Well, this is the last talk of the year, I believe, unless there's another talk somewhere. So, this is 2016, and next year, a couple of weeks, will be 2017. So, you know, given the events of this year leading into the events of next year, I can't think about it, I have not been able to think about anything else, really. It's always, the events always push off all the other things that I have to think about. And then this subject takes its place on the table.

[01:05]

And you know, it gets old. Even though it's new, it gets old. And I think, well, I don't know how to talk about this, or how to talk about anything. But it just happened. to come across astrology. Astrology tells all. So this is, 2016 is the year of the monkey. And next year is the year of the rooster. It couldn't be more perfect. It absolutely tells it as it is.

[02:08]

The year of the rooster? I mean, the year of the monkey is... Well, I will... Let's see what the Chinese have to say about it. in very small print. The monkey is one of the symbolic animals corresponding to or having affinity with the ninth of the 12 terrestrial branches of the zodiac called the shin branch and symbolizes impressible curiosity and creative energy. Though worshipped to some extent by the Buddhists, I wouldn't say they were worshipped by the Buddhists, but the Buddhists really used the monkey. And I will tell you a story about that.

[03:13]

The monkey is commonly regarded as the emblem of trickery. In the traditional Chinese mind, which is echoed in the annually reprinted ancient almanac, the monkey is very intelligent, hyperactive, and strong-minded. He represents the unfettered mind, freed from inhibitions and guilt relieving himself from the many burdens of a touchy conscience. The monkey type will not hesitate to test his theories, experiment, and think the unthinkable. In his domain, everything is possible. What is difficult, he can do right away, and what is impossible may take a little longer. In Buddhist, you know, mythology, the monkey is very prominent.

[04:16]

There's even a book called Monkey, which is one of the classics of Chinese literature. And he's exemplified by all these qualities of unimaginable trickery. He's the trickster. But he also has other qualities. When he's controlled, he's very helpful. But when he's not controlled, he's really naughty. Although a lively, optimistic and progressive year where finances, politics, and real estate should see an upturn, there will be a decided undercurrent of insecurity.

[05:21]

Everyone wants to work the shrewdest angle, get the best deal, and win big. However, business decisions made this year should be based on fact, not emotion. Problems and chicanery abound, so nothing this year should be taken for granted, whether politically, financially, professionally, domestically, or emotionally. a particularly auspicious time for new inventions. The year of the monkey is for taking risks and being rebellious, a year where agile, inventive minds, sheer guts, and bravado will win out. Now is the time for courage, action, anarchy, and the devotion to even the wildest of schemes, a time to start new endeavors, for they are destined to succeed under monkey's influence. but a word to the wise. Those who can hang on for the wild ride, outsmart the confidence trickster, and bluff their way through will come out unscathed.

[06:34]

Those who are dull or slow-witted and can't handle the stress will come unglued. Does that ring a bell? Mr. Monkey can be menacing, as he can easily overthrow old conventions that no longer work, or do work. That could mean the topping of old empires or iron-fisted bosses. So just remember, bosses that have been taking advantage of this economic downturn may soon learn to regret it. All things find their balance eventually. So that's, I like that last remark. All things find their balance eventually.

[07:35]

But in the meantime, a lot of suffering. So it's really, Looking forward to suffering with monkey at the controls. Cleverness is often regarded as, sometimes regarded cleverness as intelligence. There is some intelligence in cleverness, but cleverness is kind of a low kind of intelligence, and smartness is also a lower order of intelligence, and intelligence is rare, and wisdom is even more rare. So we honor people who are smart. We say, oh, he's really smart. He got a lot of money.

[08:37]

I don't know how he got the money, but he's smart enough to get it. So we honor that kind of, people honor that kind of cleverness or smartness, but it's a very low order of intelligence, because it doesn't take into consideration true wisdom. So this is kind of the characteristics of the monkey. So the monkey, the ear of the monkey and the ear of the rooster Two sides of the coin. The rooster is the epitome of the wake-up call. Cock-a-doodle-doo! We used to have one out here. We used to have a couple of roosters out here next door. I remember Thich Nhat Hanh came and gave a talk when he was talking to the rooster. You may remember that.

[09:46]

So the rooster, you know, is, greets the dawn, and is full of optimism. You know, as soon as the sun comes up, here it is. He announces the dawn, and it's a wake-up call for everyone. So we're entering the year of the rooster, which has been determined in some way by the year of the monkey. So what are the characteristics, some of the characteristics of the rooster? Bold, stimulating, optimistic, alert, Ready to take action. First unseen, the last to leave.

[10:52]

Taking chances, but not carelessly. Knowing where things belong and orderly and fastidious, which means not scattered. not careless, not scattered, knowing how to bring order to their surroundings. And nothing escapes their vision. Always prepared. Always prepared, you know, doesn't mean they have a lot of tools, but for a Zen student, always prepared means calm, centered, composed, and unassuming. So for a Zen student, preparedness means just being present and unassuming.

[12:06]

Unassuming means even though you have some idea of what may happen, you're not pushed by that. You just wait, stay steady, composed, calm, and open, open-mindedness, actually. And when something happens, you respond right away. You know, Dogen sometimes would, and other Zen teachers, would say something, present a question to his students, and then he'd say, answer quickly, quickly. You can't answer quickly, quickly unless you, if you have anything in your mind. Only when you're totally open with nothing on your mind. Can you answer like that? So this is our attitude.

[13:12]

It doesn't mean that you're not thinking, that you don't think, but to be prepared for the next moment's event. We have no idea, really, what will happen next year, even though we think we know. and we hope we don't know, but it will happen. We're really faced with some of the most difficult, actually the most difficult time in our lives. I have been through many, many administrations. I look at people who are much younger who don't have the experience. don't have the experience of having been through so much change in the country. My first president was, that I remember, actually, was Hoover. But the first president I remember was Roosevelt.

[14:19]

And he was my president forever, until I was in junior high school, from the time I was about four. Maybe three or four, until I was in high school, junior high. And that's when the war began, the Second World War. The Second World War began when I was 12 or something. I was in junior high. They announced it over the loudspeaker. Everybody, not everybody, but everybody that I thought was everybody, was so happy to have Roosevelt as president. He made so many wonderful improvements in everybody's life, because I was born in the year of the Depression. The year the Depression started, 1929. And my whole life, up to the Second World War, was how we progressed out of the Depression.

[15:30]

We had no money, nothing. And I learned to live with nothing. I didn't like it at the time, but later I realized what a great gift that was, that I was actually living like a monk. But nothing. My mother would give me 25 cents to take the bus to school, and I would use that. That was my spending money. I always hitchhiked. Everybody hitchhiked in those days. Nobody got murdered hitchhiking. Those things didn't happen. Hitchhiking was the way a lot of people just got around. Women also were hitchhiking. Until Reagan got elected, everything changed. People don't understand how that happened, you know. Now when we celebrate Presidents' Days, we talk about how honored we are, how we honor these ex-presidents who were terrible people.

[16:45]

But this particular, the way this particular scenario is unfolding is a progression from, because Roosevelt introduced all these wonderful reforms that helped people, but this, a surge of selfishness and self-centeredness and greed has been building as an antidote to social welfare. And it just escalates and escalates until finally we have, instead of democracy, we have empire. It's just been happening, little by little.

[17:53]

And so, if you don't realize that this has become an empire, an oligarchy, you just don't have the experience. And people who are younger just think, well, this is just naturally the way it is, right? But people who are older don't see it that way. It's something that's changed our country for the worse. But, so a question is how do we remain sane and optimistic? You know, psychiatrists, I don't know about all psychiatrists, but psychotherapists and psychiatrists, their business in the last couple of months has really increased dramatically.

[19:05]

Some psychiatrists say, no, that's not so, but that's so. making people crazy. All the other countries, most other countries have experienced this more than once, and now it's our turn. So the question is, well, what do we do that that's a problem. And maybe you don't think it's a problem. Maybe you think, well, everything's going really well now. But I have to assure you, it's a problem. Our society is an interwoven, interconnected fabric

[20:11]

that supports everybody, even though we may not realize it, and you take a few of those pegs out, and the whole thing collapses. You can't just cherry pick what you want to remove from the society, from the social society that is helping people, and think that that's gonna be a benefit to somebody. But when you start pulling the plugs, the whole thing collapses. And if that really happens, there'll be a big collapse in our society. Everything is ... we live in an interconnected society. You know, even at the Zen Center, we have our ... way of doing things. It's a little society, and it has its weave and its fabric.

[21:15]

And we say, well, let's change this. But if we change this, it affects everything else. As a matter of fact, the way everybody acts harmoniously over a period of time, everyone kind of knows each other and the way we act. And if we're a little bit out of sync, it makes a difference in how, it makes a difference in the fabric of this particular society. So we're always very careful about making changes. make a little change and you think it's okay, you know, but because we don't see how it affects something over there, we make the change and then somebody squeaks over there on the other side.

[22:16]

In Mexico they say, when the United States does this, Mexico does this. I've had many Mexicans tell me that. So when you think about transporting 20 million Mexicans back to Mexico, big deal, you know, that is a big deal. Anything that is a change is gonna rock the nation, and people are gonna complain, and people are gonna lose something. And when you think about all these people who are going to be in charge of all these offices who want to destroy them. That's what is happening. I used to give talks about the state of the world in the past, and one guy said to me, sitting over there,

[23:26]

He said, I came here to hear about Zen. I didn't come here to hear about politics. This is not politics. This is reality. This is what's really facing us. And as a Zen student, how do you deal with this? That's what I'm saying. How do we deal with this problem? And you cannot ignore it. If you want to ignore it, you can try. But you can't, because it's gonna kick you in the pants. This is serious business. And nobody knows how to deal with it. So, the monkey's in charge. The monkey is driving the bus. without a license.

[24:28]

In Buddhism, the monkey story, the monkey classic, monkey is very, very clever and he wants to conquer, he challenges all of the the philosophers and the religious leaders and everybody, just for fun, just to see if he can do it, and he does. He just proves that he's far more agile and clever than anybody else. And he says, and he can leap to the other side of the universe. He has that ability. So he says, now I'm gonna challenge the Buddha.

[25:37]

So he comes up to the Buddha and he says, how far can you jump, Buddha? I can jump all the way to the end of the universe. And the Buddha says, well, Let's see, you know, why don't you go first?" So Monkey jumps and he leaps all the way to the end of the universe and he lands in this place. He lands in this place where these huge pillars of trees, I guess they're trees, but they're pillars, like this pillar here, they're enormous. And he said, this is the end. universe, and so he pees on one of them to mark his place. Then he comes back to the Buddha and says, I did it, and the Buddha holds out his hand, and at the bottom of his fingers is his little puddle.

[26:50]

Do you not get that? So this is, and Buddha, Xuanzang, Xuanzang was this Chinese monk who went to India in about the 6th century, 7th century, something like that. He traveled over the Palmier Mountains, through the Gobi Desert. It's amazing, his trek. And he brought back all the sutras, many, many sutras. He was there for 20 years. And so the story of Monkey is about the monkey these three characters who Xuanzang is supposed to have hired, so to speak, to accompany him to India. And the monkey, of course, is a clever one, and then Sandy is kind of a dumbbell.

[28:02]

the deluded one, and the greed, hate, and delusion. These three represent greed, hate, and delusion. And Monkey, he hires Monkey because he's so clever, you know. And the three of them lead him on all these adventures, great adventures. And the Monkey, But he's so mischievous that it's hard for Xuanzang to keep him in order. And this little old lady comes to Xuanzang, who is really Avalokitesvara in disguise, and she says, I will give you some way to deal with monkey. So she gives him this metal kong, C-A-N-G-U-E. to put it on, it's like a little crown, you know? And the monkey says, oh God, this is wonderful, you know, he puts on his thing.

[29:14]

And she says, I'll give you this word, magic word, and when you see the monkey is acting out, you say this word. I won't tell you because I don't know what it is. And see what happens. So when Monkey's acting out, Xuanzang gives him the metal crown, and he gives, it says the magic word, and the crown squeezes his head until Monkey's, ah, okay, take it off, take it off. So that's how he controls the monkey. He controls the monkey through pain. So as they keep going on, as they keep moving on, they have some great adventures. And Monkey sometimes jumps up on Xuanzang's shoulders in order to see better where they're going.

[30:21]

And Xuanzang says, are we there yet? Are we there yet? He's an innocent guy. And Monkey says to the others, he doesn't get it yet. He doesn't get it. Are we there yet? Just doesn't get it. Too bad. So, we're always there, right? We're always there. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Anyway, those are interesting stories. I urge you to Sometimes I read that classic. Those are stories, relief stories. So anyway, that's my story. Do you have anything you'd like to say, Ken? A couple things.

[31:24]

The name of the book, the complete book, is called Journey to the West. In the little text you sent me for the newsletter, you said it was the year of the fire rooster. Yeah, fire rooster. No, it's just sometimes called a fire rooster. I don't know exactly, I mean, I can see why, but I don't know why. It's, yeah, symbolical of the element of fire, which is, you know, very powerful. Yeah, so the rooster has that kind of, I think the fire is a symbol of purity. It burns up everything. There's a saying I heard, you may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.

[32:29]

Yes, absolutely. You don't pay attention. Yes? I'd like to ask you what you think of this phrase that we've heard, when they go low, we go high. Oh, yeah. Because I've got a friend, who I really respect, who's a history professor, who is very, very concerned, and she's been saying, when they go low, we go to the mat. That's fine, too. Whatever you say is okay. And I sort of agree with both of them, but I can't reconcile. It's not like one cancels out the other. We go to the map means we fight. The other is we rise above it. When they go low, we rise above it. We don't get caught by it. In other words, we don't lose our integrity, is what that means. We don't lose our integrity. That's what going high means.

[33:30]

literally, but it means we don't give in our integrity when things are going counter. And the other, go to the mat, means we will fight. We're not gonna back down. I like both of those. That just inspired me to come up with a few thoughts about what we've been talking about, which is now that we have the ideal jerk in the president's office, we have an opportunity to take a look at ourselves and see how we got him there. What question is he asking us about our behavior? We take the high. That means every time we see another individual, we bring them respect. Every time we see somebody that needs help, we offer them help or help them find help. Okay, this is going to be a great year for people who are willing to go high. Yeah, the year of the rooster.

[34:33]

Let's go high, folks. The really nice things about being older right now, I'm glad you were talking about that, is I have memories of growing up. I mean, I'm 30 years younger than you. Or maybe more. Probably more. I have memories of growing up hearing what it was like in World War II. and how important it is to never, never go back to those times. And I have relatives still who are your age and they still remember. And one of them is a woman who was born and raised in Denmark and came to America as a young woman after the war. And the things that she talks about, about how people resisted and the sacrifices that they made and how their lives were just dedicated to resisting, you know, the things that were going on at that time.

[35:36]

And now I kind of feel like I was born for this. It's like everything that has happened to me in my life, the good and the bad, has prepared me for what's happening right now. And, you know, the threats that I'm under, they're threatening to take away everything that I have that supports me right now. I have nothing to lose in this fight. I'm really prepared to lay down my body if need be, because there's nothing to lose. This is what I'm here for. And, you know, at first when things started to happen, I was afraid, but then that strength arose in me, and that's what's keeping me going right now. It's like everything that they throw at me, I can stand up to. There's just really no fear. Yeah, I understand that. I remember when the Second World War started, and I lived in Long Beach, and I was about 15 or 12, 12 or something, 12.

[36:46]

And we had blackout curtains. We had searchlights going, looking for airplanes. We had rationing. Gas was rationed, you had a little sticker on your car, A, B, or C, as to how much gas you could actually have. All kinds of things were, it was an austerity program. And the whole country was unified to one thing. That was amazing. In pulling together some things you've said in the past, one being what the Buddha said, that the world is always burning.

[37:47]

Burning, yes. Yes, the world is burning. Two, that if we can save anyone, save yourself first. Three being, be composure, be composed every moment. And what you just said now, that the world is, or our current state is in trouble, And also that being the right response or maybe the right action is just to be open and respond when necessary.

[38:47]

How do we put everything together? And is it just that just to be open and to respond when? I would say, yes. Yes. All that. The world is burning. We have our, you know, we're so safe. The rest of the world is burning up. I mean, it's a cemetery. The Middle East is a cemetery. And it's unbelievable that people have no sense of feeling for others.

[39:55]

And we're all, the human race is addicted. That is the civilized, so-called civilized, We think of addiction as dope and liquor and sex and so forth. We're addicted to everything. We're addicted to power. We're addicted to money. We're addicted to hate. We're addicted to everything. It's so hard to be free. People are addicted to murder. I don't know, there was this movie, The Good Earth, remember that? About China and its difficulties. And these people were brought up, you know, originally the family was brought up as nice people, you know, with respect for each other and for their surroundings.

[41:00]

And then after, and during the war, the children turned into monsters and they were addicted to killing. Addiction to killing is a real addiction, a real terrible addiction that is, you see how many people are doing that, young men, and we think that it's over there, but there's so many people here who are addicted to killing but don't have the opportunity yet. That's my intuition, and I can see it. We love our guns. That's an addiction. Guns is one of the most common addictions. I talked about that before. Some people don't believe it. Well, you know, in case you're in a grocery store and somebody comes and wants to run the grocery, I have my gun, you know.

[42:05]

That's rationalization. people are addicted to guns, and when the right moment comes, they'll pull them out, and hopefully that never happens. So my question is, how do we help people who feel disempowered? Ironically, or maybe not, this shouldn't be unexpected, but my two children don't seem to feel disempowered. You know my little daughter, Alessa? Right, yeah. She's there to help, and my 21-year-old college son is protesting. So somehow, some people manage to not feel disappointed. And then I talked to a close friend who says, why isn't anybody doing anything? And I said, what are you doing? And he says, well, that's not for me. So how do you do that?

[43:09]

Why aren't they doing something? Yes. For those who seem kind of trapped or disempowered. How do we... One of the problems is that this is the limbo time when you can't do anything. I mean... You can watch. Well, this is where it takes patience, knowing how to be patient and just being open. Not anxious, but when the opportunity arises, you know what to do. You're ready to do something. So patience is really important. Patience means not waiting for something, but being composed and open. It's like the cat waiting for the mouse to come out of the hole and then

[44:13]

But take your cue from your cat. Cats are very composed all the time, no matter what. They have little altercations, but then they're composed. They come back to composure. Carl? Could this develop or provide an opportunity for awakening A certain demigod has used the poor in suffering and took advantage of it. Yes. And have we been asleep? Well, waking up. Tell me that he's piercing a boil in this. You know, this is the year of the rooster. It's the year to wake up. This is our wake-up call. Yes. I think actually there's a lot we can do besides protesting or being angry.

[45:26]

In relation to what you said about addictions, we're addicted to comfort and money and things and being safe and not getting involved with people who have problems and this kind of thing. But if they take it with Medicare, I'm sure we can all help somebody we know a little bit. Yes, there is. Yes, I agree. You know, small successes are really important. And doing what we think of as small things is important. And I think it's important to think, what can I do? That's a kind of koan. When I don't know what to do, what can I do?

[46:29]

When I don't think that, when I feel helpless, what can I do? That's probably the most important, to keep asking that question, and you will come up with some response. I was inspired that one person can do something. That protest at Lake Merritt, where everyone just stood around the lake and held hands, and I was at it. And there were enough people there to go around twice. Just holding hands, that was one woman who organized that. Yeah. It's time to go, folks. Just when things are getting hot. Okay, Sue? Well, I think also we don't have to wait until something presents itself.

[47:35]

Things are going to get worse and change after but already, you know, we can start, even though we ourselves may not be personally threatened in the moment and we're still comfortable as we were saying, it's really important to remember that Buddha's teaching that we're all interconnected with each other and to really be allies as much as we possibly can with people who are already being immediately threatened, and to stay calm. Well, you know, I spent time on the computer putting my name on petitions. I get hundreds of petitions every day, and I just sign them, even though I'd already signed this, but I'll do it again. Yes, that's something positive. You're adding your strength and yourself to this. you're joining with other people to express something.

[48:41]

Yeah. I'm trying to find a way to word this correctly. We're talking about feeling just empowered and things that we can do. Something very local, kind of in the wake of the recent fire in Fruitvale. The East Bay has a very vibrant who were outed as living in a live-work space, and their house got red-tagged without even really being investigated. The fire department showed up red-tagged, and there's 30 people that now are homeless because of that. And what I would like to call on this song to do is, when you read things in the media or see things on television regarding that, support the people that live in those spaces.

[49:49]

Is this in my backyard? Is this a tinderbox waiting to go off in my backyard and worrying about fire codes and whatnot? Think of the people that lived there first and how this is affecting our community. And you can be an advocate for those people just by changing the world. Well, back in the 50s and 60s, when I was an artist, I lived in places like that. And I understand very well that the problem with that fire was not the artists. It was the dancers, people who didn't even live there. It was something else. And then the whole vision gets turned onto the artists who know how to live in that way, where it's different than the way most people live. quite valid way. Yeah, I understand that. Alan?

[50:54]

I know it's getting late, but one of the things that, I don't know what this gentleman's name is, but what that reminds me of, and I think this is this discussion that we could have as we go into the new year, is a growing sense that religious communities need to be what? Sanctuary. Oh yeah. That we see, in this case we see artists turned out into the streets. They need sanctuary. We see Muslims at risk and under threat. They need sanctuary. We see an attack on immigration and undocumented people in this country. They need sanctuaries. I don't know how it's going to play out. have here among us, but also it's a discussion that's going on on a list that's talking about it in terms of the larger world of religious communities and what do we do?

[52:04]

How do we open ourselves? And that really, you know, the thought of that also is, it certainly provokes anxiety and what do we do? Can we open it? What does that mean? It's a big question.

[52:30]

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