So before and after the Teisho or the recited offering, as they call it in Zen practice, I would like to introduce this new chant called, "Boundless Compassion." So what we do is we recite it three times, and I have here the mokugyo. And then at the end, the third round, and then what is the last, ChiSing? Time after time there is nothing but this.

(Everyone chants) Boundless compassion. Absorbing world sounds awakens a Buddha right here. This Buddha the source of compassion. This Buddha receives only compassion. Buddha, dharma, sangha—just compassion. Thus the pure heart always rejoices. In the light recall this. In the dark recall this. Moment after moment the true heart arises. Time after time there is nothing but this.

Absorbing world sounds awakens a Buddha right here. This Buddha the source of compassion. This Buddha receives only compassion. Buddha, dharma, sangha—just compassion. Thus the pure heart always rejoices. In the light recall this. In the dark recall this. Moment after moment the true heart arises. Time after time there is nothing but this.

Absorbing world sounds awakens a Buddha right here. This Buddha the source of compassion. This Buddha receives only compassion. Buddha, dharma, sangha—just compassion. Thus the pure heart always rejoices. In the light recall this. In the dark recall this. Moment after moment the true heart arises. Time after time there is nothing but this.

So, I would like to welcome everybody to this evening's talk in the Zen tradition of dharma talk or teisho talk. A teisho is actually a recited offering, so it is an expression of the dharma coming through the depths of the person delivering the talk. So a way of listening to the talk is very simple, and I think Ruben has said it before. Like if you're going to a smorgasbord, you only choose the foods that you like, right? And it is the same thing you are listening to a talk and somehow at certain points in the talk, you are able to resonate with a few words or a line or anything, stay with that thought. That doesn't mean you don't listen the rest of the period anymore. But try to resonate with whatever comes while the offering is made.

As an oblate of the Osage Monastery—I am an oblate of the monastery, so I am associated with the Osage Monastery in Oklahoma. So we go by the rule of Saint Benedict, and one of the first rules of Saint Benedict is to listen with the ear of your heart. Listen with the ear of your heart. And so what it is really trying to say is if you are open, just like in the chanting, and the sounds of the earth, and just be open and receive in gratitude whatever is being said today.

That would be the most ideal way of really listening to what we have to offer today because I am not the one offering. This is a silent offering of probably all of us here today after listening to each of you in your introduction, which is quite interesting. One of the common words that I heard was [inaudible, 05:02], you know? Just being here in this present moment.

And what a wonderful day to celebrate the Super Bowl. Actually, when ChiSing invited me, I made sure it is not the Super Bowl. I'm just kidding. I mean, I didn't even know, and I don't know much about sports, especially big sports like that, but it is okay. I mean, I'm glad that some of you chose to come here. I have come here several times, and I see how this room is just so packed with a lot of people and that's wonderful.

But before anything else, I really like to look back at our little kids standing with ChiSing way back, what, 6, 7 years ago? Or more than that. When ChiSing had started his community or sangha, he invited me to go to this palatial house of his parents way back in Plano. Was anybody there at that time? Probably not, right? So that's when he started it. He used to come to the Zen Center and said, "I would like to start a group in North Dallas." So we were there, and it was really wonderful, and after that he moved to Northwest and then he invited me again, and I was there. And then he moved to Unity Church, and now you're here. So he has been inviting me over and over again, and I just kept saying, "No. Later on. Later on. Later on." Not that I took him for granted, but I think, you know, just like anything else, when you're ready, you are ready.

And I'm really very, very thankful for the Dallas Meditation Center for having a place like this. Some of you know Maria Kannon Zen Center sits here every Monday and Wednesday, and what a beautiful thing that ChiSing has done for the Dallas-Fort Worth, and all the neighboring cities, to have a place where people from different meditation forms can really come and sit here together. I look forward to the day when we can all sit together without necessarily having a common format.

So when ChiSing was introducing me today, he said that I was going to talk on the ordinary way or the ordinary mind is the way. Then I changed my mind. And, you know, that is one of the things that I learned from Ruben, who is my teacher. You know, sometimes you go through a very systematic way of doing things, but what is the teaching of the Buddha? Impermanence. So you have everything planned out already, and all of a sudden, it will change and be like this. So I said, "Well, all right. So this is my prerogative now." So ChiSing talked about, okay, I'll talk about the ordinary mind, but then before coming here, my mind was programmed already on really talking more about compassion because he said that this month is a celebration of compassion. So that is why I introduced the Chant of Boundless Compassion.

So, I will talk more. Of course, I will say a little more about the ordinary mind is the way, and then come back into wisdom and compassion. I will say things like reading a koan from one of the books that we use in the Zen tradition, but I think the koan would work more on students who are already practicing Zen and who do koan study. So sometimes, you listen to the group and find out what would be best for the community, so after listening then, I have decided to just simply talk on the topic of wisdom and compassion.

If you look at the cover of our chanting, we have here the picture of the Kannon, or this is actually the Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit way back then, and that is translated into Chinese as the Guanyin, and then it went into Japan as the Kanzeon, and then we have Kannon. And Kannon, the Maria Kannon, is the logo of our organization here in Dallas, and Kannon translated into English simply means that perceiver of the cries of the world. Can you see the cries of the world? It would be just the hearer of the cries of the world, but it says the perceiver of the cries of the world.

And in so doing, why do we have then a center called the Maria Kannon Zen Center? If you look at our mission statement, it says there that people coming from different faith traditions or no faith tradition gather in Zen meditation to cultivate wisdom and compassion.

So for today as our theme then of compassion, before we get to compassion, how do we get to be a compassionate human being? This afternoon, I was listening or trying to develop a thing for this evening. The word compassion sometimes is so overrated, and you hear it everywhere. A compassionate heart, you know, everybody says that. But what does it mean to be a compassionate human being? And my teacher, Ruben, will always say, "If you look at the word compassion, it is really two words, and that is the ‘com-‘ and then you have the word ‘passion.'"

So what is that translated into English, then? It simply means suffering with another human being. But if you look at that, if you always look at those words, sometimes it will bring you so down, right? Like, oh, can I only share in the suffering of other human beings? So we can look at it differently. So compassion, then, the word compassion has two aspects. It is not just sharing in the misery of others, but it is also sharing in the joy that others have. And sometimes we often forget that. Sometimes when we say, "I am a compassionate person," element always comes out when somebody is down, when somebody is suffering.

But on the other hand, compassion is also sharing in the joys of others, and a very common example for that is let me belong to a team, right? Let's say we are going to the Olympics, and of course, we are working as a team, so probably three or four people on that team. And what happens then is that one of your teammates get the gold, and then you just get the silver. So if you look at that, let's say you are there. Are you able to celebrate the joy of the person who got the gold medal? Or would you just be saying, "I wish I got the gold medal." Right?

So in other words, for example, friends of ours who are more gifted probably financially, and they get a new car. Are you able to celebrate with your friend and say, "Wow. Great. I am glad you got a new car." But oftentimes, what we do, we say, "Oh, I wish I had a car." Right? And it is very hard. And you think this positive way of being compassionate what other beings is easy. But actually, it is not, because it is very hard to share or to rejoice or to celebrate the joy of others.

A celebration that is very easy to celebrate sometimes it is a birthday, right? There you go. You can see everybody really rejoicing for the birth of that person, the celebration of the life of that person. So we go then to how do we share in the sufferings of others, and that is what the word compassion sometimes is all about, besides it being a positive word.

Suffering. What is suffering? Big, big word, and if you look at the Four Noble Truths that the Buddha has, that is the first Noble Truth, that life is suffering. And again, if you look at that word suffering, it is not simply suffering in a way that we are ill, but it is often said in the analogy of the wheel, right? I don't know if you've heard this explanation before, but if you have the wheel, and one of the spokes is out of line, right, the wheel cannot roll.

And that is what happens to a lot of us. When there is a malfunction, then we cannot go on with our daily lives, and exactly is the causes of our suffering. So in other words, what causes the suffering of course is within the grasping or the wanting of things. On the other hand, then, how do we arrive at that point of suffering in this practice of meditation, whether it is Zen meditation or Thich Nhat Hanh, Tibetan, Vipassana, insight—any form of meditation then.

So why are we sitting here quietly? Anything? I mean, what comes out of your meditation? Are you here just for yourself? That is always my big question. So, in Zen sometimes I look at it as a very selfish way of meditating because when we sit, we sit facing the wall, and this is my meditation. And so sometimes, once in a while, we sit together. And I have this way of sitting because you can actually look at each person and recognize who is in the room. So once in a while, we do that. But again, in that silence, then, what happens? All right. So that is the point, when a person comes to that point the stillness, and that is the point then where a person comes to the experience of that eternal now. Now that we are talking is not 6:15, but the eternal now, which is the experience of the boundless at the timeless, and that is what happens when we are all sitting here in silence.

So how do we live a more compassionate life, then? There is another aspect to compassion, and that would be wisdom. And that word wisdom is not the wisdom of knowing. Actually, it is more of the unknowing, and the word wisdom really is to be able to see things as they truly are. So seeing things as they truly are. So when you see things as they truly are, then I come to the point of realization then that ChiSing, Michael, Beth, anybody here is not separate from me, right? But of course, it is very easy to say that. And you would always say, "Oh, no. No. I can't stand that person." But in the sitting, when you come to the point of stillness, and you come to that nondualistic point of looking at things, then and only then can you come to the point of realization that you are not separate from anybody. And that is the wisdom. That I would consider as the way to compassion.

But it is very hard to practice that because we have choices. Like I was reading the invitation of Brother ChiSing, and he said, "Please come in white, so we will have sangha solidarity," something like that. So I brought my white shawl thinking that everybody will be wearing white, and then I realize, well, you know, for some of us in Zen, somehow some individuals started wearing black, and then my comment then is, what is the color of Zen? Is it black? What is the color of meditation? Is it white? So all these concepts then that we have and choices, then again, that becomes a way of separating ourselves. Of course, it is nice to wear white all together to have that solidarity.

I was listening to the music and thinking really it was so wonderful to have that, and I wish we could have that once in a while in Zen, but Zen is so simple. You know, you just sit there and sit, and that is it. And you listen to the bell, ding, ding, and that's it. So we are done. But it is really nice, and thank you for the music. When I was listening to the music, and I started to recite this "Boundless Compassion," if you listen to "Boundless Compassion," it says at a certain point—what is it? "Absorbing world sounds." All right? "Absorbing world sounds." Sometimes I memorize it, and sometimes I still look. "Absorbing world sounds awakens a Buddha right here! This Buddha the source of compassion. This Buddha receives only compassion. Buddha, dharma, sangha—just compassion."

So when you absorb world sounds, we are not talking about the sound of the bell. We are not talking about a pleasant or unpleasant sound. So when you absorb world sounds, it is this. Thank you for this. This is a nice prop. So it is this. All right? So it is also in the Korean tradition they say, "Just this." Okay? Or it could be also the sound of a baby crying. All right? Maybe when you're sitting in the other room, you hear the sound of a dog barking, in the vet clinic [there is a vet clinic next door to the meditation center]. But the world sounds, absorbing the world sounds is not simply the sounds that you hear from the auditory sense. When you absorb world sounds, it is the whole being absorbing the world sounds.

So when you hear a baby cry, your immediate reaction is, oh, let me go and see if I can help. When somebody falls in the street, What is your initial reaction? To go and try—of course, it doesn't happen all the time now because you're scared of I might be the one sued or things like that, but in all that we do, there is that immediate call to respond. And that is the true absorbing of world sounds. You do things not because I want to help, but just simply being there and responding to the world sounds. So the world sound here is not just things that you hear.

So, in conclusion, then, what I would say is I was going to read a koan on the ordinary mind is the way. And a koan in the Zen tradition is usually almost like a riddle-like statement, where it doesn't make any sense. All right? So, a very common example is, in the phenomenal world, you have a left and right hand, right? So when you do this, that is the sound of two hands. But in the essential world, the question is then, what is this sound of one hand? Anybody want to try? But anyway, that is usually presented to the teacher as a way of really showing the teacher that you have that clarity of mind.

So, for our closing then, I would like again to go back to chanting "Boundless Compassion." And if you look at the words, "Absorbing world sounds, awakens the Buddha right here." The question then is what is Buddha or who is the Buddha we are talking about? I was once going to be on KERA [radio]—this is way back in 1997, and I organized this gathering of women, and it was called "Buddhist Women Gathering in Compassion." I don't know that I remember now because that was a long time ago. I didn't realize that was 15 years ago, and the person who actually interviewed me passed away. And the question he asked me was, "Who is the Buddha?" And then of course, if he had been a student of Buddhism for quite a while, then I would say, "I am the Buddha." Right? But you know, you're so many people listening to you, so oh, they'd say, "I was listening, and she is the Buddha." But the reality is that what is the Buddha? What does that mean? So the word Buddha just means to awaken. So we are all awakened human beings, so when you say absorbing world sounds awakens the Buddha right here, us, the Buddha, that is all of us right here right now. So let us close then by chanting again "Boundless Compassion."

(Everyone chants) Boundless compassion. Absorbing world sounds awakens a Buddha right here. This Buddha the source of compassion. This Buddha receives only compassion. Buddha, dharma, sangha—just compassion. Thus the pure heart always rejoices. In the light recall this. In the dark recall this. Moment after moment the true heart arises. Time after time there is nothing but this.

Absorbing world sounds awakens a Buddha right here. This Buddha the source of compassion. This Buddha receives only compassion. Buddha, dharma, sangha—just compassion. Thus the pure heart always rejoices. In the light recall this. In the dark recall this. Moment after moment the true heart arises. Time after time there is nothing but this.

Absorbing world sounds awakens a Buddha right here. This Buddha the source of compassion. This Buddha receives only compassion. Buddha, dharma, sangha—just compassion. Thus the pure heart always rejoices. In the light recall this. In the dark recall this. Moment after moment the true heart arises. Time after time there is nothing but this.