This is Sunday, June 23 2024. And first I want to welcome all the folks who participated in yesterday's workshop. I'll never forget my first workshop was more than 20 years ago. And then coming to the Sunday morning sitting the very next day. I was, I still remember being just blown away by the energy in the Zendo. In the chanting
all these different voices transforming into one voice. It's still amazes me today
this teisho is going to be about other ism, which is sometimes used as a verb, as in othering. And it's a big topic. A topic of global proportions, literally. So I'll probably barely scratch the surface of it. So first, what what is it what what is other ism, one can turn to lots of scholarly definitions, specially from the social sciences and humanities. But I don't want to look at it from an academic perspective. I want to look at it from the vantage point of Zen practice. And not just doing Zen, but integrating it into our daily lives. Bringing a mind that is clear and stable in awareness, into our relationships with others, and all that we do. We form all kinds of relationships, not just with other people. But with animals, trees, food, money, all kinds of objects. But for this teisho, I'm going to focus on our relationships with other people. And not just the family and friends and co workers that we've come to know on a first name basis. But all the individuals we come upon and interact with even if it's just momentary without knowing their name or anything else about them
the people that you run into in the grocery store at the post office while you're sitting at a red light at the intersection
in educational and healthcare settings, and also on social media, just imagine any situation any scenario where you come upon another human being. And it could be as ordinary as passing someone well walking down the street or through a parking lot. We have so many random interactions with others and without even saying a word without even having an any intention to communicate something just by our body language alone. Our eye contact or gestures, facial expression or body Faster, we're communicating. And we're making what we could call micro connections. We're forming micro relationships. And we do this, both consciously and unconsciously can be the smallest, tiniest of connections, just making eye contact. Or not looking away could be a smile, or grimace. Or just sharing a space as we are right now, in the Zendo. Even sharing the planet we don't tend to view these kinds of interactions as a relationship, certainly not in the ordinary sense, but they are everything and every one is interrelated. We cannot not be interdependent, self and other subject and object. They're not to.
This morning we chanted master Hakuin is Chan in praise of Zen. And the last line is, and this very body is the body of Buddha. That line isn't just referring to our, our physical body, that which is encased by our skin. But the whole body, a much larger body. It's our Inter being with the whole of life. It's our true nature as it is in this very moment.
Tick not Han, who's a very well known Vietnamese Buddhist teacher and author uses a blank piece of paper to illustrate this inter beam. And it's from his book pieces every step. Here's what he says. If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain. Without Rain, the trees cannot grow. And without trees, we cannot make paper, the cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. interbeing is a word that is not in the dictionary yet. But if we combine the prefix inter with the verb to be, we have a new verb, inter B. Without a cloud, we cannot have paper. So, we can say that the cloud and the sheet of paper inter are if we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper, the paper and the sunshine inter are and if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper and we see the wheat. We know that the logger cannot exist without his daily bread. And therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. And the loggers father and mother are in it to win we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, the sheet of paper cannot exist
we can come up with lots of other examples are metaphors that point to this vastness, this interconnectivity of all of life
imagine you're on the top of, say the world's tallest skyscraper, looking down you can kind of make out features
can see what sort of looks like people cars, can see the intersection, different colors, text textures. There are distinguishing distinguishing features. Yet at the same time when gazing at it from above, it all blends together
you can tell where one thing ends, and another thing begins. So why then is it so difficult for us to see that no thing and no one is apart from us? Nor from anyone or anything else?
Why is it so difficult to see that those whom we look upon as others, whether it's the person sitting next to you, or anyone else you come upon, is ultimately not other. We do have differences. We don't look speak or act alike. We have different backgrounds, interests, abilities. Each one of us has distinguishing features. And that's one aspect of our true nature. But it's not the only one. There's another aspect that's harder to see, but not impossible. And that's that's the absolute, there's little relative and the absolute. The absolute reveals to us that ultimately, there's just this one.
But the good news is that we don't need to wait until full enlightenment to actualize this teaching. Just having a regular sitting practice, just in that we can start to open up to what's right here in plain sight
simply by doing what we've been doing this morning during Zen this practice of counting or returning to the breath or working on a koan or shikantaza, whatever it is, just by doing that regularly, we can open up now back to this question that we began with what what is other ism Put simply, it involves the conscious or unconscious treatment of others. That is people we perceive to be others from a different social group. Unlike me, or unlike us, as separate as other And of course, some people take it further than that, to see certain others as inherently suspect untrustworthy, a threat.
The classic example of other ism in action is when a white person unconsciously or consciously, consciously crosses the street. And upon seeing a black man or seeing someone whom they perceive to be a black man walking down the street, coming towards them, grabs onto their bag or their cell phone more tightly as they walked by, or they cross the street altogether. Another example, of other ism is shown in the consequences of driving while black, or being a passenger on an aeroplane while black, which was in the news this past week. So seeing someone as a potential threat, surely on the basis of some mental construct, about their appearance. That mental construct, if it's held on to can result in a violation of human rights. And it is the case that one of the more pervasive forms of other ism in our world is racism. But it's not the only one. There's anti semitism, sexism, classism, ageism, ableism. And then there are also phobias, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, so many forms of other ism, that we can point to whether we experience them directly, or through the lives of our family, or friends, or through the media.
It struck me that these days with the direction that we're we're heading in with the growing influence of artificial intelligence, we just may have a new form of other ism that's emerging. Soon, we'll be distinguishing how human one is. How much of our body is comprised of artificial components, not just knee, hip and limb replacements or prosthetics. We're headed in the direction of implanted chips, and neuron links, I'm told.
Now going to turn to reading an excerpt from a book by Ruth King. It's titled mindful of race, transforming racism from the inside out. And a few years ago, this text was part of a book discussion series that was offered by the center's Uprooting Racism Sangha program. Ruth King is an insight meditation teacher and author, and has served as a guest teacher at various insight meditation centers. Especially at Spirit Rock, which is in California. And for those who may not be familiar with insight meditation, it's also known as Vipassana. And it's the simple practice of mindfulness, of awareness of being aware of the present moment. What's happening as it's happening, including the thoughts that pass through the mind. It's a little different from Zen practice, because Zen practice practice, as it's taught at our center is a blend of mindfulness and concentration, as in concentrating on the breath, or a koan. And it's this concentrative aspect of Zen, that, for my own experience, goes goes a long way, in allowing thoughts to settle, to really settle, so we can notice, we can really see the things as they are. This moment, just as it is.
And a little bit more about King in addition to her Buddhist background, her expertise is in clinical psychology, and organizational development. And in the context of like corporate and nonprofit work, she uses mindfulness as a tool to train people in understanding racial conditioning, as it shows up in the workplace. And then, I have to add that, as a black woman, she brings a perspective that I, as a white woman, cannot. I'll start with reading from the books introduction, which has the heading racism is a heart disease, and it's curable. Her opening words show how complex our sense of self and other is, when we see it through the lens of our racial conditioning. She says, something alarming happens when we think or hear the word racism, something deep within us, is awakened into fear. All of us, regardless of our race, and our experience of race, get triggered. And more than the moment is at play. The word picks at an existential scab, some level of dis ease at the mere insinuation of the word, some itch that we cannot seem to scratch, or some fear, we believe will harm us. This activation happens to all of us. Regardless of how we look on the outside, we turn into frightened combatants and suit up for war. On the inside the heart quakes and the mind narrows to its smallest, tightest place. Survival. Whether or not we're conscious of it, we all tend to go to our weapons of choice. Aggression, distraction, denial, doubt, worry, depression, or indifference.
And that is why right now, at this very moment, some of you listening to this teisho might very well be employing one of those defense mechanisms. And that's no matter your background. You might be sick and tired of thinking, hearing and talking about race. It's everywhere. Can I get a break from it? Let's talk about something more uplifting.
Now we can't get a break from it, because it's how things are. And fortunately, we do have this practice. of Zen, this method of noticing thoughts and feelings and sensations as they arise in the body mind, and not just noticing them. But choosing not to engage with them. Not following through on some knee jerk reaction, and stead, bringing the mind present to what's right here. This moment, purely as it is, as we're experiencing it without the baggage of thoughts, mental constructs about what is or isn't, or should or shouldn't be. seen clearly.
Moving along in the next paragraph, King says, some of us do not acknowledge that we are racial beings within the human race. Nor do we recognize how we're understand why our instinct as members of racial groups is to fear, hurt, or harm other races, including our own. And we don't know how to face into and own what we have co created as humans. What we have co created as humans. But each of us can and must ask ourselves two questions. Why are matters of race still of concern across the nation and through the world? And what does this have to do with me?
And what does it have to do with Zen practice?
She continues in the West, we live within a racial context of hatred and harm, whether subtle, were openly cruel, whether out of innocence or ignorance, the generational and often unconscious conditioning that has bred social and systemic norms of racial dominance, subordination, and separation. nuanced in every aspect of our day to day lives, is tightly sewn into the fabric of our society. And then in the paragraphs that follow, she describes what was going on in our country at the time that she was writing this book, including the grand opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. The conclusion of President Barack Obama's two terms in office, a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and other so called alt right marches around the country, and then a mass murderer in an African Methodist Episcopal Church. And it goes on for pages. And if she were to write this book today, she'd have plenty of other examples to add.
It's worth noting that the American Psychological Association recognizes racial trauma as a form of PTSD. It can result from a single major event, but it also can come from the accumulation of smaller micro experiences of discrimination and exclusion. sustained over time. You know, if you keep being told that you don't belong, or, or that you don't matter, over and over again, in different ways, in different contexts, there is an accumulating effect on one's mental health and well being, and ability to feel safe. And it can get passed on from generation to generation. So, King says, the world's heart is Of Fire, it's on fire, and race is at its core. What's happening in the world today is the result of past actions. The bitter racial seeds from past beliefs and actions are blooming all around us, reflecting not only a division of the races, that is rooted in ignorance and hate, but also a more sorely a division of heart. Racism is a heart disease. How we think and respond is at the core of racial suffering and racial healing. If we cannot think clearly and respond wisely, we continue to damage the world's heart. I love how she refers to racism as a heart disease. And to call it that a heart disease is to say that it's a disease of separation, of seeing oneself and others as separate, divided apart against in opposition.
This separation isn't always blatant, by the way, it can happen in the most subtle of ways. For example, in the case of white people who support and align themselves with anti racism efforts, if you come at it from a place of guilt, as in dwelling in feelings of remorse, or shame, for having white privilege, or for the history of white supremacism, or if you come at come at it from a place of pride, as in patting your back for being so progressive. So committed to to justice, so morally superior that separation. So even with the best intentions, if there's a trace of self judgment, or self righteousness, that's the ego getting in the way.
Another indicator of separation is making the assumption that those within your own social group, whether it's distinguished by race, ethnicity, gender, sex, age, nationality, and on and on whatever the defining features are the assumption that those within your group are inherently good or inherently trustworthy. In other words, by appearances alone, seeing someone as automatically one of us that's separation too. We box ourselves off this way.
King continues by describing how she was initially drawn to meditation as a way of Looking into her own habits of harm. That is the mental war, as she puts it, that she had been inflicting on herself and others. And she says that her meditation practice helped her to own up to her own racial conditioning, her ideas about and fears of white people, and all the ways she had been internalizing oppression, the notion that she, as a black woman was other, inferior less than. And she was able to understand the distress that she had been experiencing on a day to day basis and to do so with greater compassion for herself and for others. Now I'm going to skip ahead to an excerpt from the first chapter that's titled, two realities one truth and in it she describes the two aspects of our true nature the relative and absolute, based on her life experience. She says, simply stated, in relative reality, we are some bodies formed, habituated ego, ego driven, and relating to life through concepts.
In Ultimate Reality, we are Nobodies, formless, empty of self and eternal. In relative reality, I am a woman, African American, lesbian, great grandmother, artist and elder. However, in ultimate reality, I am none of these things. I am beyond conception, I am awareness, dancing with karmic rhythms of life. In Ultimate Reality, there is neither race nor reason to suffer. We are undivided and beyond definition. But in relative reality, we're all in considerable pain, as racially diverse beings, driven by fear, hatred, greed, and delusion. In relative reality, language is commonly how we relate. Talking about race is messy, because it brings to light our racial beliefs and values expressed in ignorance, innocence and righteousness. Many of us show up with good intentions, but are braced, bruised, and afraid. We put our foot in our mouth, we get scared, become frustrated or belligerent, or just shut down. We feel unclear, unskilled, angry and cautious. Our mind plays habit songs that get in the way of our ability to connect and be open to what's right here.
So how do we see through? How do we see through our conditioning? How do we relate to others, not from a place of separation. But from the heart. The whole heart
seems impossible. And it is difficult to let go of our conditioning, all the ways that we've been habituated to think and react. The ways we've been conditioned to perceive the world is actually beyond our control. Before we were even born, our parents may have already assigned us a name, a gender and made plans for our future. We weren't even born yet. Our development into adulthood included not just the influence of our parents but teachers extended family, religious leaders, public officials, peers, advertising media, all the messages we're bombarded with daily, day after day after day. You can't just undo all of that, in one fell swoop, at least not most of us.
And what makes it feel really challenging is that we're not necessarily even aware of how our conditioning expresses itself. We're not always aware that it's operating, and how it manifests in our speech, and our gestures and our actions. And still, consciously or unconsciously, we're constantly putting out messages, while also receiving them from others. This is This is basic human perception. Our senses take in all this data about people, objects, situations, and we interpret them in receiving stimuli, or brain translates it in a way that makes sense with our past knowledge and past experiences. So conditioning is not just a social phenomenon. It's also a neurological process. This, this discriminating mind of ours is hardwired into the human brain through evolution. It's helpful to recognize that it's an adaptive response, that our prehistoric ancestors who banded together in tribes relied upon to protect themselves from potential danger. It was a survival mechanism. So from an evolutionary standpoint, alone, it's no wonder that we modern day, humans end up with this bifurcated view. Nia knew us and them in groups out groups. And then saying this, this is not an excuse. It's not not an excuse, because we do have the capacity to choose what we pay attention to. Zen practice, sharpens our ability to notice to observe the thoughts that travel through our mind. And in turn, we can choose which ones to act upon. And even though our default is to make sense of the world, by looking at differences, there's actually a lot more that we have in common. Our DNA alone is 99.9%. The same? At the level of DNA, there's just one race, if you can even call it that. I say that because it's even, it's hard to fathom that even the notion of race itself is an idea. The idea that there are different races, that there are others is an idea. It's a thought. It's the product of our thinking mind. Doing what it does. Putting people and things in categories, creating hierarchies, putting people in boxes and lining them up in some order. And taking all of that to be real rather than just a bunch of thoughts. Sticky thoughts at that. So it's important for us to understand the nature of our conditioning to educate ourselves about the pasts, and how we got to where we are today. And how it shows up in our body, speech and mind, but at the same time, not to become so fixated on the past, that we fail to pay attention to this to what's happening right now. And education alone isn't enough. No amount of intellectual understanding will achieve what the practice of Zen can. Okay, I may be biased in saying this as a Zen teacher. But But why is that? It's because Sol Zen enables us to experience not only no self, not only no self, but no other. And not just to think it not just in the abstract, not just believing in not Tunis but experiencing it
in the process of doing Zen, especially when we do it regularly, ideally daily, we can really quiet the mind and put down set aside let go. All of those individual and group identifiers that we use we use them to navigate a complex social world comes from our conditioning
so Zen teaches us to drop it and if we can take the still mind and body that comes from Zen. That expresses itself just in the doing of zazen if we take that off the mat out of the zango and into the world
we have a chance to see people as they are
just being and that's when we can form a true connection, a true relationship. True interbeing.
But it's it's not a one and done deal. It requires lots of practice, a lifetime and lifetimes of practice. And practice not with the head but with the heart.
