Even before you take the refuges, the precepts ceremony requires that you put on your robe. This is pretty significant. In particular, if you really look at the Robe Chant, it seems what it’s saying is like, “spreading/draping this formless garment of beneficial practice over all beings,” which is kind of cool. In other words, the fabric itself is a metaphor for our connection with and vow to practice for all beings. — Anshi Zachary Smith
Valley Sounds, Mountain Colors
Anshi Zachary Smith discusses a story that appears both in Dogen’s Shinji Shobegenzo (case 6) and in his “Valley Sounds, Mountain Colors” fascicle, in which an academic Buddhist teacher named Zhǐxuān asks a Zen Master, Lángyé Huìjué, to explain why we experience the world in the way we do. (Brief) hijinks ensue.
Quīngyuán and the Price of Rice
"Anshi Zachary Smith (bio here) will be hosting and we will be discussing “Quīngyuán and the Price of Rice” which is the 5th Case in the Book of Serenity. We will talk about the price of rice in the ancient town of Lúlíng which may (or may not) be of use as a metaphor for the whole of the Buddha’s teaching. We shall see."
The Dharma Gate of Repose and Bliss? What Zazen is Dogen talking about?
Anshi Zachary Smith delivers a talk that asks, and attempts to address, the eternal question, “The Dharma Gate of Repose and Bliss? What Zazen is Dogen talking about?” Many practitioners are baffled by the claim, made in Dogen’s Fukanzazengi, that Zazen is not meditation in the traditional sense but simply the doorway to an experience that is translated as above but also as “ease and joy” in some version of the liturgy. They might (rightly) ask, “How is me sitting here with my knees aching and my mind running off like a dog in a dog park ‘the Dharma Gate of anything?” We’ll get into why, and how it works.
Zachary is a priest at City Center who started practicing here in 1993, was ordained as a priest in 2014 and received Dharma Transmission in 2019. One might reasonably ask what took him so long.
You can find his bio here: https://www.sfzc.org/teachers/anshi-zachary-smith
The philosophical Heritage of Zen
Anshi Zachary Smith speaks on the topic of, "The philosophical heritage of Zen and the bind that it puts all of us in as practitioners.”
Anshi Daigi Zachary Smith has been practicing Zen since 1993. He took jukai in 1995, was Shuso (Head Student) in 2007, ordained as a Zen priest in 2014 and received Dharma Transmission on April 17, 2019, all with former abbot and Senior Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai (sitting) group in North Beach. In addition to his involvement with Zen, Zachary is a husband, a father of four, an engineer, a musician, a bike fanatic, and an avid but mediocre poet. He may be the only person in the history of Zen in the West to have interrupted a residential practice period to tour with a rock band.
New Year’s Resolutions
Anshi Zachary Smith asks - and attempts to address - the eternal question, What would Suzuki Roshi or Dogen say about New Year’s Resolutions?
The "Wild and Weird" Season of the Winter Solstice
Anshi Zachary Smith delivers a talk on the particular flavors and possibilities of this weird - in the original sense of the word - mini-season between the Winter Solstice and the New Year.
The great practice of Karma
In this talk Dharma talk Anshi Zachary Smith discusses the laws of Karma and their relation to cause and effect.
The Way and the Path - Anshi Zachary Smith
We will explore the relationship between the Noble Eightfold Path, as outlined in the Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths, and The Way (Tao), which was adopted from Taoism by Chinese Buddhists during the period of cross-fertilization that led to the Ch’an School.
Prompts:
In your experience what is it that supports this sense of connection and being present?
How does that sense of presence and connection affect your actions in the world?
The Two Truths part Deux
As a sequel to last year’s talk on Emptiness and and the Two Truths we’ll go into more detail about the tangled relationship between the Relative and the Absolute as well as its impact on day-to-day life. In particular, we’ll examine the proposition, held in common by Buddhists and some ancient Greeks, that, because of this relationship, suffering is an integral part of the human experience and inextricably bound to that which makes us human.
I, Me, Mine: A Helpful Guide to the Intricacies of Self-Construction
Anshi Zachary Smith gives a talk titled “I, Me, Mine: A Helpful Guide to the Intricacies of Self-Construction.”
The Buddha identified attachment to the notion of a separate self as, perhaps, the main problem with human existence and famously established the doctrine of “No-Self” as the key to living comfortably and skillfully with the Human Condition. Over a thousand years later Dogen insisted that the key to liberation is a particular kind of self-study. Nonetheless, the question remains, what is this “self” and how can we study it in a way that doesn’t reify it more firmly than ever?
What ARE You Anyway?
Anshi Zachary Smith leads us on a talk around the question, “What ARE you anyway?”
There are many Koans that ask this question including, most notably, Chao Chou’s Four Gates. We discuss the Koan and the question itself as a way of getting at something fundamental about the human condition and experience.
Yun Men's Appropriate Statement (Response)
Zachary Smith hosts YUZ on Yun Men's Appropriate Statement (Response). He describes the topic as follows:
Yun Men, when asked about the meaning of Buddhism - that is, of the whole body of the Buddhist Teaching - famously responded, “An appropriate statement,” and in the commentaries (Blue Cliff Record case 14) this is called, “An iron hammerhead with no handle-hole,” (and also, “A rat gnawing on ginger” but never mind that). Nonetheless we’ll be seeing if we can get a handle on the story and the message it delivers about how to live creatively and skillfully in any time but especially in these “interesting” times.
Zachary is a Zen priest, Dharma transmitted teacher, and a long-time practitioner. You can find his bio here.
Gratitude and Dukkha: A Thanksgiving Meditation
Zachary Smith leads YUZ with a talk entitled “Gratitude and Dukkha: A Thanksgiving Meditation."
Perhaps the single most obvious feature of humans as a species is how continually dissatisfied with life, and their lot in it, they seem to be-- often regardless of the actual circumstances. The Buddha summed up this observation in the First Noble Truth and offered a ground-breaking and novel explanation for it in the Second. The rest, as they say, is history but it’s still a rich area of investigation because, frankly, things have not improved much in the last 2,500 years. On this special occasion we’ll revisit the fundamental question of suffering and see how it can be turned through Practice.
Making Your Own Way: Dogen's Birds and Fish
Zachary Smith, along with his usual co-host Mojo the Cat, leads us through a talk that was inspired from a particularly lovely passage in Dogen’s Genjo Koan where Smith explored what it meant to live a life of continuous practice.
Blue Cliff Record Case #9, “Chao Chou’s 4 Gates”
Zachary Smith leads YUZ in an exploration of Blue Cliff Record Case #9, “Chao Chou’s 4 Gates.” Without giving too much away in advance (never a good idea when Koans are involved) suffice it to say that Chao Chou invites us all to consider what it actually means to be a “self” - this self - and that we’ll take up the invitation.
The Dharma of Strong Emotion
Any therapists worth their salt will tell you that the full range of human emotion should be within the realm of experience on a daily basis and especially in times like these emotions can run high. Emotions carry a message - something to teach us - and the request of practice is to stand up close enough to them to hear that message in full without being overwhelmed or spun off into habitual response or defense.
The Three Pure Precepts →
Zachary Smith leads YUZ on the three pure precepts, which are an integral part of the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts.
The Relative and Absolute
Zachary discusses important features of the mental landscape that are revealed through zazen and how they relate to our everyday lives.
He explores two major modes of being - normally translated as “the relative” and “the absolute” - that become apparent when we sit, and talks about how to talk about the relationship(s) between them. There are a number of texts from the ancient literature, notably the Sandokai and Tozan’s 5 Ranks, that explore this relationship and how it develops with practice. Zachary speaks, in concrete terms, about how these modes of being show up in zazen and why they’re of interest.
正中偏
三更初夜月明前
莫怪相逢不相识
隐隐犹怀旧日嫌
偏中正
失晓老婆逢古镜
分明觌面别无真
休更迷头犹认影
正中來
无中有路出尘埃
但能不触当今讳
也胜前朝断舌才
偏中至
两刃交锋不须避
好手犹如火里莲
宛然自有冲天志
兼中到
不落有无谁敢和
人人尽欲出常流
折合还归炭里坐
Zachary’s Translation:
The Crooked in the Straight
Around Midnight, before moonrise on that first night
No wonder you don’t know it when you see it
You’re still reminiscing on your sketchy past
The Straight in the Crooked
Rising late, she stumbles across an old mirror
She clearly meets herself face-to-face - no separation
But still mistakes her reflection for her head
Straight On Through
Within nothingness is a road out of the dust
If you just avoid the obvious faux pas
You’ll surpass the past masters who left everyone speechless
Arriving at the Crooked
There’s no need to shrink from sharp confrontation
An adept is like a lotus in the land of fire
As though you can soar at will
Arriving at Both
If you don’t fall into “is” or “is not”, who dares to chime in?
Everyone wants to be extraordinary
All the same, you come home and sit by the hearth.
Zen Practice and Conduct
Zach Smith asks: What we can preserve from practice that carries us forward in day-to-day life and promotes skillful, wakeful engagement?