play, numerous times, some lovely music. And he plays these things that some people might think don't breathe called guitars. However, if you watch and play and listen, you can experience the life of the so-called incension coming. And I think I may have heard you speak about your musicianship over the years and how the people come forward seamlessly to play their part and come back into the whole.

[31:52]

And I think you may have spoken about the quality of that movement of letting go and not being so forward with an ego of being the performer. And that's when the music really comes alive. So you tell me. I'm pretty clear on the first question. I think that we are communicating back and forth. So-called sentient or so-called insentient. Yeah, right. And if you want a track on the life of a guitar, I can tell you how it changes, and how it does that in relationship to the environment, but how it particularly does that in relation to the person who is playing it, how they meet each other.

[33:02]

So that question is easier for me. But it's still in reference to, it's in reference to so-called sentients. How insentient, whether insentient beings teach Well, our teaching goes back to Shakyamuni Buddha, who was a sentient being living in India 2,500 years ago. And his teaching was about helping the sentient wake up, as I understand it. The insentient take care of themselves. And I don't wish to minimize Ernie's question about the incension, teaching the incension. But the focus of his teaching and our effort is, as you explained so well, your relationship to the guitar.

[34:05]

And I can't say whether the incension teaches the incension. But it's all about relationship and who is relating to what. So we're all left to our own devices to sort that out. And when I was sitting Zazen this morning and a little insentient, for lack of a better descriptor, and having that moment of paying attention to my mudra, the Vendo woke up and that to me feels central to the teaching and the most important thing that we can learn from each other. And as I mentioned with Soji Roshi's encouragement to be mindful and aware of our feet on the floor and the bowls in front of us, etc.

[35:15]

relationships are the most dear. Thank you, those are good questions. Jake? Thank you, Russ, for your talk. When you're paying attention, is it with mental commentary or without? There is mental awareness. Commentary is extra. What do you do when there's extra? I smile.

[36:26]

I'm humbled. I take a lot of support from the teaching that the Buddha was only halfway there. According to the people who wrote the stories about the Buddha. That's an ongoing process. So we don't get rid of the ego or the self or the commentary, but we can see it for what it is, which is a real blessing. It's the ones who Don't see it that way. Wreak havoc on our lives. Including ourselves when we lose sight of that. Don't believe everything you think. Don't think it's all one of the bumpers out in front. Walter? Thank you for your talk, Professor. Sure. So as these things, sentient and insentient, are constantly arising and passing away,

[37:35]

How do you avoid fetishizing by paying attention to it? That's a really good question. We can only keep that for so long. And one of the benefits of is that we do get worn down and I know my predilections and my right angles to things and all of that that those of you who know me where my disposition lies but it's it's a little looser as years have gone by yeah thanks for putting that up I was wondering if this piece of wood here is not the Buddha's tongue?

[38:47]

That's the Buddha's gamba. But there's a little picking and choosing? You know, I can't put my foot over on this one, but I can put my foot over on this one. Well, the picking and choosing is our convention here at Berkeley Zen Center. And when I visited a Chinese Buddhist temple in San Francisco years ago, I couldn't get over how different it was. and I had a reaction to that because of my conditioning, and I realized that it was my conditioning that was getting in the way of me really seeing the sincerity of the practice at that temple. And in relationship to Walter's comment about fetishizing, I was sitting next to a person this morning during

[39:55]

And the teaching here is to not let the Buddha's teaching touch the floor, but to place it on a Zabuton, or hold it, or something or other. And I went on for a moment about, well, am I going to lean over during the service and encourage this person to place a book on the Zabuton or not? And I chose not to, because I felt that that would have been too disruptive for the flow of the service. And at the same time, the floor is Buddha's tongue, so why also? So why not have Buddha's tongue taste Buddha's teachings? So, you know, there's a playfulness that is obviously in Sojourner Mushi's teaching and his expression where we have these guidelines and rules or encouragement, but at the same time, they're made up. But the spirit in which we do or not do things is the most important thing.

[41:08]

Dr. Roshi, would you like a thank you or something? I was going to ask for permission. I'm sorry. I was going to ask your permission to say something. Oh, you have my permission to say no things. The reason why we call this Buddha's tongue is because it's a mule's word. It's like stepping on your dining room table. He wouldn't do that, but he might. We keep this clean, so his feet don't touch this, because the floor is meant to sit on. So, as you say, it's somewhat arbitrary, but it's reasonable. But then when we have all the zabatons laid out on the floor like this, people come in who don't know our forms, that looks like a pathway.

[42:22]

Right, we're encouraged not to step on zabatons and step over them. So we don't fetishize. Last question for Peter, and then we'll go close. Yeah, that construct of the consciousness and all that, it's a model to talk about it.

[43:48]

Thank you, yeah. In fact, I remember the first time Sojiroshi spoke about, in my presence anyway, about it some years ago, he said, it's a model, it's not real. But it's a useful model for us to further explore the workings of our mind. Thank you for bringing that up.

[44:08]

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