Santa Barbara Zen Center is proud to present Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara's Dharma Talk.

Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, PhD, is the Abbot of The Village Zendo in downtown Manhattan. A Soto Zen priest and contemporary American teacher, she integrates traditional meditation and koan practice with social engagement and peacemaking. A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, she taught for many years at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, centering on new media technologies and social justice. Roshi O’Hara’s writing has appeared in Tricyle, Turning Wheel, Shambhala Sun, Buddhadharma and other Buddhist journals. She is the author of Most Intimate, A Zen Approach to Life’s Challenges, A Winter Sesshin: Ten Talks on the Heart Sutra and A Little Bit of Zen.

Full Transcript

Okay. All right. Thanks everybody for being here. As you can see, we're having kind of a combo of our Santa Barbara Zen Center and Jikoji, the Jikoji group up in Northern California. So it's a nice gathering. We'd like to welcome, so happy to have Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara here with us today.

Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara, PhD is the abbot of the Village Zendo in downtown Manhattan. A Soto Zen priest and contemporary American teacher, she integrates traditional meditation and koan practice with social engagement and peacemaking. A founding teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, she taught for many years at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, centering on new media technologies and social justice. Roshi O'Hara's writing has appeared in Tricycle, Turning Wheel, Shambhala Sun, Buddha Dharma, and other Buddhist journals. She is the author of Most Intimate, A Zen Approach to Life's Challenges, A Winter Sesshin, Ten Talks on the Heart Sutra, and A Little Bit of Zen.

And so now we'll do the gatha on opening the sutra and welcome Pat Enkyo O'Hara. Thank you.

Pat Enkyo is rarely heard even in millions of ages. Now we see it, hear it, receive and maintain it. May we completely realize Tathagata's teaching.

Thank you all for being here today. You can hear me okay? Yes, thank you. So I'm in Santa Barbara. How marvelous. I recognize a few people here. I recognize Kenko and Jo A. Lovely to see you. Yeah, thank you for inviting me today. Juteki, who originally invited me last spring, is visiting family in Bulgaria. But I thought I'll still come.

You know, it's amazing. I checked the weather this morning, where you are and where I am, and we're in the same kind of temperature range. It's a lovely blessing for us. We've recovered from our flood and I suppose we're recovering from the various fires and problems that you're having in Santa Barbara, all of California or in the West. And here we are in the land of the Algonquin peoples and you are in the ancient land of the Chumash. So that's time travel. And we're both facing the realities of these times. The plague of COVID, the plague of anger and distrust in this country, the plague of climate change in this planet, this planet that we share with so many, all who have very different ideas about the way things should be and the state of the world.

And I have to confess that it's very challenging for me not to want to climb up on top of a mountain and preach the correct way, the correct attitude to have on vaccines, on masks, on the distribution of wealth and the exploitation of the earth. But the likelihood is that I would probably alienate as many as I might convert. Convert to my way of understanding what's happening. What is the best way to truly serve the wellbeing of the world? I can offer my resources, my energy, my skills to work toward the goals that I see. But there is something else that I realize that must be done on my part. It is to recognize the value of everyone and not demonize those who oppose my views. Not angrily condemn those who don't wear masks, those who don't vaccinate, those who are celebrating the recent law in Texas, those who contribute unknowingly to the abuse of the planet. It is not easy.

As Monica mentioned at the beginning, I taught new media for 30 years and always thinking that the new media was going to save the world. With more communication, everything was going to change and everyone would be enlightened. Now what we see in the public sphere is hatred and anger, just elevated. I notice that my own temperament is at risk when I'm on Twitter, when I'm on Instagram, when I'm moving around the various places where there's wonderful wellsprings of knowledge and important information and at the same time triggering information. How can I work with my own personal reactivity there?

When I thought of what to talk about today, I wanted to offer some kind of healing, some kind of way we might find to manage what comes up. In the early days of COVID, I found myself really wanting to lecture absolutely everyone I passed on the street on my daily walks. Why am I the school monitor for the world? The anger, that would arise up.

There's this little known bodhisattva that always has inspired me. He's in the Lotus Sutra. When I'm in need of help for my attitude, I like to go to this bodhisattva. When I want to yell, wear a mask, don't be stupid, get a vaccine, draw down. Cut back on pollution. Then I think of this bodhisattva never disparaging. I don't know if you've heard of him or her before. We don't really know the gender of so many of these bodhisattvas. I think we all just slide into the one that's most comfortable for us.

The chapter in the Lotus Sutra, the 20th chapter, begins with the Buddha telling the story about a previous time when particularly the Buddhists, and particularly the ordained sangha, but also the Buddhist lay people, were exceedingly arrogant and haughty. At that time there arose a bodhisattva by the name of Bodhisattva Never Disparaging. He didn't look like a bodhisattva because he wasn't a teacher, he wasn't an academic, he didn't study the sutras or serve in any kind of obvious way. He simply bowed to everyone that he met. He said, I won't disparage you because you someday will attain Buddhahood.

So these rather haughty, elegantly-gowned priests and nuns and various lay people were very angry with him because of what he said. Who are you to tell me I will attain Buddhahood? Who are you? And he was always disparaged. And so much so that it says in the Sutra that the people would throw rocks and sticks at him and yell and he would run off and stand at a distance and say, yeah, I will never disparage you because you someday will attain Buddhahood. And they say that, you know, in the Sutra that says he was never appreciated in his lifetime, but he personally rejoiced in revering and honoring those people he encountered, in seeing that inherently, inherently they too had the possibility of awakening, of attaining Buddhahood.

So, you know, through the years, we don't know when the Lotus Sutra was written. Was it written in the first century, the second century? But throughout the history of Buddhism, this individual, this Bodhisattva inspired people. Such a simple and direct appreciation of the other inspires me. I live in a city where there's a lot of anonymous seeing of people. It's not going to look, I don't see people every day that I know. I see people every day that I don't know all the time. It gives me an opportunity to be present, to disparage or not disparage, to acknowledge the Buddhahood.

I mean, I live a block from Washington Square Park and I don't want to tell you what goes on over there, but it can be crazy and sad and heartwarming and brokenhearted all together. And to be able to really take the essence of what this Bodhisattva is offering me can be a great relief. It is beautiful. He inspired so many people that one of my favorite poets from the 12th century in Japan wrote this about him. This is middle captain Yoshitsune. He wrote, before they realized you didn't need to cross, we're helping others to cross. Did they think you crossed it alone, the ocean of suffering?

He didn't need to cross because he was already there. He was helping others to cross, using his life as a path for others. Living his life, he modeled. For me today, all these years later, how to cross alone? The ocean of suffering that we're all implicated in. Did they think you crossed it alone, the ocean of suffering?

It's so easy for us to be triggered by the angry rhetoric around us. More disease, more poverty, more this and that going on, and more opportunity to hear about it. I took a long walk this morning listening on my iPods to very angry commentators from my point of view. It's a lovely way to get energized for a Dharma talk. When I open my email, there's so much hatred in this country. So much suffering. It's me. I wonder about how these crazy humans that we are, how our inability to tolerate the suffering that life is.

Just the other day, I was watching a moth circling around this tree, this plant. The sparrow was circling with the moth. For a moment, it looked like this really beautiful dance. But it was a dance of violence, of course. I mean, the sparrow didn't have a nice dinner of this beautiful white moth.

There's a story of Dongchon, the great 9th century's anteacher. It's said that one time he was washing his bowls and he saw two birds fighting over a frog. A monk said, why does he come to that? And the master replied, it's only for your benefit, Hachari. It's only for your benefit. How is it for our benefit? How do we even benefit from the suffering in the world? If we can witness, if we can actually pay attention and witness, we open our hearts to the reality, just as it is, not in denial. And then we may find some small way to alleviate the suffering that's right in front of us.

So as I was trying to think of what to talk about today, I was working at my computer and I live on the 10th floor of retired faculty housing, so it's a lot of people. And there was a lot of noise coming in the window. And so I put on my headset and started listening to Hazel Scott. I don't know if you're familiar with her, she's a wonderful African American jazz pianist. And I thought about her, she had a great career and then it was destroyed by the McCarthy hearings because she was from the left. She had to face racism when she was on concert tour before that happened. Of course, she lost her opportunities. But her music, her music was so powerful. But her music continued. And she played classical and jazz and bebop. I mean, she was wonderful. But it's as if when you listen to her music, you can see that her heart and mind couldn't be held down by the violence of the time she lived in. But rather, she was able to open her heart and compose and play music with joy and aliveness.

I see that as the spirit of the Bodhisattva never disparaging. It's a form of bowing and saying, I will not disparage life. This is tough. And I thought of all the musicians and artists who have done the same. And I think of members of my Sangha here in New York ride their bikes during protests to protect the other protesters. I think of our prison teams, both those that go into prisons and sit with the prisoners and those who stay home and write letters all across the country, the prisoners. I think of the team that works with veterans. And I think of those of us who simply, you know, try to meet difference on the street that we walk on, to try to bow like that wonderful Bodhisattva, to recognize that inherent Buddha nature. And I think of the people who are in the prison, who sit meditation, you know, like the lotus sitting in the burning fire, know that we can't escape from the world, but we can come closer to it. And find a way that is not overwhelming.

A few years ago, I led a series of workshops on the Paramitas. And I remember I met one on the Paramita of tolerance or patience. And we explored what we couldn't tolerate. So I asked people to write down things that they could not tolerate. And what first struck me was that there was enormous energy in the room suddenly, you know, people were just sitting there and then I worked down what it is you can't tolerate. That was great. But what people found were that they were listing things that they didn't like. Or that irritated them. But in fact, that they did tolerate things like a spouse that snores, right? Or the idea of loss or climate change. Injustice. Depression.

Funny that listing the ideas of what we couldn't tolerate showed us that we do tolerate them. To tolerate is to endure. Be able to allow something that we don't like to continue to exist. When we're ill, we tolerate our illness. We have no choice there. I've heard people say I can't tolerate the idea of being old or sick or alone. But actually, you know, calling that into the moment by even calling it brings it there. Creates that quality of mental suffering. So we have to ask yourself, well, what about tolerating injustice, poverty? To tolerate is not to turn away, but it is to face what's here. To tolerate is to let it in. Once we let it in, we care. Once we care, the next step is automatically action. It just follows. Like autumn follows summer.

Once we turn our way and looking at what is happening, we're just called to act. When we see our community being destroyed by the effects of climate change, we find alternatives. This morning, I saw a disturbed person on the street and I resolved on Tuesday after Labor Day to make another call and to find out what's happening with our mental health services in a particular borough that I live in. Because we used to have teams that went out when people were in need. It seems to have just called my attention today. So just observing and then finding out, well, how can I serve? What can I just make some kind of change here?

At a, you know, we had a vigil about a month ago. And at that vigil, I recognized someone, a man that I hadn't seen since the early 90s. We were arrested together in Albany during the Abe's times. And I asked him what he was doing and he has dedicated his life to working with labor unions in New York City on structural issues, having to do with labor. He's a very gentle and kind man. And I saw him as like, you know, just like Bodhisattva, never disparaging. He serves and he helps people to cross over. And I couldn't think that he crossed over alone. I can't think that any of us ever do, even though our work may be simple, may be unappreciated, unnoticed, and yet each effort that we offer is a way to make a difference. And like that Bodhisattva that goes around and says, you know, I don't disparage you. I'm just doing my humble work. It makes a difference.

This man that I saw, you know, he's made a huge difference in very small parts of the labor issues that we have in this city. He may not be recognized as a Bodhisattva, but he acts like one. So I encourage all of us to recognize whenever there's just the slightest opportunity to act as a Bodhisattva. Let's step up. Let's do that. He was bowing to the arrogant and selfish, but he was also bowing to the Buddha in all of those people. The Buddha is always ready to appear if we just wake up.

So I hope this message wasn't too preachy today. I guess I'm feeling, it's Sunday, I'm feeling preachy. And also it had to do with my early morning walk, but it's wonderful to speak to you all.