Latest / Zen Community of Oregon Dharma Talks / The Crucible of Practice - Bansho Green, Sensei

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The Crucible of Practice - Bansho Green, Sensei · Zen Community of Oregon Dharma Talks

• 0:00
  Jomon: Hello, and welcome. This is the Zen Community of Oregon, making the teachings of the Buddhadharma accessible to support your practice. New episodes air every week.
• 0:17
  Bansho: Good afternoon. We are appreciating each other's wholehearted walking of the ancient way. This way of wisdom, the way of compassion, the way of joy, the way of equanimity, the way of loving kindness. A Chinese master, Qin Zhu, once said, the experience of studying Zen is like hiding your body in fire. Even if you have iron guts and a brass heart, here they will surely melt and flux.
• 1:15
  The experience of Zen is like hiding your body in fire. Even if you have iron guts and a brass heart, here they will surely melt and flux. Isn't that just like Sachin? Hiding your body in fire. Fire is energy.
• 1:50
  I once heard someone on the radio explain that when we burn wood, we release energy stored from the sun. So a campfire is in essence or in a sense a little bit of sunlight, sun energy. We know something about fire in the West. How do we regard fire? Is a forest fire good or bad?
• 2:27
  In January, we host a retreat here at the monastery for wildland firefighters, It's sponsored by an organization called Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology or Fuze. And Joe Mann is one of the leaders of that particular retreat where they learn meditation and Dharma teachings, apply that in their life as wildland firefighters. John Ma says that if there's anyone who loves fire, it's firefighters. They love to set fires, be with fire. They use fire to stop fire.
• 3:19
  And when they come on their retreat here, they look forward to safely burning our burn piles. They've made some of the some of the switchback trails unbelievable amount of of work in just a short work period. We've seen in the West how suppressing fire has created all kinds of of issues. This organization, Fuji Fuji, supports indigenous cultural burning and indigenous people's sovereignty to use fire to care for their lands and carry out their cultural and religious practices and partner with, one of the one of the peoples, indigenous peoples in Northern California. Well, how to be in right relationship with with fire.
• 4:32
  Fire is change. Zen is like hiding your body in fire. Fire is change, fire destroys. One of the good ways to get a scolding in the monastery I was at in Japan was to leave a candle burning. Some of the the most sharpest criticism is leaving a candle, walking out when you're supposed to put out the candle.
• 5:13
  Just a simple candle. In Japan, such fear of fire. I was told there was, one one reason why, I mean, there's historical reasons for this. There was a fire in the Middle Ages in Japan and, in medieval times, and a 100,000 people died. But even now, when there aren't...
• 5:42
  All the buildings aren't... When you don't have a whole city built of wood and paper, there's such fear because of earthquakes. So if you leave a cannon... Candle building in a monastery, which is a 300 build... 300 year old wooden building, the earth starts shaking, the candle falls over, it rolls away, and then your temple is on fire.
• 6:10
  I was there with a Japanese nun who had to leave training at Toshoji because her uncle's temple caught on fire and burned, and he was killed in the fire. Fire destroys. Fire is transformational. Fire is generative. Cooking, we cook with fire.
• 6:43
  We fill our bellies every day because of fire. Fire turns sand into glass, turns earth into pottery, forges metal. But the... So the fire here we're doing is forging Buddhas. Earlier this week, heard from the Buddha talking about how we can be skillful with fire like a goldsmith responding to the needs of our practice.
• 7:19
  Sometimes a smith needs to cool off the metal, sometimes the smith adds more wood, more heat is needed, and the Buddha says that this is from time to time. And this was from the Mitha Sutta, the Buddha says, it's like when a goldsmith or a goldsmith's apprentice prepares a forge, fires the crucible, picks up some gold with tongs, and puts it in the crucible. From time to time they fan it, from time to time they sprinkle water on it, and from time to time they just watch over it. If they solely fanned it, the gold would likely be scorched and ruined. And sprinkle water on it to cool it.
• 8:15
  So, is one way that we experience practice. We become more and more familiar with and skillful with the different states of mind and body that we are encountering. The mind becomes dull, so we we see what we can do to brighten it. For example, smiling as you chant the Buddha's name can brighten the mind. Buddha.
• 8:49
  Give it a try. Buddha. Buddha. You might try that as you're practicing, as we're chanting. Or if there's restlessness and energy that be that can be offered into the chant.
• 9:15
  We feel restless, we feel a lot of energy, put it into the chant. Or if the mind is double tracking both the chanting's happening and we're thinking, we add intensity to the breath or chant, even for just three breaths where we focus minutely as a way to bring our mind into intimacy. But again, the Buddha says, from time to time, at this point in Sashin, we may not need to meddle so much in this way. When I was building fires at the monastery in Japan, like I talked about, I would find that the the fire was going really well, big and hot. And then watching it, a small branch or stick might burn through and collapse.
• 10:21
  The fire would kinda kind of slump, look beautiful. Still burning, but it didn't look quite so awesome as it did before. So maybe I should start poking at it. Poking and prodding and trying to move it around so it would be better. And it would not get better.
• 10:53
  It would not. A couple times it just completely collapsed. It went from slumping to complete collapse. One time just into hot coals, just all the flames were gone. And it was just red coals, just like that.
• 11:14
  So rather than my idea of what it should look like, what does the fire actually need? It was actually just fine. What does the fire need? Where are the materials here? Not need to meddle so much.
• 11:32
  So at this point in Sashin, it may be time to simply respond or not, simply be. As we wholeheartedly engage the practice devotedly, breath after breath, we notice that the practice goes from something you are doing to something that is simply happening. We go from practicing to being practiced. There may be points of where that you're being practiced by the Buddha's name. We don't have to apply the Buddha's name, it just emerges.
• 12:18
  We might be walking outside of the Zen Do and then it just comes forward. We don't set the intention, oh, I need to be chanting the Buddha's name while I walk around. It all of a sudden just arises. That's the Buddha's name chanting you. That's you being practiced.
• 12:40
  We go from practicing to being practiced. Zen practice is a crucible for Buddhas. The experience of studying Zen is like hiding your body in fire. Even if you have iron guts and a brass heart, here, here, they will surely melt in flux. Sashin is like a forge, a crucible.
• 13:30
  As we practice, we can become more intimate with the experience, so we go from standing outside of the fire, like the goldsmith, to being fire, being in the fire. Sashin is like a forge, a crucible. A crucible is a vessel for melting metals, casting alloys. And they have to take unusually hot temperatures. They're usually made of porcelain or clay, materials that can withstand extreme heat without melting themselves.
• 14:22
  It's interesting because a crucible of porcelain or clay is itself made by heat. It's made by extreme heat, and then it can withstand extreme heat. Buddhas are forged in fire. The Master Dogen has a fascicle called Gyobutsu igi. Gyobutsu igi.
• 15:09
  Butsu means Buddha. Gyo means go or practice or action. So in this case, it gets translated as active. So Gyobutu gets translated as active Buddhas, Gyobutu Igi, active Buddhas. One of the translators, Teigen Dan Leighton explains that Igi means dignified manner or bearing.
• 15:48
  He says that this fascicle is about learning the dignified manners of practicing or active Buddhas all around us and within us. Active Buddhas manifest dignified presence in every situation. So he translates this as awesome presence. Gyobutsu igi, the awesome presence of active Buddhas. Dogen's writing about the awesome presence of active Buddhas.
• 16:36
  Cultivating the awesome presence because active Buddhas manifest awesome presence in every situation. This dignified... A dignified manner, the awesome presence of active Buddhas. So, what is an active Buddha? What is an active Buddha?
• 17:08
  The Buddhas that Dogen is talking about... That talks about in this fascicle is about you and me and us practicing Buddhas, active Buddhas, practicing waking up. So what does this have to do with fire? Dogen says, Dogen writes in the Gyobutsu Igi, in the awesome presence of active Buddhas, he writes, he quotes two Chinese teachers. He says, Zhui Feng said to the assembly, the Buddhas in the past, present, and future abide in flames and turn the great dharma wheel.
• 18:11
  Buddhas in the past, present, and future abide in flames and turn the great dharma wheel. Another Chinese teacher said in response to this, Shansho says, as flames expound Dharma to all Buddhas, all the Buddhas remain standing and listen. So one says, all the Buddhas in the past, present, and future abide in flames and turn the great Dharma wheel. So again, these Buddhas, Buddhas of past, present, and future, Dogen said that... Dogen would say that we're already Buddhas, you are already a Buddha.
• 18:56
  But even if you don't believe him, you say, not really. That's why I'm practicing so I can become a Buddha. Well, he says, well, if you consider yourself a future Buddha, you're gonna abide... You abide in flames too. Buddhas in the past, present, and future abide in flames and turn the great Dharma wheel.
• 19:24
  The Buddhas he's talking about are the active Buddhas, us, practicing Buddhas. Buddhas in the past, present, and future abide in flames and turn the Dharma wheel. When Dogen quotes Shui Feng saying, Buddhas in the past, present, and future abide in flames and turn the Dharma wheel, he's talking about active Buddhas. Means all... Dogen says, he means all Buddhas.
• 19:53
  Buddhas abide in flames. What are these flames? These aren't some cosmological flames or flames of some other place. These are the flames of grief, the flames of anger, the flames of pain, flames of challenge, desire, all these experiences of being a human being. It's quite natural to think that when I'm experiencing something strongly, like these human experiences of anger or sadness or disappointment, that this is like somehow in the way of my practice.
• 20:45
  But here Dogen is saying, Abiding in flames is not an aberration. There aren't some Buddhas that abide in flames and some that do not. Flames are not a problem to be gotten rid of or to be fixed or escaped, or put out. Flames are where the turning of the Dharma wheel happens, and how we are turned by the Dharma, abiding in flames. Dogen again says, he says it kind of in a different way, the practice place of Buddhas of the past, present, and future is invariably flames.
• 21:42
  Invariably flames. What are the flames? What are your flames that you've experienced? And these flames aren't even necessarily those things that always catch our attention. They don't have to be great and energetic.
• 22:13
  But they can also be a massive conflagration. And he's not just talking about our personal experience. The flames are just this world that we sit in, our world, the world. The practice place of Buddha's is invariably flames. They are flames of war, flames of oppression, the flames of climate disruption, and mass extinction.
• 22:52
  Invariably, Buddhist practice inside flames. The flames of disappointment, of heartbreak, frustration, irritation, anger, the slow burn of depression, the flames of passion, lust, friendship, recognition, knowing and not knowing. They're the flames of change. Buddhas abide in flames, the flames of change, what Rinzai Zen master Hakuen called the black fire of impermanence. Mostly hidden to us, but it's burning up everything.
• 23:45
  Buddhas are in their natural place when they are within flames. Transfer... Because flames are transformative. Being within flames is where we awaken to just this and where we turn the Dharma wheel. The practice place of the Buddhas in the three times turning the Dharma wheel is invariably inside flames.
• 24:22
  Inside flames is always Buddha's place of practice. Always. Always. Inside flames is always Buddha's place of practice. Dogan asked us to consider this question.
• 24:45
  When Buddhas abide in flames, are the flames and Buddhas intimate or are they separate? So when you abide in the flames of your experience, do you regard it intimately or separately? Being an active Buddha, the invitation is to be intimate with the flames. Not even the invitation. And, Dogan says it's our place of practice to be intimate with the flames.
• 25:46
  Flames are the flickering sensations of the felt body in Zazen. They are the in breath and the out breath, the flickering of thoughts. Fire is the life force that moves through the body, the life force that is this body. And where does that come from? What is the source of the fire?
• 26:30
  You have to get very close to see the source. You can't regard the fire as separate and see the source. So flames are the life force moving through this body, the energy in this body, the life force that is more than this body. Where else... And where else could active Buddhas abide?
• 27:16
  Is there any place Buddhas could abide accepted flames? Is there anywhere else that you could practice except in the flickering sensations of the felt body during Zazen? Is there anywhere else you could practice but the in breath and the out breath or the emotions moving through the body, the flames of change, the flames of transformation? So the invitation is to keep sitting in awesome presence. And this isn't something that we have to do differently.
• 28:00
  In a way, Dogan is describing how people have been practicing here, which is sitting in dignity, in awesome presence with things that most people would, like run screaming. So this is not simply aspiration, this is observation of this fitting that's been happening here. And the invitation is to become more and more intimate with it, to say, keep going, be more intimate, don't separate. Flames are the great practice place of all Buddhas turning the Dharma wheel. Where else could the Dharma wheel be turned but in this, in your body, heart, mind, where else could it happen but in the body, heart, mind in this world?
• 29:18
  This world of war and peace, poverty and abundance, extinction and evolution, death and life. Where else could it happen? This, this, this, in breath, out breath. Inside flames is always Buddha's place of practice. So we have this other Chinese master who responded with a different perspective.
• 29:58
  Dogen Dogen says, Shuangsha said in response, as flames expound the Dharma to all the Buddhas in the past, present and future, all the Buddhas remain standing and listen. As flames expound Dharma to all Buddhas in the past, present, and future. All the Buddhas remain standing and listen. So the first master said that Buddhas abide in flames. Here, flames themselves expound dharma.
• 30:43
  Dogen brings in Shuansho's response to deepen our understanding of active Buddhas. Shuang Feng said Buddhas abide in flames, Shuang Sha says that flames expound the Dharma, and Buddha stand and listen. So we're accustomed to thinking of Buddhas as those who expound the Dharma. What does it mean that Buddhas listen? The flames expand the Dharma.
• 31:23
  Whatever our experience can open us to truth, wisdom, compassion, joy, loving kindness. What have you learned already from what you've encountered? In our meetings every day, we hear people explaining, sharing how their flames, what they've learned in the fire. Sometimes it's a nice warm campfire and sometimes it's a great burning. So the fire, this ever flickering luminous experience of just this, the world as it is, the world of heartbreak and change.
• 32:36
  Buddhas listen, Dogen says, wherever the entire sky covers you, there are always blazing flames. Wherever this entire sky covers you, there are always blazing flames. Don't try and look for someplace else where there isn't challenge, there isn't change. So what would it mean to listen to flames as a Buddha? Listen to this entire, listen to this world with your whole body, to be intimate with this moment rather than standing outside of it, trying to understand it or trying to make it different.
• 33:37
  Those who expound the Dharma, Buddhas, and those who listen to Dharma are not separate. So Buddhas listen to the Dharma, listen to flames. Dogon says regarding Buddhas of the three times listen to the dharma, he says, this is not limited to the views of the great or lesser vehicles. Teachers of sutras and treatises only know that Buddhas expound dharma in response to the readiness of those who hear it. But they do not say that the Buddhas listen to the dharma, that Buddhas practice, and that Buddhas accomplish Buddhahood.
• 34:29
  But but Dogen says this, Buddhas do listen to Dharma. Buddhas practice. All Buddhas in the past, present, and future remain standing and listen to the Dharma. He says, This is the quality of the Buddha's listening. To Svensho's statement, that Buddhas listened to the Dharma, stand and listened to the Dharma taught by flames that the statement is just right, beyond just right.
• 35:23
  So we go forward in sashin, breath after breath, sitting in the flames. Flickering experience, great fire of emotion, transformation, the crucible of sashin, sit in the flames, abide in them like all Buddhas do invariably, not trying to escape them, not trying to make them into something else, wholeheartedly engaging the practice, we may begin to notice something, the practice becomes less something we are doing and more something that is simply happening. This is the fire too. We move from practicing to being practiced. We move from poking at a fire to being fire.
• 36:35
  We are being practiced by the Buddha's name, by the breath, by the body, by each other, by the whole world, always. The flames are not outside the practice. They are not outside of Buddhas. They are expounding the Dharma. Can we listen?
• 37:12
  Can we stand and listen? Dogen says, Do not regard the capacity to expound the Dharma as superior and the capacity to listen to the Dharma as inferior. If those who speak are venerable, those who listen are venerable as well. So here we are in the flames practicing, being practiced, expounding Dharma, listening to Dharma. Those who speak are venerable, those who listen are venerable as well.
• 38:03
  Thank you for listening all you venerable Buddhas.
• 38:17
  Jomon: Thank you for listening to the Zen Community of Oregon podcast, and thank you for your practice. New episodes air every week. Please consider making a donation at zendust.org. Your support supports us.