Well, I didn't really prepare anything for my talk today. And when I looked around, at all of the books, all of them, and opened this and opened that one. Nothing seemed right. Everything seemed kind of old and, I don't know, I just couldn't relate to anything. And I thought, well, I must be dead. That's what I get for getting up at a quarter to four.

[01:10]

And so I just thought that I would ask you for questions. But then I saw something that I had always wanted to talk about. So that's what I'll talk about a little bit. But then I would still like to have some questions because I would like to know what what you're thinking and what this provokes in you that I'm going to talk about. This is called The Plowing. It's a chapter from the Sutta Nipata, the Pali Sutra, of a, incident involving Shakyamuni Buddha and a farmer. So you probably have read this before.

[02:16]

The Buddha woke up in a farming village one morning. He put on his okesa, his robe, and went out to the village for takahatsu, which is begging for food, which he, of course, every morning, Shakyamuni and the monks would go out and beg for their one meal a day, which was the noon meal. They had to eat it before noon, or just at noon. And of course, begging was their sustenance. A rich farmer asked, why the Buddha doesn't work? If he, the farmer, is a rich person, and he still works. And the Buddha answered. He's saying, faith is a seed. Practice is rain. Wisdom is my yoke and plow. Repentance is my plow bar.

[03:20]

Aspiration is a rope to tie a yoke to an ox. And mindfulness is the plow blade and the digging bar. I behave myself prudently. I am discreet in speech. I eat moderately. Truth is my sickle to mow grass. Gentleness is untying the yoke from an ox when finished working. Diligence is my ox which takes me to peacefulness, or nirvana, and I go forth without backsliding. Once I reach the peacefulness, I have no anxiety. My farming is done in this way. It brings about the result of a sweet dew. If you engage in this farming, you will be released from all kinds of suffering. And the commentary is, the farmer became Buddha's disciple. Buddha's farming is a practice to become free from ego attachment and live in peacefulness.

[04:24]

This is the meaning of working in a rice paddy. When we wear the okesa, the robe, we are also forming. This is the origin of the name of the robe, okesa, fuku-den-e. Den is a field, and e is virtue, the robe of a virtuous field. This body and mind are the field we work on. It is not just a field of fortune from which we can expect to receive blessings without practice. We have to cultivate our life. That's a commentary by Okamura-san. So, you know, the robe, Buddha's robe is based on that kind of a field, rice paddies with lanes in between. for walking. And the robe, which is put together in that way, many fields and many pathways, patchwork, that's called patch, robe, monk.

[05:42]

One way that the monks actually got the material from the robes was from a carnal field or rags discarded in various ways by people, and then they would cut them and sew them together and dye them a kind of dark color. And so this represents, in a way, the field where the monk works and does their practice, being their work. When Buddhism moved from India to China, in India, the monks were not allowed to work at all. they simply did their meditation and begged for their food and, of course, taught the lay people.

[06:52]

So there's always this lay people, lay and monk, two sides discrepancy, which is very traditional in Buddhism. So the virtue of the monk's practice is what encouraged the laity to support them. It's very interesting, you know, the difference between a monk begging for food and a beggar. begging for food. The monk voluntarily lets go of everything. And so the monk never feels poor.

[07:53]

The monk always feels wealthy because he has nothing, or she has nothing. And the wealthy person feels poor when they have nothing. Or most people feel poor when they have nothing. And this is not to criticize poor people who have nothing, but there is a difference in attitude between the two. Sometimes, you know, people holding out their hands for sustenance money, and sometimes we feel like giving, and sometimes we don't feel like giving. It's kind of interesting. And sometimes we feel, well, I would give out of charity. to people who hold out their hands.

[08:57]

And sometimes we feel, well, they're just gonna spend it on wine or something like that. Of course, true giving is simply giving and forgetting. This is actually the virtue of a person giving, is simply giving without wondering about whether or not there's some reward for it. or something good will happen. Someone wants something, you simply give. We don't know why or how it will be used. That's called pure generosity. And in the same way, but it's a little different. When the monks would beg for their food, people would support them, and they do, because the monks are working for the benefit of all beings.

[10:09]

That's their practice. By cultivating their practice, they're cultivating not just for themselves, but for the world in order to bring the Dharma into the world. Sometimes it doesn't work that way. Sometimes the priesthood becomes corrupt and takes advantage of the lay people's generosity. That often happens. In India, the monks were not allowed to work, simply to beg for their food and work on their practice, and to offer the Dharma to people. So there was a symbiotic relationship, which still exists, of course. In America, of course, it's different, because we don't, America doesn't have a history of Buddha Dharma, or of supporting monks.

[11:20]

In India, even before Buddhism, even before Buddha, there were wandering mendicants and yogis who were supported by people because of their virtue and their practice. And in our meal chant, we say, we hope that by receiving this food, that it's because of our virtue and our practice, not for any other reason. So if a monk is not respected by people, takes the vows and is not respectful of people, and they'll starve to death. Louder. Is that better? Keep talking. when Buddha passes by the farmer, and the farmer asks him about, why is he begging?

[12:36]

Why should I, the farmer, who have to work so hard for my living, give something to this beggar? Why should I do this? That's his question. So, Buddha says, Faith is a seed. Practice is the rain, which, of course, faith is what everything springs from. Practice springs from faith. Without faith, they're cut off from practice. You're cut off from the vitality of practice. So what is faith? Faith is a seed. Oh, okay.

[13:39]

A seed of what? Well, yeah, you know, we studied faith and mind. And faith is enlightenment. Faith is not something that you can acquire. Faith is your deep instinct, intuition or instinct for connection. Connection even is not such a good term because connection kind of means two things connecting. Faith is the actual light of the Dharma, which is transmitted through us.

[14:46]

So when the rain of practice moistens the ground, then the seed of faith opens up and becomes the foundation for practice. So you always know where you are. You never get lost. When faith is all-pervasive and is the seedbed, the rock of your practice, you never get lost, no matter what happens. So practice is like, as he says, practice is the rain. In other words, when you practice, Dogen says, practice and realization go together. Practice brings forth realization, and realization is faith, brings forth faith, or makes us aware of faith.

[16:01]

So, you say realization or enlightenment, practice enlightenment. Practice is the movement that brings forth enlightenment. If I have a light bulb and a crank, I can crank and the light bulb will light up if I do the right kind of connections. So practice is like turning the wheel and the bulb lights up. So, yeah. And for example, I mean, it was traditionally good time for people to go and live in the forest and help themselves with their own development.

[17:18]

But it's a question of what kind of path is, how much path is for each person. You know, there's a number of real musicians that do a great job. And so you can really because you don't try to make money from it. So in a way it's a kind of purity. But at the same time, of course, you need to practice a lot to become a great musician. You need to have to devote yourself. And that's one question. It's like, well, what are the optimum conditions really? And the other one is about society. Well, let's just take one question at a time. Real musicians have day jobs, right? Real Zen Buddhist practitioners who are lay people have day jobs, and they're always playing music constantly.

[18:24]

But the music never stops. old farmer. Well, let me just say something. 2,500 years ago, there was a man named Shakyamuni Buddha who lived in India, which is a very different society than we live in today. And over those 2,500 years, the practice has been through many, many countries and societies and developed in different ways. So we can't practice the same way that Shakyamuni practiced in India. because we're living in America, you know, 20 or 100 years later, given all of the mechanics that we have to plow our way through.

[19:27]

So it's very different. But he did say, follow me. And many farmers did. When Buddha ordained people, he simply said, follow me. So it was very simple with Shakyamuni. when the founder passes away, then the Sangha has to take up the practice and develop in ways that are very different than what the original founder was doing. Suzuki Roshi used to talk about the monk from India who came to China during the winter. And in India, a monk wears three robes, and they're all over his shoulder, and his arms are bare, and he's living in the tropics. And he comes to China, and he has to dress differently because it's snowing. But he couldn't stay there, and he had to go back because he was attached to the Vinaya.

[20:32]

He was attached to the rules. So, Buddhism goes through many transformations according to time, place, and circumstances. And if Shakyamuni was here today, he'd probably say, come to my session next month, farmer. What's the other question? It's about the circus. We're unable to even attend what we need to attend to, but we have a society in the country.

[21:40]

So maybe a rich lay practice is much better for our society. And maybe we don't need so much a circulation of the dedicated monastic and the hard-working lay person who hopes Well, I don't think we preach that. I don't think we talk about it. I don't think we talk about that. Well, you just read something about— Another life? Oh, well, that's—no, you don't say that. No, you don't say that. But that's what one reads, that in traditional Buddhist countries, the lay people Well, yeah, but I think this applies to our, has to be transmuted to reflect our own life.

[22:52]

The basic premise is still the same, whether you're working all day as a farmer, so to speak, or whatever. The premise is still the same. Faith is the seed, practice is the rain, and so forth. It's like, our effort has always been here to because our teachers introduced us to practice this way, and it was a kind of experiment, in a way, that lay people, men and women, all practiced together. Lay people and priests and men and women all practicing together. This is the big experiment. But the basic premises are still the same. How you adapt that is your work. That's your work. So that's what I'm saying here by reciting this, is your work is the same as Shakyamuni's.

[24:00]

And the farmer became his disciple. Whether he gave up farming or not, he didn't say. But Buddha had many lay disciples as well. So the farmer could easily continue farming and be his lay disciple. Which is probably what happened. Because monks don't eat on this farmer's farm. Yes? For a farmer. Today's farmer, so to speak. Yes. Today's farmer, yeah. Well, first is to realize there's something beyond a materialistic life.

[25:11]

And to be able to find time in your life to meditate, to do zazen. And when you find time to do that, you may think, I have no time to do that. And that's possible, but one of the reasons why we don't have time to do that is because we're doing something else. So if you really feel that it's an important imperative in your life, then you'll find a way to arrange your life in order to do that. So you have to have the impulse and the motivation. So I would say maybe motivation is the most important thing. And motivation is born through faith.

[26:17]

And then your motivation is movement, and your movement is practice, even at that beginning stage, which opens up that seed. So to maintain your motivation, I think, is the most important thing. Renu? You have a lot of cases of monks becoming farmers. Yes. So there's another story you could add to the story you told, which is that one about the old man with the mushrooms. Dogen's story about meeting this monk, or whatever, and he's eating something, and he's bending down and working hard in the sun, and Dogen says, why are you working so hard? You're too old. You're mixing up your stories, but that's okay.

[27:26]

But anyway, a day of no work is a day of no eating really has stuck in my mind for years. That's Hakujo, yeah. Absolutely, so when the monks came to, yeah, you finished my story sort of, got me over the border, because in India, they weren't allowed to work, the monks, but when they came to China, they had to work, eventually, because people saw these guys laying around, they said, meditating, why are we supporting these guys when they should be working in the fields? You know, China's an agrarian society. So the monks went to work in the monasteries and had fields, and that was part of their practice. And Hyakujo, who codified the rules for Zen monasteries, always said, a day of no work is a day of no eating.

[28:40]

And when he was my age, maybe a little older, The monks took his tools and tried to hide them, but he refused to eat, so they gave them back to him. But the other story, what was the other story? Oh yeah, the Ai Wang, the old Tenzo, head cook from Ayuwong Monastery, came over to where Dogen was, and he was buying mushrooms. Dogen was still on the ship. And he said, asked the monk what he was doing. He said, I'm drying mushrooms, but I have to be back at the monastery, 14 miles over the mountains, by dinnertime to cook the mushrooms. And Dogen said, well, how come you have to do that? Why don't you just leave it to some of the younger monks to do that?

[29:42]

He said, this is my job. I can't leave it to somebody else to do. And so then that started a kind of thing of Dogen thinking about what work practice actually is. He says, you really don't understand what practice is until you understand. I'm paraphrasing. You don't understand what practice is until you understand what work is. Can I ask my question? Now he can ask me a question. On the faith discussion, as you know, it always raises some twitching and cringing, the word faith. So I just wanted to sharpen that question by saying that, you know, George Bush said some notorious things about his war policies that, you know, my chief advisor is the guy up in Wisconsin.

[30:42]

I have faith. I have faith that he will always guide me right as I make my war policies. So how would you distinguish this faith from the faith you're recommending? Well, in Christian terms, in Christian terms, the Antichrist looks just like Jesus. That's in Christian terms. The Antichrist looks just like Jesus. But that's not where I want to stop. Do you notice that he doesn't talk about that anymore? He talked that when he first came into office, but you never hear that anymore. You never hear that anymore. These guys go to church. They're politicians. Say anything you want.

[31:43]

The faith that you're recommending to us doesn't have that danger that we might believe in something that turns out to be a delusion? Well, do you believe in yourself? This is what faith is. Believing totally in yourself. Your big self, excuse me. But you are not different from your big self. If you can believe in your big self and let go of your ego, then you believe in yourself. Faith is not the same as belief. It's not the same as belief. They're two different things. Who's they? Well, you know, precepts are a guideline to keep you, you know, to keep you within the Buddhist realm, keep you from straying outside of the Buddha world.

[34:21]

And if you have faith in them, that's good. The question is, what do you, in the end, what do you depend on? When everything is taken away, what do you depend on? Well, you should know. Since I came here, I learned the mantra, Gathe, Gathe, Tatate, [...] Tatate

[35:30]

We'll take it up with the practice committee. And the more the better. That particular gata, gata gata gata, I mean, crossing over, right, from the egotistical world to the real world.

[36:32]

And so you're letting something else guide you. Keep chanting. I was wondering, when you look at your bookcase full of books, and there's not a single one that speaks to you, and you feel as if they don't relate, it strikes me as maybe a type of loss of faith, maybe a loss of faith. Maybe not. I was wondering, what is it that brings you back? What is it that you Oh, I just have faith that something will come forth. I can step into this room with nothing to say and have faith that something will come forth. It's confidence. So faith and confidence are related. One is an aspect to the other. So if you think of faith as confidence, although confidence is, you know, keeps you in the kind of rational world, but faith goes beyond that.

[37:43]

we so depend on the rational world, which is very limiting. So this is our limitation. We create a rational world out of all these elements and say, well, that's the real world. But it's only the real world as far as it goes, which is very narrow and only exists as far as you can, rationale will allow. So everybody has a rationale of one kind or another and they all conflict because it's just ways of, you know, adjusting ourselves to life. Why do you suppose Buddha took the rice paddy geography as a way, as a pattern for the focaccia? because it's like covering yourself with the earth.

[38:52]

Yeah, so the robe covers, as Chino Sensei used to say, you may receive a robe, but that robe covers everybody, and everybody wears an invisible robe. They're geometric, yeah, even when they're curved. I wonder if there's something, I hear something in one of the questions that's implied in how we've talked about it, but do you believe there's something outside of yourself? you know, you believe in a man who's God, or something like that.

[39:58]

But when we talk about faith and practice, my experience of it is that it's my experience. That what I have faith in is if I sit quietly in the presence of God, and I bring that kind of attention to whatever it is that I do, that that's what's going to be my experience. So when I'm feeling lost, I trust if I show up to my experience, something will happen. So often by letting go, something comes. And that's where you really get confidence in faith is when you actually let go and allow something to appear without trying to make it happen. Um, I, this is interesting, I, like, lay, imperative monk life, and I, I have a piece of karma right now that's, that goes like this.

[41:08]

I get obsessed with my work life, and then my spiritual practice, I can't find it. And I'm believing, I'm totally identified with something terrible's gonna happen. And then I go have stints next month I will be at a monastery and then I'll be there and I'm actually avoiding my way of responsibilities and I don't want to touch them because I get identified and then I come home and then I touch my work life and I get upset. That's because you're splitting your spiritual life and your work life. You have to put them together. That's called the Berkley Zen Center. We're having a one-day sitting today, and so I want to stop on time to give the cooks a break, and the eaters.

[42:13]

Peace! Bye!

[42:32]

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