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Patience and Timeless Dharma - Chozen, Roshi · 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.
• 0:22
  Chozen: I'm serious about smiling. Smiling when you are meditating. It changes the whole feeling tone. Once Hogan told one of our students to grin like an idiot through the whole session, and he did. Every time you look at him, he'd just be grinning away.
• 0:42
  Had a great session. So we've been looking at various aspects of Jiso Bodhisattva. Jiso has vowed not to enter nirvana until all the hells are emptied out. And we call that the vow without a wristwatch, without a quota for the day or the month or the year. So I'm going to read you a bedtime story.
• 1:23
  I had planned to read it before the end of the evening sitting, but because we have a number of silver dragons silver and golden and platinum dragons here who want to go to bed early, I will read you this as your bedtime story and everyone else hopefully will enjoy it. This is called The Jizo Who Sat Still. And remember on the first night, I think, I mentioned that twenty years ago, over twenty years ago, I wrote a book for children on Jizo Bodhisattva using classic Japanese folk tales about Jizo. And they're organized by the six Paramitas, so there are six stories. And I'm going to read you my favorite one.
• 2:19
  Once upon a time in old Japan, near the temple of Ojizo sama, there lived a girl who was very impatient. Everywhere she went, she ran instead of walking, and so her family called her Little Rabbit. Every week when her family went to the temple where Ojeezusama lived, Little Rabbit thought that they walked much too slowly, especially her elderly, bent in half grandparents. She ran ahead of everyone, jumping over rocks, skipping forwards, backwards, and around in circles. When she arrived at the temple, she would sit on the cool gray stone steps to wait for her family to catch up.
• 3:06
  Although her mother loved her, she sometimes had to caution her daughter, My swift little rabbit, look at what has happened because of your hurry. You have broken the thong on your favorite Zori sandals, and you've lost the new red silk scarf from your hair. You miss the story that your grandmother, Obhacan, told about the funny things that happened when she was a girl just your age. Haste makes waste, little rabbit. Why don't you pray to O Jesus Sama to give you patience?
• 3:42
  The little girl went into the temple and stood in front of the statue of Jizo. She knew that Jizo was a special protector and guardian for children. She put her palms together in Gosho and prayed to Jizo for patience. But patience did not come. In the winter, when her family had dinner, they gathered around the kotatsu, a low table with a heater underneath that kept their legs warm.
• 4:11
  It was a cozy and relaxed time, but Little Rabbit was eager to go outside again to play in the snow. She ate her rice, miso soup, and tea quickly and often spilled the soup or burned her tongue on the hot tea. Her mother chided her, My swift little rabbit, look at what has happened because of your hurry. Now you have a spot on your good kimono and a painful tongue. You always miss the stories that grandfather Obasan tells after dinner about the mischief he got into when he was a boy.
• 4:46
  Haste makes waste, little rabbit. Why don't you pray to Ojizo sama to give you patience? The little girl went to the temple, pressed her hands together in Gosho, and prayed to Jizo for patience. But patience did not come. In the evening, little rabbit was impatient for day to end and night to come, so she could get into her warm futon bed.
• 5:13
  But when she was in bed at last, listening to the mice scratching and scurrying in the thick thatched roof above her head, she began to think about games she could play the next day. Then she became impatient for night to end and day to come again. When she played games with her little brother, she became cross and told him to hurry and take his turn. I don't like to play with you, elder sister. You are always in a rush.
• 5:43
  Why don't you pray to Ojis Osama to give you patience? He said. Little Rabbit felt sad that her brother did not want to play with her. Back she ran to the temple again. She put her hands together in Gosho and prayed to Jizo for patience.
• 6:00
  But patience did not come. The 20 was a special day at the temple. It was the festival for Jizo, called Jizobon. The temple was decorated with large red and white lanterns. Each family bought a lantern, painted their names on it in black ink, put a candle inside, and hung it outside the temple.
• 6:28
  Little Rabbit loved to see the lanterns glowing softly in the night. She asked her father if she could help prepare their lantern. He told her that if she were careful, she could make the black ink that he would use to paint their name. I will be very patient, she thought, as she rubbed the block of ink in the little pool of water on the special ink stone. Her father smiled at her as he saturated the brush with the velvety ink and began to draw large characters on the pretty lantern.
• 7:03
  Jizo is giving you patience, little Robert, her father said. When the lantern was finished and drying, the little girl hurried to the kitchen to help her mother. I'm very busy, little rabbit. You can help me by ironing your brother's kimono. The iron is heating on the stove, but be careful, for it is very hot.
• 7:24
  Let it cool a bit before you use it. Little rabbit tried to wait, but impatience overcame her and she pulled the iron off the stove. Ouch! She had burned her hand. Her mother wiped away her tears and helped her put herbal ointment on the burn, saying, My speedy little rabbit, see what suffering comes from not being patient.
• 7:50
  Why don't you pray to Jiso to help me find patience? The little girl finished, and off she ran to the temple. As she ran through the temple gate, she saw the old gardener raking leaves. He called to her, Stop, little Robert. I see you come here every day to pray to Jizo.
• 8:11
  What are you asking for that Honorable Jizo hasn't granted? I'm praying that Jizo will give me patience, she answered. Why, no one, not even Jiso Sama, can give you patience, the old man exclaimed. You must learn patience. How can I do that?
• 8:33
  The girl asked. Jiso can teach you. This Jiso must be very patient because he has been sitting in this temple for more than one hundred years, and he hasn't moved at all, the gardener said and went back to raking. Raking the sandy ground in a pattern like the waves on the ocean. Puzzled, the girl climbed the smooth stone steps of the shrine where Jizo lived.
• 9:04
  She stood in front of Jizo and put her hands together in Garsho. Dear Jizo Sama, please teach me patience, she asked. She looked hard at Jizo's stone face. He seemed to nod his head ever so slowly, just a tiny bit. Oh, thank you, Jiso sama, for agreeing to be my teacher.
• 9:30
  Little Rabbit knew from school that the best way to learn was to imitate what the teacher did. This statue was sitting down, so Little Rabbit sat down on the wooden platform beside him. The Gizo statue was very still, so Little Rabbit tried to sit very still, as still as if she were made of stone. It was hard at first because her nose itched, her stomach made funny noises, and her legs wanted to run away. Sound familiar?
• 10:04
  But little Rabbit was determined to learn patience from Jizo. Each day she came to sit without moving, just as Jizo did. She tried to watch everything with the calm, steady eyes of Jizo, to hear everything with Jizo's open ears, and to feel everything with his quiet body. During the hot summer days, Little Rabbit and the patient Jizo watched the sunbeams move slowly across the floor. They listened to the crow's call and the cicada's whirring song.
• 10:43
  In the fall, they felt the cool breeze touch their cheeks and watched as maple leaves turned from green to orange and red, and finally fell and drifted to the ground. As the days grew shorter, they sat in the dark and listened to the rain as it splashed down the chains that hung from the temple eaves. In the winter they saw snowflakes tumbling down from the pale sky and heard the subtle whispering of their soft falling. In the spring they watched as cherry blossoms opened slowly in the warming sun. When the priest chanted, they watched the incense smoke slowly climb to curl and swirl under the roof beams.
• 11:34
  When Little Rabbit sat very still, she discovered many wonderful things that she had missed when she was in such a hurry. She heard the squeaking sound of bamboo growing on a summer night. That actually happens. I've heard it. She saw a baby rabbit who was unafraid because it thought she was a statue as it crept out of the forest to nibble on tender, new grass.
• 12:03
  She peeled the tangerine very slowly and offered half to Jizo. She saw tiny oil drops spray from the peel and tasted the sweet and sour of each segment. As she learned patience in the temple, she became more patient at home. She rarely broke things or burned herself anymore. She enjoyed playing games with her slowpoke brother and sitting at her grandmother's knee to hear stories of old Japan.
• 12:38
  Her grandmother was pleased and said, Old age comes soon enough by itself. I am happy to see that you are learning to enjoy every moment of your life. You have learned that patience lives within you. No one outside of you can give it to you. You are growing it from the stillness that has always been inside of you.
• 13:03
  Her mother said, Little Rabbit, I am proud of you. You have studied hard and discovered many things as you learned patience. Your patience is a gift to our whole family, but your speed is also a gift. Just now I need your swift legs to run to the store and bring me some tea in time for dinner. Little Rabbit disappeared in the flesh, returning with tea just as her mother was calling everyone to come and eat.
• 13:32
  Her little brother asked if he could go to the temple and sit with Jizo too. Each week, Little Rabbit and her brother sat with Jizo and learned more about the happiness that patience can bring. When dinnertime came, they pressed their palms together in Gosho to thank Ojizo Sama for teaching them so well. Then they jumped up, running and hopping all the way home as fast as little rabbits can. So I'm not sure if people read bedtime stories to children anymore, but I know some parents do.
• 14:18
  And this made me recall when Hogan and I went down to Ashland to visit with our son there and our grandson. Our grandson was about three. And we came in fairly late at night and the grandson, Vajra, was already asleep. And so next morning, we're sleeping, Hogan and I are sleeping upstairs in a kind of attic room under the eaves. And it's about maybe 05:30 in the morning, and this little head peeks over to the side of the bed and says, Nana?
• 14:59
  Vajra, Are you awake? I was sleeping, but now I'm awake. Did you bring you his iPad? No, Vaishra, which was actually a lie. We didn't bring our iPad.
• 15:21
  So I know from watching my grandchildren grow up that if there's an iPad around they'll find it. It could be you could hide it really, really well and they'll find it. So this is one of the six stories about Jisob Bodhisattva. It's my favorite because patience is my most important lesson in this lifetime. Maybe each of us has one major lesson in a lifetime, I don't know, but I think mine has been patience.
• 16:04
  What do you think yours might be? I was talking to that same grandson a couple of years ago when he was 13, and he was impatient. I think we were going to go out and go to a restaurant and have pizza or something. And he was impatient. And I told him that I used to be very impatient, and then I had watched my mind and I noticed impatience arising.
• 16:38
  So I decided to investigate impatience. And I realized that it's the desire to move on to the next thing. So if you're sitting before lunch in the Zen Do, you might become impatient for the bell to ring and the period. Has that ever happened to you? You want to move on to the next thing in life, to lunch.
• 17:03
  Then during orochi, you might become impatient with people who eat more slowly than you do. The mind says, too slowly, T O O. These are all things to examine. Why do you become impatient with people who eat more slowly than you do? Because you want to move on to lunch wash up?
• 17:24
  And you want to get that over so you can lie down and take a short nap? And you want to get that over so you can go look at the flowers in the garden before the next sitting period starts? I told my grandson that what I had realized in pondering this chain of, Let's get this over because I'm in a hurry to get on to the next thing. I looked at what is at the end of that. What am I in a hurry to get to?
• 17:50
  So maybe I was in a hurry to be 16 so I could drive. Relating it to him, maybe you're in a hurry to be 16 so you can drive, which he was. And then maybe you're going to be in a hurry to graduate so you can go to college. And then you're in a hurry to graduate from college and get a job and find my soul mate and get married. But where does this end?
• 18:18
  I said, you know, I looked at it and I just kept moving forward and forward through life. Being in a hurry, where does it end? Oh, I'm in a hurry to die. Do I really want to rush towards death? My grandson looked very thoughtful and he said, Wow, Nana, that's deep.
• 18:44
  Oh great, I'm deep. When we were young and smitten by Zen practice, when the three main Japanese teachers came, Soto Zen teachers came to The U. S. Of Maizumi Roshi and Susan Kei Roshi in San Francisco Zen Center and Kagiri Roshi in Minnesota. All of us young people joining and jumping in I say we jumped in feet first without looking to see if there was water in the swimming pool.
• 19:20
  And we all thought we'd be enlightened in a year. Even when Shoto Horataroshi, my second teacher, was ordained, he thought he would be enlightened by the end of Rohatsu's sashin at the end of the year in December, which is the most important sashin of the year. When that didn't happen, he got annoyed and left the monastery for a while. And he was up in the mountains meditating up in the mountains. And then some hikers came along and encountered him and talked to him a little bit, and they said, Oh, you're so fortunate.
• 19:59
  Know, our lives are so busy. We can almost never go to the temple and meditate. And that was like opened his heart, his eyes in his heart. And he went straight back to the monastery and practiced. And after about two or three years after he became ordained, he had his first opening.
• 20:26
  I've learned that the dharma has a pace of its own. Certain things have to be cleared away, which will happen if we keep on practicing. Ultimately, the dharma is timeless, boundless and timeless. When it operates in the realm of time, it has a pace of its own, and I've learned mostly to respect that. I try to remember always to respect that.
• 21:04
  So sometimes things will come up and I have to make a decision about going someplace to get the airplane to get and just like squeezed. And I just say, Relax. Relax. This will take care of itself. And it always does.
• 21:22
  Something happens, someone has to cancel something or someone will take me there. It's amazing how, if I get out of the way, the flow of dharma takes care of things. The dharma is timeless. This afternoon I saw many of you entering the realm of the timeless as you worked on your Giza altars. We all have glimpses of that timeless realm.
• 22:08
  So I think often it happens here when people sit outside and watch the sunset. Or maybe on a really starry night, if you're in a place where you can see the Milky Way, you look up and this happened to me when I was about 14. And suddenly the universe just opens up and you realize you're this tiny speck that's going to exist for one millisecond in this whole universe. The dharma is timeless and when we enter that timelessness, dharma gates can open and insights can arise spontaneously. So I have a vow to recognize and work with impatience and find the best ways to convert it into practice, Like waiting in line.
• 23:09
  Waiting in line is a chance to practice loving kindness, a chance to practice listening to sounds, a chance to anchor my awareness in the great earth beneath my feet. The Buddha taught his own son, Rahula, Rahula meditates like the earth. So we can just stop, let our awareness drain into our feet, become aware of our feet, become aware of the huge earth beneath our feet. And the Buddha said, The earth absorbs everything that is cast upon it water, urine, pus, blood, sweet tea, is absorbed without complaint and put to use. A chance to be truly present, that's what the Sheen offers us.
• 24:10
  A chance to be truly present, if only for short times. And then those shorter times short times become longer times, a chance to enter the realm of the timeless. And once we learn to enter the realm of the timeless, then it's accessible anytime. So then our life becomes not just timed, but timeless simultaneously. And we can move between those realms as needed.
• 24:52
  But the baseline, the ever flowing deep river of Prajnaparamita, is timeless. So please, sit, continue to sit earnestly during this sashim. And be alert to times when you enter the timeless. Thank you.
• 25:32
  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.