Emmy Yujo Bowser has been sitting with Santa Barbara Zen Center since 2017 and currently serves on our Board of Directors. She received Jukai with Sensei Gary Koan Janka in 2019. She understands Buddhism to be more than an intellectual exercise and practices to continue to experience life with an inquisitive mind and open heart. She is deeply grateful to her teachers and her SBZC sangha.

Full Transcript

Good morning, and good afternoon to the East Coast. Kenco and Emmy. I don't mind gallery view, but you can. I'll leave you in charge of that. It's kind of nice to see everybody. Okay. You can change your view to gallery view but I cannot because then everyone will be visible on the recording and that's a no-no. Super. Okay. Thank you. It's nice to see everybody.

Today I am thankful to be here and I wanted to share some of my questions I had this last year. They revolve around Buddhist ethics. I'm going to share about a class I took at ZCLA called Sangha Sutra. I'll explain a little about that. Then I'd like to explore what Sangha is. I will share my notes of what I've gathered trying to answer that question.

To begin with, ZCLA offered a class called Sangha Sutra last winter. I was curious, not knowing exactly what it was. It turned out to be a look at their history and a lot of their governance. It's very lengthy and there's a lot of information. I'm going to give you a summary of what I learned and what I think is important. They've been restructuring and reorganizing since the 1980s, when a lot of falling apart happened with many organizations.

I'm going to start with their core values, which are part of their reorganizing and restructuring. I'll begin with their mission: "The Zen Center's mission is to provide the training and resources for realizing the oneness of all life, to maintain the precepts, and to embody the three tenets of not knowing, bearing witness, and taking action. We provide the teaching, training, and transmission of Zen Buddhism."

For their foundational values: "We take responsibility for creating a strong foundation to protect the Dharma." Specifically, they list many ways they do this, but I'll share number four: "Nurture close and healthy relationships within the Sangha." They also state: "We will extend ourselves to all others politely and with respect," and "We will act to support one another physically and emotionally, especially in times of need."

Another of their values is Sangha values. I picked out a couple: "Help create a climate of mutual trust and confidence in which all can speak and listen from the heart. Honor diversity and seek collective wisdom."

Their vision, which they also called Buddha vision, is to practice Zazen, maintain the precepts, serve others, and live the truth of interconnectedness.

Core practices include atonement, council (which is working together on a common project), koans, precepts, shared stewardship, study, the three tenets, and Zazen.

Now, I'll discuss a bit about how they organized. Their restructuring includes the center mandala. They chose the mandala because it's a circle of life as they see it, representing the activities of our lives. They use the mandala to keep connected to the big picture and with one another. They see the parts of the circle or mandala as spheres, where every part is part of the whole.

They state: "The practice of shared stewardship is to realize and manifest in our daily functioning this underlying inter-fusion of all aspects of the mandala. All activities required to maintain and run the center are carried out as Zen training." This is their approach to governing.

The circles may arise from any part of the mandala. All circles are led by a steward. They develop from a purpose and core values that are in accord with the center's overall mission. Some circles arise and dissolve. Some become established as key functions or spheres.

There are five spheres: the Buddha sphere, the study sphere, the resource sphere, the relationship sphere, and the service sphere. The Buddha sphere is the spiritual leader, now Roshi Egyoku Nakao, who was instrumental in much of this restructuring.

As an example, the circles within the study sphere include the teacher circle (which includes teachers in training and all Dharma successors), the library, the priest circle, all programs, practice periods, classes, sesshins, introductory programs, and temple functions. Temple functions include the zendo and Buddha hall, the tenzo, and the altar coordinator. The study sphere also includes guest speakers and the quarterly newspaper, the Water Wheel.

Now, let's move on to the ethical guidelines. There are five different documents: the Sangha Sutra document, the Statement of Right Conduct, Conflict Resolution, their grievance procedure, and the Statement of Ethics for Teachers.

A brief history in the Sangha Sutra states that ZCLA was founded in 1967 by Taizan Maezumi. It also notes respectfully that the land was home to the Tongva people for thousands of years. It's been home to many ethnic groups: African Americans, Japanese Americans, European Americans, Hispanic Americans, Vietnamese Americans, and Korean Americans. All have come seeking a better life. The area is now called Koreatown.

What is Sangha? What is the Sangha Sutra? According to ZCLA, a Sangha is formed when three people who have taken refuge in the three treasures practice together. The Buddha is awakened realization, the Dharma the teachings, and the Sangha the community of practitioners, especially those who have taken refuge. Although it's often noted that the emphasis is on individual awakening, today we speak of collective awakening. ZCLA strives to embody a collective awakening. Every facet of ZCLA itself is designed as a skillful means for awakening and living awake together.

The main issues of ethical conduct that they identified and needed to be understood were probably the usual: power, sex, money, and addiction. In addition, fundamental dynamics that everyone needs to understand to help prevent abuse and misconduct include interpersonal dynamics such as triangulation, projection, transference, and counter-transference, spiritual bypassing, being a bystander to misconduct, trauma, the shadow aspects of spiritual practice, and lack of skills such as how to have a difficult conversation.

In 1997, they introduced the practice of council. Egyoku introduced this practice. It's worth noting that the troubles were really in the 1980s, so this was almost 20 years later. It takes time. Some healing circles were created and started in the 90s. In 2010, a teacher's circle began to formulate an ethics statement. In 2015, the HEAR circle (Hearing Ethics and Reconciliation) was established. The members of this HEAR circle worked on the Statement of Right Conduct, their conflict resolution and grievance procedures, and the teacher's ethics statement.

Today, the HEAR circle educates individuals on issues of power abuse, sexual abuse, and also every teacher, priest, priest in training, and senior students. Their goal is for everyone who practices at ZCLA to have training on these issues and the 16 Bodhisattva precepts, and to reflect deeply on their own conduct. Zen training in our community means that each person must commit to knowing themselves on a very deep level.

To conclude the ZCLA ethical guidelines and my notes on their governing, I want to note that they said each Zen Center member will be asked to agree to abide by the Zen Center's ethics policies.

Dogen says, "What is practice? Everywhere, nothing is hidden."

I'd like to turn now to my notes on what is Sangha. In doing so, Thich Nhat Hanh comes up, and he wrote a commentary on what Sangha is. To share some of his words: "A Sangha is a community of practice. The essence of Sangha is awareness, understanding, acceptance, harmony, and love. A Sangha can provide a second chance. The whole cosmos is preaching the Buddha Dharma and practicing the Buddha Dharma."

"First, we have to recognize Dukkha and look deeply into its nature to find a way out. To understand is to find a way out. To understand is to call it by its name, by its true name. Loneliness, not in accord with, not conforming, alienated, cast out." A lot of these sound separate to me. Maybe that was his point.

He also says, "In my tradition, we learn that as individuals, we can't do much. Individualism has its problems. One doesn't take refuge with others. We need Sangha. The Sangha is not a place to hide in order to avoid your responsibilities. It's a space to practice for transformation in the healing of self and society."

"A true Sangha," says Thich Nhat Hanh, "should be like a family in which there is a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood. Where we can stay strong for our brothers and sisters, friends and loved ones, and neighbors. Being strong means being able to embrace the suffering in us and all around us, being able to embrace it with some warmth and softness. This helps us also from letting despair get too overwhelming."

"We need a Sangha for our Bodhicitta, the strong desire to cultivate love and understanding in ourselves." Beautiful and very strong. Then we can share. The Sangha provides us with vitality, like the soil. We are the seeds.

I also came across some work by Bhikkhu Bodhi. He has an article from the beginning of the year in Lion's Roar called "The Whole Path is Ethics." The Eightfold Path, or the way to the cessation of suffering, as Buddha called it, are the eight factors that precisely lead to the end of suffering. They are divided into three sections corresponding to the three phases of Buddha's trainings.

The first two, right view and right intention, are assigned to the wisdom group. Right speech, right action, right livelihood to the ethical group. And right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration to the concentration group.

The right view distinguishes between the wholesome and the unwholesome. The wholesome consists of good actions arising from non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion. The unwholesome consists of bad actions rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion. The eight factors in all of the Eightfold Path are designed for goodwill and wholesome actions.

We can see that right intention arises from right view. Right intention is goodwill, non-harming, opposed to the selfish view of craving or too much craving, harming, or developing harmful habits or ways. We also know and can reflect that right intention serves as motivation for right speech, right action, and right livelihood.

The Eightfold Path of moral discipline is a guide for upright conduct, to be upright and forthright and to keep our feet planted or grounded in the middle. Bhikkhu says there's an ethical dimension in moral discipline, which is the basis for training in meditation. Meditation is a process of gradual mental purification, of restraining and eliminating mental defilements, so moral conflicts and meditative practice are intricately interwoven, strengthening each other.

Early Buddhism sees the arhat as a model of ethical propriety. Arhats no longer have to walk the path but remain intrinsically endowed with the eight factors. So what remains, you might ask? Intrinsically endowed with the eight factors and everything as it arises. This is liberating, I think.

Ethical conduct prevents the defilements from erupting in verbal and bodily actions and rattling the mind and clouding the capacity for clear recognition, for clear cognition. With defilements cut off at the root, the door to nirvana swings wide open. So that is the case for the Eightfold Path, which is another name. Or I do believe that ethics is the heart of our practice. Thank you, Bhikkhu.

I can't help but mention a little bit of Katagiri. He gave us so much during his book study. He does talk about total dynamic activity. I'm going to read a little bit of what he says because I can't help it. "Your life is moving with the whole universe," he says. "When you see this energy in terms of your own life, it's called individual effort. Before that, it has no name. It's the dynamism. If we give a name to it, this movement of life is called great effort or universal effort. Universal effort is there first, and then it appears in various aspects of your life as your individual effort. We use the terms individual effort and universal effort. But actually, there is no gap between them. You take care of universal effort by your individual effort."

And a few comments on what he thinks about precepts. The name of this part of the chapter is "The Deep Meaning of Precepts." So it gives you an idea of what he talks about, which is really lovely. Here's my take on his chapter: In the big scale of life, precept is the activity of the whole universe, which naturally ripens a tree's life, a person's life, and the life of all sentient beings.

This is the most important meaning of precepts. You can use Buddha's precepts as a practical guide for how to take care of human life on the small scale. But first, accept the precepts as the manifestation of the whole universe. Accept the precepts as the life of mountains, sky, and all sentient beings and make them alive as your own.

He goes on to talk a little bit about Sangha. And of course, Sangha was developed years ago to be a peaceful place where they were able to demonstrate to human society a way of living in harmony with others. And although we may strive for that still, of course, conflict does arise. And I wanted to read you his take on how to meet with conflict.

For instance, if you see something lacking from someone in the Sangha and find it is necessary to give a correction, don't bark at them. Instead of giving harsh words, give your hand. Just walk with that person, sharing your good aspects, not expressing criticism. Instead of saying your work is clueless or your work is careless, offer your hand as if they were stumbling on a rock.

To end with Katagiri, he says, "Your understanding of precept is not a matter of intellectual teaching. It is a matter of direct experience. The universe is going in a certain system and rhythm. It's not random. When that rhythm is alive in human life, it is called the precepts." Thank you, Katagiri.

I would like to end with Norman Fisher because he wrote an article called "Life is Tough. Here are six ways to deal with it." You may know the old saying, "the whole world is upside down." It was new to me. I wanted to let you know that this is a story to illustrate this.

Once there was a Zen master who was called the Bird's Nest Roshi because he meditated in an eagle's nest high up at the top of a tree. It is said that once the Song Dynasty poet Xu Shi, who was also a government official, went to visit. Standing on the ground far below the meditating master called up and asked him what possessed him to live in such a dangerous manner. The Roshi answered, "You call this dangerous? What you are doing is far more dangerous. Living normally in the world, ignoring death, impermanence and loss and suffering as we all routinely do as if we were normal and safe as if it was a normal and safe way to live. Actually, much more dangerous than going out on the limb to meditate."

And another way of saying that is that the conventional way to view the world is pretty much opposite of the way the world actually is. So sometimes we try to avoid difficulties and pain. So while trying to avoid painful situations may be natural and understandable at times, it actually doesn't work. As we know, our self protection or attempts for self preservation or protection can often cause deeper pain.

So Norman Fisher points out here are six mind training Lojong slogans to help us:

1. Turn all mishaps into the path.

2. Drive all blames into one.

3. Be grateful to everyone.

4. See confusion as Buddha and practice emptiness.

5. Do good, avoid evil, appreciate your lunacy and pray for help.

6. Whatever you meet is the path.

I'd just like to comment on a couple of them. For instance, turn all mishaps into the path. Mishaps may require patience and not everything is as it seems. Our egos may be hurt. We may experience suffering or so we think. But hold on and have patience. So patience is our friend here because you will soon discover impermanence. We also have the gift to notice. Or as human beings, we have the ability to watch ourselves. So here is our Zazen. Here is our practice.

Here is a quote from Norman: "Be fiercely present with uncomfortable emotions, understanding that they are natural in these circumstances." Whatever the circumstances might be.

And number six, whatever you meet is the path. Whatever it is, if it's hard, if it's soft, if it's good, if it's bad, if it's unpleasant, if it's right or wrong, if it's this or that, that this is just what you think. It's not what's going on. Everything is practice. Just keep going, as Cohen would say. Once you begin practice, you always keep going because everything is practice. It's impossible to be lost. You are constantly found. You are constantly being found, being lost, being found. No matter what's going on, no matter how distracted you may be or how low you may feel, whatever you meet is the path.

Thank you, Norman Fisher, and thank you, everyone. I hope it wasn't too wordy. Thank you for letting me share.